Founded 1980
Chair:
Secretary:
Treasurer:
Graham Smith
Jan Thompson
Graham Mumby-Croft
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Issue No. 78 SPRING 2018
From The Treasurer.
You will all no doubt be aware of the work that has been ongoing to bring the subscription system up to date, with the aim of ensuring that the association remains solvent for the foreseeable future. I am therefore pleased to be able to confirm that it is beginning to look as if the exercise was worth undertaking, as my preliminary work on preparing the books for audit indicates that in 2017 the accounts show a slight surplus of income over expenditure for the first time in 4 years.
This is of course subject to confirmation through audit: however, the headline figures are that income from subscriptions in 2017 was £5882.00p against £5534.00p in 2016 and expenditure was £5290.31p for 2017 against a figure of £6232.21 for 2016. While income each year is relatively static, the expenditure figures always contain a number of variables that I may pay in one year but not in another, (e.g. diaries) or where the cost varies, for example the Newsletter where each edition costs a different amount because of the number of pages produced. Taking all this into account, the bottom line is that the cash balance for the Association’s current accounts improved by the sum of £629.70p in 2017. Full details of the audited accounts will be available at the AGM in June, and will be published in the Autumn Newsletter.
One changeable figure is the overall amount that we pay as donations in memory of colleagues who have passed away, or occasionally to a colleague who has served on the Committee and is stepping down from those duties. One such recent occasion has been the retirement from the committee of Bob Duncan who for many years has been the bastion of the “Your Letters” section of the Newsletter. Bob will officially step down from this position at the 2018 AGM but, in anticipation of this, the Committee decided it was only fitting that we mark Bob’s retirement, recognise the enormous contribution he has made to the association, and demonstrate the high regard in which he is held, by presenting him with a suitable gift. To this end we purchased a hardwood garden bench, (our inside resources had assured us this would be well received), and this was delivered to Bob just before Christmas. The cost of this was a combination of personal contributions from everyone on the Committee, plus a contribution from an individual member, and the sum of £64.99 from RPGA funds. I hope you will all agree that this was money well spent, and join me in wishing Bob many more happy years to come. A big ‘Thank You’ to Bob for all that he has done to keep this Association and its’ membership informed and in contact with one another.
As indicated in my piece in the Autumn Newsletter, I have now closed the old Lloyds Current Account, which means that from January 1st 2018 The Association has a single current account into which all subscriptions are paid. An additional benefit of this is that it eventually brings to an end the situation where we were receiving payments from the accounts of people where all attempts to make contact with them had failed, and some of whom we feel sure are no longer with us. At this point it is always useful to remind members that because we collect subscriptions through Standing Orders, we are unable to instruct your bank to either make a payment, o r to stop on e . With this in mind if you activate a new Standing Order, for instance to change the rate at which you pay your subscriptions, then please remember that you need to cancel the old standing order instruction, otherwise you will pay twice, and I cannot stop this happening.
As always I am happy to answer any questions members may have regarding the finances and with this in mind please feel free to email me at graham.mumbycroft@gmail.com
Graham Mumby Croft
Treasurer
Graham Mumby-Croft
Treasurer
