## **Harrogate and Knaresborough District of Sanctuary AGM November 26[th] 2024 - Summary of Business**
## **The Trustees**
The Board of Trustees currently comprises six of us – Margaret Bond, Chair; Past Chairman John Harris; Dennis Brickles, Treasurer; Derek Gibson, Volunteer Coordinator; Hilary Gardner, Public Awareness; Tamanna Krami, Resettled Families. Since our last AGM Charlotte McEvoy who joined us as secretary has resigned.
The existing team cannot go on indefinitely and new Trustees are needed if HKDoS is to survive and not befall the same fate as Ripon City of Sanctuary, so if you feel inclined to become a Trustee, please get in touch for more information. I would be particularly pleased to welcome someone with website skills, even if these are rudimentary.
## chair@harrogatedistrict.cityofsanctuary.org
## **Refugees**
There are at present around 50 resettled families in the district, with no plans for any more to arrive before the end of the year. However, the go ahead has been given by NYC to take part in the Local Authority Housing Fund Round 3 but it will be some time before all the properties are purchased and made ready. There will be up to 11 properties and Jonathan Spencer from NYC has asked for the bulk to be in the Harrogate/Knaresborough/Ripon area but the reality will depend upon affordability so it’s unlikely that all 11 will be in our area. The scheme is spread over 2024/25 and 2025/26. Hopefully, 5 properties will be purchased by next March and the remainder by March 2026.
There have been several new arrivals this year and all have been provided with a befriender.
## **Social events**
There have been several social events for refugees since our last AGM.
Around Christmas time 2023 we paid for a large group to attend the pantomime at Harrogate Theatre and in January 2024 we funded a Christmas / New Year party for Ukrainians at Chain Lane.
In May we hosted a gathering at the Friends Meeting House for over 100 Afghans, including those from Skipton and the relatively new families from Ripon, to give all the families old and new a chance to get to know one another. Rascals entertainment and a face painter did a wonderful job keeping all the children very happy. We used an outside catering company from Batley who arrived with the biggest pots imaginable of rice and various dishes, all still hot in spite of the 30 mile journey. We had expected to cover all the costs of this event from our funds
but actually NYC picked up the tab, thanks to Jonathan Spencer who thought it was such a worthwhile event.
Our next planned event – a summer picnic at Conyngham Hall – unfortunately did not happen. These days we tend to think that weather forecasts are fairly accurate and so when, on the Thursday before the event, the Met Office predicted non-stop rain for the weekend, we took them at their word. There is nowhere to shelter at Conyngham, so we felt we had to cancel. It was therefore embarrassing to say the least, and disappointing, when Saturday dawned dry and sunny and remained so all day.
Recently 18 of our Ukrainian refugees were guests of Harrogate Symphony Orchestra who kindly gave us tickets for their first concert of the season. We were very moved by some of the comments received afterwards – here are a couple of extracts: “I found peace of mind” and “this opportunity gave the feeling that we continue to live”
Our next planned event is a New Year Party for the Afghan families on Sunday 12th January at the Friends Meeting House. We have booked Rascals again to entertain the children and have decided to do English Afternoon Tea for a change. This is probably going to be quite labourintensive on the day so please volunteer to come along to help if you can. Please let Derek know if you are willing to help.
derekgibson149@gmail.com
## **English classes**
Through NYC grants we continue to fund English classes for Ukrainians. Mel and Anna each teach two classes per week, both of which are full, with high attendance levels and which are much appreciated. And to quote Mel: “the real joy comes from seeing their faces when they have learned something new and they can show me that they understand it”.
Elina also continues to run her conversation classes for which we pay the room hire at St Robert’s Club.
Funding from NYC also allows us to pay for English at Home which Nina Jolly coordinates with her volunteers.
## **Sewing Group**
We are very grateful to Ivana Gardner whose initiative it was to run a sewing group. This has been very successful. HKDoS has paid for the hire of the Sewing Sanctuary in Princes Street and for materials and Ivana has given her time free. She and her group of eight ladies from Afghanistan, Ukraine and Hong Kong have met weekly and have concentrated on making floor seats and cushions to donate to newly arrived refugee families. So far, they have made 15 of each! To quote Ivana “… it has been a great privilege to enable the ladies to come somewhere where they can chat and forget about their problems”.
## **Homework club**
The group set up in Knaresborough and supported by us folded earlier this year as attendance fell.
Similarly the Ukrainian school which ran for a few months, folded at the start of this academic year.
Currently we fund the room hire for a small English conversation group running in Knaresborough for women for whom the NYC lessons are too challenging.
We had hoped to extend the homework club idea into Harrogate although logistically this wasn’t feasible as the area is too big to have a central location. The issue of refugee children’s needs has however continued to concern us. Dennis and I have recently spoken at length with two Primary school headteachers and it is very clear to us that if they are typical, in the primary sector refugee children are receiving excellent care and help where needed. The issues which could well need more one to one help arise in the secondary sector, so we have been delighted to recruit as a volunteer a teacher of English from Harrogate High School who is tutoring refugee students studying GCSE English and we feel that this is something that could be expanded if we are made aware of specific needs and if we can gain the support of more secondary teachers.
## **Refugee Week 2024**
This year we joined forces with Harrogate Film Society, presenting two films relevant to the occasion. The first was a cartoon from Ukraine which was enjoyed by a large audience many of whom were Ukrainian. The second film was The Old Oak, a Ken Loach film telling the story of the arrival of a Syrian refugee family placed in an impoverished former mining village in County Durham. A bonus that evening was the appearance of the main star of the film, Dave Turner, who spoke with great enthusiasm about the making of the film, about Ken Loach, and about his own unexpected rise to stardom from being a retired firefighter. Our public awareness group made good use of the opportunity to promote the charity and their display gave a good overview of the plight of refugees.
## **Refugee week 2025**
We are currently planning for refugee week June 2025, We have contacted many cultural groups in the Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon area hoping to encourage them to contribute in some way to celebrating the week. The Mercer Gallery has agreed to work on a project with Refugee women culminating in a small exhibition and several other organisations have expressed an interest in participating.
## **Schools of Sanctuary**
Dennis is working with the Federation of Schools comprising Beckwithshaw, Ripley and Kettlesing on their application to become Schools of Sanctuary and we hope that they will have fulfilled all the criteria by Easter 2025. The journey is quite challenging and requires wholeschool commitment.
**REMINDER** to all volunteers: please ensure that you DBS certification is up to date – ie under three years old. If you need it renewing, please contact Dennis: treasurer@harrogatedistrict.cityofsanctuary.org
_IF YOU NO LONGER WISH TO RECEIVE COMMUNCATIONS FROM HKDoS PLEASE LET US KNOW AND YOUR NAME WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE LIST OF MEMBERS / VOLUNTEERS_ Best wishes to you all for a Happy Christmas and New Year, and thank you for your support. Margaret
## **Harrogate District of Sanctuary**
## **Statement of Accounts Financial Year 2024**
|Income 2024|||
|---|---|---|
|Subscriptons|£335||
|Donatons|£2360||
|Grants|£26470||
|Fundraising|£625||
|Afghan Kitchen|£1000||
|Loan repaid|£300||
||||
|TOTAL
INCOME|£31090||
|Expenditure 2024|||
|DBS,training,schools||£128|
|Insurance||£444|
|Familysupport||£1241|
|Statonery,equipment and meetngs||£974|
|Refugee Week and campaigning||£229|
|Two Ridings Foundaton smallgroupsproject||£2327|
|Afghan Kitchen||£1000|
|Language provision – Resetlement families
Languageprovision - Ukrainians||£1651
£16668|
|Social events – Resetlement families
Social events - Ukrainians||£102
£920|
|TOTAL EXPENDITURE||£25684|
|**In year net total**||£5406|
|**Opening balance 1st January 2023**||**£17312**|
|**Closing balance 31st December 2023**||**£22718**|
Chair
Treasurer
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examiner's
report on the accounts
Section A
Independent Examiner's Report
Report to the trusteesl
members of
Harrogale and Knaresborough District of Sanctuary
On accounts lorthe year
ended
31SI of December 2024
Charity no
lif any)
1183095
Set out on pages
I report lo the Iruslees on my examination of the accounts of the above
charity for the year ended 3111212024.
Rosponsibillties and As the charity Iruslees, you are responsible for the preparation of the
basis of report accounts In accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011.
I report in respect of my examination of the charlly's accounts carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in Carrying out my examination, I
have followed the applicable directions given by the Charity Commission
under section 145{5llbl of the Act.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have
me to my attention in connection with the examinalion which gives me
cause to believe that in, any material respect..
accounting records wer& not kepl in accordance with section 130 of
the Act or
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
Independent
examlner's slatement
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connectlon
with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a
proper understanding of the accounts lo be reached.
Signed..
Date:
Name..
Abdul Qudeir Khan
Relevant professlonal
quallfication{sl or body
Ilf any)..
FMAAT
FCPA
Address..
Unil 27, Batley Enterprise Centre
513 Bradford Road, Batley
WF17 8LL