The Ahmadiyya Muslim Elders Association UK (AMEA) North East Region held their Volunteers Appreciation Dinner for the CWFP – Poppy appeal 2021 Campaign and to present cheques to local charities on Friday 1st April 2022 at Baitul Atta Mosque in Dewsbury.

The region was honoured and delighted to be graced with the presence of the Chairman and Vice chairman CWFP UK, Mr Zaheer Ahmed and Mr Rafi Ahmad who travelled from London the day beforeto attend a similar volunteer appreciation evening in Hartlepool in the North East Region.

The programme started at 6pm with the Recitation of the Holy Quran by Mr Slah Uddin Mir, Regional Missionary followed by a welcomeaddress and a short video presentation by the Vice Chair of the CWFP UK, Mr Rafi Ahmad. He appreciated our volunteers who had done a magnificent job in collecting over £690,000 throughout the UK and underlined how every penny was passed on to the other charities and none was kept for administration.

The key external dignitaries that attended the event were the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Mr Jon Hammond DL. The Deputy Mayor of Kirklees Council, Councillor Mahmood Akhtar and senior community Fundraising Manager from the Royal British Legion (RBL), Ms Judith Reay.

The region organised two charity walks on 19th September 2021 in Greenhead Park in Huddersfield and Ward Jackson Park in Hartlepool, which ran simultaneously with our national charity walk in London and all other regions throughout the UK. Our region raised £26,589.93 for various CWFP projects and £5,589.93 for local charities. Five local charities were present to receive charity cheques for the money raised.

The Chairman CWFP UK, Regional President CWFP North East, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Deputy Mayor of Kirklees and Senior community fundraising manager from RBL all collectively presented
cheques to the five local charities and the representatives who graciously accepted the cheques. They said a few words and introduced the work of their charities and their ongoing positive relationship with the AMEA.
CWFP cheques were presented to:

• Arif Ahmed from Humanity First Food Bank in Mirfield for £1500
• Duncan Batty from Kirkwood Hospice for £1000
• Anne Littlewood from Yorkshire Air Ambulance Service for £500
• Bilal Mayat from Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice for £500
• Duncan Brownnutt from Martin House Children’s Hospice for £500

RBL Volunteer Appreciation
The region was pleased to announce for the first time all 14 majlis, including the 2 newly formed Majlis in Doncaster and Newcastle were actively involved with the RBL Poppy Appeal Collections from 30 Oct 21 to 14 Nov in 2021. A total allocation of 97 days and 147 volunteers took part in the poppy appeal collections in various stall at the railway stations, shopping malls, open market stalls and supermarkets. we are please to announce that we had a total collection for RBL Poppy appeal of £25,165.83, compared to just over. £15,000 collected the
year before in only 8 locations in the region.

The CWFP Chairman, Mr Zaheer Ahmed and Regional President CWFP North East, Mr Lutf Rehman presented a cheque for the donation collected on behalf of RBL for £25,163.83 to Judith Reay, Senior Community Fundraising Manager for RBL. Judith Reay in return presented a certificate of appreciation to Regional President CWFP
North East, Mr Lutf Rehman in appreciation of excellent work carried out in support of the RBL Poppy appeal by the AMEA region’s local volunteers.

Judith Reay was extremely honoured and pleased to be invited, along with her RBL colleagues to this event and was impressed with the AMEA volunteers hard work in raising such a large amount for the poppy Appeal in our local areas. She was not aware of the enormous charity work the AMEA was involved and was pleased to see the
the positive relationship that has been built wit the RBL colleagues and AMEA volunteers in the regions and sees this going from strength to strength.

A number of volunteer appreciation certificates were presented to AMEA team leaders from their respective areas from the RBL community fundraisers for their overall collections during the RBL Poppy appeal.
·Tina Pringle, RBL Community Fundraising Manager presented volunteer appreciation certificates to:

• Rauf Ahmed for Bradford NE & Bradford NW Teams
• Malik Naseer Ahmed Shahid for Bradford SE Team
• Mohammad Tariq Islam for Bradford SW Team
• Gillian Carr RBL Community Fundraiser – Bradford, Calderdale &
• Kirklees presented volunteer appreciation certificates to:
• Usman Chaudhry for Huddersfield North Team
• Sadaqat Ahmed from Huddersfield South Team
• Nadim Bhatti from Spen Valley & Keighley Teams
• Mark James RBL Community Fundraiser for Doncaster &
• Wakefield presented volunteer appreciation certificates to:
• Amir Mahmood for Leeds & Sheffield Teams
• Mohammad Ishaq Dar for Scunthorpe Team

Key Addresses
The deputy Mayor of Kirklees, Councillor Mahmood Akhtar was extremely honoured and pleased to be invited today and was pleased to have attended the charity walk at Greenhead Park in Huddersfield and wished the AMEA as well to continue to do their outstanding charity work.

Deputy Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Mr Jon Hammond DL was delighted to accept and attend today’s event and was very pleased to have attended the charity walk last year at Greenhead Park in Huddersfield as well. He has been impressed with the work the charities and the RBL are doing in partnership with the AMEA and wishes to see this growing and expanding.

Regional President CWFP North East, Mr Lutf Rehman gave a vote of thanks to all the dignitaries, charities and the volunteers that attended the event.

Chairman CWFP UK, Mr Zaheer Ahmed in his concluding address said that he was delighted to attend this evening event, along with his vice chair and came all the way from London just to offer his wholehearted gratitude to charities and AMEA volunteers to say a big “Thank You”. He was impressed with the way the event has been organised and the charity money raised during the charity walks and the immense work done with the RBL colleagues at the local level. The hard work is clearly being demonstrated with the positive
relationships that AMEA has built with the local charities and RBL.

At the conclusion of a unique and memorable evening the chairman requested Mr Slah Uddin Mir, the Regional Missionary to lead the congregation in silent prayers. The event finished with a delicious asian sit down meal for everyone.