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2020-09-30-accounts

THE NORTHERN CERAMIC SOCIETY REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2020 CHARITY NO: 287630

CONTENTS
Page(s)
Annual Report of the Trustees 2 - 5
Statement of Financial Activities 6
Balance Sheet 7
Notes to the Financial Statements 8 – 11
Independent Examiner’s Report 12

THE NORTHERN CERAMIC SOCIETY

Annual Report of the Trustees For the Year Ended 30 September 2020

This report has been prepared in accordance with the Charity Commission’s publication “Financial Reporting Standard 102 (“FRS 102”) and “Update Bulletin 1”, applicable to reporting periods beginning on or after 1[st] January 2016”.

SECTION 1: REFERENCE & ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Charity Name: The Northern Ceramic Society (also known as the NCS) Registered Charity Number: 287630 Charity’s Principal Address:

The Treasurer; 2 Petton Hall, Burlton, Shropshire, SY4 5TH

Bankers:

HSBC Bank plc, Bramhall branch, 42 Woodford Road, Bramhall, Stockport, Cheshire, SK7 1PA, Virgin Money plc, Jubilee House, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 4PL

Independent Examiner:

Mr Alan Walden, Sandy, Bedfordshire Trustees: see Section 2 below Financial Year: 1 October 2019 to 30 September 2020

SECTION 2: STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT

The Charity is an unincorporated association, governed by the current Rules of The Northern Ceramic Society (‘The Rules’), which were revised and adopted unanimously at the Annual General Meeting held on 1 June 2019.

The Trustees of the Charity are its Management Committee, elected or appointed under The Rules, and comprise five elected Officers and six elected ordinary members. In addition, the Editors for the time being of the Society’s Journal and Newsletter respectively, who are appointed by the Management Committee, are also exofficio members of the Management Committee, and thus also Trustees of the Charity.

The following persons served as Trustees throughout the financial year and are the Trustees at the date of this report, having been appointed at a previous Annual General Meeting and reappointed at the Annual General Meeting on 1 June 2019, or co-opted to fill a vacancy.

Elected Officers Website Officer Patricia Halfpenny
Chairman Patricia Halfpenny Publications Officer Jessica Davies
Secretary Deborah Skinner Programme Secretary (position vacant)
Treasurer Brian Allaker Elected Members
Membership Secretary Jessica Davies Nicola Scott
Appointed Officers Rachel Conroy
Journal Editor Peter Hyland Miranda Goodby
Joint Newsletter Editors Clare & Alan Walker Julie Edwards
Gaye Blake-Roberts

The Charity has no employees and its Officers, as and when authorised by the Management Committee, act to administer the charity. In their administrative capacity, they are reimbursed their expenses, as detailed in Note 6 to the Financial Statements. None of the Trustees, nor any people connected with them, receive any remuneration. All trustees are subscribing members of the Society, but none receive any benefits from the Society other than those benefits which are available to all other members.

2

The Charity is not subject to a statutory audit, (as defined in Section 144 of The Charities Act 2011), and accordingly the Trustees wish to clarify that they interpret the word “Audited” contained in Section 6a of The Rules as meaning “subject to Independent Examination as required by Section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 and described in CC31 & CC32 - Independent Examination of Charity Accounts”.

The trustees have adopted a policy of Accrual Accounting, (though not obliged to do so by Section 133 of the Charities Act 2011) and have documented their Customs and Practices for controlling expenditure.

Dr Maurice Hillis served as our President throughout the year, having been appointed by the Management Committee under Rule 3(e).

The Charity’s website is: www.northernceramicsociety.org The Charity has no formal subcommittees.

SECTION 3: OBJECTIVES

The Objectives of the Charity, as defined in section 2 of The Rules, are:

SECTION 4: ACTIVITIES & ACHIEVEMENTS

Regular Publications

During the year, the Society published three Newsletter numbers 196 – 198 comprising 64, 80, and 60 A5 pages respectively, in total 204 pages (compared with 276 pages in 2018-19), and Journal 36 comprising 168 pages in 10 x 8 inches format (compared to 144 pages in the same format last year).

Meetings

Three regular meetings were held during the year with a further four and the Summer Visit cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Venues were the Spode Museum Trust Heritage Centre, the Raven Mason Collection at Keele University, and the Walker Art Gallery Liverpool. Average attendance was about 36 people and 8 people made presentations at these meetings on a wide range of subjects covering British and European ceramics of the 18[th] to the 21[st] century and Chinese Yixing stoneware. Planned meetings for the remainder of the year, the Summer visit and the AGM were rolled over into the next and following years’ programme.

Seminar and Summer School

The Society organised one residential event during the year. Winter Weekend was held at Pendulum Hotel, Manchester, from 24 to 26 January 2020 on the theme Ceramic Beginnings. Eight lectures were given. The event gave participants the opportunity to discuss and share their interests in ceramics as well as enjoy the presentations. 52 people attended the weekend seminar. The normal Summer School was not held this year due to Covid-19 restrictions.

3

Webmaster Report

As promised in last year’s report we have upgraded the website to better facilitate the purchase of publications and enable payments for memberships, renewals and fees for conferences and seminars. We are pleased that this has been seen as a useful addition for new and renewing members.

During this difficult year, the NCS has added more content to the website and tried to maintain contact with members through a series of electronic communications.

The website now has additional papers written by members offering many new resources for members wishing to do research. These include: Allbut’s 1802 Directory & Map of the Staffordshire Potteries; Notes from Scottish Custom Port Records; A guide to Dudson’s Ebony Jetware; A list of “China-men”, their customers and associates in 17[th] , 18[th] , and 19[th] century Britain and abroad; and a pdf of a catalogue of a private collection entitled An English Pottery Heritage . The list of Alcock mould numbers has been updated and new papers include an article about William Littler’s Marriage, information about Anthony Ammatt, and a discussion of the Stevenson Brothers – Potters of Cobridge.

We have used Mailchimp as our email server as it offers GDPR compliance and manages our list of 400 members’ addresses for each mailing. In the 12 months March 2019 to March 2020 the NCS sent out 7 editions of E-News in between the regular hardcopy Newsletters, and 35 e-invitations to various Zoom lectures. If you are not receiving these E-News and E-Invites and would like to, let us have your email address.

Public Benefit

The Trustees believe that this charity meets the public benefit requirement of the Charities Act 2011 in three different ways: (1) its publications are available to the public through the copyright libraries and at the libraries of over 30 institutional members; (2) the Society offers bursaries for its residential events for the benefit of those who are unable to afford to attend; (3) visitors are welcome at all lecture meetings, though for security reasons at most meetings they are required to give advance notice of their intention to attend to the Secretary; however, we are specifically advertising some lecture meetings as open meetings without prior notice of attendance.

The Society also actively promotes its relationships with museums that have significant ceramic collections. The Society’s Newsletters include a regular feature of ‘Museum News’ to which all relevant museums are invited to send contributions to publicise their forthcoming programmes.

The proceeds of the sale of Harold Blakey’s collection, which he generously bequeathed to the Society, are designated as the Harold Blakey Bequest and are to be spent over the next six years on the Society’s charitable objectives; part of the Bequest has been ring-fenced for a major exhibition at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in 2022, the Society’s 50[th] anniversary year.

The archive of the Society’s late President, Dr Geoffrey Godden, which he gave to the Society, continues to be publicly available at Stoke City Archives subject to their usual arrangements for public access.

Membership

On 30[th] September 2020, there were 490 memberships including dual and institutional memberships. This is down 38 from 528 the previous year. This figure includes any organisations who receive publications but do not pay a membership subscription: i.e., legal deposit agencies.

22 new members joined the Society, less than half of the previous year. 60 members resigned, died, or did not renew and could not be contacted. We lost a similar number of members to the previous year but failed to recruit as many new members.

76 of the subscriptions are overseas memberships:

USA & Canada 58
Australia & New Zealand 11
Europe 6
Japan 1

4

SECTION 5: FINANCIAL REVIEW

Year ended 30 September 2020

The attached financial statements show the current state of finances. The Trustees consider the situation to be financially sound.

During the year under review, the ordinary activities of the Society, i.e., meeting costs, administration costs and the production of the Journal and Newsletters, resulted in a deficit of £2,382, considerably less than the previous year largely due to one less Newsletter being produced. Expenditure was down by £3,600, but against this, income was also down by £2,000, mainly due to a continuing reduction in the number of membership subscriptions.

In the year under review, the Summer School was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Winter Weekend ended financially in balance so there was no excess income to help offset the ordinary activity deficit as there was last year.

We continue to receive a small income from the Godden Copyright Bequest and pay for the website enhancement from the Blakey Bequest.

The Society recorded an overall deficit of £1,475, down from £1,810 the previous year.

The Statement of the Financial Activities on the next page gives details on the year’s income and expenditure.

Reserves Policy

After a significant reduction in the Society’s reserves during the last three years, the trustees consider that the current level of reserves is appropriate, prudent, and necessary to be able to respond to appropriate opportunities to fund future projects to promote the Society’s charitable objectives, and they are actively looking for such opportunities.

SECTION 6: FUTURE PLANS

The trustees continued to plan the Society’s activities along the pattern which has been successful in recent years, namely, (1) publication of Newsletters and a Journal when appropriate, usually annually, (2) regular lecture meetings, which for the 2020-21 programme were cancelled or postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions on live events, therefore an alternative programme of collaborative online presentations was made available to members, and (3) residential seminars, normally two held annually, which were also postponed until a future programme when Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. Future programmes will include lecture meetings held over from 2020-21.

On behalf of the Trustees

Patricia Halfpenny (Chairman)

Brian Allaker (Treasurer)

20 May 2021

5

Statement of Financial Activities For the Year Ended 30 September 2020

Notes
INCOMING RESOURCES
Voluntary Income :
2
Subscriptions
Gift Aid Tax Reclaimed
Blakey Bequest
Godden Copyright
Sundry Donations
Investment Income :
3
Bank Interest
Income from Charitable Activities :
4
Publication Sales
Residential Events
Special Event Donations
Mailing fees
Total Incoming Resources :
RESOURCES EXPENDED
Costs of Generating Voluntary Income :
Website Maintenance
Website Enhancement
Costs of Charitable Activities:
4
Printed Publications
Residential Events
Meetings and Events
Donations to Museums
Office Support Costs
NCS & Blakey Manchester Bursaries
Godden Archive
Depreciation of Fixed Assets
Governance Costs:
5
Committee Expenses
Printing Annual Report
Total Resources Expended
Net Income/(Expenditure) for the Year
Fund Balance Brought Forward
Fund Balance Carried Forward		 £
£
£
£
15,520
17,116
2,327
2,488
0
0
422
460
414
373
18,683
20,437
509
579
657
894
14,714
34,961
110
726
0
120
15,481
36,701
34,673
57,717
1,256
750
0
325
19,126
20,876
14,395
32,623
335
1,930
0
100
472
1,346
0
650
0
0
138
305
34,466
57,830
128
330
298
292
426
622
36,148
59,527
(1,475)
(1,810)
48,502
50,312
47,027
48,502
2019-20
2018-19		 £
£
£
£
15,520
17,116
2,327
2,488
0
0
422
460
414
373
18,683
20,437
509
579
657
894
14,714
34,961
110
726
0
120
15,481
36,701
34,673
57,717
1,256
750
0
325
19,126
20,876
14,395
32,623
335
1,930
0
100
472
1,346
0
650
0
0
138
305
34,466
57,830
128
330
298
292
426
622
36,148
59,527
(1,475)
(1,810)
48,502
50,312
47,027
48,502
2019-20
2018-19
59,527
(1,810)
50,312
48,502

6

Balance Sheet

as at 30 September 2020

Notes
Fixed Assets
Tangible Assets
Computer Equipment Cost
less Depreciation
7
Current Assets
Debtors
8
Cash in Virgin Money Notice Account
Cash in Virgin Money Deposit Accounts
Cash in Bank & PayPal Current Accounts
Current Liabilities
Creditors
9
Net Current Assets
Net Assets
Represented by:
Designated Funds
10
Unrestricted Funds
Total Funds		 £
£
£
£
4,539
4,539
4,539
4,401
0
138
138
186
42,032
41,513
4,212
5,174
4,645
8,279
51,027
55,152
4,000
6,788
47,027
48,364
47,027
48,502
17,790
17,790
29,237
30,712
47,027
48,502
2020
2019		 £
£
£
£
4,539
4,539
4,539
4,401
0
138
138
186
42,032
41,513
4,212
5,174
4,645
8,279
51,027
55,152
4,000
6,788
47,027
48,364
47,027
48,502
17,790
17,790
29,237
30,712
47,027
48,502
2020
2019
48,502
17,790
30,712
48,502

The notes on pages 8 to 11 form part of the financial statements

The Financial Statements on pages 6 to 11 were approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf by:

Patricia Halfpenny (Chairman)

Brian Allaker (Treasurer)

20 May 2021

7

Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 30 September 2020

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

(a) Basis of Accounting

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with applicable accounting standards for accrual accounting, and with the Charity Commission’s publication “Financial Reporting Standard 102 (“FRS 102”) and “Update Bulletin 1””. There are two exceptions to the SORP in the timing of the reporting of income and expenditure in the Statement of Financial Affairs, namely, (i) subscriptions are reported in the financial year to which they relate, and (ii) deposits and prepayments for residential events are reported in the financial year in which the events take place. The effects of this policy can be seen in the analysis of the relevant balance sheet items in Notes 8 and 9 below.

(b) Depreciation

Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life.

Computer, Video and Audio Equipment : 33⅓% of cost

2. VOLUNTARY INCOME

(a) Subscriptions

Members of the Society pay an annual subscription. Subscriptions received in foreign currencies are exchanged for £ sterling in batches, and the resulting income is recorded net of the special processing charge levied by the Charity’s bankers.

(b) Donations

Donations include occasional donations from members of the public, Society members, or other bodies.

3. INVESTMENT INCOME

Investment income comprises interest on bank deposit accounts, namely, the Society’s two deposit accounts with Virgin Money.

4. CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

(a) Publications

The Society publishes its own educational publications in accordance with the aims of the Society, which are either primarily for distribution free of charge to the Society’s registered subscribers, and/or are for sale to the general public. The total cost of production, (including the Editor’s costs), and the initial distribution costs of any publication, are charged to the year of production. These costs are treated as Costs of Charitable Activities . Any copies of publications that remain undistributed or unsold at the end of a financial year are retained by the Society for sale, or for further free distribution. These copies are valued at zero, and are not accounted for as assets. The income from the sale of publications is accounted for as Income from Charitable Activities in the year in which they are sold.

8

Notes to the Financial Statements

For the Year Ended 30 September 2020

(b) Residential Events

From time to time, the Society may organise residential events such as a weekend seminar or Summer School. Such events are accounted for as charitable activities as they comprise primary purpose trading. The income from residential events is accounted for as Income from Charitable Activities , and the costs of organising such events is accounted for as Costs of Charitable Activities .

(c) Meetings and Other Events

The costs of lecture meetings and other educational events run by the Society are accounted for as Costs of Charitable Activities . Speakers at these meetings may claim reimbursement of direct expenses, but no fees are paid. The regular scheduled meetings of the Society are free of charge to members and their guests. From time to time, the Society holds one-day events in addition to this regular programme, and extra costs are incurred. Those attending are asked to contribute towards defraying these costs. Such contributions are treated as Income from Charitable Activities , under the heading of “special event donations”. Residential events are accounted for separately as described in Note 4 (b) above.

(d) Donations Made

Under Rule 2(v), the Society may make donations to other non-commercial organisations involved in ceramic display or research, subject to financial limits. Such donations are accounted for as Costs of Charitable Activities .

(e) 3[rd] Party Mailings

From time to time, the Society may include in its mailings to members leaflets from 3[rd] parties promoting publications and events relating to the charitable objectives of the Society. Income received for this service is accounted for as Income from Charitable Activities . The costs associated with the handling of these leaflets are accounted for as Costs of Charitable Activities .

(f) Support Costs

The Society is managed and run by a voluntary, unpaid committee. Each committee member can be reimbursed for the direct cost of office supplies, printing, postage and telecom usage that are used exclusively to carry out their duties on behalf of the Society. These reimbursements are made against expense claims. Such expenditure, and other stationery bought directly by the Society solely for its charitable activities, is accounted for as Costs of Charitable Activities .

(g) Depreciation

The fixed assets owned by the Society are used exclusively for the charitable objectives of the Society, and their depreciation is accounted for as Costs of Charitable Activities .

5. GOVERNANCE COSTS

Committee Expenses comprise costs of room hire for committee meetings and reimbursed direct costs of attending committee meetings and the AGM, which committee members may claim.

9

Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 30 September 2020

6. REIMBURSEMENT OF TRUSTEES’ EXPENSES

During the year, a total of £56 of expenses was reimbursed to Trustees of the Charity. Further explanations of the types of expenses are given elsewhere in these Notes.

Type of Expense Value No.of Trustees
£ Claiming
Travel to committee meeting 56 2

7. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

Fixed assets comprise computer hardware and software for use by the Editors of the Society’s Journal and Newsletter and video and audio equipment for use at meetings. All are depreciated and written off over 3 years. Movements in fixed assets during the year are shown in the following table:

Cost of Fixed Assets
Balance at 30 September 2019
Acquisitions
less Disposals
Balance at 30 September 2020
Depreciation
Balance at 30 September 2019
Depreciation charged this year
less Depreciation on Disposals
Balance at 30 September 2020
Net Book Value at 30 September 2020		 This year
£
4,539
0
4,539
0
4,539
4,402
137
4,539
0
4,539
0		 Last year
£
4,539
0
4,539
0
4,539
4,097
305
4,402
0
4,402
137

10

Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 30 September 2020

8. DEBTORS AND PREPAYMENTS

Amounts falling due within one year
Debtors - Membership Subscriptions
Debtors - Accrued Interest (Virgin Money)
Mailing Fees
Prepayments - re. Seminars
Total		 This year
Last year
£
£
138
186
0
0
0
0
138
186

9. CREDITORS AND ACCRUALS

Amounts falling due within one year
Trade creditors
Deferred income - Subscriptions paid in advance
Deferred income - Seminar Deposits paid in advance
Total		 This year
£
0
4,000
0
4,000		 Last year
£
3,252
3,415
120
6,787

10. HAROLD BLAKEY BEQUEST FUND

Transport of Collection
Auction Result After Commission
Further Income from Non-Sale Items
Redevelopment of the Society’s Website
Winter Seminar 2016 Bursaries
Summer Seminar 2019 Bursary
Designated Towards Future Exhibition
Available Balance		 Debit
£
2,400
4,062
505
325
7,292		 Credit
£
24,852
230
25,082
10,000
7,790
17,790

11

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of The Northern Ceramic Society For the Year Ended 30 September 2020

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of The Northern Ceramic Society (“The Society”) for the year ended 30 September 2020.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Society, 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 Society’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:

  1. Accounting records were not kept in respect of the Society as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. The accounts do not accord with those records; or

  2. The accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement 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.

Alan Walden, Sandy, Bedfordshire, 4 July 2021

12