## **St. Korkos Orthodox Church and Eritrean Community in Birmingham** Annual Report 2021-2022 ## **Legal and administration information** Reference and administrative details of the charity, its trustees and advisors ## **Full Name of the Charity:** St. Korkos Orthodox Church and Eritreans' Community in Birmingham ## **Charity Registration Number** 1174445 ## **Charity current address** 37 Broom Field Road Edrington Birmingham B23 7QA ## **Trustees:** ## **Elected trustees** Dawit Belay Amanuel Fessahaye Binyam Eyasu Tsige Tekhle Gherezghiher kflemariam Mebahtom Weldemikall ## **Independent Examiner** Sigma Chartered Accountants and Tax Advisors Wilding Building, 864 Wash wood Heath Road, Ward End Birmingham, B8 2NG ## **Banker** ## **NatWest and Barclays in Birmingham** ## **Structure Governance and Management** The members of St. Korkos Orthodox church are currently meeting at 37 Broom Field Road Erdington in Birmingham. The trustees are bodies that manage the charity’s activity in line with the internal memorandum and the rules set by the charity commission. The trustees of the charity are elected by the members. Members are encouraged to register on the electoral roll and stand for election to the trustees. ## **Our Charity** The number of Asylum seekers and refugees arriving in the UK has been increasing from time to time. Most of these asylum seekers experience homesickness and face difficulties in integration with the UK environment, mainly because of the trauma they have experienced back home and, on their way, overseas. Some members of our community have been voluntarily assisting them by providing basic information and guidance. This initiative has been advanced to organise the community and managed to set up a charity which was registered with the charity commission in August 2017. We are working on assisting the community in providing religious and other community services. We have started to support some children with their home learning and give necessary guidance for their 11+ entrance examinations and GCSEs. We have also planned to provide a wide range of services for the members of our charity and others who may need them. ## Acquisition of Property Free Hold Property 37 Broom Field Road Erdington Birmingham We have been praying for and waiting for a long time, to have our own place of worship. For that to happen we raised funds for all most 6 years from our members of the church, after all these long years we have raised the money from our members to buy the property we were looking for and now we have our own place of worship, which we bought on the 10th December 2021 at 37 Bloomfield Road, Erdington, Birmingham. ## Monday to Friday As we have our place of worship now from 6 pm to 9 pm Monday to Friday we have a Deacon class every day of the week. At the moment ,There are 20 Deacon who take a lesson at the church every day of the week. ## Saturday Every Saturday of the week we have a lesson for children at St.Korkos Orthodox Church and the Eritrean community from 10 am to 12 pm. There are about 80 children that take the lessons every Saturday. The children’s age ranges from 4 years old to 16 years old. They are taken to Bible study and taught how to stay away from anything that can harm the community of Birmingham. The children are split into 2 groups so that they can all be taught at their own level and pace. The first group is made up of 30 children, ranging from 4 years old to 8 years old. The second group is made up of 50 children, ranging from 9 years old to 16 years old. St. Korkos Orthodox Church and Eritreans' Community in Birmingham ## Annual General Meeting Held on Sunday the 26th of September 2022 Apologies Apologies from: Mr Dawit Belay. The meeting took place at St Korkos Orthodox Church and Eritreans Community at 37 Broom Field Road Erdington Birmingham. Mr Amanuel Fessahaye, the Vice-chairperson of the charity, opened the meeting with a prayer and thanked everyone for the hard work done in the year. He has mentioned all the religious and other community activities completed during the year. As mentioned in the last general meeting he focused on promoting better service for the community and working hard in fundraising. ## Minutes of the previous meeting Minutes of the last year’s meeting were read out by Mr Fessahaye, the vice chairperson of the charity. The minutes were accepted by all the trustees. ## Activities A report for the religious and other services provided in the year has been reported by Mr Eyasu and all the members agree to the report. ## Health and Safety The issue of health and safety is one of the top priorities in charity activity. The charity has been taking all necessary measures to ensure that every service user is safe and the activities at the church are undertaken with diligence and due care. Mr Fessahaye has highlighted that all who work with vulnerable people have been monitored by the guidelines. He stressed, that any issues about safety must be reported on time. He has reminded all that the necessary policies like insurance policies, Fire exit and DBS must be updated constantly. ## Election of new trustees The charity believes that the trustees have to be elected by the members of the congregation for a duration of three years. However, the service time of all or any member of the trustee can be extended if he/she is re-elected by the congregation. In September 2021 the trustees has called up a meeting of the congregation for an election of new trustees. The congregation has agreed to delay the election of new trustees until the time the project of buying a property is completed. However, the existing members demanded that the election of new trustees should be made regardless of whether the acquisition of a property is completed or not. A meeting is planned to be made for early February 2022. Mr Amanuel stressed the need for the young generation’s participation in the management body and he suggested that they need to assist in many tasks of the trustees so that they can we can handover the tasks to them easily in the future. ## Our bankers Our main bank is NatWest, where our most of our transaction is done through this bank. In addition, we also have a bank account with Barclays bank. ## Acquisition of property We have been delivering our services at St James Church for a few years now. The people and the committee members of St James have been extremely supportive of our weekly services. We have been welcomed at the church to undertake our services and events unconditionally. All members of the trustees have expressed their appreciation and proposed to actively participate in any works carried out at the church. Since July 2012 we have moved to the new property we bought but it took us hard work to do the refreshments of the building almost it took as seven months to do all the work on the property we bought. We are now carrying all our services in the new building of St . Korkos Orthodox Church and Eritreans Community. ## Financial report Mrs Tekhle presented the finance report, she explained that the incoming fund to words the accusation of a property has been satisfactory and she mentioned a lot of work needs to be done to get to the desired target. Mrs Tekhle indicated that the non-refundable money paid in the attempt of buying a property was the major expense of the year. She has also presented the report on the borrowing made by our members to buy a property. She has indicated that all minor recurrent expenses have been covered by the members here and then. Mr Fessahaye has thanked the accounts team for their hard work in handling the funds and for keeping our records up to date. Mrs Tekhle asked if everyone accepted the accounts and this was proposed by Mr Fessahaye and supported by all the trustees. Charity number. 1174445 ST KORKOS ORTHODOX CHURCH AND ERITREANS, COMMUNITY Re￿rt of the Trustees and Ung￿lI1ed Finandal Ststemenls For the year erKled 31 March 2022 ST KORKOS ORTHODOX CHURCH AND ERITREANS. COMMUNITY Contents Page For the year ended 31 March 2022 Rgport oliho Tn*lee8 IndoFend8nt EX9rd￿¢S R8portlo tha Tnthe6 Statem&rtol Finarthl Ststem￿l of FinarKial Pc•ilion Nvlgs to th8 Statgrngnls 5t09 Delalled Slalement ol Flnanclal AciMlle5 10 ST KORKOS ORTHODOX CHURCH AND ERITREANS. COMMUNITY RerA)rt ofthe Trustees For th8 yw 8r￿j￿ 31 March 2V22 Twslw bi repDrt and 51awwDis Sy for y•w 31 B￿￿¢￿bIg UK4nd Rep￿￿0[1￿1¥￿ IFRS 102iierfecti¥q l Janw20t91. tsbJ•d￿•n¢ aln runn¥wJ a th•thiy Ip82r. RE￿RETr￿E ANDADWNISTR4TIYE W4FOINIAT N*m•41¢1 STKORKOSOAIKJDOX CHLWANO EiirrREAMS.c￿qL￿rty cwty P*•palaths6 1174445 Eofjnot B4yam Eyaw T¥p* T4kh V•b*hwthJ Hwih 882NG 4Èdby1*Bo￿d 0fTn￿le*1*￿ Sv¥*20n behdltry 25*uJry 3m ST KORKOS ORTHOTX)XCHURCH AND ERITRE4NS' COMMUNITY IndèwndÈnt ExaJYinèt8 RopDrtto thèTrustÈ85 For￿ y8afBthJ 31 A48￿h2o22 (XMvthllAd2DII Ph•2Qll A I rwrt h t•ipid ol Th¥y •X•)*Akn & th• i*clan 14Sof Ir￿ In rt nry *xwnnkn l 41 by C￿ty U￿d￿r I￿511￿} 3 tr*acc¢thtsdofjolci)IWlywITh th•4p•t41 FC4IB4EZFD71 98114G 25Jw*Jary202J ST KORKOS ORTHODOX CHVRCH ANO ERITREANS. COMMUNITY 161.•?• 1ZB34 29è(oi 11.11• ¢10 ST KORKOS ORTHtXOX CHURCH AND ERITREANS. COMMUNI 31 M¥rth 2022 611 ti.t27 Cash*tb￿ ar*1￿ hknd 3J7.4>) io 12 ia 147.S8YI 144467 161.553 40110 ST KORKQS ORTHOC(SX CHURCH ANO ERITRFANS, COMMUNITY For yoor ende¢l 31 March 2022 f. IFRS 1iIIX *thd 2m1. ST KORKOSORTrIODOX ERITAEANS'CCWIUNTY ff*•i• ITh• t¢￿￿•m•1 lu¢xl• 31. 131,lJ78 16,101 10.101 15.479 17V 124 13.4 12.710 114X ST KORKOS ORTHODOX CHURCH AND ERITREANS CC*AMUNrrY Nokn¥ io the Flrwc￿l S1*mon￿ CorthtsNJ•J For iho y•ar•nded 31 March 2022 zz 13A25 13.•26 12.710 Élaknj 21 sio 21.751 1.470 181.979 1.470 2&22* 11D.LUI> 112.434 •J•i 2tsJV 1Y1.106 1423 146.•S ST KORKOS ORTHOWX CHURCH ANO ERITREANS, COIAWNITY Nths to FknarKlal Sl•lemwl8 ConUn￿d Fty tha yaw •rthd 31 TrAt4ch 2022 511.027 AI 31 2tt2 i.OZT 1110 610 Bll*rt* 0llbifbJ21 47S.4&2 49.C 11&426 511.11• 475AOa 49.iM2 7￿lu ST KORKOS ORTHOOOX CHURCH AND ERrrREANS' COMMUNITY Nolès to th• Flnandal For th• y••r •rthd 31 PA¥ch X$22 131.1•S Z)321 I2￿41 151.553 131,1 ￿￿•r￿9 1J1.ar8 (47.$85) 1179,461> 14.2Jk 140.228 170. 144.rfr 1*221 ST KORKOS ORTHODOX CHURCH AND ERITREANS COMMUNrrY Notss to th• FIn￿Ls￿l Slat•menls Conllr#xA FOT the yw ￿dId 31 March 2022 511.e27 511.118 23,317 17qWJ)) 147.583> $11,fjZ7 453.SJS 151.$55 191. R•th¢*d Fur 21&367 (70.9rJ 144.467 9rf10 ST K¢J9KOS ORTHODOX CHURCH ANO ERITREANS. COMWNITY 0￿￿ed Sta￿￿¥1￿t of Flrwicw Acllwtos For the year eryted 31 M8¥ch 2022 ?83. 1SA79 1h70 (121) 11J.Q8) 112.710> {1W8) u*no) IOvt1 ## Sunday school The number of families joining the charity has increased year after year so is the number of children attending the Sunday school. We have almost Seventy children who regularly attend Sunday school. Some of them are born in the UK and others are those who have come over from Eritrea and Ethiopia. Even though most of the children are from Eritrea our charity is open to everyone. In the Sunday service, we try to put the children in classrooms according to their age and level of understanding of religious and other studies. The individuals who are mentoring the children have been DBS checked and all the necessary supervision is made by a designated person in every lesson. As part of getting together, we have taken a group of children to Canon Hill Park, swimming, football and other activities. Most of the children found the trip engaging, our charity is planning to do more trips to other recreation centres. We have also made efforts to communicate with other churches to share experiences. ## Some highlights ## April – May 2022 During this period, we observed the forty days of lent which was followed by Easter. Our Easter service was carried out at St, Korkos Orthodox Church and Eritreans Community at Erdington the whole congregation gathered together to pray for the risen of Jesus Chriss and to celebrate Easter. ## July 2021 In July we celebrated our annual mass at St. Korkos Orthodox Church and Eritreans Community at Erdington. The event is one of the two big church events carried out in January and July. ## January 2023 In January 2022 we celebrated our Christmas at St. Korkos Orthodox Church and Eritrean Community at Erdington. According to our church tradition, Christmas is celebrated in early January. ## February 2023 In January we celebrated our first annual event of the year 2023 all the congregation of sisters and brothers of the Eritrean orthodox church in Birmingham gathered together to celebrate the January festival of St Korkos church in Birmingham at Erdington. the entire Eritrean community in Birmingham was very excited to celebrate the January festival of St. Korkos on the new building we bought in December 2021.