OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2022-06-30-accounts

Report of the Trustees For the year ended 2022

The Trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 2022 and confirm that they comply with the Charities act 1993.

Charity Name The Platelet Society Charity Registration Number 1172202 Registered Address Office 7 35-37 Ludgate Hill, London, EC4M 7JN, UK

Board of Trustees

Matthew Harper (Term ended March 2022) Sarah Jones (Term ended March 2022) Gillian Lowe (until June 2025) Jeremy Pearson (Chair until January 2023, re-appointable) Stephen Watson (until March 2024)

Executive Committee

Ilaria Canobbio (Elected: 13/9/19) Jonathan Gibbins (Outgoing Chair) Alan Harper (Elected: 13/9/19. Treasurer) Matthew Harper (Trustee representative) Ingeborg Hers Sarah Jones (Trustee representative) Carly Kempster (ECR Member, Elected: 13/9/19) Susie Shapiro (Clinical member: Elected 13/9/19) Kirk Taylor (ECR Member, Elected: 13/9/19) Mark Thomas (Clinical member: Elected 13/9/19) Steven Thomas (Chair) Amanda Unsworth (Elected: 13/9/19)

Secretary/Governance Officer Gayle Halford

Bankers

HSBC UK

Structure, Governance and Management

The Platelet Society is constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered with the Charity Commission in August 2017 under the charity number 1172202.

Organisational Structure

The charity has a Board of Trustees which is responsible for the governance of the charity. The Trustees set up an Executive Committee that is responsible for enacting strategies that allow the charity to fulfil its key objectives.

Trustees

The charity has five Trustees (Matthew Harper, Sarah Jones, Gillian Lowe, Jeremy Pearson and Stephen Watson). All Trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Any expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in the accounts.

Drs Matthew Harper and Sarah Jones reached the end of their maximum two terms of office as Trustee on 21st March 2022, and according to the constitution have stepped down from the Board of Trustees. The Society thanks them for their hard work over the past 5 years. Two new members of the board of Trustees are being sought.

Ambassador

In April 2021, the Society was pleased to announce the appointment of Lieutenant Colonel Crispin Black MBE MPhil as our Platelet Society Ambassador. Crispin is a world-renowned journalist, author, intelligence consultant and former Welsh Guard officer. In 2007, Crispin was diagnosed with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP); since his diagnosis, he has undertaken numerous public engagement events about his ITP journey, and has shared his experiences and challenges of living with ITP at various conferences and through the media.

Crispin is no stranger to public speaking, as a journalist, he has vast radio and TV experience, and is a frequent contributor to major British newspapers. These skills will be of great benefit for supporting the Society, by attending specific media briefing events and providing interviews to the press. To this end, Crispin will help the Society promote the charity to the public and to potential donors, thus building on the awareness of the charity’s purpose and fundraising activities.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee currently has ten members, including two co-opted Clinical members, who were made full Committee members in September 2020 (Drs Mark Thomas and Susie Shapiro).

Steve Thomas is the current Chair of the Executive Committee, with Jon Gibbins serving as outgoing Chair until October 2022 in order to enable ongoing activities with which he is associated to be completed, and to support or mentor newly elected members of the Committee as they are appointed. This new process was ratified by the Trustees and has become the normal method of handover to a new Chair. The election of a new incoming chair will take place during the summer of 2022

In July 2020, Alan Harper formally took over as Treasurer from Matthew Harper. Treasurers serve for 3 years and so a search for the new treasurer will take place during 2022-2023.

All Committee members have research backgrounds relevant to the work of the Charity and were elected to represent different stages of the academic career track. The Committee remains inclusive and diverse, and represents our membership by inclusion of male and female researchers, and Early Career Researchers. The Committee meets quarterly, and is responsible for the strategic direction and policy of the Society. The Committee is focused on facilitating participation of the research community through the Society webpage, newsletters, social media and networking, supporting conference organisation and outreach activities.

Risk Management

The Trustees and Executive Committee have reviewed the major risks to which the Charity may be exposed, and appropriate systems have been implemented to mitigate risk. In particular, risks to external funding have led to the development of a plan which allows ring fencing for funding for core activities. All medical-related information provided on our website is general and is covered by a specific medical disclaimer policy. Structures have been put in place to account for recent changes in General Data Protection Regulations. The Trustees are satisfied that arrangements are in place to manage risks that have been identified.

Our Aims

Our Society’s purpose is to promote excellence in research, education and public awareness of platelet biology in human health and disease.

To ensure that we remain focussed on our key aims they are appraised on a yearly basis in order to review both what we have achieved and evaluate the outcome of our work. The review examines the success of each key activity to ensure that they benefit the groups that hope to serve.

The Focus of our Work

Our main objectives for the year were focussed on further establishing the Society within the research community and creating activities and structures that would help promote our key aims in the future. The strategies we used to meet these objectives were:

Activities and Achievements

How our activities deliver public benefit

The Society carries out a number of activities in pursuance of its aims. These activities, summarised below, provide benefit to members of the Society and wider society.

To facilitate greater communication within the research community

i. Communication channels. A key element of the creation of the Platelet Society was to create a stronger network of biomedical researchers and clinicians with interests in platelet biology. Provision of communications channels has been an important part of bringing the research community together

the successes of platelet researchers including grants/prizes awarded, publications, collaborations, graduation of PhD students and promotions of our members.

ii. Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. The Society believes that everybody’s contribution matters, regardless of their identity, background, experiences or beliefs. The Society aims to develop a culture in which everyone feels welcome, heard and free to fully express themselves. Over the last 2 years we have produced a series of statements setting out our intent and in the last 12 months have carried out a survey of the membership and several individual conversations with members to develop this further. This has led to the updating of our EDI webpage to include a code of conduct for members and activities of the Society, a series of EDI statements to help us continue on our journey, and a mechanism for reporting concerns. In addition we have addressed the diversity of our executive committee and have elected new members from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. Further information can be found on our EDI webpage. https://plateletsociety.co.uk/edi/

iii. ECR Initiatives . Building a strong sense of collaboration and community amongst the ECRs is important for the future growth and activity of The Society. The ECR Working Group has continued to develop career development, public engagement and social media content to support and promote our members and activities led by the Society. The Working Group has lost 2 members over the past year due to changes in workload and job changes. Harriet Allan (QMUL) delivered the mentoring programme with 12 active mentoring pairings, which has capacity to grow further. The Working Group and ECR representatives thank Harriet for her hard work in driving this project forward. The Society podcast has now launched and is available on all major streaming platforms (e.g. Apple Music and Spotify). To date 3 episodes have been released with several more planned for the coming year. This project has been driven by the creativity and skill of Beth Webb (Leeds), Daniel Hodge (Reading) and Sam Montague (Birmingham). Carly Kempster (Reading) has led on the conception, development and maintenance of the Society Instagram account, which currently has 660 followers and promotes science communication and education of platelet-related disorders.

Declining attendance at the “virtual coffee breaks” meant that these were put on hold. This decline likely reflected people’s return to the lab and shifting work patterns post-COVID-19 shut-down. The annual Platelet Society Meeting in Hull provided an opportunity for ECRs to gather on a dedicated day with career development and flash talk presentations. An additional networking activity was organised before the meeting to facilitate networking and to serve as an informal icebreaker ahead of the meeting.

Carly Kempster has now stepped down as ECR rep on the executive committee. We thank her for her contributions to the committee and look forward to continuing our work with her on the working group. Congratulations to Sam Montague who was elected to serve as new ECR representative on the Executive Committee. Together with Sam, we will conduct a fresh ECR survey to determine priority areas for growth in the Society and recruit a fresh working group to deliver these projects.

iv. Awards . The Society has established two awards for members to recognise excellence in platelet research and in achieving the aims of The Society. Named in honour of two internationally well-respected UK platelet researchers, (Gustav Born and Alison Goodall) they will provide an annual way for the Society to rewarded excellence. Further details of the awards can be found at https://plateletsociety.co.uk/platelet-society-awards/ with the 2022 recipients to be announced in Autumn 2022.

To facilitate and promote research into platelets and platelet related disorders

v. Fundraising. The Society wishes to raise funds to support research and education activities. In October 2021, member Giordano Pula ran the London Marathon on behalf of The Society. Giordano provided updates on his training Journey, and on the day we had Social media updates on his progress. Giordano recorded a personal best time of 3 hrs 34 mins and 12 seconds (a full

5 mins off his previous PB), and raised ~£3500. A report can be found at https://plateletsociety.co.uk/news/giordanos-marathon/

The Society also had 3 places for the Ride London Cycle event in May 2022. Society member Kirk Taylor, and 2 members of the public (Graham Halford and Dave Howard) took on the challenge and raised a total of £2244 for The Society. https://plateletsociety.co.uk/ride-london2022/

The Society was also in receipt of an anonymous donation of £6000 to be used for the study of Vascular Dementia. This generous donation was used to fund 3 summer studentships focused on Platelets and Vascular Dementia ( see section v ).

The Trustees have also been in discussion with the William Harvey Research Institute to understand how other organisations approach fundraising to help guide our future activities.

The International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) meeting was held in London in 2022, and this meeting usually aims to provide legacy funding to local charities. The Society has established communication with the ISTH local organisers to explore use of legacy funding to support the activities of the Society.

vi. Summer studentships . The Committee decided that the anonymous donation of £6000 left to support clinical research on platelets in vascular disease, in particular vascular dementia, would be used to fund 3 summer studentships. Following a competitive call 3 students and projects in Manchester, Birmingham and Reading were selected and funded during July and August 2022. Further details on the student can be found at https://plateletsociety.co.uk/studentships/

Scientific meetings. Scientific conferences are a cornerstone of academic endeavour that facilitate a valuable exchange of new ideas and methods. As we came out of COVID-19 restrictions, we were able to run an in-person meeting in Hull (including an ECR day) and a Summer School in Reading (details of both below). However, we retained the flexibility of online tools for committee meetings and our AGM, and we aim to run future short focused scientific meetings in this format. We have continued cross-representation on both the British Society for Haemostasis and Thrombosis (BSHT) / Platelet Society Executive Committees, which has helped to avoid conflicts of meetings, and raised the potential of interaction and collaboration, and have partnered with the EuPLAN network to run a joint meeting in 2023.

vii. 2022 Platelet Society Meeting - Hull. As COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, the Society was able to run an in-person, 3 day meeting in Hull from the 12th - 14th April 2022. This consisted of a day focused on Early Career Researchers hosted by ECR members Jo Mitchell, Julia SandrinGaur, Lloyd Atkinson and Leigh Naylor-Adamson and participants were treated to a diverse array of oral presentations including discussion of nanoparticle-based therapeutics, the effects of e- cigarettes on platelet function and new models for studying thrombosis. These were accompanied by a grant workshop, outreach session and an interactive careers panel for both academic and industrial jobs. The day finished with a social event hosted by our ECRs to network with one another.

Days 2 and 3 of the meeting saw the ECRs joined by other platelet colleagues for a wide range of talks, posters and discussions. Hosted by Dr Simon Calaminus and colleagues this included a memorable conference dinner at The Deep aquarium on the side of the Humber. A highlight of the meeting was the opening talk from our ambassador, Crispin Black, on ITP from a patient's perspective. It was an entertaining talk that helped all present to focus on the challenge’s patients living with platelet disorders face, and the potential benefits of the platelet research carried out by the attendees. Overall the meeting was a great success and this was due in part to the calm organisation by the Hull hosts.

After discussions with the Trustees, it was decided to postpone the Summer School which was originally scheduled for September 2020. The financial risk to the Platelet Society, should situations change with the impact of COVID-19, meant that we could not guarantee an in-person meeting. For this reason, the Summer School was postponed until 2022, when hopefully the longer term impact of the pandemic is better understood. While this decision was disappointing, it has resulted in an excellent opportunity for the Society to run the Summer School just before the London International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) meeting in July. We expect this to widen participation from international delegates, and also enable us to potentially invite some additional speakers at minimal cost.

Reports on all Platelet Society meetings, and meetings where Platelet Society researchers have presented, can be found on the Platelet Society webpage, under “News”.

viii. Research Strategy. The Society wishes to move towards being able to provide regular small grant awards to support platelet research and education. To help drive this forward, the Executive Committee has written a research strategy document and plans to become a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities, which can provide advice and support to grant awarding societies. The research strategy document is available on our website - - https://plateletsociety.co.uk/research strategy/

ix. Clinical perspectives and direction. The Society aims to increase its activities in patient focused and clinical activities. To ensure that future activities are relevant and do not replicate what is provided by other charities (especially those with more patient focused remits), we have initiated a clinical focus working group. Chaired by Dr Gill Lowe, this group aims to ensure that activities of the Society have a clinical perspective and to identify appropriate patient-focused activities.

To provide the public with accessible information on platelet related diseases

The Society does not provide medical advice and when contacted by individuals seeking such advice directs them to the clinician(s) involved in their care pathway. However, the Society does provide a number of fact sheets on the role of platelets in health and disease and platelet related diseases; these are reviewed by the Executive Committee’s clinical members.

We also provide a number of personal perspectives of patients who live with platelet related diseases to raise awareness of how individual sufferers cope with their particular disorders. Our two clinical Committee members have been in discussions with other relevant societies to help support these organisations, so the Society can undertake more patient-focused interactions. The Society is establishing a relationship with the Haemophilia Society, to increase the patient and families’ understanding of rare bleeding disorders.

To improve public understanding of platelet biology

As part of our mission to improve the public understanding of blood platelets and their roles in health and disease our members engage in a number of outreach activities. These activities are undertaken by our members at a local level often in collaboration with their host university and other outside bodies.

Continuing on the Clotchat videos and large social media presence, the ECRs have developed a podcast series interviewing society members. The aim is to expand the breadth of interviewees to cover a range of topics.

During 2021/22 we also established an outreach working group which has developed a range of suggestions for increasing our public profile and activities. Moving forward the Executive Committee will identify a subset of these suggestions to develop further.

Plans for Future Period

The Society plans to continue the activities outlined above in the coming years subject to a satisfactory funding position, but also expand the activities into other areas.

Financial Review

The Society currently holds total funds of £67,946, although there are still some meeting costs that were charged after the end of the financial year. This cash reserve is significantly above the Society’s basic operating costs. Running costs for the Society include website maintenance, accountancy reports, Governance Officer salary, deposits for future meetings, payments for the Fundraising Regular and Company House (£5,700). The Society has no long-term investments, with the cash reserves held in our deposit account. Alongside the need to hold a cash reserve to cover running costs and support the hosting of Platelet Society meetings, there are sufficient funds being held to allow the award small research grants by the Society to be financially viable.

Principal source of funding

At present the charity has four income streams including membership fees, organisation of conferences, dedicated fundraising activities and public donations. The major source of income is through the sponsorship and registration fees obtained from organisation of the main meeting and Platelet Summer School. This year the funds raised through dedicated fundraising activities significantly increased through the funds raised from the London Marathon and RideLondon events (£5,600). Income through membership fees also increased by ≈20% this financial year, to over £3,600.

Expenses

Our expenses are similar to the previous financial year, except two key differences. The meeting costs appears to be reduced this year, due to the artificial inflation of these figures last year due to the need reimburse £12,000 of held funds to Exeter University following their previous hosting of the Platelet Society meeting. The anonymous donation of £6,000 received last year to support clinical research on platelets in vascular dementia received last year was successfully distributed to support 3 summer studentships. This explains the significant increase in the ‘Other expenses’ category this financial year.

Finance Overview- 1" July 2021- 30 June 2022 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WAiES THE PLATEL￿ socErY Receipts and payments accounts CC16a Forth• p•riod from QI-07-2021 304￿-2022 Section A Receipts and payments Endts•JmhL fund5 fund5 funds Totsl funds Last y•ar io the raresi£ A1 R•c•ipts 41￿41 1&9TJ 41.541 15313 16. k ithÉ¥esi Sub totllGross inc(VFe for ARI 51J1 57,519 16,￿)2 A2 Ass•t and inv•stm•nt sal•s. (se table). Sub lotal rotal receipts S7S19 57.519 18,202 A3Pa m•nts 1.143 240 Act￿mI)ftfy ÈÈS Legs F 240 4566 1J46 15.968 cost 5241 11 76 5241 kiakl 76 Sub total 1&625 1&625 A4 Asset and Investment purchas•s. Is•• tabl•l Sub total 18.625 16,625 23.268 Net of receiptsl(p•ymentsJ A5 Transt•rs b•tw••n funds A6 Cash funds last ytar *nd Cash funds this yearend 38.895 38.895 S.066 29.051 29.051 34.117 67.946 29,0$1

Declaration

The Trustees declare that they have approved the Trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the Charity’s Trustees.

Signature

Professor Jeremy Pearson Chair of Trustees, The Platelet Society Date: 12[th] September 2022

----- Start of picture text -----
Charity Name No (if any)
THE PLATELET SOCIETY 1172202
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period Period start date Period end date
from 01-07-2021 30-06-2022
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds Last year
funds funds funds
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Donations 41,541 - - 41,541 16,600
Events and courses 15,973 - - 15,973 1,600
Bank interest 5 - - 5 2
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total (Gross income for
57,519 - - 57,519 18,202
AR)
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total receipts 57,519 - - 57,519 18,202
A3 Payments
Website development 840 - - 840 1,143
Accountancy fees 240 - - 240 240
Legal Fees 4,566 - - 4,566 4,500
Events and Prize costs 1,601 - - 1,601 1,246
Meeting cost 5,241 - - 5,241 15,968
Printing Postage & Stationery 11 - - 11 -
Bank Charges 76 - - 76 -
Other expense 6,050 - - 6,050 171
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total [ 18,625 ] - - 18,625 23,268
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- - - - -
- -
- -
- - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - - -
Total payments 18,625 - - 18,625 23,268
Net of receipts/(payments) 38,895 - - 38,895 - 5,066
A5 Transfers between funds - - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 29,051 - - 29,051 34,117
Cash funds this year end 67,946 - - 67,946 29,051
----- End of picture text -----

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

1

01-09-2022

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Categories
Signed by the trustees
B5 Liabilities
B3 Investment assets
B2 Other monetary assets
B4 Assets retained for the
charity’s own use
B1 Cash funds		 Details
Details
Details
Total cash funds
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
Bank current account
Bank deposit account
Details
Details
Signature		 Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
to nearest £
to nearest £
20,056
-
47,890
-
-
-
67,946
-
OK
OK
Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
to nearest £
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
asset belongs
Cost (optional)
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
asset belongs
Cost (optional)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
liability relates
Amount due
(optional)
-
-
-
-
-
Print Name		 Endowment
funds
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
OK
Endowment
funds
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
Current value
(optional)
-
-
-
-
-
Current value
(optional)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
When due
(optional)
Date of
approval

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)

2

01-09-2022

Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of THE PLATELET SOCIErY On accourrts for the year ended 30 JUNE 2022 Charity no (If any) 1172202 Set out on pages liemember to Include Ihe page n￿MberS o12ddilion21 sheets. Respectlve The charity's tnjstees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. responslbllltles of The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year trustees and examiner under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 {Ihe Charities Acll and that an independent examination is needed. 11 is my responsibility to.. examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Ad, lo follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145151{bl of the Charities Act, and lo slate whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basls of Independent My examination was carried out in accordancè with gèneral Dirèctions givèn examln•r'$ 8tat•m•nt 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. 11 also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts. and seeking explanations from the Iruslees conceming 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 lo whether the accounts present a 'lrue and fair, view and the report is limiled lo those matters Sel oul in the slalemenl below. Independent In connection with my examination. no matter has come lo my allenlion examlner's statement 1. which gives me reasonable cause lo believe that in, any material respect, the requirements.. to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act- and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of Ihe Charities Act have not been met.. or 2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order lo enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Slgned". Kulvam Mahal Date: Name: PEACOCK ACCOUNTANTS LIMITED Relevant professional quallflcatlon(s) or body {if any): FELLOW OF THE ASSOCIATION OF CHARTERED CERTIFIED ACCOUNTANTS IER June 2022

Address: 71-75 SHELTON STREET. COVENT GARDEN LONDON, ENGLAND WC2H 9JQ Section B Disclosure Only complete If the examiner needs lo hi9hlighl material problems. IER June 2022

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to discloso. IER June 2022