ANNUAL REPORT 2020-2021
The Society’s Christmas Party in December 2020 was held ‘virtually’ for the first time in our history with a highly entertaining Thorney Island Quiz, bringing members together from across continents and time zones. The Committee continued to respond quickly to changing conditions during the ongoing Covid pandemic. This involved liaising with hosts and venues to either cancel or postpone visits and in other cases to recruit new speakers with expertise in the history and architecture of Thorney Island. As a result we launched a successful series of Zoom talks which attracted over 320 member registrations and 100 non-member attendees. This varied programme of talks, presented by volunteer members of the Society and other expert speakers, made a significant contribution to the Society’s overall financial position, resulting in a small surplus for the 2020/21 year. We launched a new YouTube channel so that recordings of our Zoom talks could be accessed more widely. Since the channel’s launch in February, viewers have collectively watched over 100 hours of recordings, and we would encourage members to subscribe to the channel to be automatically notified of future additions.
The Society adapted to changing government restrictions. Recently Committee members have been able to resume the work of consolidating the material in our archives in Old Pye Street and deciding how to store and present our resources in future. As life has ‘openedup’ we have worked together with our partner organisations and venues to offer a mixed programme of ‘virtual’ and ‘in-person’ visits for the 2021/22 year ahead. We hope that this approach will go some way towards overcoming the sense of loss we have all felt, unable to meet together as usual for walks, visits and events.
The Society’s day to day operations continued virtually. We have been represented at the regular on-line meetings hosted by Nickie Aiken, MP for The Cities of London and Westminster and by Cllr Rachael Robathan, Leader of Westminster City Council. The Society commented on 40 planning applications over the year and the Planning Hub which
we set up in August 2020 has expanded to include 9 local residents’ groups. The London Gardens Trust took over the role of spearheading the legal action against the Government’s application to construct the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens. Our participation in the work of the London Forum and other groups concerned with the government’s planning legislation was a major priority during the year.
Sue Ball
Chair
THE THORNEY ISLAND SOCIETY Registered Charity No 1000751 TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 2020-21
As for so many organisations, our in-person events continued to be significantly disrupted in 2020-2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, our series of digital events, held via Zoom, proved to be very successful and helped us ensure a modest surplus overall – as well as providing varied and interesting talks which were “the next-best thing” given the circumstances.
The restricted funds held on behalf of the Save Victoria Tower Gardens (SVTG) campaign, for fees associated with the planning inquiry, were almost entirely disbursed by the end of the 2020-2021 financial year; with the London Gardens Trust taking over the coordinating and fundraising role for the next stage of the legal process, SVTG funds are not expected to feature prominently in our 2021-2022 accounts. Expenditure on rent was significantly higher compared to 2019-2020; however, this was an artificial one-off issue caused by delays in collection due to a change in the managing agent for Old Pye Street and is reflected in the £1,500 sundry creditors in the previous year’s accounts, reversed in this year’s accounts.
We have continued to adopt a cautious approach to our reserves policy, maintaining higher reserves than 12 months’ typical expenditure plus provision for unforeseen expenses, due to the continued uncertainty regarding the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic. If, as we all hope, the situation stabilises further in the coming months, we expect to revisit our reserves policy as a result.
We are particularly grateful for the generous provision of time, personnel and software from Blue Orchid Hotels/Integrity Group in building our new CRM (customer relationship management) system and associated website, which we expect to be live in early 2022, and which will allow easier administration of memberships, events, news and planning information as well as providing a better website experience for our members.
This is my first annual report as Treasurer; I would like to thank our previous Treasurer, Gordon Slater, for his smooth handover to me at the start of the year.
Robert Timms – Treasurer
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2021
| BALANCE SHEET Unrestricted funds Balance at 1 October 2020 Add net (deficit)/surplus for the year Reversal of 2020 sundry creditors Balance at 30 September 2021 Restricted funds Balance at 1 October 2020 Add net surplus/(deficit) for the year -Victoria Tower Gardens - Integrity International Balance at 30 September 2021 (VTG £762.88; Integrity £1,975.00) TOTAL FUNDS Represented by Lloyds Bank Accounts Instant Savings 07214020 Treasurer's Account 00355214 Old Pye St Account 00287456 PayPal Account Epworth (formerly Affirmative) Deposit Sundry creditors NET ASSETS |
Unrestricted funds Restricted income funds Total 2021 £ £ £ 21,569.11 21,569.11 611.69 611.69 1,500.00 1,500.00 23,680.80 23,680.80 82,027.51 82,027.51 (79,289.63) (79,289.63) 0.00 0.00 2,737.88 2,737.88 23,680.80 2,737.88 26,418.68 807.22 807.22 13,391.15 2,737.88 16,129.03 522.44 522.44 40.86 40.86 8,919.13 8,919.13 0.00 0.00 23,680.80 2,737.88 26,418.68 |
Total 2020 £ 20,066.18 1,502.93 0.00 |
|---|---|---|
| 21,569.11 | ||
| 9,551.25 70,501.26 1,975.00 |
||
| 82,027.51 | ||
| 103,596.62 | ||
| 627.10 94,722.64 834.96 0.00 8,911.92 (1,500.00) |
||
| 103,596.62 |
THE THORNEY ISLAND SOCIETY
Registered Charity No 1000751
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2021
| INCOME Membership fees Visits - net surplus Christmas party - net surplus Summer party - net surplus Bank interest Christmas raffle - net surplus Donations - general Sundry Donations & gift aid - Save VTG campaign Donation - Integrity International Total Income EXPENDITURE Civic society insurance Printing, postage, stationery Membership of other societies AGM expenses Books and materials for archives Miscellaneous expenses Website Restricted expenditure - Save VTG Restricted expenditure - Integrity Expenses re Old Pye Street Rent Electricity Business rates Water Total Expenditure SURPLUS FOR THE YEAR |
Unrestricted funds Restricted income funds Total 2021 £ £ £ 3,678.30 3,678.30 2,508.75 2,508.75 0.37 0.37 0.00 0.00 7.33 7.33 0.00 0.00 862.05 862.05 428.30 428.30 68,749.42 68,749.42 0.00 0.00 7,485.10 68,749.42 76,234.52 279.00 279.00 1,104.40 1,104.40 161.00 161.00 0.00 0.00 11.20 11.20 458.53 458.53 190.60 190.60 148,039.05 148,039.05 0.00 0.00 4,668.68 4,668.68 3,856.16 3,856.16 124.99 124.99 564.00 564.00 123.53 123.53 6,873.41 148,039.05 154,912.46 611.69 (79,289.63) (78,677.94) |
Total 2020 £ 3,484.00 678.68 191.29 0.00 62.59 606.88 952.43 108,497.26 2,600.00 |
|---|---|---|
| 117,073.13 | ||
| 283.33 930.58 46.00 0.00 87.75 430.70 28.86 37,996.00 625.00 2,665.72 |
||
| 2,000.00 117.39 456.00 92.33 |
||
| 43,093.94 | ||
| 73,979.19 |