## SHREE MATIYA PATIDAR SAMAJ- ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING ## ANNUAL REPORT We were elected at last Annual General Meeting as 5 Trustees. In December 2025; 1 Trustee resigned and we have got 2 volunteers (Deepesh and Natalie Patel) whom have provided background support where possible in the interest of supporting the Samaj busin ess. Unfortunately, they are not available today due to prior commitments. Following the AGM we were quite busy getting to know how to register our names with Charity Commission as well as with Bank of India as well as planning events for 2025/26. We had our first meeting with group of volunteers who expressed to join the working Committee. We had our first meeting on 20[th] June where we sought views from the Committee on future events and discussed about reintroduction of Membership fees Subsequently we met twice but attendance at meetings was dwindling with only 3 attended the last meeting. So we decided to work amongst our Trustee to plan and organise events. However all volunteers including other SMP members always extended their services to help us manage the event on the day. Thank You very much for your support and kindness (Clap). We sent a Whatts App message to everyone regarding SMP being an inclusive organisation inviting both SMP (from within Leicester as well as outside Leicester) and non- SMP community to join to become members of our Charity. This was a way of not avoiding the facts of mixed marriages and increasing interest for people to join SMP Charity along with their family and friends. The first event which took place was Seniors event on 13[th] July 2025 which was attended by over 100 people. On 16[th] August we celebrated Janmashtmi; once again with great success. Then came Navratri celebrations for 3 days starting 26[th] September. We collected Membership fees during the festival for those who were annual members as well as new members who came along to join SMP. The Diwali celebrations took place on 8[th] November 2025 at Arya Hall with once again a good turn out. We organised a Coach trip to Birmingham Christmas market on 29[th] November 2025 with 53 people joining the trip. The cost of the coach was subsidised. We then had Children’s Christmas Party on 6[th] December with only about 20 children attended and those who came enjoyed the event. In the New Year we held Valentine’s Dinner & Dance on14[th] February 2026. Initially there was a price difference for members and non-members. However we changed the price to be £25 for any adults and £10 for children. We sold about 95 tickets including children and adults. We based our ticket prices on predicting that we would get atleast 200 people attending the event. Ram Navmi and Hanuman Jayanti Bhajans were held on 29[th] March which was well received by members We have organised a Day Trip to Watford Mandir for 14[th] June but so far only 18 people have expressed interest. The Trustees have worked hard in encouraging people to join us in the events only small number of people have supported us throughout last financial year. This lack of interest of our members is apparent today as well whereby there are only 80 odd people who are attending AGM although there is a free BBQ treat. We will continue to strive to work with our Community members and organise events of their choice. Thank You and JSK