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 re￿rt)
VOLUNfEER ADm￿lsTRATOR'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-mL￿k5. 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 It￿tYearS 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 l￿d 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 Belf￿t 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 e￿ity 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 b￿lnesseS 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 sucC￿SfyI 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 Belf￿t.
( a) Elizabeth Joan Bingham Dzi?. I. T.
Administrator Volunteerfor 24 years)
(b) T￿orA 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&