Malmesbury History Society Trustee Annual Report 2022 (January - December)
Registered Charity Number - 1193228
Address of Society
39 Gastons Road Malmesbury SN16 0BD
Names of the trustees who manage the charity
Christina Staff Chair Maria Marsh Treasurer Anne Goodyer Roger Griffin Barry Dent Deborah Shipp
Structure and Governance
CIO – Charitable Incorporated Company All trustees are elected according to the constitution by the members at the yearly AGM.
Objectives and Activities
Main Purpose of the Society
To advance education in the history of Malmesbury and the surrounding area, by holding meetings to disseminate and promote the history of the local area in a wider historical context to the local community and the general public of all ages and to publish local history information and liaise with other local groups who have a similar aim.
Public Benefit
The society exists for the public benefit. All the trustees have been made aware of and reviewed the guidance on what the Charity Commission means by public benefit and believes that this has been achieved through our activities.
Policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees
New trustees are vetted by the current trustees and are put forward for election by the members at the AGM. A committee member may be co-opted during the year for a trial period. All new trustees are given a copy of the essential guidance on being a trustee from the government.
Activities Related to our Objective and Purposes
The Society continues to work with and support other heritage groups to promote and engage with their work. A new and updated website was developed to promote the works of the society. We are continuing to explore the possibility of an excavation near the abbey based on the findings of a geophysical survey done in 2019.
Tony McAleavy, our former chairman, continued to work with academics and some MHS members on Malmesbury Abbey papers for the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society Journal . The journal has now been published. Our thanks to Tony for all of his extensive work on this project and to committee member Barry Dent who produced the paper on Malmesbury Abbey's Tudor Screen.
There was a fascinating guided walk led by one of our members, Gordon Williams, to view the WWII installations associated with Stop Line Green in Malmesbury.
Meeting and Talks
The Society meets bi-monthly through the year for talks on the history of Malmesbury and the surrounding area. The majority of talks are given by members of the society. There were also two special talks: one was a symposium on St Aldhelm and Malmesbury to launch our publication “Faricius of Arrezo Life of St Aldhem” with Professor Winterbottom and Professor Rod Thompson, and the other a special evening talk by Professor Dianne Lovell who returned in November to tell us more about the Reverend George Bisset.
20 January - The Spirit of Cowbridge and the story of the Danvers family.
17 March - Our AGM talk was by Jerome Tait, the Historic England Grade Listing Advisor for Wiltshire: To List or not to List? The Work of a Grade Listing Advisor.
12 May - The Eulogium Historiarum from 1360’s written in Malmesbury Abbey.
9 July - We had three interesting talks given by three different members - 1940 Kenneth Clark Recording Britain and Images of Malmesbury, The Medieval Stone Chair in Rodbourne church, and the Recording Project at Malmesbury Cemetery.
8 September - We had the authors of three books about life in local Malmesbury: The Vet, The Doctor and The Lawyer.
17 November - Hankerton’s geography and history.
Publications
The publication of historical works and their subsequent sales were in accordance with our Objectives and Charitable purposes. This year a translation of the life of St. Aldhelm was published.
Volunteer Contributions
Volunteer time contributions: Members of the society voluntarily researched and presented talks to members throughout the year. The trustees met several times during the year, organised and held member meetings, held book launch events with guest speakers, and contributed additional administration as required.
Relationships with other organisations in the local area
The MHS has a good working relationship with the Civic Trust, Malmesbury Abbey, and Athelstan Museum Malmesbury. The museum and Abbey provide an outlet for the sale of our publications, and the society hires space for meetings from the museum.
Financial Review for 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022
At the end of the two years we had 76 members, an increase of 4 over the previous year, including 9 life members. Membership is £10 per member per year.
The society ended the year with a healthy bank balance of £5,563.53, £979.08 down on the previous year’s balance of £6,552.61 (including a correction of £10), largely due the publication of the new Hobbes book, reprinting other books, and a donation towards the WAHNs Journal focused on Malmesbury. The largest income came from publications sales, membership, and events for book launches. Book sales through Athelstan Museum and Malmesbury Abbey are slowly recovering from pandemic levels.
Reserves Policy
The society holds £1,000 in reserve for the purpose of having the funds to cover the expenses for 18 months. This is reviewed yearly.
Policy on Restricted Funds
The Society considers Restricted Funds yearly. These are grants and specific bequests to a society that are for a stated purpose.
Designated Funds are usually funds that are set aside for a specific purpose during the year, but can be used for other things at the discretion of the trustees. For 2022 the society held £600 designated for publications.
| 2022 | 2022 | 2022 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Income | Expenses | Gain/Loss |
| Donations | 416.24 | 0.00 | £416.24 |
| Events | 470.00 | (613.84) | -£143.84 |
| Gift | 0.00 | (31.58) | -£31.58 |
| Meetings | 40.00 | (100.00) | -£60.00 |
| Membership | 670.00 | 0.00 | £670.00 |
| Publications | 1,124.34 | (1,817.00) | -£692.66 |
| Societies | 75.00 | (75.00) | £0.00 |
| WANHS Journal | 659.00 | (1,680.00) | -£1,021.00 |
| Website | 0.00 | (116.24) | -£116.24 |
| £ 3,454.58 | £(4,433.66) |
£(979.08) |
2022 Year End Balance £ 5,563.53
The Financial Review was approved by the trustees on 1 March 2023 and reported to the members at the AGM on 16 March 2023.
Signed on behalf of the trustees by Christina Staff, Chair and Maria Marsh, Treasurer.