The British Agricultural History Society Annual Report for the Financial Year 1 February 2020 to 31 January 2021 Charity Number 251851
Contact Address
British Agricultural Society email: treasurer@bahs.org.uk Department of History University of Exeter Amory Building Rennes Drive Exeter EX4 4RJ
Bankers
Lloyds Bank plc 1-2 Market Place Reading RG1 2EQ
Examiner
Mrs Zoe Crumby, FMAAT ATT Bridford Wood House Bridford Exeter Devon EX6 7ER
Objects of the Society
The Society exists to promote the study of agricultural history and the history of rural economy and society. It does this through the publication of its biannual journal The Agricultural History Review , and its newsletter, Rural History Today, and by holding at least two conferences each year. These activities are contained in the Society’s constitution adopted at its foundation in 1953, and subsequently modified at the Society’s Annual General Meetings in 2000 and 2016.
Executive Committee (Trustees) at year-end 2020-21
Dr P Brassley (President) Prof H French (Chair) Dr W Shannon (Treasurer) Dr J Bowen Dr R Ford Dr J Gayton Dr C Griffin Prof J Martin Dr N Verdon Dr N Whyte Dr P Warde Dr J Morgan
Prof R W Hoyle (Acting Secretary) stood down as a Trustee during the year
Report on Activities during the Financial Year
Covid-19
The pandemic had the effect of causing us to cancel the Spring Conference at short notice. All fees were reimbursed to those who had booked, but we had to forfeit the deposit we had paid to the venue. As a result of the cancellation of the Conference, no AGM was held. Instead, the Executive Committee (EC) met on 7 May by Zoom, and resolved to defer the AGM until 2021, with all officers and members of the EC remaining in place until then. The accounts for the year 2019-20 were accepted by the EC, as Trustees, subject to approval at the 2021 AGM; and it was agreed to send the annual report and accounts to the Charity Commission. The EC met on two other occasions during the year, by Zoom. The Winter Conference went ahead in ‘virtual’ form, by Zoom, the EC having taken the decision that access would be free, and that the costs of setting up the Zoom account, and other costs would be absorbed. It should be noted that the deficit for the Winter Conference in the accounts includes a late invoice for catering at the 2019 Winter conference, of £1095, paid in this financial year.
Publishing
This continues to be the principal means by which the Society fulfils its objectives. The Society published two issues of The Agricultural History Review , Volume 68 (2020) in June and January. Back numbers of the Review are freely available to all via the website, three years in arrears: the website currently has copies up to 2017 (vol 65). The Society also published two issues of the newsletter Rural History Today (nos 39 and 40), which is widely distributed beyond the membership of the Society, and is
freely available to all on the BAHS website. The website also, amongst other things, hosts LIBRAL (Library of Irish and British Rural and Agricultural Literature), which provides direct free access to digitised literature on the subject. During the year £8546 was spent on LIBRAL development, scanning a wide range of works.
Grants
The Society offers grants to individuals, societies and institutions in the furtherance of its objects. During the year no grants or bursaries were taken up. A prize award of £500 was made from the Joan Thirsk Fund, thus exhausting the balance in that fund. Awards in future will be paid for out of the society’s revenues.
Membership
The long-term decrease in Institutional members continued. However, the number of individual members rallied somewhat. Most new members continue to join through the website, paying by PayPal. Electronic access to the Review via Ingenta is provided free for individual members and institutional subscribers (Ingenta’s costs are treated as part of the Production and Despatch of the Review ).
Accounts for the Year to 31 January 2021
Last year, on the advice of our Examiner, we changed our accounting method from accruals-based to ‘receipts and payments’, which is more appropriate for a society of our size, and allows better focus on the in-year operating surplus or deficit, rather than on the unrealised movements in the value of our investments. This year’s accounts continue on this new basis.
The Society made a loss of £11,917 in the year compared with a surplus of £7,650 in 2019-20 (which had been affected in part by the decision to cease accruals). The effects of this can be seen in both Journal Sales (subscription to Review by institutions), which were boosted in 2019-20 by crediting advance subscriptions to the year in which they were received, rather than accruing them: and also in Spring Conference income and expenditure: the 2019-20 figure, as noted in last year’s accounts, was boosted by discounting advance fees, balancing a loss the previous year (2018-19). The loss this year on the Spring Conference is mainly a result of lost deposit, plus reimbursement of some advance payments taken in the previous year. The loss on the Winter Conference is largely accounted for by the late invoice from the 2019 conference, as mentioned above, plus the costs of setting up the virtual 2020 conference.
On the expenditure side, Review costs showed an increase as a result of late invoicing of the despatch of AHR 67:2, resulting in the account carrying the costs of three lots
of postage & packing charges in the year, instead of two. Website costs increased, in part due to time spent on developing a new membership form, and other pages, plus the emailed Newsletter. The Society substantially increased its investment in Libral, amounting to £8546 this year.
Unrealised movements in investments showed a significant loss on our M&G Charifund holding, which wiped out much of the gain on the previous year. Investment income was also down on the previous year. The balance sheet reflects both the operational loss made on the year, and also the unrealised losses in the value of our investments. Nevertheless, the society continues to be in a healthy position, with some £121,910 of cash and investments at current values (£138,630 in 2019-20).
Reserves Policy
The Society’s policy is, taking one year with the next, to spend the income it receives in pursuit of its objectives, while setting aside any surpluses to cover future projects, and to generate future income to support the society’s grants and awards. The Society has no Restricted Funds. Its Unrestricted Funds currently stand at £121,910 out of which two Designated Funds have been set aside by the Trustees, as follows
Designated Projects and Initiatives Fund , currently standing at £18,776 (invested in COIF). This is set aside to pay for new and continuing activities which cannot readily be funded from in-year revenue. Expenditure from this fund is at the discretion of the Trustees, but in particular is expected to provide for the future development of the website, and the LIBRAL digitisation project.
Research and Grants Fund , currently standing at £47,810 (invested in CAF and St James Place). This is intended to be an investment fund, the income from which (£1450 in the current year) will be used for the provision of grants and donations to support new research, and events such as conferences, awards and publications in the Society’s area of agricultural and rural history.
The Unrestricted, Undesignated balance of our reserves stands at £48,156, equivalent to approximately one year’s current expenditure. It is the intention of the Trustees to aim to maintain this fund at a level sufficient to cover seasonal and unexpected fluctuations between income and expenditure, without having to sell any of our investments, which might incur significant losses.
Dr William D Shannon March 2021
THE BRITISH AGRICULTURAL HISTORY SOCIETY
BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 JANUARY 2021
| £ | £ | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 CURRENT ASSETS Treasurer's Account 13261 M&G Charibond 34895 CAF Income Fund 18776 COIF Charities Ethical Investment Account 25944 St. James Place-Unit Trust 29034 |
2019-20 25548 40060 18723 25030 29269 |
||
| 121,910 0 |
138,630 370 |
||
| Less: CURRENT LIABILITIES Joan Thirsk Award Fund 0 |
370 | ||
| TOTAL ASSETS less CURRENT LIABILITIES RESERVES as at 31 January 2020 Excess of Expenditure over Income for the year Sum of unrealisedgains/losses on Investments RESERVESas at 31 January 2021 Represented by: Restricted Reserves Designated Reserves: Research & Grants Fund Projects & Initiatives Fund Unrestricted, Undesignated Funds |
|||
| 121910 | 138260 | ||
| 138260 -11917 -4433 |
117394 7650 13216 |
||
| 121910 | 138260 | ||
| 0 47810 25944 48156 |
0 47992 25030 65238 |
||
| 121910 | 138260 |
The above Balance Sheet is in accordance with the books and records furnished to me and is correct to my knowledge and belief
Z.CRUMBY FMAAT ATT, Examiner 16 February 2021
THE BRITISH AGRICULTURAL HISTORY SOCIETY
Income and Expenditure Account for the period 1 February 2020 to 31 January 2021
| INCOME Subscriptions Journal Sales Sales of Back Issues & Publications Royalties Gift Aid Refund Donations Spring Conference Fees Less SpringConference Expenses Winter Conference Fees Less Winter Conference Expenses Interest on CAF Deposit Account Interest on COIF Deposit Interest on St James Place Fund Net Operating Deficit Unrealised movements in Investments M & G Charifund Loss/Gain CAF Income Fund Loss/Gain COIF Income Fund Loss/Gain St James Place Unit Trust Loss/Gain |
-900 2292 |
£ 2020-21 11743 19875 216 3258 1473 170 -3192 -1549 464 924 986 |
13115 6876 |
£ 2019-20 11929 24910 11 3114 1287 6239 -549 500 771 1168 |
EXPENDITURE | EXPENDITURE | £ 2020-21 24097 3893 130 23 2370 1943 250 526 560 2792 90 982 0 83 0 0 8546 |
£ 2019-20 21599 3937 0 1190 2370 1981 175 581 500 1035 223 890 193 417 75 1308 5256 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Production and Despatch Review | |||||||||
| Rural History Today | |||||||||
| Joan Thirsk award | |||||||||
| Executive Committee Expenses | |||||||||
| Editors Remuneration | |||||||||
| Assistant Treasurers' Fees | |||||||||
| Examiners Fee | |||||||||
| Office Costs | |||||||||
| 0 1549 |
1450 1999 |
Casual Labour | |||||||
| Website Maintenance | |||||||||
| PayPal Management | |||||||||
| Newsletters and other Mailings | |||||||||
| Insurance | |||||||||
| PayPal charges | |||||||||
| BALH Subscription | |||||||||
| Research Grants | |||||||||
| Libral Development | |||||||||
| 34368 | 49380 0 |
Net Operating Surplus | 46285 0 |
41730 | |||||
| 11917 | 7650 | ||||||||
| 46285 | 49380 | 46285 | 49380 | ||||||
| -5165 53 914 -235 |
7488 1067 3358 1303 |
||||||||
| -4433 | 13216 |
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Se¢tion A Indepèndent Examinèr's Report Report to the truste fflembars of QITIS ¢ICULTuÉAL HisrY 60CS&T On accounts for the year endad Charity no Irf any) si 120£1 25165) Set out on pagots I re[rt to Ihe trustees on my exaMinalK of the accounts of the alM)ve tharityllhe Tnjsl'l for the year ended 31 1 01 Responsibilllles and As the tharity trustees rrf the Tru51. you a respsIble for the prgpardti)n bash of report of the acunIS in ac£ornlance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 1.the Act"). I report ir respect of my examination of ihe Trust's accoun15 carrred out under sect 145 of the 2011 Act and in (arying out my examinati¢. I have fDllowed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515Mbl of the ACL I have wmpleled my examination. I confimi that no material matters have come lo my attention ') in o)nneclion with the examinabon whith gives me cause to believe that in. any material respect: acc(xJnting rn(L)rds were not kept in accordanc* wth section 130 of the Act or th& ac(ounts do not accord wth the accounting records Independent examlnerfs stalement I have no o)ncems and have come across no other matters in connection th the examinatK)n to which attention should be drawn in ortler lo enabS9 a proper undetstanding of the accounts to be reathed. ' Please delsle the woKlsyn brackets rf they do not appty. Si9d. Namg: zoe l3-/ Relevant profossional qualification{$l or body {If any): FMtlAT ATF Address: A6 78r IER October 2018