2023-03-31-accounts

EXMOUTH CERAMIC GROUP

REPORT OF TRUSTEES

TO THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 23rd MAY 2023

The Trustees elected at the 2022 AGM were John White, Norma Gillson, Clare Medlock, Douglas Middleton, Jane Moffatt, Sarah Wynn, Sally Atherton andJackie Thomas. John White was elected Chair at the first meeting. The Trustees have met 4 times during the year , and have communicated regularly by email.Loraine Storie attended meetings in her capacity as Hon Treasurer and we are extremely grateful for her expertise. Clare Medlock is not seeking re-election as Hon Sec., and the Trustees wish to record their appreciation for her work in helping guide the Trust through its early years.Sarah Wynn is also standing down. Sarah has long been a pillar of ECG, and her experience has been much appreciated. We are fortunate that our numbers are set to be strengthened by welcoming Tony Steiner as a Trustee.

With the securing of the Pottery Lease, the Trustees have turned their attention to more general overview matters such as prudent Capital provision and improved Budgetary information.

The Trustees continue to work with the Management Committee to refine their respective roles and responsibilities.

The Trustees wish to record their thanks to the Management Committee chaired by Jane Moffatt, and to that committee’s various officers.

Our finances remain in good heart, which is reassuring in these times of dramatically rising costs. Your Management Committee continues to monitor costs against income, and is ready to make proposals should the need arise, in order to keep our finances in order.

Exmouth Ceramic Group survived the recent pandemic which so restricted its activities,and has put itself in a good place to deal with the current economic inflation. We believe that E.C.G. faces the future with confidence.

Finally, I have decided to stand down as a Trustee. My initial goals of advising on the Charitable Constitution and seeing through a successful negotiation of the Lease, have been achieved. I feel that the Trust will benefit from a change of leadership for the new challenges ahead. I wish Exmouth Ceramic Group every success in the future.

John White

Chair ECG Trustees

May 2023

EXMOUTH CERAMIC GROUP

Review of E.C.G.’s Activities against Charitable Objectives as at April 2023

Exmouth Ceramic Group are registered as a charity with the Charity Commission.

The Charity's objects are to promote the practice of pottery and advance public knowledge and appreciation of ceramic arts and craft, in particular, but not exclusively, through education, advice and training.

In support of these Objects the Group has the following Aims:

(1) To encourage the exchange of ideas and opinions and share technical information on and about ceramics.

(2) To promote those activities stimulating a wider and more informed enjoyment of ceramics among the members, community groupsand the general public.

3) To support and further the educational, practical and recreational aspects of ceramics by holding classes, demonstrations and other training in ceramics for adults and children.

• 4) To meet and enhance the needs of its members and those it supports by providing inclusive access to pottery facilities, knowledge, and creative techniques which can enhance wellbeing and provide therapeutic benefits to all.

Trustees

“Trustees are responsible for ensuring in good faith that the Charity is run in accordance with the objects of the Charity and carry out their roles in line with good practice as described by the Charity Commission and the Nolan principles of Public Life. The Trustees will oversee and monitor the Charity including the Administration Committee. “

Comments

This Review is part of the process to monitor that ECG is run in accordance with the Objects of the Charity. Communication between Management Committee and Trustees is currently aided by the Committee Chair being a Trustee, and the Hon. Treasurer being invited to attend all meeting of Trustees. Management Committee minutes are circulated to all Trustees, and likewise relevant elements of Trustees’ minutes are forwarded to the Committee Secretary.

During the past year the Trustees have reviewed Financial Planning, Capital Reserves, Capital item replacement, Utility Costs, Premises, and the respective roles of trustees and Management Committee.

Management Committee

Prior to this registration our ethos and purpose had been agreed by the founding of the group in the 1960s. Since forming a charity we have continued to build on the purpose and ethos of the original group, with many existing members influencing our ongoing direction. Our aims continue to ‘bring together enthusiastic local potters; to inspire and encourage the knowledge and love of ceramics in others and to help our local community through art.’

This year we have:

• Continued to support the recovery of people with mental health issues through the Thursday group with ECG volunteering to lead this every week.

• Continued to encourage the love of pottery and the increase of knowledge through our adult classes which are always full, with a waiting list in place.

• Continued to inspire, improve well being and introduce the love of pottery to children through our children’s classes.

• Encouraged our members to learn new techniques through the members masterclasses run by our tutor.

• Continued to regularly reduce rural and social isolation for our older members through the weekly workshops and the monthly coffee morning held for older, less active members of the group.

• Encouraged people of all ages to get involved and try something new through our ‘have a go’ days where people of all ages and abilities can be taught to throw a pot.

• Encouraged and facilitated members to volunteer and support charitable causes close to their heart and community.

• Run sales stall at our exhibition and ‘have a go’ days so that the public can see what the group create, advertise our classes and enable the public to purchase crafts made locally.

Planned activities include:

• Running a ‘carers group have a go’ session later this summer for a branch of the regional Devon carers group.

• Joining the Exmouth Art Group at Ocean for our annual exhibition this year as well as participating in Sea Dog Art’s community arts day in the summer.

• Participating in a local arts event as part of a community festival

• A member who already volunteers (and has had necessary DBS checks) for a children’s organisation holding a mini workshop for them and their parent.

We continue to strive to work on the premise that there should be no barriers to taking part in pottery. As a committee, we can allow people to pay in instalments or we can give a reduction to our prices for lower income families. We strive to make the workshop accessible to all people whatever their disability.

Management Committee Chairperson’s Report 2023

2022/23 has very much been the year when we got back to a new type of normality for the groups after the years of Covid. In some ways, it meant we looked on our practices and routines with a new ‘post covid’ eye and realised that people’s perceptions of what was safe had changed. Therefore, we chose to reduce the class sizes in our Adult Pottery for Pleasure classes and we continued with some of our safety routines that had been implemented during the pandemic.

In addition, we now have more active members than ever before and more classes. This has had a huge impact on both the workshop and what it can physically sustain as well as an increase in the amount of work needed to sustain supplies and continue to fire work created. I can’t express how grateful I am to have such a wonderful, hard-working, kind and knowledgeable management team who keep the group and the workshop running as efficiently as we can. This includes those who give their time to monitor and make glazes, underglazes and purchase the clay we need, and those running the kilns.

Adult classes and workshops are full. Thank-you so much to Joy who is a kind, knowledgeable and inspirational teacher. The work being produced by her present and past students is amazing. We mustn’t forget the hard work Sarah Carter puts in to keep the classes full and the students informed about term dates, payment and much, much more. Thank-you.

This Easter, our planning started to come to fruition with an investment into new shelving in the hope of creating more space and using it more effectively. The renovation and repair of the building has been a work in progress for a while and it was great to see the workmen finally on site mending the cracks outside, putting in new windows and doors upstairs and repairing the stairs themselves. The work also included new upgraded fire systems in our workshop. This was approximately a £10,000 investment by DCC which on top of our generous £1 per year rent shows how highly they appreciate the work the group does. Once the walls have dried out, we will be calling on volunteers to help us repaint and re-organise the workshop as well as repurpose the upstairs meeting room.

We are a charity and our aims haven’t changed since the founding of the group in the 1960s: To bring together enthusiastic local potters; to inspire and encourage the knowledge and love of ceramics in others and to help our local community through art. This year alone, thanks to the wonderful work Joy and Eve have put into our Thursday afternoon recovery class, we strive to help others. Michelle will be running a carers’ group have a go session later this summer and our annual exhibition , sales day and have a go at throwing allowed people of all ages in the wider community to get involved and learn more. We are looking forward to joining the Exmouth Art Group at Ocean for our annual exhibition this year as well as participating in SeaDog Art’s community arts day in the summer. The have a go at throwing days were so successful last December that we plan to repeat that at least once this year.

As a charity, we also have another layer of volunteers checking that we are following the Charity Commission’s code and working towards the articles which we wrote when founding the charity. As

John and Sarah leave us as trustees this year, I’d like to say a personal thank-you to both for their time and effort on behalf of the group. Thank-you John for steering us all through our first few years as trustees and for working your magic in spearheading the agreement of a lease with DCC. We have all gained from this and I am sure the management committee and membership would want me to extend their gratitude to you too.

We also were keen to look inwards and encourage and enthuse our members to try out new techniques. The new Masterclasses run by Joy have created new ideas, much laughter and friendship through sessions in slips, bubble glazing, porcelain and the next one will be working with decals. These sessions are always full and the new work and ideas flowing from these sessions are fantastic.

We are really keen for members to suggest and organise trips to local exhibitions, to use the pottery for projects that help often neglected sectors of our society, and to get involved. One of our aims in the next year is to organise more social events and trips to local exhibitions. As always, we could do with more help behind the scenes so if you can spare a bit of time to help out in some way or you have an idea that you’d like to run with if others would help you, then never worry about approaching the committee; we work hard for the group because we love it and encourage others to feel the same.

There has been sadness this year too with the sudden death of our good friend and former trustee and chairman, Ron Wallwork. Many of you sent Karen your condolences and I know she has appreciated the support the group has given her. Ron was a quiet, kind and talented potter who I know is much missed by the Tuesday workshop group. Much of Ron’s equipment and books are now in the workshop where he’d been pleased it will be used.

You may not all know the older members of our group, many of whom were founding members. Some still pot avidly while others no longer do. However, they still meet once a month for coffee and cake and retain those friendships that have lasted decades. I too have made friendships that will last a lifetime and for those who feel they are still new members, I hope this will be the case for you all too.

So onwards and upwards for another year. May it be full of joy, laughter and even more pottery techniques!

All the best

Jane

7 April 2023.

Trial Balance 2022 – 2023

DR		CR
Materials	2,089.28	Interest	70.84
Tools	396.12	Subscriptions	13,974.00
Tutor	8,650.00	Workshops	1,580.00
Website	244.71	Adult Classes	2,295.00
Maintenance	629.05	Thursday afternoon	90.00
Insurance	1,057.89	Youth	0
Social	38.28	Refreshments	0
Cleaning	589.00	Exhibition	426.60
Exhibition	590.14	Donations	69.00
Stationery	121.31	Clay	325.70
Audit	50.00	Firing & Glazing	788.55
Refreshments	40.00	Misc	69.50
Sundry	118.23	Christmas Meal	682.50
Refunds	20.00	Petty cash banked	340.00
Petty cash banked	340.00
Rent	2.00
Christmas Meal	673.05
TOTAL	15,649.06		20,711.69
Difference for year	5,062.63
Opening Balance March 2022
Current	11,564.52
Savings	25,662.85
Total	37,227.37
Closing Balances March 2023
Current	6,265.68
Savings	35,733.69
Total	41,999.37
Difference	4,772.00
Petty Cash	290.63(Plus £108.79	brought forward in Petty cash)
Total for year	5,062.63

Note = A figure of £13,000 has been allocated for the replacement of the kilns and wheels as and when required therefor the final funds availablewould be £28,999.37

Notes to go with forecast and Trial Balance–31[st] March 2023

Forecast

Clay – we hadn’t really set a budget for last year so using the costs as a base have forecast £1200

Glazes - I have increased the budgets for the glazes due to the volume being used and the increase in costs

Previously were too low at £300 each for Earthenware and Stoneware (we overspent on both) Now forecasting £800 for each one

Underglazes and Stains – Only underglaze had a budget of £300 however they are very popular so I have increased to £600 for both

Cleaning – Difference is due to a late invoice for last part of the year

Maintenance – Outstanding invoices

Electrician for the new heater and part for the wheel

Shelving £220 (£160 has now been paid in April so only £60 left to pay) Cleaning (outstanding invoice has now been paid £234)

Trial Balance notes

Tools – This includes the sum up machine, 4 trolleys, bookshelf, baskets plus various tools to use in the pottery

Maintenance – includes Kiln servicing (£179.05),fire extinguisher, electrician, shelving (total cost £430 which has been partly paid)

Miscellaneous – 20% payback for Christmas sales, various key refunds, magazine, sum up fees