2025-03-31-accounts

THEPOETRYSOCIETY ANNUAL REPORT 2024-2025 TIII POITRY

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Company Number: 00190736 Charity Number: 303334 Trustees’ Report & Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

Reference & administrative information

The Board of Trustees Andrew Neilson (Chair) Nigel Ludlow (Vice Chair) Casey Bailey Robin Houghton Keith Jarrett Mairi Johnson (appointed 26 November 2024) Jessica Mookherjee Niall Munro (appointed 26 November 2024) Martine Padwell Gareth Prior Luke Watkeys (retired 26 November 2024)

Director: Judith Palmer

Registered Office: 22 Betterton Street London WC2H 9BX Auditor: Knox Cropper LLP, 65 Leadenhall Street, London, EC3A 2AD Bankers: NatWest, Moorgate (A) Branch PO Box 712, 94 Moorgate, London EC2M 6UR

Cover: Free Verse Poetry Book & Magazine Fair, Saturday 20 April 2024 (photos: MaddMann Photography).

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

Contents

Contents
Trustees’ Report	04–18
Independent Auditor’s Report	19–20
Statement of Financial Activities	21
Balance Sheet	22
Statement of Cash Flows	23
Notes to the Financial Statements	24–38

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

4

1. Report of the Trustees for the Year Ending 31 March 2025

The Trustees are pleased to present their Annual Directors’ Report together with the financial statements of the charity for the year ending 31 March 2025. These are also prepared to meet the requirements for a Directors’ Report and accounts for Companies Act purposes.

The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).

The Poetry Society

The Poetry Society exists to advance public education in the study, enjoyment and use of poetry. The Poetry Society is the UK’s leading poetry organisation. Founded in 1909 to promote ‘a more general recognition and appreciation of poetry’, it has grown since then into one of Britain’s most dynamic arts organisations, representing British poetry both nationally and internationally. We help poets and poetry thrive and promote a wider engagement with poetry in society. Our initiatives champion all types of poetry for audiences of all ages, helping them to engage through the page, online and in performance. Pioneering education programmes provide inspiration and support for teachers and students, while our awards and publications identify and nurture talent. Via world-class publications and original events, we commission and present new work that invigorates and interrogates the art form, encouraging and delivering excellence. We generate professional opportunities for poets, and our performance place, web spaces, membership and digital interactions build and link diverse poetry communities. Committed to poetry as a living art form, we are often the first point of contact from outside the sector, giving poetry a strong voice nationally and internationally. We work collaboratively with a wide range of partner organisations through which we extend audiences and offer expert opinions to specialists and the general public alike. We also advocate for the art form through our links with national arts and government initiatives. The Poetry Society is a registered charity and part of the Arts Council’s national portfolio of arts organisations.

In shaping our objectives for the year and planning our activities, the Trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, including the guidance ‘Public benefit: running a charity (PB2)’. To keep poetry accessible and to reach the widest audience possible, we seek to make our activity as affordable as operating costs allow.

We believe in the transformative power of poetry. We believe that reading, writing and experiencing poetry can make positive change in people’s lives. Across our activities we aim to act as the UK’s leading advocate for poetry; to set standards for poetic excellence and help determine the nature of poetic debate in the UK; to ensure more people of all ages and backgrounds experience, study and enjoy poetry; and to create new opportunities and routes into poetry.

Our activity

To deliver our ambitions, we work across five main areas of activity:

• Talent Development

• Publishing (print & digital)

• Membership

• Educational Programmes

• Partnerships & the Poetry Community

We had a busy and successful year commissioning and showcasing exciting new poetry to an expanding audience, and offering a range of creative ways for people to take part.

People participated in our activities in every postcode area of the UK and across the world. We targeted many new opportunities to areas of the UK with low access to arts activity, such as through school visits in our new initiative, Steph’s Poetry Space, which supports young people’s wellbeing through poetry. We are particularly proud to have encouraged many young people to develop their writing and to have their voices heard. Our adult and young people’s talent development programmes flourished with markedly high participation numbers, and we focused too on developing a new generation of young poetry critics in a partnership between our Young Poets Network and the T.S. Eliot Prize. Opening up spaces for international poetic dialogue, we built new connections with poetry communities worldwide. Our writer development activities attract participation from more than 120 countries each year, and our annual lecture programme ensures we share international perspectives on poetry. Ecological themes were at the fore across our projects, and our reputation for environmental expertise attracted several new partners, including green-engineering firm AESSEAL in Rotherham and the South West Peatland Partnership.

After several years developing our online participation offer, in 2024–25 we focused on re-building opportunities for people to meet and connect in person. We decided we would be able to make the biggest impact by organising an expanded Free Verse Book Fair, bringing together a huge number of indie presses, magazines, poetry organisations and their different communities, in a bigger venue and over a much longer day. We were overwhelmed by the positive response to the fair which was a highlight of our year.

Meanwhile, we also steadily increased the number of events taking place in our London venue, the Poetry Café. With standstill grant funding from Arts Council England, a small staff-team, and the uncertain economic climate, we have had to stay creative to deliver as effectively as possibly, ensuring we are offering participation opportunities as widely as possible. We continued to focus on strengthening our network of local Stanza groups, increasing opportunities for people to connect with poetry and build community, wherever they live.

5

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

Top to bottom: Fiona Larkin wins first prize for the National Poetry Competition 2024 at London’s Artworkers’ Guild; secondprize winner Matt Barnard; winners and commended poets. (photos: MaddMann Photography).

The poems we commission and publish contribute to the rich legacy of contemporary poetry, and we note with pride as the poets we work with make an impact on the world. The Forward Prizes recognized two poems from Poetry Society programmes in 2024. Eve Esfandiari-Denney was shortlisted for Best Single Poem (Performed), with her poem ‘Nearly White Girl Girling on Behalf of Proximity to Mammal’, which we submitted following a stunning performance at a Poetry Review launch. Tife Kusoro was shortlisted for Best Single Poem (Written), with her National Poetry Competition poem ‘the only other dark-skinned girl’. The Poetry Review maintained its place as the UK’s bestselling poetry magazine, trusted to attract new work by leading names and scout out new talents.

Throughout the year we ensured that we continued to generate paid work for hundreds of poets through workshops and writing commissions, and to reach audiences of all ages, offering people opportunities to read and write poetry when it continued to be vitally needed.

2. Talent Development

The Poetry Society’s many competitions, prizes and awards provide a way for us to identify, reward and nurture talent in the art form. Our talent development work encourages participation and aims to involve as many people as possible from diverse backgrounds and locations. We analyse carefully the demographic information and participant feedback we collect so that we can monitor our success in bringing in as many contributors as we can, and can take steps to eliminate barriers to participation.

Our competitions produce and inspire excellent new poetry that builds a dynamic artistic legacy and helps broaden public awareness of the art form through the attention we generate. In addition to competitions aimed at young people (collected in the ‘Educational Programmes’ activity below), the Society ran the following competitions, awards and initiatives:

National Poetry Competition

Founded in 1978, the National Poetry Competition is one of the world’s biggest and most prestigious competitions for a single unpublished poem, attracting entries from across the globe. Participation in the competition continues to grow annually, and the 2024 competition attracted 21,736 poems from 9,598 poets from 114 countries.

Judges Stephen Sexton, John McAuliffe and Romalyn Ante awarded the £5,000 First Prize for the 2024 National Poetry Competition to poet Fiona Larkin for ‘Absence has a Grammar’. Accepting her prize, Fiona noted: ‘Like almost every poet, I’ve had my share of rejections when I’ve sent work out – but entering the NPC supports the excellent work of The Poetry Society, whatever the outcome. There’s a Finnish concept, sisu, not easily translatable but incorporating resilience, tenacity and aiming high, despite the odds.’

The top three winners were published in The Poetry Review , and all ten winners were published in a special anthology sent free

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

6

to Poetry Society Members. The Second Prize winner was Matt Barnard, ‘Two Boys at Midnight’ (£2,000) and Third Prize for Sorrel Briggs, ‘Heaven Down’ (£1,000). The seven commended poets (£500 each) were: Chris Beckett, ‘The broom upside down’, Kit Buchan, ‘Hallowe’en Ghazal’, Andrew Dennison, ‘Courgettes’, Yong-Yu Huang, ‘Living as my mother’, Lee Knapper, ‘Plums’, Hannah Perrin King, ‘Inheritance’, and Lesley Sharpe, ‘Eyewitness’.

A further 114 poets were celebrated for their success reaching the competition longlist. The poems were judged anonymously at every stage of the competition, and resulted in a roster of poets at every stage of their career, from young writers making their public debuts to poets with several publications behind them. We were pleased to see poets feature among the winners who have continued their development after being involved in other Poetry Society schemes such as the Foyle Award and Members’ Poems. We held two awards events – an in-person celebration with readings from current and recent winners at The Art Workers’ Guild, London at the end of March, followed by an online event for a public audience, with guest readings by past prizewinners Debbie Lim and Ruth Padel.

The competition plays a valuable role in encouraging creativity. A wide range of commissioned activities support the competition to encourage participation from new writers. These included a free online writing workshop led by Kim Moore, and new free video resources and writing prompts by former winners and judges including Tife Kusoro, HLR, Fawzia Muradali Kane, Jonathan Edwards, Charlotte Shevchenko Knight, Mark Waldron, as well as recent longlistees.

We maintain a thriving community of former winners and regularly invite those recognised in past years to share advice, showcase new work and take up commissions and other opportunities. This year for example we created videos celebrating the work of Freya Bantiff, Marvin Thompson, Vicki Feaver and John Wedgwood Clarke. We’re proud of the Competition’s track record of identifying writers who go on to play a significant role in the literary landscape, and providing a trusted and accessible route for so many people to share their creative work.

Asmaa Jama, winner of the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize.

Nia Broomhall, winner of the Hamish Canham Prize.

The Geoffrey Dearmer Prize

The Geoffrey Dearmer Prize is an annual prize for the best poem published in The Poetry Review written by a poet who does not yet have a full collection. The winner is announced in the summer issue of the Review each year. The winner, as chosen by Rebecca Perry, was Asmaa Jama for her poem ‘sympathy for ishaq (after Ladan Osman)’ published in the Summer 2023 (113:2) issue. Asmaa is a Somali artist, poet and filmmaker based in Bristol.

The Hamish Canham Prize

This prize is awarded to the best poem from the year’s winning poems in Poetry News members’ poems competitions. The winner in 2024 was Nia Broomhall for her poem ‘Varifocals’. Nia told us, ‘It’s lovely to feel part of the poetry community so I would encourage everyone to enter the members’ poems competition!’ This is the final year of the Canham prize and a new prize will be introduced in 2025.

Stanza Competition

Rachel Long judged our annual Stanza Competition for members of The Poetry Society’s network of regional poetry groups. New poems were submitted on the theme of ‘Counting’ (the theme of National Poetry Day 2024). Elizabeth Chadwick Pywell from York Stanza was the winner for her poem ‘Scorpion’, and the two joint runners-up were ‘Things to Remember When Descending Through the Ocean’ by Sandra Kasturi (South Kensington Email Group) and ‘Conker’ by Isabella Mead (Chiltern Poets). Participation increased, with 220 poets submitting 450 poems to the competition.

Adult Learning

In 2024 we continued to expand our learning and participation program. We began offering regular open mic nights at The Poetry

7

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

Café, offering 15–20 poets the chance to develop their performance skills on the open mic, as well as showcasing poets such as Kareem Parkins-Brown and Toby Campion as headliners. The open mics have been very successful with attendees who enjoy the warm atmosphere which encourages new poets. We continued offering masterclass workshops led by poets such as Will Harris, Patience Agbabi and Caleb Parkin. These workshops provided regular opportunities for writers to develop their practice and push their work into new directions. Our 1-to-1 feedback sessions remained a flexible and popular option for emerging writers to receive advice from poets such as Theresa Lola, Judy Brown and Jonathan Edwards. These continue to take place online and in person. We also offer feedback by post.

3. Publishing

Our publishing programme offers opportunities to writers and artists to première their new work and give audiences access to inspirational new writing. Each year we publish quarterly editions of two influential publications, The Poetry Review and Poetry News , as well as exciting anthologies, writing guides and teaching resources, in print and online. To minimise our environmental impact, we continue to print our publications on FSC or PEFC- certified paper and to use compostable packaging.

The Poetry Review

One of the world’s most long-established, English-language poetry magazines, The Poetry Review (edited by Wayne HollowaySmith since March 2023) publishes the best new work by both internationally renowned and emerging writers in quarterly editions. The Review is one of the ways the Society helps to challenge and refresh the art form, to set the standard for poetic excellence, and to determine the nature of critical debate.

‘ Poetry Review [is] a really vital journal of record for these stormy times when worked-on language can be our lighthouse and our lifeboat.’ – Ian McMillan

The Review features a striking selection of new poetry drawn from submissions by remarkable poets on the world stage. This year we were pleased to publish writers including Joyelle McSweeney, Amy Acre, Fred D’Aguiar, Inua Ellams, Daljit Nagra, Tiffany Atkinson, Maura Dooley, Chen Chen, Rae Armantrout, Forrest Gander, Fred D’Aguiar, Lucy Mercer, Ian Humphreys, Philip Gross, Moniza Alvi, Kim Addonizio, Maitreyabandhu, Nick Makoha, Alice Oswald, Carl Phillips, Richard Scott, John Stammers, George Szirtes, Jack Underwood and Fiona Benson.

The magazine continues to broaden its contributor base and encourage emerging writers. 34% of the year’s contributors were making their first appearance in the magazine, and 27% of poets contributing had not yet had published a full collection. We were,

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

8

for example, very pleased to showcase new talents such as Rashed Aqrabawi, Shannon Smith-Meekings and Holly Amos among others.

We continued our series of ‘Mutual’ conversations, wherein two poets or poetry people come together to discuss a topic close to their hearts. In the Winter 24 issue, Wayne established a new series called ‘Poets reading Poets’ in which contemporary poets select a poem that has inspired or entranced them. The Summer 24 issue saw the start of a new series of ‘conversational’ reviews which provide a lively and in-depth look at new titles through a discussion between two poets. Further features included: Joey Connolly’s adventures in the realm of AI; a folio of poets specifically exploring aspects of disability in their writing curated by Rachael Boast. Rebecca Perry awarded Asmaa Jama the Geoffrey Dearmer prize; and we published the prestigious Poetry Society Annual Lecture. The magazine also presents covers and galleries by artists who often feature text or wordplay in their works.

The Poetry Review is the UK’s best-selling poetry magazine. It is published both in print and as a digital edition, produced in partnership with Exact Editions. The digital issue is free to all full members of The Poetry Society as part of their membership, and as a fully searchable archive, it is an invaluable resource offered to individuals and campus-wide at educational institutions around the world. We celebrate each issue of the Review with launch events and amplify the magazine with a series of exclusive online features and podcasts to enrich the reading experience. Our online series ‘Behind the Poem’ offers insights from Review poets into the writing of their poems; while our ‘Mixtape’ feature invites contributors to the magazine (this year Alison Winch, Logan February, Chloe Stopa-Hunt and Hasti) to draw up a lively list of their favourite poems and performances for further exploration.

‘[Holloway-Smith has] crafted a very distinct journal—not just a gathering of poems, but real conversations. Ego-less, attentive conversations about the work of others, living and dead. Art. Poetry. Translation. A notably international perspective.’ – Forrest Gander

Poetry News

Poetry News publishes accessible feature articles, interviews and news, providing valuable information to members young and old, those who have long-term involvement with poetry, and those who are taking new steps with the art form. As well as information on up-coming Poetry Society projects, a dedicated section for young members, interviews with the poets involved in our programmes, and news from our members and Stanza groups, we also provide updates on what’s happening in the wider poetry community.

Quarterly themed competitions set by different poets offer inspiration for members’ writing. We received 2,227 poems from 1,473 entrants across the year, with a selection published each issue as chosen by judges Jane Clarke, Pascale Petit, WN Herbert and Jo Clement.

Publishing Placements

Committed to offering opportunities which develop a future poetry workforce, our publishing team hosted three placements during the year offering practical experience in an editorial setting. Ahana Banerji took up a paid publishing internship, Kylie Warrix joined us on a formal placement from the University of Westminster, and we hosted Ervin Chio as part of a partnership with Goldsmiths, University of London. Chio said, ‘it was a pleasure to work with the Review team and learn so much about contemporary poetry’.

Digital

The Poetry Society continues to reach large audiences online through its websites and digital channels. Updated news and curated content shared via The Poetry Society’s social media channels engage a high audience daily, while we also write longer news pieces for our website throughout the year, where we are able to offer more indepth discussion.

876,000 users visited The Poetry Society website during the year, while our combined social media following also increased to over 310,000, maintaining our influence as the UK’s leading network in the poetry space. Instagram is currently our most active social channel, with TikTok, X, Facebook and Bluesky each engaging different demographics.

Content created for social media included daily creative writing posts for NaPoWriMo in April, daily reading tips for the Sealey Challenge in August, Books of the Year in December and a Writing

----- Start of picture text -----
PAGE 6 PAGE 7 PAGE 9 PAGE 10
Autumn 2024
The Newspaper of The Poetry Societypoetrysociety.org.uk
PINCH OF SALT Tim Relf talks to publisher Chris Hamilton-Emery FIGHTING TALKIshion Hutchinson on the West Indian Soldiers of WWI ALL AT SEA Katrina Naomi on the benefits of salty swimming TAKE A SEAT W.N. Herbert on your furniture-themed poems
creative trousers and get writing, because the competition submission window closes at midnight (GMT) on Thursday 31 October!at bit.ly/NPC-24 along with a host of useful tips. Whether you’re starting on a new piece of writing or looking to punch up a draft, our prompts can’t fail to inspire you. You’ll also find writing guides from a wide array of prestigious names, including Fiona Benson, Momtaza Mehri, Fran Lock, Ian Duhig, Liz Berry and Mark Waldron, among many others.get the ink flowing, here are a few words of encouragement from your judges. Romalyn Ante said: ‘I am excited to read the entries from around the world and engage with your brilliant writing and unforgettable voices.’ Stephen Sexton said: ‘I’m thrilled and Entry guidelines can be found ave you entered yet? If not, grab your lucky pen or pencil, put on your most And if that’s not enough to honoured to share the responsibility of judging this year’s competition and to witness the richnesses and complexities, moods, manners and matters of our language in the contemporary poem. I look forward to reading your work!’ And last but not least, John McAuliffe told us: ‘I’m looking forward to reading what people are writing now, and to finding brilliant poems to add to this competition’s august backlist.’prize of £5,000, a second prize of £2,000, a third prize of £1,000 and commendations of £500 each. The top three winners are also published in Work from poets at all stages of their writing career is welcome, and the judges read all entries via an anonymised judging process, only discovering the identity of the winner after making their final decision. The competition has recognised previously unpublished newcomers, established names and emerging talents. The competition offers a first The Poetry Review s . National Poetry Competition 2024 artwork by Kate Dehler.
a bundle of exciting new activities. he Poetry Society is gearingup for National Poetry Day on Thursday 3 October with In collaboration with the City Bridge Foundation and their Poet in Residence, Cecilia Knapp, the Poetry Takeaway will be set up alongside one of London’s bridges – perfect for grabbing a stanza snack with your lunch! (Read more about Cecilia’s residency on page 4.) Follow City Bridge Foundation’s social media for the exact location.Long is currently selecting the best poems from Stanza members on this year’s National Poetry Day theme, Counting. The winners will announced on the day and published Speaking of stanzas, Rachel in the next issue of Young poets nationwide can join our online Young Poets Takeover (see more on page 14), featuring sets from talented young poets and an open mic for participants to share their work.announce The Poetry Society is planning a special evening at The Poetry Café, featuring a headline set from Cecilia Knapp and an open mic session. Keep an eye on our website for more, as booking will be essential. Happy National Poetry Day! Lastly, we’re delighted to s Poetry News.
06/09/2024 11:32:31
Moving Forward: a look at the nominations for this year see page 2
Your doorway to the National Poetry Competition is closing soon!
H
T
POETRY NEWS
National
Poetry
Day 2024
•
PAGE 5 PAGE 7 PAGE 8 PAGE 10
base of the tree in Trafalgar Square.and Erietta from St Vincent’s RC Primary School at the Children’s poet Valerie Bloom with Aiden, Sebastian
Takeover, Birmingham, 2023Aliyah Begum at the YPN Young Poets
Winter 2024
writing machinesGiles looks at the Harry Josephine POETRY & AI support of healthwriting poetry in Roz Goddard on POEMS & FAITH tips and adviceothers share their Salena Godden and GET NOTICED poemsyour bird-themed Pascale Petit on TAKE FLIGHT
poetrysociety.org.uk
29th Conference of the Parties to coincide with the United Nations’ and Environmental Responsibility’ annual report on ‘Culture, Climate specialists Julie’s Bicycle released their Arts Council England and climate ceremony and displayed at the base of the tree. year to be premiered at the official lighting-up Poetry Society commissions a new poem every journey to Trafalgar Square. Lincolnshire port of Immingham, and onward forest on the outskirts of Oslo to its arrival at the each stage of its adventure – from its felling in a follow the progress of the giant spruce tree at schools but also allows the schoolchildren to project not only facilitates poets visiting primary celebrations with poetry. Our extensive education 2009 Look North More Often has joined the British support during World War II, and since symbol of peace and friendship in recognition of to the people of London since 1947, as a encourage writing inspired by the gift of the tree.Society invites poets to visit primary schools and Oslo’s Office and the Norwegian Embassy – the between The Poetry Society, the Mayor of North More Often project – a collaboration As an established part of the tradition, The the famous Christmas tree. As part of the Look Trafalgar Square to celebrate the lighting up of The Poetry Society gathers together in London’s A Norwegian tree has been given annually children begin behaving suspiciously well, before 4 p.m., the weather gets crisp and s the holidays draw near, night fallsresponse to environmental prompts people have written new poems in young people. Hundreds of young environmental themes, especially for that encourage engagement with looked at our participatory projects Poetry and Global Engagement’, Voices Through Environmental contribution, ‘Empowering Young as a case study in the report. Our Society is very proud to feature supported organisations. The Poetry to the climate crisis from ACE-report celebrates creative responses (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan. The poetry-society at juliesbicycle.com/resource/the-learn more and read the full report say if it could talk back.’ You can to explore what our world would birds or tadpoles, poetry allows me Whether I’m anthropomorphising and imagine a better future. acts as a playground for me to try with fresh eyes. She said, ‘Poetry can inspire people to look at nature told us how she hopes her work poet Aliyah Begum, for example, Network (YPN) alone. Birmingham and provocations from Young Poets s Dean and Paloma Faith. Princess of Wales alongside music from Olivia Christmas was chosen to be part of the 2024 Kay. Recorded at Westminster Abbey, the poem commission, ‘The Kindness of Trees’, by Jackie to hear a broadcast of The Poetry Society’s 2012 on Christmas Eve in the UK, and you’ll be able some this year in Canada too!). Tune in to ITV commissions in their own celebrations (with country who are using our previous Christmas from schools and community groups around the us in Lincolnshire and London. accompanying children’s poetry workshops for Rumble and Cassandra Parkin, who led the of our team of poet facilitators, with Coral expertly coached by Cheryl Moskowitz, part stepped up to read out the poem. They were from Year 6 at St Vincent’s RC Primary who Sebastian and Erietta were the three children a fanfare heralded the new poem. Aiden, button was pushed to illuminate the tree and crowds assembled in the square, as the big red Baby and A Tree’.arrival of the 2024 tree, and her new poem is ‘A Valerie Bloom is the poet invited to mark the Every year, we’re thrilled to get messages carol service, hosted by HRH The On the first Thursday of December, the s Together at
Poetry Society
in Environment
Case Study
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,Tree lore: Victoria Gatehouse on a magical winter journey
how lovely are your poems!
•
POETRY NEWS
The Newspaper of The Poetry Society
A
page 6see
Summer 2024
FREE THIS ISSUE The new FoyleYoung Poets of theYear Anthology OKSANA MAKSYMCHUK A diary of invasion SARAH HOWE A commissioning editor’s view JO CLEMENT Judges your poems on ‘My Place’
The Newspaper of The Poetry Society
G
T
Hamish Canham and GeoffreAnnouncing the National Poetry Competition 2024, now open! y Dearmer Prize Winners!
•
poetrysociety.org.uk
is now open! We are ready and waiting to accept your submissions, and poets keen to enter have until 31 October 2024 to submit their work. Entry guidelines can be found at npc.poetrysociety.org.uk announce our judges for this year’s competition, poets John McAuliffe, Romalyn Ante and Stephen Sexton. They are very much looking forward to reading your poems and expecting rab your lucky pens and to encounter a broad range of ideas, pencils becausethemes and forms.National Poetry Competition of Poetry at the University of We are also delighted to Manchester, where he teaches at the Centre for New Writing, and Associate Publisher at Carcanet Press. Author of several collections, his latest, published later this year. John McAuliffe is Professor Poetry by Heartthe Grand Finale at Shakespeare’s Globe in July. Over 110,000 young people took part this year, performing 48,000 poems by heart. A massive 3,030 entries were submitted for the competition. Popular poems included he national poetry speaking William Blake’s ‘London’, ‘Spring’ by Karla Kuskin and Langston Hughes’s competition has announced the National Theatre finalists who will compete in ‘Dream Variations’.this year’s , will be Romalyn Ante published her debut, Antiemetic for Homesickness She was awarded the Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship in 2021–22, sits on the editorial board of of the Royal Society of Literature. She said: ‘I am excited to read the entries from around the world and Poet, essayist and editor, engage with your brilliant writing and unforgettable voices.’ Poetry London experienced educators and poets. VIP guest poet Alice Oswald said ‘To hear a good poem spoken clearly and musically and without a script is strangely healing. I have loved being part of this year’s Poetry By Heart competition. It has filled me with hope.’The judging team included 7 to 18 and from every region of England will compete in the finals, some in the Classic category, which celebrates outstanding achievement in speaking poems, and some in the Freestyle category, which showcases creative, inclusive achievement in speaking a poem. Nine teachers have One hundred students aged and is a Fellow in 2020. where he teaches at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry. His first book, YoungCheryl’s Destinies National Poetry Competition has been an important milestone in the careers of many leading poets, with Stephen Sexton lives in Belfast previous winners including Ruth Padel, Carol Ann Duffy, Jo Shapcott, If All the World and Love Were , was published in 2019 and Since it launched in 1978 the been invited to perform. Poet judges Daljit Nagra, Patience Agbabi, Liz Berry, Valerie Bloom, Glyn Maxwell and Jean Sprackland will select the final winners, while Poet Laureate followed in 2021. Tony Harrison, Paul Adrian and Zaffar Kunial. Winner in 2023, Imogen Wade, told us: ‘Winning the National Poetry Competition feels like a dream come true.’prizes to the top ten winners, and the top three poets are published in looking for inspiration, don’t forget our library of writing resources at bit.ly/npcresources The Poetry Review The Competition offers cash Simon Armitage and Waterstones Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho will also perform at the event. To find out more, head over to poetrybyheart.org.uk. And if you’re s s
POETRY NEWS
National Poetry Competition judges for 2024: John McAuliffe, Romalyn Ante and Stephen Sexton
Performers from Riverside Primary School, Merseyside, at the 2023 Grand Finale
see pages 4–5
PAGE 10
PAGE 8
PAGE 7
The Newspaper of The Poetry Society
Spring 2025
Anthology 2024Competition National Poetry ISSUE FREE THIS announcedLedbury lectureRAVINTHIRANVIDYAN ‘stone’ poemsjudges your CLARKEJANE a million copies tells us how she sold CANDLESTICKDI SLANEY OF
PAGE 2
PAGE 10
PAGE 8
Get set for
Free Verse
Book Fair
H
F
poetrysociety.org.uk
‘I’m overwhelmed with surprise interview (see p.4) Fiona told us: has a grammar’. In an exclusive Larkin with her poem ‘Absence thank you to everyone who entered.reading them all and extend a big Stephen Sexton – very much enjoyed – Romalyn Ante, John McAuliffe and and 110 countries beyond. Our judges poems arriving from all over the UK year’s competition, with over 21,698 Taking first place is Fiona We had a brilliant response to this Poetry Competition 2024! theuge congratulations to winners of the National re-reading] we began to notice how the gives way to the word abessive. [On humorous about the way absence there’s something both curious and absence have a grammar?) [...] was immediately engaging (her NPC-winning poem: ‘The title Forward Prizes. The judges said of was highly commended in the Press in 2023 and the title poem of Sand to enjoy in my poem!’ happy that they found something extraordinary poets, and I’m so and delight. The judges are Fiona’s debut collection, , was published by Pindrop doesRope Matt’s first collection, Barnard’s ‘Two Boys at Midnight’. play on words.’ son shadows and moonshine and bright ingenious and affecting poem, whose and cohere. It’s a very impressive, then those words suddenly resolve are brought to life by its lovely word choices may look scattered but Second place is awarded to Matt The poem’s striking and surprising to put the parts together as we read. and vocabulary, and encouraging us us the Lego-like parts of a grammar explanation of its Finnish terms, giving poem sustains its witty, teacher-like Anatomy of a quickens the senses’. and dreamily intelligent poem that ‘Heaven Down’, as a ‘wry, deeply described her winning entry, Poetry Prize in 2022. The judges English, Sorrel won the Walter Swan Durham University with a BA in to Sorrel Briggs. A graduate of leaves us with a sense of wonder’. that it ‘paints a vivid scene and The judges praised his poem, saying his second collection and first novel. Press and he is currently working on Whale Third place was awarded , was published by Onslaught
their suitcases with brand new country are currently cramming evening gala reading at 7 p.m.The fair will be followed by an to the public from 12 to 6.30 p.m. hour from 11 a.m. before opening Fair opens with a ticketed quiet Street, London, SW1X 0BD. The at St Columba’s Church, Pont Poetry publishers across the its doors on Saturday 26 April Magazine Fair will be reopening ree Verse Poetry Book andsocial media for updates! an eye on poetrysociety.org.uk and winner of the Free Verse Prize, so keep the day. We’ll also be announcing the there will be a variety of talks across besides. And if that wasn’t enough Prototype Publishing and many more And Other Stories, Sidekick Books, Frogmore Press, zimZalla, Carcanet, Magma Poetry, ignitionpress, Broken Sleep, Out-Spoken Press, Arachne books for you to browse, including Press, s Bad Betty, Monday 24 March. Art Workers’ Guild in London on special ceremony held at the elegant were presented by the judges at a to the seven commended poets – £1,000 (third), and £500 each – £5,000 (first), £2,000 (second), Sharpe, ‘Eyewitness’. The prizes Lee Knapper, ‘Plums’; and Lesley Perrin ‘Living as My Mother’; Hannah ‘Courgettes’; Yong-Yu Huang, Ghazal’; down’; Kit Buchan, ‘Hallowe’en Chris Beckett, ‘The broom upside The commended poets were: King, Andrew s ‘Inheritance’; Dennison,
POETRY NEWS
page 14see
•
Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2025 – now open!
Announcing the Winners of the National Poetry Competition 2024
Left to right: Fiona Larkin (photo: Sarah Weal), Matt Barnard (photo: Alexandra Taibel) and Sorrel Briggs
(Photo: Hayley Madden)
----- End of picture text -----

9

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

Habits series in January. We’ve continued to welcome audiences from across the world to many online and hybrid readings, such as our mass participatory international relay reading of Keats’s ‘Eve of St Agnes’, followed by an online performance by Helen Farish taking part from rural Cumbria.

We were thrilled to have attracted support from the Arts Council England Capital Investment Programme to help us upgrade our digital systems. Our growing participation numbers to the National Poetry Competition, Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, and Young Poets Network had placed particular strain on outdated systems. A two-year programme of renewal is underway which allows us to build for the future, developing more accessible systems to serve a growing Poetry Society. We have begun by investing in new streaming equipment and are in the process of bringing in a new CRM system and website improvements, to help us better meet the needs of online audiences.

4. Membership

The Poetry Society is a membership organisation and our membership is open to all. Our welcoming community provides a space for poets and lovers of poetry to stay in touch with what’s new in poetry and build and share their expertise. All members receive copies of Poetry News and access to local Stanza poetry groups and their associated competitions, as well as opportunities to learn and develop their skills. Full members also receive a subscription to The Poetry Review (both print copies and access to the digital archive); Youth and School options are also available. Members of The Poetry Society help support the work that we do, connecting more people to the art form and contributing to revenue which supports our mission.

Membership numbers stayed stable during the year, and the total number of members and subscribers at the end of the year stood at 5,226 (compared with 5,385 at 31 March 2024). This comprises 4,792 Members, plus those who subscribe to The Poetry Review outside of a Poetry Society membership.

New online and in-person reading groups, focused on poems published in each issue of our magazine The Poetry Review , have continued to provide foster participation, build community, and deepen the conversation with members around the Society’s magazine. A mix of regulars and new attendees join the groups each time and there’s a real appreciation for the discussion of the issues which attendees say bring the poems to life and help them gain new understandings of the work. The inclusive nature of the reading groups is also a strength many members mention. Members enjoy invitations to participate in a wealth of opportunities, such as our annual wreath-laying event in Poets’ Corner Westminster Abbey.

Stanza Groups

Our network of Stanza groups continues to flourish. The Poetry Society’s volunteer-led poetry groups run by members, our Stanza groups meet in locations across the UK, worldwide, and online. New in-person groups were founded this year in North Nottinghamshire, Southend on Sea, Rye, Pinner and Shipley among other locations, bringing the group total to 134. Most groups meet monthly, but

some meet fortnightly or even weekly, in venues which range from pubs, community centres and libraries to members’ own homes.

A number of new initiatives were developed to help support our community of Stanza Reps. Working with poet Louisa Adjoa Parker and the Inclusion Agency, we developed a tailored training evening in September for group leaders using an innovative poetic enquiry methodology. Using poetry reading and writing exercises our reps explored issues such as inclusive language; choosing, reading and responding sensitively to poems; and conflict resolution related to equality, diversity and inclusion. We organise regular knowledge-sharing meet-ups for reps, which have covered topics such as producing anthologies, handling finances and resolving disputes. These meetings are always well-attended and have helped foster a strong sense of community among group leaders. Comments from our member surveys highlight how highly the Stanza groups are valued.

‘Attending my local Stanza group, motivates me to write a new poem every month, and I learn so much from each session – reading and reflecting on other people’s poems, absorbing feedback on the poem I’ve brought, and feeling part of a supportive poetry network.’ – Poetry Society member

‘Becoming a member of the Stanza has presented so many new opportunities, and I have met some fantastic like-minded people.’ – Poetry Society member

Stanza Group Mole Valley Poets on a Wild Poets’ Walk.

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

10

Foyle Young Poets Award winners at the award ceremony held at the British Library (photo: MaddMann Photography).

5. Education Programmes

The Poetry Society is at the heart of poetry education in the UK, with a focus on encouraging young poets’ talent, empowering teachers and poets to develop their creativity in the classroom, sharing knowledge and advocating for poetry across the sector and beyond.

Our schools programme is universally available UK-wide. We communicate annually with every UK secondary school connecting them with our free resources and participation opportunities, and we reach out to primary schools across the country through our partner projects and teacher networks. This year, more than 31,000 young people actively participated in Poetry Society programmes: 10,000 through informal learning opportunities such as writing awards and mentoring, and a further 21,000 through school-based poetry activities we led in their classrooms.

Developing Young Poets’ Talent

Our flagship talent development programme for poets aged 11–17, the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, attracted 17,134 poems written by 6,655 young people. Judges Jack Underwood and Vanessa Kisuule selected 100 winners, including, for the first time, a winning poem in braille. The programme has a reputation for finding and nurturing the best emerging talent in the UK and internationally, and this year’s winners were welcomed into the poetry community at a vibrant awards ceremony at the British Library. Mentoring took place throughout the year: fifteen top winners attended a week-long writing retreat at Arvon’s The Hurst, while twenty-three commended poets took part in a series of online workshops. A print anthology of the winning

poems, We Sail Paper Boats , was widely distributed, with 200 schools receiving class-sets for their students. Arts organisations and Poetry Society members also received print copies. This anthology and a sister anthology of commended poems were also freely available online, where they were read 40,296 times. One young poet reflected: ‘the main thing I feel now is a desire to just write LOADS more because I can see it’s not at all pointless. [The ceremony] felt so authentic and seeing how much power words hold and how important they are for so many people has made me feel like writing is a necessity and it’s honestly a privilege to want to do it.’

We continue to work with winners of the Foyle Award throughout their careers, giving them new opportunities to develop as poets. Two alumni of the competition, Anisha Minocha and Em Power, were selected for paid internships, and gained arts administration experience and supported the award through its busiest period. We also created performance opportunities for Foyle Young Poets, including headlining poetry readings and performing at UniSlam, and offered facilitation experience, such as shadowing professional poet-facilitators in schools. In total, forty-nine former winners benefited from development opportunities – work that pays dividends as increasing numbers of alumni make waves in the poetry world: in 2024–25, former winners have been recognised in competitions including the Dylan Thomas Prize, RSL Encore Award, Bridport Prize, Poetry Business New Poets Prize and Michael Marks Awards, while others have published new work with presses including Faber, Carcanet, prototype, Broken Sleep and ignitionpress. Former Foyle Young Poets are now regularly among the winners of the National Poetry Competition, through which we continue to work with them as adults, ensuring we maintain support for poets who came through our programmes throughout their careers.

11

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

Nick Heather from the Peatland Restoration Team with pupils from a school in Plymouth (photo: Laura Ludtke).

Our Young Critics Scheme, a partnership with the T.S. Eliot Prize now in its third year, also supports young poets’ career progression, giving them practical experience and exposure to the poetry ecosystem. Critics Isabelle Baafi and Helen Bowell led workshops for ten emerging critics, who created video reviews of the T.S. Eliot Prize shortlist. The videos were shared widely online, receiving over 51,000 views, and were lauded by the shortlisted poets and publishers. Eliot Prize shortlistee Hannah Copley remarked: ‘It’s the dream to be read like this, and to have your poems and choices understood and articulated in this way.’ 100% of participants said the scheme helped develop their skills and confidence in reviewing poetry, writing critically and video editing, while eleven alumni have had reviews published in Magma , The Poetry Review , Poetry London , and Oxford Poetry among others.

YPNers at a Garden Museum workshop (photo: Garden Museum).

Building on our work supporting access to careers in poetry, we partnered with Speakers for Schools to deliver a career insight talk to young people from eighteen local authorities, as part of the DCMS Creative Careers week. In The Poetry Society’s home borough we piloted a new project funded by Camden Council. The ‘Camden Young Writers’ scheme offered fifteen young people a series of skillsbased sessions in the Poetry Café. Led by experts – including Clare Pollard on poetry editing, Arji Manuelpillai on facilitating, and Rachel Long on reading – these sessions introduced young people to career pathways in the arts. 100% of participants said the project improved their confidence and that they gained useful knowledge about the sector. One reflected: ‘the wonderful programme helped build my confidence in sharing my work and made me remember why I enjoy writing. I am so grateful for how you have opened doors I thought would be closed.’

Our community-building work for young poets is spearheaded by Young Poets Network, our online platform for poets aged 5–25. Engaging young people from primary school through to early adulthood, YPN creates a clear pathway for emerging poets, offering features about the poetry world and regular writing challenges that explore a range of themes and forms. In 2024–25, this included two challenges written by former Foyle Young Poets, which created space for peer-led learning, a challenge on the ‘tools’ of poetry versification, and interdisciplinary challenges in partnership with organisations outside the sector. Partners included the Garden Museum and The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, which supported food- and filminspired challenges respectively, and People Need Nature, for which Polly Atkin set a challenge on ‘Soundworlds and Songscapes’, part of our longstanding commitment to environmental programming.

For the second year, we supplemented challenges with free online workshops, strengthening young poets’ sense of community. Likewise, our ‘Young Poets Takeovers’ – open mics headlined by

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

12

Breaking a Guinness World Record for the largest poetry lesson.

a poet who has come through our development programmes – provide a safe space for young poets to share their work. We ran two Takeovers in the Poetry Café, one online for National Poetry Day, enabling young poets based in rural areas or overseas to take part, and events in partnership with Verve Poetry Festival in Birmingham and The Writers Block in Cornwall. Across the year, 200 young poets attended workshops, 188 attended Takeovers and 1,888 took part in Young Poets Network writing challenges.

Partnerships & Advocacy

We created further opportunities to share young poets’ work through partnerships: we worked with Poems on the Underground to feature four Foyle Young Poets on the Tube; we showcased a selection of YPN poems at European Poetry Festival Versopolis; and we supported Westminster Abbey’s poetry evening, which raised funds to continue building our young poets performance programme in the months ahead.

Partnership also underpins our role as the keystone organisation in the poetry sector. In 2024–25, we contributed to Children’s Poetry Summit, a network of writers, publishers and organisations championing children’s poetry, and to a consortium of poetry education organisations as part of the DfE-funded Poetry By Heart competition. We also supported the Poetry By Heart judging process, helping to assess the 3,500 entries the competition received, and similarly helped to judge the CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Education Poetry Award), selecting Matt Goodfellow’s The Final Year as the best book of poetry for children. We worked with intergenerational project Poetry Together, distributing poetry materials at an event for children and older people, and we worked with National Poetry Day and other organisations to break a Guinness World Record for the Largest Poetry Lesson. Elsewhere in our knowledge sharing and advocacy

Poetry Society Learning and Participation Coordinator Billie Manning is one of this year’s judges, alongside award-winning poet Liz Berry (Chair), teacher and writer Darren Chetty, teacher Imogen Maund and poet Laura Mucha.

work, we supported exam board WJEC in a teacher CPD session and contributed to a summit and subsequent report on GCSE English reform, organised by the English Association. Our large Young Poets Network community gives us insight into young people’s perspectives on the state of poetry in schools; evidence we collected via a large-scale survey of young people informed our response to the government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review, in which we called for more creativity in the school curriculum.

Our partnership work extends beyond the literature sector to include collaborations with local authorities, universities, other arts programmes and funding bodies. This year, we fed into Camden Council’s new strategy for culture and sat on roundtables of London-based Arts Council England NPOs. We partnered with the University of Exeter and the National Trust on biodiversity research programme RENEW, which included a cross-sector biodiversity parliament. We were delighted that not-for-profit Julie’s Bicycle selected our environmental work with young poets as a case study in their annual ACE report on cultural climate action.

RENEW provided a route to a new Poetry Society environmental partnership project: Bog Talk. Working with Exeter University, South West Peatland Partnership, and Natural England, the project commissioned new work from Fiona Benson, Richard Scott and A.K. Blakemore, and encouraged children to explore threatened peatland habitats through poetry. We delivered handson workshops in three Plymouth primary schools, giving children a tangible connection with the natural world.

Work with Schools

We have a long history of working in schools; our Poets in Schools service, established fifty years ago, provides regular work to freelance poets, improves pupils’ attitudes towards poetry, and injects creativity

13

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

Top to bottom: Aya Elgool at Camden Young Writers showcase (photo: MaddMann Photography); Foyle Young Poet Lewis Corry at the Poems on the Underground launch at Covent Garden station; Steph’s Poetry Space school workshop with Oliver Lomax.

into learning. This year, our Poets in Schools team worked with over 17,800 pupils in fifty-seven schools, with 89% of teachers reporting that a poet visit improved pupils’ enjoyment of writing.

Alongside this nationwide Poets in Schools service, we create projects that offer free poet visits to targeted schools in culturally underserved areas, or with high rates of free school meal eligibility. As well as Bog Talk in Plymouth, these included: our annual Tower Hamlets slams across thirteen schools; a Christmas project working with five schools in Westminster and North East Lincolnshire; and our Camden Young Writers project in six schools. A new project in six Rotherham schools, in partnership with greenengineering firm AESSEAL, invited young people to write about their environmental concerns.

Leading our work with targeted schools was Steph’s Poetry Space, a poetry and wellbeing project funded by the Steph Lampl Foundation. After a highly successful pilot in 2023–24, we expanded the project this year to offer each participating school three workshops with a local poet, which drew on the Five Ways to Wellbeing framework to promote poetry reading and writing. Workshops took place in twenty-eight secondary schools – including two PRUs – in Birmingham, Bolton, Bristol, Bury, Dudley, Fylde, Great Yarmouth, Hertfordshire, Inverclyde, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Luton, Northumberland, North Tyneside, North Yorkshire, Nottingham, Oldham, Peterborough, Rochdale, South Tyneside, Swindon, Tameside, Walsall and Wolverhampton. The project was exceptionally well received: an independent evaluation found that 100% of schools would take part again and 80% of teachers felt the project improved pupils’ wellbeing. Pupils reflected that ‘[the project] helped me step out my comfort zone’ and ‘it was an amazing experience, being able to connect with others.’ We were delighted that one young poet who took part in the pilot was subsequently among the top winners of the Foyle Award, illustrating how targeted programmes can encourage pupils’ aspirations and lead to wider opportunities.

Our focus on poetry and young people’s wellbeing carries through into two further projects, both collaborations with universities: ReWriter, a project with Edinburgh University and the National Literacy Trust, invited three Foyle Young Poets to co-create a literacy and wellbeing app; Arts4Us, a partnership with around fifty universities, NHS trusts and arts organisations in North West England, is developing a single digital platform mapping young people’s creative health provision.

The wellbeing of teachers and poets is built into our schools CPD provision. For Steph’s Poetry Space we provided professional development sessions – in Birmingham, London, Manchester and North Tyneside – which laid a strong foundation for the project, enabling fifty-three facilitators to co-design their approach and explore their creativity in a wellbeing framework. 81% of participants said the CPD increased their enjoyment of poetry, while 89% of the teachers gained new skills and ideas for poetry teaching. One commented: ‘the workshop was fantastic and I would recommend it to all teachers – there are so few subject-specific CPD opportunities and poetry/ creative writing is often something teachers feel nervous about delivering in the classroom.’

Our work with teachers more widely continued to go from strength to strength. Our online poet-teacher network, Cloud Chamber, met quarterly, exploring a range of themes and connecting teachers to opportunities such as Poetry By Heart and National

14

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

‘A Baby and A Tree’ is the 2024 Christmas poem by Valerie Bloom displayed in Trafalgar Square (photo: MaddMann Photography).

Poetry Day. The network remains a relaxed and inspiring space where poetry educators share ideas and best practice. We expanded our support for poet-educators through two collaborations: one with the Curious Creatives Network run by Wigan-based development organisation Curious Minds; and one with poet Steve Tasane’s Positivity in Practice project, which explored trauma-informed facilitation. Our Teacher Trailblazer scheme continues to recognise teachers who are outstanding in their commitment to poetry education, and in 2024 we welcomed our latest trailblazers, Margaret Vos in Bromley, and Gavin Husband in Derbyshire.

To provide teachers everywhere with the tools to connect with poetry, we maintain a constantly updated archive of free downloadable resources on our Poetryclass website, sharing expertise in poetry teaching with the widest audience. In 2024–25, our free learning resources were accessed 26,000 times for use in thousands of schools, helping to empower teachers and poets to spark creativity in the classroom.

6. Partnerships & the Poetry Community

Throughout this report we’ve highlighted the many ways The Poetry Society fosters collaborative partnerships with other organisations to widen opportunities to connect with poetry and support the sector. We seek out ways for poets to develop their practice, raise their profile, and generate innovative new writing in new contexts and

for new audiences. New commissions often have a lasting resonance, installed in public locations, or created for sharing. Connecting with other art forms and national events, we advocate for poetry and build a heightened awareness of its impact and possibilities. We particularly enjoy opportunities to create multi-layered projects with aspects that engage both young people and adult writers and audiences, often across continents.

Free Verse Poetry Book & Magazine Fair

The Poetry Society brought poetry’s many communities together at our Free Verse Poetry Book & Magazine Fair in April 2024. After a hiatus enforced by the pandemic we delivered the biggest fair yet, in a new London venue, and welcomed more exhibitors and visitors than ever before. Around 900 people came along to browse, listen and buy from the stalls of 78 indie publishers and poetry organisations, many staying all the way through from the morning panel discussions to the gala evening reading. Publishers told us they loved the ‘positive upbeat electric vibe throughout the day!’, ‘the great crowd’, and the opportunity to see what other publishers were doing. When so many small presses are currently struggling, we were delighted to hear that the Fair succeeded in bringing them new audiences and a high volume of sales.

‘It felt a bit like coming home – meeting people I admire, read, submit to. There was an energy that was welcoming and exciting. I loved talking to people and learning more about the presses and buying magazines and books.’ Book Fair visitor

‘[The highlight was] discovering the variety of contemporary poetry books and magazine publishers. I didn’t know there were so many in the UK. Incredible.’ Book Fair visitor

15

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

The Free Verse Prize helped support the fair. This new prize, judged by Chrissy Williams, welcomed 1,421 new poems. The winner, who was published in the Free Verse visitor guide, was Wes Lee from New Zealand, and the runners-up were HLR and Vanessa Lampert.

The Poetry Café

More than 150 poets received a platform to perform in the Poetry Café, our public space in Covent Garden during the year, as we steadily grew our offer of live and hybrid events. Providing a gathering point for different poetry communities, we hosted partner organisations including ignitionpress, tall-lighthouse, Poetry School, Poetry London, The National Film and Television School, Poem Brut and Versopolis (European Poetry Festival) and welcomed many individual poets who used the space to launch new books. We continued a maintenance programme on the Café’s accessible facilities.

The Poetry Society also used the space to welcome new audiences and existing Poetry Society communities. We held launches for our magazine The Poetry Review , welcomed members to our new Review reading roups, resumed our popular Young Poets Takeover open-mic, held meet-ups for former Foyle Young Poets and a Stanza Bonanza performance by our regional groups. We held workshops and 1-1 mentoring, brought together our Camden Youth Poets Collective workshops and launched our new quarterly open mic events.

Poetry Society Annual lecture

Each year, the Poetry Society invites one of the leading voices in international poetry to share a new lecture, accompanied by a short performance of their poems. The innovative South Korean-American poet Don Mee Choi was our invited poet in 2024. We were delighted to welcome her to Liverpool, to perform and talk about her work. The event was presented in partnership with the University of Liverpool’s Kenneth Allott lecture series.

Don Mee Choi gives the 2024 Poetry Society Annual Lecture / University of Liverpool Kenneth Allott Lecture (photo: Bronwyn Andrews)

Canal Laureate

Our longstanding partnership with Canal & River Trust has brought poetry to communities along the 2,000 miles of the canal network. Current Canal Laureate Roy McFarlane, supported by other local poets, performed and ran community workshops around the country as well as writing a new poem, ‘The Ribbon in the Sky’ about the Burnley embankment. We launched a commission by Levi Tafari installed along the Sefton Canal, and created a new mural in Sheffield by artist Grace Visions using lines from a community-sourced poem by Warda Yassin.

Look North More Often

It has become a popular annual tradition that The Poetry Society plays a creative role in the official lighting up ceremony of the Norwegian Christmas Tree in London’s Trafalgar Square. Valerie Bloom wrote our 2024 commission, ‘A Baby and a Tree’, which received its premiere to the crowds in the Square, and was displayed around the tree throughout the Christmas season, where it’s visited by up to three million people.

These Poetry Society commissions go on to enjoy a continuing legacy and are performed in dozens of carol services every year around the world. In December 2024, we were excited to be invited to include Jackie Kay’s 2012 commission ‘The Kindness of Trees’ in the Royal Carols: Together at Christmas event hosted by HRH The Princess of Wales. The poem, which celebrates the themes of kindness, compassion and community, was performed in Westminster Abbey by Sophie Okonedo alongside a specially composed piece by pianist Rosey Chan, and broadcast on ITV on Christmas Eve.

Voices Weaving

We supported Voices Weaving, a project where eight poets worked with community choirs to co-create and film new work in Blackpool, Bradford, Derbyshire, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Rochdale, and Shrewsbury.

Poems on the Underground

The Poetry Society has been a partner in the popular Poems on the Underground project for over 30 years. We continue to showcase the project on our website, and to distribute the poem posters by mail order.

Poet Laureate

Since 2009, The Poetry Society has run an office for the Poet Laureate, supported by a grant from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). This grant enables us to co-ordinate administrative support for Poet Laureate Simon Armitage.

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

16

7. Governance & Finance

The Poetry Society ended the year with an overall surplus of £141,133 (2024: £172,365). Designated unrestricted funds showed a deficit of £50,235 (2024: a surplus of £474,765) in the year, due to depreciation of fixed assets. Unrestricted general funds increased by £93,296 (2024: reduced by £318,214), and restricted funds increased £98,072 (2024: £15,814). The principal funding sources of the Society were: income from Arts Council England (2025: £361,083, 2024: £361,083) towards core costs to advance our charitable aims, income from trusts and foundations (2025: £187,889, 2024: £164,188) to carry out poetry-related projects, fees for providing poetry services (2025: £246,579, 2024: £235,812) and membership and publications revenue (2025: £241,432, 2024: £247,331).

We are deeply grateful for the ongoing support of our funders which enabled us to continue to deliver against agreed objectives. We have a funding agreement in place with Arts Council England for 2023–26. The Foyle Foundation continued to support our work for young people through the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award. The young poets programme was further supported with funding from the Thistle Trust, Backstage Trust and a legacy from Sue Dymoke. After a successful pilot project, we continued our partnership with the Steph Lampl Foundation. Further wellbeing projects are being delivered in partnership with Edge Hill University (UKRI) and Edinburgh University (Wellcome Trust). New environmentally-themed young people’s programmes were supported by AESSEAL and Natural England. A new writer development project was supported by the London Borough of Camden.

We supported the Office of Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, via an agreement with Department for Culture, Media & Sport (until 2029).

In other continuing partnerships, The T.S. Eliot Foundation supports our T.S. Eliot Prize Young Critics scheme; and we continued to work with Tower Hamlets Schools Library Services, Canal & River Trust, University of Liverpool, University of Exeter, and Poetry By Heart. During the year we concluded several long projects with final installations of commissioned works in the public realm which had been postponed during the pandemic.

We continued to publish magazines and offer membership services, keeping all pricing as accessible as possible. After holding membership rates at the same rate for several years, we implemented some small rate rises during the year to cover inflationary postage costs. Brexit continues to bring additional challenges distributing to overseas customers resulting in extra costs and processes and hampering our international growth potential. Due to the ongoing success of the National Poetry Competition we were able to keep competition entry fees unchanged while increasing the prize money and offering participation bursaries to those on low incomes increased. We also earned income through offering schools workshops from visiting poets, and through feedback services promoting writer development.

During the year a legacy was received from Doris Lampard towards adult poetry participation in England.

The Society contributes to the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) pension scheme and provision is made in the annual budget for both existing and projected pension liabilities.

The trustees are satisfied that the charity can continue to operate on a going concern basis for the next year.

Investment Policy

The trustees, having regard to the liquidity requirements of the Society, aim to keep available funds in an interest-bearing deposit account and seek to achieve a rate on deposit which matches or exceeds inflation measured by the retail prices index. During the year the Society continued the process of transferring cash not required for near-term deployment to fixed-term deposit accounts to achieve a higher rate of interest while not compromising liquidity to meet the Society’s immediate needs.

Reserves Policy

The Board of Trustees considers it prudent to retain an appropriate level of unrestricted general funds to protect The Poetry Society’s current activities and to ensure that it continues to operate on a going concern basis. The Board has reviewed its previous policy of holding reserves equivalent to three months’ operating costs in the light of continuing macroeconomic uncertainty and pressure in the funding environment. In line with many charities, the Board now seeks to maintain reserves equivalent to between three and six months’ operating costs. Currently reserves exceed this level but the Trustees consider this prudent as we await confirmation on the level of funding for 2026–27 from Arts Council England.

The Board established a Finance Subcommittee, the membership of which consisted of Gareth Prior, Andrew Neilson and Nigel Ludlow. The Subcommittee made recommendations on treasury management and on options for deploying unrestricted funds to further the Society’s charitable objects. The Trustees have designated £525,000 of reserves as an investment fund to cover a combination of upgrades to premises and investment to diversify the Society’s revenues and further its objects.

At the year end, total funds stood at £1,691,917 (2024: £1,550,784) of which £256,509 was restricted (2024: £158,437). The level of unrestricted free reserves, excluding those represented by fixed assets and excluding other designated funds, stood at £490,893 (2024: £397,029).

Future Plans & Outlook

We entered 2024–25 with a funding agreement in place from Arts Council England (ACE) as a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) until March 2026, and we remain very grateful to ACE for its continued support and its recognition of the importance of our work. We have a full programme of work to deliver throughout this period and are delivering strongly against all our commitments. A small uplift in ACE funding was awarded for 2025–26 (£366,896). We were successful in our application for extension year funding for 2026–27, although the level of funding has still not yet been confirmed, pending a delay in the Arts Council’s settlement from Treasury. A process for applications for a new funding period (2027– 31) was suspended during the year, and a new application process has now been announced for a further extension year 2027–28. Given the uncertainty around funding levels, and the short-term nature of the current agreements, we have had to stay flexible in our organisational planning and budget carefully. This has also impacted on our recruitment plans and increased pressure on the staff team.

All the key elements of our programme will continue in 2025– 26, from publishing inspiring new work in The Poetry Review,

17

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

and finding new talents via the National Poetry Competition, to offering poet visits to schools nationwide, and encouraging communities of young writers via our Young Poets Network. Crucially, these activities ensure that we will continue to offer paid work sustaining the careers of hundreds of poets.

We are delighted to have been awarded a legacy grant from the Foyle Foundation which will support the core costs of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award from 2026 to 2035, giving this influential development scheme a sure future. A separate grant agreement supports the Award in 2025. The Award attracts an ever-increasing amount of entries and we are currently reviewing how to manage the participation volume.

Following the success of our poetry and wellbeing project for schools, ‘Steph’s Poetry Space’, we are glad to be running the scheme for a third year. With school budgets under severe financial strictures in 2024–25, our Poets in Schools service came under pressure. However, we’ve now seen an uplift in bookings for the coming year. We continue to build partnerships to ensure we can target support to schools with priority needs, and will be delivering new activities for students and teachers across London primary schools as part of A New Direction’s Primary Arts Touring Programme, and with support from St Giles & St George.

We continue to develop poetry projects with environmental themes, especially for young people, through RENEW, our ongoing partnership with the University of Exeter and National Trust until 2026. In 2025 this has led to a schools project funded by the National Trust’s Freshwater Renaissance programme as part of the Government’s Species Survival Fund. Meanwhile our schools project in partnership with green-engineering firm AESSEAL enters a second year.

Further ongoing University partnerships include collaborations with the University of Liverpool and the Universities of Salford, Edge Hill and Edinburgh.

We revived the Free Verse Poetry Book and Magazine Fair in April 2024, and raised funds through publisher fees gathered in advance to support this popular poetry community event in a new, larger venue, running it again in April 2025, and with another fair planned in April 2026. Fees from poets for a new accompanying poetry prize awarded at the Fair also contributes towards the successful running of this activity. We are gradually introducing a fuller programme of our own activities into our Poetry Café space in Covent Garden, as well as making the space available for book launches and workshops.

While continuing to build relationships with trusts and foundations, we are maintaining a focus on earned income sources, such as through membership and member services and developing partnerships. Member and subscriber numbers are slightly down, however entries to the National Poetry Competition remain high. As part of our commitment to offering a high quality membership experience, we remain focused on strengthening our network of Stanza groups, with increased opportunities for participation and extra support for groups through training and networking meetings, as well as additional member activities. We have been advised of legacies forthcoming from the estates of Alec John Custerson and Timothy Brooks which will contribute to the stability of the charity.

In order to ensure we can continue to meet our ambitions, we recognised the priority to invest in new digital and data systems.

We are currently upgrading our systems, thanks to a successful bid to Arts Council England’s Capital Programme, with match funding contributed from the Charity’s reserves.

Structure

The Poetry Society (incorporated) is a company limited by guarantee (company number: 00190736) and a registered charity (registration number: 303334). The Poetry Society was founded in 1909 and incorporated in 1923. The Poetry Society is a membership organisation and currently has 4792 members. Poetry Place Limited (company number: 3173544) is the wholly owned subsidiary of the Poetry Society.

Recruitment of Trustees

A call for nominations is published annually inviting members of the Society to nominate suitable persons to the General Council (hereafter referred to as the Board). Nominations are submitted by the existing Board where appropriate, to supplement those that come from within the membership. Trustee vacancies are advertised when required. A skills audit is conducted annually to ensure that the Board recruits new members with the required skills. Where a skills gap is identified the organisation acts quickly to find an appropriately skilled Trustee.

Appointment and Resignation of

Trustees

The Articles of Association require that there be a minimum of 5 Trustees and a maximum of 14 of which 12 must be elected. At each AGM one third of the elected members must resign (generally the longest-serving members) and new members elected. Retiring Trustees may be re-nominated and serve a second term, but for no longer than a duration of six years. Nominations are received and are then put forward for election at the AGM. Society members can vote by proxy or by attending the meeting. Those receiving the maximum number of votes are elected. Trustees may co-opt members to the Board to fill vacancies but these must be approved at the next AGM.

Induction and Training

New Trustees are provided with a Trustee Induction Pack and supported by an induction session with senior members of staff on joining. An in-person Strategic Away Day was held with Trustees in Spring 2025. The Board have been briefed on their legal obligations under charity and company law, the governance framework, Board effectiveness and decision-making processes.

Decision Making Process

The elected Board has overall decision-making powers but may delegate some of those powers to sub-committees or individuals. In particular the day to day running of the society is delegated to the Director who has a job description specifying their responsibilities. An annual plan and budget is presented to the Board for approval prior to the start of the financial year. This outlines the planned activities for the year, costs them and gives approximate timescales. When approved it is the responsibility of the Director to implement the annual plan. Meetings are held at least quarterly where the plan is monitored. A finance report is presented which compares actual income and expenditure to budget.

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

18

Related Parties

Poetry Place Limited is the trading arm of the Poetry Society. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the cafe/bar on the Society’s premises, which had provided refreshments and food for members and also a space for events, meetings and activities that promote the objectives of the Society, operated primarily as a commercial subsidiary intended to generate profits to be gifted to the parent charity to further the Society’s objects. It has not yet proven viable to reopen the premises for commercial purposes, and trading activity outwith the Society’s objects remains suspended. Poetry Place continues to have negative reserves due to monies owed to The Poetry Society from previous years. The Society is using the space to host a wide variety of poetry events in the space for charitable purposes.

Pay Policy for Key Management Personnel

The Board of Directors, who are the Society’s Trustees, and the senior management team comprise the key management personnel of the charity in charge of directing and controlling the Society. All Trustees give of their time freely and no Trustee received remuneration in the year. Details of Trustees’ expenses and related party transactions are disclosed in notes 3 and 19 to the accounts.

The pay of the senior management team is reviewed annually along with other staff. The Board maintains an HR committee to review pay levels and ensure retention and recruitment of key staff.

Risk Management

The Trustees have a risk management strategy which comprises:

• a quarterly review of the principal risks and uncertainties that the charity and its subsidiary face, these are catalogued in the risk register which is shared with the auditors;

• the establishment of policies, systems and procedures to mitigate those risks identified in the annual review with staff assigned to lead on individual risk areas; and

• the implementation of procedures designed to minimise or manage any potential impact on the charity should those risks materialise.

The Board recognises financial sustainability as a major risk. This risk is managed through a focus on grant fundraising, securing partnership fees, growing membership and other earned income. We regularly liaise with all our current and recent funders and maintain an active management of trade debtors and creditor balances to ensure the working capital of the Society.

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The Trustees (who are also Directors of the Poetry Society for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;

• make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;

• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Accounting and Internal Controls

The Board has overall responsibility for ensuring that the charity has appropriate systems of controls, financial and otherwise. It is also responsible for keeping accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy the financial position. The Board is also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention of fraud and other irregularities. It has established systems of internal control designed to provide reasonable but not absolute assurance against material misstatement or loss. These controls include:

• a detailed annual budget approved by the Board;

• a delegation of authority and budgetary responsibility to identified staff,

• regular reviews of financial reports at Board Meetings;

• appropriate internal controls operated by staff.

Statement as to Disclosure to Our Auditors

So far as each of the Directors at the time the Trustees’ report is approved is aware:

• a) there is no relevant information, being information needed by the auditors in connection with preparing their report, of which the auditors are unaware; and

• b) they have taken all relevant steps they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.

This report was approved by the Board of Trustees on 25 November 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

Andrew Neilson, Chair

19

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Independent Auditors Report For the year ended 31 March 2025

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The Poetry Society (Incorporated) (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities (including the Income and Expenditure Account), the Balance Sheet, statement of cash flows and the notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice), including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’.

In our opinion the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2025 and of its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;

• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’; and

• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the Trustees’ Report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information.

Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinion on other matters prescribed by

the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

• the information given in the Trustees’ Report, which includes the directors’ report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• the directors’ report, included within the Trustees’ Report, has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are Required to Report by Exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ Report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

• Proper and adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

• The financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• Certain disclosures of Trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

20

• We have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or

• The trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the trustees’ report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

that only valid and appropriate expenditure was charged to restricted funds. This included reviewing journal adjustments and unusual transactions.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located at the Financial Reporting Council’s (“FRC’s”) website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors’ report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Simon Goodridge (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of Knox Cropper LLP (Statutory Auditor)

65 Leadenhall Street London EC3A 2AD

Date: 26 November 2025

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

• The charitable company is required to comply with charity law and, based on our knowledge of their activities, we identified that the legal requirement to accurately account for restricted funds was of key significance.

• We gained an understanding of how the charitable company complied with their legal and regulatory framework, including the requirement to properly account for restricted funds, through discussions with management and a review of the documented policies, procedures and controls.

• The audit team, which is experienced in the audit of charities, considered the charitable company susceptibility to material misstatement and how fraud may occur. Our considerations included the risk of management override.

• Our approach was to check that all restricted income was properly identified and separately accounted for and to ensure

21

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Statement of Financial Activities (Including the Income and Expenditure Account) For the year ended 31 March 2025

Note INCOME AND EXPENDITURE Income from: Donations and grants Donations and legacies Grants Receivable 2 Income from generated funds Publications & membership Young People’s Education Adult Participation & Learning Other Charitable Income Total Income Expenditure upon: Charitable Activities Publications & membership 4 Young People’s Education 4 Adult Participation & Learning 4 Other Charitable Expenditure 4 Total Expenditure Net Income/(Expenditure) Transfers between funds 10/11 Net Movement in funds for the year Net funds at 1 April 2024 Net funds at 31 March 2025	Unrestricted Funds £ 33,775 361,083 241,432 64,073 65,080 32,418 797,861 313,783 208,689 244,121 - 766,593 31,268 62,028 93,296 406,548 499,844	Designated Funds £ - - - - - - - 17,874 18,100 14,261 - 50,235 (50,235) - (50,235) 985,799 935,564	Restricted Funds £ - 187,889 - 56,126 49,260 - 293,275 116 106,030 27,029 - 133,175 160,100 (62,028) 98,072 158,437 256,509	Total Funds Year Ended 2025 £ 33,775 548,972 241,432 120,199 114,340 32,418 1,091,136 331,773 332,819 285,411 - 950,003 141,133 - 141,133 1,550,784 1,691,917	Total Funds Year Ended 2024 £ 129,809 525,271 247,331 96,564 154,247 6,663
					1,142,634
					319,373 344,379 254,657 45
					970,269
					172,365 -
					172,427 1,378,419
					1,550,784

The notes on pages 24 to 38 form part of these financial statements.

All activities derived from continuing operations in each of the above two financial periods.

All recognised gains or losses are included in the above Statement of Financial Activities.

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

22

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Balance Sheet As at 31 March 2025

Notes Fixed Assets Tangible Assets 6 Investments 7 Current Assets Debtors 8 Deposit Accounts 15 Cash at bank and in hand 15 Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 9 Net Current Assets Total Assets Less Liabilities Funds Restricted Designated Unrestricted	Charity 2025 £ 419,513 2 419,515 137,029 1,227,748 64,114 1,428,891 (156,489) 1,272,402 1,691,917 256,509 935,564 499,844 1,691,917	Charity 2024 £ 470,316 2
		470,318 50,668 952,379 177,157
		1,180,204 (99,738)
		1,080,466
		1,550,784
		158,437 985,799 406,548
		1,550,784

The notes on pages 24 to 38 form part of these financial statements.

The financial statements were approved by the Board and authorised for issue on 25 November 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

Andrew Neilson Chair

Company Registration Number: 00190736 Registered Charity Number: 303334

23

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Cash Flow Statement For the year ended 31 March 2025

Notes Net cash (used by)/provided from operating activities 13 Cash flows from investing activities 14 Net change in cash and cash equivalents in the period Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net cash Movement in net cash in the period Net cash and cash equivalents brought forward Net cash and cash equivalents carried forward 15	Year Ended 31 March 2025 £ 149,719 12,607 162,326 162,326 1,129,536 1,291,862	Year Ended 31 March 2024 £ 182,432 1,009
		183,441
		183,441 946,095
		1,129,536

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

24

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

Accounting Policies

Basis of Accounting

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention (with the exception of investments measured at fair value) and in accordance with the accounting policies set out in the notes to the financial statements. The financial statements comply with the charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011, the accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their financial statements in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102 second edition – effective from January 2019).

The Charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS102. The financial statements are prepared in Sterling, which is the functional currency of the Charity.

Consolidation

The trading subsidiary of the Charity is dormant and so the financial statements of the subsidiary are not consolidated with the Charity’s accounts.

Going Concern

The Trustees have assessed whether the use of the going concern basis is appropriate and have considered possible events or conditions that might cast significant doubt on the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern. In forming this opinion, they have considered the ongoing impact of current economic issues on both its income and expenditure for at least a period of twelve months from the date of approval of these financial statements.

The Society has a funding agreement with its largest funder, Arts Council England, for 2023 to 2026, and has been awarded extension year funding from ACE as a National Portfolio Organisation for 2026–27. The Trustees have considered a range of downside scenarios on other income lines, as well as the impact of inflation on costs, and the healthy level of free reserves. The Trustees have concluded that there is a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. The charity therefore continues to adopt the going concern basis in preparing its financial statements.

Income

Subscriptions, grants and donations are accounted for when there is entitlement to the income, probability of receipt and the amount can be reliably measured. Advance payments in respect of grants for future periods are carried forward in the financial statements as deferred income.

Income from investments are included when receivable.

Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Wherever possible costs are directly attributed to these headings. Costs common to more than one area are apportioned on the basis of staff time.

Governance costs are those incurred in the governance of the charity and are primarily associated with the constitutional and statutory requirements. These are included within the support costs of the charity.

Fund Accounting

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by the donor.

Unrestricted funds are funds which are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity.

Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the Trustees for particular purposes. The aim and use of each designated fund, and the basis of transfers to or from them, are set out in Note 11.

Tangible Fixed Assets

Items with a value greater than £250 are capitalised. Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Provision is made for depreciation on all tangible assets, other than the library books, at rates calculated to write off the cost of each asset over its expected useful life, as follows:

Freehold Buildings 2% per annum on cost, straight line Renovation Works 10% per annum on cost, straight line Fixtures & Fittings 15%/20%/33% per annum on cost, straight line

Computers & Software 25% per annum on cost, straight line, for assets acquired after April 2002

The Poetry Society’s collection of books held at the University of York are considered to have an indefinite life by virtue of the well-conserved conditions in which they are kept.

The Trustees review the tangible fixed assets annually for any evidence of impairment. Where there is objective evidence of impairment the entity recognises the loss in the SOFA immediately.

Leasing

Rentals payable under operating leases are charged against income on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

Assets obtained under hire purchase and finance leases are capitalised as tangible assets and depreciated over their useful lives. Obligations under such agreements are included in creditors net of

25

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

the finance charge allocated to future periods. The finance element of the rental payment is charged to the profit and loss account to produce a constant periodic rate of charge on the net obligation outstanding in each period.

Investments

Investments are initially measured at their cost and subsequently measured at their fair value at each reporting date. Fair value is based on the quoted price for listed investments at the balance sheet date.

Changes in fair value and gains and losses arising on the disposal of Investments are credited or charged to the income or expenditure section of the Statement of Financial Activities as ‘gains or losses on investments’ and are allocated to the appropriate fund holding or disposing of the relevant investment.

Pensions

The Poetry Society operates a defined contribution scheme for the benefit of its employees. Contributions payable are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the year they are payable.

includes the net gains and losses arising on revaluation and disposals throughout the year.

Government Grants

Where the charity receives government grants, it recognises this as Income only where there is reasonable assurance that the charity will comply with the conditions attaching to them, and the grants will be received. This includes grants received from Arts Council England as they are an executive non-departmental public body.

Accounting Estimates and Areas of Judgement

In preparing financial statements it is necessary to make certain judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts recognised in the financial statements. The following judgements and estimates are considered by the Trustees to have most significant effect on amounts recognised in the financial statements:

• Assessment of deferred income as undertaken by the Management Team and Trustees.

Financial Instruments

The charity only has basic financial instruments as defined under Section 11 of FRS 102. Basic financial instruments are recognised initially at transaction value and subsequently at settlement value.

Employee Benefits

The cost of short-term employee benefits are recognised as a liability and as an expense. The cost of any material unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received. Termination benefits are recognised as an expense when the company is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.

Taxation

The company is a registered charity and as such is entitled to exemption from taxation under the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include cash at banks and in hand and short-term deposits with a maturity date of three months or less.

Debtors and Creditors

Debtors and creditors receivable or payable within one year of the reporting date are carried initially at their transaction price and subsequently at settlement value. Debtors and creditors that are receivable or payable in more than one year and not subject to a market rate of interest are measured at the present value of the expected future receipts or payment discounted at a market rate of interest.

Fixed Asset Investments

Investments are a form of basic financial instrument and are initially recognised at their transaction value and subsequently measured at their fair value as at the balance sheet date using the closing quoted market price. The statement of financial activities

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

26

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

2a) Grants Receivable Restricted The Foyle Foundation Department of Culture, Media and Sport Imperial War Museum Steph Lampl Foundation Canal Laureate Camden Spark Cultural Education and Learning Support Fund British Council Unrestricted Arts Council England – NPO Total Grants Receivable	Unrestricted Funds £ - - - - - - - - - 361,083 361,083	Restricted Funds £ 75,000 15,859 - 80,200 2,000 - 14,830 - 187,889 - 187,889	Total 2025 £ 75,000 15,859 - 80,200 2,000 - 14,830 - 187,889 361,083 548,972	Total 2024 £ 75,000 15,578 1,810 50,000 - 1,800 - 20,000
				164,188
				361,083
				525,271

2b) Net income/(expenditure) for the year

This is stated after charging:

Depreciation of fixed assets Auditors’ remuneration Operating lease payments	2025 £ 58,575 13,248 3,136	2024 £ 54,991 12,544 3,706

27

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

3 Staff Costs

The aggregate payroll costs were: Wages and Salaries Social Security Costs Pension Costs	2025 £ 391,371 27,212 20,202 438,785	2024 £ 401,932 26,633 20,312
		448,877

During the year, no trustees were reimbursed for expenses (2024: £58)

During the year one trustee was paid a total of £360 for educational poetry services provided to the charity (2024: £575 for educational poetry services provided to the charity). See note 19 regarding related parties.

One employee received an annual remuneration, including employers National Insurance, in the band £60,001 to ’ £70,000 (2024: one in the band £60,001 to £70,000).

Average staff during the year	2025 11.8	2024
		11.4

The charity considers its key management personnel to be its Key Management Team. The remuneration of the CEO is decided by the HR Committee of the Board, the CEO and HR Committee decides the remuneration of Key Management Team. Total remuneration of the four posts in this group (2024: three), including pension contributions, was £196,245 (2024: £142,493).

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

28

	Total	2024	£	410,504	47,225	108,726	64,439	95,993	75,068	2,446	22,923	142,944		970,269
	Total	2025	£	347,411	52,016	104,473	62,841	80,262	74,903	3,094	26,758	198,246		950,003			Total	2024	£	410,504	47,225	108,726	64,439	95,993	75,068	2,446	22,923	142,944		970,269
Other	Charitable	Activities	£	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		-		Other	Charitable	Activities	£	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		-
Publications Young Adult	& People’s Participation	Notes Memberships Education & Learning	£ £ £	Staff Costs 123,614 125,172 98,625	Distribution 39,981 8,553 3,482	Printing, Design and Marketing 54,662 24,372 25,439	Poets’ Fees and Expenses 23,508 13,297 26,036	Events/Workshops 6,497 55,631 18,134	Competitions & Prizes 5,338 25,418 44,147	Archiving & Storage 1,101 1,115 878	Other Office Expenses 6,535 7,833 12,391	Support Costs 5 70,539 71,428 56,279		331,773 332,819 285,411	Comparative Direct Expenditure on Charitable Activities	Publications Young Adult	& People’s Participation	Notes Memberships Education & Learning	£ £ £	Staff Costs 140,897 131,931 137,677	Distribution 36,870 7,112 3,244	Printing, Design and Marketing 52,485 28,404 27,838	Poets’ Fees and Expenses 25,978 11,832 26,629	Events/Workshops 3,844 80,359 11,790	Competitions & Prizes 5,855 27,126 42,087	Archiving & Storage 832 783 832	Other Office Expenses 4,013 11,090 7,820	Support Costs 5 48,601 45,742 48,601		319,373 344,379 306,517

29

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

	Total	2024	£	38,373	31,999	3,851	12,544	54,991	402	784	142,944
	Total	2025	£	91,374	31,169	3,282	13,248	58,575	85	512	198,246				Total	2024	£	38,373	31,999	3,851	12,544	54,991	402	784	142,944
Other	Charitable	Activities	£	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-			Other	Charitable	Activities	£	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Adult	Participation	& Learning	£	23,940	8,848	932	3,761	16,629	24	145	56,279			Adult	Participation	& Learning	£	13,047	10,880	1,309	4,265	18,697	137	267	48,601
Publications Young	& People’s	Memberships Education	£ £	Staff Costs 32,512 32,922	Office & Equipment 11,090 11,230	Legal and Professional 1,168 1,183	Audit and Accounting 4,714 4,773	Depreciation 20,842 21,105	Bad Debt Write Off 30 31	Miscellaneous Expenses 182 185	70,539 71,428	Governance costs included in the above totalled £16,530 (2024: £16,395).	Comparative Support Costs	Publications Young	& People’s	Memberships Education	£ £	Staff Costs 13,047 12,279	Office & Equipment 10,880 10,240	Legal and Professional 1,309 1,232	Audit and Accounting 4,265 4,014	Depreciation 18,697 17,597	Bad Debt Write Off 137 129	Miscellaneous Expenses 267 251	48,601 45,742

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

30

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

6 Tangible Fixed Assets Freehold Land and Buildings £ Cost At 31 March 2024 403,309 Additions - At 31 March 2025 403,309 Depreciation At 31 March 2024 87,749 Charge for the year 3,988 At 31 March 2025 91,737 Net Book Value At 31 March 2025 311,572 At 31 March 2024 315,560 7 Investments Listed Investments Investment in Subsidiary 7a Listed Investments Market value brought forward Disposals Realised loss on disposal Additions Unrealised gain/(loss) on investment Historical Cost	Renovation Work Fixtures & Fittings Computers & Software £ £ £ 462,469 35,508 50,772 - 3,685 4,087 462,469 39,193 54,859 323,728 31,348 45,417 46,247 1,444 6,896 369,975 32,792 52,313 92,494 6,401 2,546 138,741 4,160 5,355 2025 2024 £ £ 7a - - 7b 2 2 2 7,252 - 7,252 - (7,253) - 1 - - - - - - - -	Renovation Work Fixtures & Fittings Computers & Software £ £ £ 462,469 35,508 50,772 - 3,685 4,087 462,469 39,193 54,859 323,728 31,348 45,417 46,247 1,444 6,896 369,975 32,792 52,313 92,494 6,401 2,546 138,741 4,160 5,355 2025 2024 £ £ 7a - - 7b 2 2 2 7,252 - 7,252 - (7,253) - 1 - - - - - - - -	Renovation Work Fixtures & Fittings Computers & Software £ £ £ 462,469 35,508 50,772 - 3,685 4,087 462,469 39,193 54,859 323,728 31,348 45,417 46,247 1,444 6,896 369,975 32,792 52,313 92,494 6,401 2,546 138,741 4,160 5,355 2025 2024 £ £ 7a - - 7b 2 2 2 7,252 - 7,252 - (7,253) - 1 - - - - - - - -	Renovation Work Fixtures & Fittings Computers & Software £ £ £ 462,469 35,508 50,772 - 3,685 4,087 462,469 39,193 54,859 323,728 31,348 45,417 46,247 1,444 6,896 369,975 32,792 52,313 92,494 6,401 2,546 138,741 4,160 5,355 2025 2024 £ £ 7a - - 7b 2 2 2 7,252 - 7,252 - (7,253) - 1 - - - - - - - -	Library Books £ 6,500 - 6,500 - - - 6,500 6,500	Total £ 958,559 7,772
						966,330
						488,243 58,575
						546,817
						419,513
						470,316
	7a 7b
			- - - - - - -

Material Investment

Investments representing more than 5% of the market value of the portfolio

CAF Income Fund	Market Value 2025 £ - -	Cost 2025 £ - -	Market Value 2024 £ - -	Cost 2024 £ -
				-

31

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

7b Investment - Trading Subsidiary

The wholly owned trading subsidiary Poetry Place Limited, which is incorporated in England and Wales (Company Number 03173544). The company’s registered office is 22 Betterton Street, London WC2H 9BX. The company did not trade in 2025 and 2024.

	31	31	March		31 March
Profit and Loss Account		2025			2024
			£		£
Turnover			-		-
Cost of Sales			-		-
Gross Profit			-		-
Administration Expenses			(4,373)		(266)
Other Income			-		-
Interest Payable			-		-
Donations under gift aid			-		-
Profit/(Loss) on Ordinary Activities			(4,373)		(266)
Balance Sheet	31		March		31 March
		2025			2024
			£		£
Fixed Assets			-		-
Current Assets			2,440		2,440
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year			(24,711)		(20,338)
Total Net Assets/(Liabilities)			(22,271)		(17,898)
Called up share capital			2		2
Retained profit and loss account			(22,273)		(17,900)
Shareholders’ Funds			(22,271)		(17,898)
The company’s financial statements will be filed with the Registrar of Companies in				due	course.
8 Debtors	2025			2024
	£			£
Trade debtors	75,536			41,196
Amounts owed by group undertakings	4,321			(679)
Other debtors	19,575			9,759
VAT	37,597				-
Prepayments and accrued income			-		392
	137,029			50,668

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

32

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

9 Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year

Trade creditors Social security and other taxes Deferred income Accruals and other creditors	2025 £ 89,086 28,985 15,805 22,613 156,489	2024 £ 51,524 3,994 19,000 25,220
		99,738

10 Restricted Funds

Alice Hunt Bartlett Fund Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award Foyle Young Poets 20 Geoffrey Dearmer Prize Canal Laureate Canal & River Trust Sheffield Canal & River Trust Sefton Arts Patron’s Trust Young Persons and Spoken Word Projects Peggy Poole Award Young Poets Network TS Eliot Prize Young Critics Scheme Unwritten Liverpool Annual Lecture Partnership From Primrose Hill Poet Laureate TIDE Partnership Remembering Mrs Powell Tower Hamlets Spoken Word Young Poets Performance About Us British Council Malaysia Collaborations Portland Japanese Garden Peace Symposium Poetry by Heart Steph’s Poetry Space Free Verse Book Fair & Poetry Prize National Education Nature Park Camden Young Writers National Poetry Competition Development Fund RENEW City Bridge Poet Residency Thistle Trust Poets Doris Lampard Legacy A Greener Future Teacher Trailblazers	Balance at 2024 3,409 30,189 14,629 7,251 7,050 3,587 2,800 16,775 6,152 - - 1,800 500 400 1,607 450 1,711 1,746 3,333 10,183 17,536 8,887 - 15,397 1,546 1,500 - - - - - - - - 158,437	Income Expenditure - - 75,000 (34,985) - - - - 2,150 (660) - (3,009) - (841) - - - (550) 1,500 (885) 3,000 (1,412) - (116) 500 (1,000) - - 15,859 - - - - (364) 12,585 (11,096) - (2,236) - (454) - (150) - (50) 2,550 - 80,322 (26,497) 9,236 (10,675) - - 14,830 (11,867) - - 16,220 (7,319) 12,094 (10,094) 5,000 (2,194) 27,430 - 10,000 (6,396) 5,000 (325) 293,275 (133,175)	Transfers - (31,259) - - - (578) (1,959) - - (415) (1,588) - - (400) - - - (2,140) (1,097) (500) (1,200) - (2,550) (9,000) (107) (1,500) (150) 3,000 (2,500) (2,000) (2,806) - (3,104) (175) (62,028)	Balance at 2025 3,409 38,945 14,629 7,251 8,540 - - 16,775 5,602 200 - 1,684 - - 17,466 450 1,347 1,095 - 9,229 16,186 8,837 - 60,222 - - 2,813 3,000 6,401 - - 27,430 500 4,500
				256,509

33

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

Comparative Net Movement in Funds

Alice Hunt Bartlett Fund Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award Foyle Young Poets 20 Geoffrey Dearmer Prize Canal Laureate Canal & River Trust Sheffield Canal & River Trust Sefton Arts Patron’s Trust Young Persons and Spoken Word Projects Peggy Poole Award Young Poets Network TS Eliot Prize Young Critics Scheme Unwritten Liverpool Annual Lecture Partnership From Primrose Hill Poet Laureate TIDE Partnership Illuminated River Foundation Remembering Mrs Powell Love Letter to Brent Tower Hamlets Spoken Word People of 1381 Young Poets Performance About Us British Council Malaysia Collaborations Portland Japanese Garden Peace	Balance at 2023 3,409 31,270 19,548 7,250 7,398 3,587 3,400 16,775 6,452 1,250 - 7,120 - - - 450 - 1,711 2,450 1,355 2,187 3,333 12,218 11,460	Income Expenditure - - 75,000 (42,276) - (4,469) 1 - 2,260 (1,958) - - - (600) - - 900 (1,100) 2,655 (1,431) 3,000 (1,665) 1,810 (6,494) 500 - 400 - 15,578 (13,971) - - 1,600 (1,600) - - - (236) 23,532 (20,641) - (550) - - - (1,035) 20,000 (10,303)	Income Expenditure - - 75,000 (42,276) - (4,469) 1 - 2,260 (1,958) - - - (600) - - 900 (1,100) 2,655 (1,431) 3,000 (1,665) 1,810 (6,494) 500 - 400 - 15,578 (13,971) - - 1,600 (1,600) - - - (236) 23,532 (20,641) - (550) - - - (1,035) 20,000 (10,303)	Transfers - (33,805) (450) - (650) - - - (100) (2,474) (1,335) (636) - - - - - - (2,214) (2,500) (1,637) - (1,000) (3,621)	Balance at 2024 3,409 30,189 14,629 7,251 7,050 3,587 2,800 16,775 6,152 - - 1,800 500 400 1,607 450 - 1,711 - 1,746 - 3,333 10,183 17,536
~~Symposium~~ Poetry by Heart Steph’s Poetry Space Free Verse Book Fair & Prize Camden Spark National Education Nature Park RENEW	~~-~~ - - - - - - 142,623	~~20,000~~ 23,092 52,444 3,755 1,800 2,015 2,607 252,948	~~(5,113)~~ (10,307) (28,843) (2,209) (1,800) (515) (1,045) (158,161)	~~(6,000)~~ (12,784) (8,205) - - - (1,562) (78,973)	~~8,887~~ - 15,397 1,546 - 1,500 -
					158,437

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

34

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

10 Restricted Funds (continued)

Alice Hunt Bartlett Fund – this is The Poetry Society’s prize fund, for a historic award for the best first published poetry collection.

Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award – this scheme fosters the most promising young poetic talent in the UK and internationally and is supported by the Foyle Foundation. Each year, one hundred young poets of the year are selected, with the top winners attending a week-long residential writing course at an Arvon Centre. The winning poems are published in an anthology which is distributed to schools and libraries.

Foyle Young Poets 20 – a programme marking the twentieth anniversary of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, with support from The Foyle Foundation. The project’s legacy includes a publication to support creative writing in schools. Geoffrey Dearmer Prize – An annual award is made to the poet whose poem was judged to be the best poem published in The Poetry Review that year by a poet yet to publish a full collection. The transfer relates to the part of the prize which this year was not fully covered by the investments, as this is reimbursed from unrestricted funds.

Canal Laureate – in a well-established partnership with Canal & River Trust, The Poetry Society continued to generate new poetry inspired by our inland waterways nationally, including the appointment of a national poet in residence. Canal & River Trust (Sheffield) – the Sheffield region of CRT supported a poetry & community project, including the installation of the poem on the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal.

Canal & River Trust (Sefton) – the Sefton region of CRT supported a poetry & community project, including the installation of the poem on the Sefton Canal. Arts Patron’s Trust Young Persons and Spoken Word Projects – funds from an arts trust which enables delivery of targeted young people’s poetry and spoken word activities.

Peggy Poole – this Award helps emerging writers develop their craft, and gives poets in the North West of England the chance to win a year of mentoring from a leading poet. Running alongside the National Poetry Competition, the award is presented in memory of the poet and broadcaster Peggy Poole and made possible thanks to the generosity of her extended family and many friends.

Young Poets Network – a digital project fostering informal poetry learning opportunities for young people. Funds reflect two distinct projects – Soundworlds and Songscapes (a partnership with the charity People Need Nature), the Toolbox Challenge (funded by a donation from Hubert Wooten).

TS Eliot Prize Young Critics Scheme – a programme to develop the skills of emerging poetry reviewers aged 18–25 from the UK and Ireland. Funded by the T.S. Eliot Foundation.

Unwritten – with a grant from The Imperial War Museum/1418NOW, The Poetry Society worked with poet Karen McCarthy Woolf to explore connections between WW1 and contemporary unheard voices, culminating with release of a final animated film.

Poet Laureate Support – a grant from DCMS enables The Poetry Society to offer administrative support to the Poet Laureate, awarded for the ten years of Simon Armitage’s tenure.

TIDE Partnership – this grant supports new poetry films, recordings and resources, in collaboration with Oxford University, for a project which received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme – ERC grant agreement number 681884.

Remembering Mrs Powell – this fund raised via JustGiving by the friends and family of Pat Powell supports poet visits to schools in the North West.

Teacher Trailblazers – a programme encouraging outstanding teachers of poetry supported by a legacy from Sue Dymoke.

Tower Hamlets Spoken Word – Inter-school spoken word championships for Tower Hamlets students funded by Tower Hamlets School Library Service, in secondary and primary schools.

Young Poets Performance – funds from the Backstage Trust support performance opportunities for young poets.

About Us – Fees from UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK delivering legacy educational activities.

British Council Malaysia Collaborations – a grant from the British Council Malaysia enabled a partnership with George Town Literary Festival in Penang, including new commissions from UK and Malaysian poets. A further grant from the British Council/UNBOXED focused on extension activity, including work with younger writers, a collaboration with poets in Borneo, and showcase opportunities for UK poets with Malaysian heritage.

Portland Japanese Garden Peace Poetry – an international project commissioning and showcasing new work by young poets, funded by the Japan Institute of Portland Japanese Garden, USA.

Poetry By Heart – The Poetry Society partners with the national poetry speaking competition for schools and colleges funded by DfE by attending consortium meetings and supporting judging.

Steph’s Poetry Space – this project in UK secondary schools uses poetry to encourage a sense of wellbeing in students taking part, through self-expression, creativity and collaboration. It is supported by the Steph Lampl Foundation.

Free Verse Book Fair & Poetry Prize – Funds from participating publishers and poets support The Poetry Society’s poetry community book fair.

Liverpool Annual Lecture Partnership – the Poetry Society Annual Lecture / Kenneth Allott lecture is supported in partnership with the University of Liverpool. From Primrose Hill – publication of poems by Grey Gowrie by the Greville Press / Lumphanan Press was supported by a grant from the Hugonin Family Trust. National Education Nature Park – The Poetry Society’s work creating poetry resources for schools exploring biodiversity, working with the Natural History Museum and RHS for the DfE funded National Education Nature Park.

RENEW – The Poetry Society’s work in partnership with the University of Exeter and National Trust using poetry to explore biodiversity renewal. Funds include a fee from Natural England to work on Bog Talk, in partnership with South West Peatland Partnership.

City Bridge Poet Residency – an 18-month Poet in Residence scheme supported by City Bridge Foundation.

Thistle Trust Poets – internship, mentoring and workshop opportunities for young poets, supported by the Thistle Trust.

Doris Lampard Legacy – a legacy from Doris Lampard supports adult participation activities in England.

Camden Young Writers – a skills-based development project for young writers in Camden, funded by Camden Council.

A Greener Future – a project funded by Rotherham-based green engineering firm AESSEAL, running a Young Poets Network ecopoetry challenge and supporting eco-focussed poet visits to schools in South Yorkshire.

National Poetry Competition Talent Development – a programme of CPD for writers recognised in the competition.

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

----- Start of picture text -----
35
----- End of picture text -----

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

11 Unrestricted Funds

Designated Funds Freehold land & property Investment Fund Poetry Society Library – University of York General Unrestricted Funds	Balance at 2024 £ 454,299 525,000 6,500 985,799 406,548 1,392,347	Incoming Resources £ - - - - 797,861 797,861	Resources Expended £ (50,235) - - (50,235) (766,593) (816,828)	Transfers £ - - - - 62,028 62,028	Balance at 2025 404,064 525,000 6,500
					935,564 499,844
					1,435,409

The Freehold land & property fund represents the depreciated value (£311,572) of the initial investment in the freehold property, 22 Betterton Street, and the depreciated value (£92,494) of the renovation of the building, completed in 2018.

The trustees have designated £525,000 of reserves as an investment fund to cover a combination of upgrades to premises and investment to diversify the Society’s revenues and further its objects.

The £6,500 represent the investment in books purchased by the Poetry Society and now held at the University of York.

Comparative Net Movement in Funds

Balance at 2023 Designated Funds £ Freehold land & property 504,534 Investment Fund - Poetry Society Library – University of York 6,500 511,034 General Unrestricted Funds 724,762 1,235,796	Incoming Resources £ - - - - 889,686 889,686	Resources Expended £ (50,235) - - (50,235) (761,873) (812,108)	Transfers £ - 525,000 - 525,000 (446,027) 78,973	Balance at 2024 454,299 525,000 6,500
				985,799 406,548
				1,392,347

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

36

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

Comparative Analysis of Net Assets Between Funds

Designated Funds Freehold Land and Property Investment Fund Library – University of York General Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total Funds	Tangible Fixed Assets Investments Net Current Assets £ £ £ 454,299 - - - - 525,000 6,500 - - 9,517 2 397,029 470,316 2 922,029 - - 158,437 470,316 2 1,080,466	Total 2024 £ 454,299 525,000 6,500 406,548
		1,392,347 158,437
		1,550,784

13 Reconciliation of Net Income from Operating Activities to Net Cash Flows

Net Income for the reporting period Investment income Depreciation Losses/(Gain) on investments Decrease/(Increase) in debtors (Decrease)/Increase in creditors and provisions Net cash (used by)/provided from operating activities 14 Cash Flows from Investing Activities Interest Received Purchase of Property, Plant & Equipment Net cash (used by)/provided from operating activities 15 Analysis of Net Cash Deposit Accounts Cash at bank and in hand	2025 £ 141,134 (20,379) 58,575 - (86,363) 56,751 149,719 2025 £ 20,379 (7,772) 12,607 2025 £ 1,227,748 64,114	2024 £ 172,365 (2,579) 54,991 7,252 8,698 (58,295)
		182,432
		2024 £ 2,579 (1,570)
		1,009
		2024 £ 952,379 177,157

37

ANNUAL REPORT 2024–2025

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

16 Analysis of Changes in Net Debt

Analysis of Changes in Net	Debt
Cash and Cash Equivalents	At 31 March 2024	Cashflows	Non-Cash Changes		At 31 March 2025
Cash	1,129,536	162,326		-	1,291,862
	1,129,536	162,326		-	1,291,862

17 Membership

At the year end The Poetry Society had 5,226 members and subscribers (2024: 5,385).

The Poetry Society is a company limited by guarantee. Liability is limited to 25 pence per member.

18 Operating Lease Commitments

At 31 March 2025, The Poetry Society had future minimum commitments under operating leases as follows:

The equipment lease: Within one year In more than one year	2025 £ 2,682 447 3,129	2024 £ 2,682 3,129
		5,811

19 Related Parties

During the year, there were recharges to The Poetry Society from Poetry Place Ltd (a 100% owned subsidiary of the charity) of £4,373 (2024: £4,198).

During the year, Keith Jarrett continued to provide educational services to the charity after his appointment as a Trustee. As allowed by the charity’s governing document he was paid a total of £360 in the period (2024: £575).

There were no other related party transactions, apart from the remuneration and reimbursement of expenses paid to trustees set out in Note 3.

20 Capital Commitments

The Charity had no capital commitments at the year-end (2024: nil)

THEPOETRYSOCIETY

38

The Poetry Society (Incorporated) Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

21 Comparative Fund and SOFA Balances

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE Income from: Donations and grants Donations and legacies Grants Receivable Income from generated funds Publications & membership Young People’s Education Adult Participation & Learning Other Charitable Income Total Income Expenditure upon: Charitable Activities Publications & membership Young People’s Education Adult Participation & Learning Other Charitable Expenditure Total Expenditure Gain/(loss) on revaluation of investments Net Income/(Expenditure) Transfers between funds Net Movement in funds for the year Net funds at 1 April 2023 Net funds at 31 March 2024	Unrestricted Funds £ 128,509 361,083 243,576 39,664 112,636 4,218 889,686 293,590 213,491 254,792 - 761,873 - 127,813 (446,027) (318,214) 724,762 406,548	Designated Funds £ - - - - - - - 17,080 16,075 17,080 - 50,235 - (50,235) 525,000 474,765 511,034 985,799	Restricted Funds £ 1,300 164,188 3,755 56,901 24,360 2,444 252,948 8,703 114,813 34,645 - 158,161 - 94,787 (78,973) 15,814 142,623 158,437	Total Funds Year Ended 2024 £ 129,809 525,271 247,331 96,564 136,996 6,663
				1,142,634
				319,373 344,379 306,517 -
				970,269
				- 172,365 -
				172,365 1,378,419
				1,550,784

22 Betterton Street London WC2H 9BX 020 7420 9880 / [e-mail]