LEO Computers Society
RegisteredCharity1182253
Annual Report: 2023-24
This report covers the period from our last AGM in September 2023, some nine months ago until the end of May 2024. We decided to move our AGM earlier in the calendar year so that it aligned better with other reporting schedules.
Our National Lottery Heritage fund project, carried out in partnership with the Centre for Computing History, Cambridge was completed last summer. The products of the project – the archive at CCH, the film about LEO, the educational resources and the Virtual LEO I are all now being used. The Virtual LEO 1 application was entered into the BCS IT awards last autumn in their charities sector and won a Highly Commended – with a plaque presented at a ceremony last November in London attended by three of our trustees. ~~M~~ ore recently, we have entered the Virtual LEO 1 application into the CCS Tony Sale award this year with the result expected very soon.
Inevitably we must report the deaths of members this year. Those members are sadly missed by the Society and their families and friends. We were sorry to hear of the death of Helen Pinkerton, widow of John Pinkerton LEO’s original design engineer. Helen was a good friend to the Society and died on Boxing Day having just celebrated her 100[th] birthday. We publish obituaries when we can and make these available on our website.
We continue to attract new members and, as last year, are pleased to have welcomed several who have no direct LEO work connection, but are motivated by an interest in early business computing. Our trustee, Neville Lyons continues to do an excellent job managing talks given both by himself and by other members to a variety of organisations, including branches of the u3a which has proved to be an organisation which welcomes our talks. We look to our members to help us identify other organisations which might be interested in hosting a talk – or indeed an article in one of their publications.
Our zoom forum sessions have continued and as of May this year we have had 41 sessions , each with a reasonable attendance often with members from overseas. We record our sessions for those who cannot attend at the original date or time. We try to run sessions alternately in the morning and the evening to 1 | Page
find convenient times for those across the pond and those down under. Since our last AGM, we have held five sessions – including a film show and a compilation of recordings of LEO on the radio. We have been pleased to welcome distinguished guests to speak at sessions this year– from the world of museums and from the CCS. We have now decided to run the Forums every other month.
This year we ran a members’ survey and I would like to thank those who completed the detailed questionnaire. Your opinions are guiding our future planning. For example, there was some support for in person gatherings and we are now planning an event at TNMoC ,Bletchley Park this Autumn and , probably next Spring an event at the LEO pub, The Queens Head in Hammersmith.
Following the success of the NLHF project, we are now engaged on a number of other initiatives :
1. The LEO in museums Project
This project entails research to find which museums, libraries and archives hold LEO information/artefacts. Obviously we know of several already and work with our colleagues in those institutions, but we want to have a more comprehensive picture of LEO holdings across the UK and abroad. We will offer support to enhance their displays including films and the Virtual LEO l facility, maybe in a recorded form, where this is appropriate. Clearly this will need significant funding in some cases.
2. The LEO in education project
This covers work to improve the LEO information available to educators both in schools, linking to the National Curriculum and in Higher Education.
3. The CLEO project
This has changed course a little from trying to revive a CLEO emulation facility to a project which enables people to see how a CLEO programme operated. This project is making good progress under Eric Dickens’ direction
- Oral history interviews of our LEO working members
We now have a good collection of oral histories – easily accessible via the CCH LEO project website. There have been some recent changes in the OH coordination team and we will shortly be starting a new round of interviews.
5. Supporting another PhD student to work on aspects of LEO history
Following Elisabetta Mori’s graduation with a doctorate from Middlesex University with a PhD focussed on LEO, we have been investigating further such doctorates – possibly under the auspices of the Open University with whom we have held exploratory talks. We will need to raise funds to support this.
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6. Renewing our co-operation agreement with CCH.
Our existing partnership agreement with CCH was based around our co-working on the NLHF project. We want to continue our close cooperation with CCH and are redrafting the agreement to reflect this.
- Obtaining funding for some of the above projects.
As indicated, many of our ambitions will require funding to reach fruition. We would also like to obtain funds to continue the ongoing archiving work of the LEO material being held at CCH. We are considering likely funders for applications and will be working to research the highly detailed information that such applications require.
WE continue to publish our newsletter LEO Matters twice a year ~~.~~ The second and larger edition of LEO remembered has been selling reasonably well and has been sent all around the world. Stocks of the book are being held at CCH and at TNMoC in their bookshops.
I conclude my report focusing on the engine room of the Society where all the work is done. I have first to report Frank Land’s resignation as a trustee in April this year. Frank has stood down from this formal role on health grounds, but will continue as an active committee member. Frank has been the Society Historian and we owe him a huge debt of gratitude for his enormous wisdom and comprehensive knowledge of all things LEO related.
I am pleased to welcome Eric Dickens as a new committee member.
We have had 5 board meetings since the last AGM. The number of trustees is now 8 : myself as chairman, Hilary Caminer - secretary, Bernard Behr - treasurer, Neville Lyons – talks & publicity, as I mentioned before, Neville has built a presentation pack about Lyons and LEO which he will send to any members willing to give a talk. We are grateful to Neville for providing his hard work and research for the benefit of other members. John Paschoud - Vice-chairman, responsible for charity issues & social media, Philip Cleary – assists with website, social media & publicity, John Daines - technical consultant and Vincent Bodsworth – website manager & membership secretary. Committee members are Eric Dickens, Gloria Guy and Elisabetta Mori . We also value the participation of Lisa McGerty, CEO of CCH as a co-opted member of our committee.
The Society has had a busy and fulfilling year. We would warmly welcome the involvement of more members as volunteers on one of our projects or in an advisory capacity.
Peter Byford, Chairman
May 2024
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Charity Registration No. 1182253
LEO COMPUTERS SOCIETY
UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 20 2 3
Charity No. 1182253
LEO Computers Society Income and Expenditure 1st January to 31st December 2023
Jan - Dec 23
| Ordinary Income/Expense Income Bank Interest Received LLoyds Donations & Grants Donations - Amazon Europe Core Donations - Easy Fundraising Donations - General Donations - Gift Aid HMRC Donations - Subscription Appeal Total Donations & Grants Reunion Income Merchandise - Sales LEO Tote Bag Total Merchandise - Sales Total Reunion Income Sales Book Sales & Publishing Book Sales Postage for Members a/c Total Book Sales & Publishing Total Sales Total Income Cost of Goods Sold Cost of Goods Sold Total COGS GrossIncome Expense Bank Charges PayPal Service Charges Total Bank Charges Committee Meeting Expenses Travel - Committee Meetings Total Committee Meeting Expenses Computer & Web Expenses Domain Name Renewal Email - additional Security Certificate SSL Web Hosting Total Computer & Web Expenses Newsletter/LEO Matters Postage Total Newsletter/LEO Matters Office Expense Postage & Stamps Total Office Expense Oral History & Heritage Project Oral History OH Travel-Meetings/Sustinence Total Oral History Total Oral History & Heritage Project Publishing Postage & Carriage |
107.78 25.14 31.71 746.65 131.48 644.01 1,578.99 60.00 60.00 60.00 768.60 112.79 881.39 881.39 |
|---|---|
| 2,628.16 626.97 |
|
| 626.97 | |
| 2,001.19 3.32 3.32 0.00 0.00 0.00 17.88 59.99 327.66 405.53 5.00 5.00 9.20 9.20 257.80 257.80 257.80 |
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Charity No. 1182253
LEO Computers Society Income and Expenditure
1st January to 31st December 2023
| Postage Total Postage & Carriage Total Publishing Reunion Expenses VSC Deposit - written off Total Reunion Expenses Uncategorized Expenses Postage & Stamps - Merchandise Travel - General Total Uncategorized Expenses Total Expense Net Ordinary Income Income for the Year |
Jan - Dec 23 |
|---|---|
| 180.91 180.91 180.91 250.00 250.00 14.00 39.80 53.80 |
|
| 1,165.56 | |
| 835.63 | |
| 835.63 |
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Charity No. 1182253
LEO Computers Society Balance Sheet at 31 December 2023
| ASSETS Current Assets Other Current Assets Accrued Income Stock LEO Remembered 2nd Edition Total Stock Total Other Current Assets Cash at bank and in hand Lloyds Bank - Current a/c Lloyds Bank - Savings a/c Total Cash at bank and in hand Total Current Assets NET CURRENT ASSETS TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILI... NET ASSETS Capital and Reserves Accumulated Funds Restricted Funds Restricted Fund - LEO Plaque Restricted Funds-Preservation Heritage Project Oral History Total Restricted Funds-Preservat... Total Restricted Funds Unrestricted Funds Total Accumulated Funds Retained Income Income for the Year Available funds |
131.48 31 Dec 23 161.06 161.06 292.54 9,807.66 12,354.89 22,162.55 22,455.09 22,455.09 22,455.09 22,455.09 1,148.32 4,014.07 6,171.68 1 10,185.75 11,334.07 11,121.02 2 22,455.09 -835.63 3 835.63 22,455.09 |
|---|---|
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Charity No. 1182253
LEO Computers Society Balance Sheet
at 31 December 2023
| 1. | DR CR |
|---|---|
| Oral History Expenses 257.80 | |
| 2. | Unrestricted Funds - Increase 595.83 |
| 3. | Retained Income - Allocated 853.63 |
| ------------ ------------ | |
| 853.63 853.63 | |
| ======= ======= |
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