You will see from the Income and Expenditure Account, which has been distributed to you, that subscription income is down a little on last year. The great majority of members pay by standing order and, at over £2,000, these have hardly changed. However, the total of one off donations has fallen by over £200. If anyone wishes to make good that shortfall in the current year, that would be much appreciated.
The other element of subscriptions is Gift Aid. If all subscriptions were Gift Aided, we would be able to reclaim over £600 of tax each year. As it is, we can only claim about £470. I don’t believe there are many Radlett members who pay no tax so, if you have not done so already, please fill in a Gift Aid declaration. There is one on the back of the Newsletter.
Remember also that we can claim back your 25% Gift Aid for the past four years, giving a total of 100% – so a regular donor filling in a form for the first time effectively doubles his or her donation for the current year.
Our investment income is down a little this year but this is not surprising, given the general decline in interest rates.
As you can see, the main item of expenditure has been the purchase of two interpretation boards, one for Letchmore Heath and the other for Aldenham village.
Our Administration and General expenditure is up this year primarily because of costs incurred in connection with the Radlett history archives left to the Society by Philip Eastburn.
We are, however, once again able to report an excess of income over expenditure -and the value of our investments continues to appreciate – so I believe that we have the financial resources necessary to meet any challenges likely to arise in the foreseeable future.
In closing, I would like to thank my fellow committee members, particularly membership secretary Catherine Treves-Brown, for their help throughout the year and our auditor Roger Housechild for once again giving his time to review our accounting records.