Sheffield Conversation Club
Registered Charity: 1142481 Telephone: 07807584657
www.conversationclub.org.uk
10TH ANNIVERSARY 2012
SHEFFIELD CONVERSATION CLUB ANNUAL REPORT 2012
Chairman’s Report
I can sum up my report this year in two words, thank you, to all who have
been part of Conversation Club reaching it’s 10th Anniversary.
This AGM relates to the year May 2011 to April 2012 which is in line
with our financial accounts and we will report in more detail on our 10 th
anniversary year next November, but while it is clear in our minds I want
to thank everyone who contributes to Conversation Club, volunteer or
member and our many friends. That goes for ten whole years and begins
with the Club’s founders, both volunteers, David Jardine (who sadly
passed away in July 2012), Myra, Richard, Dianne and Elizabeth and
members who have been coming for much of that time. It is a club for the
members.
This report covers almost the first year of being a Charity and the trustees
have managed the club meeting challenges without making changes
which might alter the ethos of Conversation Club. Becoming a charity is
a big change in itself for a small organisation and the main difference is
that we have a board of trustees, eight at present (maximun ten) in place
of a management committee of fifteen. We are endeavouring to create a
team structure with trustees as team leaders. This has been more
successful in some areas than others, but trustees have ensured the
continued success and growth of the Club and I congratulate them all
while thanking the keen and enduring efforts of our volunteers.
Trustees will review the first year of charity status in summer 2012. And
that will appear in next years report with a tribute to David Jardine, our
first and founding Chairman. Many warm tributes have been paid since
his death, at events and in our newsletter.
A different regret which is again for the year 2012-13 but important to
note is the change to the Wednesday drop-in with the loss of the contract
for COMPASS services by the City Council. Thank you to the City
Council Asylum team for their long association with the drop-in and to
our partners in going forward particularly NRC, CoS and ASSIST.
Sheffield Conversation Club
Registered Charity: 1142481 Telephone: 07807584657
www.conversationclub.org.uk
10TH ANNIVERSARY 2012
Conversation Club is independent and proud to be so, but values our
partnerships.
Our activities have been wide ranging thanks to volunteers and very
much including students from both universities, but especially from
Sheffield University and STAR. Among them we have ESOL, walks and
outings, the Art Table, but of course mostly fifty weeks of club meetings
on Wednesday and Friday Thanks to all who contribute and have done
over ten years. The detailed individual reports show continuity and
change, new volunteers and members. And while thanking everyone I
include Friday Club caretakers, David and Edie.
Another thing relating to this report and next; we are delighted that after a
long period of illness John Hawley is back at the club. We’ve all missed
him very much.
There have been successes this year with members achieving Leave to
Remain. It is a struggle for them and I am all too aware when I talk of
good news that members have bad news too.
One of the things that has been so important this year is to realise how
many people remain loyal to Conversation Club when they have status,
and are allowed to work. When they can they come to see us.
Many thanks to John whose Treasurer’s Report follows. His work as
Treasuer is vital and time consuming especially preparing the accounts to
be audited. And obtaining a satisfactory audit has been very difficult.
In conclusion I look forward to the new year. Obviously we know how
2012 has progressed so far. Sheffield Conversation Club is a small charity
and as trustees our aim is as one, to serve our members needs and attract
volunteers to the Club as it approaches its second decade.
Ralph Hancock
Sheffield Conversation Club
Registered Charity: 1142481 Telephone: 07807584657
www.conversationclub.org.uk
10TH ANNIVERSARY 2012
Treasurer’s Report
The purpose of this report is to give a summary of the financial year 1st
May 2011 to 30th April 2012. The accounts for that year have been
audited and agreed by an independent auditor from VAS. I plan to make a
copy of our auditor’s report available at this AGM and it may be possible
to put it on our website.
This was the first year where the club was a registered charity. We are
hoping that this will help us to have more success in raising funds at a
time where the general financial situation in the country means that
finances are tight everywhere. Bodies are much more likely to provide
support to an organisation to which the Charity Commission has given its
credence. It was too soon to expect this advantage to show in the financial
year I am discussing, but there is every reason to expect success for the
year 2012-13. During the year we set in place, as a part of the overall
structure of the club, a group to deal with the problem of fundraising.
This consists of Abigail Taylor, Aisha Azim, Astrid Degen, and Ana
Marie Gonzales, with myself as chairman. This team has already shown
some success which will be featured in next year’s figures. In particular,
Astrid has considerable experience with obtaining funds from charities
and we can expect her to raise valuable funds in the next year or two.
For most of the year under consideration our most important expense, the
rent for Friday meetings, was met by an existing grant from Sheffield
City council. During the year we received a grant from the Evan Cornish
foundation of £2000 for rent. This meant that we then had sufficient
funds to cover rent costs until early 2013. We also received a grant from
the City council which enabled us to run ESOL classes during the middle
of 2011. In addition we received a grant from the City council to cover
the costs of out events for “Summer of Sanctuary”.
It would appear that we had a reasonable year financial year, with a net
surplus to our funds of £1159. However, it should be born in mind that
we received a total of £1,500 which was paid to us by “Digital
Switchover” in recognition of the work we did for them over the summer.
Without that we would have shown a small loss over the year. This
source of support is something that by its nature will not be repeated.
We have had a number of small to medium sources of funds over the
year. In particular a street collection raised £128, a student quiz £60, St.
Columba’s Church donated £100 and there were personal donations of
£520. I should mention the student quiz as, partly through Abigail’s
Sheffield Conversation Club
Registered Charity: 1142481 Telephone: 07807584657
www.conversationclub.org.uk
10TH ANNIVERSARY 2012
contacts, the Sheffield students seem to be becoming increasing helpful in
supporting the club in this and other ways.
Here, I should also point out that we are able as a charity to make use of
“Gift Aid” whereby we reclaim the tax from personal donations. So
anyone considering making one-off or periodic donations should be
aware that if they do this in combination with a “Gift Aid” form which
we can provide will be able to know that their donation is in effect
received by us untaxed.
I am grateful to the support I had from the chairman and the members of
the fundraising team and the ESOL group for the support they have given
me over the year. I hope I will be able to report considerable financial
success, enabling us to carry on and maybe extend many of the activities
we run over the year.
John Baker
Sheffield Conversation Club
Registered Charity: 1142481 Telephone: 07807584657
www.conversationclub.org.uk
10TH ANNIVERSARY 2012
Sheffield Conversation Club
Registered Charity: 1142481 Telephone: 07807584657
www.conversationclub.org.uk
10TH ANNIVERSARY 2012
Fundraising and Student Liaison Report
The past year has been an exciting one on the Fundraising and Student
Liaison front. Following on from the granting of charity status, we
formed a group to explore the new fundraising opportunities this
presented. Thanks to Astrid, Ana-Maria, Ralph, John and Aisha.
We organised our first Street Collection for Conversation Club
in December. An enthusiastic group of Conversation Club volunteers and
members raised £128 at the Street Collection in Broomhill. We followed
this up with a second Street Collection in the Summer. Unfortunately, this
raised less money (perhaps, because many local residents were on
holiday) but we still enjoyed the opportunity to explain to passers by
about the need for Conversation Club. We aim to hold more Street
Collections in the year to come. In particular, we hope to buy
Conversation Club t-shirts or sashes so that we have a more visible public
presence.
We also investigated grants that Conversation Club could apply for.
These are detailed separately in the Treasurer's Report so will not be
repeated here.
Conversation Club continues to be grateful for the support received from
students at the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University.
A phenomenal number of students attend Conversation Club from both
universities. The students provide an incredible energy to the club and we
miss them greatly when they disappear in the University holidays. In
addition, students have continued to raise a valuable proportion of
Conversation Club's income. In 2011-2012 over £800 was raised by
students at the University of Sheffield for Conversation Club. We are
particularly appreciative of Student Action for Refugees (STAR) who, led
by Emily and Erin, encouraged their members to attend Conversation
Club and raised funds through donations at meetings and cake sales. In
2011 Conversation Club was 'adopted' by the French Society at
the Sheffield University, le Cercle français, who organised various events
in aid of Conversation Club. Finally, Charlie Whale, a Politics Student at
the University of Sheffield single-handedly organised a quiz based on the
UK citizenship test in order to raise awareness of Conversation Club at
the University and funds for Conversation Club. We look forward to
Sheffield Conversation Club
Registered Charity: 1142481 Telephone: 07807584657
www.conversationclub.org.uk
10TH ANNIVERSARY 2012
continuing to work with students at both universities. In particular, we
extend a warm welcome to Kirsty Coombs and Ruth Hindmarsh as the
new STAR leaders.
Abigail Taylor
English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
This has been another successful year. We continue to run informal
classes at the Friday club both for beginners and the next level up. We
are generally averaging around twenty plus participants each week spread
between the two classes. Although turnover is high it has reduced
somewhat since last year. It is good that now the same people come back
week after week. Thanks go to all those who have helped run the classes,
especially Julia, Laura, Ewan, Andy and Viv and to the energetic and
enthusiastic learners.. As part of our continuing partnership with SAVTE
(Sheffield Association for the Voluntary Teaching of English) Brian and
Julia ran classes, January - March, for Somali Refugees newly arrived in
the UK under the United Nations' gateway programme. These
introductory classes helped most to go on to college courses. We also
run, for a short while, more intensive 1:1 classes at a local cafe. These
ceased in the Summer when the cafe had to close due to lack of funds.
We are currently considering how we can build further on the Friday
classes.
Brian Helsdon
Sheffield Conversation Club
Registered Charity: 1142481 Telephone: 07807584657
www.conversationclub.org.uk
10TH ANNIVERSARY 2012
Wednesday Conversation Club
At the end of this year we began to see changes. The Asylum Team from
Sheffield City Council have lost the contract for COMPASS Asylum
Services and although the transition will be later in 2012 discussions
began in Spring 2012 to address continuation of funding and new selfmanagement amongst the agency partners. It is very sad to think that we
will lose the expertise and guidance of the Asylum Team which will
affect our members. Trustees determined that the transition should be
smooth and above all that the Drop-in which is a vital service must be
continued.
We sent a letter to all Sheffield MPs with our concerns about losing the
links built over many years with the City Council Asylum Team and
received a very supportive reply on behalf of them all from Paul
Blomfield.
For a short time Qais was replaced as co-ordinator by Abbas and Pat
Robinson took control of the tea bar with a number of new volunteers. Pat
and Qais now work together. It continues to be very busy and lively with
new student volunteers and we welcome Tracey Harris who is based at
Victoria Hall and training to become a minister.
We are also delighted that after a long period of illness John Hawley has
returned to the Club. We missed him like a member of the family.
Qais Aryan, Ralph Hancock
Sheffield Conversation Club
Registered Charity: 1142481 Telephone: 07807584657
www.conversationclub.org.uk
10TH ANNIVERSARY 2012
Friday Conversation Club
Our tenth anniversary year has shown that we are continuing to fulfil the
need for practicing English with native speakers, as well as extending the
hand of friendship to all asylum seekers who need us, as our numbers
never fall even after members have left, either through gaining ILR or
sadly through deportations, new comers are always arriving on our
doorstep. We have grown from a small room at the top of a rather
dilapidated building to ever larger church halls as word of Conversation
Club has spread. From our earliest days students from both universities
in Sheffield through STAR have supported us in our activities and raised
much needed funds to help keep us going, including for our annual
seaside trip. Their fresh and enthusiastic input is always welcome. Our
other volunteers have also grown in number and continue to give so much
to the club.
I hope that Conversation Club will continue to flourish as it is obviously
fulfilling a great need in its role as a meeting place, a language school, a
haven and a place to make new friends for all newcomers to Sheffield.
Christine Barltrop
Publicity and Promotion
Conversation Club acquired charity status during this year. We had our
first street collection in Broomhill and raised a welcome £128 in 2 hours
– we were chided for not being more visible so are now looking at
possibly getting T shirts with Conversation Club logo. A propos of
visibility the website has taken our name to Cornwall whence came a
request for our poetry book and Italy where a student hoped we could
help him improve his English! Closer to home we have been part of
research projects: Hannah Lewis, Leeds University(asylum seekers and
exploitation in the work place) and Francesca Alford, Sheffield
University (integration experiences of a/s) and repeat visit by group of 10
students on field trip from Chester University led by Ruth Healey who
provided very positive feedback on the club and the work it does. We
were also approached by INTERACT who work with young a/s through
the website. We were invited to have a stall at the Volunteers Fair at
Sheffield University and that brought many new volunteers to
Conversation Club.
Sheffield Conversation Club
Registered Charity: 1142481 Telephone: 07807584657
www.conversationclub.org.uk
10TH ANNIVERSARY 2012
During Off the Shelf Festival in October Conversation Club hosted a well
supported event at QMH with Nigerian poet Chinwe Azubuike who read
her poems and told us about problems facing women, especially widows,
in Nigeria today. Our own home grown talent, including Ebby on his
santor, featured in the second half of the evening. Some of the poems can
be found in the February 2012 newsletter which surpassed all previous in
the breadth of its coverage and the splendour of its presentation. Very big
thanks to Sam Musarika for this and all previous newsletters he has so
brilliantly edited. Thanks also to all our members for the fun and
creativity that shines out from the pages of Conversation Club newsletter.
We have had fantastic support through the year from STAR and the
Crossing Borders group (Medsin) at Sheffield University and the
Amnesty groups at Sheffield and Hallam University. We have been
adopted by The French and the Spanish Societies at Sheffield University
after they enjoyed their visits to the club. We had stalls at the November
Peace and Craft Fair and in Central Library as part of National Library
Day on 4th February. On April 1st some of our members took part in the
Sharrow Lantern Festival with lanterns they made in the work shops.
Our year culminated with the City of Sanctuary Evidence to the Fairness
Commission to which we contributed and in which Conversation Club is
cited as an example of good practice. It is a very positive note on which
to end this report: “ The role of Sheffield Conversation Club in the
asylum community is inestimable for the work it does in welcoming,
safeguarding and nurturing asylum seekers and for the huge contribution
to awareness of asylum issues through its volunteers programme and
especially its connection with Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University
students.”
Myra Davis
Sheffield Conversation Club
Registered Charity: 1142481 Telephone: 07807584657
www.conversationclub.org.uk
10TH ANNIVERSARY 2012
Leisure & Culture (Walks & Outings)
Our walks and outings in 2011/2012 have been diverse and sustainable. A
third of our programme was within Sheffield and at little cost. We walked
in Millhouses Park and Eccleshall Wood and spent time at Beauchief
Abbey on their Heritage Open Day in September. Weston Park is an
excellent museum for learning about Sheffield and it was not our first
visit there by any means.
Our trips further afield, to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Millers Dale and
Monsal Dale were made possible with a grant from the City Council for
Refugee Week/Summer of Sanctuary and the Peak Park through the
MOSAIC project and Peak Park champion Ana Maria Gonzales. One of
our walks in the Peak Park was Ranger-led for which we are grateful. It is
the kind of interaction and partnership that is so important to the Club. To
introduce members to Sheffield and to places further afield is our aim and
is very popular with members and volunteers alike.
In August, during Summer of Sanctuary we held an open day at the
Botanical Gardens to raise awareness of Conversation Club, handing out
volunteering leaflets, and inviting people to join us for a cup of tea. It was
our second visit of the summer to the Botanical Gardens filling in for a
trip which had to be cancelled because of poor weather. Good to have
such beautiful alternatives on our doorstep.
Our annual seaside trip this year was in August to Bridlington. We had
doubts again about the weather, but it was a brilliant sunny day on the
coast. The seaside is high on our budget priority. We could fill two
coaches and are grateful to volunteers who supplemented the numbers by
taking private cars.
In September we were invited to visit Christine and John in Penistone.
Their hospitality is wonderful and it is a highlight of the summer. Many
thanks to them and to all volunteers who contribute to ‘walk and talk’
throughout the year.
Richard Chessum, Ralph Hancock