CHAIRMAN'S REPORT January 23rd 2010
Good afternoon fellow members and welcome to this, the Society’s 31st AGM.
Having seen the photograph of me in the “Yellow Advertiser” promoting today’s event – I am surprised that so many of you came.
As most of you are aware at the last AGM, Ian Whaley was re-elected as Society Executive Chairman. However on 30th April, he resigned for personal reasons, and on 5th May I was elected by the Executive Committee to replace him. So like our current Prime Minister, I stand before you today as your Chairman, but without being elected by you.
We all owe Ian a great debt for over his time as Chairman he did much to raise the profile of the society and ensured he attended every branch during his chairmanship. In his last years of office he also took on running the bookstall and projects, due to a lack of volunteers.
The taking on of all these roles is too much for anyone, let alone someone who has a full time job. Ian continued to run the bookstall until the end of August, when he resigned, but administered the online bookstall until the end of October. I would like to thank him for all his hard work over the years on your behalf. I am pleased to report that Melissa FORD volunteered to take over as Bookstall Organizer, and also act as Vice Chairman of the Society.
Bernard AMPS, Our Treasurer, resigned in December due to poor health and I would like to thank him for his work over the years also. We were fortunate in press ganging David WRIGHT, Treasurer of the Newham and Redbridge Branch to stand in for the interim. Thank you too David. At this point I make an appeal for a new Treasurer to step forward.
2009 has been a challenging year for the Society. Not only in terms of the effects of the credit crunch on membership but also responding perhaps belatedly to technological changes in Family History – as I have hinted at in recent Cockney Ancestors.
For the past 3 years, the society has operated at a loss (£577 2006/7, £8526 2007/8, £5513 2008/9) and I feel that as your new Chairman, I must report to you today to fully explain how your elected Executive Committee has responded proactively this year to these continuing losses and changes.
BOOKSTALL
In 2008, the Executive undertook to review the bookstall and its operation, to complete this by October 2009. In March 2009 several of us did a complete stock take, as it appeared that figures previously supplied to the Treasurer were a guesstimate of the true stock figure.
A second stock take was done when Melissa took over at the end of August, revealing £40,705 as the cost price of stock. However much of the stock was out of date and not selling. These include boxes of 1851 and other Census Booklets, old microfiche and CD’s which have been available online for some time through websites such as Ancestry.com etc.
Other profits the Society could have made have been reduced further by several operating costs. Firstly the Credit card machine costs us £40pm before it is used and is not worth retaining. After today we will be seeking to return it.
The Society has a lock up at Big Yellow Storage on the A13 in Dagenham. Visiting it, we discovered although it contained approx 80% of Bookstall stock, much of it included boxes and boxes of old CA’s 1-100 (which were copied to CD several years ago) and those Census booklets, comprising some 10 bays of shelving.
Melissa and her husband have been busy since then moving saleable stock into a smaller lockup. This has however meant that for a few months we have had to rent both lockups to do this, which will appear in next year’s accounts, increasing the rental figures as a one off.
We have decided to pulp many of the old census books and CA’s. It is for this reason that the accounts being submitted to you today, have a write off figure of £20,000. Quite simply, they do not sell and we cannot afford to store them. We may publish the Census Booklets on CD in the future if there is a demand, but I suspect not.
It has cost the Society £6639 (=553 membership) rental per year for the old lock up because the contract for the old lock up was in the Former Chairman’s name. We were also paying for insurance of £182pa which we did not need and we were not eligible for a charities discount. I am pleased to report Melissa has changed this by setting up the account in the Society’s name thereby reducing the rental from £6505 to £2761 (=230 memberships) on the new lock up.
In common with other Family History Societies, we have seen a drop in bookstall takings as so much information is now on line, and that we cannot compete against Amazon or even Tesco who can sell books at cheaper rates – this was the problem face by Borders, who recently went bust. We can no longer afford or indeed wish to be the WH Smith of the Family History World.
A decision was made by the Committee to transfer the online bookstall, renewals and new memberships to Genfair from November. Not only does this provide us with a clear audit trail, and despite them taking a small percentage of the sales, it raises our profile, being accessible to Genfair Shoppers and through our website. The job is made much easier.
For the future, the Executive Committee has decided to downsize the bookstall concentrating on local items and our own publications. Much of the surplus and older stock is available on the bookstall today at sale prices – so if you have not already done so – take a look. I would like to thank Melissa, and her husband “Lofty” for all their hard work in bring these much needed changes about.
All of this is unfortunate and has been painful but we most move with and respond to the times.
MATTERS FINANCIAL
Although this is not my specialist field, I wish to tell you about changes affecting the Society.
We discovered early last year that as a Charity, we could not charge the public to attend meetings. As such some of our income was reduced.
To offset this, I am please to say that Carole Moon and her helpers have been extremely busy in trying to submit claims for Gift Aid back to 2003. By you signing a gift aid form, it enables us to claim back approx another 28% of the subscriptions paid by UK tax paying members from HMRC.
Last year’s “Gift Aid Drive” brought in a further 316 members signing up and approx. £900 to claim. So if you have not done so, please sign up to do this today at the membership table at the entrance to the Fair. As Tesco says, “Every little helps” to keep your subscriptions down.
For year 2003, we have just received £3,406.17 including interest from HMRC. This in itself covers the cost of the new Lock up for one year.
It goes without saying that we owe (and will continue to owe) Carole and her helpers many thanks for their hard work in this laborious task claiming back past years. There are several other ways that the Committee has this year looked at saving/curtailing expenditure. I will briefly summarise them.
SOCIETY EXPENDITURE
To control spending, save for Cockney Ancestor, it was AGREED by the Executive Committee that all expenditure over £50 was to be sanctioned by the Treasurer, Chairman or Vice Chairman before purchase. It was also agreed that Melissa as Vice Chairman was to countersign all expense claims before they were paid out by the Treasurer.
ELY BRANCH
It was decided that the Cambridgeshire FHS would take this over, thereby saving us approx £600 pa. (=50 memberships) We wish them well for the future and thank Bernard Amps and Maureen Nicholls for their hard work in this venture.
EXCHANGE MAGAZINES
For many years, we have exchanged magazines with a number of other FFHS Societies. Because of logistics, these were only available to those who attend the Havering Meeting - where we pay to store them. The Executive Committee decided to end this arrangement and offer a reduced subscription to these organisations, thereby saving us approx £700pa (=58 memberships).
FIXED ASSET REGISTER
This has been re-established and will enable us to keep a record of what we own thereby using our resources more efficiently and for accounting purposes.
INSURANCE
By reviewing insurance in light of the Fixed Assets Register, Vera, our Secretary has saved the Society £1,501.
BRANCH ACCOUNTS
A meeting was held of all branch treasurers and officials in October 2009. At that meeting it was agreed that all branch accounts should be standardised and that income received by the branches from raffles etc would form part of their annual accounts. Each branch was encouraged to raise funds to offset their budget by running raffles, especially as we could no longer charge visitors.
This has been successful at some branches, as has the sale of calendars and notelets at Havering.
ANCESTRY.COM
A set of records were donated to the Society several years ago, having been found in a skip. Following negotiations with different online websites started by Ian and Vera, I am pleased to announce that these records were purchased by Ancestry.com. Although the complete deal is dependent upon publication, the initial payment to the Society of £5000 was received in December As part of the deal, we have also negotiated that each Branch/Group will receive a free worldwide (i.e. top) membership to Ancestry.com The Society will also receive a 25% commission for new subscriptions taken out through a link to be set up on the Website.
Members will also receive a promotional discount to Ancestry.com (Exact details to be announced)
WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE MAGAZINE
The March 2010 Edition of this excellent magazine will focus on East London, sadly too late to have publicised today’s event. However I have worked with the magazine on this feature and have arranged for 3 of the society’s indexes to be included on the free disc together with 2 sample CA’s. The Magazine has agreed to pay us £300 for this, as well as publicising the Society to its many readers. Look out for it from mid February.
PROJECTS
Ian had taken on the role of projects in addition to his other society jobs because of a lack of Volunteers. I wrote in the latest Cockney Ancestor, that some projects have taken so long to complete, that other societies have finished them and they are available online. This has been a tremendous waste of time and resources for us.
We are fortunate that Alf Catling has come forward on take on this role and use his skills to get to grips of where we are at, and need to be with projects.
Work had started on computerising a valuable series of transcripts of some 19th and 20th West Ham Borough Parish Registers were handed to the Society having been kept in storage by Newham Council for a number of years. With Alf, I have identified that the baptism registers are our priority, with those for St Luke, Victoria Dock being the most popular for researchers.
Although the Essex Record Office, are like London Metropolitan Archives digitising their registers, they are starting from parishes beginning with “A” – Barking has recently been added to their SEAX programme (http://www.essexcc.gov.uk).
Much has been done of the Victoria Dock and other Registers, but Alf has identified that there are some transcripts that were handed out and NO record kept of who has them.
So, if you volunteered to work on any of these West Ham Registers for the Stratford, Forest Gate, Plaistow and Victoria Dock areas, please contact Alf as a matter of urgency – otherwise we will have to start from scratch and index from the originals. I would like to thank Alf for his hard work on our behalf.
Much still needs to be done – and can only be done with YOU volunteering to put something back into YOUR society.
I am very pleased to inform you all today that we have now converted our microfiche indexes to CD and that they are available on sale for the first time on CD at a special price of £5. Several other indexes previously on separate CD’s have also been put together on to one CD.
These include all PRE 1841 surviving Census returns for Hackney (1811,1821 and1831) and for Poplar (1821 and 1831), The Midwife’s record (Mainly confinements in Bethnal Green and Shoreditch c1861-1875) and a NEW index to Poplar Mortuary Registers 1911-1940 compiled by Jack Jackson. Thanks Jack for this work.
Several other indexes previously on separate CD’s have also been put together on to one CD, making them more affordable to you, the members.
PUBLICITY
During the year, John Lovell took on this role, but has sadly decided it was not for him. Nevertheless he brought many ideas and was responsible for much of the publicity the result of which we can see in today’s excellent attendance. Not only has it appeared in most local and community newspapers, there have been several radio interviews as well.
Having had someone responsible for publicity after such a long time without one, the Committee and I are anxious to replace John with someone willing to take on this role and continue to develop raising the profile of the society working with the branches.
WEBSITE
Our main publicity tool has been the Society’s new Website, launched in May 2009, since then we have added more pages of information and links to other resources, making the website truly a “one stop shop” for those with East of London Ancestors.
As you all know this has been put together by Bill Hughes, a non member who volunteered to do this for the Society. Bill has since joined the Society.
At the end of November, Bill set up on the Society Website a Forum for members to record their surname and other interests and to communicate with each other. This format is so much more than the sort of surnames directory we used to publish – as it is a living document. Members take responsibility for maintain their interests, and can pad them out with more information, likely to get a more positive response.
We initially sent invites to join to our overseas members as they receive normally only the journal for their membership. As of last Sunday, 427 members have registered and 186 posts have been made.
I urge you all to register with the forum and get submitting! I am pleased that Bill is here today to register you as member on the forum – see him in the entrance hall, if you have not already done so today.
Bill has also tinkered to ensure that we are number 1 on Google and Yahoo for “East London Family History”.
In the first fortnight of 2010, the website was visited on average 180 times a day, 51% being new visitors, 40% of the traffic coming from search engines such as Google, 30% from links from other websites and the remaining 30% from returning visitors.
We are now receiving 13-14 new members a week as a result.
We are also increasing the number of visits from abroad (Australia +30%, Canada +115%, New Zealand +100% and USA +40%). Well done Bill for your hard work and thanks from all of us.
COCKNEY ANCESTOR
“Our” Journal continues to be eagerly received and read by our 3000 plus members. I say “our” Journal because that is what it is. Without your contributions we have nothing to produce. I am aware that I have recently stirred things up in the journal and am pleased to see by the responses that people have read them – and that some agree with my comments.
No matter how boring you research may seem to you we all have a story to tell, not necessary about our family, but HOW we found out what we did. What valuable sources did you find what would be of help to others – the main reason for our existence as a society to SHARE. You do not need to be the next Shakespeare or Jackie Collins – our editorial team are here to help you create something that is a benefit to all members.
On your behalf, I would like to thank John Reynolds, Vera Bangs, Brian McDonald, Denise Le Voir, Tom Cannon and Ian Whaley for their hard work throughout the year. We hope to get CA 101-125 out on CD in the next few months.
MEMBERSHIP
Both Sandra Patchett (Membership) and Jack Jackson (New Members) both work hard behind the scenes all year round to administer your membership. The main bugbear is late renewals, which involve a lot of work for Sandra and expenses to the Society.
We are proposing today that if you do NOT renew on time you will NO LONGER receive the CA’s for the period you are NOT deemed to be a paid up member. Why not take a standing order form from the Membership Desk and ensure you do not lose out. Whilst you are doing that don’t forget the Gift Aid either.
BRANCHES
I am pleased to report that all our branches continue to thrive. I have the following points to make:
COMPUTER GROUP AND HAVERING BRANCH
Derrick Reynolds stood down as Chairman, taking on the same role with the Havering Branch. At that point it looked as if the group was going to fold, as no volunteer for that role or Treasurer came forward. Then like London Buses, three came along! Charlie Mead is the New Chairman ably assisted by Steve Cordery and John Goodwin.
Every other month is a Workshop Group – so why not come along and see how they can help you get over that brick wall. Remember Ancestry.com is available for the whole morning at those meetings.
BARKING AND DAGENHAM BRANCH
I am pleased to report that despite serious illness, George Smith has agreed to continue as Branch Chairman. I am sure all of us wish him all the best for a swift recovery and are pleased to see him here today.
BISHOPSGATE BRANCH
The Branch has had to suffer much upheaval as a result of year long renovation work at the Bishopsgate Institute – due to be completed in the Spring. For those out of area members, and those who live and work in inner London, this is your branch – why not go along and enjoy one of their friendly meetings?
NEWHAM AND REDBRIDGE BRANCH
This branch which meets at Wanstead continues to thrive having taken part last year in the Wanstead Festival. The beginners /problems table available from 7pm proves to be most useful to members and non members alike.
IN CONCLUSION
As I said at the start of this necessarily long report to you, 2009 has been a challenging year for the Society.
I hope that you will see that the Executive Committee has done much to reduce spending and operating costs and generate in income by:
- Overhauling the bookstall and storage costs
- Imposing tighter financial controls, review insurance
- Cut operational costs (e.g. Exchange Magazines, handing over Ely Branch)
- Claiming Gift Aid
- Converting old publications to CD
- Improving our Website to maintain and generate new membership
- Kick start Projects
We estimate that we have saved/generated income of approx £12,000 = 1000 memberships. But don’t quote me yet!
Because of this, despite the 3 years of operating at a deficit, we do not propose to increase the Society Subscription this year.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
2009 has been a difficult and stressful year for all of us on, and involved with, the Executive Committee and running of the Society. Much hard work has been and much achieved.
It goes without saying that, I am extremely grateful to everyone, on your behalf, for their continuing support, and dedication to our common interest in Family History and this Society.
I would particularly like to thank our Secretary Vera BANGS, for supporting me. Vera has indicated that she is willing to serve for one last year, so I appeal for someone who is interested in this role to come forward to “shadow” her.
Finally, I would like to thank all those who have helped to make today such a success from the Sub Committee of Vera Bangs, Sandra Patchett, Derrick Reynolds and other volunteers, as well as today’s excellent Speakers.
Enjoy the rest of today and have a safe journey home!
STEPHEN J W PARK
CHAIRMAN, EAST OF LONDON FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY
