THE SHAW SOCIETY Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 **The Shaw Society** ## **Financial Statements for the year ended December 2025** **_______________________________________________________________________________________** ## **Legal and administrative information** The trustees during the year ended 31 December 2025 and thereafter until the date of approval of these Financial Statements (unless otherwise noted), were: Maureen Clark-Darby David Grapes Ivan Wise Ryan Cormack Murray Rosenthal Christine Stevenson Esme Chandler John Barber Bernadette Skehan Julia Holofcener Cara Saul Peter Power-Hynes Appointed 24 May 2026 William Foote Appointed 24 May 2026 Ryan Cormack Resigned 6 July 2025 Esme Chandler Resigned 1 December 2025 John Foley Resigned 25 January 2026 Principal contact The Secretary The Shaw Society 12 Somali Road London NW2 3RL Registered Charity Number: 1200279 Independent examiner John Roland Kay ACA (retd) of the Society’s Financial Statements 43 Lee Crescent Edgbaston B15 2BJ Bankers Barclays Bank PLC **The Shaw Society** **Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025** |**Index**|| |---|---| |**TRUSTEES’ REPORT**|**4 - 8**| |**INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT**|**9**| |**STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES**|**10**| |**BALANCE SHEET**|**11**| |**NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR**|**12 – 15**| 3 **The Shaw Society** ## **Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025** ## **TRUSTEES REPORT** The trustees present their report together with the Financial Statements of the Society for the year ended 31 December 2025. The Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with the Society’s accounting policies, which are set out on pages 12 to 13, and comply with applicable law. ## **Constitution and Governance** The Society is an unincorporated association under its governing document, the Society’s constitution. All decisions of the Society are taken by its committee of trustees which meets bi-monthly. Trustees (including the officers of Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer and Secretary) are elected annually at the Annual General Meeting. The Committee has the right to appoint other persons as trustees to fill temporary vacancies on the Committee. The maximum permitted number of trustees is 20. New trustees are given the current Charity Commission guidance on trusteeship and have an initial discussion with the Society’s Chair in relation to their duties. The 2025 Annual General Meeting was held online on Sunday 6 July 2025. The trustees named under Legal and Administrative Information have served as detailed. The Society does not employ staff and none of the trustees are remunerated. All the work of the Society is performed by volunteers. ## **Charitable Objects** ## **The objectives of the Society are:** - 1) To advance public education and appreciation of the British theatre through the plays, writings, and ideas of George Bernard Shaw (“GBS”) and his contemporaries. - 2) To provide opportunities to study, discuss and enjoy the works of GBS and his contemporaries through public performances, readings, films, lectures, talks and articles in the press and the Society’s journal “The Shavian”. - 3) To establish and maintain contact with public educational institutions in the United Kingdom, the United States of America and elsewhere to exchange information about GBS and his contemporaries. - 4) To encourage the pursuit of Shaw’s themes and ideas through awards and bursaries open to the public. - 5) To undertake research, and publish the results of it, for the purpose of advancing public education as referred to in (1) above. 4 **The Shaw Society** ## **Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025** - 6) To promote a wider and better understanding of GBS’s life and work and to provide (in his own words) a “rallying point for the co-operation and education of kindred spirits and a forum for their irreconcilable controversies”. ## **Main activities** During 2025 the main activities of the Society in relation to its objects (by reference to the numbered objects above) have been as follows: 1. The Society sponsors and supports live theatre of George Bernard Shaw’s (GBS) plays and works, which are also available to public audiences through digital media. 2. The Society arranges regular public talks. It publishes research articles supplied from all over the world in its journal “The Shavian”. It organises and encourages members to attend national and international conferences. Details of events and performances are provided to the press via press releases, paid advertisements, and social media. 3. The Society has contact and works with the International Shaw Society, RADA and other drama schools and university departments in the UK and overseas. 4. The Society has a close collaborative relationship with Shaw’s Corner and the National Trust. 5. The Society carries out research projects via the British Library and US libraries to be published in “The Shavian” journal. 6. The Society arranges regular public discussions, meetings and readings of Shaw’s works and his contemporaries. ## **Main achievements** The Society's play reading group continued throughout 2025. This continues to be facilitated by an experienced educationalist adding a more professional aspect to the monthly gatherings, many readers have attended in person, while others (with the help of Zoom) have participated without leaving the comfort of their own homes. The project continues to attract readers from all over the world. The Society continued its program of theatre visits in 2025 with visits to see Shaw plays in the UK as well as an increasing number of theatre trips to see plays of Shaw’s contemporaries, and adaptations based on his plays. A highlight this year was seeing Mrs Warren’s Profession staged to critical acclaim in the West End, and having a very special event organised for us by one of our trustees at the theatre during the run. An overlap of Shaw with music was seen in live opera productions and screenings of works based on Shaw’s one act play ‘The Dark Lady of the Sonnets’. Two issues of The Shavian were produced, with ground-breaking new research on items of special academic interest. In July 2025, the Society again achieved its long-standing primary ambition, helping to bring birthday performances back to Shaw's Corner. It was particularly satisfying to do so on the 5 ## **The Shaw Society** ## **Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025** 100[th] anniversary of Shaw’s being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. The birthday play this year was Shaw's Arms and The Man. The Rumpus Theatre Company had toured with its new production of this play in late 2024 and The Society was pleased to sponsor two performances, in Shaw’s Corner, over the birthday weekend. Due to generous donations the Society was again able to hire a Public Relations Professional to support the performances at Shaw's Corner. This helped ensure that both nights were sellouts. Further donations to the Society provided funding for the design and print of high-quality programme booklets for the Arms and The Man production – this included information about the Shaw Society and encouragement to join. We plan to continue supporting performances at Shaw's Corner and look forward to sponsoring birthday plays there in 2026 and beyond. We had our annual, ever popular, Shaw Crawl in August; this time the theme was ‘Tragedy and Comedy in Shaw’. We ‘crawled’ from Fitzroy Square to the Bedford Hotel and heard from many contributors along the route. We have strengthened our links with the Irish Cultural Centre (ICC), and with The Irish Embassy. We have plans to collaborate so that Shaw’s works are staged in the ICC in the future. We have fundraised for a new Museum of Photography at Shaw’s Corner so that a Shaw related photography collection currently held by the LSE will find a permanent home at Shaw’s Corner. A gift from a generous trustee of a number of bronze bas-reliefs of Shaw has meant we could gift these so that Shaw’s image is displayed in places of importance to Irish culture. We were also reached out to by representatives of the UK China Culture and Art Exchange Association aware of Shaw’s visit to Shanghai in 1933 where he met with several Chinese writers and individuals, including Lu Xun a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. A lunch in London’s Guildhall kindly arranged by one of our trustees and funded by a donation from a member of the Society facilitated a very interesting exchange of ideas and information between Society members and representatives of Chinese cultural organisations. A similar meeting was held with representatives of the Soong Ahing Ling Foundation – a Chinese cultural foundation with an interest in Shaw. We have continued to develop our website and extend our social media reach via Facebook, X, BlueSky and Instagram. The Society is incredibly grateful for all the support we have received throughout the year, from our members, our volunteers, our trustees and patrons, as well as everyone who has attended our events. In 2025 the Society has been incredibly fortunate to receive three substantial donations, which following on from the two substantial donations received in 2024 fundamentally change what the Society can do in delivering its objectives. This sort of support really matters to a small charity like the Shaw Society, and we are incredibly grateful to the three main donors for the generosity of their support. 6 **The Shaw Society** ## **Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025** ## **Future plans** The Society has plans to continue its sponsorship program in support of the staging of Shaw’s work. In addition, the Society has plans for recurring academic bursaries. The focus of our fundraising activities will be in support of getting these initiatives up and running and established on a sustainable basis. We have continued with the work of developing the Society's website and social media presence, as well as holding face-to face meetings, talks and readings. We will also continue with our process of outreach and relationship building with other organisations who share similar aims to the Shaw Society, and who can help us expand our reach. In June of 2027 we plan to host, jointly with the International Shaw Society, an international Conference. This will be based in London at the LSE and will include a visit to Shaw’s Corner. In addition, a key foundational activity of the Society will be to increase and grow the Society's membership by offering a diverse and fulfilling array of events and experiences. The trustees recognise that a solid membership base is the key to the ongoing success of the Society. To this end, bringing new members and readers to Shaw will be a key effort over the coming years. ## **Reserves policy** The Society’s policy on reserves is to cover approximately one year’s expected annual operating expenditure (the calculation excludes grant giving and sponsorship) to enable it to pursue its charitable objectives. ## **Assets as custodian trustee** The Society holds no assets as custodian trustee apart from the Society’s archive, a collection of written and pictorial material for reference. ## **Financial review** The trustees are satisfied with the financial performance of the Society in this year. ## _Principal risks and uncertainties_ The trustees do not foresee any significant risks to the Society or its operations, or any uncertainties facing it. The Society only exceptionally enters into future financial commitments, with the result that it is always able to control its day-to-day expenditure to keep it, for practical purposes, within the Society’s actual and anticipated income. ## _Going concern_ The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. 7 The Shaw Society Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 dÉ152021. Tlm w • rM¢ •y¥*th• rf £17,632 >w12024 Q3.4791 t&L¥XI tyf **r• 202513)24 t14,￿1. IheTr w4¥a h) 2025, al tesoms 1Tr70B8•J ty) ￿.631 * 31 Y¥1¥ r•xl%wd the ScK*ty h 2025. Futhr ol Furth cbn )• foLmd in 5 ar•J At h• •*wJ. I￿ h•J rf£sI￿1 12024.. £a2.9731 £5IXT ffi￿. ￿ £5.411 th rèstfkled fv.rail The Shaw Society Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 IVA 10&7 IS **The Shaw Society** ## **Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025** ## **STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025** |**INCOMING RESOURCES**
Subscriptions
Donations/Legacies
Events Income
Bank Interest
**TOTAL**
**RESOURCES EXPENDED**
The Shavian Journal
Marketing
Subscriptions
Insurance
Administration Charges
Grants in support of Charitable
Expenses
Bank Charges
Event Running Costs
**TOTAL**|**2025**
£
**Restricted Unrestricted**
**-**
**3,903**
**-**
**32,869**
**-**
**442**
**-**
**76**|**2025**
£
**Total**

**3,903**

**32,869**

**442**

**76**

**37,290**

**1,577**

**7,399**

**115**

**123**
**-**

**8,000**

**65**

**353**

**17,632**|**2024**
**£**
3,614
33,804
1,263| |---|---|---|---| ||**0**
**37,290**||38,681| ||**-**
**1,577**
**4,737**
**2,662**
**-**
**115**
**-**
**123**
**-**
**-**
**8,000**
**-**
**65**
**-**
**353**||744
4,297
150
87
553
14,989
187
2,472| ||**4,737**
**12,895**||23,479| ||||| |**Surplus/(deficit)**|**(4,737)**
**24,395**|
**19,658**|**15,202**| |**RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS**
**Total Funds brought forward at 1 January**
**2025**
**Total funds carried forward at 31**
**December 2025**||**32,973**
**52,631**|**17,771**| ||||**32,973**| 10 The Shaw Society Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Fln•ncW Sl•t•m•nts forth• y••r•nd•d 31 O•¢w*•r 2tr25 IIiANCE gffET ASAT310ECDIIEA2mS Oeblors C•¥har CIÉDnOL' 51ricied luTrJs V4 Si.Y>? 62M31 SA12 27.561 **The Shaw Society** **Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025** ## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS** ## **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025** ## **1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES** ## **1.1 Accounting convention** The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102 - effective 1 January 2015) - (Charities SORP FRS 102). The charity meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note. ## **1.2 Going concern** The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue as a going concern. The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimated uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period. ## **1.3 Income** Income comprises membership subscriptions, donations and fund-raising events. Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the income have been met, and it is probable that the income will be received and that the amount can be measured reliably. ## **1.4 Donations of gifts, services, and facilities** Donated gifts, professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item or received the service, any conditions associated with the donation have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), volunteer time is not recognised. On receipt, donated gifts, professional services, and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt. 12 **The Shaw Society** ## **Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025** ## **1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES** (continued) ## **1.5 Resources expended** Resources expended are included in the statement of financial activities on an accruals basis, inclusive of VAT which cannot be recovered. Certain expenditure is directly attributable to specific charitable activities and has been included in those cost categories. Direct expenditure in respect of fund-raising and governance is shown separately. ## **1.6 Fund accounting** Unrestricted funds comprise general funds which the trustees are free to use in accordance with the charitable objects. Restricted funds are funds which have been given for particular projects. These funds are represented by cash at bank. ## **1.7 Debtors** Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due. ## **1.8 Cash at bank and in hand** Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account. ## **1.9 Creditors and provisions** Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due. ## **1.10 Reserves** The Society maintains reserves to cover one year’s expected annual operating expenditure (the calculation excludes grant giving and sponsorship) to enable it to pursue its charitable objects. This is a change from the 2022 policy, where a half year's expected annual operating expenditure was maintained. ## **1.11 Financial instruments** The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value except for bank loans which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method. 13 **The Shaw Society** ## **Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025** |**2**|**SUBSCRIPTIONS**|**2025**|**2024**| |---|---|---|---| |||**£**|**£**| ||Members subscriptions|**3,903**|3,614| - **3 STAFF COSTS AND TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION** The Society does not employ staff, and the trustees are not remunerated. ## **4 CONTROL** The charity is under the control of the trustees. 14 **The Shaw Society** ## **Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025** ## **5 FUNDS** |**Restricted reserves:**
T. F. Evans
Mr M Rosenthal
Mrs J Holofcener
**Unrestricted**
**reserves**
**Total Reserves**|**At**
**31 Dec 2024**
Incoming
Resources
Resources
Expended
**At**
**31 Dec 2025**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
419
**419**
4,737
-4,737
**0**
255
**255**
27,562
37,290
-12,895
**51,957**| |---|---| ||32,973
37,290
-17,632
**52,631**| ## **T.F Evans** A restricted donation of £5,000 was received from the Evans family in 2010 to launch a new Playwriting Award, open to the public, for plays written in the style of Bernard Shaw. ## **Mr M Rosenthal** A restricted donation of £10,000 (of which £5,262 was expended in 2024) was received from Mr M Rosenthal in 2024. This was made in support of three specific objectives, namely, theatre performances at Shaw’s Corner, public relations work in support of performances at Shaw’s Corner and fundraising events for the Shaw Society. The remaining £4,737 was expended in 2025. In addition Mr Rosenthal made a further unrestricted donation of £5,000 in 2025. ## **Mrs J Holofcener** A restricted donation of £255 was received from Mrs J Holofcener as an initial contribution to a new academic support fund in memory of Kain Clark-Darby. ## **6. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS** As disclosed in Note 5, Mr M Rosenthal made a restricted donation of £5,000 to the Society. The total donations made by Trustees in 2025 was £5,000. (2024 £30,988) 15