Trustees’ Report 2025
Governance, Management and Finance
Each year at least 4 trustees retire from the board after a term of 2 years in office. At the AGM in October 2024, Jack Cuthbert and Jonathan James were nominated by members for a further term of office together with Emily Smith and Nicky Mason, both of whom were previously co-opted; no election was required. At the following meeting of the board, 2 members were co-opted: Dale Huddlestone to raise the profile of Hebridean meat and lead on the Authentic Hebridean Hogget Scheme; Padruig Morrison to promote the breed in the Hebridean Islands. We are pleased to report that at the AGM we were again easily quorate.
We would like to thank former trustees Pen Rashbass and Roger Burns and co-optees David Braithwaite and Ealisaid Dick, who all stood down from the board in October, for the work they have done for the Society; far too much to enumerate here.
The board met 4 times during the year plus an additional meeting to consider coopting members to the board. All the meetings took place via video conferencing as did the AGM. At the November meeting, Eric Medway was appointed as vice chair. A policy was approved on the use of flock prefixes, particularly the transfer of a prefix; the Registration rules were amended to fit with current practice. All the rules of the Society are published on the website together with the policies and the constitution. These rules and policies are reviewed annually, and whenever necessary, by the board.
The trustees agreed that paper-based registrations should be phased out to futureproof the registration process. The webinar on the HSS website shows how to use the on-line Grassroots registration system; and Grassroots itself has on-line guides. Consideration will, of course, be given to those who cannot access Grassroots or need more help to use it.
The finances of the Society are such that we can maintain our reserve fund despite more expenditure this year on educational and informative materials. The honoraria given to the Registration Secretary, the Membership Secretary and the Treasurer were increased by 5.2%, reflecting UK wage inflation over the past year. The amount of time they give to the Society is phenomenal.
The board has registered the Society with HMRC to claim Gift Aid on donations.
Promotion and Education, Research
Trustees Jonathan James and Darren Cassie, the logistics team, have made sure that the HSS banners and educational displays have been seen up and down the country at shows both large and small. Three new display boards have been added to our material. They are impressively large but lightweight and easy to carry. One is for Wales and England, one for Scotland and one for the Islands. They have been in use at the Royal Welsh Spring Festival, NSA Highland Sheep and the Great Yorkshire
Show with the Island one on display at the Summer Symposium. New banners were produced as well for the Summer Symposium - in Gaelic as well as English. An impressive, badged, yellow gazebo has been acquired for use in Scotland. It made its inaugural appearance at the Border Union for our National Show. At an outdoor venue, having somewhere under cover is most useful in sunshine and in rain.
The trustees have revised the Ram Assessment Criteria which are used at sales and, more generally, to provide guidelines to members, judges, inspectors and the public on what to look for in a ram. This should be especially useful for new breeders and those wanting to start flocks.
The year 2024/2025 has been challenging for livestock keepers with the weather veering from very wet to drought conditions in many parts of the country. On top of that were the restrictions made on animal movements to control the spread of BTV-3. Trustee Emily Smith, a vet by profession, gave a very timely and informative webinar on BTV-3, the new variant of the blue tongue virus which can lead to severe illness and death in sheep.
The Moredun Institute has been awarded a grant to investigate genetic resistance to Maedi Visna in sheep. They are working with the University of Nottingham plus support from SRUC and AHDB to investigate the TMEM154 gene, a protein which seemingly confers resistance to Maedi Visna. Trustee Emily Smith has been liaising with AHDB and Nottingham as a result of which a sample of Hebrideans have been included in this genomic testing. The genomic data collected will also give us the opportunity to further research the Split Upper Eyelid Defect in some multi-horned sheep.
Monitoring the Breed
Registrations for 2024 were down in numbers. Apparently, this has been the case in other breed societies too. Trustees discussed ways of ensuring that more eligible lambs are registered in 2025.
Flock returns were up on last year. Thank you to the membership for taking on board the importance of the data that the returns provide in monitoring the national flock.
Informing Breeders
Besides meeting up at shows and events, members have kept in touch through the Hebridean Facebook pages and Instagram. Two issues of the Blackboard have been circulated with current news. The Black Sheep , our yearbook, is full of interesting articles. It includes the stories of the Mullach Flock and the Whitestitch Flock, both of which have been registering lambs for 26 years. It also has: examples of flocks cross breeding their Hebrideans and producing fat lambs from Hebridean Mules.
An enjoyable and informative Winter Event was hosted by Nick and Anne Fecitt in Cumbria. The theme of the day was Hebridean meat. A well known chef and Dale Huddlestone led the discussions. Dale has subsequently updated the Authentic Hebridean Hogget documentation and is looking into ways of developing the scheme.
The Summer Symposium was held on the Isle of North Uist and, despite the lengthy travel involved, had a record attendance, The important place of Hebridean sheep in crofting was demonstrated and breeders from across the Western Isles brought sheep to an impressive show, which attracted much interest from many passers by, who stopped for a considerable time and were able to find out all about the breed.
Helen Arthan Chair
Approved at AGM 19 October 2025
REGISTRATION ACCOUNTS 2024-25
| 2024-2025 Trading Account itemised sub- totals Expenses Postage 587.24 Stationery 417.74 Computer costs 297.86 Internet fees 300.00 Ketchum/Shearwell Eartags 0.00 Flockbook Printing 740.00 Rosettes 304.99 Registration Sec. Honorarium 3481.50 Grassroots Fees 1206.00 Mileage 71.60 Bank Charges 60.00 Melton Sale Contribution 0.00 mobilephone (logging in to Bank A/c 96.00 sundry 39.99 7602.92 -7602.92 Receipts Registration, transfers etc 8073.15 Flockbook 7.00 sundry 22.30 donations 16.00 Interest 0.75 8119.20 8119.20 516.28 Gold account interest 555.89 555.89 8675.09 1 Excess Income 1072.17 |
2024-2025 Trading Account itemised sub- totals Expenses Postage 587.24 Stationery 417.74 Computer costs 297.86 Internet fees 300.00 Ketchum/Shearwell Eartags 0.00 Flockbook Printing 740.00 Rosettes 304.99 Registration Sec. Honorarium 3481.50 Grassroots Fees 1206.00 Mileage 71.60 Bank Charges 60.00 Melton Sale Contribution 0.00 mobilephone (logging in to Bank A/c 96.00 sundry 39.99 7602.92 -7602.92 Receipts Registration, transfers etc 8073.15 Flockbook 7.00 sundry 22.30 donations 16.00 Interest 0.75 8119.20 8119.20 516.28 Gold account interest 555.89 555.89 8675.09 1 Excess Income 1072.17 |
2024-2025 Trading Account itemised sub- totals Expenses Postage 587.24 Stationery 417.74 Computer costs 297.86 Internet fees 300.00 Ketchum/Shearwell Eartags 0.00 Flockbook Printing 740.00 Rosettes 304.99 Registration Sec. Honorarium 3481.50 Grassroots Fees 1206.00 Mileage 71.60 Bank Charges 60.00 Melton Sale Contribution 0.00 mobilephone (logging in to Bank A/c 96.00 sundry 39.99 7602.92 -7602.92 Receipts Registration, transfers etc 8073.15 Flockbook 7.00 sundry 22.30 donations 16.00 Interest 0.75 8119.20 8119.20 516.28 Gold account interest 555.89 555.89 8675.09 1 Excess Income 1072.17 |
2023-24 821.19 348.55 722.42 300.00 0.00 824.00 196.46 3371.77 600.60 20.40 60.75 60.00 96.00 25.00 7447.14 -7447.14 9968.22 8.75 15.00 4.07 9996.04 9996.04 2548.90 529.60 529.60 0525.64 3078.50 |
2023-24 821.19 348.55 722.42 300.00 0.00 824.00 196.46 3371.77 600.60 20.40 60.75 60.00 96.00 25.00 7447.14 -7447.14 9968.22 8.75 15.00 4.07 9996.04 9996.04 2548.90 529.60 529.60 0525.64 3078.50 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C/Bal 335.72 Transferred from Gold Account -5600.00 - -5264.28 - Transferred to Gold Account 6000.00 735.72 less O/Bal -219.44 516.28 Gold acc Interest 555.89 difference 1072.17 Rosettes and Melton fee really belong to General Account but have historically been paid by registration account as I do the ordering |
219.44 5100.00 4880.56 8000.00 3119.44 -570.54 2548.90 529.60 3078.50 |
||||
| Registration and Gold Accounts Consolidation Closing Bal - Reg Acc 335.72 Closing Bal - Gold Acc 21556.03 21891.75 Opening Bal Gold Acc - 23150.14 Opening Bal Reg Acc -219.44 difference -1477.83 paid from Gold acc to General acc 8550.00 |
219.44 23150.14 21891.75 23369.58 -21120.54 -23369.58 -570.54 -1477.83 1678.50 8900.00 |
23369.58 -21691.08 1678.50 |
|---|---|---|
Closing Bal - Reg Acc Closing Bal - Gold Acc Opening Bal Gold Acc Opening Bal Reg Acc difference paid from Gold acc to General acc |
REGISTRATION ACCOUNTS 2024-25
| paid to Gold acc from General acc Difference equals surplus of income |
-6000.00 1072.17 |
2550.00 1072.17 |
-7500.00 3078.50 |
1400.00 3078.50 |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Accounts Consolidation Closing Bal - Reg Acc 335.72 Closing Bal Gold Acc 21556.03 Closing Bal Gen Acc 537.21 22428.96 22428.96 Opening Bal Reg Acc 219.44 Opening Bal Gold Acc 23150.14 Opening Bal Gen Acc 223.74 23593.32 -23593.32 Difference -1164.36 Gold acc Interest 555.89 Excess Expenditure Gen Acc -2236.53 Excess Income Reg Acc 516.28 Equals difference -1164.36 |
219.44 23150.14 223.74 23593.32 570.54 21120.54 317.67 22008.75 529.60 -1493.93 2548.90 1584.57 |
23593.32 -22008.75 1584.57 |
General Account 2024-2025
| Income | ||
|---|---|---|
| Subscriptions | 10688.83 | |
| Merchandise | 297.84 | |
| Books | 98.00 | |
| Calendars | 154.44 | |
| Interest | 2.04 | |
| 11241.15 | 11241.2 | |
| Expenditure | ||
| Postage | 1054.54 | |
| Stationery | 130.19 | |
| Handbook | 402.00 | |
| Yearbook | 1433.00 | |
| meetings | 108.08 | |
| meeting travel | 228.00 | |
| Breed Promotion | 3468.32 | |
| Catering | 683.48 | |
| Adverts | 743.00 | |
| Merchandise | 29.24 | |
| Calendars | 117.60 | |
| Internet | 700.38 | |
| sundries | 214.24 | |
| Honorarium- Secretary | 1527.38 | |
| Honorarium- Treasurer | 1527.38 | |
| Other travel | 711.85 | |
| Judges | 185.00 | |
| Subscriptions | 205.00 | |
| BankCharges | 60.00 | |
| in wrong account | -51.00 | |
| 13477.68 | -13478 | |
| Excess expenditure | -2236.5 |
Kirkby House, SCROOBY, Doncaster, DN10 6AD
21 September 2025
Mrs V C K Mason
Po Hebridean Sheep Society Ps Sycamore House Po Heatley Lane fF Broomhall ma Nantwich | CW5 8BA
Dear Mrs Mason
Validation of Hebridean Sheep Society 2025 Accounts
Thank you for forwarding the bank statements, trading sheets, and supporting income and expenditure documentation for the year ending 31 March 2025.
I am happy to validate your record keeping.
I have considered the following points:
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The Society uses three bank accounts (General account CAF 00027345, Registration account CAF 00027346, Gold account CAF 00098422). All documents relating to these accounts are presented. Transactions between the accounts are clearly documented.
-
The balances shown at the close of the period on external statements reconcile to the balances in your records. This is a fundamental validation of your figures, and implies that income has been accounted for on a cash received basis; that is, there is no income shown in your accounts which has not been received from membership, registrations, book sales, etc.
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All receipts and expenses, both in total and by category, reconcile to your detailed listings.
-
All expenses are documented, with external evidence where possible. As a sensible sample, I made five checks between your records and primary external documents, chosen at random but concentrating on higher value transactions. All external documents were present:
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TRA Rosettes £304.99 Reg Acc voucher 12
-
Johnsons Printers £740.00 Reg Acc voucher 33
-
Triographic Printer £1,835.00 Gen Acc voucher 13
-
YAS Enterprises £543.02 Gen Acc voucher 75
-
First Choice Events £1,0890.60 Gen Acc voucher 87.
-
The -£51 expense shown on the general account, could perhaps be more clearly documented by being grouped in with the total registration receipts; the amount being the difference between the total of registration fees incorrectly paid into the general account and the total amount transferred from the general account to the registration account. This is a low value and of little significance.
As in previous years, they look like a very well-kept set of accounts.
If I can help in future years, let me know. Thank you.
Best Regards
Graham Robbins Fe 07720 509 683 ~~PY~~ graham@bawtry.net