Minutes of the
Darnall Forum AGM, 3pm Wednesday 23 October, 2019
ATTENDANCE:
16 residents / workers, (5 of them trustees), 3 trainee journalists, and Neil
Bishop (minute secretary)
APOLOGIES:
2 residents / workers, 1 trustee
The
MINUTES of the meeting held on Wednesday 3 October 2018 were agreed to be a
true record.
MATTERS
ARISING: Neil explained the reference to ‘conversion courses’, which means
people converting overseas qualifications so that their qualification can be
recognised in the UK.
CHAIRPERSON’S
REMARKS:
Due
to pressures on the charity’s income the charity had to sell the post office
last year. Other financial pressures continue. At the end of last year staff
had to agree to reduce their hours and the amount they are paid to permit the
organisation to continue. The Chair thanked the staff and the trustees for all
their commitment, help and support.
WHAT
WE HAVE BEEN DOING
Zahira spoke about her work, funded by Sport
England, the Police and Crime Commissioner, Awards for All, Meadowhall and
Darnall Area Trust Fund. Our events are designed to help integrate the
community, build the capacity of individuals and organisations, improve
people’s health and discourage anti-social behaviour.
Nazia talked about adult community learning,
which she manages. Most of the funding comes from the Council who in turn are
funded by the Education and Skills Funding Council. Most of the courses are in
ESOL or IT but we also do some designed to promote residents’ wellbeing. About
250 people are enrolled on courses at any one time.
The
owner of Syd’s Fitness Centre thanked the Forum for helping to reconstitute his
gym firm as a Community Interest Company. He is now able to offer increased
support to local residents
FINANCE
REPORT
Neil
gave the financial report for 2018. The income went up by nearly £3,000 to £116,971
but expenditure went up by nearly £28,000 to £139,433. The reserves of the
Forum therefore went down to £17,686. The annual report and accounts were
circulated at the meeting and are available on the Charity Commission website.
Neil was asked where the income came from and he gave a breakdown of what we
received. The full list can be seen in our accounts.
The
independent examiner, Nicholson & Co, was reappointed.
COMMUNITY
ISSUES
There is a regular meeting for community
organisations which the Forum helps to
facilitate. Attendance is patchy but this is a good way of trying to help
different groups and address things which they think are important. The chair
read out a list of the groups which had been approached and which we believe is
comprehensive.
There was a complaint that some communities are
neglected compared to others. The Somali community felt disadvantaged compared
to others. The Chair said that every organisation in the community had been
invited to the community groups’ meeting.
One of the tutors said that we now have a lot of
Somali learners coming to our classes - male and female. There is also a Somali
women’s group which has its own classes.
The Forum was asked about local provision for
young people. The Forum promotes a number of integration events and activities,
including a number of activities at Syd’s Fitness Centre CIC designed to
integrate people from different communities. There are two youth clubs, Ibrar’s
and Sheffield Futures. Neil said that the Forum wasn’t able to concentrate on
youth work. It has neither the funding nor the expertise. We recruit young
people and point them to other organisations which offer specialist support.
It was pointed out that government austerity has
bitten deep into community work and has led us to the precarious position that
we are in now. Many of the same activities are going on, and are being well
attended, but communication has got worse in the last year because we have no
one to update social media any more. We rely more and more on word of mouth.
The Chair said we are doing our very best to keep the organisation going because
local people find it is benefitting them. More volunteer support would be
welcome.
Syd’s
Fitness Centre CIC is happy to help communicate with young people. We have
arranged a DWP meeting there with young people so that they can find out their
views.
ELECTION
OF TRUSTEES
Two
new trustees were elected by the meeting.
