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2021-12-31-accounts

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Saturday 5th March 2022 10:15-16:00 Regent’s University London

Please read ahead of the meeting and retain for reference. If you are attending the AGM please bring your copy with you as there will only be a limited number of copies available

BUSINESS MEETING AGENDA

10:45 Tuke Hall

  1. Housekeeping

  2. Minutes of AGM held online 6[th] March 2021 (vote for approval)

  3. Matters Arising

  4. Officers’ Annual Reports

  5. a. Chairman

  6. b. Treasurer, including Statement and Adoption of Accounts (vote for approval)

  7. c. Management Committee Report Summary (full copies in this publication)

  8. d. CLAS Academic Standards Board Report Summary (full copies in this publication)

  9. Proposals (vote for approval)

  10. Election of Officers

  11. Any other Business

REST OF THE DAY

See AGM programme and attendee pack (sent separately to attendees) for more details

1 – HOUSEKEEPING

Please ensure mobile phones are turned off, or on silent during the meeting, presentations, and lecture. Please respect each other’s comfort zones. If you have entered Art & The Letter, or the Fellows’ exhibition, please remember to collect your packaging and artwork at the end of the day. Photos of exhibits only after 1pm to allow people to view the work more easily. A reminder that the Business Meeting section is for CLAS members only.

2 – MINUTES (2021)

Registered Charity No: 1046526 Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Calligraphy and Lettering Arts Society held Online on Saturday 6[th] March 2021 at 14.00

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1. Present

Chair Michela Antonello Treasurer Charm Brown

Members of the Management Committee and Members of the Society.

Michela was pleased to welcome delegates from all over the world to the first CLAS Online AGM and covered Zoom housekeeping arrangements. She introduced the order of the meeting and events available to delegates after the business part of the meeting.

2. Minutes of 2020 AGM

The minutes of the last AGM held on 7[th] March 2020 were agreed as a true and correct record. An online vote was taken with 87% agreement and 13% abstentions. Their acceptance was therefore agreed.

3. Matters Arising

There were no matters arising.

4. CLAS Chairman and Officers’ Annual Reports

A full version of the Chairman and Officers’ Reports for 2020 had been previously circulated to all members in the AGM booklet sent out together with the February Edge. Michela highlighted a few points.

CASB – Josie Brown, the incoming CASB Chair, gave the news that the revised National Diploma was being launched today. This was the first time the Diploma had been updated since its introduction 26 years ago and Josie thanked all those who had input to the revamp. She hoped that the new format would encourage more people to take the Diploma. A leaflet explaining how it has changed and how it will work will be sent to all members with the May edition of the Edge. Josie thanked Attilio Medda for all the work he had done in producing the leaflet and the booklets for each separate Diploma level. If anyone had questions about this, guidance would be available from the Help Desk in one of the breakout rooms.

Live Online courses had been very successful; CASB are developing new courses at different levels and 5 new courses will be announced shortly. Information will be posted on the website when available. A new Certificate of Skills in Design has been written by Margaret Morgan. There will be an article about this in the May Edge.

Treasurer’s Report, Statement of Accounts & Financial Report

Charm Brown – Treasurer

The accounts had been circulated to members in the AGM booklet. Some members had been experiencing problems in transferring money to CLAS CAF account and Charm explained how to deal with this. There being no questions, acceptance of the accounts was proposed by Rosella Garavaglia and seconded by Jane John. An online vote was taken, with 94% agreement and 6% abstentions the accounts were approved.

5. Election of Officers

Michela introduced those retiring and those replacing them and gave a vote of thanks to those retiring and to the incoming members.

The following nominations had been made for the available posts.

Chairman – Michela Antonello has completed her 3-year term as Chairman.

Tony Woodhams has agreed to be nominated as Chairman.

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Proposer: Barbara Alldred Seconded: Meg Chapman Treasurer – Charm Brown has completed her 3-year term as Treasurer. Jenny Wholley has agreed to be nominated as Treasurer. Proposer: Lucia Leyfield Seconded: Bob Alldred

Festival Director – Sue Hodgkinson has completed 4.5 years Festival Director and her 3-year term as Trustee. Lou Goolnik has agreed to be nominated as Festival Director. Proposer: Sue Hodgkinson Seconded: Gwyneth Hibbert

Copperplate Special Interest Group (CSIG) – This is a new position on the Management Committee and Maria Alejandra Gonaldi has agreed to be nominated as CSIG representative. Proposer: Josie Brown Seconded: Mary Noble

AGM Coordinator – Rosella Garavaglia has completed her 3-year term.

Sarah Walker has agreed to be nominated as AGM Coordinator. Proposer: Jane John Seconded: Julia Baxter

CASB Chairman – Josie Brown has agreed to be nominated to this previously vacant position. Proposer: Tony Woodhams Seconded: Mary Noble

Editorial Board – This is a new position on the Management Committee and Janet Smith has agreed to be nominated to the role.

Proposer: Helen Scholes Seconded: Toni Watts

Other members of the committee were happy to continue to serve in their current positions. As these were the only nominations delegates were asked to take part in an online vote; with 98% agreement and 2 abstentions the elections were approved.

CASB & co-opted positions:

Festival Administrator – Ann Mason has completed 4.5 years as Festival Administrator and her 3-year term as a Trustee. This now becomes a co-opted role and Clare Ruck has agreed to be nominated. Minutes Secretary – Gail Mitchell has completed 7 years in this role. It has been changed to Admin Secretary and Dave Cowan has agreed to accept the role with support from Doug Adams.

Art & the Letter – organised by Tony Woodhams for 2021 and will be taken over by Nicky & Julie Walker. Diploma Administration – Cathy Stables is standing down after 7 years and the role will be taken over by Rebecca Osborne.

CASB Minutes Secretary – while remaining responsible for Certificate of Skills, Diploma Preparation and Tutors & Talkers Booklet, Ann Mason stands down as CASB Minutes Sec. Liz Grant will take over as CASB Admin Sec.

The following are the members of the new Management Committee and, therefore, the Trustees.

Chairman Tony Woodhams Treasurer Jenny Wholley Webmaster Anne Marie Delaney Membership Officer Meg Chapman Sales Officer Bob Alldred Festival Director Lou Goolnik Social Media Officer Jane John Regional Groups Liaison Officer Barbara Alldred CSIG Representative Maria Alejandra Gonaldi CASB Chair Josie Brown Editorial Board Janet Smith AGM Coordinator Sarah Walker Co-opted: Admin Secretary Dave Cowan Archivist Alison Allan Liaison Officer Gwyneth Hibbett Festival Administrator Clare Ruck 6. Any Other Business:

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Virtual presentations were made for the following: Accredited Tutors – by Josie Brown

Certificate of Skills Colour & Texture – by Mary Noble

Certificate of Skills for Copperplate – by David Simons

Art & the Letter Members’ Choice – by Tony Woodhams. Helen Scholes won Members’ Choice and was presented with a certificate and Cornelissen voucher.

ATL Brian Walker Prize – Tony Woodhams introduced Sarah, Julie & Nicky Walker. The raffle was won by Angela Banks, who won £100 from the Brian Walker legacy fund and a high-quality print of one of Brian’s works.

Two special presentations were made.

The first to Mary Noble who has been on various CLAS committees for 27 years but was finally stepping down. Tom Kemp gave a vote of thanks and presented Mary with a vase the Management Committee had commissioned him to make. Mary was delighted with her presentation and said she had loved her time with CLAS, has seen the organisation grow and go from strength to strength and feels that things are being left in safe hands for the future.

Michela announced the second presentation which was to Josie Brown who has done so much for CLAS over the years and was delighted to award Josie with Honorary Membership of CLAS. To mark the occasion, David Simons had produced a beautifully written certificate which had been framed by Joy Daniels. Josie thanked David and Joy and CLAS for such an honour.

This concluded the business part of the meeting at 14.45.

The meeting was followed by the opportunity for delegates to use breakout room and then the afternoon lecture by Helene Jenssen, ‘In Love with Letters and Books’, followed by a Q&A session hosted by Rosella Garavaglia.

The meeting returned to Michela as outgoing Chair. She gave thanks to Helene and Rosella for the lecture, to Tony for Art & The Letter, to Alejandra for all the work done in the Zoom organisation of the AGM and to everyone for their support over the last three years and then handed over to Tony as incoming Chairman. He thanked Michela for her support and presented her with a handmade Book with contributions from 25 members of the CLAS committees and bound by Josie Brown. He then thanked everyone for their encouragement. He felt that with the Live Online classes and the new Diploma, CLAS had plenty to offer for the future to calligraphers at all levels. Tony concluded by thanking all involved with the organisation of the AGM.

There being no further business, the AGM meeting closed at 16.50

Gail Mitchell Minutes Secretary

CHAIRMAN’S ANNUAL REPORT 2022

The Calligraphy and Lettering Arts Society (CLAS) is a Charity registered with the Charity Commission No 1046526

As of 31[st] January 2022, the Charity’s Trustees were:

Tony Woodhams Chairman Jenny Wholley Treasurer Meg Chapman Membership

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Lou Goolnik Festival Director Alejandra Gonaldi Copperplate Special Interest Group Jane John Social Media Sarah Walker AGM Coordinator Anne Marie Delaney Webmaster Barbara Alldred Regional Affiliated Group (RAG) Officer Bob Alldred Sales Officer Josie Brown CLAS Academic Standards Board (CASB) Chair Janet Smith Editorial Board Representative As of 31[st] January 2022, the co-opted Members of the Management Committee were: Dave Cowan Administrative Secretary Alison Allan Archivist Gwyneth Hibbett Liaison Officer Charm Brown Festival Administrator (replacing Clare Ruck) As of 31[st] January 2022, additional ex-officio roles for the Management Committee were: Sofie Baker Social Media Julie & Nicky Walker Art & The Letter Jeff Bailey 30[th] Anniversary Exhibition Officer

Structure, Governance and Management

The Society is constituted by a Deed of Trust agreed by the Charity Commission. Membership is open to all over the age of 18 who support the aims of the Society.

Within the membership are Honoured Fellows who are calligraphers and lettering artists of high attainment and others of experience and high repute who have made a significant contribution to calligraphy and lettering; Fellows who are calligraphers and lettering artists who have achieved a high level of technical competence and have been successful when submitting their work for assessment; students in full time education who pay a reduced subscription; Honorary Members who are honoured by invitation; and Group Affiliation for Local Calligraphy Groups who wish to affiliate to the Society.

The Society is run by the Management Committee, which is the decision-making body with decisions being taken by majority votes. The Management Committee is made up of 12 Trustees, plus 4 co-options, all given specific roles. In 2021/22 there have been 12 Trustees with 4 co-options and additional ex-officio members with specific remits.

Co-opted and ex-officio members of the Management Committee are voted in by the Trustees of the Society. The Management Committee appoints the members of the CLAS Academic Standards Board (CASB) which meets twice a year to oversee all educational aspects of the Society and submits proposals to the Management Committee for approval.

The members elected to the Management Committee at the AGM are Trustees of the Society. They may be approached by the Chairman to take a specific position on the Committee or they may have volunteered. On becoming Trustees, they are acquainted with Charity Commission’s documentation on their duties and responsibilities, as well as the Society’s management documentation. The Trustees of the Management Committee are proposed, seconded, and elected by ballot at the AGM meeting in March each year at which the quorum is one twentieth (5%) of the membership. Election to the Committee is for three years. Potential Trustees are often co-opted to the Committee prior to their election so that they may become familiar with the operation of the Committee.

There are currently the following sub-committees:

CASB – CLAS Academic Standards Board Editorial Board Copperplate Special Interest Group 30[th] Anniversary Exhibition See appendix B at the back for a full list of members with specific roles. It is also recognised, and greatly appreciated, that so many of our members volunteer their time and skills in many ways to make CLAS a vibrant and active society.

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Objectives, Activities and Achievements

The Aims and Objectives of the Society shall be to advance the education of the public in the practice, appreciation, and the use of all forms of calligraphy and lettering arts.

The Trustees have regard to the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission when exercising their powers and duties to which the guidance is relevant.

These objectives have been fully met during 2021 by planning and holding events and initiatives open to both members and non-members of the Society.

General Administration

CLAS has GDPR, Privacy & Cookies policies in place and is accessible to the public online or upon request.

Volunteers & Vacancies

There is a vacancy for a Sales Officer. Planning ahead, we will also need a Festival Director and Festival Administrator to shadow Lou and Charm in 2023 and take over the Festival in 2024. We are always happy to take expressions of interest for any future vacancies. Expressions of interest to me by email please chairman@clas.co.uk

CLAS Chairman – Tony Woodhams

With so much of these past 2 years being either online or on-hold, welcome back to Regent’s University London. When I took on the role I was not expecting to be returning to full time work, let alone moving to another country, and so I thank everyone who has been supportive and patient with me.

CLAS is a vibrant and successful organisation due to all the work put in by our Management Committee, Academic Standards Board, Editorial Team, special interest groups, volunteers, and of course you, our Fellows, and our members. We are passionate about calligraphy, lettering arts, and our Society. Realising that everyone has different experiences, different calligraphic styles and preferences, we aim to maintain high standards in an ever-changing world.

This past year has been one of consolidation, allowing some settling in, and also preparing for the future. Many new faces joined the committee and sub-committees last year alongside experienced colleagues. I hope it is not too presumptive of me to thank all of our Trustees, committee and sub-committee members and other volunteers on your behalf and also from myself.

You will read in this information pack reports from Management Committee and CASB highlighting our range of activities over the past 12 months, so I will briefly mention just a few.

I am pleased that our 2021 Festival was able to go ahead at our new venue, it was lovely to attend on the last evening for the gala dinner. Seeing the joy of calligraphers being able to work together in the same room again really was wonderful. While Regional Day was sadly cancelled in 2021 our thanks go to NWCA for the work they had put into the preparations.

We are thrilled that plans for our 30[th] Anniversary Exhibition, to take place in 2024, have started. We will keep you updated with the progress over the coming months and years!

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Treasurer – Jenny Wholley

We have transferred to a new accounts package called Xero which has also allowed the integration of our membership database with the accounts. This has saved our Membership Secretary Meg an immense amount of time, as all reminders are now automated. As with any change there have been a few teething issues which hopefully are resolved, but apologies if you have had problems.

This year we introduced a slight booking change to Festival whereby accommodation fees for Festival are paid directly to the venue, leaving us just the course fees to process. Festival was held last year but with fewer attendees and ran at a loss due to Covid restrictions and cancellations.

Zoom continues to be a very useful tool, enabling LiveOnline classes and removing the need for the Management Committee to travel for meetings, thus saving money.

We have placed £20k in a fixed term bank account to try and earn better interest whilst rates remain low. A new account was opened to ensure we kept within the FSCS protected bank limit of £85k.

We remain in a good place financially which has allowed us to offer the Regional Groups a £500 once off Bursary, to help rebuild from the Pandemic and ensured no increase in subscriptions for this year. Funds have been ring-fenced to celebrate our 30th Anniversary with a travelling Exhibition, with contingency funds in place should they be needed.

We would like to thank Heidi Poon for being our independent examiner for the past few years. Shed is now standing down, so if anyone wants to volunteer or can recommend someone, please contact me via treasurer@clas.co.uk See Appendix A for Accounts and External Examiner’s Report Membership – Meg Chapman

Numbers are creeping up which is good especially considering the relatively low number at last year’s Festival and it is usually following this event that we have the biggest number of requests. Current membership stands at 883 including 28 free members, an increase of nearly 30 from this time last year. Covid continues to wreak its own havoc in various forms of reduced finances. Ill health etc but improved presence, courses and workshops by CLAS, regional groups and tutors has helped. Onwards and upwards. I would urge all members to let me know as soon as there is a change in personal data, especially emails as this is our main form of contact.

CLAS Academic Standards Board – Josie Brown

Tutors and Talkers - Ann Mason

Certificate of Calligraphy - Angela Banks

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LiveOnline – Alejandra Gonaldi

Certificates of Skills – Ann Mason

National Diploma - Rebecca Osborne

Fellowship - Julia Baxter

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  1. Various small changes have been made to the application process, for instance 1 piece of work older than 5 years may be presented and those practitioners working with 3-D materials may submit photographs (highly specific) if pieces are too awkward or unavailable to present in person.

  2. Fellows will organise and be invited to attend an annual meeting to enjoy topics of their choice. This is to increase the fellowship of the Fellows.

  3. A new Fellows logo has been designed by Tom Perkins for their personal use.

  4. There will be a display of Fellows’ work at all AGMs from this year onwards – constituting an accessible way for members to see what Fellows get up to and new application encouragement.

  5. A revised leaflet has been written and designed by Attilio Medda.

Charitable Activities

Regional Affiliated Groups – Barbara Alldred

The Pandemic Grant of £500 for every Regional Affiliated Group was well received and so far 23 groups have had their Grant and are using it for projects such as beginners’ classes, purchasing cameras and other equipment to make workshops safer, exhibitions, tutor fees and travelling expenses etc.

We now have 38 groups, most taking advantage of our group insurance scheme. Sadly we lost one group this year. Several groups were able to take advantage of the discount for affiliation because they had more than 50% of their membership also individual members of CLAS.

CLAS is aware that several parts of the country do not have a RAG group and this is something we hope to look at in the future, perhaps offering help for new groups starting up.

The sharing of Newsletters, projects and news between the groups has continued to be popular and it is hoped that this trend will continue. Thank you to all the groups who have sent things to me for sharing. Thank you to all our groups for all the work you do.

Copperplate Special Interest Group – Alejandra Gonaldi

Our membership stands at 187 members. The Mentoring scheme by Heather McCombie and the Envelope Exchange by Ann Jamieson are still working very well and are an essential part of the group's success. After careful consideration, we have decided to keep CLAS and CSIG banks accounts separate. This is because not all CSIG members are CLAS members, making the accountancy more complicated than we previously thought.

The group's collaboration with the Edge is still going on including a collaboration to edit a special issue on Pointed Pen calligraphy. Janet Smith was very supportive of the idea, and Helen Scholes has done a brilliant job putting together the magazine. Joy Daniels put together, sent to print, and already posted the 2022 calendars to members. After struggling to get enough articles for our Autumn and Winter 2021 printed newsletter, a combined issue is currently at the printer, and will be posted shortly.

Please come and see us at the information desk for CSIG renewal and new memberships and the sale of past

and current printed newsletters and calendars. Editorial Board

the Edge – Janet Smith

Four issues have been designed and published in the last year, including focus on up and coming letterers, on traditional work and on the design process. It was a pleasure to include plenty of images celebrating the Festival, and to have a whole edition dedicated to the pointed pen. The team of Janet (commissioning editor), Helen Scholes (designer) and Toni Watts (copy editor) along with Susan Healy and Gail Mitchell (proofreaders) has worked well. Thank you to Toni who is stepping down, and to Gail who is moving to the copy editor role.

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CLASnews – Jan Sambell

CLASnews is sent out by email to members four times a year. As well as any updates, it also lists dates of events, exhibitions, courses, and workshops supplied by CLAS members or affiliated local groups.

Social Media – Jane John and Sofie Baker

Our Instagram and Facebook pages continue to attract new followers/friends and now provide an invaluable channel for CLAS to communicate and engage with our members and the wider calligraphic community. Social media has proved invaluable for publicising our LiveOnline courses to a new audience. A real buzz was created leading up to last year’s Festival and during the Festival itself with lots of photographs being posted.

Literature Design – Attilio Medda

This has been a quiet year for new literature booklets however I am currently working on a Letterhead and Compliment slips, and an update of the Fellowship booklet.

Website – Anne Marie Delaney

Visitor numbers to the website have continued to climb slightly in 2021, with most metrics showing a yearonyear increase. We presume this is due to the LiveOnline classes which are driving traffic to the site as well as the Certificate of Calligraphy entrant information. It is also quite an achievement given the numbers from March and April 2020 are so huge (as everyone was inside) that this can often skew stats.

Going forward we’re looking to continue to review the site and how a new visitor would find and navigate to answer simple queries. We’re hoping this will mean the site carries on attracting visitors new and old in 2022 as well as being a good resource for general calligraphic community questions.

AGM Day 2021 – Rosella Garavaglia

Our 2021 AGM was held online via Zoom which was a new challenge for us. Lots of rehearsals were held and although there were a few minor hiccups, we were pleased to be able to hold our event and keep it as close to our usual programme as possible. We had 220 attendees joining us as we were able to reach a wider audience. After the business meetings and presentations, we opened the breakout rooms for our virtual helpdesks, demonstrations by Lucia Leyfield and our Fellow in residence, Helen Scholes. Helene Jenssen gave this year’s lecture.

Art & The Letter Exhibition 2021 – Tony Woodhams

Art & The Letter went virtual in line with the AGM and was viewable on our website for a week before and a week after the AGM. Feedback indicated that a virtual display of work was well received. 67 submissions were received from around the world and judged by CLAS Fellows Jan Sambell, Julia Baxter, and Rachel Yallop. This comprised of 39 Art in Lockdown, 15 Writing in a Self-Made Book, 4 TEXTiles, and 9 One For Sorrow. There was good representation of experience levels with 9 beginners, 34 more experienced, 18 advanced, and 6 Fellows. Members’ choice was voted for online using MailChimp, this largely worked well but there were some teething problems if someone clicked on a name before looking at the exhibition as it registered this as a vote. Due to the nature of a virtual exhibition where we could only see digital work, we took the decision to only allocate Members’ Choice and the Brian Walker Prize this year, but would re-evaluate for the 2022 A&TL

Festival 2021 and 2022 – Lou Goolnik, Clare Ruck & Charm Brown

The Directors are very happy to report that CLAS Festival 2021 went ahead successfully despite a multitude of setbacks from the pandemic. We were unable to retain our overseas tutors, Monica Dengo and Marina Soria, but, in good time, we were able to get Mary Noble and Cherrell Avery on the subs bench and they ran onto the field in full kit and did us proud.

Our venue at Warwick University was upgraded to the Scarman Conference Centre which we have retained for 2022 and 2023. So last year we were a totally home-grown affair in a luxury venue which was, quite frankly, fantastic! We proved that “it’s not all about the ink”. We came together as a like-minded group, ready to enjoy the festival albeit with some restrictions. We thank everyone who kept the faith and supported the event.

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We are going ahead with a “normal” festival this year. We have secured Amity Parks from USA and Andrea Wunderlich from Bavaria alongside the UK’s Susan Moor and Vivien Lunniss from the 2020 programme and we welcome Julia Baxter, also from the UK, as our fifth tutor. We are also welcoming back our overseas members who were disappointed in 2021 as a result of global travel restrictions. So onward and upwards to 14th to 20th August 2022. There are still places available, please go to www.clas.co.uk/festival for more information.

Liaison – Gwyneth Hibbett

We continue to make links with other lettering organisations, both in the UK and worldwide. Interest in calligraphy from external organisations resulted in several magazine and online articles being written and published, mainly about the perceived health and well-being benefits of learning calligraphy. CLAS articles continue to appear in the CSIG magazine. To boost our work as an educational charity, research was undertaken to look at areas in which our Society could benefit others. Several different schemes could be taken forward, both in the short and longer term, and the results of this work will hopefully bear fruit soon.

Sales – Bob Allred

Sales continue at a steady pace with orders from here and increasingly from abroad. Bister Inks continue to be a best seller. We have endeavoured to keep postage and packing cost as low as we can. The UK postage remains the same but unfortunately, we have had to adjust postage to countries outside the UK.

I have been in this role for 3 years and will be stepping down after this AGM so if anyone would like to take on this position, please don’t hesitate to contact me and I will explain what the job involves.

Archive – Alison Allan

Regular updating of records such as certificate and diploma results has continued. Additional digital material has also been added to the archive, for example, photographs and documents for the Art and Letter exhibitions and the previous and new versions of the guides for the National Diploma. Some miscellaneous paper documents we have acquired have also been listed. More recently, given that a considerable amount of material is now held in the archive, we have begun looking at a devising a comprehensive records management and retention policy, together with collecting and digitising for future preservation paper copies of earlier administrative documents. This will be a particular focus for the coming year.

30[th] Anniversary Exhibition – Jeff Bailey

We are in the early stages of planning an exhibition to mark the 30th anniversary of the founding of CLAS to run between March 2024 and February 2025. The idea is for the exhibition to be staged for one month each in four locations across the country in order that as many CLAS members and others as possible can visit and enjoy it. The organising sub-committee is presently concentrating on identifying suitable venues and would welcome suggestions on locations (or indeed any other matters concerning the exhibition) from CLAS members. We intend to keep all members up to date on the planning of the exhibition by regular pieces in CLAS publications and social media

5 – PROPOSALS

Membership subscription rates (vote for approval)

While there is no proposal to increase individual membership subscription rates, the society has faced significant increased postal costs to Europe following the UK’s departure from the EU. The Management Committee therefore proposes that the current EU subscription rate is dissolved from 1[st] January 2023; after which two rates would apply (for all new members and renewals): UK and Rest of World (RoW). Currently these are £40 UK and £50 RoW for standard membership. There is a 25% discount for full time students, first time members for their first year, and under 30s.

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6 – ELECTION OF TRUSTEES

All Officers are elected to serve for three years. Elected Officers become Trustees of the Society under the Charity Commission’s rules.

Current Trustees

  1. Chairman Tony Woodhams

  2. Treasurer Jenny Wholley

  3. Membership Meg Chapman

  4. Festival Director Lou Goolnik

  5. Copperplate Special Interest Group (CSIG) Alejandra Gonaldi

  6. Social Media Jane John

  7. AGM Coordinator Sarah Walker

  8. Webmaster Anne Marie Delaney

  9. Regional Affiliated Group (RAG) Officer Barbara Alldred

  10. Sales Officer Bob Alldred (retiring) 11. CLAS Academic Standards Board (CASB) Josie Brown 12. Editorial Board Representative Janet Smith

The following people have been nominated for the available trustee posts

  1. Administrator Dave Cowan

Co-options

    1. Liaison Officer Gwyneth Hibbett 3. Archivist Alison Allan 4. Festival Administrator Charm Brown (Clare Ruck retired 2021) Exhibition Officer Jeffrey Bailey

Ex-officio Officers / Other Management Committee specific roles 1. Sales Officer Vacancy 2. Social Media Sofie Baker 3. Art & The Letter Organisers Julie & Nicky Walker

Co-options and ex-officio members are appointed by the Management Committee

7 – ANY OTHER BUSINESS

RECEIPTS Notes Jan - Dec 21 Jan - Dec 20
A Voluntary income
Subscriptions
Non Gift Aided 15,643 16,373

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Gift Aided 17,749 17,240
Gift Aid Tax Credit 1 4,341 4,577
37,733 38,190
Donations
Non Gift Aided 309 145
Gift Aided 73 98
382 243
Total Voluntary Income 38,115 38,433
B Charitable Activities
Festivals
Fest' of Calligraphy 20 -70
Fest' of Calligraphy 21 2 24670 1,492
Fest' of Calligraphy 22 3 1497 4,270
26,097 5,762
AGMs
Any other business raised at the meeting.
APPENDIX
A
(1)
Receipts and Payment Accounts with Prior Year
Comparison
Year Ending 31stDecember 2021

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AGM 20 0 1,938
AGM 21 0 0
AGM 22 180
180 1,938
Member Services
Art & The Letter 0 54
Certificate of Skills 0 150
Certificate fees 4 1,845 524
Diploma fees 5 552 1,020
LiveOnline Courses 6 4,432 2,010
Tutor Accred' fees 25 50
Unidentified Misc income 124
6,978 3,808
Exhibition 2019 20
20
Total Charitable Activities 33,255 11,528
C Fund generating activities
Affilated Groups' PLI 7 2,042 2,111
Sale of goods 3,220 4,669
Total Fund generating activities 5,262 6,780

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D Investment income
CAF interest 1 0
COIF interest 11 304
Total Investment income 12 304
Total Receipts for the year £76,644 **£57,045 **
Payments for the year 96,631 53,254
Net of receipts /(payments) -£19,987 **£3,791 **
PAYMENTS Notes Jan - Dec 21 Jan - Dec 20
A Charitable activities
Art & The Letter 0 179
CLAS Academic Standards Board 1,217 287
Certificate fees 4 1,446 385
Certificate of Skills
CLAS Course Development 0 12,750
Copying & printing 2,177 359
Depreciation
Diploma 5 636 2,118
Edge 11,863 13,031
Edge postage 7,534 7,195

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Fest' of Callig 20 0 19
Fest' of Callig 21 2 47,303 338
Fest' of Callig 22 348
Free calligraphy courses 8 375 1,650
LiveOnline Courses 6 3,200 767
PLI (CLAS) insurance 954 830
Regional Day 0 167
Stationery 184 498
RAG Bursaries 15 10,500 '0
Total Charitable activities **87,737 ** 40,573
B Fundraising costs
Goods for resale 1,173 2,710
Affiliated Groups' PLI premiums 9 2,188 1,976
Total Fundraising costs **3,361 ** 4,686
C Costs of generating voluntary income
Bank charges & Fees
CAF 213 102
PayPal & GoCardless 614 501
827 603
Internet, Postage etc
Internet - Other 10 996 1,046

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Postage 1,998 991
Presentations 11 1,516 1,008
4,510 3,045
Total Cost of generating vol income **5,337 ** 3,648
D Governance costs
AGM 20 exp 0 1,260
AGM 21 exp 12 0 2,472
AGM 22 exp 13 196 0
Management Committee mtgs 14 '0 615
Total Governance costs **196 ** 4,347
Total Payments **£96,631 ** **£53,254 **
Receipts for the year 76,644 57,045
Net of receipts/(payments) **-£19,987 ** **£3,791 **
Notes 31-Dec-21 31-Dec-20
ASSETS
A Cash at bank and in hand
CAF Current Account 15 4,127 6,636
set aside bursary fund 15 9,500
13,627

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CAF Gold 15 8,348 348
CC Bank 16 20,000 '0

41,975		 6,984
COIF charities deposit account 17 46,019 110,632
Exhibition Fund 18 10,000
Sponsorship for beginners' class 19 3,975 4,350

59,994		 114,982
PayPal
1,065		 1,015
Total Cash at bank and in hand
103,034		 122,981
B Other Current Assets
Stock of Good for Sale
964		 919
Total Current Assets 103,998 123,900
LIABILITIES
C Creditors
Membership overpayments 20 -85
Total Value of Assets £103,913 £123,900
CAPITAL RESERVES
Opening balance of funds 123,900 120,109
Net inflow / outflow of funds for the year -19,987 3,791
Closing balance of funds 103,913 123,900
Value of funds at year end **£103,913 ** £123,900
APPENDIX
Notes to Accounts
Year ending 31stDecember 2021		 A (2)

Cash accounting method has been adopted as the basis for reporting from the year 2017 onwards. The figures in the financial statements

represent the receipts and payments made during the year. Receipts and payments in relation to events taking place in a different accounting year are noted under the relevant headings.

Statement of Receipts

  1. Gift Aid tax credit claim is made annually in January to HM Revenue and Customs for the accounting year ended in December previous. The two components in the claim are the tax credit due on the subscriptions from members who are taxpayers and have made a Gift Aid declaration, and on sundry donations to CLAS that have been Gift Aided. The tax credit claim received in 2021 of £4,341 was in relation to the Gift Aided subscriptions in 2020 of £17,240, and sundry donations of £98, at the rate of £10 credit for every £40 Gift Aided receipts.

  2. Festival 2021 went ahead, but due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, there were fewer attendees. The total amount of deposits and balance payments having been fully refunded was £6,780, mostly due to cancellations from overseas members who were unable to travel. The net inflow of £24,670 is recorded as the receipt against the payment of £47,303. The resulting loss of £22,633 accounts for the majority of deficit of £19,987 in the flow of funds of this year.

  3. For Festival 2022, deposits in the sum of £1,497 have been received in 2021.

  4. Fees for Certificate accreditation assessment of £1,845 were received from candidates, with related outgoings of £1,446 recorded as outflow.

  5. Fees for Diploma accreditation assessment of £552 were received from candidates, with related outgoings of £636 recorded as outflow.

  6. The LiveOnline Certificate of Calligraphy courses generated receipt of £4,432, with associated outflows for tutor fees £3,200.

  7. Affiliated Groups PLI (Public Liability Insurance) of £2,042 represents the contributions from regional groups affiliated to CLAS towards the insurance premium borne by the Society of £2,188. Statement of Payments

  8. In line with the Society’s charitable aims, free calligraphy courses were awarded to a number of participants, and fees were paid to tutors who ran and assessed these free courses.

  9. The Society is the policy holder for the public liability insurance to cover activities of its Affiliated Groups, from which the Society received contributions towards the premiums of £2,188 paid in the year.

  10. Costs for “Internet and Others” include the fees for maintaining the Society’s website, and the purchase of a Pro-Zoom Licence with televised storage capacity for launching the LiveOnline courses. The Annual General Meeting for 2021 was hosted remotely on Zoom with this enhanced facility due to Covid-19 restrictions regarding face-to-face meetings.

  11. Presentations cost of £1,516 represents various outlays during the year on the retirement of volunteers who had generously given their time and skills to assist CLAS in a governance role, or in meeting its regulatory and compliance obligations, and includes “The Brian Walker Prize” and “Long Service” awards.

  12. AGM 21 recorded no costs this year, as it was hosted on Zoom.

  13. AGM 22 expenses of £196 represent the travel and subsistence costs for the management committee, helpers and speakers for the AGM gathering. Regent’s Conferences & Events, Hyde Park has agreed for the deposit to be carried forward against the venue hire for AGM 2022.

  14. Management Committee meetings took place four times during the year, attended by committee members with 3 co-operators. No cost was incurred as all management meetings took place on Zoom.

Balance Sheet

  1. CAF Accounts are historically the main operating and savings accounts for CLAS. The Bursary Fund of £9,500 is held in the current account and ear-marked for assisting Regional Affiliated Groups (RAG) entitled to apply for a fixed-sum bursary of £500 in accordance with CLAS guidelines. A bursary, once awarded, is expected to be utilised for a qualifying purpose within two years of award, such as for a Zoom licence, a local exhibition, a tutor-led workshop online or face-to-face. A total of 21 awards were made in the year totalling £10,500 under the payment heading of ‘RAG Bursaries’.

  2. Cambridge County (‘CC’) Bank Account was opened to ensure all bank accounts were under the £85k FSCS limit (Financial Services Compensation Scheme) and to obtain a higher rate of interest (1.15%) for a “Fixed 2-year term” deposit account; the expected interest on this account deposit is £464.56 when it matures in August 2023.

  3. COIF deposit account is the main account for holding funds to access a slightly higher rate of interest compared to holding funds with the CAF accounts. Attempts to find better interest rates have resulted in moving some of the funds to Cambridge County.

  4. The 30th Anniversary (of CLAS) Exhibition will take place in 2024/25, and £10,000 has been set aside for the organisation of the event.

  5. CLAS sponsorship for beginners is set up as a pledged fund to sponsor beginners in taking up calligraphy. The total of £375 (note 8) was paid in the year for such sponsorship, and the sum of £3,975 represents the balance of the pledged fund.

  6. The sum of £85 represents membership subscriptions overpaid and to be refunded.

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APPENDIX A (3)

APPENDIX B

Team Members 2022

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Management Committee
Chairman
Tony Woodhams		 Trustee 1
Treasurer Jenny Wholley Trustee 2
Membership Secretary Meg Chapman Trustee 3
Festival Director Lou Goolnik Trustee 4
CSIG Representative Alejandra Gonaldi Trustee 5
Social Media Officer Jane John Trustee 6
AGM Coordinator Sarah Walker Trustee 7
Webmaster Anne Marie Delaney Trustee 8
Regional Affiliated Group Officer Barbara Alldred Trustee 9
Sales Officer Bob Alldred_(retiring AGM 2022)_ Trustee 10*
Vacancy Ex-officio
Administrative Secretary Dave Cowan Trustee 10
CASB Chair Josie Brown Trustee 11
Editorial Board Representative Janet Smith Trustee 12
Liaison Officer Gwyneth Hibbett Co-opted 1
Archivist Alison Allan Co-opted 2
Festival Administrator Charm Brown Co-opted 3
Exhibition Officer Jeff Bailey Co-opted 4
Social Media Officer Sofie Baker Ex officio
Art & The Letter Officers Julie & Nicky Walker Ex officio
CLAS Academic Standards Board (CASB)
Chair & Representative on MC Josie Brown
CASB Admin Secretary Sofia Merchant
Diploma Chief Assessor Josie Brown
Accredited Tutors & Live Online Josie Brown
Live Online Administrator Alejandra Gonaldi
Diploma Administration Officer Rebecca Osborne Certificate of Calligraphy Diploma Administration Officer Rebecca Osborne Certificate of Calligraphy Diploma Administration Officer Rebecca Osborne Certificate of Calligraphy
Officer
Angela Banks
Fellowship Application Officer Julia Baxter
Certificate of Skills Officer Ann Mason Tutors & Talkers Officer
Ann Mason
Standardisation Officer Gaynor Goffe
Editorial Board
Commissioning Editor, the Edge Janet Smith
Designer, the Edge Helen Scholes
Copy Editor, the Edge Gail Mitchell Proof-reader, the Edge
Susan
Healy
Printer Liaison Gail Mitchell
CLASnews & Commissions Contact Jan Sambell

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Copperplate Special Interest Group

Representative on MC,

Alejandra Gonaldi

Newsletter Editor & Treasurer

Membership Secretary,

Katy May proof-reader

Envelope Exchange Coordinator Mentoring Scheme Organiser Calendar Editor

Ann Jamieson Heather McCombie Joy Daniels

30[th] Anniversary Exhibition Team

Representative on MC Other team members

Jeff Bailey

Jenny Wholley, Bob & Barbara Alldred, Gwyneth Hibbett, Mary Noble, Janice McClelland

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