## Victoria County History of Essex Trust Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022 Victoria County History of Essex Trust ## Contents ||page| |---|---| |Trustees and Advisers|2| |Trustees’ Report|3| |Trustees’ Responsibility Statement|5| |Receipts and Payments Account|6| |Statement of Assets and Liabilities|7| |Notes to the Accounts|8| |Independent Examiner’s Report|9| 1 V ictoria County History of Essex Trust ## Trustees and Advisers |Trustees|Kenneth L Crowe, BEd, MA, AMA, Chairman| |---|---| ||Rt Hon Lord Petre, KCVO, JP, MA, Vice Chairman| ||Louisa Tippett, BSc, ACA, Treasurer| ||Sarah E L Manning-Press, BA Secretary| ||Geoffrey Hare, OBE,| ||Patricia Herrmann, OBE,| ||Johanna Dale, MA, PhD, FRHistS| ||Amanda Flather, PhD| ||Paul J Gilman, BA, FSA| ||Sir Graham Hart, KCB, PhD| ||J Nicolas Rowlands, BA, DipEd (until his death on 21 July 2022)| ||Professor Anthony Tuck, PhD| |Principal address|West Bowers Hall| ||Woodham Walter| ||Maldon| ||Essex CM9 6RZ| |Registered charity number|1038801| |Editor|Christopher C Thornton, BA, PhD, FSA, FRHistS, Editor| |Independent Examiner|Paul Whittle BSc, FCA,TEP| ||Bounds Farm| ||Hungerdown Lane| ||Ardleigh| ||Essex CO7 7LZ| |Bankers|HSBC Bank plc| ||99 High Street| ||Chelmsford| ||Essex CM1 1EQ| 2 Victoria County History of Essex Trust ## Trustees’ Report Having emerged from the restrictions imposed by Covid, 2022 has been a year of some considerable achievements and refreshing ‘live’ meetings. The Short, History of Harwich, Dovercourt and Parkeston in the 19th century published in the Autumn of 2019 had almost sold out by the end of 2022. The Newport short has also sold steadily and was reprinted at the end of the year. The VCH volunteer groups- Clacton and Southend - have been very active this year. The Clacton group celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2020, while the Southend group has continued with its short, Southend: Victorian town and Resort, the first full draft of which was submitted to Central Office in November. Two major events were held this year. The first was a celebration of our VCH volunteers, held at Ingatestone Hall in April, attended by members of the Clacton, Newport and Southend VCH groups, together with Trust members, Editorial team and other contributors to the Red Book series. The second was the launch of VCH Essex Vol. XII (part 2) – The Soken: Kirby-le-Soken, Thorpe-le-Soken and Walton-le-Soken. About 60 people attended this very successful event on 15 October, during which the publishers, Boydell and Brewer, sold virtually all of the stock of Vol. XII (parts 1 and 2) that were brought to the launch. Excellent progress has been made on our current Red Book – Vol. XIII on Harwich. Research during the year on medieval court rolls has illuminated much fascinating detail on trends in baking and brewing over the decades together with the impact of plague. And research on Harwich’s maritime history in the Tudor period has been assisted by the Clacton group’s work on the Harwich Port books. A generous grant from Essex Heritage Trust for three years has enabled us to put in place a forward plan for Andrew Senter’s work on the Georgian and Victorian periods, the latter now extended to 1914. Completed sections of Vol. XIII have been uploaded onto the VCH website as online drafts. 3 Victoria County History of Essex Trust ## Trustees’ Report The financial situation of the Trust is one that can be described as stable, thanks in large part to the generosity of our loyal supporters and organisations. However, in order to progress with our current research programme and to enable us to plan future projects, we have identified the need to considerably enhance our funds, hence the announcement in October that we were launching a new fundraising drive, which will begin in earnest in 2023. Together with fundraising, and going hand-in-hand with it, is the constant need to raise awareness of the VCH. This is a multi-pronged approach, one of which is through talks given by our Editor (and others) to local groups, and another through the dissemination of leaflets. A third approach is through the national VCH website. It was agreed this year that the Essex Trust should have its own dedicated website, which will enable us to advertise our activities and talks, upload newsletters and generally assist in our fundraising campaigns. This is now under development. It is with great sadness that we had to announce the death of one of our Trustees, Nick Rowlands during the summer; we shall all miss his good humour and common-sense approach to all of our meetings. The task in the short term is to bring our numbers once again up to strength with some new Trustees, which we are planning for the coming year. Finally, we must, as usual, offer our gratitude to all those organisations and individuals upon whose support we depend. In particular to Chris Thornton, our splendid editor for the past 20 years, whose erudition, unrivalled knowledge of Essex history and dedication never fails to impress. And to our special thanks go to our Independent Examiner, Canon Henry Marsh. Ken Crowe Chairman 4 Victoria County History of Essex Trust ## Trustees’ Responsibility Statement The Charity’s Trustees are responsible for preparing a receipts and payments account and a statement of assets and liabilities for each financial year that properly present the Charity’s receipts and payments during the year and its assets and liabilities at the end of the year. In preparing those statements, the Trustees are required to: - select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently; - make judgements that are reasonable and prudent; and - prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Charity will continue in operation. The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which enable them to ensure that the receipts and payments account and the statement of assets and liabilities comply with the Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. 5 Victoria County History of Essex Trust ## Receipts and Payments Account for the year ended 31 December 2022 |2022
£
Receipts
Designated funds and donations
Unrestricted donations
Donations from individuals (see note 3)
19,945
Gift Aid (including interest) reclaimed
4,524
Donations from Councils and Societies
800
Donations from Trusts
4,464
Legacy
-
Investment income - interest
179
Other income (see note 4)
643

Total receipts

Payments
Direct charitable payments
Payments in respect of Volume XII,
Volume XIII, Harwich and Southend
Editors
12,350
Contributors
15,425
Images
-
Printing
-
Other expenditure (see note 6)
2,624

Total payments

Surplus/(deficit) of receipts over payments
Funds balances brought forward

Funds balances

Designated funds included in funds (see note 2)|2022
£
19,945
4,524
800
4,464
-|£
5,540
29,733
179
643|2021
£
9,143
-
1,850
4,905
5,000|£
5,000
20,898
9
190| |---|---|---|---|---| ||179||9|| ||643||190|| ||12,350
15,425
-
-||16,800
12,600
-
-|| |||36,095||26,097| |||27,775
2,624||29,400
121| ||2,624||121|| |||||| |||30,399||29,521| |||5,696
89,051||(3,424)
92,475| |||94,747||89,051| |||540||-| 6 Victoria County History of Essex Trust ## Statement of Assets and Liabilities for the year ended 31 December 2022 |Monetary assets
HSBC current account
HSBC deposit account
Cash|2022
2021
£
£
5,713
3,894
89,004
85,157
30
-| |---|---| ||94,747
89,051| Approved by the Board of Trustees on 6 June 2023 and signed on their behalf by Ken Crowe Trustee and Chairman of the meeting Louisa Tippett BSc, ACA Trustee and Hon Treasurer 7 Victoria County History of Essex Trust ## Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022 ## 1. Accounting policies General These accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011. Basis of preparation The financial statements are prepared on a cash basis whereby income and expenditure is only recognised as it is received or paid. ## 2. Designated funds and donations In 2021 and 2022 the Essex Heritage Trust grants of £5,000 have been used to partly fund the work of Dr A Senter for his work on Georgian Harwich for inclusion in Volume XIII. In 2022 donations were received to assist with postage and publishing costs for members preferring to receive AGM papers rather than digital delivery. ## 3. Donations from individuals Donations from individuals in 2022 amounted to £19,945 and £9,143 in 2021. Where available the related claims for Gift Aid of £2,210 for 2021 and of £2,296 for 2020 were made early in 2022, with extra interest received from HM Revenue &Customs. A claim for £4,958 has been made for 2022. |4.|Other income|2022|2021| |---|---|---|---| |||£|£| ||Raffles - AGM and book launch|335|-| ||Sales of Newport VCH ‘Short’|120|74| ||Sales of Harwich VCH ‘Short’|168|116| |||-------|------| |||643|190| |||-------|------| ## 5. VCH ‘shorts’ Newport – The Trustees funded production costs of £1,748 in 2015. During 2021 a further print of 50 books was funded at £328. Total sales up to 31 December 2022 amounted to £2,648 (2021: £2,528). Harwich – The costs of production were agreed at £1,220 in 2020. Total sales up to 31 December 2022 amounted to £2,054 (2021: £1,886). |6.|Other expenditure|2022|2021| |---|---|---|---| |||£|£| ||Insurance|75|75| ||Subscriptions and books|77|6| ||Newport ‘shorts’|328|-| ||Stationery and postage|1,081|40| ||AGM rent|174|-| ||Bank charges|89|-| ||Editor’s administration|600|-| ||Publicity material|200|-| |||--------|-------| |||2,624|121| |||-------|------| 8 Victoria County History of Essex Trust ## Independent Examiner’s Report To the Trustees of the Victoria County History of Essex Trust I report to the Trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Trust for the year ended 31 December 2022. ## Responsibilities and basis of the Report As the Trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (the Act). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission section 145(5)(b) of the Act. ## Independent Examiner’s statement I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect: 1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act: or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Bounds Farm Hungerdown Lane Ardleigh Essex CO7 7LZ Paul Whittle BSc, FCA, TEP Independent Examiner 12 June 2023 9