ANNUAL REPORT 2011 / 2012
Reaching 2 Decades Of Working Together
The Contents 3 4 5 6 8 10 12 22 23
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The Foreword The Structure The Aims / The Vision / The Mission The Partnerships The Mosques The Timeline The Opportunities The Future The Financials
The Forew rd The Bolton Council of Mosques completes two decades from its initiation in 1992 with some remarkable achievements and engaging the community in a whole host of opportunities whilst tackling some real challenges around community cohesion. It is without doubt the hard work and efforts of the past office bearers, Faruk Mangera, Tariq Mahmood, Sabir Khan, Zafar Iqbal, Ismail Adam and Moulana Mohammad Adam, that the legacy of work and effort continues to pave a way for the future generation.
Faith and Voluntary sectors has truly been embedded, demonstrating this as part of the Bolton Family and the One Bolton partnership. Our work with the Interfaith partnerships at the faith leaders forum, endorsing the One Bolton plan and delivering opportunities to the wider community of Bolton is a real strength and one which should be celebrated.
In this exciting and challenging year, we have delivered a plethora of services directly to the Muslim community, including Counselling, Bereavement and Funeral Services, Health Initiatives and much more.
The BCoM commits to representing the Muslim Community of Bolton at various levels, some of the engagement at strategic level may not be visible but is of fundamental importance, with the fruits of the discussions and approaches to be seen in years to come.
The re-engineering of service delivery, funding commitments and the “more for less� drive gives the need for the Executive team and staff to take on additional responsibilities at a strategic and operational level.
This Annual Report clearly demonstrates our strength in delivering to the highest level as well as contributing to the Local Strategic visions and action plans. I hope you enjoy reading the report and hope it connects you to the work at the Bolton Council of Mosques.
The volunteers that support us on a day to day basis make a big difference to help us achieve some of the projects. The relationships with our partners such as Bolton Council, the police, NHS and other community,
Dr Kamran Khan Chairman
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The Structure Bolton Council of Mosques is an umbrella organisation representing twenty two Mosques in the town as a non-profit Muslim voluntary organisation. Two members from each mosque represents on the Management Committee, who then elect the office bearers (Executives).
The management Committee members meet on a bi-monthly basis to discuss community matters. The chart below shows the structure and appointments.
Nominated By The 22 Mosques Dr. Kamran Khan (Chairman) Imteyaz Ali (Vice Chairman) Asif Patel (Secretary) Bashir Shama (Vice Secretary) Rashid Nadat (Treasurer)
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The Aims • • • • •
To provide a means to strengthen Muslim Engagement in Bolton. To develop partnerships that enable us to ensure service providers are responsive to the community’s needs. To identify and address the social, religious and economic needs of the member mosques and the Muslim community. To contribute positively to diversity and equality, helping to raise awareness and increase cultural understanding, thereby promoting cohesion in our town To promote unity, harmony and respect between and within our communities.
The Vision Our vision is to develop a successful, confident, and self-conscious Muslim community that makes a full and valuable contribution to the economic, spiritual and civic life of Bolton.
The Mission Our mission is to develop the framework for addressing issues affecting local Muslim people through effective partnership working and the promotion of unity and harmony, tolerance and respect amongst the residents of Bolton. We will strive to consult, contribute, help
develop and where needed deliver excellent services which meet the needs of the communities residing in Bolton, by providing a gateway to service providers, enhancing access and participation and developing the Muslim community.
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The Partnerships We would like to take this opportunity to thank the BCoM staff, mosque commitee members, executives, community champions and our partners for their ongoing support and engagement. Without them, we would not be able to deliver on the many initiatives that make a difference to the people we serve.
2006/07
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• • • • • • • •
Project 360 The Spinney Bolton Coroners Bolton Registrars Lodestones Bolton Schools North Bolton Support Group Various Community And Voluntary Groups
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The Mosques Working with the local mosque communities for over two decades.
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Aleef Mosque
Al Falah Mosque
Al Rahman
Masjid e Aqsa
Ashrafia
Darul Quran
Darul Uloom
Ghosia Mosque
Masjid Ibraheem
Jamiah Alavia Mosque
Madina Mosque
Makka Mosque
Makki Mosque
Masjid e Usman
Masjid e Noor
New Madina Mosque
Noor ul Islam
Salaam Mosque
Sughra Mosque
Taiyyabah Mosque
Zakariyya Mosque
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The Timeline 1990
2001
1996
Informal meetings of community leaders exploring solutions to joint challenges
Further broadening of aims and formation of Bolton Council of Mosques. BCoM formed including community forums.
Expansion of organisation aims to cover social and health
1993
1998
First in the country for people to come together from different communities and set up a service level agreement with Bolton Council for weekend burial.
Established humanitarian aid programme
1992 Formation and initiation of organisation
BCoM base established with recruitment of specialist staff
2004 Launched BCoMmunity news publication.
With Bolton registrars established the deputy registrars service. Volunteers from the Muslim community. 1st in the country.
2002 Established circumcision clinic 1st in the country
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Secured first SLA for young women’s project.
2002
1998
1997
1990
2004
Inter-mosque football competition, Madrassah engagement and community champions development 1st in the country
Two Decades
2007 Launched mentoring and counselling project
2007 1st female Platinum award in Bolton
2009 2008 Expanded to new premises to meet increased demand
2009
2007 Website launched
2011
BCoM leadership development programme. The 1st in the country focussing on future muslim leaders and champions
New youth and community cohesion programmes and recruitment of specialist workers
Wider delivery of youth programmes
2010 1st male youth work Platinum award in Bolton
2007
2006
6 community HUBS initiated & supported with champions
2008
2010
BCCP initiated leading BCoM innovative approach
2007 The MRI Scan protocol signed and custom designed. The 1st in the country for the Muslim community.
2007 Community burial vehicle acquired
Of Achievements
Weekly circumcision service agreed.
EDL Demonstration Partnership approach coordination
2009 MRI expanded to North West, proposal and formal bill presented at the House of Lords
2011 Hajj and Umrah vaccination clinics piloted with massive success.
2009 Partnership approach to cemeteryexpansion plans
2012
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The Opportunities The next section demonstrates the key delivery areas undertaken in 2011/2012. Whilst BCoM delivers on the core areas of delivery, it is not possible to measure the day to day enquiries and discussion which keep thefront of house busy at BCoM directing enquiries to the staff and executives to manage and respond.
Children & Young People
Dog fouling in the streets, refuse collection, street lighting issues, and responding to media affairs are some of the day to day issues we forward and collaboratively deal with our partners.
Community Development
Interfaith Engagement Health & Wellbeing
Mosque & Masdrash
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Bereavement & Funeral Services
Health & Wellbeing The health agenda at the BCoM goes from strength to strength. The support from volunteer doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health practitioners has been invaluable.
The Health Forum has met out of hours to discuss strategies and delivered a number of opportunities and initiatives for the benefit of the Muslim Community.
Vaccination Clinics Pilgrims booked into the programme delivered by Muslim GPs, Nurses and admin staff, who volunteered for this noble cause. 450 people were vaccinated in 2011/12.
Professional Development Programmes Our monthly health education programmes have been a great success, not only for existing medical practitioners, but also for students who are training for a career in the field.
Supporting Hear 2 Help Hear to Help offer hearing aid support services such as simple checks, GP referrals, advice and training on correct maintenance and fitting, and advice on types of hearing aids and equipment to help with hearing loss on a monthly basis at the BCoM Hub.
Circumcision Clinics Fifteen years on, due to demand, the Bolton’s Circumcision clinic with a renewed service level agreement to run as a weekly service from the Pikes Lane Health Centre.
Mental Health Champions Ten volunteers attended a training course to become Mental Health Champions. They left feeling very enthusiastic about passing on the knowledge they gained to their respective communities.
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Children & Young People The Part-Time Youth Workers support a number of groups to capacity build them to deliver and engage in opportunities.
Partnerships with Bolton Lads and Girls Club, 3rd Sector Children and Young People services, BWFC Community Trust to name a few allow us to promote a diverse range of oppertunites and initiatives.
Supporting Shorai Shorai Conflict And Prevention Martial Arts has been a huge success in the Rumworth, Crompton and Halliwell areas. This year several members also went to Manchester to compete in the WKC English National Championships.
Supporting Xplode Xplode is a magazine made by young people for young people of Bolton. The team put forward a proposal to O2’s thinkbig scheme, and were successful in securing a small budget to get their Idea off the ground.
Girls Only Programmes Each year, a range of girl’s only classes are delivered. This year’s classes included Healthy Eating / Cooking, Self Defence, Henna, Cake Decorating, Archery, Myers Briggs Training and much much more.
Arabic Language Classes The Arabic Language class has been such a massive success with young people, that new adults and girls only classes are being implemented too.
Education And Employment Programmes In partnership with the University of Bolton a programme was delivered to help young people plan ahead for their higher education and work. Skills such as CV writing, job applications, interview skills and techniques and team building exercises.
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We have invested and continue to allow the Manager to give time to the Children and Young People’s 3rd Sector Strategic Forum as the Vice Chair.
This support is crucial to ensure that the voice and partnerships working with the Children and Young Peoples Services in Bolton is heard and developed together. Some of the work delivered is showed within this report.
Residential Experience Young people once again took part in a weekend of fun at the water park adventure centre in Coniston. The event is aimed at young people who don’t get the opportunity to explore the beautiful outdoors of the country side, or try some water sports.
Saturday Night At The Bolton Lads And Girls Club Every Saturday evening our male youth worker supports young people to engage in positive activities at the Bolton Lads and Girls Club.
Supporting Youth MP Elections Bolton’s Youth MP election’s, part of the National UK Youth Parliament group, with two muslim candidates supported this year. Elected Youth MPs learn about the needs, interests and concerns of young people on both a local and national level.
10th Annual Inter-Mosque Football Competition The 10th Annual inter Mosque football competition took place, and aimed to encourage primary school children from years 3 to 6 to participate in improving inter-community relations.
Supporting Disabled Young People The Bolton Council of Mosques reading group is managed by volunteers through Bolton Shared Care. The Volunteers support young disabled people, within a Madrasah setting, learning more about their faith and culture.
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Interfaith Engagement
Bolton Council of Mosques as a partner with the other faith groups in Bolton are really proud to demonstrate the partnerships formed and the collaborative working that has seen us in this year work our way through some challenging scenarios as well as delivering on key principles. Moving on unscathed and strengthening the relationships after the demonstration by the EDL in 2009, the Bolton Council of Mosques interfaith engagement continues to be at forefront of our work. The work undertaken shows the depth of our involvement and one which will see 2012/2013 and beyond to be more of a priority as we engage with the wider communities to dispel myths, tackle misconceptions and open our doors for meaningful and collaborative discussions.
The Holy Quran emphasis that all... in spite of difference of colour, language, faith and nationality is a single brotherhood, because all are creation of One God and the descendants of set of parts (Adam and Eve), the find... at each person in the sight of Allah (the God Almighty) depend on how he or she has fulfilled their obligations to other people.
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Interfaith Executive Representation Meet every two months with the board of Trustees and contribute’s to the Interfaith Vision and Action plans. Additional Sub Committee involvement is also undertaken for specific pieces of work. Civic and Strategic Engagement in 2011/12 • Holocaust Memorial Day • Genocide Memorial Day • Faith Leaders Forum • Stronger Communities Partnership • Vision Steering Group • Inaugural ceremony - Civic Sunday to welcome the new Mayor of Bolton • Promoting the One Bolton brand and Bolton Family Values • Partnership approaches and dialogue Delivering And Supporting Partnership Interfaith Community Events in 2011/12 • Spirit of Bolton • Charity Events • Prayers for Natural Disasters • Inter-Faith Sports Activities • Eid and Diwali Celebrations • Hate Litter Campaign • Interfaith week • Community Licensing Services • One Bolton 5K Legacy Run Faith Trails, Assemblies, Talks and Training in 2011/12 We undertake the Delivery and manage requests for the following areas: • Mosque visits • Assemblies in Schools and talks • Promotion of Fast Breaking in Ramadhan • Statutory and Partner guidance and support Interfaith Support Group Meets every 3 months with other faith groups and projects that are involved in interfaith dialogue and activities.
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Community Development Developing community champions, supporting the establishments of groups in different areas in synergy with the local Mosques and Madrasahs, our successful over 40’s Male and Women dropins are some of the projects delivered.
This area is a crucial part of our delivery and engagement, allowing us to grow a successful, confident and self conscious Muslim Community that makes a full and valuable contribution to the economic, spiritual and civic life of Bolton.
Supporting Love Bolton Hate Litter Female volunteers supported officers from Bolton Council in the Big Bolton Tidy up in Rumworth. The initiative was part of the Love Bolton Hate Litter Campaign which aims to encourage people to take responsibility for tidying up their own local area.
Supporting The Bolton 5kRun Once again, several budding athletes representing the BCoM took part in the One Bolton 5k run to help raise money for charity and promote fitness locally.
Interfaith Chaplaincy Programme Twenty Four candidates from the interfaith community took part in this year’s interfaith chaplaincy programme, The Programme was an innovative and generic course exploring Chaplaincy from an inter-faith perspective specifically Christian, Hindu and Muslim participants.
BCoM Counselling Our counselling service helps local people from all backgrounds deal with issues like bereavement, depression, phobias, addiction and relationships.
Over 40’s Drop-In Groups The overwhelming success of our over 40’s men’s drop-in group has resulted in the formation of an equivalent female drop-in. The drop-ins aim to deliver activities, information and opportunities in an engaging social platform.
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Majority of the projects are progressed with the aim of sustainability and to grow independence within the community structures with other projects setup as pilots to allow us to understand the need and requirements.
All in all, 2011 has been a tough year to do “more with less funding” and achieving some real breakthrough in project delivery.
Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) In Bolton This year over forty delegates from across the country attend the Muslim Council of Britain Central Working Committee Meeting at the BCoM’s Conference Suite, discussing the needs of the Muslim Community in Britain.
Supporting The ICOC 4th Annual Competition Fourteen teams from across Lancashire and Greater Manchester took the crease to play for the prestigious winning trophy. The Cricket festival, brings together a mix of players from our diverse communities.
Embracing Other Cultures BCoM hosted a variety of events embracing other cultures, such as Somali community leaders meeting, and the commemoration of Somaliland’s 20th Anniversary of Independence.
Careers Convention Over fifty people benefitted from employers, service providers and educational establishments giving valuable advice and guidance to the attendees.
Bulk Buy Utilities In Bolton Organisations from the Christian, Hindu and Muslim Communities got together at Bolton Town Hall to get involved in collating how much the faith communities spend on Gas and Electricity and to look at ways of purchasing these services collectively.
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Bereavement And Funeral Services Two decades on, the bereavement and funeral services takes a leap into providing a one stop shop for all Muslim families in Bolton. The dedicated team of volunteers and the relationships between the stutory and private
service providers has helped BCoM to pave a way to become a first class service. The team at BCoM over the last year has been inundated with requests to support other towns and cities to setup a similar model and reap the rewards for the hereafter.
Burial Of Islamic Literature Working in partnership with Heaton cemetery, we have facilitated the disposal of Islamic literature for a number of years. Hundreds of people benefitted from this summer’s burial.
Ghusal Training Ghusal training offered an opportunity for new members to learn the ropes and for the established volunteers to ensure that they were carrying out the rituals correctly. The training consisted of washing the deceased and the shrouding process.
MRI Scans Supported A Post Mortem service using MRI Scans for selected nonsuspicious deaths has been established in the Greater Manchester areas developed now to manage and support across Greater Manchester.
Cemetary Walkway With the support of the local community and the Essa Foundation, we have managed to introduce much needed pathways within the Cemetary where graves have been in place for over the last 20 years.
Funeral Vehicles The BCoM Burial service was gifted with a customised funeral vehicle. Essa foundation once again supported the provision of a top of the range fully fitted vehicle to serve the funeral and burial work in Bolton.
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Mosque & Madrasah The backbone of our infrastructure is the progressive and united forum which meets on a bi-monthly basis. The Mosques and Madrasahs play a crucial role in serving the local community’s needs.
Governance support, training, development and collective decision making, have been some of the areas engaged in 2011/12. Some additional areas of engagement can be seen in the report.
Madrasah Matters Quality Management System (QMS) The Madrasah Matters QMS is a working document intended to support committees and headteachers in fulfilling their statutory responsibilities and provide guidance. It was launched to all affiliated Mosques and Madrasahs in Bolton in March 2012. Launch Of BOBC Madrasah Collection Each Mosque signed up to undertake fundraising with the mosque communities in January 2012. This may be with collections on the Friday Jummah prayers, in Ramadhan or at other organised activities.
First Aid At Madrasah Thirty two teachers from Bolton’s Madrasahs took part in a First Aid at Work course which gave each a designated first aider, with key knowledge in a variety of areas.
Community Information Boards A number of Mosques joined our Community Notice Board project, positioning a notice board outside to promote social and community projects and programmes.
Decision Making Bi-monthly meetings bring together the representatives of the 22 Mosques to make collective decsions on key issues and agendas.
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The Future It is now clear more than ever that the challenges we face are about long-term survival, especially as forecasts for economic improvement and media portrayal of the Muslim communtiy is consistently negative. Charities such as the BCoM with a faith element have to accept the economic reality and ensure that, as far as possible we control our funding position and manage our finances to give the best chances of achieving sustainability, even if external factors are beyond our control. It is very natural for the BCoM to focus on short term issues and immediate tasks, forgetting that it is only by continually innovating and creating new knowledge that we can ensure our own survival. The BCoM is a catalyst for new ideas, stimulating new ways of operating that might not otherwise have been discovered. There is no doubt that past and present leadership has strived to rise in the storm, rather than drowning in the waves.
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They have kept focus and continued without losing track of our goals due to organisational introspection but facing the future creatively. This has made the difference between seeing the obstacles and challenges not as an insoluble problem, but as a series of opportunities that support the Muslim community to make a full and valuable contribution to economic, civic, and spiritual life in Bolton. The expectations on community delivery, civic participation and Leadership management does not reside at the top of our organisation. Successful organisation’s today point to leadership from top to bottom and across their organisation, thus very importantly we will strive to build leaders not just through our affiliate Mosques and Madrasahs, but in the wider community to support us to develop the framework for addressing issues affecting local Muslim people.
The Financials Incoming Resources Community project grants
229,310
Youth Development
10,745
Community services
21,302
Rental Income
30,033
Funeral Services - Cemetery Pathway Other
8,128 411 299,929
Resources Expended Payroll and NI Community Services Professional Fees
123,362 38,207 3,399
Training and Activity
24,175
Administration
82,542
Depreciation
15,435 287,120
Balance carried forward
12,809
Note the Balance is pre-allocated expenditure to be incurred in 2012/13.
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We complete the Journey by thanking all the people who have supported the work and given their time and commitment to BCoM. We are very privileged to have a team of staff and volunteers who gave that extra to help our Community. The activities shared in the Annual Report can only be sustained through active engagement and participation by all our Stakeholders to whom we extend our appreciation and gratitude. We hope you enjoyed reading the Annual Report and please feel free to visit our office or website for further information.
1 Vicarage Street Bolton BL3 5LE Tel 01204 363680 Fax 01204 363681 Email admin@thebcom.org Web www.thebcom.org