## **AGM: Meeting of the Trustees (= Members), plus social event with Supporters and Volunteers** Date: Tuesday 12[h] December 2023 Time: 18:30hrs Venue: Saji’s, Gateshead - Welcome and outline of event by Chair (Mehrban Sadiq] and General Secretary [Richard Kotter] - In Attendance [in person]: Dr Iqbal Sayed (T), Richard Kotter (T), Mehrban Sadiq (T), Dr Pervez Mahmood Choudhry, Cllr Irim Ali, Lt Col Andrew Black, Kashif Rana, Lee Simpson, Javiad Iqbal, Mohammad Ayub, Naseer Mohsin, Nasir Jamil (T), Stuart Errington, Dr Naveed Anwar, Syed Ziayee, Yawar Hussain, - Apologies for absence: Iris Weber (T), Daryl Oprey (T), Muhammad Ali Anwar (T), Dr Shahid Rasul, Suleiman Sultan Hiam, Muhammad Ali Gohar, Leila Abdullah, Raja Tahir, Rashid Sadiq, Khansa Sadiq, Zeeshan Ayub These were noted, as they had been received by e-mail, Whatsapp, or verbally to the Trustees in attendance. As per the IETUK current constitution, the meeting was quorate (as a minimum of 3 Trustees were present, and with the requisite share of the overall Trustee numbers at that time, and with no objections lodged by any trustee [member] after the duly and timely given notice of this AGM (including the location, this time in Gateshead]. - Minutes of the last AGM meeting & Matters arising from previous minutes These are on the Charity Commission website, but also were available on the day in hard copy. _There were reviewed, found to be accurate, and signed off by the attendees, with no outstanding actions to be resolved._ ## **• Agenda Items** Item 1 – Report on Activities since mid-December 2022 (as previous activities in 2022 were covered in the last AGM in Newcastle on the 15st of December 2022) Mehrban Sadiq (Chair) and Richard Kotter (General Secretary) delivered a verbal update report and narrative [please see bullet points below], with taking & responding to questions also. - second half of **December 2022** and **January 2023** – arranged pick-up of IETUK [in kind, afterwards closed] West Road warehouse equipment to Wheels to Heal charity in Glasgow https://www.wheelstoheal.org.uk/ (17th of January 2023) which went to Syria, Afghanistan and Palestine (Gaza) - on 30 **January** , Kasguma Health and Welfare Trust - through IETUK received - 200 family Aqua boxes for delivery to Afghani refugees in Pakistan - 2nd **February** : IETUK on _Urdu International Times_ newspaper re. shipments-partnerships [night vision jacket, boots, firefighting uniforms, plain clothes (t-shirts, jackets) - in February 2023, IETUK supported Al Khidmat Foundation in Glasgow (flood relief in Pakistan) with material and equipment In **March** , pro-bono advice rendered by IETUK trustee to Rescue 1122 Emergency Service Academy regarding development training course on high rise residential and commercial building, especially with regard to community watch - civic responsibility for building occupants - standardized training module and content - **April** - several events - networking etc. Dialogue Society (in Newcastle upon Tyne) – Mehrban, Richard & Iris – one with an IETUK stall and otherwise networking with community and civic leaders (South Tyneside Mayor, Northumbria Police Chief Constable etc.) - [pro bono] business model consultation for IETUK NHS UK - 26 **April** – through Asian Business Connections, incl. full report (SWOT analysis etc) - 30 **May** meeting with Bangladeshi North East Association - 22 **June** visitors - Delegation from the Islamic University of Gaza to IETUK. Newcastle City Council, MP, TWFRS through Northumbria University - 29 **June** invitation to FireAid Brigade in London / **Mehrban made a trustee of UK FireAid** there - Richard and Iris there as observers - 30 **June** meeting with AquaBox team in their HQ in Mattlock, Derbyshire [Mehrban, Richard and Iris] - guided tour and then an in-depth grilling of IETUK from their leaders and discussion. Result: Satisfaction & strengthening of co-operation – we are now named as one of their partners on their website: https://aquabox.org/who-we-are/our-partners/ - 6 **July** : Asian Fire Service Association national advisers met with Mehrban in Newcastle; catch-up and strategic advice rendered to IETUK - **June** : IETUK chair (Mehrban) got invited to the “Shaun the Sheep” charity in the Newcastle Civic Centre https://www.shaunonthetyne.co.uk/ - 11 **August** meeting with Mirpur District Chairman Raja Naveed Akhtar Goga in Newcastle - insights into work of IETUK- support- work in Kashmiri - future partnership opportunities - gift of one AquaBox; IETUK mentioned in their press release - 18 **August** - Urdu PAK - partnership with Mirpur district - 21 **August** - IETUK officially attended FireAid meeting in London as member of the board of trustees [Mehrban] - 24 **August** - IETUK partnership working North East Autism Society in two mosques in Heaton and Fenham - about £6000 worth of financial family support went from that society through our connections to 23 families in the community - 13 **September** - IETUK chair invited to Army Engagement Event North East - 20 **September** - Chak Sawari Local Councillors and lead councillor Maroof and Araf from Leeds visited IETUK in Newcastle - discussion on further plans for AGK fire station - 5 **October** - received 26 bags of clothing from Durham and Darlington Police Force HQ for Libya (flooding) and Morocco (earthquake) - 5 **Octob** er received delivery 420 Aqua Boxes in (pro bona / in-kind) Sunderland warehouse for Libya and Morocco - 8 **October** Libyan Red Crescent collected the 420 Aqua Boxes - Doctor Ali from Libya - 17 **October** - Mehrban and Iqbal met communications/press adviser to President of AJK, Pakistan - 17 **October** request from Rescue 1122 in Lahore (Emergency Services Academy) regarding emergency driving instructors’ course - highway training emergency heavy and light vehicle - material made available subsequently - 19 **October** invitation to North East Asian Business Connexions Dinner Award - chair promoted IETUK - meeting with Lord Mayors of Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland, respectively • 22nd/23rd **November** : Asian Fire Service Association (AFSA) Winter conference and Awards ceremony; IETUK (Mehrban) receives national prize for impact and IETUK delegation is present on the evening for networking and collectively collects the award; this is captured during & afterwards by Asian / Pakistani digital media channels. 1st **December** : Mehrban and Richard represent IETUK at the UK Fire and Emergency Services Excellence Awards, where IETUK is a – twice over! - Finalist (aka shortlisted) in very select and illustrious company. Effective networking right across the UK during the afternoon. Earlier in the day, impromptu networking with a Mental Health U & Asan charity, and - afterwards also with Hugh Sandeman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugh sandeman-39924ab9/?originalSubdomain=uk) through Richard – both in London. ## **Item 2 – Partnership Updates for 2023/24** We are still actively carrying out a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Kasguma Health and Welfare Trust [a UK registered charity out of Oldham, in the North West of England], negotiated and signed in 2022. This negotiated (Mehrban Sadiq and Richard Kotter, in Oldham earlier on in 2022) relationship (with no costs to IETUK, and full due diligence and public sector partners [e.g. Rescue 1122] has worked well so far and has given us also more (media and visibility) exposure, as well as in-kind professional warehousing capacity and professional international logistics transport to across Pakistan. This has also been critical in 2023 again for IETUK - at no cost to itself – to ship major consignments (in terms of value and impact of in-kind technical / WASH and emergency shelter) donations) IETUK was offered and has received from AquaBox charity in Wirksworth, Derbyshire to several regions, locations, communities and families across Pakistan, Turkey / northern Syria in 2023. We are building and developing, agreed in principle in the latter part of 2022, a mutually beneficial (training, fundraising, sharing expertise) relationship with the North East Centre for Autism / Autism Society in the North East: through Mehrban Sadiq a range of communities on Tyneside had free support / training available from them. IETUK is not looking to take on staff or paid-for office premises in 2024 – we are resolved (for the time being at least) to keep out overheads to a bare minimum. We retain our strong link with the Emergency Services Academy in Lahore, Punjab, as our most significant regional hub in that region, with in-kind and logistical support from them. We are in touch constantly with Rescue 1122 in Pakistan We are in contact now also with Search and Rescue UK (> earthquake in Turkey) We are now developing a strong link with Scottish Search and Rescue Dog Team – visit to them in 2024. Continued networking with Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service – and particularly heir Wild Fire training & response team. **Future developments** - Indonesian, Bangladeshi and Ski Lanka Disaster Management authorities - received requests to work with them, and we have in-country contacts ourselves ## **Item 3 – Financial Report** Since February 2022 IETUK has a digital (only) charity banking account with Virgin Money. _**TBC**_ : A summary was tabled. The summary was discussed, and found to be sufficiently robust and informative. IETUK has no debts, no outstanding obligations, has extremely low operational costs (and no staff, offices, warehouses). A fuller annual report of activities, focussing on the major in-kind donations from various national UK channels (largely the UK emergency services (including through UK Fire Aid) plus majorly the AquaBox charity based in Wirksworth, Derbyshire (through UK Aid) will be prepared – the estimated volume that IETUK handled in 2023 is about £ 0.5 million **TBC** , not just to Pakistan but a range of countries including Morrocco and Libya (through NOT financially going to the IETUK accounts as all in-kind and not as financials and n financial transactions connected with it). ## **Item 4 – Trustee updating (retiring, continuing, and proposed to be appointed)** **Proposed:** Dr Iqbal Sayed, Nasir Jamil, Daryl Oprey, Mohammed Ali and Iris Weber to be retained as IETUK Trustees going forward, as were Mehrban Sadiq (continuing by popular request as Chair also] and Richard Kotter (continuing as General Secretary). ## **Item 5 – Fundraising and Sponsorship** Supermarkets - such as e.g. Tesco - locally may be willing to host bucket collections for IETUK causes if well communicated and targeted as part of the CSR / ESG efforts. ## **Item 7 – Charity & Team Communications** ## new website development We as IETUK communicated our work on an ongoing basis on social media (Twitter and Facebook, plus LinkedIn at times), and do present per invitation both formally and informally on our objectives, ways of working, activities and partnerships with Internationally, we also continued our key information and publicity sharing with Rescue 1122 in Pakistan - and were followed / retweeted from there / covered in their newsletters. Nationally in the UK, we were covered / featured – and present in networking and stalls – at several Asian Fire Service Association meetings across the UK and – for the first time – shortlisted also a Finalists [x2] at the UK (and international) Fire & Emergency Excellence Awards in December 2023], with IETUK supporters also out in – for instance – India to do First Aid & Emergency Response training in 2023. IETUK will develop a standard “Thank You” letter for use of communicating with donors, supporters and supporters [this can then be customised also, as needed case-by-case] in the first half of 2024. ## **Item 8 - Charity Developments:** - Charity Reporting Status - This is being addressed by Mehrban Sadiq and Richard Kotter for early 2024 [end of January target] - Website developments - We are moving on to a new website host and provider as we speak, with a tweak to the IETUK logo also [removal of country flags]. Hopefully, some parts of this – within reason [cost / budget] – will be more interactive presentation of material. - IETUK Strategic development We have had some pro-bono advise on this [e.g. from NHS strategy development, and also have had a verbal offer of more in this direction from Hugh Sandeman (London; https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugh-sandeman-39924ab9/? originalSubdomain=uk ), a non-ex director in the world of finance/business/governance and a former international journalist and banker with big corporate names but also a former national charity board member] ## **Item 8 - Any Other Business:**