## **King George VI Northern Ireland Youth Council Registered with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland NIC 100178** ## **Annual Report 2022/23** ## **Background to King George VI Youth Council and its Fund** The funds held by the Council were generated by the sale of the King George VI Memorial Hall in May Street, Belfast. The Council has invested the capital to produce an annual income to provide small grant awards to young people in Northern Ireland engaged in training and building their skills through sports or youth activities. The Council does not employ any staff and does not have any premises. The Council holds its Annual General Meeting in June. Its grant awards scheme and business is conducted through its committees, as reported below. ## **Registration of KGVI with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland** The King George VI Council was registered with the NI Charity Commission in 2015 Its Charity number is NIC 100178. The Treasurer is the main contact with the Commission’s office. ## **Report Content** This report records the activities of the King George VI Council in 2022-2023. ## **AGM** The AGM was held on Monday 13 June 2022. The Council welcomed Mr Richard Johnson of the NI Sports Forum to the meeting and noted that Mr Ciaran Kearney had stood down from the Council since its last meeting was held. The Council was pleased to reconvene in person following the lifting of the Covid restrictions and thanked the Treasurer for making arrangements for the meeting which was held in Dunmurry Golf Club. Reports of the grants awarded during the previous year and copies of the Annual Accounts were received and adopted. ## **Grants awarded in 2022/2023** The Council has two award panels which consider the applications made by young people in Northern Ireland aged 14-21 years. The **Mary Peters Trust** administers awards linked to sports while a second panel considers applications from youth organisations and individuals engaged in education, skills building and youth activities **.** The website which promotes the Awards is supported on a voluntary basis by its administrator Mrs Linda Gordon. Its address is www.kgviyouthawards.org.uk In 2022/2023 year **The Mary Peters Trust granted** individual sports awards to young people participating in a wide range of sports at representative level.. Although competitions continued to be affected at the start of the year the young people were able to continue with their training and build their skills in preparation Investing in youth, enabling their interest to grow **1** for a full return to their normal programme competing not just in Ireland but also further afield. With the easing of Covid-19 most youth activities resumed in 2022/23 and many changes were noted in the type of grant application received by the Panel. There was a move away from the traditional Annual Camp applications to a much wider youth work activity base and applications were received from all areas. Groups proceeded cautiously as they reconvened but by the Spring of 2023 most had recovered their numbers and were fully operational again. In the wider youth sector there was an impact on the number of youth leaders currently engaged in youth work both because of the closures caused by the Covid restrictions and the severely reduced Youth Sector budget. While the demand for youth activities remains high the lack of funding is a major issue and is now having a serious and detrimental effect on young people especially those who live in areas of high deprivation and for whom youth activities have been of particular benefit and have provided much needed support. The Panel had carried forward funds from previous years when demand was low and was pleased to consider 20 applications during the year. Groups supported included Kingdom Youth Club in Kilkeel which planned to celebrate its 25 year history by painting a wall mural to illustrate its development and involvement in the area; Dervock “Blast” Youth centre which serves a mainly rural area requested funds for new sports equipment; Holywood and Newtownabbey ATC Squadrons were seeking funds to support cadet and leadership training through the purchase of new equipment for their activities; Glendermott BB and Youth club needed equipment to introduce new activities; and several camps and short residentials were supported. All of the applications which received awards offered young people the opportunity for personal development and to learn new skills through training and active participation in groups in their local communities. A number of applications were not successful as they did not meet the Fund’s criteria. With deep regret the Panel learnt in January of the deaths of Walter Rader, former head of Youthnet, and of Miss Evelyn Corry of Aghavilly Youth Club, Armagh. Walter was well known throughout the youth and voluntary sector in Northern Ireland and was very supportive of the King George VI Fund’s grant programme which has helped many young people since its inception. The Council and its Panel members will miss his friendship, and his knowledge and expertise which he shared so generously. Miss Corry too devoted most of her time to providing support and training opportunities to generations of young people in the Armagh area organising camps, running a Duke of Edinburgh scheme, offering leadership and new skills training. She was a regular applicant to the Fund on behalf of the Aghavilly club and made a strong impact on the lives of many young people in her local community. Investing in youth, enabling their interest to grow **2** ## **Management Committee meeting** There was no Management Committee meeting held in 2022/2023. ## **Accounts** Copies of the 2022/2023 accounts prepared by the Hon Treasurer, Mr John McKee FCA will be circulated at the AGM meeting on 13 June 2023 when the Treasurer will also report on the Fund’s finances. ## **Governance** The required Data Protection certificate has been renewed. ## **Trustees 2022/2023** All of the members of the King George VI Council are its Trustees. Mr Ciaran Kearney ceased to be a Trustee following a change in his employment which he represented on the Council. The Office bearers were re elected to serve. **Chairman** : Mr Eric Rainey CVO, MBE, DL Vice Chairman: Miss Patricia Mackintosh Hon Treasurer: Mr John R McKee FCA Contact details: 02892 665697 Hon Secretary: Mrs Linda Leonard Contact details: 02890 594835 Mrs Linda Gordon Mr Colin Kennedy Mr Billy McCoubrey Mr David Smyth Mr Ken Nixon Investing in youth, enabling their interest to grow **3**