MINUTES F TO HE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING for 2023 HELD HELD ON THE 9th OCTOBER, 2024. Present: uncan D J.Anderson, ill arrett, ohn arrett, Christine arrow, eil arrow,J B J B B N B Charles Baumann, G.Bayley, Oliver D.H.Benson, ileen E Bentley, ohn J Binns, David Bradbury, esley rown, laine ucL B E B kley, Mike ucB kley, ennifer ClarJ k, ulia J Dawson, Christine Drummond, ee L Evans, Michael Fox, Kate Gartside, Helen ennie, ilyL L Hopkinson, ohn McCarthy, Mary odgers, oJ R R bert odgers, MiR ke Smith, Sue Smith, Paul G.Stevenson, aul Taylor, ndrew Thorne, nn Thorne, P A A Graham H.J.Tibbot, enK Waddington, ichard Wallis, SteR ve Whitehead, hil WildP . Apologies. Received from Revd.Godfrey dams, ena Clossam, ohn Curnow, IA L J van Foster, Bishop Rupert and Ghesina Hoare, ohn J Hodges, Robert McCracken, udithJ Shaw. MINUTES. cceptance of the Minutes of the nnual A A General Meeting held on the 8[th] October 2023 was proposed y b Oliver enson, seconded y Charles aumann andB b B carried. ## MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES. There were no matters arising from the Minutes. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT. See attached sheet. ## TREASURER’S REPORT. Ivan Foster could not attend the meeting ut his written report was circulated forb members. e reported a challenging year, the main income eing from suH b bscriptions and sale of publications. Unfortunately, there were at least 0 mem7 bers who have not yet renewed their subscription for 2024. Ivan thanked Mary odgers for assisting him in paying in moniesR ; Meg angton forL dealing with publication sales; Donald Feber the Society’s uditor for his meticulousA LILY HOPKINSON 1 inspection of the accounts and finally the local members who hand deliver the Bulletins which saves the Society a considerable amount in postage. The Chairman pointed out that the Society was solvent and that the Holly Bank refurbishment and the SHS Charity were in two separate anb k accounts. Phill Wild ueried when the loans on olly anq H B k would need to e repaidb . Michael Fox Chairman( ) couldn’t give a definitive answer at this point ut would getb clarification on the timing and circumstances of repayment. He apologised for the vague response, ut couldnb ’t e more positib ve without first referring to the Treasurer and other Trustees. Michael Fox asked Mr. Wild what, if any, specific concerns had prompted him to ask the uestionq . Mr. Wild responded that his main concern was that he could not see any evidence in the accounts as presented, that the Society possessed sufficient assets to repay the loans. Michael ucB kley, Society Trustee, pointed out, one of the difficulties facing the Society is Conveying the property from the Donor to the Society. Currently we are working with our second firm of Solicitors, who we elieb ve have all the documentation required and despite regular requests from the Society still have not een ab ble to complete the business. Once the Conveyance has een completed, the alue of the uilding, whichb v b will e in the region of 200,000, will cob £ ver any issues of repaying the loans. Neil arrow asB ked if the loan was from a Society member. Mr. ucB kley confirmed there are anonymous loans from Society members. Mr.Barrow then asked if the £30,000 in loans was ring-fenced for olly anH B k. Mr.Buckley confirmed that it was. The Society has two anb k accounts a olly an– H B k Account and a Society ccount and the two are completely separate with two separateA account numbers. Members will recall that when the decision to go ahead with ollyH Bank was taken in 2019, we did not wish to put the Society at any financial risk due to the olly anH B k pro ect, therefore, two separate accounts were estaj blished. Mr.Barrow asked how the separation etween the two accounts, b Holly anB k and the Society in general is managed and recorded? Mr.Buckley responded that only Ivan Foster, the Treasurer, could answer that and unfortunately he was not present. Mr.Fox added that we could clarify the situation with the Treasurer, who, although not present this evening is ery much in contact with memv bers of the committee on a daily asis if that would e acceptab – b ble. Mr.Barrow then assumed that the ccounts would haA ve to e sub bmitted to the Charity Commission and he thought they CC( ) would find it ery difficult to accept them asv they stand. He thought it would e helpful if he, a retired accountant and anyoneb LILY HOPKINSON 2 else, raise their concerns with the Trustees ecause I thinb “ k these accounts will not eb seen to e acceptab ble to the Charity Commission”. Robert odgers drew attention to the ottom of page R b 3 of the ccounts, where isA specifically says, in old print b – “Holly anB k ring( -fenced) £14,514”; and further up on the same page under Current ssets it has the same figure, oA bviously that amount is ring-fenced for olly anH B k. Lily Hopkinson pointed out that the Trustees nnual eport and ccounts for 2022A R A were oth accepted y the Charity Commission without any prob b blem or comment and they were in the exact same layout as these current ones. Mr.Barrow it– ’s not the layout, it’s the content. Mrs.Hopkinson the content, ie figures were o– bviously taken from the 2022 accounts which were laid out in the same format that they have een for the past seb veral years without ever eing ueried at allb q . Mr.Barrow. What I’m saying is that these accounts don’t meet the standard. In response to Mr.Barrow’s suggestion that further discussion e deferred, Mrb .Fox said the points raised will e eb xplored after the meeting. Ann Thorne asked for clarification on a small point in the ccountsA . The opening stock is given as £1,783 ut the closing stocb k states 2,£ 710. lso on page irgin moneyA 3 V (26), irgin Money V (395) and ayP Pal are these actual an– b k accounts ecause ayb P Pal isn’t a anb k. Mr. ucB kley explained the Society has three ccounts, the main Society ccount, theA A Holly Bank Account (being with Virgin Money) and a ayP Pal account. The ayP Pal ’ account is mainly for members payment of subscriptions and publications. The money in ayP Pal is moved into the Society’s anb k account at regular intervals. ’ Mrs. Thorne. It s ery difficult for you without the Treasurerv . erhaps we could haP ve another look when it has een clarified a little more with the Treasurerb . Mr.Fox. Agreed with the suggestion, commenting that certain topics had been identified and certainly discussions on them will take place in due course. It will eb necessary to leave approval of the ccounts to a later date when uestions raised atA q this meeting have een resolb ved. Mrs.Rodgers. Ivan was hoping to attend this meeting ut ob bviously something has prevented him attending. It would have een helpful had he een hereb b . ## AUDITOR’S REPORT. Mr.Fox. This has een cob vered in the foregoing item. I am not clear if our uditor,A Donald Feber is prepared to stand again. LILY HOPKINSON 3 Mrs.Rodgers. sserted that she was in touch with MrA .Feber, a retired anB k Manager, and she agreed to ask him. ## ELECTION F TO RUSTEES. Mr.Fox. The existing Trustees are Michael Fo8 - x, Michael ucB kley, Graham Griffiths, Ken Waddington, Robert McCracken, esley L Brown, Christine Barrow and Mary Rodgers, all are prepared to stand again. It was proposed by Graham Tibbot, seconded y nn Thorne and carried unanimously that the named e reb A 8 b -elected as Trustees for 2025. ## ANY TO HER BUSINESS. A uestion was asq ked why there were never any posters on the Museum, nor the approaches advertising this Society’s events. s the eA x-Publicity Secretary, Charles Baumann explained that the Museum’s policy was to display notices in the shop utb not on the exterior of the uildingb . He agreed the publicity at the Museum was not good, posters to into a folder at the rear of the reception area. He agreed that this problem needs addressing. There eing no further usiness the meeting closed at b b 8.34.pm ……………………………………………… Chairman. LILY HOPKINSON 4 LILY HOPKINSON _SHSaccounts 11/10/2025_ ## **SADDDLEWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY** **Statement of Receipts & Payments** for year ending 31st December 2024 |Receipts||£| |---|---|---| |Membership fees||4,236| |Gift aid||nil| |Publication sales||645| |Programme||730| |Donations||274| |Miscellaneous||972| |Bank interest||nil
| |||6,857| |Payments||| |Programme||375| |Publication costs|Bulletin|3,068| |Society memberships||180| |Museum||1,223| |Administration||151| |Archives||nil| |Miscellaneous||833| |Assets bought||nil| |||_____| |||5,830| ||Surplus for the year|1,027| |Holly Bank||| |Donations SHS||7,614| |less expenditure||-7,512| |Donations Holly Bank||20,632| |less expenditure||-22,223| |Deficit||1,489| |Total Deficit||462| www.saddleworth-historical-society.org.uk registered charity 1195 706 _SHSaccounts 11/10/2025_ ## **SADDDLEWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY** **Statement of Income & Expenses** for year ending 31st December 2024 |Income|||£| |---|---|---|---| |Membership fees|||4,236| |Gift Aid|||635| |Publications|||| |Sales||645|| |Opening stock|
2,710||| |+ Purchases|nil||| |- Closing stock|
2,474||_[3]_| ||Cost of sales|236|| |Profit on publications|||409| |Programme|||730| |Donations|||274| |Miscellaneous|||972| |Interest|||nil| ||||_____| |||Total|7,256| |Expenses|||| |Programme|||375| |Bulletin|||3,068| |Society memberships|||180| |Museum|||1,223| |Administration|||151| |Archives|||nil| |Miscellaneous|||833| |Depreciation of equipment|||nil| ||||____| |||Total|5,830| ||Profit for year||1,426| ||less Holly Bank expenses|354|| ||Profit transferred to Balance|sheet|1,072| www.saddleworth-historical-society.org.uk registered charity 1195 706 _SHSaccounts 11/10/2025_ ## **SADDDLEWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY** ## **Balance Sheet** at 31st December 2024 |Fixed Assets
Equipment & Artefacts
Additions during year
Less depreciation charged to 2023
Depreciation charged this year
Book value of assets
Holly Bank
Acquisition at value
150,000
additions to 2023
23,573
additions in 2024
29,735
Value at 31/12/2024
Current Assets
Stock of publications at end of year
Debtors
Bank accounts
SHS
11,113
Holly Bank
24,166
Funded by
Accumulated Fund
Balance at start of this year
19,836
add Profit for this year
1,072
Balance at end of the year
20,908
Holly Bank Reserve
Balance at start of the year
157,155
Funds added
28,246
Creditors
Holly Bank loans end 2023 30,000
less repaid
-10,000
added 2024
16,000
36,000|Notes
£
9,962
nil
9,962
9,962
nil
nil
_[1]_
_[2]_
203,309
2,474
_[3]_
1,247
_[4]_
35,279
242,309
_[5]_
242,309| |---|---| www.saddleworth-historical-society.org.uk registered charity 1195 706 _SHSaccounts 11/10/2025_ ## Notes 1 The principle equipments owned by the Society are the slide projector, digital projector, A3 scanner and the archive shelving. These all have a foreseeable working life but, as the Society has to fund itself year on year, we have adopted the prudent policy of writing them off in the year of purchase. The principle artefacts owned by the Society are the Gartside bust and the Platt cup. 2 Holly Bank: the ownership of Holly Bank was raised & minuted at the previous AGM. Finalising & documenting the legal processes has still not been completed. 3 The stock of publications consists of is the recent publications, principally _William Pownall's Uppermill & Mapping Saddleworth I & II_ . Earlier publications are held in the accounts at nil value. 4 Debtors represent provision for Gift Aid not yet received for the years 2023-2024. Additionally there is likely to be a back claim for Holly Bank donations. ## 5 Creditors Loans of £20,000 and £16,000 are unsecured, have no fixed repayment date & do not pay interest. A loan of £10,00 was repaid during the year. Future commitments for Holly Bank. There are no contractual obligations which are not covered by existing funds. 6 The Accounts have been prepared using information provided. The seperation of Society activities & the Holly Bank project is not always clear. A substantial bequest to the Society was paid into the Holly Bank account. www.saddleworth-historical-society.org.uk registered charity 1195 706