Friends of Ipswich County Library Annual Report
Author: Bradley Allsop, Friends of Ipswich County Library Chair and Trustee
Charity’s name
Friends of Ipswich County Library (‘FICL’).
Registration number
Charity number: 1165946
Registered address
Ipswich County Library, Northgate Street, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 3DE, England.
Structure and trustees
Membership of FICL is open to anyone holding a Suffolk Libraries card and is interested in furthering its purposes, and who, by applying for membership, has indicated his, her or their agreement to become a member and acceptance of the duty of members set out in our constitution.
Trustees are elected from these members at our Annual General Meeting, this year held in August.
Our current trustees are:
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Bradley Allsop - Chair
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Ralph Girling - Vice Chair
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Rebecca Page - Secretary
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Kate Byford - Treasurer
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Martin Stiff
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Charmain Osborne - Ex Officio Trustee
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Alice Wai
Organisational objectives
Our organisational objectives, as outlined in our constitution are:
“To advance the education of the general public in Ipswich, Suffolk and the surrounding area, in particular but not exclusively by the provision of a lending library;
To further or benefit the residents of Ipswich, Suffolk and the neighbourhood, without distinction of sex, sexual orientation, race or of political, religious or other opinions by associating together the said residents and the local authorities, voluntary and other organisations in a common effort to advance education and to provide facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation leisure time occupation with the objective of improving the conditions of life for the residents”
Activity over the past year
The past year has been a positive one for the Friends of Ipswich County Library: we have seen our number of active members grow and have celebrated the 100 year anniversary of the opening of Ipswich County Library.
We have held bimonthly meetings throughout 2024 where Friends Group members have been able to meet and discuss ideas for supporting Ipswich County Library, fundraising and event ideas and receive news and updates about the library services and wider Suffolk Libraries.
Members of the Friends group also volunteered at Ipswich County Library events, supporting their delivery and paying for refreshments, especially for author events held in the library during evenings throughout the year.
In May 2024, we held a quiz night in Ipswich County Library which was well attended and raised £260.00 for the charity.
We also held our AGM in August 2024 which was quorate and saw key roles in the charity filled.
There was quite a considerable sum made through donations – there are collecting tins on the counters and the money is split between Suffolk Libraries and the Friends group. We have continued to sell pens, poly pockets and envelopes – these provide a steady income throughout the year. We have also received considerable sums every month from the Sporting Memories group who have, very kindly, agreed to donate monies from a weekly competition.
We supported the Suffolk Libraries ‘Make a Difference with a Daisy’ campaign by purchasing a daisy. We also bought a garden storage chest for the library roof garden and some Interlino train packs for the All Hands on Tech sessions run on Saturday afternoons in the Children’s Library.
Looking ahead to the upcoming year, we have several events in active development, including an information session on the Friends group combined with a talk on the importance of local libraries (aimed at increasing our membership further), a board games and/or Dungeons and Dragons competition, and another quiz (quizzes having proved popular events). It has been a pleasure to be involved with the charity this year and I greatly look forward to our activities in the coming year.
Friends of Ipswich County Library ANNUAL ACCOUNTS 2023-24
INCOME & EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT
BALANCE SHEET
for the year ended 31 March 2024
| INCOME Sale of goods One-of events for adults One-of events for children Regular events/activities Donations Miscellaneous EXPENDITURE Purchase of goods One-of events for adults One-of events for children Regular events/activities Catering and equipment Miscellaneous Surplus (defcit) for the year |
2022/23 £310.50 £632.00 £264.27 £1,206.77 £579.56 £559.05 £32.41 £0.00 £167.85 £0.00 £1,338.87 -£132.10 |
2023/24 ASSETS Cash at Bank £174.60 Cash in Hand Debtors £515.00 £145.06 LESS LIABILITIES £54.70 Creditors £889.36 NET ASSETS £59.02 £361.05 £41.97 £554.53 £1,016.57 -£127.21 |
at 31 March 2023 £2,945.82 Cash at Bank £22.80 Cash in Hand £0.00 Debtors £2,968.62 £0.00 £2,968.62 |
at 31 March 2024 £2,696.90 £144.51 £0.00 £2,841.41 £0.00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £0.00 | ||||
| £2,841.41 |