Chairman’s Report.
Burton-in-Kendal, Saturday 3[rd] June 2023.
Just the other day I googled my own name to see what came up in the way of results. The fifth ‘hit’ was the Charity Commission’s website with its overview of the Society and its Officers. I was surprised to see that I was appointed Chairman on 21[st] January 2013 – it just goes to show how time flies! It was also indicative of the lack of volunteers ‘stepping up’ and taking on a role within the Society’s management team. This was also highlighted by our attempts to find an assistant for John Steel in his role as Webmaster with a view to taking over the position and allowing John to step down. Such a transitional period would have allowed the transfer of responsibilities to happen in a seamless way over several years. However, in November last year John tendered his resignation of the roles of both Webmaster and Administrator on health grounds. Both John and his wife have been dogged by ill health for upwards of three years and because of this, John hasn’t been able to attend Council meetings. Understandably, he felt isolated and unable to contribute like he always had done. At the time of his resignation, John agreed to carry on in a ‘caretaker role’ with the website and has kept it up to date and operational whilst we found someone else to take over. In December Dave Huddart, a very long-standing member of the Society, stepped forward and offered to take on some of the work John had been carrying out. However, it soon became apparent that every task was so integral to other tasks that it was impossible to separate the work and share it out. The Society then made the decision that we would have to create a new website and I was tasked with approaching a few companies who were both willing and capable of taking on such a large project. I initially entered into discussions with fourteen companies and dismissed eleven of them as various stages of the process. I then presented the final three to the Council to decide upon. We eventually agreed to appoint a company called ‘Sandlebridge’ to build our new site and to help with the maintenance going forward.
Whilst this was all happening, Dave was co-opted onto the Council and was appointed Webmaster. Dave has been living in France for the last 20 years and has just bought a house in the Eden Valley so is still trying to ‘find his feet’ so to speak, as far as the position is concerned.
As soon as their appointment was confirmed and the first stage payment was received, Sandlebridge began work and the new site should be ready by the beginning of November this year. If any member would like to check out their work, Sandlebridge created a new website for Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society in 2020. In order to fund the construction and maintenance of the site, we will be heavily relying on publication sales and in the next few months the Society will be pushing ahead with the transcribing of parish registers from dozens of parishes throughout Cumbria and volunteers will be needed if this is to succeed.
As regards the Solicitors’ documents we bought back in 2016, we have indexed another large batch, but the database will not be updated until the new site is up and running, however, when this is done, it will create a index of nearly 20,000 names.
Despite faltering membership numbers, the Society has performed well this last year mainly due to a good level of publication sales. We rely on these to keep the Society profitable and with the implicated costs regarding the new website we will be asking the members to vote on an increase in subscriptions. We have been one of, if not the cheapest county society to join in the UK and whilst we don’t want to make ourselves one of the dearest, we need to cover the additional cost of postage since it was last increased (which was so long ago, I cannot remember!).
As a Council, we are an ‘open door’ and we welcome any feedback from the membership with regard to any aspect of the Society so if you have any ideas about improvements or criticisms about anything, please let one of us know and we will take anything (good or bad) into consideration.
Lastly, I would just like to thank everybody for their support over the last twelve months but in particular, all the other Council members for their sterling work, and all the volunteers who make our publication sales a reality – from the transcribers and indexers through to Dorothy who distributes the hard copies and monitors the electronic downloads.
Trevor Littleton
Cumbria Family History Society Income and Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet 2022
| Detail | Notes | 2022 | 2021 | |||||
| Income | ||||||||
| Subscriptions Received in 2022 | 10,700.50 | 13,090.50 | ||||||
| Donations | 280.00 | 370.00 | ||||||
| Publications | 2,578.95 | 3,065.91 | ||||||
| Gift Aid for 2019 | 1 | 1,928.43 | 2,233.53 | |||||
| Bank Interest | 268.66 | 143.29 | ||||||
| Conferences | 12,765.50 | 8,964.50 | ||||||
| 28,522.04 | 27,867.73 | |||||||
| Expenditure | ||||||||
| Newsletter Printing | -3,189.00 | -3,004.00 | ||||||
| Newslette Distribution Costs | -2,791.56 | -2,641.60 | ||||||
| Conferences | -12,605.60 | -9,012.75 | ||||||
| Officers Expenses | -1,203.61 | -1,059.18 | ||||||
| Bank and Credit Charges | -563.85 | -378.72 | ||||||
| Speakers Costs | -628.00 | -411.00 | ||||||
| Postages | -396.08 | -457.40 | ||||||
| Printingand Equipment | -326.68 | -249.94 | ||||||
| Stationery | -434.19 | -446.41 | ||||||
| Insurance | -422.98 | -415.41 | ||||||
| Affiliations and London Group | -445.14 | -425.88 | ||||||
| Website | -275.41 | -316.54 | ||||||
| Advertising | -60.00 | |||||||
| Archive Storage | ||||||||
| Assets | -37.99 | -40.00 | ||||||
| -23,380.09 | 36,876.63 | |||||||
| Surplus for the year | £5,202.14 | £9,013.90 | ||||||
| Membership | 1129 | 1171 | ||||||
| Funding Represnted as: | ||||||||
| OpeningBalances at 01/01/2022 | ||||||||
| HSBC Charitable Bank Account | 28,415.18 | 19,757.98 | ||||||
| HSBC Business MoneyManager | 27,343.08 | 27,340.38 | ||||||
| CAF Shawbrook Bank | 31,213.96 | 31,213.96 | ||||||
| 86,972.22 | 78,312.32 | |||||||
| Add Surplus | 5,202.14 | 9,013.90 | ||||||
| Accruals and Prepayments | 0.00 | -354.00 | ||||||
| Total Funds | 92,174.36 | £86,972.22 | ||||||
| ClosingBalances at 31/12/22 | ||||||||
| HSBC Charitable Bank Account | 33,349.16 | 28,415.18 | ||||||
| HSBC Business MoneyManager | 27,393.24 | 27,343.08 | ||||||
| CAF Fixed Saver at Shawbrook Bank | 31,432.46 | 31,213.96 | ||||||
| Total Funds | 2 | 92,174.86 | £86,972.22 | |||||
| Notes | ||||||||
| 1 Gift Aid income relates toprioryear | 1 | |||||||
| 2 Prepayments included for upto 4years | 2 | £5,215.50 | £6,112.00 | |||||
| Ian White,Treasurer | ||||||||
| 05 January2023 | ||||||||
Cumbria Family History Society Income and Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet 2022
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