2025-08-31-accounts - Derbyshire Refugee Solidarity

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Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date 01 09 2024 21 08 2025

From

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name

Derbyshire Refugee Solidarity

Other names charity is known by

Registered charity number (if any) 1179384

Charity's principal address 53 Leaper Street

Derby

Postcode DE1 3NB

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee(if any)
Charlie Stevens	Fundraisinglead		Trusteegroup
Steve Cooke	Chair, Treasuer
Coral McDonnell	SafeguardingLead
Aso Gabare		From April 2024
Taran Cheema		From April 2024
Vanessa Tissington		From April 2024

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole year

March 2012

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Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information) Type of adviser Name Address Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document Constitution

(eg. trust deed, constitution)

How the charity is constituted Charitable Incorporated Organsation (eg. trust, association, company) Trustee selection methods Appointed by existing trustees and management team after inviting (eg. appointed by, elected by) applications

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include Trustees have the Charity Commission guidelines on Trustee additional information, where responsibilties. relevant, about: • policies and procedures Everyone attending DRS sessions is a volunteer. adopted for the induction and Volunteers lead on specialist roles. Eg Music, gardening, English lessons, Bike maintenance, Kitchen duties, Cleaning , Sewing repairs, Help Desk training of trustees; • the charity’s organisational Julie James , volunteer coordinator and Steve Cooke Premises manager structure and any wider are day to day managers and keyholders. network with which the charity works; Part of Derby City of Sanctuary network. • relationship with any related Major risks discussed in safeguarding team meetings Coral McDonnell , parties; Julie James and Steve Cooke. • trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

Section C Objectives and activities

1. The relief and assistance of refugees and those seeking asylum in any part of the world who are the victims of war or natural disaster, trouble, or catastrophe in particular by the supply of aid to such persons through providing: grants, items and services to Summary of the objects of the charities and other organisations with similar objectives. charity set out in its governing document 2. The relief and assistance of asylum seekers and refugees and their dependents living (temporarily or permanently) in Derby and Derbyshire by providing items, services and practical support.

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----- Start of picture text -----
3. To advance the education of the public in general about issues
relating to refugees and those seeking asylum by promoting and
providing activities which foster understanding.
4. To empower refugees and asylum seekers in Derby by offering
English conversation and/or grammar sessions, thereby increasing
confidence, integration and employability between people from
diverse backgrounds.
Trustees have been made aware of , and have regard to the CC
guidance on public benefit.
The main activities are listed below in achievements of DRS through the
year.
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)
----- End of picture text -----

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

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No financial investments for gain.

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

policy on grantmaking;
policy programme related investment;
contribution made by volunteers.

Section D Achievements and performance

How has this objective been achieved?

Aid trips to Refugee camps

Two deliveries of aid to the Hastings delivery hub for onward delivery to Calais C4C Donations to Refugee support groups

Donations to other support groups totalled £.2000. This was nearly significantly lesse than the previous year.
Beneficiaries include , Herts for Refugees ( tents for Calais) Rohinga refugees in Bangladesh., FoRefugees and the DEC Gaza appeal
Moses baskets project
Moses baskets project has ended but we still distribute donated baskets to TOGS Derby childrens clothing bank

Fundraising

Grant applications totalled £32690 and was just over double the previous year. This year included grants from |Jeffery Weller trust, Places trust, Blue Thread, Urban Housing,Local Welcome CAD, Teachers union, Debys council for clothes.
One off donations amounted to£14344 with some large individual donations.
Dent the Rent is still surpassing the rent and internet cost and totalled £3744 , ensuring general premises costs are also covered without eating into other donations.This is roughly the same as the previous year.
During the year 37 individuals made direct debits.
Clothes sales continued with ad hoc events achieving around £1284. This total includes the Harriet Merry auction sale.
Gift Aid refund came to £1015

March 2012

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Section D Achievements and performance

2. The relief and assistance of asylum seekers and refugees and their dependents living (temporarily or permanently) in Derby and Derbyshire by providing items, services and practical support.

How has this objective been achieved?

Activities in Derbyshire

Regular distribution of clothes to new asylum seekers arriving at DRS each week. One item from each of shoes, coat, hoodie etc to each new person.
Total spend on ‘Items for Refugees’ which includes clothes was £28275 which was just under £4k more than previous years
Suitcases collected and distributed for those moving on from Derby
Twice weekly community centre activities with increasing numbers attending every week. Table football, pool , english lessons , music , art and gardening at St Annes. Numbers continued to peak at over 120.
Twice weekly allotment sessions at the the Lottie garden at Rowditch allotments. A significant investment was over £1000 for a new workshop shed.
Several Shining Cliffs trip thanks again to the amazing Wild Things team for hosting the days with so many wonderful activities.
Day out to Cromford
Peak District outing enjoyed by everyone on a full coach to Hartington
Bikes: Ongoing - supplying refurbished cycles to local refugees along with essential safety equipment. Bike expenses totalled £5381 ; a drop of £2390 reflecting decision to stop giving bikes to the hotel and hostel asylum seekers
Around 150 bikes refurbished and delivered to local asylum seekers before the scheme was reduced.
Continued volunteer work on bike repaits; up to 30 bike repairs every week.
Regular signposting asylum seekers to other support organisations across Derby, for example the Warm Welcome monthly lunches.
Music group played at various events during the year raising funds and raising awareness of the asylum process.
Provision of crockery and cutlery at DRS from public donations
Second hand laptops provided and waiting list created
Monthly football sessions at The Willows Sports Centre and the annual Sports Day again proved really popular with adults and children taking part in everything from egg and spoon race to the Tug o’ War.
Small cricket team regular games.
DRS runs the Derby 10k. 5 free places for asylum seekers and a team of 13 raised over £1000 and everyone finishing..
DRS annual sports day again a big success with families and single asylum seekers all taking part together.
Pride Park tours again very popular thanks to Derby County Community Trust
Radio and TV interviews on Sky, Channel 4, BBC East Midlands and ITV
DRS closed again during September a. National Refugee Week activities
ParkRun with Refugees…. Thanks to Wirksworth running club , Team Derby Runners and Markeaton Parkrun for continued support and many pairs of trainers.
Open day with at DRS and stands at the Welcome Derby open day at the Museum of Making
Music group played regular sessions during the day.
Regular local litter picking organised by asylum seeker volunteers

March 2012

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Section D Achievements and performance

3. To advance the education of the public in general about issues relating to refugees and those seeking asylum by promoting and providing activities which foster understanding.

Visit and presentation by asylum seekers to St Marys school Chesterfield
National Refugee week activities meeting general public.
DRS volunteers attend protests in Long Eaton .
Radio and TV interviews.
Coop community evening presentation
political candidates acccepted invitations to visit DRS and talk about asylum issues.
Daily protests at Loughborough Immigration office supporting asylum seekers who may be detained for deportation to Rwanda

4. To empower refugees and asylum seekers in Derby by offering English conversation and/or grammar sessions, thereby increasing confidence, integration and employability between people from diverse backgrounds.

How has this objective been achieved?

Twice weekly English lessons continue with brand new 52 week English curriculum resources developed by volunteer.
Increased team of tutors. The numbers vary but 6 – 10 tutors usually available
Classroom used in church
Continued Investment in resources and teaching aids, eg mobile whiteboard, mini whiteboards
Regular games sessions including bingo to support English Learning and mental health
Fr Giles , priest at St Annes continues to open the church for English and music sessions
Regular help desk sessions with two volunteers helping with CV writing
Regular visits from DWP helping with Universal Credit etc
Help desk support increasing with twice weekly sessions with one to four volunteers

Finally and most importantly a massive THANK YOU to all our volunteers through the year without whom this long list of achievements would not have been possible

March 2012

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Section D Achievements and performance

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year

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Section E Financial review

Brief statement of the DRS policy is to donate surplus cash to other organisations helping charity’s policy on reserves refugees in other parts of the world. Eg Care4Calais in France. Trustees agreed reserves to be around £2k to ensure we can pay main overheads for 1 year Details of any funds materially None in deficit

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include Direct Debit payments by 37 volunteers pays for rent and internet
additional information, where connection for DRS and adjoining church and mission house.
relevant about: • the charity’s principal Funds also generated by music events , grant applications, clothes sources of funds (including sales etc. any fundraising);
• how expenditure has Expenditure always supports key objectives supported the key objectives We don’t have financial investments.
of the charity;
• investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

Section F Other optional information

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Full name(s) Steve Cooke Position (eg Secretary, Chair, Chair, Treasurer etc)

March 2012

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Date 0610512026 TAR March 2012

DRS CASH FLOW 01/09/2024 - 31/08/2025 RECEIPTS One off donation RECEIPTS Dent the rent donation RECEIPTS Regular donation RECEIPTS Warehouse sales RECEIPTS Event sales / donations RECEIPTS Grants RECEIPTS Merchandise sales RECEIPTS Weigh in sales RECEIPTS Gift Aid RECEIPTS Petty cash banked RECEIPTS Paypal banked EXPENSES Bike scheme EXPENSES Rent EXPENSES Premises expenses EXPENSES Refreshments EXPENSES Sport / days out volunteers EXPENSES Items for volunteers EXPENSES Event expenses EXPENSES Advertising EXPENSES Bank Charges EXPENSES Donations to other charities EXPENSES Activity supplies EXPENSES Entertainment EXPENSES Merchandise expenses EXPENSES Travel expenses EXPENSES Misc - to categorise EXPENSES Items for donation EXPENSES Paypal Charges TOTAL CASH IN / OUT BANK Balance b/fwd PETTY CASH Balance b/fwd PAYPAL Balance b/fwd TOTAL CASH Balance b/fwd TOTAL CASH Balance c/fwd	9 2024 10 2024 11 2024 12 2024 1 2025 2 2025 3 2025 4 2025 5 2025 6 2025 7 2025 8 2025 Sep-24 Oct-24 Nov-24 Dec-24 Jan-25 Feb-25 Mar-25 Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 £250 £6,325 £2,181 £1,522 £1,495 £1,239 £1,501 £3,812 £1,172 £2,382 £1,723 £534 £343 £338 £318 £348 £346 £338 £338 £343 £353 £353 £353 £336 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £10 £15 £10 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £70 £0 £0 £0 £62 £0 £0 £0 £307 £46 £0 £0 £0 £0 £2 £0 £30 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £12,500 £6,500 £0 £1,000 £1,500 £1,000 £2,350 £8,000 £990 £350 £111 £0 £35 £691 £0 £0 £0 £0 £18 £72 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £60 £0 £0 £0 £0 £60 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £1,016 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £763 £6,663 £15,104 £9,060 £1,843 £2,587 £3,446 £5,225 £4,909 £10,806 £3,372 £1,266 £165 £783 £457 £836 £346 £428 £252 £956 £238 £312 £319 £289 £200 £200 £200 £200 £200 £200 £200 £200 £200 £200 £400 £200 £136 £117 £167 £161 £81 £2,501 £911 £275 £308 £138 £96 £75 £194 £110 £292 £339 £552 £425 £515 £361 £283 £228 £99 £445 £720 £52 £394 £0 £628 £932 £445 £557 £0 £1,433 £744 £0 £174 £2,535 £3,915 £2,711 £2,157 £3,004 £3,149 £3,223 £8,311 £3,551 £1,645 £1,640 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £1,502 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £500 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £65 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £260 £0 £0 £0 £60 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £200 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £3 £0 £6 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £1 £1 £1 £1 £1 £1 £1 £1 £1 £1 £1 £1 £1,593 £3,799 £5,432 £5,750 £4,029 £7,491 £5,674 £5,834 £9,341 £5,863 £3,804 £2,710 -£830 £2,864 £9,672 £3,311 -£2,186 -£4,904 -£2,227 -£609 -£4,433 £4,943 -£432 -£1,444 £11,890 £11,030 £13,864 £23,506 £26,787 £24,741 £19,805 £17,523 £16,561 £11,615 £16,426 £15,958 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £45 £75 £105 £135 £165 £25 £57 £112 £465 £978 £1,110 £1,145 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK £11,935 £11,105 £13,969 £23,641 £26,952 £24,766 £19,862 £17,634 £17,025 £12,592 £17,536 £17,104 £11,105 £13,969 £23,641 £26,952 £24,766 £19,862 £17,634 £17,025 £12,592 £17,536 £17,104 £15,659
		TOTAL 2024/25

		£24,133 £4,107 £35 £485 £32 £34,190 £926 £60 £1,076 £0 £0
		£65,043

		£5,383 £2,600 £4,965 £3,843 £5,905 £36,016 £0 £0 £0 £2,002 £65 £320 £200 £9 £0 £0 £12
		£61,319
		£3,724 £0 £11,935 £15,659

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