North East Region – Hartlepool | Volunteers and Affiliates Appreciation Evening
North East Region – Hartlepool
Volunteers and Affiliates Appreciation Evening – 2022
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 Thursday 31 March 2022 at Nasir Mosque in Hartlepool.
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 to attend today’s event and a similar volunteer appreciation evening in Dewsbury in the North East Region the following day.
The programme started at 6pm with the Recitation of the Holy Quran by Mr Farhat Ahmed Raja with English Translation by Mr Bilal Atkinson, followed by a welcome address 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 was RBL Hartlepool President, Colonel (Retired) Ian Simpson MBE JP MICG and the Deputy Mayor of Hartlepool, Councillor Rob Cook.
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, Deputy Mayor of Hartlepool, Councillor Rob Cook and Colonel Ian Simpson from RBL all collectively presented cheques to the Three 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.
- Kathrine Batty from St Aidan’s Church food bank for £500
- Sacha Bedding form Wharton Trust Food Bank for £500
- Councillor Rb Cook on behalf of Mayor’s charities 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 Vice Chair CWFP, Mr Rafi Ahmad and CWFP Regional Coordinator North East, Mr Munir Ahmed presented a cheque for the donation collected on behalf of RBL for £25,163.83 to colonel Ian Simpson, Regional President RBL. Colonel Ian Simpson in return presented a certificate of appreciation to Chairman CWFP UK, Mr Zaheer Ahmed in appreciation of excellent work carried out in support of the RBL Poppy appeal by the AMEA region’s local volunteers.
Colonel Ian Simpson was extremely honoured and pleased to be invited 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. This is the first time he had been to our mosque in Hartlepool and had any dealings with the AMEA. He was not aware of the enormous charity work the AMEA was involved and was pleased to see 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.
Volunteer appreciation certificates were presented by Colonel Ian Simpson from RBL to AMEA team leaders Mustajab Ur Rehman Khokhar from Hartlepool Team and Mirza Muhammad Yousaf Akhtar from Newcastle Team for their overall collections during the RBL Poppy appeal.
Key Addresses
The Deputy Mayor of Kirklees, Councillor Rob Cook was extremely honoured and pleased to be attend on behalf of the Late Mayor of Kirklees, Councillor Brenda Loynes who sadly passed away last year.
He was honoured to escort her Husband Derrick Loynes who kindly agreed to attend the event. Brenda attended the charity walk at the Ward Jackson Park in September last year with her husband and was actively engaged in charity work. The charity cheques presented for £500 will go to her chosen charities of Alice House Hospice and Miles for Men Cancer charity. Councillor Rob Cook wished the AMEA well to continue to do their outstanding charity work.
RBL Regional President Hartlepool – Colonel Ian Simson (Retired) MBE JP MICG was honoured and delighted to attend on behalf of Sian Cameron the RBL local fundraiser for Hartlepool and has been extremely impressed with the charity work the AMEA are doing in the area and the positive relationship that has been built with RBL and AMEA. This is the first time he has been to our mosque in Hartlepool and will be attending many more events to come and wished the AMEA best for the future.
CWFP -Regional coordinator North East, Mr Munir Ahmed 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 Tahir Selby, Regional Missionary to lead the congregation in silent prayers. The event finished with a delicious asian sit down meal for everyone
Event Report
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