Annual Report 2016
Download : Annual report 2016
Annual General Report
Contents
- Company Information
- Directors’ Report
- Statement of Financial Activities
- Balance Sheet
- Notes to the Financial Statements
Company Information
Name of Company: The Malayalee Association of the UK (MAUK)
Company Number: 4934084
Charity Number: 1102653
Registered Office: Kerala House, 671 Romford Road, Manor Park, London E12 5AD
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Dear Members
I would like to take this opportunity to present the annual report of Malayalee Association of the UK, (MAUK) 2016. This report mainly covers the various activities and events of the organisation from January to December 2016.
Board of Directors
MAUK is a Registered Charity and a Company Limited by Guarantee. Therefore, members of the Board of Directors have the responsibility as Charity Trustees and as Company Directors.
Term expires in AGM 2017
Aji Kumar Velu, AnilKumar Edavana, Baldwin Simon, Biju Gopinath, Harilal Vasavan, Jayan Pillai, Muraleedharan Pillai, N Ravindran Nair, Nishar V Pushpalatha, Pushkas Vasu, Rajeswari Sadasivan, Silpa Jayan Pillai, Sudheer Vasudevan and Suprabha Nair
To continue till AGM 2018
At the AGM of 2016, the following members were elected to the Board through voting by members to continue till AGM 2018. Nihas Rawther, Sambasivan Raman, Aji Gangadharan, Sreekumar, Jaison George, Sreejith Sreedharan, Jainlal Soman, KG Nair
Resignation and Termination
Silpa Jayan Pillai and Suprabha Nair
As per the MAUK Constitution, the AGM will be electing only the required number of directors to the Board. The first meeting of the Board will then elect the officials and decide on the roles and responsibilities of the various directors.
Management Structure
It is the responsibility of the Board to provide and maintain an efficient management structure that will enable MAUK to deliver the best possible services to the community. The management structure was mainly to accommodate the greater number of directors on the board and aimed to move activities and events around within the four teams to even out the workload such as to regular services and annual events with a mixture of experienced directors in each of the teams to help with any guidance required by the newer members to the board. The teams were renamed Team North, East, West and South.
Directors’ Report
The summary of the main activities and services for the year 2016 is covered below
Onasadya and Onam Celebrations
Malayalees from across the UK celebrated Onam, commemorating the Great King Mahabali and the golden era under His reign. MAUK held two days of festivities to mark 2016 Onam. It commenced with the grand traditional feast, ‘Ona Sadya’ at the Trinity Centre, Manor Park, London on Saturday, 3 September. It was a day for all to dress up in traditional Kerala costumes and to enjoy the delicious vegetarian feast’. The traditional feast served on banana leaves with 17 homemade dishes was served in the traditional method.
The second day of celebration titled Swayam Ponnonam 2016 was held at Ilford Town Hall on Saturday, 17 September 2016. The five-hour variety cultural show that was held included homegrown artists as well as prominent artists from Kerala
The event started with the lighting the lamp followed by the welcome speech of Chairperson Mr Ravendran Nair. The cultural events featured a diverse line-up of dancers and musicians from the Malayalee community in the UK. Traditional performances like Maveli Varavelppu, Thiruvathira, classical dances, group dances, and Chendamelam were all performed by local talents.
The highlight of Onam celebrations was a three-hour live Ganamela by the famous playback singers Biju Narayanan, Jyotsna and Sreenath. The orchestra for the Ganamela was provided by MAUK’s music troupe Nisari with Santosh on the keyboard, Vinod on tabla and percussion, Varun on drums and rhythm and Shino on bass guitar. The event has made more extravagant by the performance of internationally famous juggler from Kerala, Vinod Venjarammoode who has amazed the world with the highly skilled juggling tactics
MAUK thanked all the participants and volunteers who made the show successful. It was also another successful partnership event with Sangeetha of the UK, which enabled the singers from Kerala to perform for the Onam celebrations in two venues. MAUK will continue to explore partnership opportunities that would benefit the community.
Chendamelam
In 2016, the MAUK Chenda Troupe has performed across the United Kingdom. The performances of the Troupe were well appreciated at the 65th Republic Day Celebration organised by the High Commission of India at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. The team has continued to receive the accolade at the chariot festival organised by London Sree Murugan Temple and Sree Mahalakshmi Temple. The thousand of worshipers well received the five-hour-long procession through the streets of East London. The Troupe also performed at various churches festivals and celebrations. MAUK would like to thank the organisers for giving the performers this opportunity to achieve another successful year.
International Women’s Day
International Woman’s day was celebrated on 13 March at Kerala House with different varieties of programs. The celebration commenced with a speech by the chief guest, Prathibha Ramsigh OBE. Others speakers like Councillor Manju Shahul Hameed, spoken about the women in politics and more women to come forward in the political career. Dr. Nimisha Muraleedharan made a speech about the women’s’ empowerment.
Among all the cultural performances by the local talents, the highlight one was the special performance from the aunties of sixty plus sisters club. The audience also enjoyed the food and light refreshments provided. MAUK would like to thank Seena Ajeesh and all the volunteers for organising a very well planned event.
Nisari-Orchestra of MAUK
It was yet another successful year for MAUK Nisari- the Music troupe of MAUK. The troupe has supported playback singers like Biju Narayanan and Jyotsna. In 2016, the troupe have performed on many stages across the UK including London, Newcastle and Northern Ireland.
Kerala Carnival 2016 – Promoting local Partnerships
The Family Fun Day titled Kerala Carnival was jointly organised by Kerala Catholic Association (KCA), Malayalee Association of the UK (MAUK) and Sree Narayana Guru Mission of the UK (SNGM) in association with Swayam Properties, East Ham. The event also celebrated the 90th Birthday of the HM The Queen.
Community members who attended the event had a variety of fun and entertainment activities. There were many stalls including the BBQ stall with freshly grilled food, the vegetarian and non-veg snacks stalls, the Kerala style Thattukada stall, Kozhikodan Biriyani stall, candy, popcorn and Ice cream stalls.
The kid’s activities included a bouncy castle, face painting, henna art and other fun games. The beauty parlour by Gucci has provided beauty therapies. Santhigiri stall offered their Ayurvedic products to the community. UKMCL organised a cricket match for the youngsters.
The open stage showcased a variety of programmes including a fashion show, Chenda performance by MAUK, Karaoke songs, Classical and Cinematic Dances, interactive Zumba session etc.
MAUK thanked our main sponsor – Swayam properties and our co-sponsors London Borough of Newham, Sam travels, Victory Driving School, BFC Exchange, Green Stores Eastham, UKMCL, UAE Exchange, Centre4m, Tamil Sangam for extending their support to the event
The directors and volunteers from all the organisations involved endeavoured their best to make the event a grand success. The event also enabled MAUK to achieve its mission of promoting community cohesion through collaborative work.
Funding and Sponsors
Our primary means of income is through membership. However, due to the increasing cost of managing the various activities of MAUK, we are seeking other options to raise funds to maintain the services of MAUK. Sponsorship deals with community-spirited business have enabled MAUK to fund many of its services. MAUK acknowledges the support of Swayam Property Services for being our main sponsor for 2016, Barclays Bank staff for their fantastic support of MAUK Supplementary School and Elders Services, Royal Mail staff for volunteering to raise funds for various activities and all our other sponsors. MAUK extend its gratitude to all the sponsors and look forward to their continued support.
Educational Award 2016
The 2016 educational Awards for the best GCSE and A-Level student were presented at the Onam Celebrations. We follow strict selection criteria with the winners being selected after careful and rigorous inspection of the evidence submitted by the candidates. Mr. who works as a subject lead at a local school is in charge of this process, and MAUK Directors do not interfere or influence the process. The winners’ details are as follows.
GCSE Awards 2016
1stPrize – Vaishna Surjid
2nd Prize – Manish Manoj
3rd Prize – Reshma Nambiar
A Level Awards 2016
1st Prize – Nidhish Jayan
2nd Prize – Keiran Kumar Nair
This year MAUK have also awarded Jude Edison who has achieved the excellent result from International Baccalaureate (IB) examinations.
Kattan Kaapiyum Kavithayum (KKK)
There were 8 episodes of KK held in 2016 with the majority focusing on attaining wider knowledge of painting and modern art. The conclusion of the Art Project started in 2015 and Art Exhibition took place in February. Group visits to National Gallery and Tate Britain were conducted. Discussion on modern art and paintings were also held during the visit to the art exhibition by Artist Jose Antony at the Tate gallery. Special episodes were held to pay tribute to ONV Kurup and Narayana Panicker during which their poetry was discussed.
The 6th edition of the ‘Chaya” magazine was published and the winner of 2015 Poetry Competition Mr. K Hashim was honoured during the autumn special episode held in November. A special edition Kattankappi was held to honour the Late Kalabhavan Mani following his sad and unexpected demise. The artists of the UK made Malayalam movie ‘Bilathi Pranayam’ were also felicitated and a discussion on ‘Avenues of Democracy’ were also conducted.
60+ Sisters Club
The Club meets every Tuesday, and over 25 members use its services. This service is an example of how volunteers can play a crucial role in providing essential, high-quality services to vulnerable members of our community. As a result of this service by MAUK, older women can freely talk with each other, sing, dance, organise their entertainment, do light exercise, and most importantly, they have formed a strong support network for each other.
The members also go on day trips on special occasions. Those who attend this group have gained confidence enough to even perform at public functions. The benefits of these projects can most certainly be seen in the improved quality of the lives of the attendees. MAUK took this opportunity to appreciate Director Rajeswari Sadasivan and other volunteers to maintain one of our main and essential services.
MAUK School of Music and Dance
The Schools is providing and maintaining good service for the students attending our music and dance classes. One reason for this improvement is the way of teaching to the standard by good quality teachers. It has led to the students to attend musical and dance examinations from external exam bodies like Trinity College of Music, Oriental Fine Arts Academy of London (OFAAL) and Oriental Examination Board London OEBL.
Bharathanatyam
The classes take place every Saturday from 9 am to noon under the tutelage of Ms Santosh G Nair. Students have not only achieved the good level of Bharathanatyam but also have graded from OFAAL and OEBL. The students have performed at the Onam 2016, Kerala Carnival and also at events organised by other organisations.
Keyboard & Guitar
In 2016 the number of students attending the keyboard and guitar classes has increased. The classes take place on Saturdays from 3 pm to 5 pm and Sundays from 2.30 pm to 6.30pm. We have students from the age of 5 to 60 years. Well-known musician and music composer, Mr Albert Vijayan, train the students of MAUK. He has performed in mega shows in UK, India and other countries. This year various students have passed grading exams with excellent results. We would like to thank Albert Vijayan for his commitment to developing the music skills of the students.
Tabla and Mridangam
Tabla and Mridangam classes also saw an increase in new students. This year the classes attracted many students from outside the Malayalee community. The students have the flexibility to attend classes in the evenings on weekdays and weekends. The classes are run by Mr Vinodkumar who is a percussionist and was a key player in the well-known orchestra in Kerala called “Navadhara”. He is also a key player in MAUK’s orchestra troupe “Nisari”. MAUK thank him for his dedication in running these classes.
Chenda
The Chenda classes started in 2011 have seen a steady increase in the number of students. The students of MAUK were fortunate to perform in various stages all over the UK ranging from temples, churches, and the spectacular program for the Independence Day celebrations by High Commission of India. One of the uniqueness of the MAUK Chenda team is that the majority of artists are female. Vinodkumar conducts the Chenda lessons. We thank all the artists for their commitment and for bringing wider recognition for MAUK through performances at prestigious occasions and venues.
Club 150
The aim of Club 150 is to raise awareness of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases and provide an exercise based prevention programme to those who are at risk of contracting these diseases. The scheme was initiated by Newham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivered to the local community by a consortium of local organisations is supported by West Ham United Foundation. Director Ravendran Nair represents MAUK in this consortium is in charge of delivering this service to the local community in Manor Park area.
MAUK brought the awareness to the members on a weekly basis by providing fitness and physical activities have aimed to empower local people and enable them to take greater control of their own health.
Thalamura
This new weekly service was started by MAUK members who have recently retired from their jobs. Thalamura aims to provide a weekly gathering of community members with activities such as light exercise, playing cards, Kerala style cookery, discussion forums etc.
Thalamura meets every fortnight on Fridays. Since the Club 150 activities take place on the same day, participants of Thalamura also have the opportunity to participate in both. MAUK is looking for more members and volunteers to join the activities of Thalamura. MAUK is taking this opportunity to thank Suresh Sukumaran who initiated and is also the Lead Volunteer for this project.
Badminton 2016
This year’s MAUK badminton tournament was held on 19th March 2016 at Newham Leisure Centre, Prince Regents Lane, London E13 8SD.
A total of 20 teams from across the UK participated in this event. Rajeev and Reis secured won the doubles tournament. Sanesh and Aneesh became the runners-up. Joby and Kiran secured the third position. All the winners awarded with cash prize and trophies. MAUK thank all the participants and volunteers who made the event successful.
Cards Competition
MAUK 2016 Card Game Competition (28) took place on 16 July at Kerala House. Baldwin Simon, KG Nair and Edwin Thomas won the rolling trophy. Murali Pillai, Justin Simon and Anil Pillai took the runner-up position.
This mind and calculation game is popular among Malayalees at home and abroad and has been proven to have mental and physical health benefits to players.
Website & E-Newsletter
www.mauk.org
MAUK has been using the website, social media and the E-Newsletter as the key media to publicise to the community. It has been recognised, that lot more has to be done to ensure the information is presented in a quality and timely fashion.
E-Newsletter
MAUK website has been revamped to ensure that we have a mobile optimised website to cater for the rapid growth in people visiting our website from their mobile devices.
Finances
The externally audited accounts for the year are shown at the end of this report.
Resolutions
If members wish to introduce any resolutions, please inform the Company Secretary seven days before the AGM. The resolutions should be proposed and seconded by two members of MAUK. It is a requirement that all three members are present at the AGM when the item is discussed.
Conclusion
The year 2016 has been a very challenging year for MAUK. It was especially challenging for our elders’ services, as we had to find alternative means to raise funds for this flagship project that has transformed the lives of many people. The partnership events with other organisations made the Onam Celebration and Kerala Carnival, a cost-effective one.
Finally, I take this opportunity to thank all the directors, volunteers, sponsors, local authorities and partners for the support and help given to the organisation.
Sudheeran Vasudevan
Company Secretary
On Behalf of the MAUK Board of Directors
Our Sponsors
