On Wednesday 12th December we held an event at Volcano Theatre, with the book launch of two new publishings, our AGM, music, poetry readings, food and art!
We were delighted to be holding our event during the Charity Crafts & Arts: Exhibition & Sale hosted by Swansea Asylum Seekers Support, which had incredible success in raising funds for local organisations and charities.
Book Launch
At the event, we held a launch of new Hafan Books poetry publications, one by Aruni McShane, and one of our very own Management Committee Member, Dr. T. M. A. Mfortem! Each read extracts from their newly published work.
Congratulations to Martha and Aruni on their wonderful book launches! Beautiful poetry readings by two incredible women.
‘Unbound’ by T. M. A. Mfortem is available for purchase here.
‘Of Monitors and Men’ by Aruni McShane is available for purchase here.
Annual General Meeting (AGM)
Following an inspiring presentation by Swansea Library Services about their current work towards becoming a Library of Sanctuary, we began our AGM.
Alan Thomas (Chair) provided an overview of the annual report, and Stephen Richardson (Treasurer) gave an overview of the financial reports. Two resolutions were agreed upon:
- Becoming a registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) (adoption of Revised Constitution)
- Timing of future Annual General Meetings to be shortly after end of financial year
The newly revised 40-page Constitution was summarised by Alan Thomas and was accepted by the voting Members who attended. The full Constitution and the summary of the Constitution can be found below with other relevant documents from the AGM.
We then had the appointment of new Management Committee Members – we are very excited to welcome Fru and Tom to our Committee for 2024!
Thank you to those who volunteered their time on our Management Committee this year, and to those who are stepping down from their roles.
We’d like to say a special thanks to Alan Thomas, who has been part of Swansea City of Sanctuary since the very start. As many of you know, Alan was one of the founders of this organisation back in 2009, and has put incredible amounts of time and effort into helping Swansea become a City of Sanctuary. Alan – we wish you all the best going forward. Thank you, from all of us, for your years of hard work and Chairmanship.
Carys and Funmilayo, two of our long standing Committee Members, presented Alan with gifts from the Management Committee, to thank him for his incredibly hard work over the years.
The full PowerPoint presentation for the AGM can be viewed here: SCoS AGM Slides
The minutes of meeting can be viewed here: SCoS AGM Minutes 2023
Relevant documents: