Events

On the 22nd April 2010, the BME Learning network held its first Annual General Meeting at the Aagrah Midpoint Restaurant between Leeds and Bradford.  The event was a huge success with over 70 people attending from Network members, friends and stakeholders. 

 

The first part of the day was taken up with the AGM business, passing the Financial Statements for the day and announcing the winners of the election for the Executive Committee of the Network.  Of the four people that applied to the positions, only three could be taken forward to the Executive Committee.  The vote was very tight, but the winners are:

 

Surji Cair - Millan Centre, Bradford

Aqila Choudhry – People in Action, Leeds

Beniot Mussanzi Wa Mussangu, Conflict Resolution Centre and Sharing Voices, Bradford

 

We thank Rashid Ahmed of the Karmand Community Centre in Bradford for his interest in the post.

 

Following this, a special resolution was tabled to change the constitution of the Network slightly to enable us to gain charitable status.  This resolution was passed with a unanimous vote, so we are now waiting for the Charity Commission to confirm our status.  For further details of these changes, please contact any of the Network staff and they would be happy to send you the resolution.

 

After the business had been concluded, the meeting moved on with the first guest speaker, Caryl Agard from Voice4Change England, who talked about the role of Voice4Change and the BME third sector.  His interesting talk covered the barriers that BME groups faced and ways to overcome them for successful commissioning in the future. 

 

Khalida Ashrafi, the Regional Manager of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, then talked about the newly enacted Equality Act.  The Act has had many opposers, but Khalida came to show what was good about the Act and how it could help not only BME groups but fight inequality in the UK.  If anyone would like copies of any of the presentations from the day, they should contact any of the Network staff and they can be sent out.

 

Next up, we honoured the Network members who had completed the PTLLS (Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector) course by giving out their certificates.  Eighteen people have completed the course so far, and many had come to the event to receive their certificates.

 

Finally the day concluded with a cheery jig courtesy of the Irish Arts Foundation and great food from Aagrah.  We hope that the AGM will be such a successful event in the years to come.