**Trustees of Furness Refugee Support-First Annual Report on 2023 covering October 2022 to December 2023** ## **Registered Charity Number 1201677** ## **Registered Office** 5 Ainslie Street Ulverston LA12 7JE ## **Trustees** Kim Farr, Chair from 1/1/23 Linda Wood, Vice Chair from 1/1/23 Liz Hill, Secretary from 1/1/23 John Brice, outgoing Treasurer from 1/1/23 Frankie Baker, incoming Treasurer from 1/1/24 Pamela Harper from 1/1/24 Trustees meet every two months and volunteers have a monthly planning meeting. The charity has due regard to the guidance published by the Charity Commission on public benefit. Furness Refugee Support is a CIO with a constitution and the AGM is held in February. Furness Refugee Support has been running since 2015 but only registered as a charity in 2023 due to a dramatic increase in workload following the standing up of two asylum hotels in Barrow by the Home Office. This meant we had to raise very much more money each month and so could no longer operate as a “Small Charity”. The original four trustees of the charity have been involved since the very early days of the group and were obvious choices to be trustees of the registered charity. ## **Bankers** Barclays Bank, 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP CAF Bank Ltd, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ. The objects of the CIO are: - To advance the education and training of asylum seekers, those granted refugee status and those fleeing conflict and persecution and their dependents in need thereof so as to advance them in life and assist them to adapt within and contribute to a new community. - To provide opportunities for recreation or other leisure time occupation with the object of improving the conditions of life of those persons who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disablement, financial hardship, immigration status or social and economic circumstances. - To support the physical and mental health of those granted refugee status and their dependants, asylum seekers and those fleeing conflict and persecution - To relieve financial hardship amongst asylum seekers, those fleeing conflict and persecution and those granted refugee status and their dependents living (temporarily or permanently) in the Furness area. - To relieve the challenge of unemployment (immediately or in the future) of those granted refugee status, those fleeing conflict and persecution and those seeking asylum in the United Kingdom, and in particular in the Furness area, by the provision of vocational and skills training, advice and support. - To advance the education of the public in general about the issues relating to refugees and those seeking asylum. ## **Achievements** This year has seen changes in the ways we are working and introduced us to two new groups of people. We are now supporting resettled families, Ukrainian guests (mostly women and children) and asylum seekers (males on their own in hotels, males on their own in dispersal accommodation and families in dispersal accommodation). We use our facebook pages and regular texts and emails for communicating and we have also updated our website. The Chair of FRS has regularly attended meetings with W&F and Serco throughout the year and has worked closely with CVS and other Refugee Groups concerning the safety of volunteers and sharing of experiences. Members of the group have accessed some training offered by other organisations and we are putting training on ourselves for volunteers. The wide range of activities we have organised included: - An Epiphany Party for Ukrainians in January in Ulverston - A trip to Brantwood for Ukrainians in April - A New Year party for all our groups in Barrow in January - Volunteering opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers at the Community Allotment on Walney with Art Gene - Countryside walks for refugee and asylum seekers with volunteers. - A short break for resettled refugee families at Rookhow in May - A picnic at Furness Abbey with resettled refugee families and Ukrainians in August - Eid celebrations in June for everyone - Attendance at the Lantern Procession in Ulverston in September for resettled refugee families - Attendance at a brass bands concert in Ulverston in October for asylum seekers - A Winter Cinema series for asylum seekers in partnership with Signal Films - Attendance at the annual Candlelit Walk in October in Ulverston for Ukrainians - A Christmas Party in December for families and individuals seeking asylum, resettled families and local families and volunteers ## **English Language Development/Education** Volunteers supported people from resettled families in their own homes or via social media as friends and we estimate 1000 hours of support were dedicated to conversational English, and a further 300 hours for structured language support including email conversations to develop written English and expand specific vocabulary such as helping a Syrian woman work towards a career in Health and Social Care, supporting a Syrian family towards their Life in the UK and English tests, supporting two Syrian boys to make a good start in reading at the beginning of school and supporting a teenage Syrian boy with GCSEs and applications for college and an apprenticeship. Private online ESOL teaching was used when appropriate. Nine year old twins of one Syrian family were struggling at school so, in partnership with the school, we have continued to provide private booster sessions from a primary school teacher for two 1 hour slots a week. Volunteers, guided by two experienced teachers (also volunteers), have developed teaching materials and are delivering two hours of English classes each week to the gentlemen from the two asylum hotels in Barrow and up to eight families and fourteen men in dispersal accommodation by the end of 2023 . Class sizes are usually around 20 to 30. Now that many of the gentlemen have been in the UK for over 6 months the Council are delivering ESOL classes for them, but there are many who do not qualify and many who go to whatever classes are in place. To support this learning we have bought Collins English Visual Dictionaries for all who want them and rent a weekly space from The Drop Zone in Barrow. Partnership working with educational publisher CGP Books (through one of our volunteers) has provided life skills books for the asylum seekers, GCSE books for the Syrian teenager and primary books for the nine year old twins. Driving: one Syrian woman has passed her test this year and one man from Afghanistan is currently having lessons. In the past six years we have supported 12 people to pass their driving tests at the cost of approximately £1200 per person and we have offered six lessons to the teenage son of one Syrian family where we have put both his parents through their tests. The women from Afghanistan seem a little slower to show commitment to learning to drive. We are currently only offering this expensive support to families with refugee status. FRS have provided laptops/tablets to families to facilitate the learning for children in particular. We have a meeting with Barrow Library arranged in the New Year to see if we can collaborate in this area. ## **Community Integration & Social** We have continued to work closely with Furness Multicultural Community Forum (FMCCF), the Salvation Army, W&F staff, Signal Film and Media and Art Gene. FRS regularly contributes to and attends Eid and other events organised by FMCCF such as the Unity Festival which are attended by resettled families, Ukrainians and asylum seekers. Taking part in the Forum's events has enabled the resettled families, Ukrainians and asylum seekers to socialise with other families from around the world as well as local Cumbrian families. We supported the Festival of Colours and joint events with the Ukrainians from Grange over Sands. The resettled families have been supported to attend a 3 day break at Rookhow, the picnic at Furness Abbey, the two Eid celebrations, the Lantern Procession in Ulverston and the Christmas party. . Each family still has specific volunteers to support them, even if they have been here for more than five years and they have been helped in a variety of ways. This has included helping with the costs of moving within Barrow, identifying and booking a private dentist, liaising with a school or trips out. There are now five Syrian families in Barrow (including two who arrived recently as asylum seekers) and we are working with them to support a monthly social event for Syrians that they will organise. Four of the resettled families include an adult who is in employment and four adults are volunteering. We have supported members of resettled families to give talks about their experiences, volunteer with the Salvation Army and Vision Support, take part in the Allotment Soup project, welcome asylum seekers, show people how to cook Syrian food and contribute to a book. We have supported the children of resettled families to take part in FMCCF youth clubs and holiday activities, swimming lessons, football clubs and school visits in addition to Gym membership for the eldest one. When we have a stall to promote our activities at events such as the Barrow Unity Festival or the Ulverston stall in Refugee Week resettled families support us with baking and henna hand painting. By working closely with the Salvation Army and St Mark's Church and Clothes Bank we continue to clothe over 165 asylum seekers (turnover in a 12 month period) which has involved us in sorting lots of clothing donations and evolving the best ways to get clothes to the gentlemen despite a lack of support from the Serco staff. This year, as the clothing donations have dried up we have been forced to spend over £1000 a month in purchasing inexpensive clothes and shoes. We have tried buying from charity shops, getting donations from staff at Centrica and BAe and Ulverston Sixth Form, the general public via facebook and NHS staff and W&F staff via internal emails etc but we haven’t been able to generate enough donations of clothing suitable for young men. Every Tuesday we deliver a social session for the asylum seekers at the main Salvation Army building in Barrow. We provide fresh fruit, nuts and cakes and chat while we play dominoes, cards, chess, draughts and Jenga. We also pick up on any problems such as hate crimes to be recorded and distribute pens, notebooks, toiletries and anything else that is needed. As part of the mental health support we purchase individual gym memberships for 40 men. These social sessions have had up to 50 men attending but the numbers are usually about 25, Many of the asylum seekers have been volunteering in charity shops, a community garage, at community events, at litter picks, creating paintings and donating them to charity shops to sell and supporting the community pub and workshop in Lowick. By PAT testing and repairing electricals and upcycling furniture two asylum seekers raised over £25,000 for St Mary’s Hospice. We continued to host regular networking events for Ukrainians, their hosts and volunteers - weekly until September and monthly from October as they felt that was what they needed. . They have been attended by up to 40 people and have included birthday parties and card making workshops for the children. We introduced an outreach tutor from Kendal College to the group and this has led to exercise classes with English and Maths included and business start ups and a job so was very successful. The majority of Ukrainians are working (some still remotely in Ukraine) and some are volunteering with CAB and Ford Park. The Ukrainians took part in the New Year party in Barrow and the Furness Abbey picnic and we also arranged for them to go to Brantwood (including a trip on the NT Gondola), have an Independence Day Party at Ford Park complete with Zumba class, attend the Candlelit Walk at Halloween and visit the Ukrainians in Grange. The dispersal accommodation started to fill up in November with no warning and no details-we have just had to find the houses by magic. At the end of December we have 3 houses with individual males in them and 8 with families in them as far as we know. We have visited or had contact with all 11 properties and welcomed people and helped with extra bedding, furniture, large pans,TVs etc as appropriate. We are working well with the Asylum lead officer from W&F council and FMCCF to sort out schools, access to Barrow Library and IT and community integration. It is early days yet, but there is room for development around the roles of W&F, Serco and the Third Sector in supporting families seeking asylum and channelling information about dispersal accommodation so that people are not abandoned. ## **Personal** We regularly accompany people from the resettled families to health appointments at hospital or schools, Biometric appointments, meetings with Inspira or DWP, visits to the local library, trips to a gym or leisure centre to arrange swimming lessons or gym membership or interviews for voluntary work. We also give lifts to families to access social events of all kinds if they are not driving yet. We liaise with the caseworker during any crisis to offer extra support or funding and take part in team discussions around families with an individual volunteer as contact point for one family ## **Service User feedback** We hold regular meetings to share feedback and requests from families and asylum seekers and resolve problems or send out social media questions to ask families for feedback or to encourage participation. FRS volunteers regularly visit families in their homes for coffee and meals and planning outings with families in addition to continuing much online support. ## **Settling in of new resettled families** Volunteers supply extra needs for new families on arrival , for example, the first family from Afghanistan were given phones, a laptop, a TV, kitchen equipment, toiletries, baby clothes and toys, a car seat, baby carrier and £300 for weatherproof clothing. The group usually organises for two or three people to focus on a new family and build relationships with them. We will support Ukrainians to look for private rental properties and integrate with the local community and continue to support hosts and welcome new families. We will continue to work with the Police and Simon Fell MP in connection with hate incidents and crimes and in connection with Far Right leafleting. ## **Financial Review** Income is from a range of grants from Westmorland and Furness Council and other grant making bodies in addition to fundraising activities such as concerts, talks, market stalls,sponsored walks and regular donations. The charity made a surplus of £6,144 in the period of this report. This surplus, along with the group’s bank balance of £6,815 on registration as a charity, has resulted in year-end reserves of £12,959. The board recognises the importance of ensuring that sufficient reserves are retained to maintain the activities and support for those in need. Furness Refugee Support has no staff and when the balance in the bank drops to circa £5000 this triggers fundraising activities. As part of our risk management strategy we have identified the figure of £5000 as the point at which we have sufficient funds to continue providing a minimal service to beneficiaries for 3 months. We can then initiate fund raising activities and consider a temporary scaling back of some provision. We know from experience that this time frame allows us to organise events and contact key supporters. We apply regularly for grants as we are made aware of opportunities by Cumbri CVS and other organisations. All invoices and expenses are sent to the Treasurer and electronic payments are made each Friday and verified by the Chair, Vice Chair or Secretary. The trustees review the risks associated with running the charity and have established policies and procedures to mitigate the risks, such as carrying out DBS checks on volunteers, taking out insurance and offering training opportunities for volunteers and trustees. We are delighted to conclude with the information that we were chosen as finalists in the Love Barrow Awards Kim Farr Chair ## Furness Refugee Support Group Accounts for the period 7th October 2022 to 31st December 2023 |Furness Refugee Support Group Accounts for the period
7th October 2022 to 31st December 2023|Furness Refugee Support Group Accounts for the period
7th October 2022 to 31st December 2023|Furness Refugee Support Group Accounts for the period
7th October 2022 to 31st December 2023|Furness Refugee Support Group Accounts for the period
7th October 2022 to 31st December 2023|Furness Refugee Support Group Accounts for the period
7th October 2022 to 31st December 2023|Furness Refugee Support Group Accounts for the period
7th October 2022 to 31st December 2023|Furness Refugee Support Group Accounts for the period
7th October 2022 to 31st December 2023|Furness Refugee Support Group Accounts for the period
7th October 2022 to 31st December 2023|Furness Refugee Support Group Accounts for the period
7th October 2022 to 31st December 2023|Furness Refugee Support Group Accounts for the period
7th October 2022 to 31st December 2023|Furness Refugee Support Group Accounts for the period
7th October 2022 to 31st December 2023|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||||||||||||| ||||||||||||| |Receipts||||||Payments|||||| ||||||||||||| |Regular
Donations|||7411.84|||Charitable
Payments|||42886.72||| ||||||||||||| |Council
Grants|||17500.00||||||||| ||||||||||||| |Fundraising
and Other
Donations|||24118.80||||||||| ||||||||||||| |||||||Excess
Receipts
over
Payments|||6143.92||| ||||49,030.64||||||49,030.64||| ||||||||||||| |Balance at
Bank||||||Balance at
Bank|||||| |As At 7th
October 2022||||||As At 31st
December
2023|||||| |Barclays:
Community
Account|||6815.48|||Barclays:|Com
muni
ty
Acco
unt||11959.40||| |Excess
Receipts over
Payments|||6143.92|||Barclays:|Chari
ty
Acco
unt||1000.00||| ||||12,959.40||||||12,959.40||| ||||||||||||| CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Se¢tlon A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of peri On accounts for the yeaT ended Py iir4JCSS L&FuqiE SUPPoO1 81- DEC- ?013 Charlty no (if any) 12016? Set out on pages I report lo the Iruslees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity {"Ihe Trust") for the yeef ended81 12 gA3. Responslbllltles and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance wilh the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("Ihe Act"). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out und6r section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrylng out my examination, I hav8 followed the applicable Directions glven by the Charity Commission under sèction 145(5llbl of the Act. I have completed my examination. l Confirm that no material matters have come to my attention I ') in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. accounting records werè not kept in accordance wSth secllon 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord wSth th8 accounting records Indèpendent examlner's statement I have no concerns and have come across no other matt8rs in conn8Ction with the examination lo which attention should be drawn in order lo enable a propèr understanding of th accounts lo be reached. Ple8S elete the wo sinth rackets if they do not apply. Slgned: Date: - 10-2011+ Name.. Relevant professlonal quallflcatlonls) OT body (if any}: FCA Address: . F. IFOOfvJ @ a .co C+FA (LrEIEO hccoutsJrA ALTc)NJ4 8uS I ￿)ESs LtkrrLE UL¥J 8ILgroNJ . LAII ?AJ IER October 2018 Section B Disclosure Only complete Il Ihe examinei needs lo hi9hlighi matters ol concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brlef details of any items that the examiner wishes to dlsclose. IER October 2018 Trustees of Furness Refugee Support-First Annual Report on 2023 covering October 2022 to December 2023 Registered Charity Number 1201677 Registered Office 5 Ainslie Street Ulverston LA12 7JE Trustees Kim Farr, Chair from 111123 Linda Wood, VI￿ Chair from 111123 Liz Hill, Secretary from 111123 John Brice, outgoing Treasurer from 111123 Frankie Baker, incoming Treasurer from 111124 Pamela Harper from 111124 Trustees meet every months and volunteers have a monthly planning meeting. The charity has due regard to the guidance published by the Charity Commission on public benefit. Furness Refugee Support is a CIO with a constitution and the AGM is held in February. Furness Refugee Support has been running since 2015 but only registered as a charity in 2023 due to a dramatic increase in workload following the standing up of two asylum hotels in Barrow by the Home Office. This meant we had to raise very much more money each month and so could no longer operate as a "Small Charity". The original four trustees of the charity have been involved since the very early days of the group and were obvious choices to be trustees of the registered charity. Bankers Barclays Bank, 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP CAF Bank Ltd, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ. The objects of the CIO are: To advance the education and training of asylum seekers, those granted refugee status and those fleeing conflict and persecution and their dependents in need thereof so as to advance them in life and assist them to adapt within and contribute to a new community. To provide opportunities for recreation or other leisure time occupation with the object of improving the conditions of life of those persons who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disablement, financial hardship, immigration status or social and economic Circumstan￿$. To support the physical and mental health of those granted refugee status and their dependants, asylum seekers and those fleeing conflict and persecution To relieve financial hardship amongst asylum seekers, those fleeing conflict and persecution and those granted refugee status and their dependents living (temporarily or permanently) in the Furness area. To relieve the challenge of unempSoyment (immediately or in the future> of those granted refugee status, those fleeing conflict and persecution and those seeking asylum in the United Kingdom, and in particular in the Furness area, by the Provision of vocational and skills training, advice and support. To advance the education of the public in general about the issues relating to refugees and those seeking asylum. Achievements This year has seen changes in the ways we are working and introduced us to new groups of people. We are now supporting resettled families, Ukrainian guests (mostly women and children) and asylum seekers (males on their own in hotels, males on their own in dispersal accommodation and families in dispersal accommodation). We use our facebook pages and regular texts and emails for communicating and we have also updated our website. The Chair of FRS has regularly attended meetings with W&F and Serco throughout the year and has worked closely with CVS and other Refugee Groups concerning the safety of volunteers and sharing of experiences. Members of the group have accessed some training offered by other organisations and we are putting training on ourselves for volunteers. The wide range of activities we have organised included.. An Epiphany Party for Ukrainians in January in Ulverston A trip to Brantwood for Ukrainians in April A New Year party for all our groups in Barrow in January Volunteering opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers at the Community Allotment on Walney with Art Gene Countryside walks for refugee and asylum seekers with volunteers. A short break for resettled refugee families at Rookhow in May A picnic at Furness Abbey with resettled refugee families and Ukrainians in August Eid celebrations in June for everyone Attendance at the Lantern Procession in Ulverston in September for resettled refugee families Attendance at a brass bands concert in Ulverston in October for asylum seekers A Winter Cinema series for asylum seekers in partnership with Signal Films Attendan￿ at the annual Candlelit Walk in October in Ulverston for Ukrainians A Christmas Paty in December for families and individuals seeking asylum, resettled families and local families and volunteers English Language DevelopmentlEducation Volunteers supported people from resettled families in their own homes or via social media as friends and we estimate 1000 hours of support were dedicated to conversational English, and a further 300 hours for structured language support including email conversations to develop written English and expand specific vocabulary such as helping a Syrian woman work towards a career in Health and Social Care, supporting a Syrian family towards their Life in the UK and English tests, supporting ￿0 Syrian boys to make a good start in reading at the beginning of school and supporting a teenage Syrian boy with GCSES and applications for college and an apprenticeship. Private online ESOL teaching was used when appropriate. Nine year old ￿1n5 of one Syrian family were struggling at school so, in partnership with the school, we have continued to provide private booster sessions from a primary school teacher for two 1 hour slots a week. Volunteers, guided by two experienced teachers (also volunteers), have developed teaching materials and are delivering hours of English classes each week to the gentlemen from the ￿0 asylum hotels in Barrow and up to eight families and fourteen men in dispersal accommodation by the end of 2023 Class sizes are usually around 20 to 30. Now that many of the gentlemen have been in the UK for over 6 months the Council are delivering ESOL classes for them, but there are many who do not qualify and many who go to whatever classes are in place. To support this learning we have bought Collins English Visual Dictionaries for all who want them and rent a weekly space from The Drop Zone in Barrow. Partnership working with educational publisher CGP Books (through one of our volunteers) has provided life skills books for the asylum seekers, GCSE books for the Syrian teenager and primary books for the nine year old twins. Driving.. one Syrian woman has passed her test this year and one man from Afghanistan is currently having lessons. In the past six years we have supported 12 people to pass their driving tests at the cost of approximately £1200 per person and we have offered six lessons to the teenage son of one Syrian family where we have put both his parents through their tests. The women from Afghanistan seem a little slower to show commitment to learning to drive. We are currently only offering this expensive support to families with refugee status. FRS have provided laptopsltablets to families to facilitate the learning for children in particular. We have a meeting with Barrow Library arranged in the New Year to see if we can collaborate in this area. Community Integration & Social We have continued to work closely with Furness Multicultural Community Forum (FMCCF), the Salvation Army, W&F staff, Signal Film and Media and Art Gene. FRS regularly contributes to and attends Eid and other events organised by FMCCF such as the Unity Festival which are attended by resettled families, Ukrainians and asylum seekers. Taking part in the Forum's events has enabled the resettled families, Ukrainians and asylum seekers to socialise with other families from around the world as well as local Cumbrian families. We supported the Festival of Colours and joint events with the Ukrainians from Grange over Sands. The resettled families have been supported to attend a 3 day break at Rookhow, the picnic at Furness Abbey, the Eid celebrations, the Lantern Procession in Ulverston and the Christmas paty. Each family slill has specific volunteers to support them, even if they have been here for more than five years and they have been helped in a variety of ways. This has included helping with the costs of moving within Barrow, identifying and booking a private dentist, liaising with a school or trips out. There are now five Syrian families in Barrow (including two who arrived recently as asylum seekers) and we are working with them to support a monthly social event for Syrians that they will organise. Four of the resettled families include an adult who is in employment and four adults are volunteering. We have supported members of resettled families to give talks about their experiences, volunteer with the Salvation Army and Vision Support, take part in the Allotment Soup project, welcome asylum seekers, show people how to cook Syrian food and contribute to a book. We have supported the children of resettled families to take part in FMCCF youth clubs and holiday activities, swimming lessons, football clubs and school visits in addition to Gym membership for the eldest one. Vvhen we have a stall to promote our activities at events such as the Barrow Unity Festival or the Ulverston stall in Refugee Week resettled families support us with baking and henna hand painting. By working closely with the Salvation Army and St Mark's Church and Clothes Bank we continue to clothe over 165 asylum seekers (tumover in a 12 month period) which has involved us in sorting lots of clothing donations and evolving the best ways to get clothes to the gentlemen despite a lack of support from the Serco staff. This year, as the clothing donations have dried up we have been forced to spend over £1000 a month in purchasing inexpensive clothes and shoes. We have tried buying from charity shops, getting donations from staff at Centrica and BAe and Ulverston Sixth Form, the general public via fa￿book and NHS staff and W&F staff via internal emails etc but we haven't been able to generate enough donations of clothing suitable for young men. Every Tuesday we deliver a social session for the asylum seekers at the main Salvation Army building in Barrow. We provide fresh fruit, nuts and cakes and chat while we play dominoes, cards, chess, draughts and Jenga. We also pick up on any problems such as hate crimes to be recorded and distribute pens, notebooks, toiletries and anything else that is needed. As part of the mental health support we purchase individual gym memberships for 40 men. These social sessions have had up to 50 men attending but the numbers are usually about 25, Many of the asylum seekers have been volunteering in charity shops, a community garage, at community events, at litter picks, creating paintings and donating them to charity shops to sell and supporting the community pub and workshop in Lowick. By PAT testing and repairing electricals and upcycling furniture o asylum seekers raised over £25,000 for St Mary's Hospice. We continued to host regular ne￿OrkIng events for Ukrainians, their hosts and volunteers - weekly until September and monthly from October as they felt that was what they needed. They have been attended by up to 40 people and have included birthday parties and card making workshops for the children. We introduced an outreach tutor from Kendal College to the group and this has led to exercise classes with English and Maths included and business start ups and a job so was very successful. The majority of Ukrainians are working (some still remotely in Ukraine) and some are volunteering with CAB and Ford Park. The Ukrainians took part in the New Year party in Barrow and the Furness Abbey picnic and we also arranged for them lo go to Brantwood (including a trip on the NT Gondola), have an Independence Day Paty at Ford Park complete with Zumba class, attend the Candlelit Walk at Halloween and visit the Ukrainians in Grange. The dispersal accommodation started to fill up in November with no warning and no details-we have just had to find the houses by magic. At the end of De￿rnber we have 3 houses with individual males in them and 8 with families in them as far as we know. We have visited or had contact with all 11 properties and welcomed people and helped with extra bedding, furniture, large pans.TVs etc as appropriate. We are working well with the Asylum lead offI￿r from W&F council and FMCCF to sort out schools, ac￿5$ to Barrow Library and IT and community integration. It is early days yet, but there is room ft)r development around the roles of W&F, Serco and the Third Sector in supporting families seeking asylum and channelling infomation about dispersal accommodation so that people are not abandoned. Personal We regularly accompany people from the resettled families to health appointments at hospital or schools, Biometric appointments. meetings with Inspira or DWP, visits to the local library, trips to a gym or leisure centre to arrange swimming lessons or gym membership or interviews for voluntary work. We also give lifts to families to access social events of all kinds rf they are not driving yet. We liaise with the caseworker during any crisis to offer extra support or funding and take part in team discussions around families with an individual volunteer as contact point for one family Service User feedback We hold regular meetings to share feedback and requests from families and asylum seekers and resolve problems or send out social media questions to ask families for feedback or to encourage participation. FRS volunteers regularly visit families in their homes for coffee and meals and planning outings with families in addition to continuing much online support. Settling in of new resettled families Volunteers supply extra needs for new families on arrival . for example, the first family from Afghanistan were given phones, a laptop, a TV, kitchen equipment, toiletries, baby clothes and toys, a car seat. baby carrier and £300 for weatherproof clothing. The group usually organises for two or three people to focus on a new family and build relationships with them. We will support Ukrainians to look for private rental properties and integrate with the local community and continue to support hosts and welcome new families. We will continue to work with the Police and Simon Fell MP in connection with hate incidents and crimes and in connection with Far Right leafleting. Financial Review Income is from a range of grants from Westmorland and Furness Council and other grant making bodies in addition to fundraising activities such as Con￿rtS, talks, market stalls,sponsored walks and regular donations. The charity made a surplus of £6,144 in the period of this report. This surplus, along with the group's bank balance of £6,815 on registration as a charity, has resulted in year-end reserves of £12,959. The board recognises the importance of ensuring that sufficient reserves are retained to maintain the activities and support for those in need. Furness Refugee Support has no staff and when the balance in the bank drops to circa £5000 this triggers fundraising activities. As part of our risk management strategy we have identified the figure of £5000 as the point at which we have sufFicient funds to continue providing a minimal service to beneficiaries for 3 months. We can then initiate fund raising activities and consider a temporary scaling back of some provision. We know from experience that this time frame allows us to organise events and contact key supporters. We apply regularly for grants as we are made aware of opportunities by Cumbri CVS and other organisations. All invoices and expenses are sent to the Treasurer and electronic payments are made each Friday and verified by the Chair, Vice Chair or Secretary. The trustees review the risks associated with running the charity and have established policies and procedures to mitigate the risks, such as carrying out DBS checks on volunteers, taking out insurance and offering training opportunities for volunteers and trustees. We are delighted to conclude with the information that we were chosen as finalists in the Love Barrow Awards Kim Farr Chair Love (5offOW Communlty Awards llie Qok Tree Aword Finalisl 2024 Furness Refugee Support 10 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the perfod from Section A Receipts and payments UnrestrictBd fund¥ totho naa¥o*t R¥¥tricted funds Endowment funds Total fund$ Last year to thg noamt £ to tho noor88t £ to the noarost £ to tho nearest£ A1 Recei DONATIONS AND GRANTS FUNDRAiSING 17.SOO M,494 4.537 Sub total(Gmss incomo for AR) 31.531 17,500 9,031 A2 Asset and Inve$tmen¢ sales, lsee table). Sub total 31,531 17,500 49,031 A3Pa ments GRANTS AND DONATIONS PAIO INSURANCE OFFICE COSTS TRAINING CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES 715 431 107 39 24,095 715 431 366 99 41.278 259 60 17.181 Sub totsl 26,387 17.$00 42,887 A4 Asset and Investment urchases, see table) Sub total 25,367 17,500 42,887 Nèt of re¢eIpt￿(p?Yrn0ntsJ AS Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Co$h funds this yeor ond 6,144 6,144 6,144 6.144 Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unr¢$triGted fund5 to noorest£ R¢striGt¢d funds to near88t £ Endowm¢nt funds to nearest £ Categorie¥ Detsi18 81 Cash funds BANKACCOUNT 12.9S9 FUNDS ON REGISTRATION 6.815 Total cash funds 6,144 c￿￿{5}) Unrestricted funds to noarg$t É Restricted funds to no•Wt £ Endowment funds to noawt£ Details Fund to whlch a8#et bolon Detsils Cost loptlonall Curr8ntvalu8 tlonal B3 Invo$tment assets . z££a Fund to whl¢h asset bolon Current valutr Details Cost loptionall B4 Assets retained for the charlty'8 own use Fund lo whlch latos Amount due W￿n due onal Detalls B5 Liabiliti•8 SIgn￿j by one or twsisè$ on behalf of all the trustees Dale of roval Slgnaturè Print Name K. Farr 1&0ct-24 12