**The Mary Wood Trust** ## **Annual Report- 2021/2022** ## **Charity Name** The Mary Wood Trust Registration Number ----- 1144311 Registered address --- 9 Handforth Road, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 2LX ## **Charity Structure, Governance and Management** ## _Trustees_ Chairperson --Clare Ramsden Treasurer — Dr Peter Wood Trustees — Kath Smith, Ann Gover, Pippa Hutchins Trustee selection method – By personal invitation and approval by existing trustees. ## **Our Aims and Objectives** 1.To provide scholarships for education and training with a view to improving disadvantaged young peoples' life skills and opportunities in Uganda. 2.To advance education and relieve poverty by providing sponsorship, training, funds or items for disadvantaged children, young people, and those in need in Uganda. 3.To develop facilities in Kinkiizi, Kanungu district, in particular but not exclusively, at Nyakabungo Girls Secondary School (NGSS) and Ruth Memorial Nursery School (RMNS), in order to achieve the aims outlined in 1 and 2 above. Once again Covid restrictions both here in the UK and in Uganda have had a major impact on our meetings and also on our fundraising and of course for the educational institutions and students that we support in Uganda. Our three Trustees’ meetings have continued to be held on Zoom and this may become more of a trend into the future, saving both travelling time and costs. Despite not having met in person these meetings have been very important and enabled discussions and decisions to take place regarding our various projects in Uganda and how to plan for the future. There is full transparency about how our money is spent, how to promote the charity and keep our supporters informed, and how to communicate fully with our friends and contacts in Uganda. We try our hardest to make sure that the money we send out to Uganda and spent there is fully accounted for, endeavouring to get receipts wherever possible. Any money sent for student sponsorship or building projects at NGSS is channelled via the Diocese of Kinkiizi, where the contacts we have there are trusted and reliable, the relationship having been built up over many years. The fees for university and further education tuition are sent directly to the individual respected institutions. Due to the continuing pandemic and health concerns, there has not been a trustees visit to Uganda this year. However there have been regular communications with Kinkiizi Diocese, the headteacher of NGSS, the director of RMNS, the bursar of Bishop Barham Christian University (BBCU) and all our further education students, continuing to reinforce the strong links that we already have. ## **Activities and Objectives** ## _Activities over the past year_ _**Ruth Memorial Nursery School (RMNS)**_ in Kihiihi continues to provide a basic primary education for approximately 70 young children, aged 2 to 9 years. The founder Ephraim Tumwesigye is the director of the nursery school. He and his board of management (which includes family members) make sure that the nursery school runs smoothly and follows any local guidelines and restrictions. The school employs a head teacher (who has some nursery qualification) and 4 other ladies who are not formally trained. There is also a cook and night watchman. The pandemic has caused chaos regarding the ability of the nursery school to open. The president has been very strident in his addresses to the nation, laying out the strict rules regarding closures, curfews, and safety protocols. The school had to remain closed for the second half of 2021, only fully reopening again in January 2022. The extended school closure caused us great concern with regard to the welfare of both the children and the staff. We once again provided some food support for all the children and their families and also the staff, (flour, rice, beans, and maize), which was much appreciated by all. Since January we have continued to provide the masks and hand sanitising equipment required, as well as the daily porridge, pancakes, and milk which the children enjoy and need so much. We also provide the firewood, transport, and salary for the cook, as well as the stationery required throughout the year. To facilitate the smooth running of the nursery school we have financed a laptop for the director and solar lights throughout the classrooms and office. We are most grateful to a private sponsor who continues to make all this possible. ## _**Nyakabungo Girls Secondary School**_ **(NGSS)** This Church of Uganda school, which was founded in 1987, is the only girls boarding school under the umbrella of the Diocese of Kinkiizi. Its rural situation, on sometimes impassable roads, makes it very difficult to access, particularly in the wet season. This emphasises the importance of its boarding status as many students live some distance away. The Mary Wood Trust has been involved with the school since 2002 and has continued to grow in its sponsorship of students and also improving the infrastructure of the school. This is seen by the additional buildings and facilities provided by the MWT over the past 20 years. Education for the 42 girls that we support has been severely disrupted once again this year with the school closing in July 2021 on the orders of the President. However, girls preparing for their O and A levels were able to return before others, with strict Covid protocol being observed. When NGSS reopened fully in January 2022 the numbers of girls returning overall was reduced by 10, due to marriage, pregnancy, or the need to be in employment. The girls we support are all chosen because of their great need and their poor family backgrounds, some being more academic than others. It has been a very stressful and worrying time for students and staff alike. With no home schooling possible and for many locally employed teachers no salary during school closure times. We therefore provided some occasional support to the teachers, which we know was much appreciated. The school was fully open again in January 2022, once all the teachers and other adults had had two doses of the vaccine. We provided mosquito nets to all new entrants and the Samaritan Fund, administered by the headteacher, is available to any girl who needs extra support with buying school uniform or other requirements at the start of term. It was also agreed that we would offer free sanitary towels to all the girls and female staff for the whole school year. The inability to buy this essential item is often a reason why a girl may not return to school at the start of term. We hope to continue to provide this support as long as we can, making NGSS the only school in the area which helps in this particular way. During these rather unsettled times we have however managed to provide further supplies to the Fine Arts Room, and we have also funded further training for the teachers on the new curriculum and also online learning. It is doubtful that this type of learning could ever be successfully offered at NGSS, due to its remote location and lack of internet connectivity. The Cliff Smith sewing room is now fully stocked with machines. It is a wonderful resource for the school. Unfortunately, the previous sewing teacher left during the year to go on to further studies. A new teacher has been found and we have continued to pay her salary. Thankfully the connection of the school to local spring is still holding well and the girls are no longer having to go outside the school grounds to collect water in the dry season. The future of the female staff accommodation, Mary Hall, is still under discussion with no firm decisions having been made yet. This requires further discussion with the teachers and the board of governors, to see what is in the best interests of the school as a whole. Mary Wood Day and International Women’s Day were jointly celebrated at the school on March 8[th] . All 5 MWT trustees put together a video that was relayed to the school on the day, expressing our thanks to the staff and to the girls for their resilience during these difficult times and congratulating them on their hard work. We provided a cow so that all the staff and girls could enjoy a meat meal, making a welcome change from their daily bean stew. The headteacher, Molly Musinguzi, has kept us well informed during these difficult Covid times and the school is fortunate to have such a caring, concerned and committed leader. ## _**Nyakatare Health Centre (NHC 111)**_ Situated in Kanungu Town, NHC is a Diocesan Health Centre and provides good quality medical care to the local community. The clinical officer, Nexon Tusiime, is a good communicator and works hard to keep the facility running smoothly. It provides regular immunisation clinics and check-ups for mothers and babies as well as outpatient consultations, inpatient care, and simple dental assessments. The health care workers were among the first to be vaccinated during the pandemic. The Dental Unit (which we have had a particular interest in) continues to struggle, with only a dental nurse in attendance. This limits the procedures that can be offered. We understand that some of the dental equipment is in need of repair. We have sent occasional support to help pay the dental assistant’s small salary. Regular community outreaches have been severely limited because of Covid 19. ## _**Past Students**_ We continue to offer support to a number of our MWT sponsored students as they progress on to Further Education. Unfortunately, we cannot offer this to all our MWT sponsored girls and so usually have to choose those with the highest grades. Once again Covid has caused havoc with their studies with closures of all institutions of learning for some time. Online learning was the only option for the university students and so we helped provide them with laptops and mobile phones and data. This still wasn’t easy for those in remote villages where internet access was non-existent. Despite all these challenges 2 girls have recently completed their degree/diploma courses at Bishop Barham Christian University in Kabale and 5 are there at present studying for a variety of degrees. One girl has completed her certificate in nursing at Bwindi Nursing School while another is just about to start. We are supporting another girl who is studying for a diploma in Agriculture at a college north of Kampala and more locally a girl who is participating in a tailoring course offered by the Mothers Union in Kanungu. ## _**Newsletters and raising awareness**_ We have distributed 3 updates to our supporters this year, including a Christmas letter in December. There has also been one article in St Bartholomew’s Parish Magazine in Wilmslow and 2 in St Chad’s, Headingley Parish Magazine - the latter written by a parishioner who remembers Derek and Mary Wood from when they were parishioners at that church. ## _**Future Plans**_ The state of the accommodation for the female staff at NGSS is still in debate - whether it can be renovated or should be replaced. This is a matter for the school, the board of governors and the Mary Wood Trust trustees to have further discussions about. There is also the possible need for a replacement A level block as the original building is in great disrepair. ## **Financial Review** ## **Overview of the year** We have continued to be blessed by receiving regular donations from many individuals despite the fact of the economic downturn and hardship people face in these uncertain times. Our total income fell by £5,121, partly because a regular donation that we receive of £5,000 fell outside this financial year. ## **Principal sources of funds** Most of the Trust’s income came from individuals (Direct - £27,977; via PayPal - £1,658), HMRC – Gift Aid reclaimed - £4,786, eBay Sales - £2,177, and £300 each from a church and another charity. ## **Expenditure** Our expenditure has been less than 2020 – 2021 as we did not do a major building project, however as students started to return to their studies with the opening of schools etc, amounts spent increased in most areas. Our Main areas of expenditure were: Further Education Students - £7,703 (£5,648 last year) NGSS Student support - £5,634 (£4,905 last year) Kinkiizi Nyakatare Health Centre - £3,974 (£1,318 last year) Ruth Mem. School Porridge - £2,443 (£2,500 last year) NGSS Building Fund year cost £8,128) - £2,454 (£0 last year - Kitchen last ## **Fundraising** Face to face fundraising this year has once again not been possible because of Covid 19. Selling donated items on eBay and Facebook marketplace has continued to bring in substantial funds. Purchasing items on the internet via Every Click, Amazon smile, and other schemes also raises a small amount of money. Despite all the uncertainties of life – during and post pandemic – our regular supporters have continued their generous giving, whether it be helping with the running of RMNS, supporting individual girls at NGSS, responding to specific support requests, providing university support, giving to the general fund. We are very grateful indeed. ## **Financial Policy** We have worked through the charity Commission Self – assessment checklist and checked that we are complying with all that is required of the charity. ## **Reserve funds** We hold reserve funds in case the charity was to fold so as to enable the commitments that we have made to the students at NGSS, RMNS and the various institutes of further education to finish their respective education. ## **How expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity.** By providing sponsorship for 42 girls boarding at Nyakabungo Girls Secondary School, all of whom come from needy backgrounds, we are helping to ensure that they have a good secondary education and therefore a good start in life. This in turn will improve the standard of their own families and hopefully uplift their whole communities. By providing mosquito nets each year and supporting the sick bay and nurse, we are ensuring that the girls are being cared for when sick and hopefully learning to keep themselves safe. By providing sanitary towels to all girls and women at the school we are helping to boost their selfesteem. The improvements to the fabric of both NGSS and RMNS will give a clean and safe environment for the children and young people to learn in. By providing daily porridge, pancakes, and milk, we are ensuring that the children have daily nourishment. Although not completely possible during the school’s closures due to Covid-19 we have also tried to help the families of the children who would normally attend RMNS. By providing all the Covid Safety protocol to both RMNS and NGSS we have made sure that they have fulfilled the legal requirements necessary to reopen again and also to keep the students and staff safe. Our continued ability to support some girls beyond NGSS is hopefully going to produce useful and educated and informed citizens who will make a difference in their own families and the community beyond. ## **General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)** In line with the new GDPR regulations that came into force in the EU, we have tried to ensure that we comply to the regulations. We have obtained consent using a customised GDPR Consent Form, from most of our supporters. This has enabled us to ensure that we are only communicating with those who have expressed consent for us to do so. We will endeavour to ensure that this is kept up to date. The data we hold is kept up to date. ## **Privacy Policy** The Mary Wood Trust has written a privacy policy which is available to view on our website. Th? ￿l￿WoOd Tft￿t 1144311 RKelpts and pa ents accounts CC16a Tb oNc4r2022 Section A Receipts and payments l¥nd TO1￿ L1￿Y•llr AM14Z¢XISIIILE CHARffA8LÉfRU515 CHURCH DONATKW15 EBIYULES fjDEASYOU UVEIWHPXK HURC IpirEREST PAYPAL&¥It4GFUND PER50PML PER50NALDONAmtiSWAPAYPAI 5fEWARD5HIP 410Q 1177 17 4.78ty 1.024 53 27.9TY 1.656 17 2A32 344 Iijs 31 l•Mt4bK•l. 31 FVATHEREDGODD￿I￿[rAP* FUKI FURT￿Eft ELWflOt4 7.7QJ 1974 KINKllI sfuDENf5UPPORT KINKIIZI TEMPtRATUAE PRQBÉS KINKllaCOVID.1gyJpfoRT K1511IISTUQ£NTSUPPOAT NGSS BUILOINGFLWD NGSSFINEAA NGSSKITCHEN t￿$$54￿111￿RYpAOs NGSSSEWING RQOkl Nfj55 SUPPORT RAl5PORRI￿E RM5 GENERAL GENEKIL 1.1•7 1.142 144) 747 144 11 lund• I•￿ y*ar•n¢ 741 311 107419 hd 1 Cathfwbj 4113 11.287 111118 VIRGIN M¢Y4E( 41113 J4A•••ts r•t•ln•d l•rth• BS Ll*ll lth•bi•ty•• CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Exan7iner s Report Report to the tru$to681 memhrs of The Mary Wood Trust On accounts for the year 5° April 2022 Ch•rlty no (If any) 1144311 sot out on pages CG18a I réport to the trustees on my examination ofthe a¢¢ounts of the above charity (Ihe Trusf) for the year ended 0510412022. Re8ponsSblllti•s and As the charity trustees of the Tnjst. you are responsible for tho preparatSon of basls of rnport a¢¢ounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charitie8 Act 2011 (Ih8 Ad.). I report in r88r*ct of my 8xamlnatK)n of the Trust'8 accounts carried OLrt under Section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examinalion, I have followed the applicable Directions glv•n by the Charity Commi881on U￿Or 88Ction 145(5){b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confinn that no materfal matters havg come to my attentlon ') In connection wlth the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material re8poct'. accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 ofthe Act or the account8 do not aCc￿d ￿th the a¢￿1ntIng records Ind•pénd•nt •xamln•f• gt•lem•nt I have no concem8 and hav8 come across no other matter8 in connection ￿th the examination to which attention Jhould be drawn In order to enable proper understanding of the accounts lo be reached. ' Ple888 delete tho h￿rdS in the brackets rfthey not apply. Slgnod: Dat•: 0610912022 Nam•: Geo rge Relevant prOf￿810naI qualIfi￿tIOn(S) or body (If any): Addres8: 166 Beeche8 Road Ch8lm8ford Essex CM12RZ IER October 2018