AMBER COMMUNrrYDEVELOPMENfAGENCY 209 RODEN STREET DONEGALL ROAD BELFAST BT12 5QB TEL NO." (02890) 203500 (LAND REVENUENO.. 2R14423 CHARTTYNO." NIC 103302 E-MAIL.. in mberhouye.o WEBSITE.. www.amberhouge.o 27h ANMJALREPORT2024 "GOD ISLOVE" Stmimer 2024
CO]VTENT'S 1.0 CHAIRPERSON'SREM4RK'S DR CAROLINE BJNGHAMPh.D. 2.0 SECRETARY'SREMARK'S A4RS EILEENDONAGHY 3.0 TREASURER'SREM4RK'S JURS MANDYDIXON , 4.0 VOLUNTEER'SREMARK'S MISS ELIZABETHJOAN BINGHAMDip.I. T. 5. 0 ACKNOIYLEDGEMENTS 6. 0 LIST OF MANAGEMENT COMMIfTEE 7. 0 FISCAL REPORTAUDJTED 14/04/24
AMBER COMMUNrrY DEVELOPME AGENCY iu AGENDA Wednesday 26th June 2024 1.0 CHAIRPERSON'S REMARK'S (enclosed in Trport) SECRETARY'S REMARK'S (enclosed in Teport) 3.0 TREASURER'S REMARK'S (enclosed in rert) VOLUNfEER ADmlsTRATOR's REMARK'S (enclosed in report) THE FISCAL STATEMETrrr WAS PASSED (enclosed in report) 6.0 THE PRESENT COMMfITEE HAS JUST CONCLUDED YEAR THREE OF A THREE YEAR OFFICE AND HAVE AGREED TO ACT FOR ANOTHER THREE
C1141RPERSON'S REMARK'S Fyelcome to the 21h Annual General Meeting ofthe kniber Community DevelopmentAgency. The agency was initiated on the 20h June 1996 in the Railway Chnstian Fellowship Cht4rch (Railway Mission) on the Donegall Roa(L The 26 June being our 28 Anniversary. I recall that fwe weeks later we got the keys of209 Roden Street and Pastor Robin Hunnifordprayed that God would bless the work which we were about to commence on the Westlink "Peace-Line" / Roden Sh?et. The area has always sadly been overlookedfor large scalefvnding. Pastor Hunniford said to me "run a pilotfor l year £md ifwe CLM keep it goingfor a second year that will be good Can)line" Now although there is no specially designated fi4nding for Chnstian community development entities we are still operating, (albeitfvm home) 28 years later. In Gods word it says He is going to do a "new thing" shall we not know it. Infaith and with very meagrefinance we trust God that this "New Thing" will make a way for us and take us through to a 3(yh Anniversary one dayl The worldwidepandemic with multible deatk and long tenn side-effects on communities played havoc with community development pmjects. There was lock-down andface-mLk5. side effects of vaccinatiOPLS and such. Economic development has been badly effected also with hundreds of cafes/restuarants and such all closed down. Our trnst is in Godfor ourfyture. Dr Caroline Bingham Ph.D. ( Chairperson)
SECRETARY'SREM4RK'S Not a lot has changedfvm IttYearS in relation to health issues. Dental appointments are sttll very difficult to securefor emergency trealment. In relation to doctors surgery appointments there appears to be a two to three week waiting timefor the appointment unless it is an emergency and only afew ofthem can be seen each day. We are hearing about hospital •J appointments being drawn out and in some cases there is a waiting time ofas long as two yearsfor certain health issues. A Chimpodist is another medicalfield that a lot ofelderly in the communityfind atremely dffjcult to access on the national health service. Most seniorpeople then have to go privately to a Chiropodist (md this Gin one entity alone) charges £45 to trim nails and much morefor other treatments. We have read recently about the situation in the hospitals due to people not lurning upfor their appointments. The health minister Robin Swann ld decided to PE3ign andstandfor election as a member ofparliament. The Northern IrelandAssembley have asked the Treasuryfor a much needed increase to the Northern Ireland budget but are aware they don t ever receive the amount needed to put things right. Mrs Eileen Donaghy SECRETARY
TREASURER'SREM4RK'S I have read in the Belft Telegraph recently about the number of businesses in Belfast alone that have closed down since the Covid 19/Pandemic attacked Northern Ireland Litenilly hundreds and hundreds ofsmall business (in particular coffee shops/cafu/restt4rants) have all shut up shop. On a world wide scale the cost of securing items such as sunflower oil and wheat pmducts have risen astronomically. Then 0]. course the dreadfvl cost of gas, electricity, oil and such that effects every home and commercial eity have been named the main reason tknt small local shops have had to close down and this causes unemployment. In the city centre thae are many small blnesseS closed down aml a loohng unsightly. The Belf(t Cty Council have commissioned murals to be painted over the front of the premises. As you pn)bably have noticed we also on the Donegall Road have afew shops/derelict buildings that have had murals painted on thefvnt of them. I don I know if in the forseeable fvure any of the vacant premises will be brought back into e. The cost of Itving has reached an all time high recently and this led the government in parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly to issue cost of liwng grants to certain categori&s ofpeople on certain benefits. Although this is much welcomed in the community it does not cover the cost of gas, petml, oil. electricity with them being very high. Lets hope things impmve SOOPL Mrs Mandy Diron TREASURER
VOLUNTEER'S REMARK'S It seenLS strange to be worhngfvm home, along with my monthly visit to Amber House. However thousands of civil servants are doing the same thing. Unfortunatley there is no fvndingfor salaries etcfor entities such as the Amber Community Development Agency gr(S root community inputfvm a Christian caring ethos. lye were sucCSfyI in applying to Sl Annes Cathedral Black Santa Sit out for much needed office items grant. We have gone digital via ourphone and broadband provider Media. In tandem with that our gas company fitted us with a new gas meter, We also got our host on-line provider Avec Solutions to stream line our web page. Ive increased our yearly insurance through Marsh. Regards to our charity commission annual return we always& pride ourselves in submitting our data 4-6 weeks early. My thanks to Trevor Aikenhead of the Methodist Church for our annual audit Compilatio As we don t operate on July and August we hope in September to htzve our boiler maintenanced. Sye are again exemptfvm house rates but pay water rat&s even though we are a charity. Ive thank God for His pmtection on this West-Linkpeace-linefor 27 years to date: Elizabeth Joan Bingham 1?.I. T. Volunteer Administrator
ACKVOIYLEDGEMENTS The Committee wish to thank the following people/agencies who have supported our efforts in the Ivestlink Interface South- Fyest Belft. ( a) Elizabeth Joan Bingham Dzi?. I. T. Administrator Volunteerfor 24 years) (b) TorA AitkenheadB.A. (HONS) P.GC.E. (Formulating our Accounts) (c) Paul James Bingham H.N.Dip (Computer Stwport Volunteer 20 years) (d) Northern Ireland Council VoluntaryAction (For always being therefor us) ( e) Ministrias who prayfor Caroline our Chairperson and the pmject. Jesse Duplantis Ministries Kenneth Copel(md Ministries Daniel Kolendo Chnstfor all Nations David Hath(nvay Eunwision Afinisty David Cen4110 Morris Cendlo World Evangelism Ministy
Amber Commun. Develo List o Man ement Committee Chairperson Dr Caroline Bingh£un PkD. Secretary Eileen Donaghy Mandy Diron Address 209 Roden Street Belfast BT12 5QB Honoury Auditor Trevor A Aiikenhead B.A. (Hons) P.GC.E Principal Bankers First Trust Bank 35 University Road Belfast BT7 IND Charity Number NIC103302 The lCe Bearers have agreed to be in officefor the next threefyllyears fvm SumTr£r 2024 - Summer 2027 which will (God Ifilling) be the 3(7, Anniversary ofAmber Community DevelopmentAgency & Amber House Initiativ&