The Prometheus Trust
Chairman’s Report 2022-23
The Prometheus Trust has restarted its regular activities following the covid interruptions of the last two years and we are pleased to combine them with an expansion of virtual ones, as the reach of the Trust widens.
Publishing
The Trust has ensured that its publications remain available – with numerous titles reprinted in one of our busiest years ever in that respect. We would like to express our gratitude to those volunteers (five in all) who worked on the two volume Proclus Commentary on the Timaeus – proof reading and adding the standard page/line numbering to the 1,000 plus pages of the work, in order to keep out Thomas Taylor translation up to date to run alongside the new Cambridge University Press translation.
Background work required for the transferring the whole of the Thomas Taylor Series into a more modern format continues at a steady pace.
During the year we produced the first English translation of Joseph Moreau’s highly regarded book, Plotinus or the Glory of Ancient Philosophy . The translator, Robert Clark, who had been working quietly on it for six years was very impressed by the Trust’s handling of the project.
Work on several volumes is in hand, and these should be published in the coming year.
The proposed new editorial board announcement has been delayed while we wait for our new website to come into operation.
A good working relationship with our North America distributor, Kindred Star Books, has been established.
Education
All face to face activities previously run on a regular basis have been restarted – including two residential modules at our established venue at Purley Chase in Warwickshire; together with monthly evening sessions in both London and Bristol. These ran alongside of the Zoom-based modules and open sessions which started during the covid crisis and which have now established themselves with a worldwide participation – all in all a promising deepening and widening of our educational activities.
Conference
Our annual conference was run for the first time since 2019: the theme was the one we had originally chosen for the cancelled 2020 conference – “Towards a Philosophic Society.” We were pleased the two guest speakers who had agreed to give out Keynote address and the annual Thomas Taylor lecture for that 2020 conference we able to deliver their addresses this summer. Professor Angie Hobbs spoke on Philosophy in an age of Uncertainty and Professor Douglas Hedley on Philosophy and Play . Fourteen papers were delivered, and we were delighted to welcome friends old and new – in all, 28 people attended.
Public Beneft
The above activities are considered to be of public benefit and pursued in fulfilment of the Trust’s stated purposes: all our zoom courses are offered free of charge; face to face meetings are charged at cost (and where necessary, subsidized) and we price our books to ensure that they are within the reach of ordinary students.
The Trust
We are sorry to have lost two of our Trustees this year – both resigning largely for health reasons (although Peter Lyle will continue acting on the editorial side of the Trust). We would like to express our gratitude to his work as a Trustee since 2017, and also to Stuart Dunbar who joined the board in 2019.
The Trust continues to develop and has had a pleasing strengthening of ties with dedicated scholars and philosophers
who are committed to the cause of genuine Platonism as a living tradition. The pursuit of wisdom is the great business of life – as Plato tells us in his Seventh Letter – and the Trust remains determined to follow that enterprise to the best of its ability.
T J Addey Chairman 26.8.23
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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND ANO WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of Ch8rily Name The Prometheus Trust On accounts for the year ended 3110712023 Charity no (if any) 299648 Set out on pages CC16a- pages 1 and 2 Iremembpi lo inGlude Ihe pa9e numbers of additional 5heelsl I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity {'Ihe Trust") for the year ended 3110712023. Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trusl, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("the Act.). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Acl and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515)(bl of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Ad or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records Independent examiner's ststement I have no cOnrn$ and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which altention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts lo be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Signed: Date: 1311112023 Name: Martine Fiti IER October 2018
Relevant professional qualificationls) or body (if any): Address: 94 Greenbank Avenue East, Bristol BS5 6EU Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). IER October 2018
Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER October 2018