To
Trustees' Annual Report for the period
Period start date Period end date 06 April 2024r 05 April 2025
From
Section A Reference and administration details
Charity name Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any) 1200328
Chiltern Welcomes
| Charity's principal address | 5thFloor |
5thFloor |
|---|---|---|
| 167-169 Great Portland Street | ||
| London | ||
| Postcode | W1W5PF |
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 |
Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted if not for whole **year ** |
Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Roberts | ||||
| Nozomi Okuyama | ||||
| Clare Freeman | Resigned May2024 | |||
| Barbra Georgellis | ||||
| Michele Christensen |
||||
| LindseyPowell | Resigned June 2024 | |||
| Sejal Sachdev | Appointed August 2024 | |||
| Maura Brady | Appointed August 2024 | |||
Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)
Name Dates acted if not for whole year
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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
CIO-Foundation
- (eg. trust, association, company)
Trustee selection methods
Appointed by existing trustees
- (eg. appointed by, elected by)
Additional governance issues (Optional information)
You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:
-
policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
-
the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
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relationship with any related parties;
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trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
Policies in Place: Volunteer Safeguarding (plus training for all) Bullying and Harassment Code of Conduct Complaints Concern Register Data Protection Digital Safety Equality Diversity and inclusion Fundraising Health and Safety Lone Working Policy and Log Policies Overview Recruitment of ex-offenders policy
Section C Objectives and activities
Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document
THE OBJECTS OF THE CIO ARE: (1) THE RELIEF OF FINANCIAL HARDSHIP AMONGST THOSE GRANTED AND SEEKING REFUGEE STATUS AND THEIR DEPENDENTS LIVING (TEMPORARILY OR PERMANENTLY) IN THE CHILTERN HILLS AND THE SURROUNDING AREA. (2) TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF THOSE GRANTED AND SEEKING REFUGEE STATUS AND THEIR DEPENDENTS IN NEED THEREOF SO AS TO ASSIST THEM TO ADAPT WITHIN A NEW COMMUNITY. (3) TO ADVANCE THE
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EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC IN GENERAL ON ISSUES RELATING TO REFUGEES AND THOSE SEEKING ASYLUM. The main objective of Chiltern Welcomes is to work with local authority and relevant organisations to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers have access to, and are provided with, the appropriate services, in the Amersham and Chesham area of the Chilterns, South Buckinghamshire
Main activities for financial year 24/25
Raffle – Collected goods/prizes and sold tickets to raise funds. Had a stall at the local market to raise awareness and sell tickets. Winners drawn at Refugee week event. Raised approx. £1000 for Chiltern Welcomes activities after costs. (Spring 2024)
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)
Amersham Refugee Week Event: Helped organise event celebrating refugees in our local area and their stories. CW had a cake sale to fundraise with approx £350 raised. A refugee was hired as the photographer, allowing him to advertise his photography business and raise funds for his family. Raised awareness through our presence at the event, speaking to local people. Children’s activities included games and craft activities. A representative from the Council joined the event and funded the craft activities. (June 2024) Peace in the Park – Mainly focused on raising awareness and fostering compassion for refugee plight and refugee families housed in our local area. A small amount of CW funds raised through cake/food sales (under £100) but Syrian and Ukrainian refugees joined us to sell traditional foods to raise funds for their own families. Children’s crafts drew in local people to find out more about the charity. (Sept 2024)
Film Night – Showed the film Midnight Traveller, a documentary made by an Afghan family, travelling across land to Europe. Filmed entirely on mobile phones. We also invited a former Afghan journalist targeted by the Taliban, now working for the BBC and living in the local area, to be our keynote speaker. She spoke about her life and journey as a refugee. Raised significant funds through ticket sales, Christmas card sales (handmade by a supporter) and sales of drinks that had been donated. A local Syrian family provided snack boxes with Syrian delicacies, which allowed them to earn some income for their family. We were pleased this event achieved numerous objectives – to raise awareness, fundraise and directly support a refugee families. Approx £600 was raised after costs. (Nov 2024)
Attempts to Source a local property – We spent considerable time and energy working with Bucks council to try to find a suitable property and bring a refugee family from Afghanistan into the local community. In this endeavour, we began working with Citizens UK, the organisation tasked by the UK government to help house Afghan resettlement refugees. Citizens UK processed all CW DBS checks and provided safeguarding training for our trustees and volunteers. Finding housing proved very difficult, due to high demand and low supply in the area driving up prices, despite fostering close links with local estate agents, A key objective of the charity, and the local council, is that any property sourced must be sustainable in light of the LHA rate, local job opportunities and wages. Achieving this proved very difficult and we lost several potential properties due to the lag between finding the property and being allocated a family by the Home Office.
When the council brought in a large Afghan family in February 2025 (housed in a council purchased property), our focus switched to helping this family settle into the local area, furnish their property and access local services.
Iftar dinner – a dinner was held at a local Lebanese restaurant for CW trustees, volunteers and the families we support. This was sponsored by a philanthropic donor and offered families the chance to feel part of a community. (March 2025)
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Family support
1) In October, we began to support a large Afghan family that had been housed in Princes Risborough. Provided support in furnishing their property sufficiently, accessing services and through donations of clothing for the children in particular. Throughout the year we provided a wide range of practical and emotional support for the family (in conjunction with the council and their case workers) including:
- Helping with food provision prior to the family being able to access universal benefit top-ups. Coordination with local food banks and direct donation of food goods.
- Organising Christmas gifts for the children through the Chiltern Toy Bank and decorations(with the family’s permission)
- Sourcing a driving instructor and coordinating with him to provide driving lessons to the husband/father of the family. He needed to drive due to complex family issues and, eventually, a workplace that he could not access by public transport. We launched a specific appeal to ‘sponsor a driving lesson’ to raise funds for his lessons, theory and practical tests, in addition to using funds raised via the raffle and other events. We were pleased when he passed his test first time in May 2025.
- Sourcing a sewing machine, overlocker and material for the mother/wife. She was a seamstress back home, and this allowed her to sew for the family and potentially make handmade goods to sell.
- Helping the mother/wife access local English language lessons. - Providing legal support and advice.
2) In February, we began to support a second family of 8, who were housed by the council in Chesham. The needs of this family were more complex due to the lack of English language skills and were in need of a wide range of furnishings/toys/clothing, practical support accessing local services, English language support and bikes for transportation.
Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)
You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:
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policy on grantmaking;
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policy programme related investment;
-
contribution made by volunteers.
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Section D Achievements and performance
Main Achievements in 2024-2025 Summary of the main Continued raising of awareness about refugee issues amongst the local achievements of the charity community through community events such as refugee week, Peace in during the year the Park and film nights. Came to the conclusion that it would be very difficult to source refugee accommodation ourselves due to high costs of local rent, making private rental unaffordable for families on UC and unsustainable in the long-term without a top up. Our focus was therefore better placed on supporting our existing families to integrate into the community, access the job market and learn English. Providing concrete, practical support for two local refugee families. Through regular visits to the families, Christmas activities and events such as the Iftar dinner. Through these events, we also helped the families begin to feel part of a community, knowing they had support they could call on when needed. We raised funds to support the families. These funds allowed us to not only provide crucial necessities such as food packages on occasion but also allowed us to help one husband/father gain his driving license, essential for him to access the job market (and gain employment which would allow him to access UC top up) and help provide English lessons for the other family, amongst other things. Provided opportunities for local refugees to earn some additional income for their families through the selling of homemade baked goods under the CW stall at Peace in the Park, Refugee Week and our Film night, as well as one refugee working as official CW photographer at Refugee Week.
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Section E Financial review
Reserves held in 2024-2025 tax year were the result of donations and Brief statement of the fundraising. Our policy for reserves is to ensure we have sufficient funds charity’s policy on reserves in case of emergency needs of a local refugee family.
Formal reserve policy still to be written and approved.
We returned the philanthropist fund (£7500) this year, specifically Details of any funds materially earmarked for 6 months housing, which we had received in tax year in deficit 2023-2024.
Further financial review details (Optional information)
Principal sources of funding come from fundraising events and donations You may choose to include direct to bank account and via CAF. additional information, where relevant about:
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The expenses in 2024-2025 were administrative, including third party
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• the charity’s principal insurance, business card printing, and screening rights for our film night.
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sources of funds (including any fundraising);
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how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
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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) Nozomi Okuyama Position (eg Secretary, Chair, Trustee etc) Date 26 January 2026
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| Charity Name | Charity Name | Charity Name | Charity Name | Charity Name | No (if any) | No (if any) | No (if any) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For the period from |
06/04/24 Period start date |
To | Period end date 05/04/25 |
|||||
| Section A Receipts and payments | ||||||||
| A1 Receipts | 1,676 - 2,228 - - - - - 3,904 - - - 3,904 294 266 - 1,063 - - - - 1,623 - - - 1,623 Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7,500 - - - - - - 7,500 - - - 7,500 Restricted funds to the nearest £ |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
|||||
| Donations | 1,676 | |||||||
| RAHMAN WASIM Wasim Donation | - | |||||||
| Fund Raising | 2,228 | |||||||
| - | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) | 3,904 | |||||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||
| Sub total | - | |||||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
||||||||
| Fundraising costs | 294 | |||||||
| Administration costs | 266 | |||||||
| RAHMAN WASIM Wasim Refund of Donation | - | |||||||
| Refugee support | 1,063 | |||||||
| - | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||
| Sub total | 1,623 | |||||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
||||||||
| - | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||
| Sub total | - | |||||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
||||||||
| 9,123 ## | # 9,123 | |||||||
| - 9,123 - - - |
||||||||
| 2,281 # | # | - 7,500 # | # | - 9,123 | 9,123 # | # | ||
| - | - | - | ||||||
| 10,085 | - | - | ||||||
| 4,866 | - | - | 4,866 # | # |
| Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B5 Liabilities Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Details Cash at Bank Details Details Details Details Signature Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
to nearest £ to nearest £ 4,866 - - - - - 4,866 - OK OK to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Print Name Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) |
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CC16a
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Last year
to the nearest £
891 7,500 1,690 0 0 0 0 10,081
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0
0
10,081
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354 96 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 450
0 450 9,631 0 454 10,085
Endowment funds
to nearest £
10,085 0 0 10,085
Agreement Error
Endowment funds
to nearest £
0 0 0 0 0 0
Current value (optional)
0 0 0 0 0
Current value (optional)
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
When due (optional)
Date of approval