## **THE RAILWAY CORRESPONDENCE AND TRAVEL SOCIETY** **Charity Registration Number 1169995** **ANNUAL TRUSTEES REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT 2023** 1 ## **THE RAILWAY CORRESPONDENCE AND TRAVEL SOCIETY** ## **Charity Registration Number 1169995** ## **CONTENTS** Page Legal and Trustee Information 3 Trustees Annual Report (for the year ending 31[st] December 2023 4 Financial Report and Accounts (for the year ending 31[st] October 2023) 7 2 ## **Trustees (at 1[st] June 2023):** A James Milne (Chairman) David B Bird (Deputy Chairman) Richard L Morris (Secretary) A Reginald Wood (Treasurer) David M Cross Andrew P Davies David P Goddard Irene L Rabbitts John Redgate Michael S Robinson Matthew Shaw _(resigned as Trustee December 2023)_ ## **Professional Advisers:** Bankers Lloyds Bank plc PO Box 1000 Andover BX1 1LT ## Independent Examiners R.S. Porter & Co Ltd Chartered Accountants (ICAEW) The Old Dairy, Ashton Hill Farm, Weston Road, Failand, Bristol BS8 3US Solicitors Hollingworth Bissell Albert Buildings 49 Queen Victoria Street London EC4N 4SA Insurance Brokers Hettle Andrews Associates Ltd Eleven Brindley Place 2 Brunswick Square Brindley Place Birmingham B1 2LP 3 ## **Trustee Annual Report for the Administration year to 31st December 2023** ## **CHARITY STATUS:** Charitable Incorporated Organisation. ## **OBJECTIVES:** The objectives of the CIO are to advance the education of the public in the subject of historic and current railway operations, through: - I. The publication of a regular monthly magazine, _The Railway Observer_ ; and its associated websites. - II. The publication of books containing detailed historical records relating to railways, including locomotive classes, traction equipment and railway infrastructure. - III. The formation and support of local branches of the Society with a view to providing a programme of speakers and visits, to enable the public to study and understand various aspects of the practice of historic and current railway operation. - IV. The development and conservation of an extensive library/archival centre, to advance the public knowledge and understanding of historic and current railway practice and railway heritage. - V. The dissemination to the public of photographic images illustrating historic railway heritage and current railway operations. ## **SOCIETY GOVERNANCE AND ORGANISATION:** The Society became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in November 2016. This Trustee Annual Report covers activities by the Society for the Administrative year 1[st] January to 31[st] December 2023. The Financial Report and Statement of Accounts covers the Society’s Financial year 1[st] November 2022 to 31[st] October 2023. The Society continues to be governed by a Board of Trustees of 11 members, with working groups for Administration, Commercial, Finance and Strategy, each led by a Trustee and reporting to the Board. The Board of Trustees met on six occasions during the year – either in person or using Zoom video conferencing. The Society Annual General Meeting, in April, was held in hybrid format with members ‘in person’ in Wolverhampton and others joining by Zoom video conferencing. The Officers’ Conference held in Doncaster in October was a day event and included workshops focussing on finances, for the benefit of Branch Treasurers and website management primarily for the benefit of Branch website correspondents and others who have sign-on access to submit reports, events and updates directly to the website. The Society President also hosted a small group meeting for newly appointed Branch Officers. During the year the new Society Chairman contacted his counterparts of similar enthusiast clubs and societies, to make introductions. Responses from two generated follow up correspondence with a view to exploring the option of working closer together. Fact finding meetings took place towards the end of the year between the Chairman, Secretary and their opposite numbers. **Membership:** Membership of the Society as of 31[st] December 2023 stood at 2347 **,** compared with 2467 at the end of December 2022. 275 members were recruited during 4 2023 – many new to the Society but also including some returning after a period away. The membership renewals process commenced in October with, once again, most members received their renewal invitation by email. This process reaches 80% of our members and thus significantly reduces costs, principally postal costs, of sending individual renewal invitations out by post. Following closure, by our bank, of the Direct Debit methodology which we used, the Society moved to a new process provided by GoCardless in early 2023 for new members enrolling. We migrated existing members to the new method for the 2023/24 renewals season. The new process was thoroughly tested prior to launch to ensure a smooth transition from the old method to the new one. **Branches:** The Society manages a network of 28 Branches – spread over the length and breadth of England with two more in Wales and one in Scotland. All held ‘in person’ meetings at their locations, with some using Zoom video conferencing for occasional meetings. Two Branches opted to trial a hybrid format with attendees in a meeting room whilst others signed in on Zoom, one Branch more successfully than the other. This does rely on the meeting location having a very robust Wi-fi facility, alongside necessary computer facilities and members’ knowledge of how to make hybrid work, but it can open up meetings to more attendees. It also allows the opportunity for presenters to be in a remote location – and this featured during the year with a member living in Germany providing a presentation for an audience in the UK. In addition to Branches holding meetings in their centre, there has been a programme of National Zoom meetings throughout the year. These are hosted in the UK but are often attended by members and guests from around the world as well, on occasion, as the presenter being located away from the UK. **Website:** Development of the Society website continues along with the new Digital Archive. Members, and guests, can use PayPal as well as Debit Card or Credit Card capability for buying Society products through the website. The online shop is in two separate ‘aisles’ – one for printed publications, the other for digitised products (historical RO magazines, older series books which have been digitally remastered, photograph images which have been digitised). The massive project to digitise and catalogue all the photographs, slides and images which have been bequeathed to the Society continues. Many are not suitable for publication in the Society magazine or books, but they have a potentially enormous historical value which it is important to retain. There had been earlier endeavours to do this work with some success, but it became clear a new method of operation was required as the monumental size of the task. The Society Digital Officer leads this revitalised project along with the Archivist and Librarian. **Library and Archive** The Library and Archive facility in Leatherhead has continued to open one day a week, either a midweek day or a Saturday, for members to visit and do research or reading. The digitisation project, mentioned earlier, is based at the Library with scanning equipment, cameras and necessary computer hardware located there. The Library is housed in the former Station Master’s House at Leatherhead Station, so is very easy to access by train with services provided by South Western Railway and Southern Railway. **Publications** The Society continues to produce a high-quality magazine _The Railway Observer_ for members. This is available in B5 format, printed, or downloadable as a PDF from 5 the Society website. New publications launched in 2023 were _Observing the Railway 2022,_ similar to the previous version as a picture book of photographs submitted for _The Railway Observer_ magazine but not used; and _An Illustrated History of First Generation DMUs_ , which catalogues the development, production and use of many, varied, Diesel Multiple Units on British Railways from the late 1950s right through to the late 1990s. The acclaimed _Locomotives of the Great Western Railway_ series of printed books, in fourteen parts which ran from the 1950 to 1978, was digitised into three combined volumes by the Society Digital Officer, in 2023, and made available as PDF downloads or through the Amazon ‘print on demand’ facility. **Finances** The Society continues to be financially stable. The financial report and summary statement of accounts follows this report On behalf of the Board of Trustees, A. J. Milne Chairman R. L. Morris Secretary 6 ## **ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2023** This report covers the Society’s financial affairs for the year from 1 November 2022 to 31 October 2023. The overall financial outcome for the year was a deficit of £11,662 compared with a surplus of £5,251 in the previous year. For 2022/3 the Board of Trustees, recognizing the economic pressures on our members, froze membership subscriptions at the previous year’s levels. With high inflation impacting the Society’s costs, a forecast deficit was therefore planned. The deficit presented is below the level forecast. Our normal Society policy is for magazine fees for _The Railway Observer_ to cover the costs of its production, printing, and despatch. This was not achieved in 2022/3, a deficit of £5,807 (10%) being recorded. Publication sales achieved £20,192 (last year £24,237). To this figure can be added the results of the first year of our new publications imaging project which has added income of £4,633. Some £19,000 has been invested in new publications and reprints this year, including new titles _Photographic Journey, Observing the Railway 2022_ and _DMUs_ . The last named sold out its first print run and a second imprint is now available. We reprinted books 1-3 in our _BR Standard Locomotives_ series. Our excess stock provision has used market information and seen a slight increase. Our publications activities delivered a net surplus of £2,606. Publications stock is valued at the lower of cost or forecast sale value and was £12,046 at Year End. This represents 7.1 months of sales. Our income from membership subscriptions achieved £61,785 plus a contribution from the Life Fund of £2,666. Income from donations and gift aid record £11,492 and £1,000, being 50% of actual receipts with the balance being capitalised to cover future library and imaging costs. Our largest expense is of course _The Railway Observer_ , which cost £61,920 (2021/2 £53,987) to produce. Increasing postal charges accounts for the majority of the increase. Society administration costs totalled £19,488 (2021/2 £12,527). High inflation has increased our costs of Board of Trustees, our AGM, and regional meetings, with our Officers Conference in 2023 being held as a free standing event rather than integral to our Members’ Weekend. Our major library and image projects have benefited this year from our strong stream of donations, for which we thank members. We have also negotiated an additional discretionary discount on our library building business rates which has reduced library accommodation costs. On the Balance Sheet our increased publications stock (net £12,000) invests for our future. The largest individual provision is a creditor of £58,200 for lease, utilities and business rates on our library/archive awaiting lease finalisation. A. REG WOOD FCMA CGMA MAPM FMAAT _Society Treasurer_ 7 |8
**The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society**
**ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st OCTOBER 2023**
REVENUE ACCOUNT
for the year ended 31stOctober 2023
2023
£
£
£
Publication Sales
24825
Cost of Sales
-22219

2606
Add: Other Income
Magazine Fees
58779
58185
Subscriptions
5672
4806
Less Membership Costs -8779
-8390
55672
Bank Interest
1566
56
Library/Archive
2065
9074
Donations
13193
10544
Sundry
2358
3682
19182
77460
Less: Expenditure:
_Railway Observer_
61920
53987
Society Administration
18588
11652
Independent Examination
900
875
Branch Expenditure
251
134
Library/Archive
3811
6641
Sundry Activities
998
643
Depreciation
10402
2512
- Funded from Project Donations -7748
0
89122
Surplus before Taxation
-11662
Taxation
0
Surplus for the year
-11662
Retained surplus brought forward
112888

Retained surplus carried forward
101226
|2022
£
24237
-20499
3738
54601
23356
81695
76444
5251
0
5251
107637
112888| |---|---| |F
**The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society**
**ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st OCTOBER 2023**
BALANCE SHEET
as at 31stOctober 2023
2023
£
£
£
ASSETS EMPLOYED
FIXED ASSETS
25537
CURRENT ASSETS
Stock
14546
13580
Debtors and prepayments
5217
6531
Cash and bank balances
249053
253237
268816
273348
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Creditors
76790
62054
Branch Investment Funds
14944
14944
VAT
269
1205
Magazine Fees and Subscriptions
10788
16249
102791
94452
NET CURRENT ASSETS
166025
NET ASSETS
191562
FINANCED BY:
Retained Surplus
101227
Library Capital Fund
19561
Amortised Donations/Gift Aid
45731
Life Membership Fund
25043
191562|2022
£
27276
178896
206172
112888
22356
44280
26648
206172| |---|---| A.R. Wood, FCMA, CGMA, MAPM, FMAAT Society Treasurer 9 ## **INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS REPORT** My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from you as Trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and, consequently, no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a “true and fair view” and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. In connections with my examination, no matter has come to my attention: 1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 130 of the Charities Act 2011; and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records, comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act and with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (revised 2005) have not been met; or 2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the account to be reached. Christopher J Porter, FCA The Old Dairy, Ashton Hill Farm R S Porter and Co. Limited Weston Road, Failand, Chartered Accountants (ICAEW) Bristol 15[th] February 2024 BS8 3US 10