Chairperson’s Report

It’s a shame that once again we are not able to meet face to face for this meeting but I do hope it will not be too long before we can get together again.

This has been another year dominated by the Covid pandemic, to me it went by so quickly and in some ways was harder than 2020 for COAT. Last year my report was full of how we had adapted and kept raising money and giving grants despite all the difficulties. And that is true again this year. But it is getting harder. Harder to find ways to raise funds when covid restrictions change so frequently, and when, with the arrival of the omicron variant, people are still very cautious about mixing. And, perhaps predictably, we are now receiving fewer requests for financial support. The need is certainly still there but covid has affected everything…organisations, plans, travel, volunteering, access to goods etc. Despite all this Helen will remind us of the amazing amount of money we have managed to raise, and Hilary will remind us of all the excellent projects we have supported throughout the year. Our thanks go to Hilary for all she does to identify, investigate and arrange our donations. Thank you Hilary.

COAT Trustees continued to manage the legacy of Ms Falconer to Burkina Faso while Penny and Ian handled the communications and planning with the project. We will hear more from Ian about progress in the use of those funds. I feel really happy with the way the legacy has been transformed into wonderful projects on the ground and I am in awe of Dialoaga and his abilities and achievements in his community.

We did find new ways to raise funds. A special mention to Sally for her great ideas…and for translating them into action…her music nights both online and live; and also selling COAT crafts online and in her shop, The Stripey Sheep, in Keswick. And Sally has also made sure that COAT’s activities get more exposure and promotion through Facebook. Thanks Sally.

Online Quizes have continued to be great fun and great fundraisers…entirely down to our very own Quizmaster Keith Baty. And Master is the right word. I will write to Keith to thank him again. We also have Connie, Mike and Kate to thank for hosting our quizzes on their Zoom platform.

We did manage to hold a real life tea party and sale hosted outdoors by Linda, Sue and the Isel Team. All Trustees contributed and it was a great success. I think people wanted to be generous as they were so grateful to be out meeting other people, eating cakes, buying lovely plants, knits and all sorts of other things, and giving to a great charity that they know and trust. One of the things we have learned from our sales is how popular plants are. Helen and Kester have put loads of time into growing, potting, labelling and providing information which our “customers” really appreciate.

We experimented with car boot sales with varied results…hats off to Claire and Hilary in Kendal for a great result. However Linda and Sue thought they would rather have donated the few pounds raised in Cockermouth and stayed in bed!

We continued to hold Trustee meetings on Zoom and for this we must again thank Claire and Acorn for generously letting us use their zoom platform. And I want to say how grateful we are to Maddy Prior for her continued support of COAT in her role as our Patron. We also thank Chris Bonington who has now stood down after many years in his Patron role.

In the past year we also welcomed two new Trustees onto the COAT Board, Linda and most recently Carolyn. Linda has already made a big contribution to our fundraising and later in the meeting Carolyn will officially take on the role of Treasurer.

We greatly appreciate the support of the South Lakes Group of COAT and we are really pleased to have Margaret Wilson from the group with us this evening. I am sure their members have missed their regular fundraising social events during Covid. Let’s hope we can all meet up in the not too distant future.

And that brings me to my last and most important thank you from all of us …. to Helen. For more years than she probably cares to remember Helen has been Treasurer for COAT. She has managed our accounts, the bank accounts, the income and donations, the audits, the Charity Commission, the 100 Club and much, much more. She has kept us right and now she is ready to handover those responsibilities. Thank you Helen. And please thank your first class assistant Kester from us.

As Covid continues, and even in the aftermath, there will be challenges for COAT…challenges in fundraising, and in identifying projects for us to support. We did get some good press coverage during the year and we need to be proactive in doing more of this sort of publicity especially as a way of increasing awareness about COAT and development issues, and to encourage grant applications. We will need to continue to think and act creatively if we are to carry on supporting people in other parts of the world who deserve everything and anything we can do for them.

We know, and we see through direct feedback, how much difference a very small amount of money can make to a community. And we know that people in our communities want to be generous and learn more about the help they can give through COAT. So let’s keep doing more of what COAT does so well.

Grant Secretary’s Report

It has continued to be a difficult time for fundraising but I am very pleased to report that we have donated a total almost £7000 to projects in eleven different countries which is wonderful. Surprisingly, and I am not sure why, the number of appropriate applications has been very low, which does mean however that we are usually able to give a positive response to those organisations that satisfy our criteria.

All the projects that we have supported give me, and I am sure all the Trustees, great pleasure and it would be impossible to choose a favourite project. But who could not be proud of the fact that we have enabled some people in the Gambia to have prosthetic limbs fitted, or helped to build a bakery to provide bread for children living with disabilities in Sierra Leone, or provided pigs for women-headed households to rear in Tanzania.

I still find it a privilege to get to know applicants, either by zoom or telephone, and learn about some of the amazing work that is being carried out around the world by many, mostly small, organisations.

The role continues to be a learning exercise for me as I realise the importance of keeping in touch with the recipients of funds to ensure their projects are successful and to collect feedback to send to our supporters.

We look forward to being able to make a small difference to the lives of people living in some of the poorest regions of the world during 2022.