LETTER BOX STUDY GROUP Letter Box Study Group Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity Registration Number 1198577 Trustees Report and Financial Statements For the period I IApril 2022 to 30 April 2023
Letter Box Study Group Charity No: 1198577 REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS Registered Charity Number: 1198577 Trustees The affairs of the CIO are managed by its Tru5tee5. The Trustees who served during the period are: Andrew R Yolliig (appointed I I April 2022) (Chairman and Acting Treasurer) Paul Snelling (appointed I l April 2022) (Vice Lhairmanl Valerie P Scott (appointed I l April 2022) (Secretary) Wayne E Cox (appointed I l April 2022) Robert R Huiit (appointed I l April 2022) Simon Vaughaii Winter (appointed I l April 2022) Andrew W Young (appointed I l April 2022) The Trustees Met formally on three occasions during the period using Zoom, with additional discussions taking place by email. Contact address 7 Bow Close, Newport, TFIO 7GR Independent Examiner Cyril R H Parsons, 83 Ingram Avenue, Aylesbury, HP219DH Bankers TSB Bank PLC, 30-31 Long Causeway, Peterborough, PEI IXP Objects The objects of the LBSG as laid out in its constitutioii are to advaiice the education of the public in the heritage and history, development and maiiitenance of letter boxes in the United Kingdom. aiid British letter boxes worldwide where they are found. including by.. maintaining the only comprehensive data base of the 115,500 roadside letter boxes including location, style, type, monarchical cipher, and rarity 2. providiiig educational information via the CIO'S website and social media channels, newsletter, meetiiigs, publications, email discussions and picture sharing working collaboratively particularly with Royal Mail and The Postal Museum, their heirs and successors, oil heritage issue5, including through heritage meetings chaired by the CIO, aiid to help support the policy agreement of Royal Mail and English Heritage on the coiiservation of roadside letter boxes 4. providiiig educational materials for the use of schools aiid informal education organisations on the hislory of the design oland social communications through roadside letter boxes
Letter Box Study Group Charity No: 1198577 REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES for the period I l April 2022 to 30 April 2023 The Trugtees are pleased to present their report together with the financial statements of the charity for the period I l April 2022 to 30 April 2023. The Group is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO} incorporated on I l April 2022, having previously been an unincorporated association founded iii 1976. Public Benefit The Trustees have regard to the Charity Commissions guidance on public benefit. Under their Guidance the Group fulfils its Public Beiiefit requirement particularly through points 2, 3, and 4 of its Objects as stated on the previous page, and through its Geiieral Enquiries facility available to the public on its website. Membership At the start of the period the Group had a membership of 506. On 30 April 2023 membership stood at 514. Most interest Groups are fiiiding it difficult to recruit new members and are losing members each year through a8in& so it is very pleasing to see this small increase in iiumbers. Our Secretary, Val Scott, manages our rnembership records and deals with new members who joiii duriiig the year. She is particularly busy during membership renewal period in Julie and [uly. Newsletter Four editions of the Groups high-quality and well-respected Newsletter were produced in the period. edited by Simon Vaughan Winter. All were in full colour and the conteiit totalled 240 page& As always, a broad raiige of tOPiC5 were covere& varying widely in approach and fully-reflecting the many letter box-related subjects that interest n]embers. Meetings Our Ineetings programme has returiied to normal following the PandemiG three meetiiigs were held in the period. The first was held at Portchester on 7May 2022. A group of attendees travelled to the Isle of Wight the followiiig day tovisit Arthur Reeders 'Last Post" Museum. TheAGM took place at Checkley, near Stoke-oii-Trenl, in October and this was followed by our second virtual meeting via Zoom in January 2023. Sixty members joined in from as far afield as Australia aiid the US Publications A wide raiige of publications are available to members with an order form appearing in each Newsletter. The Group's flagship full-colour Guidc to British Lcttcr Boxe5 now extends to 26 Secti011S, With compilation of the 27th uiiderway al the end of the period. Supporting the Guidc is a comprehensive series of 41 Sn7art Vicwing Notes. The Directory is the LBSG database of box types and their location5 and is available iii full, normally supplied on USB memory stick. Printed lists offering a wide range of Directory extracts are also available. The Regi5tcr of Box Types reached version 19 during ihe year. Copies of Newsletters 1-180 were available on DVD, prior to moving onto USB memory stick at the end of the period. The free Index to New51cttcrs cover5 numbers 11¥185, with that for iiurnbers 1-113 in preparation. Website 'Ihe LBSG website continues to offer information to visitors and is an important recruitment tool. The news pages were updated throughout the period. The most popular item followed the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth Il in Septeinber 2022. it looked back at what happened after the deaths of George V and George Vl and the abdication of Edward Vlll and went on to explain when the first Charles Ill letter boxes rnight appear and the new royal ciphers that they will carry. Other work on developing the website coiitinues behind the scene&
Letter Box Study Group Charity No: 1198577 Social Media We recognise fully the importance of social media ag a means of reachiiig and educating thepublic about letter boxes (thereby fulfilling one of our Public Benefit obligations) and enticing some of them to become meinbers. Isla Keniiedy rnaiiages our Foccbook, Instagram, and TwittCT accounts and had a lot of success with regular posts covering a wide raiige of themes. She is supported by members who make their photographs available, aiid then join in with the discussions that follow. Post Box WorkAng Group The Group's liiformatioii Officer, Paul Snellin& chairs this Workiiig Group attended by the LBSG, Royal Mail aiid The Postal Museum. It is a very useful forum lor the exchange of information relating to letter boxes and allows us to highlight importaiit matters and keeps up to date on Royal Mail's managerneiit of their post box estate. The Group met twice during the perio& with more iiiformal contact by email iii- between time. Email Discussion Group The LBSG Mailing List is a forum via einail which allows members to discuss aiiything relevant to the LBSG and to share photographs. Its origins can be traced back to May 1999 aiid it remaiiis as popular as ever. During the period 85 different inembers made 10,255 postings to LIST. The Directory The Directory is the LBSGS fully-computerised database of box type5 and their locations. The Groups liiformation Officer, Paul Snelling, Manages theupdates received daily from members. These are entered reniotely into the database by Paul and his RaK (Records and Knowledge) leam. 9,547 eiitries were made in the period and the database contaiiied a total of 766,629 individual records on 30 April 2023. relatiiig to nearly 123,000 British and Irish letter boxes in use and preserve& in the UK, Ireland and overseas. Paul also deals with any General Enquiries we receive from the public and keeps in contact with Royal Mail. IT The LBSGS IT Officer, Andrew W Young, is responsible for all the Groups computer equipment and softw'are, iiicluding the PCS with which we run the Directory and email systems, and our backup operation5. During December 2022, we had to migrate our email system to another supplier with no notice and this necessitated a lot of additional work over a very short period. Two of our Directory Pcs failed in the period due to their age and were replaced without the loss olany dala. Educational Materials Aiiother of our Public Benefit obligations is to provide educational Materials for the use of schools and iiiformal educalion organisatioiis on the history of the design of, and social communications through, roadside letter boxes. Ali education pack is downloadable froin our website and consists of worksheets and activities for EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage}. and Key Stages l and 2. There are also noteg for extension activities. The LBSG Education Pack helps children and adults look a little rnore closely at post boxes, their place iii our community landscape, and the importance of staying iii touch with friends, family and neighbour5 all over the world. Finances The Group continues to be financially stable. The financial report and statement of accounts follow this report. Signed on behalf of the Trustees on 31 July 2023. Andrew R. Young Chairman Valerie P. Scott Secretary
Letter Box Study Group Charity No: 1198577 FINANCIAL REPORT FOR THE PERIOD I I APRIL 2022- 30 APRIL 2023 The accounts for the period I IApril 2022 to 30 April 2023 are the first for Letter Box Study Group CharitablL' Incorporated Organisation (CIO). AftL'r this slightly extended first year our financial year will in future run from l May to 30 April annually. Our subscription year is unchanged, and subscriptions continue to fall due on l June. The income and expenditure account covers a period of 385 days for the reasons outlined above. Subscription income was £14,649 and net sales income £1,103. The comparative figures for the final period when we were The Letter Box Study Group Trust were £14,399 and £982 respectively. HMRC has approved our registration for Gift Aid and we anticipate receiving a paiment of £1,510 in respect of subscriptions and donations paid by UK tax payers to the Group during the period. Gift Aid means we can claim an extra 25p for every £1 given, at no cost to members. We ask members who live in the UK and pay sufficient tax and have not yet completed a Gift Aid Declaration Form to please consider doing so. Forms are available from the Groups Secretary> Val Scott. Members received four full-colour Newsletters as usual. three were standard issues with 56 pages, and our Autumn journal was a bumper one of 72 pages. Although Newsletter postage costs increased we were able to limit this once more by buying a stock of NVI stamps ahead of Royal Mail's price increase. Yet again I would likL¥ to thank our Editor, Simon Vaughan Winter, not only for the superb Newsletterwith which he rewards us every quarter, but also for ensuring we continue to get such good production costs and service from our printers. After adjusting for the different lengths of accounting periods between this year and our final one as a Trust, there was an increase in website and internet costs of about £722. This is due to the rising costs of our technology and communication systems, most of which are invoiced in US Dollars. We ended the period with a surplus of £1,209 - without the benefit of Gift Aid we would have had a small deficit of £301. The balance sheet shows the value of the stamps we held at the year-end (£3,720) which Thryll cushion the effect of this year's increase in postage cost. The final balance shown in the Letter Box Study Group Trust accounts last year has been transferred into this first set of accounts for Letter Box Study Group CIO, and together with this year's surplus on the Income and Expenditure Account we now have reserves of £21,117. 1 am pleased to say that the Group continues to enjoy a sound financial position. Finally, I must give my thanks to Cyril Parsons who has undertaken an independent exarnination of these accounts once again. Producing this first set of accounts for the CIO has entailed both additional work and a tighter timetable as it is now a requirement of our being a charity that these accounts are published as part of the Trustees Report in our Autumn Newsletter in advance of October s AGM. Things should be more straightforward next year. Cyril s assistance and advice are invaluable to me. I arn very pleased to Teport that he has agreed to act as our Independent Examiner once again, andwe will be proposing his reappointment at this year s Annual General Meetin& Andrew R Young Acting Treasurer
Letter Box Study Group Charity No: 1198577 INDEPENDEf+rr EXAMINER'S REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS TO THE TRUSTEES OF THELETTERBOXSTUDYGROUP FOR THE PERIOD I I APRIL2022 TO 30APRIL 2023 I report to the Trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity for the period I l April 2022 to 30 April 2023 Responsibilities and basis of report As the charitys Trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (°the Act"). I report in respect of my examination of the Trusts accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in my examination, I have followed all the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. Independent Examiner's Statement I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in any material Tespect: the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or the accounts did not Comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and contents of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirernent that the accounts give a 'true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. l August 2023 c11 R H Parsons, Bsc 831ngram Avenue AYLESBURY, HP219DH
Letter Box Study Group Charity No: 1198577 LETTER BOX STUDY GROUP BALANCE SHEET AS AT 30 APRIL 2023 2023 [385 doy5] Fixed Assets Computer Equipinent Web Development Less.. Depreciatioii 1,109 217 (5871 739 Current Assets TSB Bank Cash 14,586 Debtor5 Prepaid Expenses Gift Aid 970 1,510 Stock Directory, Guide, &c Newsletter. stamps. &c 230 3.720 21,019 Less.. Current Liabilities CreditOtrS Prepaid subscriptions 641 (6411 Total Assets less Current Liabilities 21,117 Represented By Transferred fron] Unincorporated Association Surplu511Deficit) of Incorne over Expenditure 19,908 1,209 21,117 Signed on behalf of the Trustees on 31 July 2023. Andrew R. Young Chairman ValL'rie P. Scott SL'cretary
Letter Box Study Group Charity No: 1198577 LETTER BOX STUDY GROUP INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE PERIOD I I APRIL 2022 TO 30 APRIL 2023 30 APRIL 2023 2023 [385 day5] Income Subscriptions Sales Gross sales Less.. Purchases 14,649 1,783 (6801 Net sales income Donations, gifts, &c Gift Aid Bank Interest 1,103 945 1.510 136 18,343 Expenditure Neivsletters Printing Postage and distribution 7,659 3,583 11,242 Meetings Meinbers Trustees 180 180 Group Administration Print, postage, stationery Travel and subsistence liisurance Website and internet Depreciation 142 760 173 560 3.490 587 5,712 (17,134) SurpluslDeficit of Income over Expenditure 1,209