## Trustees’ report to the 2023 AGM of the GLHS 1. Welcome to attendees 2. Satisfying our Charitable Aims - a. This year we opened to the general public on 38 days. Our visitors included overseas travellers from Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Romania and India. During this time we also hosted an official visit for a group of local councillors from Gosport Borough Council, together with organised groups from the Gosport Society, the University of the Third Age and the Lord’s Hill History Society. - b. We also opened for four school parties and two Home Education groups. Over the years since we first opened numbers of school parties have unfortunately declined due to reasons outside our control - c. Our site has again been very popular with students studying film and media, and no less than five groups have used our site as a film location in completing their degree courses. At the moment we have another three groups that are considering using our site next year, including one major production company - d. Our ‘special’ openings included May Day which was so successful we had a queue past the Potting Shed and the Craft Day in August very well organised by Anna. Both days were extremely well attended by both visitors and members. - e. In December 2022 we received a letter from the Charity Commissioners closing out an ongoing investigation with no further action being required. 3. During the year I am sorry to say that we had resignations from a small number of members including Barry and Bobby Roberts. They both did a lot for this society and will be missed. We should not underestimate the amount of work that Barry did for the village behind the scenes. 4. The shop is now being run between Alex, Helen and myself with a great team of ladies (plus Terry) who attend the shop in a rota and are reckoned as members of the society. Thank you to Anne, Bev, Brenda, Lin, Rosie, and, of course, Terry. 5. During the year we applied for a Heritage Grant to repair much of our Wattle and Daub. I attended a meeting of the GBC Heritge Grant Committee and we subsequently received a grant of £7431. The repairs have now been completed. Very many thanks to the GBC Heritage Committee and to Ian Holloway who made an excellent job of the repairs. It now remains for me to submit final report to GBC closing off that project. I also applied to the post code lottery but with less success. I sent the application within 30 minutes of the scheme opening, to be told that we were too late and all available money had been allocated. 6. The society has purchased a defibrillator for the society. This is held in the potting shed , but will be placed in the shop when the village is open. 7. We have also received a donation of £500 from the Village Players in thanks for their use of the Village for rehearsals and as the venue for their production this year of A Comedy of Errors. Another personal donation was received from a GLHS member to be used towards the cost of black powder for the village musket. 8. Over the past twelve months we have been looking for a builder for our new cob house. We have approached four period expert builders, only one of which has expressed enough interest to come back to me with a quote. This came to me last evening: £103,200. My personal feeling is that this is not viable. We might well be better in ensuring that our current buildings are in good enough condition to last into the future. However, I haven’t had a chance to discuss this yet with our Committee as to how we go forward. Post meeting note: a number of members voiced an opinion that we should not go ahead with this project at this cost. 9. On occasions this season we have been very short of members attending the village in costume. I fully understand that many members have other commitments outside this society, but I am just stating a fact. On two occasions we opened the village with just four members on site in costume. It has been suggested by some that in such an instance we should not open. In my view that is not an option. We have advertised that we open on certain days and we must therefore open if at all possible. Some visitors travel long distances just to see us. This season we opened with four members, explained the situation to our visitors, and then let them in free of charge. - I suppose the question is why do we often have such few members attending? Looking at attendance and talking to those who do attend on a regular basis, we have taken a close look at how we arrange next year’s openings. One of the main decisions is that we will ensure that we do not open on ‘odd’ days such as a Friday or Monday that would normally be considered as a ‘normal’ working day, and that days lost by excluding these days would be made up by opening slightly longer in school holiday periods. The openings for next year are posted up on a year planner in the potting shed kitchen for all to see. Any constructive comments are welcome. 10. Does anybody have any questions? Roger Towner Chair of GLHS **Date:** 23/11/2023 **Time:** 13:15:08 **Page:** 1 **Gosport Living History Society Profit and Loss** **From:** Month 1, November 2022 **To:** Month 12, October 2023 ## **Chart of Accounts:** Default Layout of Accounts [PARTIAL] |**Period**
**gra**
Income - Memberships
377.90
Income - Schools and groups
617.50
Income - Public Admissions
16,992.85
Income - Souvenirs
2,557.88
Income - Tea Shop
994.36
Income - Filming
3,050.00
Income - Donations
909.98
Income - Lottery
81.60
Income - Grants
7,431.00
Income - Other Events
189.00
Income - BBQ
1,892.22
Deposit Interest Received
522.03
**Purchases**
**Direct Expenses**
**Gross Profit/(Loss):**
**Overheads**
Buildings
8,133.00
Tea Shop
947.50
Food and Consumables
1,258.02
BBQ
306.93
Costumes/Artefacts
714.00
Souvenirs
1,014.01
Maintenance
575.53
Miscellaneous Expenses
1,575.26
Tools and Equipment
14.99
Garden Expenses
82.87
Toilets/Consumables
89.47
Website
122.40
Advertising
917.99
Postage and Stationery
47.84
Insurance
1,828.32
Accountancy
231.25
Sum Up Charges
257.22
Training
430.80
**Net Profit/(Loss):**|35,616.32
0.00
0.00
35,616.32
18,547.40
17,068.92|**Year to Date**
377.90
617.50
16,992.85
2,557.88
994.36
3,050.00
909.98
81.60
7,431.00
189.00
1,892.22
522.03
8,133.00
947.50
1,258.02
306.93
714.00
1,014.01
575.53
1,575.26
14.99
82.87
89.47
122.40
917.99
47.84
1,828.32
231.25
257.22
430.80|35,616.32
0.00
0.00| |---|---|---|---| ||||35,616.32
18,547.40| ||||17,068.92| JACKY SPARKS, 26 INVERNESS AVENUE, FAREHAM, P015 6AS Gosport Living History Society 17 Fisher Road Bridgemary Gosport Hants P013 OJJ 12 November 2023 To whom it may concern. I can confirm that today, 12th November 2023,1 have produced from the records supplied the sage accounts and associated Profit and Loss report for the Gosport Living History Society, for the year ended 31 October 2023. The records supplied this year now that Helen has become involved are a massive improvement. I now have much more confidence in the records being kept and maintained from those we had last year, especially regarding the till and cash handling. Yours Sincerely Jack Ja par