2023-06-30-accounts - The L&yr Society

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72nd Annual General Meeting and Members’ Day, 14th October 2023

Agenda, Report and Accounts

Your L&YR Society

The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society No. 293 M A N C H E S T E R V IC TO R I A A N D I T S S IG N A L L I N G A=Ga iG3 ~~M~~ INSIDE THIS ISSUE… aga ~~zing~~ AS £6.50 s AGM & Members' Day – see page 3 D28 carriage in 7mm scale – see pages 4-5 Bacup and Bury enginemen – see pages 20-22 A Seek SS A a te id Wort | I] Ad Ly BRE Sn NS ( es ‘ 2 > TORI —, hee ais Fahy Be 2 SECRETARY'S COLUMN o 3 AGM & MEMBERS DAY o 4 D28 CARRIAGE o 6 GAUGE 1 PUG 8 HUTS & HEN HOUSES o 11 3D PRINTED BRAKE BLOCKS o 12 ASK ASPINALL o 15 ARCHIVE ERC BN 20 FOOTPLATE CAREERS 16 GLORIOUS TANK ENGINES ~~ee~~ o 23 STEAM GALA oo 24 PHOTO TALK 18 COLOUR 'A' CLASS o 26 LANKY TODAY o 19 TROPHY WINNERo 28 WRITE TO REPLY 30 WHATS ON, BOOK REVIEW o 31 MEMBERSHIP NEWS, TONY COX, HIGH FLYERS Publications The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society Autumn 2022

Society events

Preservation News

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Archives
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Agenda

The 72nd Annual General Meeting of The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society will be held on Saturday 14th October 2023 at the Middleton Railway in Leeds starting at 10.30am, 10am for tea and coffee.

After the meeting there will be buffet lunch costing £10 per head. In the afternoon there will be a short presentation on the history of the railway followed by a train ride on the railway costing £10 per head. Full details can be found in Magazine 296 .

Officers’ reports (continued):
To sign the attendance register and receive apologies
viii Questions for the Publications Officer
To remember those members who have died during the past twelve months

ix Information Officer

To receive and approve the minutes of the 2022 Annual General Meeting
x Questions for the Information Officer

xi Chairman

To deal with matters arising

xii Questions for the Chairman

Officers’ reports:
To approve the Officers’ reports and the Annual Report & Accounts

i Secretary

ii Questions for the Secretary

To appoint Trustees for 2023/24
iii Treasurer
To appoint two Independent Examiners of the

iv Questions for the Treasurer Society’s accounts

v Membership Officer 9. To confirm the level of subscription for 2024
vi Questions for the Membership Officer 10. Any other business
vii Publications Officer

The following Trustees are offering themselves for re-election:

Ron Tinker (Life President), Graham Smith (Chairman), Noel Coates (Treasurer), Martin Nield (Secretary), Ken Carter (Membership Officer), Roger Mellor (Publications Officer), Chris Leach (Information Officer), David Carter, Robin Pennie, and Barry Steventon.Any other nominations must be received by the Secretary no less than 21 days before the meeting and be compliant with clause 4.4 of our Constitution.

Chairman’s review

“We are not going to be able to carry on forever and we need to plan for the future now...”

increasingly menacing black cloud, we team. Then in perhaps a couple of need to plan for the future now years’ time, they can slowly begin to take over the reins.

becomes critical. As the old saying goes, time and tide wait for no man. I do not want to see us washed away on an outgoing tide or drowned on one that is coming in. We need new people to get involved now or, quite frankly, the future looks bleak.

If we are to continue to be the Society we have strived to become over the last 25 years, we need new, younger people (slightly younger anyway!) to come forward and shadow the most senior members of our management

I am sure that we have members in our Society who have the necessary skills to push us forward into a new era. If this does not happen then I give us about five years before the situation

Secretary’s report

“In a Society of more than 900 members, there must be people with the necessary skills...”

Martin Nield

a Society of more than 900 members, there must be people with the necessary skills and experience and who are not already in their mid-70s who could spare the time to help their Society carry on. If you think you could help, please get in touch with any of the Principal Officers.

Although, on the face of it, our Society continues to thrive with excellent publications, strong membership recruitment and retention, expanding archives and successful events, behind the scenes there are serious concerns about how long we can continue in this manner without more members coming forward to help.

We are in the early stages of planning events for 2024 and full details will appear in Magazine in due course.

Your committee has met four times over the past 12 months – twice in person and twice on Zoom – and continues to be a lively forum for debate. However I am sorry to say that Mike Fitton, who has been a Trustee of the Society and committee member for many years, has decided to stand down at the AGM for personal reasons. We would like to thank Mike for his long service to the Society.

In October 2022 we held our AGM & Members’ Day at the Fielden Centre in Todmorden and had a very enjoyable day. In the afternoon Peter Fitton gave us an excellent slide show featuring some of the photographs he has taken at former L&YR locations over the past 60 years.

As I have said before in these reports, in Magazine and at the AGM, the Society has been very fortunate over the past 20 years and more in having a stable team of officers which has led the Society to its current position. However age and illness is beginning to afflict this team and it is becoming obvious that we cannot go on forever.

Our four Modelling Co-ordinators – Barry Steventon for Gauge 1; Peter Fitton for 7mm scale; Dave Carter for 4mm scale and Sam Kennion for 2mm scale – have continued their work throughout the year and we are very grateful to them for that.

In March this year we returned to the Fielden Centre for a Modelling Meeting which proved extremely popular and, despite two exhibitors having to drop out at short notice, was a very successful event.

Appeals in Magazine and at the AGM for members to come forward and shadow the existing officers for a while with a view to taking over in due course have unfortunately not generated any response and, unless this situation changes, we are not going to be able to keep going for many more years. In

In July Philip Hellawell organised a superb Lanky Day Out for us looking at what remains of the L&YR in Halifax.

Graham Smith

If someone had said to me ten years ago that we would be able to publish a book with a sale price of £35 and give a copy to every member of our Society at no extra cost on top of their annual subscription fee, I would not have believed it. But that is exactly what we have managed to do!

Since the publication of the Manchester Victoria and its Signalling book I have received a good few emails, some from as far away as Australia, all making similar comments: “How can we afford to do it?” and “The Society gives the members great value for money”. These are the sorts of comments made in most of the emails I have received.

I must admit, not being directly involved in the financial side of our Society, I have to ask the same

question: how do we manage to do it? I think the comment about giving great value for money has been the secret – or perhaps it’s not so much of a secret, to our having had a very successful few years.

Magazine , LYR Focus and the various books we publish are of the highest quality and do give great value for money to all our members. It is nice to hear from so many people that our efforts are being appreciated. I would like to say a big Thank You to all those people involved in the publication of this book and pass on to them the thanks I received in all the emails sent to me.

Whilst on the subject of thanks, I would like to say Thank You to all of our members who have helped during the last year. We have had another very successful year, so to all of you – be

it in publications, archives, on the Society stand at exhibitions, at the Modelling Day, organising the Lanky Day Out or making the tea – thank you to you all for giving us your time.

So everything in the garden is rosy? I wish it was but I have a big worry that has been nagging away at me for the last few years. It hangs there like a big black thunder cloud slowly rising above the horizon and written on it in big bold letters are the words FUTURE OF THE SOCIETY and SUCCESSION PLANNING.

Some of our key management team on the committee and other post holders are starting to have serious health issues, and much as we would like not to, we are all getting older and we are not going to be able to carry on forever. So, rather than ignore that ever

The modelling meeting at the Fielden Centre in March was a great success.

agm2023

Membership Officer’s report

“I am pleased to say that over 700 of our 946 members had renewed by 1st January...”

Ken Carter

It was 1950 when a small group of railway enthusiasts in the West Riding area got together and decided to form a society for those interested in the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway. It was only 29 years after the LYR had amalgamated with the LNWR (1921) and a year later became part of the LMS. By 1950 it had become part of British Railways.

and retain new members. Many tell me they are amazed at the quality of our offer. This is what gives us the funds to produce and supply our excellent publications and encourages research into the history of the LYR - long may it continue. Recruitment has to be a continuous effort if we are to succeed in giving the membership a great Society and something to be proud of.

I did try to do some TV advertising in the early days of the TV channel ‘Talking Pictures’, but even then they were just a little too expensive for us. I suspect now it would cost a lot more.

However, after 29 years I feel that perhaps it is time for me to reassess my position and reluctantly I will be retiring as Membership Officer at the AGM in October. I will continue to deal with the advertising and marketing of the Society and will obviously help with the transition to the new Membership Officer.

I would like to thank all my colleagues for their support over the past 29 years, for without them, the Society would not be in the great position it is in today.

It is also 29 years since I became Membership Officer of the Society, which seems such a short time ago. A lot has changed since then. Our approach is more professional, we advertise, we have modern displays, we produce outstanding publications, our marketing and promotional activity is as good if not better than many professional organizations.

Our membership year is a calendar year which means my report is for January to December 2022. As many of you will know membership is renewable online from November 1st and I am pleased to say that last year over 700 of our 944 members had renewed before January 1st, for which we are most grateful.

Our membership year is a calendar year which means my report is for January to December 2022. As many of you will know membership is renewable online from November 1st and I am pleased to say that last year
and I am pleased to say that last year over 700 of our 944 members had	Membership Year to Dec 2022 [oT
renewed before January 1st, for which we are most grateful.	Ordinary members 899 Corporate members 31
The improved quality of our publications over the years has had a dramatic impact on our ability to recruit	Honorary members 16 Total 946 [oT

As many of you will know, I also design and place all our advertising and marketing, so the job has become far greater than when I first took it on. I am not complaining, I am pleased to hold such an interesting and exciting position within our Society.

Information Officer’s report

“We acquired yet more photo collections and there are almost 1000 new images to be added...”

Chris Leach

of Australia (Barton Wright types); Photos of Rochdale East Junction signal box; L&Y brass key tags kept by an ancestor; Pictures of excursion passengers at Blackpool Central; L&Y crest enquiry from a member of the Heraldry Society (also a LYRS member); Brindle Heath Junction photos; L&Y roof door vans; Information on and photos of Frederick Attock; L&Y brass wheel retainer; 1860 fatal accident to an employee ancestor on the L&Y; Mystery scientific instrument found in a cupboard at the Horwich Mechanics Institute.

fortunately nearly all the drawings have now been dealt with. The Society has acquired yet more photo collections, by both purchase and donation and including a print from the National Railway Museum, and there are currently almost 1000 new images waiting to be added to the collection. Original documents and drawings continue to be added, thanks to the generosity of both members and the general public and many of these are reported in Magazine .

I should like to extend my thanks to all the members of the Information Team, who have continued to work hard on the Society’s behalf. Without their contributions we would not be in the favourable position we are.

The enquiry service has recovered much of its popularity since the last AGM. Examples of the queries include:

Request from ELR for paint specification for painting Rawtenstall station in L&Y colours; Halifax High Level Railway and it’s omission from L&Y maps; Photos of Stainland and West Vale stations and Rochdale Road Halt on the Stainland Branch; 6 wheel carriage drawings; Information about the Pugs; Information on the aeroplane van CCTs Dia. 118; LMS tender renumbering scheme; Preston & Longridge Railway locos; Martholme Viaduct land ownership; Crossing keeper’s cabins at Eggborough; L&Y electric stock query from France; Kirkdale, Upholland and Bowling tunnel portal photos; Common loco design between the L&Y and Victorian Government Railways

Virtual Museum of The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway

Society drawings, Manchester Archives drawings, photographic collection and other archives

Work continues on further populating the Virtual Museum, with some documents recently added. We hope to add more downloadable drawings and documents, and work is proceeding on the best way to present selections of our photo collection. We have identified funding and are now in a position to have the rest of our drawings collection scanned, and this work will hopefully have commenced during the summer.

Activity of Information Group still continues to recover from knock-on effects of the pandemic. There have been some issues in reconstituting a cataloguing team at Manchester Archives, as previous team members may be subject to changed circumstances, but we continue to consider the best ways of restarting cataloguing, as it needs to proceed;

Publications Officer’s report

“The most important event was the publication of Manchester Victoria and its Signalling...”

Roger Mellor

information became available, but added enormously to the value of the book as the definitive reference work on Victoria.

By far the most important publications event this financial year has been the completion of Manchester Victoria and its Signalling by Tom Wray and Chris Littleworth. This whole project turned out to be far more complicated and time consuming than we imagined. The original concept was to bring Tom’s 2004 history up date and make use of the additional illustrations that are now available. Then Chris mentioned his plan to write a signalling history of the station and the idea of combining the two projects into a single volume was born.

Then, a week or so after we had completed Chris’s section of the book, came the news of his sudden and unexpected death which for Noel and I was particularly upsetting as we had been in virtually daily contact for almost nine months. His knowledge was immense but above all he was our friend and is much missed.

All this has inevitably had a knock on effect on other publications, but we are beavering away to provide you with further goodies as soon as possible. The next LYR Focus is at an advanced stage as I write (late July) and should be with you by the time of the AGM.

Noel took on the job of updating the history of the station and we made extensive use of Peter Taylor’s captions from the original edition. As ever, Chris’s meticulous approach to accuracy led to ongoing research and consultation with his group of signalling experts, all of which resulted in countless revisions as further

The other books in the pipeline include LMS Central Division Miscellany Part

Two and Peter Taylor’s magnificent book, LYR Steam Hauled Arc Roof Carriages .

Magazine continues to be published on its quarterly cycle and is by far the best line Society publication of its kind.

Publications really is a team effort so time to say thank you to Martin Nield and Gavin Clark for their work on Magazine . To Noel Coates, Robin Pennie and Peter Taylor for their outstanding contribution to what pops through your letterbox. To Andrew Wright for his work on the Virtual Museum, Barry Steventon for his professionalism dealing with Sales (and Rowena for her support), and Stuart Byford for his work on the website.

And finally, to all our contributors and you, our members, who continue to support us by your membership.

1908 advert from our archives.

agm2023

Treasurer’s report

“Digitisation of our collection held in Manchester Archives is to finally get under way...”

Noel Coates

again, been reduced to small amounts as the Committee meetings have largely continued to be held on Zoom and very few exhibitions attended. Other items and annual costs were as predicted, but in the case of Archive purchase and Website maintenance these were fairly high, £4,255 and £4,834 respectively, and represent our growth areas, the latter includes setting up the Virtual Museum, it is vital to keep our name before the public however we can (we aren’t small any more, in two years we have accrued £105,500 and spent £129,000). The end of year bank balances show that we have just over £32,000 behind us.

It is sometimes difficult to say what the highlights of the Financial Year are but, in this case, there have been three. The first was the unprecedented way in which members sent in their dues for 2023 along with a huge quantity of donations – the overall total was around £36,860; secondly a record Gift Aid claim - £8,173, and finally, the largest amount we’ve ever spent on publishing a book - £15,585 (plus £3,000 to post it). All part of membership, which is how we finance them, and a large incentive for members to continue. Commercial sales simply reduce the overall outlay the Society has made (the same is true for every book we’ve done).

The accounts have been handed to our Independent Examiners for scrutiny. Their testimonials are sent to the Charity Commissioners in our Annual Report to them. I must thank the two gentlemen concerned for the professional manner in which they approach the fulfilment of their post. It is possible to send all documents electronically now which is a further small saving in time and effort to me.

The breakdown of our income this year is much as normal, membership was greater than expected, Gift Aid is always a huge chunk now, but it is the quantity of sales of publications which surprises. Look on the website at our shop and one can see why – there is a range of volumes to pick from both large and small, so £4,310 in total for just our own works is good going. Then there are the books through offers, smaller this year but still a significant amount of income at £730. Bank interest has (at last!) reached better levels; this last few months has seen more received than for several years.

Looking forward to the next financial year and our spending; our plans and the Budget are very much in line with previous years with, hopefully, digitisation of our collection held in Manchester Archives to finally get under way. Income for all these projects will have to be balanced by a slight increase in membership to £38 for UK members and £50 for International ones.

The main items of expenditure are the usual ones – printing and postage costs (over £38,000) with advertising reaching £4,676. Expenditure on meetings and travel have, once

Corrected Accounts Sept 2023: 1 July 2022 - 30 June 2023

One of our archive purchases

RECEIPTS 2022/2023

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||| |---|---| |Item|£| |Subscriptions|34628.60| |Donations - with Membership|2240.00| |Donations - Bequest|500.00| |Donations - General|241.00| |Sales - pre-loved items|390.50| |Refund (on advert)|58.75| |Bank Interest|206.85| |Gift Aid|8173.23| |Sales - Publications, Binders etc|2781.65| |Sales - Signal Box book Part One & Two|140.00| |Sales - Manchester Victoria & its Signalling|616.00| |Sales - Introduction to LYR|59.00| |Sales - Manchester Victoria booklet|58.50| |Sales - LMS Central Division Miscellany|35.00| |Sales - Last Levers on the Fylde|73.00| |Sales - Central Div Misc - BR Days|201.90| |Sales - LYR Goods Workings A-D|353.40| |Sales - Drawings/Photos etc.|75.40| |Sales - Members book offers|628.95| |London Midland Atlas|86.00| |Horwich Revisited|20.00| |Royalty payments|20.00| |Sales - Sale of members artefacts|105.00| |Lanky Day Out donations|450.00| |AGM - Members subsistence|430.00| |Total|52572.73|

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||||| |---|---|---|---| |PAYMENTS 2022/2023|ASSETS & LIABILITIES 2022/2023| |Item|£|Assets|£| |es|ee| |Officers’ operational expenses|Cash in Deposit Account|30323.25| |Secretary|Nil|Cash in Current Account|2099.41| |Membership Officer|815.82|Cash in PayPal Account|8.91| |Treasurer|5.40|Funds with Treasurer|28.16| |Publication Sales Officer|943.56|Funds with Editor|1315.24| |Sub total|1764.78|Cash Total|33684.97| |General expenses|Stock & Equipment|£| |Donations|175.00|Stock of publications, books, binders,|c.8500.00| |Publications storage unit rental charge|1664.00|CDs etc. - trade value| |Adverising & recruitment|4836.25|Sound system (to be written off at 33% over 3 years)|210.70| |Archives purchased|4254.61|Photo scanners (to be written off at 33% over 3 years)|160.59| |Public Liability Insurance|160.68|Liabilities|£| |Trustee Liability Insurance|256.47|Items not yet drawn on|Nil| |Trustee expenses|212.38| |Exhibitions - travel & stand maintenance|633.90| |AGM notices & reports|480.00|Budget:| |AGM Minutes|300.00|1 July 2023 - 30 June 2024| |Meeting room hire|630.00| |Membermojo subscription|250.00|BUDGET & FUNDING 2023/2024| |Website leases & Domain names|1440.63|Budget|£| |Website transaction charges - Shopify & Stripe|604.93|Print 4 Magazines|6800.00| |Print 1 LYR Focus|1900.00| |Website transaction charges - PayPal & Square|391.73| |Friends of the NRM|40.00|Print LYR Arc Roof Carriage Drawings|7000.00| |Sub total|16330.58|Print Central Div Misc 2 (1931-1947)|6000.00| |Replenish publications|1000.00| |Publication store rental|2000.00| |Other expenses| |Members book offers|642.75|Postage of Magazines|7000.00| |Replenish stock of maps|45.00|Postage of Journals & books|5000.00| |Uncashed cheque (changed bank account)|40.00|PayPal, Shopify & Square charges|800.00| |Website maintenance|1200.00| |Zoom subscription|287.76| |Spring meeting subsistence|345.00|General expenses|1500.00| |Summer meeting room hire & catering|510.00|AGM expenses including printing|700.00| |AGM subsistence|250.00|Contact Leaflet (annual)|300.00| |Purchase stock of binders|329.56|Postage (Membership & Publication Sales)|2500.00| |Website hosting|1517.42|Publicity & Recruitment|4000.00| |Website development|880.00|Committee expenses|500.00| |I Mech E research associateship|217.00|Exhibition expenses & development|500.00| |Insurances|500.00| |Sound system for use at meetings|314.47| |Sub total|49200.00| |Additional computer equipment|115.45| |Sub total|5494.41|Archive purchase (see Notes to Accounts - 2)|2500.00| |Virtual Museum scanning|5000.00| |Publications|Total|56700.00| |Magazine supplements & order forms|231.00| |Source of Funds|£| |Magazine 292-295 - print|7166.00||| |Bury history booklet - print|2379.00|Subscriptions 870 members @ £38 (Int £50)|33060.00| |Donations and Interest|1500.00| |Manchester Victoria & its Signalling - print|15585.00| |Sub total|25361.00|Publications sales surplus|4000.00| |Gift Aid|8685.00| |Sub total|47245.00| |Postage, labels & equipment| |Stationery etc|171.25| |From Current Account|9455.00| |Travel|175.00| |Miscellaneous licences (see Notes to Accounts - 1)|1080.00|Total|56700.00| |Publications pack & postage - Magazine 292 - 295|8235.97| |Note to the Accounts:| |Publications pack & postage - Bury booklet|1663.03| |1. Our Adobe Creative Cloud software is now on an annual subscription for each| |Publications pack & postage - Man Vic & its Signalling|3004.90| |user. This item also includes rights to use maps, photos etc in our publications.| |Other postage|57.14| |2. The amount spent depends on what becomes available in any one year.| |Sub total|14387.29| |The report of the Independent Examiners will be available at the Annual General| |Total payments|63338.06|

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The report of the Independent Examiners will be available at the Annual General Meeting and confirmed in the minutes of that meeting.

agm2023

The L&YR Society Registered Charity No.1098492 How to get to the AGM...

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The 72nd Annual General Meeting of The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society will be held on Saturday 14th October 2023 at The Middleton Railway, Moor Road, Hunslet, Leeds, LS10 2JQ starting at 10.30am.

Our Purpose

The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society is devoted to the dissemination of information about the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway throughout its 75 years of existence and beyond. The Society has established an ongoing permanent record of its findings through its publications, which are widely available from the website, exhibition stands and specialist booksellers. It works closely with the National Railway Museum, Manchester Archives and other relevant bodies to ensure that original documents, photographs and other materials are professionally preserved and made accessible to all.

The L&YR Railway Society 4 PARTNERS IN EXCELLENCE

www.lyrs.org.uk

agm2023

72nd Annual General Meeting and Members’ Day, 14th October 2023

Agenda, Report and Accounts

Your L&YR Society

Society events

Preservation News

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Archives
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agm2023

Agenda

The 72nd Annual General Meeting of The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society will be held on Saturday 14th October 2023 at the Middleton Railway in Leeds starting at 10.30am, 10am for tea and coffee.

After the meeting there will be buffet lunch costing £10 per head. In the afternoon there will be a short presentation on the history of the railway followed by a train ride on the railway costing £10 per head. Full details can be found in Magazine 296 .

Officers’ reports (continued):
To sign the attendance register and receive apologies
viii Questions for the Publications Officer
To remember those members who have died during the past twelve months

ix Information Officer

To receive and approve the minutes of the 2022 Annual General Meeting
x Questions for the Information Officer

xi Chairman

To deal with matters arising

xii Questions for the Chairman

Officers’ reports:
To approve the Officers’ reports and the Annual Report & Accounts

i Secretary

ii Questions for the Secretary

To appoint Trustees for 2023/24
iii Treasurer
To appoint two Independent Examiners of the

iv Questions for the Treasurer Society’s accounts

v Membership Officer 9. To confirm the level of subscription for 2024
vi Questions for the Membership Officer 10. Any other business
vii Publications Officer

The following Trustees are offering themselves for re-election:

Chairman’s review

“We are not going to be able to carry on forever and we need to plan for the future now...”

increasingly menacing black cloud, we team. Then in perhaps a couple of need to plan for the future now years’ time, they can slowly begin to take over the reins.

I am sure that we have members in our Society who have the necessary skills to push us forward into a new era. If this does not happen then I give us about five years before the situation

Secretary’s report

“In a Society of more than 900 members, there must be people with the necessary skills...”

Martin Nield

We are in the early stages of planning events for 2024 and full details will appear in Magazine in due course.

In July Philip Hellawell organised a superb Lanky Day Out for us looking at what remains of the L&YR in Halifax.

Graham Smith

I must admit, not being directly involved in the financial side of our Society, I have to ask the same

Whilst on the subject of thanks, I would like to say Thank You to all of our members who have helped during the last year. We have had another very successful year, so to all of you – be

it in publications, archives, on the Society stand at exhibitions, at the Modelling Day, organising the Lanky Day Out or making the tea – thank you to you all for giving us your time.

The modelling meeting at the Fielden Centre in March was a great success.

agm2023

Membership Officer’s report

“I am pleased to say that over 700 of our 946 members had renewed by 1st January...”

Ken Carter

I did try to do some TV advertising in the early days of the TV channel ‘Talking Pictures’, but even then they were just a little too expensive for us. I suspect now it would cost a lot more.

I would like to thank all my colleagues for their support over the past 29 years, for without them, the Society would not be in the great position it is in today.

Our membership year is a calendar year which means my report is for January to December 2022. As many of you will know membership is renewable online from November 1st and I am pleased to say that last year
and I am pleased to say that last year over 700 of our 944 members had	Membership Year to Dec 2022 [oT
renewed before January 1st, for which we are most grateful.	Ordinary members 899 Corporate members 31
The improved quality of our publications over the years has had a dramatic impact on our ability to recruit	Honorary members 16 Total 946 [oT

Information Officer’s report

“We acquired yet more photo collections and there are almost 1000 new images to be added...”

Chris Leach

The enquiry service has recovered much of its popularity since the last AGM. Examples of the queries include:

Virtual Museum of The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway

Society drawings, Manchester Archives drawings, photographic collection and other archives

Publications Officer’s report

“The most important event was the publication of Manchester Victoria and its Signalling...”

Roger Mellor

information became available, but added enormously to the value of the book as the definitive reference work on Victoria.

The other books in the pipeline include LMS Central Division Miscellany Part

Two and Peter Taylor’s magnificent book, LYR Steam Hauled Arc Roof Carriages .

Magazine continues to be published on its quarterly cycle and is by far the best line Society publication of its kind.

And finally, to all our contributors and you, our members, who continue to support us by your membership.

1908 advert from our archives.

agm2023

Treasurer’s report

“Digitisation of our collection held in Manchester Archives is to finally get under way...”

Noel Coates

The main items of expenditure are the usual ones – printing and postage costs (over £38,000) with advertising reaching £4,676. Expenditure on meetings and travel have, once

Corrected Accounts Sept 2023: 1 July 2022 - 30 June 2023

One of our archive purchases

RECEIPTS 2022/2023

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The report of the Independent Examiners will be available at the Annual General Meeting and confirmed in the minutes of that meeting.

agm2023

The L&YR Society Registered Charity No.1098492 How to get to the AGM...

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The L&YR Railway Society 4 PARTNERS IN EXCELLENCE

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80 Southampton Rd Park Gat¢ Southampton S0316AF 27 September 2023 Independent Examiners Report for the Accounts of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railw'a). Society Gross Expenditure: _ £63338.06 Gross Incomc: . £52572.73 I have today concluded rny examination of thc financial accounts of thc abov¢ referenced society, for the year ended 30 June 2023. Aftcr closc scrutiny and havingthc rcasons for thernanncr, in which scvcral of the items were entered explained and amended io my satisfaction, it is my sinceTC belief that the accounts showa truc and fair rcflcction of th¢ state of the soci¢ty as of the Isi July 2023. Rod Teagle Indqi¢ndent Examiner