Annual report for 2023
To be read at AGM 16[th] April 2024.
In 2022-23 the society continued its work publishing monographs and funding research. We published Volume 177 (parts 665 and 666) in 2023.
Our issues with monographs not being distributed by our printers to our members appears to have been fixed, although we invite members to contact us if they are still having problems.
At our AGM in April 2023 two Richard Owen Awards were made:
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-Dr Georgios Georgalis (Polish Academy of Sciences),
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-Prof Paul Barrett (Natural History Museum, London).
Our Edward Forbes Prize was awarded to Dr Alessandro Carniti (Università degli Studi di Milano).
The balance shown in the Statement of Accounts stands at £101,187.47. The income over Expenditure is £5,005.54
At Annual General Meeting, Dr Yves Candela retired as Vice-President, and Dr Laura Cotton and Dr Imran Rahman retired as Ordinary Members of Council.
Dr Caroline Buttler was re-elected as President, Dr Elsa Panciroli was re-elected as Secretary, Miss Emma Bernard was elected as Vice President, Dr Timothy McCormick was re-elected as Treasurer, Dr Ben Moon, Dr Susan Beardmore and Dr Lucy McCobb were re-elected as Editors, Dr Anthony Butcher was re-elected as Web Officer, and Dr Michela Johnson, Dr Jeffrey R. Thompson and Dr Neil Clark were re-elected as Ordinary Members.
Ms Amber Wood-Bailey was elected as Ordinary Member.
Mr Cassius Morrison was later co-opted as Communications Officer after the AGM, as the role was still vacant.
We also announced the new Marsh Palaeoart Award, sponsored by the Marsh Charitable Trust. This award recognises talent in the depiction of fossil faunas, in keeping with the foundational aims of the Society. This is particularly exciting, as it ties into the reasons for our establishment over 175 years ago, which is the depiction of fossil faunas of the British Isles.
We successfully launched our Marsh Palaeoart Award in Autumn 2023. We received 16 entries including traditional painting and sculpture, as well as digital reconstructions. Our judging panel included Guest Judge Dr Mark Witton, an
established palaeoartist and palaeontologist. The standard of the entrants was incredibly high, and an overall winner and two highly commended entries were selected as part of that process.
Since the AGM we sponsored the following events:
-The conference 200 Years of Dinosaurs: New Perspectives on an Ancient World, held at the NHMUK to celebrate the naming of the first dinosaur, Megalosaurus. – A selection of our monographs on key British dinosaurs were made available free to non-members as part of this celebration.
-We sponsored a field trip at the Palaeontological Association’ annual conference in 2023, held in Cambridge. The trip was to visit Eocene and Pliocene sites in the London Clay and Red Crag Formations.
-The Progressive Palaeontology Conference in Liverpool
We also agreed to sponsor:
-The Symposium on Toarcian Palaeobiology, to be held in Bath in June 2024.
This concludes the annual report.
12th April 2024
Income and Expenditure Account for the Financial Year 2023 (ending 31/12/2023)
| Income (£) Members subscriptions1 Stocks and shares dividends "Hands on Palaeo" royalty CUP royalty Informa UK royalty Informa UK Editors Fund Informa UK Bursary Informa UK Typesetting contribution2 Misc EBSCO payments Compensation from NatWest3 Expenditure (£) Annual Report printing & mailing4 Monograph typesetting5 E Forbes Prize R Owen Research Fund SVPCA sponsorship 11th Intl. Symp. Cephalopods sponsorship Donation to Mary Anning Statue Appeal Donation to Rutland Ichthyosaur Dig PalAss Annual Meeting field trip sponsorship AGM / Annual Address6 Council expenses7 Website expenses8 Balances carried forward at year start: Current A/C PayPal Income (see above): Balances carried forward at year end: Current A/C PayPal Expenditure (see above): Income over expenditure: |
2023 2022 2021 £2,336.52 £2,584.53 £1,996.38 £6,174.98 £19,360.32 £9,406.67 £101.76 £189.95 - £128.60 £51.60 - £4,960.21 £6,296.35 £6,872.40 £1,500.00 £1,500.00 £1,500.00 - £500.00 - £16,666.00 - - - £124.00 - - - £100.00 |
|---|---|
| £31,868.07 £30,606.75 £19,875.45 2023 2022 2021 - £200.18 £138.02 £5,464.80 £17,640.00 - £250.00 £250.00 £250.00 £910.00 £1,001.80 £1,000.00 - £500.00 - - £500.00 - - - £1,050.00 - - £1,000.00 £1,000.00 £829.80 £1,190.97 - £2,949.34 £1,006.26 £64.75 - £3,312.00 - |
|
| £11,403.94 £25,601.21 £3,502.77 2023 2022 2021 £101,187.47 £96,893.46 £82,027.16 £14,954.97 £14,243.44 £12,737.06 £31,868.07 £30,606.75 £19,875.45 |
|
| £148,010.51 £141,743.65 £114,639.67 2023 2022 2021 £120,243.58 £101,187.47 £96,893.46 £16,362.99 £14,954.97 £14,243.44 £11,403.94 £25,601.21 £3,502.77 |
|
| £148,010.51 £141,743.65 £114,639.67 £20,464.13 £5,005.54 £16,372.68 |
Schedule of Investments and Income for 2023
| Wide Range 8262.755 units M&G Charifund 57797.805 units M&G Managed Growth Fund 868 units Shires Income PLC 50p ordinary shares 5920 units Securities Trust of Scotland Ordinary Shares SR Units 3126.21 COIF Charity, Invest Inc Total Investments Income from Bulman Fund (extracted from above account) 719.69 units M&G Charifund 639 units M&G Charifund |
Cost (£) Market Value (£) 2023 Income (£) £62,645.78 £118,569.71 £3,676.92 £1,187.70 £79,113.64 £527.40 £910.51 £1,961.68 £67.71 £655.27 £12,846.40 £199.80 |
|---|---|
| £65,399.26 £212,491.43 £4,471.83 £20,061.55 £62,039.64 £1,703.15 £85,460.81 £274,531.07 £6,174.98 £7,807.77 £10,329.67 £320.33 £748.91 £9,171.53 £284.41 |
|
| £8,556.68 £19,501.21 £604.74 |
I have examined the above account, have compared it with the vouchers, books and records presented to me, and find it to be correct.
A J M Barron, Examiner 10/04/2024
Notes:
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Subscriptions are accounted for in the year in which they are credited to the current account.
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Informa UK (Taylor & Francis) have agreed to pay a contribution toward typesetting the monographs. This payment is for 2022 & 2023.
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NatWest paid a nominal sum into the account in recognition of an error on their part.
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The cost of the 2023 Annual Report will appear in the accounts for 2024.
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After several years of typesetting by Taylor & Francis the Society took this over again in 2022. (See note 2).
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The 2021 AGM was a virtual event with no associated expense.
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The 2021 value reflects reduced expenses during the pandemic.
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Website expenses (migration & hosting) for 2023 will appear in the accounts for 2024.
Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of the Palaeontographical Society
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Palaeontographical Society for the year ended 31[st] December 2023.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’). The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed.
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable 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 giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records.
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.
Signed:
Name: A J Mark Barron
Relevant professional qualification or membership of professional bodies (if any): Address: 20 Highbury Road, Keyworth, Notts NG12 5JB
Date: 10[th] April 2024