2023-12-31-accounts - Calligraphy And Lettering Arts Society

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CHAIRMAN’S ANNUAL REPORT 2023/4

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

The following were Trustees / Committee Members in 2023/4:

Management Committee

Chairman Treasurer Membership Secretary Exhibition Officer CSIG Representative Social Media Officer AGM Coordinator Webmaster Regional Affiliated Group Officer Administrative Secretary CASB Chair Editorial Board Representative Archivist Festival Director Festival Administrator Festival Director 2025 Art & The Letter Officers

Tony Woodhams Trustee 1 Jenny Wholley Trustee 2 Meg Chapman Trustee 3 Jeffrey Bailey Trustee 4 Alejandra Gonaldi Trustee 5 Satvinder Nandhra Trustee 6 Sarah Walker Trustee 7 Anne-Marie Delaney Trustee 8 Barbara Alldred Trustee 9 Dave Cowan Trustee 10 Josie Brown Trustee 11 Jane John Trustee 12 Alison Allan Co-opted 1 Lou Goolnik Co-opted 2 Charm Brown Co-opted 3 Donna Deeks Co-opted 4 Julie Tallant & Nicky Walker Ex officio

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 2023/24 Management Committee was made up of 12 Trustees, plus 4 co-options, all given specific roles 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.

See Appendix B for a full list of members with specific roles for 2024/5. 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.

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.

a) The Society shall maintain and improve access to good teaching of calligraphy and lettering for all who want it and to establish an accreditation system for those who teach it.
b) Establish and maintain a National Register of Teachers of calligraphy and lettering. This is done on the CLAS Website and a small booklet.
c) Provide a national context of events, resources and representation and support for individuals, regional groups and other related societies.
d) Increase public awareness by organising frequent exhibitions, establishing links with commerce and industry and by encouraging the commissioning, buying and using of calligraphy and lettering.
e) Publish literature and provide support material to assist in the promotion and teaching of calligraphy and lettering.

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 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

At the time of writing, there are two vacancies for social media and marketing. These would be co-opted roles. There will be upcoming vacancies for the Edge later this year. Please contact Jane or look for details in the next Edge. 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 or via our website www.clas.co.uk/volunteering

CLAS Chairman – Tony Woodhams

Thank you all for joining us at Regent’s University for our 2024 Annual General Meeting and celebrating thirty years of CLAS. Our AGM serves several purposes; from an administrative stance, we are required to present our reports and accounts, vote on any constitutional changes, and appoint our trustees. For the past few years CLAS have sent out AGM packs with these reports and propositions by email, and so you will have had a chance to read through these in advance of the meeting. Printed packs are still available to any members who do not have email addresses.

Aside from the administrative side, our AGM is a chance to showcase the work of our members and Fellows, through Art & The Letter and our Fellow’s exhibition, through the demonstrations and presentations, through displays of work from our educational programmes of the Certificates of Calligraphy, Specialist Skills Awards and Diplomas. It is an opportunity to catch up with fellow lettering afficionados, to get inspiration, and to purchase books and supplies in person rather than just online. It allows us to showcase our activities and for our members to talk to our committee members.

This year we are hosting a “Royal Room” with Tim Noad FCLAS and Ewan Clayton FCLAS, and our keynote speaker after lunch is Paul Antonio Attong on 3500 years of the Western Alphabet. Our demonstrators are Joy Daniels and Janet Smith, focusing on copperplate and family trees, respectively, and our Fellow is Residence is Cathy Stables FCLAS.

I would like to highlight a few areas from the committee reports, and Josie will later provide an overview of CASB’s activities.

Looking back on the past 12 months, a few more regional groups have unfortunately closed. Where possible, we have offered help and support to affiliated groups, including matching mentors who can help and guide volunteers and organisers. And we realise that calligraphy groups are evolving, with some meeting exclusively online or not having a regional focus, and others which may be classed as ‘micro’ groups or not having a regular committee. To this end, we have recently reclassified “Regional Affiliated Groups” to be “CLAS Affiliated Groups”, which we hope will strengthen our offering and reach more calligraphers. Should anyone wish to start a specialist group which could fall under this wider scope, or reform an old society, or would like to find a mentor if you’re considering volunteering for a society and would like some advice, please do reach out to Barbara.

The Copperplate Special Interest Group will be stepping away from CLAS’ Management Committee. The SIG has its own membership, accounts, newsletter, and programmes, and with the reclassification of CLAS’ Affiliated Groups, it felt the right time for this change. They have been a great asset and highly skilled at promoting Copperplate, and we will continue to support each other. Copperplate is now an intrinsic part of our offerings, with the option to submit work for the Certificate of Calligraphy, a dedicated Specialist Skills Award, LiveOnline, and inclusion in the National Diploma for Calligraphy.

Our Festival was another success, with such variety of work produced, which you will have seen in the Edge. Although there will be no Festival in 2024, this allows plenty of time to prepare for 2025, with much of this already underway.

Our touring exhibition, Letters Hand Made starts in London next month, before moving to Wells in Somerset, Shrewsbury, and finally Halifax in the Autumn.

The Edge continues to offer interesting, inspiring, and educational articles, highlighting the work of many different styles of calligraphy and lettering arts; and updates on other activities through our email CLASNews. Our website continues to provide a useful resource of information about ‘all things CLAS’, and social media allows us to interact with a wider base, promoting CLAS and calligraphy in general.

This is a special year for CLAS and as a committee we offer our gratitude to all those who have gone before us; in particular those with the vision and ability to set up our society 30 years ago, those who have served on the various committees or volunteered and promoted CLAS for the past three decades. I was not around at the start, but some of you were here in the early days and know that you are all appreciated. We have commissioned Tim Noad to produce a commemorative work honouring 30 years of CLAS, which you can see here today.

On a personal note, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to everyone who contributes to the success of this amazing society; the management committee, CASB members, subcommittees, volunteers, tutors, Fellows, and members. It has been a pleasure working with you over the past 3 years.

I hope that everyone continues to support the organisation for many years yet and wish the incoming Chair and committee all the very best for a successful tenure.

Treasurer – Jenny Wholley

Receipts & payments for the year are shown in Appendix A, the position shows a net in year deficit of £6155. Despite 2023 being a year of increased cost across the board we remain in a good place financially. A balance of funds of £91k will support a full year of expenditure and allow for fluctuating receipts.

Our accounts package Xero continues to work well and the GoCardless Direct debit payments now sync automatically.

The introduction of Card payment to be implemented for membership renewals as the year goes on, through PayPal straight from the renewal email. (Members do not need a PayPal account to do this). I hope cheque paying members will consider using this option. Trying to find a bank to pay cheques in or queuing for ages in a Post office is very time consuming and the bank charges costly. Direct debit or bank transfer remain our preferred payment options.

The introduction of a card payment machine helped increases sales at the AGM and was also useful at Festival. It will now travel the country with the Exhibition.

The collection of the accommodation fees by festival venue leaving us just the course fees to process has continued work well. Despite a good festival, it still ran at a loss.

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 would like to thank Jo Sheehan who has kindly stepped up to be our Independent Examiner.

A summary of the balance sheet, payments and receipts will be submitted to the Charity Commission.

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.

Nomination for Trustees from AGM 2024

Chair
Treasurer
CLAS Academic Standards Board (CASB)
Festival Director
Assistant Festival Director
AGM Coordinator
Exhibition Officer
Membership
Affiliated Groups Officer
Administrator
Archivist
Webmaster

Sue Hodgkinson Jenny Wholley Josie Brown Donna Deeks Janice McLelland Sarah Walker Jeffrey Bailey Meg Chapman Barbara Alldred Dave Cowan Alison Allan Mapet Enriquez

Co-options

The Edge Jane John 2. Social Media 1 TBC 3. Social Media 2 TBC 4. TBC TBC

Ex-officio Officers / Other Management Committee specific roles

Art & The Letter Organisers Julie Tallant & Nicky Walker

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

Receipts and Payment Accounts with Prior Year Comparison Year Ending 31[st] December 2023

	Receipts and Payment Accounts with prior year comparison Year ended 31 December 2023 Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society (CLAS)	Receipts and Payment Accounts with prior year comparison Year ended 31 December 2023 Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society (CLAS)	Receipts and Payment Accounts with prior year comparison Year ended 31 December 2023 Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society (CLAS)	Receipts and Payment Accounts with prior year comparison Year ended 31 December 2023 Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society (CLAS)	Receipts and Payment Accounts with prior year comparison Year ended 31 December 2023 Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society (CLAS)
RECEIPTS		Notes	Jan - Dec 23		Jan - Dec 22
A Voluntary income *Subscriptions*
Non Gift Aided Gift Aided Gift Aid Tax Credit		1	15,186 16,790 4,401	36,377	16,058 17,010 4,364 37,432
*Donations* Non Gift Aided			330		679
Gift Aided Total Volunary Income			24	354 36,731	74 753 38,185
B Charitable Activities *Festivals*
Fest' of Calligraphy 22 Fest' of Calligraphy 23	Fest' of Calligraphy 22 Fest' of Calligraphy 23	2	- 16,630	16,630	10,094 3,220 13,314
*AGMs*
AGM 22 AGM 23 AGM 24			- 2,075 390	2,465	1,895 270
*EXHIBITION*
Exhibition 2024 *Member Sevices* Art & The Letter Specilalist Skills			765 745 -	765	2,165 - 150
Certificate fees Diploma fees		3 4	2,100 1,252		2,105 1,236
Liveonline Courses		5	2,815		3,160
Tutor Accred' fees Unidentfied Misc income
				6,913	6,651
Total Charitable Activities C Fund generating activities				26,773	22,130
Affilated Groups' PLI Sale of goods		6	1,789 606		1,968 2,121
Total Fund generating activities D Investment income CAF interest CC Interest			614 233	2,395	4,089 45 232
COIF interest Total Investment income			2,259	3,106	585 862
Total Receipts for the year Payments for the year			75,160	69,005	65,266 71,083
Net of receipts /(payments)				(6,155)	(5,816)

Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society (CLAS) Receipts and Payment Accounts with prior year comparison Year ended 31 December 2023

Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society (CLAS) Receipts and Payment Accounts with prior year comparison Year ended 31 December 2023	Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society (CLAS) Receipts and Payment Accounts with prior year comparison Year ended 31 December 2023	Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society (CLAS) Receipts and Payment Accounts with prior year comparison Year ended 31 December 2023	Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society (CLAS) Receipts and Payment Accounts with prior year comparison Year ended 31 December 2023
PAYMENTS Notes A Charitable activities Art & The Letter 443 141 CLAS Academic Standards Board - 230 Certificate fees 3 1,773 1,054 Specialist Skills 2,629 Copying & printing 383 252 Depreciation - Diploma 4 1,920 1,792 Edge 14,450 13,456 Edge postage 10,009 8,147 Fest' of Callig 21 - 1,546 Fest' of Callig 22 7 2,080 17,997 Fest' of Callig 23 2 20,197 582 Exhibition 2024 1,138 139 Free calligraphy courses 8 - - Liveonline Courses 5 1,250 2,124 PLI (CLAS) insurance 682 648 Regional Day - Stationery 46 85 General Expenses 1,347 RAG Bursaries returned 634 - 7,000 Total Charitable activities 57,712 55,192 B Fundraising costs Goods for resale 255 279 Affiliated Groups' PLI premiums 1,861 1,967 Total Fundraising costs 2,116 2,246 C Costs of generating voluntary income *Bank charges & Fees* CAF 109 272 PayPal,Sumup & GoCardless 642 581 752 853 *Internet, Postage etc* Internet - Other 9 1,980 2,130 Postage 915 1,337 Presentations 419 261 3,315 3,727 Total Cost of generating vol income 4,066 4,580 D Governance costs AGM 22 exp 10 83 5,935 AGM 23 exp 11 7,786 3,130 AGM 24 exp 12 3,398 Management Committee mtgs - - Total Governance costs 11,266 9,064 Total Payments 75,160 71,083 Receipts for the year 69,005 65,266 Net of receipts/(paymens) (6,155) (5,816) Jan - Dec 23 Jan - Dec 22	Notes Jan - Dec 23 Jan - Dec 22
		141 230 1,054 252 1,792 13,456 8,147 1,546 17,997 582 139 - 2,124 648 85 7,000 57,712 279 1,967 2,116 272 581 752 2,130 1,337 261 3,315 4,066 5,935 3,130 - 11,266 75,160 65,266 (6,155)	55,192 2,246 853 3,727 4,580 9,064 71,083 (5,816)

Notes ASSETS A Cash at bank and in hand CAF Current Account 13 3,543 set aside bursary fund - 3,543 CAF Gold 12,645 CC Bank 14 20,465 Revolut Prepaid card 61 36,714 COIF charities deposit account 15 40,345 Exhibition Fund 16 8,862 Sponsorship for beginners' class 17 3,975 53,182 PayPal 1,423 1,423 *Total Cash at bank and in hand* 91,318 B Other Current Assets Stock of Good for Sale 539 539 *Total Current Assets* 91,857 Total Value of Assets 91,857 CAPITAL RESERVES Opening balance of funds 98,097 Net inflow / outflow of funds for the year (6,155) Closing balance of funds 91,942 Value of funds at year end 91,942 Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society Balance Sheet with prior year comparison As at 31 December 2023 Jan - Dec 23	Notes ASSETS A Cash at bank and in hand CAF Current Account 13 3,543 set aside bursary fund - 3,543 CAF Gold 12,645 CC Bank 14 20,465 Revolut Prepaid card 61 36,714 COIF charities deposit account 15 40,345 Exhibition Fund 16 8,862 Sponsorship for beginners' class 17 3,975 53,182 PayPal 1,423 1,423 *Total Cash at bank and in hand* 91,318 B Other Current Assets Stock of Good for Sale 539 539 *Total Current Assets* 91,857 Total Value of Assets 91,857 CAPITAL RESERVES Opening balance of funds 98,097 Net inflow / outflow of funds for the year (6,155) Closing balance of funds 91,942 Value of funds at year end 91,942 Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society Balance Sheet with prior year comparison As at 31 December 2023 Jan - Dec 23	Notes ASSETS A Cash at bank and in hand CAF Current Account 13 3,543 set aside bursary fund - 3,543 CAF Gold 12,645 CC Bank 14 20,465 Revolut Prepaid card 61 36,714 COIF charities deposit account 15 40,345 Exhibition Fund 16 8,862 Sponsorship for beginners' class 17 3,975 53,182 PayPal 1,423 1,423 *Total Cash at bank and in hand* 91,318 B Other Current Assets Stock of Good for Sale 539 539 *Total Current Assets* 91,857 Total Value of Assets 91,857 CAPITAL RESERVES Opening balance of funds 98,097 Net inflow / outflow of funds for the year (6,155) Closing balance of funds 91,942 Value of funds at year end 91,942 Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society Balance Sheet with prior year comparison As at 31 December 2023 Jan - Dec 23	Notes ASSETS A Cash at bank and in hand CAF Current Account 13 3,543 set aside bursary fund - 3,543 CAF Gold 12,645 CC Bank 14 20,465 Revolut Prepaid card 61 36,714 COIF charities deposit account 15 40,345 Exhibition Fund 16 8,862 Sponsorship for beginners' class 17 3,975 53,182 PayPal 1,423 1,423 *Total Cash at bank and in hand* 91,318 B Other Current Assets Stock of Good for Sale 539 539 *Total Current Assets* 91,857 Total Value of Assets 91,857 CAPITAL RESERVES Opening balance of funds 98,097 Net inflow / outflow of funds for the year (6,155) Closing balance of funds 91,942 Value of funds at year end 91,942 Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society Balance Sheet with prior year comparison As at 31 December 2023 Jan - Dec 23
Notes	Jan -	Dec 23		Jan - Dec 22
	3,543 - 12,645 20,465 61		3,543 36,714 53,182 1,423 91,318 539 91,857 91,857 91,942 91,942	6,682 2,500 6,387 20,232 46,604 10,000 3,975 103,913 (5,816)	9,182 35,800 60,579 923 97,303 794 98,097 98,097 98,097 98,097
	40,345 8,862 3,975
	1,423 539 98,097 (6,155)

NOTES TO ACCOUNTS

Year ended 31 December 2023

Accounting basis

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. For the year ending 31 December 2023 total receipts were £69,005 and total payments £75,160, giving an in-year deficit of £6,155. In the year 2022, the position for the year was a deficit of £5,816. Funds available as at 31 December 2023 are £91,942.

Statement of Receipts

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.
For Festival 2023 income received of £16,630 with related outgoings of £20,197.
Fees for Certificate accreditation assessment of £2,100 were received from candidates, with related outgoings of £1,773.
Fees for Diploma accreditation assessment of £1,252 were received from candidates, with related outgoings of £1,920. The loss is due to new videos where expenses were paid.
Receipts of £2,815 have been received for The LiveOnline Certificate of Calligraphy courses and £1,250 has been paid to tutors.
Affiliated Groups PLI (Public Liability Insurance) of £1,789 represents the contributions from regional groups affiliated to CLAS towards the insurance premium borne by the Society.

Statement of Payments

Festival 2022. There were additional costs of £2,080.
No free calligraphy courses were run this year.
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. Zoom also is used for the quarterly Management Committee meetings.
AGM 22 late expenditure outgoings of £83.
AGM 23 income received of £2,075 with related outgoings of £7,786.
AGM 23 expenses of £3,398 represent the deposit and travel and subsistence costs for the management committee, helpers and speakers for the AGM gathering and deposit for the venue, Regent’s Conferences & Events, Hyde Park.

Balance Sheet

CAF Accounts are historically the main operating and savings accounts for CLAS.
CC Bank Fixed term deposit account was reinvested at Maturity date 29/08/2023 for another 2 years. Expected Interest over Account Term: £2,100.56. This was opened to ensure all banks accounts were under the £85k FSCS limit and to get a better rate of interest.
COIF deposit account is the main account for holding funds due to slightly higher rate of interest earned on the deposits compared to holding funds with the CAF accounts. Attempts to find better interest rates came to nothing.
£8862 is left set aside for the 30[th] Anniversary Exhibition 2024. Expenses of £1,138 have already incurred.
CLAS sponsorship for beginners of £3,975 represents the balance after sponsorship of free courses of £375 were taken up in 2021. The fund is set up to assist beginners in taking part in calligraphy courses.

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:

The accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or
The accounts do not accord with those records; or
The accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008, other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view’ which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

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.

Signed:

Name: Joanna Sheehan

Relevant professional qualification or membership of professional bodies (if any): IPFA

Address: Silver Howe Marlborough Grove Ilkley LS29 8QE

Date: 22 January 2024