2020-10-31-accounts - English Ceramic Circle

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The English Ceramic Circle

Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31st October, 2020

Registered Charity Number 1097063

THE ENGLISH CERAMIC CIRCLE ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2020

This report has been prepared in accordance with the Charity Commission's publication "Financial Reporting Standard 102" ("FRS 102") and guidance note "Charity reporting and accounting (CC15d)" applicable to reporting periods beginning on or after 1st November 2016

1. REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Charity Name: The English Ceramic Circle (also known as the "ECC")

Registered Charity Number: 1097063

Charity's Principal Postal Address: BM Box 7246, London WC1N 3XX.

Trustees

Charles Dawson - President Geoffrey Cope (resigned 14th February 2020) Mark Francis - Marketing manager and Webmaster Jonathan Gray - Meetings Secretary Patricia Macleod - Membership Secretary Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth (co-opted 19th September 2020) Stephen McManus - Librarian Jacqui Pearce - Joint Editor of the Transactions publication Rosemary Pemberton - Visits organiser Alan Walden - Treasurer Jo Whitehead - Publications manager

2. STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT

The Charity is an unincorporated association, governed by the Rules of The English Ceramic Circle ('The Rules'), which were revised at and took effect from the Annual General Meeting held on 19 March 2016. A copy of the Rules can be found on the Charity's website.

The Trustees of the Charity form the Committee of the English Ceramic Circle. The Committee comprises not more than fifteen members who are elected (for a term of not more than 3 years with the right to re-election) . The Committee has power to co-opt not more than three members, and a list of the current Trustees is set out above.

The Charity has no employees. The Accounts have been subject to Independent Examination as required by Part 8 of the Charities Act 2011.

The Circle complies with the rquirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation. Data is held by only the Treasurer and the Membership Secretary and is used only to communicate matters of interest to members and to mail Transactions and Newsletters to them

3. A FINANCIAL REVIEW

Bankers : Natwest Bank plc Independent Examiner: Mr John Beetwell Financial Year: 1 November 2019 to 31 October 2020

The Circle posted a deficit of £2,931 during the year (2018/19 - surplus of £9,872). Income decreased by £11,902 to £25,333 (2019 - £37,235) principally because grants of £10,437 were received in the preceding year towards the cost of producing two additional publications. Costs increased by £901 to £28,264 (2019 - £7,363) with substantially increased mailing and website costs partially offset by savings in the cost of holding meetings. See Activities and Achievements below.

The ECC is a registered charity and we encourage donations and bequests from both members and the public to enable the Circle's activities to continue. Supplementary categories of membership, comprising, Friends, Sponsors and Benefactors, were introduced during 2019 and these produced additional income of £1,187 during the current year (2019 £1,297). The intention of these categories of membership is to help support ceramic research and the publication of occasional ceramic volumes. As such, the total received has been excluded from the main accounts and treated as a restricted fund.

4. OBJECTIVES

The Objectives of the Charity, as defined in section 2 of The Rules, are:

a) To advance the public knowledge and appreciation of ceramics and enamels manufactured, decorated, or used in the British Isles.

b) To promote research and study in all matters relating to ceramics and enamels manufactured, decorated, or used in the British Isles and to disseminate the useful knowledge gained for the public benefit.

The Charity provides public benefit through its Transactions and other publications, which are available in a variety of libraries and also for sale to the public, and through its public meetings and seminars.

5. ACTIVITIES & ACHIEVEMENTS

The English Ceramic Circle held three Saturday lecture meetings during the year (2019 - seven) before the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic caused the remainder of the 2020 lecture programme to be suspended. It was also not possible to hold the regular evening lectures held in the lecture theatre of Bonham's in Montpelier Street, London (2019 - three)

Continuing its policy to include at least one meeting per annum outside London, the Circle held a successful all day study day in February at the Salisbury Museum featuring a handling session followed by three lectures, but the study day on London Stonewares scheduled for May has been postponed until 2021

In April 2020 the Circle pioneered the introduction of video lectures by ceramic societies using Zoom technology. A total of 17 lectures were delivered by this means including the ones previously scheduled to be held in face-to-face meetings. The majority of these were thrown open to the general public and publicised via the Circle's Facebook page. The lectures are also available on the ECC website to which all members have access.

Using Zoom has proved supremely popular with the membership at large as many, particularly those living overseas, had never previously been able to attend meetings. It also enables lecturers to give papers from their own homes or workplaces. Zoom has also provided a large boost to membership, with a net increase of 77 achieved during the year. However since the rules of the Circle state that any member joining after 1st June has their first period of membership extended to the next-but-one renewal date, the majority of these produced no income in 2020

The Circle maintains a printing reserve to cover the anticipated costs of printing the papers delivered to members but not yet published. The usual provision of £16,500 was made this year to cover the cost of the 2020 edition to be published in the late summer of 2021

Regular Publications

The English Ceramic Circle publishes an annual publication, The Transactions of the English Ceramic Circle, together with two newsletters. Members are also advised by email of significant events in the ceramic world, such as exhibitions, auctions and seminars.

The Circle maintains a library of ceramic publications and literature to which members have access and which, in most cases, is available on loan to members for short periods.

Membership

The Circle offers annual subscription membership which entitles Members to attend meetings, to receive the annual Transactions, two newsletters and sometimes (at the discretion of the Committee) other publications without further charge. Membership is offered to individuals, joint membership to two individuals at the same address, and Institutional Membership. The latter category entitles Institutions to send any nominated individual to meetings organised by the ECC.

Payable membership subscription numbers increased by 77 during the year (last year a decrease of 12). The majority of UK individual members gift aid their subscriptions and the committee urges any UK tax payer who has not done so to consider doing this, thus providing valuable additional income to the Circle.

Membership numbers at 31 October 2020 were as follows:

UK members Europe USA and Canada Australia & New Zealand Rest of World	Single Dual Institutional Total Last Year 271 92 16 379 345 14 0 11 25 19 79 6 23 108 69 12 4 2 18 20 4 0 0 4 4
	380 102 52 534 457

On behalf of the Trustees

Charles Dawson President

Alan Walden Treasurer 9th January 2021

Statement of Financial Activities

for theYear Ended 31st October 2020

INCOMING RESOURCES Voluntary Income Subscriptions Gift Aid reclaimed Grants Donations Investment Income Bank Interest Income from Charitable Activities Publication & archive sales Seminar income Advertising income Summer visit Other income Total Incoming Resources RESOURCES EXPENDED Costs of Charitable Activities Publication Costs Addition (Release) to (from) Printing Reserve Mailings and Postage Meetings Website and computer expenses Marketing Insurance Depreciation Seminar costs Summer visit Donations Other Costs Total Resources Expended Net surplus /(deficit) for the year Unrestricted funds brought forward Unrestricted funds carried forward	£ 17,127 0	£ 18,147 18,301 2,689 2,718 - 10,437 739 21,575 1,194 32,650 917 821 554 1,102 - - 1,800 1,550 287 792 199 2,841 320 3,764 25,333 37,235 28,776 17,127 (10,000) 18,776 2,660 940 2,431 3,475 3,042 1,761 1,181 1,029 314 241 - - - - 144 678 500 - 865 28,264 463 27,363 28,264 27,363 (2,931) 9,872 59,356 49,484 56,425 59,356 2019-20 2018-19 £ £ £ £	£ 18,147 18,301 2,689 2,718 - 10,437 739 21,575 1,194 32,650 917 821 554 1,102 - - 1,800 1,550 287 792 199 2,841 320 3,764 25,333 37,235 28,776 17,127 (10,000) 18,776 2,660 940 2,431 3,475 3,042 1,761 1,181 1,029 314 241 - - - - 144 678 500 - 865 28,264 463 27,363 28,264 27,363 (2,931) 9,872 59,356 49,484 56,425 59,356 2019-20 2018-19 £ £ £ £	£ 18,147 18,301 2,689 2,718 - 10,437 739 21,575 1,194 32,650 917 821 554 1,102 - - 1,800 1,550 287 792 199 2,841 320 3,764 25,333 37,235 28,776 17,127 (10,000) 18,776 2,660 940 2,431 3,475 3,042 1,761 1,181 1,029 314 241 - - - - 144 678 500 - 865 28,264 463 27,363 28,264 27,363 (2,931) 9,872 59,356 49,484 56,425 59,356 2019-20 2018-19 £ £ £ £
		554 - 1,800 287 199
		17,127 2,660 2,431 3,042 1,181 314 - - 144 500 865
				37,235
				27,363


				27,363
				9,872 49,484
				59,356

Balance Sheet at 31st October

- 2,474 14,109 20,343 51,308 88,234 12,825 75,409 75,409 56,425 16,500 2,484 18,984 75,409 2020 £ £	- 2,474 14,109 20,343 51,308 88,234 12,825 75,409 75,409 56,425 16,500 2,484 18,984 75,409 2020 £ £	- 1,764 8,504 20,160 50,649 81,077 3,924 77,153 77,153 59,356 16,500 1,297 17,797 77,153 2019 £ £	- 1,764 8,504 20,160 50,649 81,077 3,924 77,153 77,153 59,356 16,500 1,297 17,797 77,153 2019 £ £
88,234 12,825		81,077 3,924
16,500 2,484		16,500 1,297
	75,409		77,153
	56,425 18,984		59,356 17,797

	75,409		77,153

The Financial Statements were approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf by:

Charles Dawson (President)

Alan Walden (Treasurer) 9th January 2020

Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31st October, 2020

1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES

(a) Basis of accounting

The financial statements have been prepared using the historic cost convention and in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. The statements have been voluntarily compiled on an accruals basis to comply with the principle recommendations of the Charity Commission's publication "Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities" [2015].

Income from Members' subscriptions, which entitles members to receive the annual Transactions publication and to attend both public and members' meetings, is recognised in the year in which those meetings take place.

Income from Gift Aid is accounted for in the financial year in which the refund claim is submitted. Income from publication grants, provided such grant is committed, is accounted for in the year in which the relevant publication costs are incurred.

The Circle holds stocks of past Transactions which it sells to the public and to members. Some of these publication are many years old and the trustees take the view that maintaining a stock recording system to maintain these relatively low valued stocks would not be justified. Accordingly, subject to the matters set out below, publication costs are expensed in the accounts in the year in which they are printed.

The Circle maintains a Printing Reserve to make allowance for the cost of unpublished Transactions, or supplements to Transactions, where the relevant papers have been presented by Members to the Circle but the printing not yet undertaken.

(b) Statutory Disclosures

During the year no committee members were reimbursed for travel and accommodation costs incurred on behalf of the Circle and no other trustee expenses were incurred.

(c) Depreciation

The Circle's computer and projection equipment is fully written down. It was depreciated on a straight line basis over its expected useful life, namely 3 years.

2 Tangible Fixed Assets Cost Opening balance at 1st November 2019 Additions Closing Balance at 31st October 2020 Depreciation Opening balance at 1st November 2019 Charge for the year Closing Balance at 31st October 2020 Net Book Value at 31st October 2020 3 Debtors and prepayments As at 31st October: Amounts falling due within one year: Meetings expenses paid in advance Mailing and postage paid in advance Advertising Insurance Website expenses paid in advance General expenses paid in advance Accrued bank interest receivable 4 Creditors and accruals As at 31st October: Subscriptions received in advance Seminar receipts received in advance Meetings expenses Publication expenses Mailings and postage General expenses Website and PC expenses Donations	2,020 £ 663 54 - 53 778 86 840	Computer, Software, and Projection Equipment £ 1,220 -
		1,220
		1,220 -
		1,220
		-
		2,019 £ 53 54 300 - 524 48 785
	2,474	1,764
	2,020 £ 8,483 824 73 732 2,463 190 - 60	2,019 £ 1,500 - 199 1,369 787 69 - -
	12,825	3,924

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of

The English Ceramic Circle For the year ended 31st October 2020

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the English Ceramic Circle (“The Circle”) for the year ended 31 October 2020.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Circle 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 Circle’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under 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:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the Society 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.

John Beetwell c/o BM Box 7246 London WC1N 3XX

13th January 2020