Friends of St James Mission and School Charity Number : 1017217 Annual Report 2011 2012

Minutes of FSJMS AGM 2012 held Sat 17th March 2012 at St Matthews, Westminster, London. Apologies for the AGM were received from: Doreen and Mike Kilbey, Jane Peters, Val Jones, Lesley and Mike Coppin, Adrian and Pat Walker, Janice Armstrong, John Ward, Gillie Murray, Moira Carr, Helen Hughes, Simon and Mel, Chris & Gwen Spencer, Barbara Williams, Matthew Williams, Anne Newsom, Richard and Joan Nicholls, Pat Dutton, Sarah Spencer, Fr Noel Scott, Jenny Bryant, Alan Butler, Sally Brass, Kirsten Shearer, Alice Wakefield, Revd Canon Willcox, Linda Gray, Sarah Spencer, Goronwy Edwards (and others the Asst Sec apologises for any oversight...) Stephen Spencer, Chair, welcomed all to the meeting and asked those present to talk through their connection with St James. It was great to see some of the old St James girls at the meeting, and to welcome Thando Moyo, who had travelled all the way from Sheffield to be with us. Pam Prendergast proposed that the meeting adopt the minutes of the 2011 AGM and Chris Peskett seconded. There was a vote of thanks to Nicky Peters for arranging lunch and a vote of thanks to all at St Matthews for allowing us to use their facilities for the AGM. Chairs report Stephen thanked his colleagues on the committee for attendance on several conference calls this year. There have been a number of important items on our agenda this year, but it has been difficult to move the agenda forward as communications with St James have been a little spasmodic. The visit by Paula Wilcock and Nicky Peters to St James in February 2012 has allowed the communications link to be recreated and this puts us in a great position to move forward this year. Secretarys Report was read. Treasurers Report was read. The Chair moved to re-adopt Margaret Perry as our independent examiner. Mike Reed proposed. Chris Peskett seconded. A vote of thanks was offered to David Wakefield, our FSJMS Treasurer, for another diligent year of collecting and accounting for donations. Paula Wilcock and Nicky Peters then presented photographs and a report of their visit to St James.

Alison Butler then ran an ideas-generation session to generate fund-raising ideas for FSJMS many thanks to all who participated and came up with ideas and commitments for fund-raising in 2012. The Chair thanked Mike Reed for creating an audio-visual review of the visit which was played at the AGM and made available on disc for FSJMS members to take away to support fundraising, The meeting closed with some beautiful singing from Sibo Sesays daughters who had been so kind as to come to the AGM to entertain us.

Chair's Report 2011-12

The big event of the year has been the visit of Nicky Peters and Paula Wilcock on behalf of FSJMS to St James in February 2012. The committee has long been aware of the need to renew face-to-face contact with our colleagues at St James. When we visit each other the friendships and commitment are renewed on both sides and we can again feel confident about the future of the link. A visit to St James can also show how the Mission is looking and feeling in all the small ways that do not get into reports. I was the last committee member to visit in 2008. This was during a period of poor security and I was only able to stay at St James for two nights, with limited contact with the surrounding community. It was therefore marvellous that Nicky and Paula were able to find time and organise the funding for their week- long visit to Matabeleland and St James. Their report shows how well the visit went. We are also very pleased that the headstones of our late colleagues and friends were dedicated by Bishop Cleophas in the church graveyard. On behalf of all the Friends a big thank you to Nicky and Paula for making the visit and representing us at the dedication service. The committee has met by telephone conferencing at regular intervals through the year and carried out its business in an efficient and happy way. I would like to thank them all for their hard work, and to thank all the members of FSJMS for your continued support of the charity and school. Zimbabwe still faces many acute challenges and St James continues to help meet these challenges by educating future leaders of the country in a Christian environment. FSJMS allows the school to extend and enrich this educational provision. Please keep up your support in the year to come. Stephen Spencer

Secretarys Report 2011-12

The committee has met four times by telephone conference since the last AGM. 11th June 2011 The committee gathered for the first time since the 2011 AGM. Nicky Peters agreed to act as Deputy Secretary and Paula Wilcock agreed to act as Deputy Chair. Lydia Butler kindly agreed to take over as Web Master after many years of sterling service contributed by Connie Reed (for which many thanks). David reported that he was now able to transfer funds directly into accounts in Zimbabwe at the cost of 25 per transfer. Carol Williams had confirmed her continued willingness to act as local treasurer for

FSJMS in Zimbabwe, and indeed continued to source and order food for the primary school and drugs for the clinic, for which the committee registered their profound thanks. The idea of a 20th Anniversary appeal was discussed, with a focus on books and bursaries. The committee also discussed the idea of sending a representative to Zimbabwe for a liaison visit with St James. Paula, Nicky and Alison registered their willingness to go.

1st October 2011 The committee agreed to co-opt Lydia Butler to the committee. Plans for the 20th Anniversary appeal were discussed. Janice offered to produce an appeal leaflet for books and bursaries. The committee discussed a gift certificate concept which could be offered for Christmas. Lydia reported (via e-mail) that she had set up and tested a click-through service for the FSJMS website where if supporters click through FSJMS to go on to other sites a donation would be made to FSJMS. David agreed to produce a Christmas newsletter. Arrangements were put in hand for the next AGM. 3rd December 2011 A very helpful e-mail had been received from Fr Ncube on 18th November with answers to Stephens email. Fr Ncube had confirmed that St James would be able to host an FSJMS visit in February 2012. David reported that income was significantly down on last year. The general funds on hand were now at 21,690 (a drop of c. 10,000 over the course of the year). The ring-fenced fund for bursaries is now emptied and bursaries were now supported only from general funds. Arrangements were put in hand for a visit to St James. The committee agreed that renewing the link with St James was critically important to support fundraising and renew the link with the UK. Paula and Nicola were able to travel in February, and would be able to fund the majority of the costs privately, but regrettably Alison was unable to go at the proposed time. The committee discussed delaying the visit to Easter, but after discussion it was felt that we should go ahead with a visit in February if at all possible as it has already been postponed once. Arrangements for the AGM were finalised. Janice and Nicky agreed to get out an appeal letter on an emergency basis for Xmas. 29th February 2011 The committee met to discuss the results of Paula and Nickys liaison visit and their report, which included the outcome of a planning meeting at St James with senior Mission staff clearly identifying their priorities for funding. St James requests for funding and agreed that FSJMS would donate up to c. 5000 (or $8,000) in support of drilling a borehole; $2,800 towards the completion of renovations of the primary school classrooms and admin block and would make a donation towards the purchase of a generator for the clinic (total cost would be c. $700). Janice Armstrong offered to approach Unison in

her area to fund the donation towards the generator. The committee recognised that these donations would deplete reserves and require FSJMS to undertake significant fundraising in 2012 to replenish reserves and meet committed regular funding. However, the committee felt that the renewal of the relationship enabled by the recent FSJMS visit, and collateral gathered during the trip, would allow for a concerted fundraising push this year. Nicky Peters

Friends of St James Mission and School Treasurers Report for 2011-12

Introduction This was a year in which the administration of the finances proceeded in a routine way, both in keeping the accounts in this country and distributing funds to St James in Zimbabwe. However the income was considerably less than the previous year resulting in a reduction of reserves to cover the regular funding made to the Mission. This will be detailed later.

Income The income for the year was 10,364 compared with 16,060 for 2010. The reason for this was lower contributions from organisations and one-off special donations, while those from individuals remained similar. Although some organisations have dropped out, noticeably the Babygrow project which was wound up, most of the regular contributors have continued, albeit at reduced level in some cases, maybe a mark of the times. Others do not always donate annually so perhaps missed this year. Two of the restricted funds, for the Clinic and Feeding programme, did not receive any income this year and thus were supported from the General fund or restricted reserves, so these will be closed unless further funding comes.

Expenditure The expenditure to Zimbabwe was 18,000 made up as follows: Bursaries Pre-school salaries Feeding 7,843.00 Shared between nineteen students 5,917.00 This was substantially up and the committee are examining this 2,380.00 Providing a daily meal for Primary
and Pre-school pupils

Clinic Primary School Gravestones

1,035.00 After a period of inactivity this fund is again being use for drug purchase 625.00 Stationery and repairs 200.00 Longstanding grant for St James churchyard, to be dedicated in 2012

Funding is made by bank transfer to a holding account held by our Zimbabwe Administrator, Carol Williams who then feeds back the exact distribution made from this account to St James. This was difficult before due to the instability of the currency with hyper inflation. Carol is very diligent in checking requests, orders and invoices before making payments. The holding account Carol previously held in this country has now been closed, the balance in this (already accounted for in our figures) being used to cover some extra minor expenditure, e.g. outstanding duty on the Land Rover import.

UK expenditure was 266 (1.48%) made up of bank charges for transfers, closing Just Giving account and AGM expenses.

Conclusion It will be seen from the very bottom line of the Statement of Assets (below) that our total funds held have reduced by 7,902 during the year, mainly due to the income being less. This is a situation which cannot continue if we are to meet all our present funding commitments in future years. The committee is well aware of this which has to be addressed urgently.

Finally my appreciation to Carol for the great work she does in Zimbabwe and to the committee for the support given, especially by foregoing or avoiding any expenses claim.

David Wakefield, Treasurer March 2012

STATEMENT OF ASSETS AS AT 31st DECEMBER 2011

2010 22,257.02 2,128.86 3,270.77 3,551.09 General Fund Bursaries Borehole Clinic Feeding

Unrestricted 16,184.44

Restricted

973.94 3,630.77 2,516.09 0.00

31,207.74

16,184.44

7,120.80

23,305.24

Balance at Bank Barclays Instant Savings Account (1) CAF Barclays Community Account

884.42 2,415.43 27,907.89

3,525.94 2,420.27 17,359.03

31,207.74

23,305.24