Dr Martin Mathieu (Dr. rer. nat. habil.), MRIA
31 January 2018
The Charity Commission NI
21 Cuttyshane Road Killyleagh, Co. Down BT30 9SL Northern Ireland phone +44 28 4482 1694 mobile +44 7976 758908 e-mail mm@martinmathieu.net URL http://martinmathieu.net/
Trustees’ Annual Report for NIC100387 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017
Belfast Aikido is a martial arts club situated at 45 Ravenhill Road, Belfast BT6 8DQ. It presently comprises of about 16 regular members. Training is offered several times per week, on Friday and Monday evenings and on Saturday morning, under the guidance of two qualified instructors, Dr Martin Mathieu and Matt Mumford, both holding the rank of Sandan.
In addition we organised the following weekend courses taken by outside instructors during the reporting period.
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18 June 2016; Aureli Oslé, 3[rd] Dan (Northwest Aikido Derry)
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25 and 26 February 2017; Gilles de Chénerilles, 7[th] Dan (Saarbrücken, Germany).
The following meetings were held (minutes available upon request):
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AGM on 3 December 2016 (including election of officers as set out in the constitution)
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EGM on 9 July 2016.
We advertise our classes and courses through our website; Facebook; and e-mail and seem to reach a reasonable audience. Every month, there are about five enquires about Aikido and Aikido practice in our dojo, per e-mail or per phone, and several of these enquirers would show up at a class at least to try. We had visitors from fairly far away, such as Australia and the US, who joined us for a night or two.
In accordance with our charitable goals as set out in the constitution
• To promote Aikido to the residents of Belfast and the surrounding areas regardless of age, ability, race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexuality (‘the beneficiaries’); and in particular • To provide facilities for the research, development, and practice of Aikido; • To promote physical health and well-being of the beneficiaries through Aikido; • To develop the capacity of the beneficiaries to respond peacefully to conflict through Aikido; • To promote equality and diversity amongst the beneficiaries through the co-operative practice of Aikido.
we strive to reach out to all parts of the community and appear to be successful as we have a mix of genders as well as ages (our minimum age is 16 and we do have some school students who attend regularly). The fee structure also allows for concessions (to students and unemployed, e.g.), and we bought some Aikido weapons for the dojo (free of charge to use for members) as well as some Keigogis (Aikido suits) that are sold on at a substantially reduced rate to new members.
Progress on the above is reviewed through our regular formal meetings (AGM and EGM) and on ongoing basis informally within the trustees. We still plan to (eventually) start children’s classes but so far have not got around to set up all the necessary requirements such as vetting and child protection policy. We also emphasise the mandatory insurance for all our practitioners as well as the additional instructor insurance that needs to be taken out.
Martin Mathieu
The charity trustees hereby state to have complied with their duty to have due regard to the commission's public benefit guidance when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Martin Mathieu Chairperson
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