## **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.
1
**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.
2
**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.
3
**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.
4
**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
5
## **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:
1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Society as required by section 130 of the Act; or
2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or
3. 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
6
## **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|
7
**THE ENGLISH CERAMIC CIRCLE Balance Sheet at 31st October**
|Notes
**Fixed Assets**
Tangible Assets
2
**Current Assets**
Debtors and Prepayments
3
Cash at NatWest Bank
Shawbrook Bank - 60 days notice
United Trust Bank 3 months bond
United Trust Bank 1 year bond
**Current Liabilities**
Creditors and accruals
4
**Net Current Assets**
**Net Assets**
**Represented by:**
Unrestricted Funds:
General Reserve
Printing Reserve
Centenary Fund
5
Restricted Funds:
Research Reserve
6|**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
8
**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**
9
**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.
10