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The audited Accounts for the year show the combined income and expenditure of the No1 and No 2 current accounts and the Savings Account. Bank Accounts Following on from the 2003 - 2004 Report, the No 2 account (used for the production costs and sales and other income of the Society's journal) was closed and the balance transferred to the No 1 account which will henceforth be called simply the 'Current account'. Appropriate categorisation ensures that all income and costs are properly captured, recorded and reported. Financial Code of Practice The Financial Code of Practice defines roles and responsibilities and underpins the processes of budgetary control and financial reporting, record maintenance, account preparation and audit. Gift Aid Gift Aid is a scheme by which a charity can reclaim from the Inland Revenue the basic tax on money paid to it by way of subscriptions or gifts. In the 2003-04 year 96 members provided Gift Aid Declarations and the Inland Revenue credited a total of £331.35 to the Society's account in 2004-2005. In the current year the number of Declarations has increased to 156, generating £542.95 for next year's accounts. At almost 85% of memberships this is an impressive uptake. The scheme costs members nothing and all those who pay tax are invited to sign up. Declarations remain in force while membership of the Society is maintained. Grants Received The Society is grateful to Down District Council for its continuing support of the Society's activities. In the financial year the Council provided two grants - £300 in support of the production of Lecale Review, and £100 for the St. Patrick's Festival Lecture. Membership Drive The membership drive continued throughout the year. In addition to targeted recruitment, a number of new members (some living in England and one in the USA) used the application form on the Society's website. By an arrangement with the Down County Museum, a complimentary copy of its journal, DOWN SURVEY 2004, entitled County Down at War 1850 - 1945 was sent to all Society members who were not also Friends of the Museum. Friends and members of the Down Society who were not also in the Historical Society and who received copies of DOWN SURVEY were also provided with a Society recruitment leaflet, resulting in eight new members. In total 43 new members joined during the year. However, 15 of the existing members (of whom two are known to have left the area) did not renew their subscription. By the end of the year the number of memberships stood at 186 (67 family memberships, 112 individual members and 7 honorary members). This compares with 87 and 157 in the two previous years. The increase in membership is reflected in the subscription income - from £1847 in 2003-04 to £2225 (of which £75 is for advance membership) in 2004-05. Society Website The Society's web site "http://www.lecalehistory.co.uk/" received 2250 visitors (viewing over 3000 pages) up to 31 March 2005 and, in addition to attracting new members, contributed to Journal sales. Journal The cost of 500 copies of the Lecale Review was £2552.00 (including £420 design costs). The increased cost reflects the larger size of the 2004 journal, from 72 pages in 2003, to 96. Each of the 186 members was supplied with a copy of the journal. The higher income from journal sales in 2003 - 2004 reflects the sale of back copies of Lecale Miscellany at reduced prices in that year as a result of a special drive, coupled with the recruitment campaign. The following is the stock of unsold journals at year-end -
Lecale Miscellany: 274 (total of all available editions) Lecale Review No 1: 33 (excluding those unsold in outlets) Lecale Review No 2: 54 (excluding those unsold in outlets) Total discounted value: £1294
P. DEVLIN Treasurer 18 April 2005 |
