LONDON TOPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 121 Annual Report of the Councll of the London Topographical Soclety ror 2020 2020 was a landmark year in more ways than one. Like a vast tsunarni, the pandemic exploded acro&s all aspects of life including those of the Society. There was no AGM, the first time since our inception in 1880 this had happened. even the two World Wars of the twentieth century fail¢d to prevent the Society from carrying out its legally mandated business. With the approval of the Charity conuniss1o the Council agreed to take its 2019 business at the 2021 AGM. The Society's annual publication for 2020 was London Pariyh Maps to 1900- a Catalogue ofmaps ofLondon Parishes wilhin the original London County Cowlcil Area. It was the result of a most ambitious project dcvclopcd from an unpublished work by the late Ralph Hyde, augmcnted and completed over severnl years by Simon Morris and members of the Society. with biographical notes and supplementary rnater1 by Laurence Wornis and an introduction by Pdcr Barber. The Society is most teful for the contributions of Linda Fisher and Steve Hartley at Scorpion Crcative in dealing with the challenges of copy4diting and designing such a complex publication. London Parish Maps weighed in at 2.7kg which could have resulted in expensive couricr delivery charges, compounded somewhat by the fact there w&8 no AGM and thus no members would have been able to pick up their copy from the meeling venue. However, after an appeal in the May Newsletter. Simon Morris was able to organise an enlarged band of volunteers to deliver the publication and personal deliveries were made to several hundred member4 usually arriving before those of the courier outside the Home Counties.
Personal annual publication deliveries bave been taking place for many y¢ars, usually on a smaller scale. This is an opportunity to express the Society's grntitude to all those members who undertake diStriblon work year after year on our behalf. As one of the two-whe¢led stalwarts said it's a good way of getting to know one's fellow members and locaE topography away from one's usual cycling routes. Council meetings were held in January, April and September to discuss the Society's publications programme, memb¢rship, fanceS and general administration. For the first tim¢, due to the pandemic, the April and S¢pt¢mber meetings were held r¢mot¢ly using Zoom technology. The Society's total income for 2020 was £33,295 while expenditure came to £45,877. The main reason for thc deficit was the Council's decision to increase spending on publicatAon production to make the 2020 publication a fjtting memoria) to Ralph Hyde. A grant of £500 was madc to the Survey of London for the digltisation of fSt-edItion Ordnance Survey maps of Whitechapel to be used in th¢ Survey's two Whitechapel volumes (54 and 55 in the series). During the year Hugh Cl¢av¢r resigned as the Society's Indep¢nd¢nl Examiner, a post he had held from 1988. The Society's new Hon. Examiner is Brcnda Hawkins who audited the 2020 accounts. During the year 87 new members joined the Society: at the end of 2020 there were 1351 paid-up members and two honorary members: HRH The Duke of Edinburg our Patron since 1952, and who sadly died in April 2021. and Hugh Cleaver. The Society's website (www.londontopsoc.org), launched in July 2019, continued to provide a platfonn for m¢mb¢rship applications. By mid-2020 il containd digital copies of all editions of the Society's Newsletter. first published in February 1975, and provided
digital access to Volumes Il- XYJX of the London Topographical Recor4 th¢ Society's journal dating back to 1901, the first edition being titled the Annual Record. The SIety's Newsletter w&$ published in May (No.90) and November (No.91) with articles rdnging widely over London past and present. No. 90: In Parliameni Square David Harrison outlined its history and transfomwtion frorn an area full of shops and dwellings to the 'desert' created in the early ninetecnth century and the giant roundabout in the twentieth century. Sheila O'connell explored what can be learnt of eighteen century London from William Hogarth's work in Hogarth's London. The usefulness. or otherwise, of Fire Plugs in London surv¢ycd by Nigel Tattersfield in his article In Case ofFire Break the Road Andrew Saint described an unexpected discovery in south London in An Early Speculation in Limibeih by John Nash. David Crawford continued his investigation ofchanges to London's historic industrial sites in Wandsworlh's Ram re-rampant. A short article with photos, Lockdown in London- some reactions, recorded the impact Covid-19 was Starting to have in the capital. No. 91: David Gaylard described a new scheme that allowed LMA volunteer staff to work at home during the pandemic in Volunteeringfor the London Metropolitan Archives during Covid-19. In A Walk through the City, Mike Wicksteed cxplor¢d th¢ effects of lockdown. Ken Gow¢rs wrote of the continuation of a twenticth-century tradition in The Calendarium Londinese, the London Almanac first produced by William Monk tn 1903. clnging London.. Smithfieldmarket and the Mtueum ofLondon traced the battle to sav¢ the Smithfield Market buildings from redevelopment. Derek Morris and Ken Cousins continued their exploratlon of the diverse character of the East London waterfront in St Katherine s before the Dockf. This edition of the Newslelter also contained an obituary for a forn)er Hon. Secretary, Stephen Marks, who died aged 88 in May 2020 and whose work in th¢ mid-1970s did much to establish thc Socicty in thc form il is day. Book reviews covered a variety of subjects including tA)ndon shopfronts, a history of Fulham Palac¢. Oxford Street in the Survey of tA)ndon's Volumc 53, British house names,
how animals make towns, London's ringways and a history of the Victoria Tower Gardens. At the suggestion of members, the Council set up the Ann Saunders Essay Prize in honour of the late Dr iknn Saunders (1930-2019). A prize of £IOOO will be awarded annually for an original and unpublished r¢s¢arch essay on the topography, development or buildings of London in any period. It is hoped the first award will be made at the 2022 AGM. Mike Wicksteed Hon. Secretary
LONDON TOPOGRAPHICAL SOC 2019 .184 S3.149 320 14294 28.750 27.&38 2.018 4.15S 37.816 18.312 1.1 AGM 0t held In 2(Y20 due to COVID.I91 Web8tte (Yebullt In 20191 1.188 1.714 7.967 307 113 7.561 14.643 Deftdt 2020/Surplu• 2019 12.582 3.417 1,4f2 45.877 32,427 2019 220 .012 2. 4S73 8,ICrf) 9.960 Stock at t1 OfPr year Addltlon8 to atk 4.561 I}.558 %)8.138 2.749 4376 val of $tock at ye8r end 3.072 20&138 199.721 12.582 3.417 Dtht 21Y201Surplus 2019 2.516 211.970 I.556 203.138
London Topographical Sodety Independent Examinees Report I report to the trustees on my examinatK)n of the accounts of the above tharity 1.the TrusVI for the year ended 31 December 2020. Responsibilities and &isis of Report As the charity's trustees, you a $)nsIble for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charitles Art 2011 ("the Acfl. Independent Examln¢rf$ Sl*ement I report in respect of my examlnatlon of the Trusys accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying Out my examination. I have followed all the applKable Directions given by the Charity Commisslon under sertion 1451511bl of the Act. I have completed my examinatioft. I confimi that no material matters have come to my attention In connettion with the exarnination which gives me cause to believe that in, any materlal respect: the accounting records We not kept In accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act. or the accounts did not accord with the accountin8 records: or the accounts did not compty wlth the appllcable requirements ConrnIng the fomi and content of accounts set out in the Charities IAccounts and Reports) Regulations 2C(t8 other than any requirement that the accounts gfve a 'true and fairf view which 15 IKIt a matter considered as part of an Independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other rnatters in connectlon wlth the examination to which attention should be drawn in this F2POrt in order to enable a proper understandin8 of the accounts to be reached. Signed .. Date 14 Ap.ril 20P.O Brenda Janice Hawkins Bsc 100 Beechwood Road South Croydon CR2 OAB