2025-12-31-accounts

Glasgow & West of Scotland

Family History Society

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS For

THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025

Charity No: SC 010866

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Contents

Reference and Administrative Information	3
Structure, Governance and Management	4
Trustees’ Annual Report	5
Financial Review	13
Reserves Policy	14
Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities	15
Independent Examiner’s Report	16
Receipts and Payments Account	17

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Reference and Administrative Information

Charity Name: Charity Registration Number: Contact Address:

Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society

SC 010866 32 Mansfield Street Glasgow G11 5QP

Trustees

Elizabeth H Anderson R Murray Archer Sheila Cuthbertson Linda Emery J Scott Fairie Lina Goldberg Karen Hunter

Annette McGarill Jean Mackenzie Edward W Nairn James Oakes Elizabeth D Smith John Urie John Wotherspoon

Principal Office-bearers

Chairman Vice Chairman Secretary Treasurer

J Scott Fairie Jean Mackenzie Annette McGarill Elizabeth H Anderson

Independent Examiner

Mr Craig Crosthwaite c/o Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society 32 Mansfield Street Glasgow G11 5QP

Bankers

Bank of Scotland, 41 Princes Mall, East Kilbride G74 1LA

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Trustees’ Annual Report Year ended 31 December 2025

Structure, Governance and Management

Governing Document

The Society is administered in accordance with the terms of the Constitution.

Recruitment and Appointment of Trustees

Members of the Council are the charity trustees and are appointed at the Annual General Meeting from within members of the society. Members are invited to nominate individuals who are believed to have the skills and commitment to contribute to the management affairs of the society. Trustees are appointed for a period of two years, after which they may seek re-election at a subsequent AGM.

Organisational Structure

The Governing Council meets routinely at least ten times through the year to carry on the business of the Society. Where it is necessary, the voting rights on certain matters are explicitly observed but more usually the business is attended to by all present.

Objectives and Activities

The Society’s objective is the promotion of and education in genealogical research, the preservation and preparation of information beneficial to family historians.

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Trustees’ Annual Report

Year ended 31 December 2025

Chair

All member meetings are conducted online, with our monthly talk including an ever-growing number of members from far and wide, followed by an open mic session. The Centre in Partick is the focus of our research activities, where we continue to assist visitors; the research team tackle on-line enquiries, and the DNA group investigates techniques of genetic researching. The computer terminals have all been updated with new hardware and software to keep them secure, thanks to our IT Support. As ever, we appreciate the dedication of our Secretary and Treasurer for the smooth running of the Society.

Our Journal has been expertly produced by our current Editor for many years, and we are sad that she is moving on at the end of the session. She has created a professional and interesting collection of material for each Journal and we thank her for her past service. We will soon welcome a new Editor, due to take over in April, who is currently in training.

The Webmaster and her technical team keep the Website up to date, and maintain the shop, and work with the Membership Secretary to update subscriptions. The upload of new material in the dataset for the Necropolis, with images and transcripts, is adding to the member resources online. Our Publications Secretary has been working away in the background and has added new pdf documents to the shop.

As always, the Society needs volunteers to function. We continue to need someone to take over from the Secretary. If you feel you can help in any way, please email [e-mail] and someone from the Council will contact you.

Projects

Indexing of the Southern Necropolis western section is completed and the remaining sections are being extracted using online Microsoft forms technology. This online indexing enables us to engage distant members who can contribute from home. Transcribing of surviving stones in the cleared Gorbals Burial Ground has been completed. Preparation of material for publication is an ongoing activity.

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Research Centre

The Research Centre continues to open on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1pm to 4pm for the benefit of members and visitors. We now have 25 Centre Assistants, but we would welcome more.

U3A has a monthly exclusive Saturday morning session, and a DNA group hosted by one of our volunteers meets once a fortnight.

The Research Centre Handbook is kept updated to guide key holders, Centre Assistants and other volunteers.

We are now a Family Search Affiliate Library which is open for non-members to use.

Library

In 2025, the Library continued its trajectory of growth and development. Total expenditure on books and accessories amounted to £232.42, which includes £37.00 generated from the sale of unwanted stock. The collection expanded significantly with the acquisition of 139 books, comprising 12 purchased titles and 127 donations. To accommodate this growth, new bookcases were procured, providing essential additional storage capacity.

The Librarian maintained responsibility for managing the print collection of exchange journals and other publications, responding to member enquiries via the Society’s webpages, and contributing regularly to the Society Journal. These activities ensured the Library’s ongoing role as a vital resource for Society members.

DNA Study Group

A DNA study group has been meeting fortnightly since February 2023. It is intended for members who have taken a DNA test and have already been using their results to aid their research. Meetings take the form of a workshop where participants can share their experiences and learn from others. The number of participants is limited by the accommodation available at Mansfield Street, but has been as many as a dozen. It is generally well-attended.

Among the many subjects discussed have been the relative usefulness of autosomal, Y-DNA male line and mtDNA female line tests; the pros and cons of the various testing companies; how to make the best use of match lists; the usefulness and accuracy of ethnicity estimates; methods of identifying unknown ancestors

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etc. Members are also encouraged to tell the group about any discoveries they have made with the aid of their DNA results.

Most of the meetings are preceded by a recorded webinar in which a genealogy expert gives a presentation on a relevant subject.

Membership

As at December 2025 we have just over 1472 members so slightly down on this time last year. Thanks to the website it is easier to process renewals when Members have used PayPal or Stripe but many still pay using cheques. Still some hiccups with the site off and on but all well at the moment. Again I would also like to remind Members that they can update their own details on the website, such as change of address.

Thanks to our Membership Secretary who deals with memberships and relevant queries, as well as our Membership Assistant who sends out the New Members packs and to our Treasurer who deals with the Standing Order Payments.

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Publications

Our Publications Secretary has now been in post for a year, with some significant successes to report in deaing with a backlog of new publications. The Society was able to publish ‘A History of the Waddells of Scotland’ (in two volumes) and ‘Steven & Struthers, the Story of a Glasgow Bronze Foundry and the Steven Family’ early in 2025. The Waddell book has proved very popular throughout the year; it’s surprising how many people have Waddells in their ancestry, including several members of Council. Since then, a number of new PDFs have reappeared in our Shop; we have found this a better format for publishing than the booklets, due to the prohibitive cost of reprinting small runs and posting these. The Monumental Inscriptions (MIs) of Tollcross Cemetery were also published. All PDFs are now lodged in the archives of National Library of Scotland using Digital Deposit Scotland. This ensures that our Society’s work is preserved within the records of Scotland.

Following Tollcross MIs, work commenced to update the records for the Tollcross Burial Ground, a separate, walled area adjacent to the Cemetery based around the former church. This PDF was completed in September. Meanwhile, another of Robert Stevenson’s writings “The Borland Journals - the diaries of William Guthrie Borland”, a ship’s surgeon in Napoleonic times, was completed. Next came two major ongoing projects, the first to make MIs from the Glasgow Necropolis available in our Shop. The first three volumes are available and Volume 4 is in progress towards completion. The other interesting project was to bring the late Edna Stark’s work back from ‘Out of stock’ in our Shop, to being available as PDFs. These 17 booklets of Indexes of the 1841 Censuses of Argyll have proved very popular over the last twenty years since first published in 2005. It is understood that our indexes were transcribed by Gaelic speakers familiar with Gaelic personal and place names, so may be considered more accurate transcription of the enumerators’ work. We will review the popularity of these four volumes in the coming years and consider if other Census information in our archives could be made available to all researchers. Similarly, the Glasgow Necropolis work will continue with further volumes being made available in 2026. Volumes 1-3 give the MIs for nine of the twenty two compartments, some larger areas than these, so perhaps another seven remain to be completed.

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Editor

Our Journal continues to provide a range of articles and stories from our members and is a means of communicating with all our members on a regular basis. It is published three times a year and distributed either as a paper copy delivered in the post, or as an electronic copy.

Although for 2025 we moved away from a theme for each edition, we published a wide range of articles covering many different aspects of family history and genealogy. The contribution of articles from members is greatly appreciated – without them the Journal can’t fulfil its purpose. However, there have been occasions during this year when securing sufficient copy has been challenging for the team as publication date approaches, although we have managed to create a full edition each time. However, we encourage all our members

to consider whether they could make a contribution in the coming year to provide an even wider breadth of articles and topics for our members to enjoy.

During this year our Editor announced she would be standing down from the role in the spring of 2026. In response to calls for someone new to step forward we are pleased to say one of our members will be picking up the baton after the March 2026 edition is published.

Social Media

Social media is an important element of the Society's engagement with the public. The Society has a presence on three social media platforms.

The Facebook page continues to be very popular, and last year's total of followers has risen from 6900 to 7500 in 2025. Of this, 38% are aged 65+, 20% 55-64, 20% 45-54 and 10% 35-44. 51% of our followers come from the UK, 26% the USA, 11% Australia, 2% New Zealand and 0.7% Ireland.

The private Facebook Group, in which interested parties help one another with family history issues, is very active and its numbers have risen this year from 6100 to 6500 followers. Of these, 75% are women and 24% men.

Instagram is building up a strong following, including many professional genealogists, family history societies and institutions, and it has presently 555 followers.

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Our third platform, Bluesky, doesn't give any sort of breakdowns of usage, but our followers are a good mix of family history enthusiasts, genealogists, family history societies, and various museums and archives.

Bluesky is gaining in popularity as Twitter/X declines, and it's become especially popular with genealogists. This is why we created an account, to make sure that family history researchers are able to find us online, and to share the work of other genealogists and researchers in the Glasgow and West of Scotland area.

Website

Almost all new members join the society through the website and almost all current members renew their membership online too. The more we can automate these administrative procedures, the more our volunteers’ time is freed up for other activities.

The programme to copy existing publications into PDF format for sale online is proving popular and also reducing the increasing burden of postage costs.

This year has seen the uploading of more Necropolis and Tollcross monumental inscription records into our Data Sets for members to access.

Members have access to view Exchange Journals from other societies for the last 2 years.

We hope to be adding electronic links to the Library Catalogue this year.

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IT Support

The Technical Team continues to meet fortnightly, using Microsoft Teams, to discuss issues with the website and the provision of services in the Research Centre and online.

We achieved our goal for 2025 of upgrading all our PCs to Windows 11.

In total the Research Centre has ten Windows 11 PCs, one offline PC running Windows 10 for older files and applications, and one older offline PC running Windows Vista used primarily for our more portable film scanner and for access to original Family Search research aids.

The Research Centre was gifted a Minolta MS6000 film scanner by Giffnock Public Library. This is now available in the alcove beside the Microfilm cabinets.

The Technical Team give valuable support to ongoing projects in the society. It also gives technical support to the DNA Group, the hosting and recording of our monthly talks and council meetings.

Hopefully 2026 will see more training workshops in areas like Family Search

Volunteer Wednesday was an idea put into practice in 2025 and continues to run from 10 am to at least 4pm every Wednesday. It could have more volunteers making use of this facility and perhaps regular reminders to our local volunteers would help.

Research Team

The online Research Team continues to use a shared mailbox system using Microsoft 365 Outlook. Members of the team have replied to scores of queries in 2025, mostly from members but also from non-members who contact our research email address.

Our email replies include links to encourage enquirers to make a donation for the service, join the society, sign up for our e-news, and to join our Facebook Group. Research Donations can be made via the website. Other research donations were made in person at our Research Centre.

In 2025 we began to expand on our research resources within the Research Centre, and we hope in 2026 to publish a list of resources on the society’s website.

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SAFHS

We maintained our membership of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies (SAFHS). We attended the SAFHS AGM and the two SAFHS Council meetings. We contributed a section to each of the SAFHS Bulletins. We supplied data for the revision of the burial grounds database published on the SAFHS website. Some of our volunteers attended informal SAFHS meetings. We had bilateral exchanges with trustees and office bearers in some other SAFHS member societies to discuss issues of mutual interest. We are also an Affiliate Member of the Family History Federation. Our volunteers, along with volunteers from other societies, helped at a Family History Federation / SAFHS table at Craft Fairs held at the SEC.

Events/Fairs

In January 2025, we attended the Virtual Family History Show hosted by the East Surrey FHS. Our Chair presented a talk on our resources at the Scottish Indexes Conference XXVIII on 15th March 2025. We attended the Summerlee Local and Family History Fair on 22nd March 2025. In April, a representative of Scottish Indexes interviewed the Chair for an episode of their ‘Journeys into Genealogy’ podcast. In October, we attended the Bygone Con event at the East Kilbride Central Library.

In 2027, our Society will celebrate our 50th anniversary. Council is considering how we could commemorate this anniversary.

Secretary

This has been a satisfactory year for the Society, with volunteers maintaining a presence in the Research Centre three afternoons per week and lots of family history enquiries being handled. Society Groups are now well established and growing. The monthly speaker events arranged by our Syllabus Secretary, with their good variety of topics, continue to attract members world-wide, during the actual talks via Zoom and later from recordings on our web-site.

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Annette McGarill, Secretary

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Financial Review

Subscription income remained virtually the same as 2024. Although our total membership remains around the 1,500 mark and we continue to attract new members we also do not retain some of these members for more than a few years.

Administration of membership continues to take up a lot of volunteer time therefore it is hoped more members will use the online renewal facility to cut down on volunteer work. However please check with your bank if you have a standing order to renew your membership before using the online renewal as duplicate payments also take up a lot of volunteer time.

Our total income for the year was down by £823 with small variations over most categories of income. As usual I would urge all UK tax payers to consider gift aiding your subscription. Every subscription mandated gives the society and extra £5. A mandate can be requested through the website contact system of from [e-mail] You can also tick the gift aid box on your online order which covers only that order and is not continuous.

The annual cost of running the premises at Mansfield Street was £15,048 (2023 £15,940). The reduction relates to electricity costs for the centre. We have previously used Scottish Power and have now moved to Scottish Gas whose billing system is much more accurate. Scottish Power although given meter readings monthly were never able to bill accurately which has resulted in a refund of £1,900 at the beginning of 2026.

Total Expenses for 2025 were £32,730 (2024 - £36,967). The reduction relates to electricity above and I/T and computer costs, work on our website software in 2024 was a one off.

The surplus of income less expenses for the year was £7,473 (2024 - £4,060)

We did not replace any equipment in 2025 (2024 £673)

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Reserves Policy

The major source of income is members’ subscriptions. Most are payable in July, however since the launch of the redesigned website new members have a rolling twelve months memberships which will spread income over the year. The Trustees’ policy is to hold reserves to meet the running costs of the research centre and publication of the journal for one year and meet the cost of replacing computer equipment in the research centre when the need arises. Currently this requires about £35,000.

Our current premises are in the basement with no lift access and are not suitable for disabled access or for those with limited mobility. We would require premises with ground floor access and good access to public transport. If suitable premises become available they will be reviewed and considered. It is unlikely any property will be in a “move in” condition. The Society therefore intends to build up reserves for this contingency.

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Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities

The members of the Council must prepare financial statements which give sufficient detail to enable an appreciation of the transactions of the Society during the financial year. The members of the Council are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which, on request, must reflect the financial position of the Society at that time. This must be done to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities and Trustees Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. They also are responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Society and must take reasonable steps for the prevention and/or detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf,

Annette McGarill

Secretary Date 20[th] April 2026

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Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society

SC 010866

Independent Examiner’s Report

to the Trustees of Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society

I report on the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2025 which are set out on pages 17-20.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the terms of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 accounts as required under section 44(1)c of the Act and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination is carried out in accordance with Regulation 11 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeks explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.

Independent examiner’s statement

In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention

1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect

the requirements:

• to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 44(1) (a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations, and

• to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulation 9 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations have not been met, or

• to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Craig Crosthwaite c/o Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society Unit 13, 32 Mansfield Street Glasgow G11 5QP

Date: 20[th] April 2026

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Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society

Receipts and Payments Account Year ended 31 December 2025

Receipts Note Subscriptions Gift Aid Donations Activities for Generating Funds 3 Donations Bank Interest Total Receipts Payments 4 Costs of generating funds Charitable activities Governance costs Other payments Total Payments Excess of Receipts over Payments for the year	Unrestricted Funds 2025 £ 32,958 2,683 3,430 855 432 40,358 967 31,868 50 - 32,885 7,473	Unrestricted Funds 2024 £ 32,778 3,038 3,461 1,406 344
		41,027
		316 35,928 50 673
		36,967
		4,060

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Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society Statement of Balances

At 31 December 2025

Bank Balances Bank balances brought forward Movement in year: Excess of Receipts over Payments for the year Bank balances carried forward	Unrestricted Funds 2025 £ 42,086 7,473 49,559	Unrestricted Funds 2024 £ 38,026 4,060
		42,086

The accounts were approved by the Council on 5[th] January 2026 and were presented to the members at the Annual General Meeting on 20[th] April 2026

J Scott Fairie Chairman

Elizabeth H Anderson

Treasurer

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Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31[st] December 2025

1 Trustee Remuneration and Related Party Transactions

During the year no trustees received any remuneration.

2 Movements in Funds

Movements in Funds
General Fund	At 1 January 2025 £ 42,086	Receipts £ 40,358	Payments £ 32,885	At 31 Dec 2025 £
				49,559

3 Analysis of Activities for Generating Funds

Sale of Publications etc Donations for research by volunteers Printing & Other Income	y/e 31/12/25 £ 2,243 480 707 3,430	y/e 31/12/24 £ 2,199 708 554
		3,461

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Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31[st] December 2025

4 Analysis of Payments

Costs of generating funds Cost of publications Volunteer researchers’ expenses Charitable activities Research Centre - rent -heat & light -rates & ins -repairs Journal Meeting costs Library purchases Printing, stationery & photocopying Postage & telephone Website & Computer costs General Bank and card charges Governance costs Independent examiner’s fees Other payments Purchase of assets	8,090 5,194 1,115 649		y/e 31/12/25 £ 967 0 967 7,855 6,710 1,014 361 15,048 7,704 870 282 475 1,275 4,111 1,169 934 31,868 50 0		y/e 31/12/24 £ 296 20
					316
					15,940 7,991 930 274 356 1,408 6,982 1,151 896
					35,928
					50
					673

5 Accounting Policies

• a. The Accounts are prepared on a cash basis .

• b. The Society holds assets and equipment, library resources and stock of publishing materials for resale.

c.

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