Founded 1980
Chair:        
Secretary: 
Treasurer: 

Graham Smith
Jan Thompson
Graham Mumby-Croft


 Issue No. 88 SPRING 2023
FROM THE TREASURER

I do hope that this correspondence finds you all well and managing to cope with everything that life has to throw at us these days. Is it me, or does every day seem to bring more misery and bad news? My biggest sadness is, how as a nation we seem to be sliding down a very slippery slope towards complete intolerance of everything and anything that is different

When I sat down at this time last year to write my piece for the Newsletter I was bemoaning the fact that my Smart Meter was rackingup the cost of Gas and Electricity at an alarming rate, and dreading what the coming year might bring. I also bemoaned the fact that not only were prices going up at an unprecedented rate, but the package size of many items was also decreasing thereby applying the juxtaposition that shrinkage was adding significantly to inflation.

Unfortunately my pessimistic outlook was, if anything, understated, as the reality is that prices for everything have continued to rocket ever upward, with only a few glimmers of hope, fuel prices having fallen back slightly. However, the latest "event" that we all now face is the shortage of fresh fruit and vegetables in the shops, leading to all the major supermarkets introducing rationing of these items to their customers, blaming the weather in Morocco of all places. Who would have believed it?

Of course if you are a user of Twitter then you will have seen that this latest situation has led to everyone, and anyone with an opinion to take to their keyboards and vent their anger at whoever they feel is to blame, and I have to say that I find it very disappointing that so many conversations on Twitter very quickly go downhill, almost as if it is a natural process to find the lowest common denominator as quickly as possible. I had to smile at the story of the woman who took to Twitter to complain that her local Aldi had refused to let her buy 100 cucumbers, as she had a legitimate use, making sandwiches for her cafe. That's a lot of cucumber sandwiches!!!

Anyway, all this leads me to the fact that it is that time of the year when once more I sit down with the RPGA accounts and prepare them for audit by the Prison Governors Association's auditors. I have literally just finished them, and they sit beside me ready to go into the post tomorrow. Therefore, as they are unaudited as yet,I am obviously not in a position to give you the accurate audited figures for the 2022 financial year. These will be published in full in the Autumn edition of the Newsletter, following the 2023

AGM.

However what I can share with you is that our finances continue to look in a healthy condition with a cash reserve in the bank of just over £15k. Income for the year, which is almost entirely from membership subscriptions is slightly up on 2021. The one exception to income being entirely from subscriptions, was a donation made to the RPGA by the family of John Childs,as a thank you for support to John, and to them, following his death in December 2021. Thank you to John's son Simon, and the family, for their generous donation.

As expected, our costs for the year have increased, particularly in the printing and distribution of the Newsletter. Since the lockdown the RPGA has been managed and operated remotely with committee members emailing each other, when we have a need for sharing information, and meeting on ZOOM, as and when required. Therefore our operating costs, including travel costs are minimal with only attendance at the AGM incurring any travel costs. As a consequence the Newsletter is now our biggest single cost, and forms the centrepiece of the RPGA as an association. With this in mind the committee are of the view that we should maintain the quality and content of this for as long as we possibly can, and that cost is not the most important issue.

Luckily, as income is holding up, and we have a good cash reserve, I feel confident in being able to say that at the AGM in October I will not need to put forward a proposal to increase subscription rates. I believe that we are in a position to be able to continue to absorb the cost of any reasonable increases in production and distribution of the Newsletter for the foreseeable future.

As always the message is that the Newsletter relies almost entirely on you, the membership for its content, so no apologies from me for once again pushing out the message, on behalf of Paul the editor, to not be shy in coming forward to share your stories, we really would all like to read them.

Best Wishes to you all

GRAHAM MUMBY-CROFT
Treasurer

Graham Mumby-Croft
Treasurer