ILMINSTER LITERARY FESTIVAL
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
8[th] February 2022
CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
Due to the Covid Pandemic, the fifth Ilminster Literary Festival rescheduled for May 2021 was again postponed but we were delighted to be able to hold a slightly smaller but very successful Festival in November 2021. Fortunately we had been able to carry forward the bookings of many of the planned speakers from the cancelled 2020 Festival, so we had an excellent array of speakers lined up, and they all excelled themselves. I doubt whether anyone who was there will forget Tim Mirfin’s fascinating talk and amazing performance at the Arts Centre for a long time.
These strange times have made it difficult to compare financial results on a year-by-year basis. We received income in 2019-2020 from our ILF Friends and advertisers that we carried forward to 2020-2021; we incurred costs in 2019-2020 with no offsetting income, and we extended our accounting year to 17 months in 2021. I am pleased to report that the net effect of all these complications and unusual activities is largely zero! We are going into 2022 in a very similar financial position to the one we were in at the beginning of FY 2019/2020. Our finances are strong, and we are able to plan the 2022 Festival in the knowledge that we have sufficient reserves to meet any unforeseen contingencies.
There are a number of changes in personnel taking place as we move forward into the new financial year. Brenda Lake, our founder Chairman of the Trustees, whose imagination, inspiration and indefatigability led to the creation and success of the Ilminster Literary Festival, is standing down as Chairman, but I am delighted to say that she will continue in her role as Trustee. Linda Vijeh has led our publicity and marketing activity since our early days and she has resigned as a Trustee. We are most grateful for the invaluable contributions Brenda and Linda have made to the continued success of Ilminster Literary Festival. I have taken over once more as Chairman of the Trustees, and Sue Collard has taken on the role of Vice-Chair, in addition to her role as Chair of the Operations Group.
Since ILF was first formed we have been considering the position of Patron of the Ilminster Literary Festival, and I am delighted to report that since our last AGM we have appointed not one, but two patrons. Alan Johnson, who has so delighted audiences here with his inimical brand of reminiscence and humour, has agreed to become a patron, and so too has Alice Temperley, who is busy making Ilminster the fashion capital of the West Country!
These have been “interesting times” as they say, but we have weathered the storm thus far and are poised to take advantage of what will hopefully prove to be more normal times ahead. This would have been impossible without the support of my fellow Trustees and members of the Operations Group, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them wholeheartedly for that.
And, finally, thank you to all our Friends, sponsors and advertisers, volunteers, speakers, and audience members. We hope you are looking forward to ILF 2022 as much as we are. We are always on the look-out for new blood, so if you think you can help in any way, please contact myself or one of the other Trustees.
Deryk Outram Chairman, Ilminster Literary Festival. 8 February 2022 Registered Charity No. 1169618
| These are the accounts forIlminster Literary Festival | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| for theperiod: 1st August 2020 to 31st December 2021 (17 months). | ||||||
| Income | Expenditure | |||||
| Friends | £380.00 | Venues | £1,011.00 | |||
| Sponsors | £700.00 | Publicity | £547.80 | |||
| Donations | £852.80 | Marketing | £225.29 | £700 Arts Socydonation | ||
| Advertising | £50.00 | Equipment | £645.48 | [Includes PA,screen,card reader] | ||
| Grants | £0.00 | Events | £180.00 | |||
| GiftAid | £127.11 | Programmes | £1,036.00 | |||
| Ticket sales | £4,106.40 | Book supply | £823.66 | |||
| Events | £0.00 | Admin | £224.75 | |||
| Book sales | £818.22 | Donations | £0.00 | |||
| Other | £519.02 | Speakers | £2,504.55 | |||
| £7,553.55 | Hospitality | £289.33 | ||||
| Services | £525.16 | Includes Insurance,web hosting | ||||
| Other | £385.00 | |||||
| £8,398.02 | ||||||
| Income over Exp. | -£844.47 | |||||
| Lloyds Bankposition: | ||||||
| Bank openingbalance | £8,155.66 | |||||
| Runningbalance@bank | £7,311.19 | |||||
| Pettycash | £13.60 | |||||
| Total | £7,324.79 | |||||
| NatWest Bankposition: | £10,886.00 | |||||
| Total funds 31/12/2021: | £18,210.79 | |||||
| Notes: | ||||||
| 1. Accounting period extended with CharityCommission as a | ||||||
| one-off,due to minimal activityduringthe usual accounting year. | ||||||
| Subsequent accounting periods will run 1st Januaryto 31st December | ||||||
| 2. ''Other' income is largelyraffles,and sales of books for Ballinger/Moss(£260+£89)where cost of these | ||||||
| (£264 + £91)is reflected in 'Other' expenditue. | ||||||
| 3. Income from 2019/20 of £2.9K has been brought forward into the balances for this accounting period. | ||||||
| 4. Some income duringDec 2021 is for the 2022 festival,viz: | ||||||
| Friends subs(£170),Post Office ad(£50). | ||||||