Marlow Refugee Action: Trustees Annual Report for the period 1[st] October 2020 – 30[th] September 2021
Registration Number: 1180428
Address:
8 Carver Hill Road High Wycombe Buckinghamshire HP11 2TY
Trustees:
Tania Baldwin-Pask
Vanessa Faulkner
Tom Doust
Sian Herschel
Julie Purves
Sarah Jones
Nicola Anne Monk
Suzanne Bell (appointed 16/05/2021)
Introduction
The Trustees present their annual report and financial statement for the charity for the period 1[st] October 2020 – 30[th] September 2021. This is our third annual report, following the formation of the charity.
Charity Structure
The charity is constituted under our Governing Document registered 24[th] October 2018. The Trustees that were appointed at the formation of the charity remain in place, having been invited to become Trustees by the founders, Vanessa Faulkner and Tom Doust. Suzanne Bell was appointed as a Trustee on 16[th] May 2021. The founders are expected to stand down in the near future.
The Trustees meet quarterly to agree the broad strategy and areas of activity for the Trust, including consideration of grant making, fund raising activities, awareness raising, recruitment of volunteers and the requirement for policies and procedures (such as Volunteer Code of Conduct, Disciplinary Procedures, Grievance Procedures, Safeguarding and GDPR).
Our Mission is ‘Translating the Global Refugee Crisis into meaningful local action’.
Objectives
We are still working with the objectives agreed in August 2020 when we held a strategic review where we identified three key focus areas:
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Firstly, building on what has been achieved already to grow the community of people in Marlow who care about the issues impacting refugee and want to support the work that is being done
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Working with key groups such as schools
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Finding innovative ways to tell the real life stories that describe the real issues and also the success stories
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Secondly, to build Partnerships locally and internationally, which are supporting refugees and delivering meaningful results
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Thirdly, to raise funds to support these Partnerships
This is represented in the following InfoGraphic:
Achievements and Performance Our key achievements over the period of this report are:
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We continued to provide financial support for a leased building for the Legal Centre on Samos. Samos is one of the Greek Islands, just 5km from Turkey. This is our fourth year of providing support for them. Over the past year we have donated £3,195 towards the rent and running costs of a legal centre to provide free and independent legal counselling to assist refugees in navigating the Greek asylum procedure. The Centre provides a calm and professional space where lawyers from Avocats Sans Frontières France (ASF-France) in collaboration with volunteers from the Berlin Refugee Law Clinic can work with clients. This is covered by an ongoing single donor to MRA – see below.
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In November 2020 we started as a new partnership with Action for Education in Greece. We have funded two projects: (i) funding for the Nest education centre on Samos (since moved to Athens); and (ii) accommodation support for refugee community teachers. In total we provided funding of £6,458.
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Wycombe Refugee Partnership is our main local partnership. We have provided funding for various initiatives most recently a £1000 hardship fund to be used to support any of their hosted families in particular need.
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We have formed a new partnership with Distribute Aid and are funding £3000 towards their logistics expansion into in-kind donations. As of September 2020 the money was already helping to get 2 big ‘in-kind’ shipments in transit with a benefit value of £257k.
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We have also responded to requests for small grants, including additional grants to Just Action Samos and The Free Shop Lebanon.
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Our ability to run fundraising events was impacted by COVID-19. Nevertheless, we held a number of awareness-building and fundraising events around Refugee Week (15-21 June 2020). This included “On the Move” where we raised funds by walking, cycling, running or swimming the distance between Marlow and Damascus. In total 4,172 km was travelled (just 55 km away from our final "virtual" destination). ~£3,000 was raised. This was also a great community event as we had participation from the children of Marlow Church of England Infant School who raised £419 by walking a lap of the school grounds every day.
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Further support during Refugee Week came from another local school, Spinfield School, where the Year 6 students produced and sold eco bags for life, made from unwanted bed linen. This was done as part of their British Council International School Award and was achieved in partnership with Spinfield’s link school in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. In total £305 was raised.
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Other awareness-building and fundraising events included a plant sale, participation in an on-line event with Buckinghamshire Museum, an interview on Marlow FM and a hosted virtual evening with author Marion Molteno
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We have an active group of volunteers who assist us with event planning, production of a newsletter, financial management and we also have an active prayer group.
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We provide updates through a regular newsletter to a database of interested people (GDPR compliant).
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We receive a number of regular donations including a monthly donation of £250 from the Farnfield Charitable Trust which is to support the Samos Legal Centre. This is a restricted fund.
Financial Review
Bank
Current account @ 1 October 2020 £12,202.14 Current account @ 30 September 2021 £11,151.07 Difference - £1,051.07
- Balance of Income over Expenditure £1,051.07
| Expenditure Income |
Expenditure Income |
Expenditure Income |
|---|---|---|
| Bank charges | £72.00 | |
| Books | £108.00 | |
| Candles | £106.62 | £295.00 |
| Donations | £16,177.41 | |
| Expenses | £84.89 | |
| Funding | £16,243.36 | |
| Tickets | £1,124.61 | |
| Grand Total £17,631.48 £16,580.41 |
Income
| Books | £108.00 |
|---|---|
| Donations | £16,177.41 |
| Candles | £295.00 |
Special details included in Donations below
| Spinfield School | £305.10 |
|---|---|
| Marlow CoE School(Sandygate) | £419.19 |
| Collectingboxes | £109.67 |
| Plant sales | £575.83 |
| All Saints event | £59.70 |
Expenditure
Bank charges £72.00 Candles £106.62 Expenses £84.89 Funding (detail below) £16,243.36
| Action for Education | £6,457.95 |
|---|---|
| ANKAAgarden | £90.00 |
| Distribute Aid | £3,000.00 |
| InterEuropean Human Aid Association | £1,000.00 |
| Just Action | £500.00 |
| Samos Volunteers | £3,195.41 |
| Second Tree | £500.00 |
| The Free ShopLebanon | £300.00 |
| Wycombe Refugee Partnership | £1,000.00 |
| Wycombe Youth for Christ | £200.00 |