Trustees' Annual Report for the period
Period start date Period end date
From 1st April 2020 To 31st March 2021
Section A Reference and administration details
Charity name Movement for Justice and Reconciliation Other names charity is known by MJR Registered charity number (if any) 1161441 Charity's principal address 115 Preston Hill
Kenton, Harrow Middlesex Postcode HA3 9SQ
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 |
Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted if not for whole **year ** |
Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revd Alton Bell | Chair | |||
| Paul Keeble | DeputyChair | |||
| Keith Cottrell | ||||
| Clive Ireson | ||||
| Sarah-Jane Adejei | ||||
| Khareem Jamal | ||||
| Beatrice Smith | ||||
Section B Structure, governance and management
Description of the charity’s trusts
Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution)
How the charity is constituted
Constitution and Governance
CIO
- (eg. trust, association, company)
Appointed by resolution in properly constituted trustee meeting Trustee selection methods
(eg. appointed by, elected by)
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You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:
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policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
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the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
During the year, the Trustees have reviewed and ratified current policy and strategy documents. These include:
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Trustee responsibilities and Financial Procedures Policy
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Data Protection Policy
-
Structure and Working Groups Policy
-
Safeguarding Policy
The Trustees have also agreed a process for trustee re-election in accordance to the MJR Constitution.
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relationship with any related parties;
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trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
Section C Objectives and activities
Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document
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To advance the education of the public in general on the subject of colonial slavery and industrial exploitation in the 18th and 19th centuries and the effect it has had on today’s society, in particular but not exclusively by raising awareness and providing information about how this era of our nation’s history is impacting on British society today, and by promoting research in all aspects of this subject and publishing the results.
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To develop the capacity and skills of members of socially and economically disadvantaged communities in such a way that they are better able to meet their needs, identify problems and to participate more fully in society.
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Such other purposes as are exclusively charitable in accordance with the laws of England and Wales as the trustees may from time to time decide.
Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)
The Movement for Justice and Reconciliation operates in accordance with the Constitution and Governance document submitted to the Charity Commission in April 2015. The trustees are satisfied that the charity is complying with the terms of this governance document and have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the commission in exercising their powers and duties. In particular they are continuing to conduct research relating to legacy issues and are organising wider project focussing on the findings of this research. These projects is still in the planning stages and are being done in collaboration with various local community groups in Britain.
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Section D Achievements and performance
Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year
1. Research
MJR is continuing to develop on the strands of research already undertaken: ‘ Proving Legacy’ , focussing on educational issues; and ‘ Talking Legacy’ , focussing on the high prevalence of schizophrenia and diabetes among other health issues in the African Caribbean diaspora in Britain. The reports have been published and are available on our website, www.mjr-uk.com.
2. The Zong Project
The Zong Project has been the main focus of activity from 2019. However, there were several mitigating factors that preventing this project from occurring. The most salient being the charity’s inability to raise the required funds to underwrite this project.
The second factor that derailed this project was the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although good links were made with organisations and individuals in the various ports to be visited and the trustees have been very encouraged with the amount of support the project was receiving, the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown caused us to reconsider.
3. The Film Project
Professor Robert Beckford had proposed working with MJR to organise a conference in either Birmingham or London on the subject of ‘Church, Slavery and Reparations’ in 2020. The plan was to have a call for papers early in 2020, host an event later that year and then publish the papers in either 2021 or 2022. He also proposed to develop a BBC radio documentary on the subject and to make a short documentary which would be screened at the conference.
The trustees were in favour of this proposal and had several meetings with Professor Beckford to work out details. However, the onset of the pandemic caused a change in plan.
We decided to change direction and commission a colleague of Professor Beckford, Sheila Marshall to research the possibility of producing a film that would be both educational and redemptive and would achieve the following:
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Raise awareness of an aspect of Britain’s leading role in the transatlantic slave trade, namely the complicity of the churches, and the role of reconciliation in finding a way forward.
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Provide encouragement to existing and a catalyst for new local community-led projects seeking to address issues identified.
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Create a greater national collective understanding and sharing of information and ideas to address legacy issues
Since the majority of our funds were ringfenced for the Zong project, the trustees agreed that we should write to the largest donor and seek permission to use the donated funds towards the production of the film. In June 2020 the donor gave permission for this and work began on the production of a documentary along the proposal put forward by Professor Beckford. In early 2021 the research project was completed with a working title of ‘Christian Reconciliation: Repairing the damage of the transatlantic slave trade’.
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Section D Achievements and erformance p
4. MJR Manchester
In addition to the legacy of enslavement, MJR is also investigating the legacy of industrial exploitation. This was an issue highlighted in the ‘Proving Legacy’ research on educational achievement in 2019, which showed that poverty affects achievement levels among the white working classes more than any other group.
One of our trustees is working closely with the Nazarene Theological College, Manchester and co-hosts a social justice course there. This is an ongoing piece of work.
Section E Financial review
No formal policy on reserves, but trustees ensure that all restricted funds Brief statement of the are properly guarded and spent appropriately charity’s policy on reserves Details of any funds materially n/a
Details of any funds materially in deficit
Section G Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature(s) APBell
Full name(s) Alton P Bell Position (eg Secretary, Chair, Chair etc) Date 22/03/2022
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Movement for Justice and Reconciliation 1161441
Receipts and payments accounts For the period To from 1st April 2020 31st March 2021
Section A Receipts and payments
----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds
funds funds funds
to the nearest
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
£
A1 Receipts
Donations 56,406 4,197 - 60,603
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
56,406 4,197 - 60,603
Sub total (Gross income for AR)
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total - - - -
Total receipts 56,406 4,197 - 60,603
A3 Payments
Trustee Expenses 315 - - 315
Office costs 1,800 - - 1,800
Research work - -
Zong project - - -
Manchester project - - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ 2,115 ] - - 2,115
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - -
Total payments 2,115 - - 2,115
Net of receipts/(payments) 54,291 4,197 - 58,488
A5 Transfers between funds - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end - - - -
Cash funds this year end 54,291 4,197 - 58,488
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Unrestricted | Restricted | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Categories | Details | funds | funds | |
| B1 Cash funds | Unrestricted Manchester Zong Research |
Total cash funds | to nearest £ to nearest £ 56,406 - 4,197 - - - 7,043 56,406 # 11,240 |
|
| (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
Agreement Error | Agreement Error | ||
| Unrestricted | Restricted | |||
| funds | funds | |||
| B2 Other monetary assets | Details None |
to nearest £ - - - - - - |
to nearest £ - - - - - - |
|
| B3 Investment assets | Details None |
Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) - - - - - |
|
| B4 Assets retained for the | Details None |
Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) - |
|
| charity’s own use | - - - - - - - - |
|||
| Fund to which | Amount due | |||
| B5 Liabilities | Details None |
liability relates | - - - - - (optional) |
|
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Signature | Name |
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
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CC16a
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Last year
to the nearest £ 65,075 - - - - - - - 65,075
65,075
635 123 - 7,900 - - - - 8,658
8,658 56,417 - 12,659 69,076
Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - -
OK
Endowment funds
to nearest £
-
Current value (optional) - - - - -
Current value (optional) - - - - - - - - - When due (optional)
Date of approval