2022-10-31-accounts - English Ceramic Circle

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The English Ceramic Circle

Trustees Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31st October, 2022

Limehouse sauceboat, c. 1746-48, Private Collection Photo © Sylvain Deleu

Registered Charity Number 1097063

THE ENGLISH CERAMIC CIRCLE Trustees' Annual Report for the Year Ended 31st October 2022

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 "ECC")

Registered Charity Number: 1097063 Website address: www.englishceramiccircle.org.uk Charity's principal postal address: BM Box 7246, London WC1N 3XX.

Trustees

Jonathan Gray - President Mark Francis (resigned 24 May 2022) Barbara Jotham (appointed 24 May 2022) - Treasurer from October 2022 Patricia Macleod - Membership Secretary to August 2022 Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth Stephen McManus - Librarian James Peake Jacqui Pearce - Joint Editor of the Transactions publication Rosemary Pemberton - Visits Manager Tom Smith - Newsletter Editor Simon Spier (co-opted May 2022) - Marketing Manager & Webmaster Amber Turner (appointed 24 May 2022) - Programme Secretary Alan Walden - Treasurer to September 2022 Rebecca Walker (co-opted June 2022) - Membership Secretary from September 2022 Jo Whitehead - Publications manager

Bankers : NatWest Bank plc, Shawbrook Bank and United Trust Bank

Independent Examiner: Mr John Beetwell

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 24 May 2022. A copy of the Rules can be found on ECC'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 ENGLISH CERAMIC CIRCLE Trustees' Annual Report for the Year Ended 31st October 2022

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

ECC complies with the requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation. Data is held by only the President, Treasurer, Membership and Programme Secretaries and Visits Manager and is accessed and used by them only to communicate matters of interest to Members, to solicit subscription renewals and other payments and to mail Transactions (via a third party which then destroys the mailing list) and Newsletters to them. ECC does not share personal data with third parties without the consent of the individuals concerned. ECC's full data privacy statement is available on its website www.englishceramiccircle.org.uk.

3. OBJECTIVES AND PUBLIC BENEFIT

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. The general public are also invited to view those of our on-line Zoom lectures which are not restricted to Members only.

4. ACTIVITIES & ACHIEVEMENTS

Meetings and visits

Saturday lecture meetings were resumed post-COVID from November 2021 but were subject to change due to the COVID Omicron variant; 3 meetings were held in 2021-22 at a new venue at the Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AZ. A further 8 lectures were held via Zoom, with the majority open to non-members. Many of these lectures are available to Members on the ECC website, with several available to all website visitors.

THE ENGLISH CERAMIC CIRCLE Trustees' Annual Report for the Year Ended 31st October 2022

In May 2022, the ECC's study day at the V&A Museum brought together 8 leading scholars to present 7 papers, marking the 200th anniversary of the death of Thomas Baxter Junior, which covered his work at Worcester, Swansea and London. A visit to Fenton House, Hampstead, in September 2022, was organised to discover more about its notable ceramics collection, including a handling session.

Using Zoom continues to be extremely popular with the membership at large, enabling many more, particularly those living overseas, to attend meetings. It also widens the list of potential speakers as they can give papers from their own homes or workplaces anywhere in the world. ECC receives frequent invitations from other ceramic societies, such as the French Porcelain Society, to participate in their Zoom lectures and these are passed on to both ECC Members and other societies. The introduction of on-line lectures has provided a valuable boost to ECC's membership.

Publications

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

ECC 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 English Ceramic Circle offers annual subscription membership which entitles Members to attend meetings, to receive the annual Transactions, two newsletters, invitations to Zoom lectures including those provided by other bodies to which ECC Members are invited 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 decreased by 24 during the year (2020-21 increase of 44).

The majority of UK individual Members gift aid their subscriptions and the Committee urges any UK tax payer who has not done so to contact the Treasurer in order to set this up and provide valuable additional income to ECC at no cost to themselves.

THE ENGLISH CERAMIC CIRCLE Trustees' Annual Report for the Year Ended 31st October 2022

5. FINANCIAL REVIEW

ECC generated net income of £6,331 for the year, before designations, comprising £1,210 restricted net income and £5,121 unrestricted net income (2020-21 net income of £2,628, comprising £1,637 restricted net expenditure and £4,265 unrestricted net income). There was a modest increase of £723 to income, from £34,187 to £34,910; subscriptions increased by £527 and £418 income (less £250 costs) was earned for the summer visit to Fenton House, the first visit since 2019, pre-COVID.

Expenditure decreased by £2,980, to £28,579 from £31,559 in 2020-21, when 3 research grants totalling £3,350 were awarded from restricted reserves. The publication costs were lower in 202122 as the Transactions journal contained around 80 fewer pages than in 2020-21; however the printing cost per page increased due to higher costs of set-up, paper and ink. Meeting costs have increased due to the resumption of physical meetings post-COVID and the ongoing costs of holding monthly sessions remotely by Zoom. General expenses included the purchase of a laptop and related costs.

The ECC is a registered charity and we encourage donations and bequests from both Members and the public to enable ECC's activities to continue. Supplementary categories of membership, comprising Friends, Sponsors and Benefactors, were introduced during 2019 and these produced additional income of £1,210 during 2021-22 (2020-21 £1,713). This income is treated as restricted and credited to the Research Reserve, which enables ECC to contribute to research, publishing and increasing access in relation to ceramics and enamels made in Britain. In 2021-22 the balance on this fund increased from £847 to £2,057. Members have been actively encouraged to join these categories in 2022-23, when a new round of research grants will be offered.

Reserves Policy

ECC's trustees consider the existing free reserve of £56,425 to be more than adequate to meet the medium-term requirements of ECC, being comparable, in relation to annual expenditure, to other ceramic societies.

Designated Funds

ECC will reach its 100th anniversary in 2027 and the Committee has set up a sub-committee to plan at least one special event to commemorate this. Since 2020-21, uncommitted unrestricted funds have been transferred to the Centenary Fund: £3,121 in 2021-22 (£2,265 in 2020-21). The balance at 31 October 2022 is £5,386.

ECC maintains a printing reserve to cover the anticipated costs of printing the papers delivered to Members but not yet published. This has been increased by £2,000 in 2021-22 to £20,500 in order to cover the anticipated cost of Transactions volume 33 due to be published in 2023 and to make a £2,000 contribution to a publication arising from the Thomas Baxter seminar held in May 2022.

THE ENGLISH CERAMIC CIRCLE Trustees' Annual Report for the Year Ended 31st October 2022

6. MEMBERSHIP

Membership numbers at 31 October 2022 were as follows:

UK members Europe USA and Canada Australia & New Zealand Rest of World	Single Dual Institutional Total 2020-21 Total 310 77 18 405 409 14 0 8 22 25 77 7 18 102 121 17 2 2 21 18 4 0 0 4 5
	422 86 46 554 578

On behalf of the Trustees

Jonathan Gray President

Barbara Jotham, FCA Treasurer 31st March 2023

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of The English Ceramic Circle for the Year Ended 31st October 2022

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the English Ceramic Circle (“The Circle”) for the year ended 31 October 2022.

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

23rd March 2023

THE ENGLISH CERAMIC CIRCLE

Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31st October 2022

INCOMING RESOURCES Voluntary Income Subscriptions Income from Friends, Sponsors & Benefactors Gift Aid 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 Mailings and Postage Meetings Website and computer expenses Research Grants awarded Marketing Insurance Depreciation Seminar costs Summer visit Donations General expenses (including assets under £1,000) Total Resources Expended Net income/expenditure for the year Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward		£ Restricted Funds - 1,210 - -	2021-22 £ £ Unrestricted Funds Total Funds 2 3,548 2 3,548 - 1,210 3,158 3,158 82 2 82 2 2 7,528 2 8,738 897 897 579 579 1,578 1,578 2,700 2,700 418 418 - - 5,275 5,275 3 3,700 3 4,910 1 8,837 1 8,837 605 605 4,139 4,139 1,754 1,754 - - - - 451 451 - - 1,434 1,434 250 250 - - 1,109 1,109 2 8,579 2 8,579 5 ,121 6,331 7 7,190 7 8,037 8 2,311 8 4,368	2020-21 £ £ £ Restricted Funds Unrestricted Funds Total Funds - 2 3,021 2 3,021 1,713 - 1,713 - 3,652 3,652 - 43 8 43 8 1,713 2 7,111 2 8,824 729 729 489 489 1,752 1,752 2,393 2,393 - - - -
		1,210 -
				- 4,634 4,634
		1,210		1,713 3 2,474 3 4,187
				- 2 1,030 2 1,030 - 1,763 1,763 - 1,331 1,331 - 2,021 2,021 3,350 - 3,350 - 305 305 - 355 355 - - - - 1,030 1,030 - - - - - - - 374 374
		-		3,350 2 8,209 3 1,559
		1 ,210 8 47		(1,637) 4 ,265 2,628 2 ,484 7 2,925 7 5,409
		2,057		847 7 7,190 7 8,037

THE ENGLISH CERAMIC CIRCLE Balance Sheet at 31st October

2022 £ £ - 7,202 31,367 20,652 18,184 30,000 107,405 23,037 84,368 84,368 56,425 20,500 5,386 82,311 2,057 84,368	2021 £ £ - 3,861 7,677 20,526 - 55,000 87,064 9,027 78,037 78,037 56,425 18,500 2,265 77,190 847 78,037	2021 £ £ - 3,861 7,677 20,526 - 55,000 87,064 9,027 78,037 78,037 56,425 18,500 2,265 77,190 847 78,037
107,405 23,037	87,064 9,027
56,425 20,500 5,386	56,425 18,500 2,265
		78,037
		77,190 847

		78,037

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

Jonathan Gray (President)

Barbara Jotham, FCA (Treasurer)

31st March 2023

THE ENGLISH CERAMIC CIRCLE Accounts for the Year Ended 31st October 2022 Notes to the Accounts

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 principal 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 donated income being claimed for is received. 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 publications are many years old and the trustees take the view that maintaining a stock recording system for these relatively low value 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 3 committee members were reimbursed for travel costs totalling £152 incurred on behalf of ECC (2020-21 £nil) and no other trustee expenses were incurred (2020-21 £nil).

(c) Fixed Assets and Depreciation

Equipment under £1,000 is written off in the year of acquisition. Assets over £1,000 are depreciated on a straight line basis over their expected useful life, usually 3 years.

Tangible Fixed Assets Cost Opening balance at 1st November 2021 Additions Disposals Closing Balance at 31st October 2022 Depreciation Opening balance at 1st November 2021 Disposals Charge for the year Closing Balance at 31st October 2022 Net Book Value at 31st October 2022 Net Book Value at 31st October 2021	Computer, Software, and Projection Equipment £ 1,220 - ( 1 ,220 ) -	Computer, Software, and Projection Equipment £ 1,220 - ( 1 ,220 ) -
		-
		1,220 (1,220) -
		-
		-
		-

2 Tangible Fixed Assets

THE ENGLISH CERAMIC CIRCLE Accounts for the Year Ended 31st October 2022

Notes to the Accounts

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 Insurance Website expenses paid in advance Gift Aid receivable Advertising income receivable CAF donation receivable Accrued bank interest receivable 4 Creditors and accruals As at 31st October: Subscriptions received in advance Seminar expenses Meetings expenses Publication expenses Mailings and postage Summer visit General expenses Grants awarded	2022 £ - 54 78 781 3,158 2,100 377 65 4 7,202 2022 £ 3,781 - 111 18,723 20 250 152 - 23,037	2021 £ 2,320 54 60 763 - - - 66 4 3,861
		2021 £ 6,301 45 - 657 924 - - 1,10 0 9,027

5 Unrestricted Funds

Unallocated reserves General funds Designated reserves Printing Reserve 2027 Centenary Fund Total		Opening balance at 1st November 202 1 £ 56,425 18,500 2,26 5 20,765 77,190	Incoming resources Outgoing resources £ £ 33,700 (28,579) - - - - - - 33,700 (28,579)	Transfers £ (5,121) 2,000 3,12 1 5,121 -	Closing balance at 31st October 2022 £ 56,425 20,500 5,38 6 25,886

					82,311

6 Restricted Funds

Restricted Funds
As at 31st October: Research reserve Balance brought forward Receipts Grants awarded Balance carried forward	2022 £ 847 1,210 2,057 - 2,057		2021 £ 2,484 1,713 4,197 (3,350)
			847

The Research Reserve, funded by additional income from Friends, Sponsors and Benefactors, enables ECC to contribute to research, publishing and increasing access in relation to ceramics and enamels made in Britain.