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We are now planning for our Eastbourne 2023 convention 7th-10th September 2023 ,  - the details will appear in the Key Ring and in the convention section of the main site - we hope to see as many of you as possible there.  Advance bookings can be taken - -   email Carol on ibmbritishring25reg@gmail.com

Minute of the Annual General Meeting of the British Ring No. 25 of

The International Brotherhood of Magicians

held on Friday 2nd September 2022 at Eastbourne

 

 The President, Alan Maskell, opened the meeting at 9 am and welcomed those in attendance.

 

1.      Apologies for Absence

Graham Colvan, Richard Cadell

 

2.      Approval of Minute of the AGM held via Zoom on 3rd September 2021

Proposed – Robert Moss, Seconded – Brian Lead.  Approved and adopted by the meeting.

 

3.      To Receive the President’s Report

Alan Maskell presented the following report:-

It has been good to see things gradually improve over the last year and witness the return of face-to-face events.  We have been able to successfully hold our events at Hinckley and Ormskirk and, of course, Cambridge for my Presidential Dinner. Thank you to all who attended these events and contributed to their success. I have also been able to physically visit other clubs as well as continuing to interact via Zoom, and I thank all those who have invited me to do so, giving the opportunity to promote the British Ring.

I would like to thank all those who have taken part in the monthly President’s challenges which I hope others have also enjoyed.  Thank you to all those that have contributed to our Facebook page, to the Key Ring and to the Linking Ring, either directly or as part of the British Ring Parade.  In particular, thank you to Ian Adair and Brian Lead for their regular contributions to the latter.  Thanks also to John Russell who sends out our e-communications and to Aidan Heritage who keeps the website up to date as well as researching and posting daily videos on Facebook.

Finally, thank you to all the Council for their contributions, to all of you, our members, who have remained with us throughout these unprecedented times, to the Convention team and volunteers for all their hard work in putting these four days together, and especially to Moira for all her work and support.

 

4.                  To Receive the Report of the Executive Secretary

Moira Fletcher presented the following report:-

As Secretary I would like to thank, on behalf of the membership, all those who have undertaken work on behalf of the British Ring.  This year we are pleased we have started to return to some normality.

Thanks to Ajay Vora, as Assistant Secretary who continues to support me and the Ring.  Thanks to our Treasurer Rick Tynan, with the assistance of Carol, for dealing with our finances, which is a huge task and takes up many hours every week.  Thanks to Alan for continuing as President and I know he has at last been able to enjoy the various events which have been held over since 2020.  Thanks to Geoffrey Newton as Editor, not just for the last year but for his time as Editor and we wish him well for his retirement.  Thanks also to Alan Clarke, Chaplain and Welfare Officer.  The Ethics and Grievances Committee have been on hand but have not been required, and thanks to Clive Cullum for guidance and advice as our Honorary Solicitor.  Thanks also to our Convention Team who have all worked incredibly hard to bring our convention back with such a magnificent 4 days of magic.  John Russell has been busy helping to keep members updated with information for the various events and Ring business, and I am grateful to him for his support with this.  Thanks to Aidan Heritage for his continued work with the website and also for his daily posting on our Facebook page.  I am extremely grateful to Bob and Sue Hamilton for their continued assistance with AV and projection facilities which enhance the various lectures and performances at the convention.  We also extend our grateful thanks to Audrey Miller for her continued support with the posting out of the Key Ring every month, which involves a lot of time and work. 

No ballot was required this year for Council.

 

We have had regular Council meetings, mainly in person, but for those not able to attend we have linked with them over Zoom.  This ensures good representation on Council at all our meetings.  We are still finalising the job descriptions and our sub-committee looking at the marketing of the Ring has been progressing some ideas. 

As I always do, I would ask you all to promote the Ring to fellow magicians and also encourage you to look at membership to the Full I.B.M., with the Linking Ring each month, another excellent magazine.  If you feel you have something you can offer which will help us promote or assist with the running of the Ring please do let me know.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank those members who email and phone me with little bits of information or to thank the team for the work which is done.  These are all very much appreciated and it is always lovely to hear from you, the members.  I would like to note at this AGM that we have found it a bit of a challenge finding individuals willing to volunteer for just a few hours of assistance at the convention this year with stewarding and on the Welfare Stand.  It may be that next year we will not have the Welfare Stand itself and will be looking at other ways of funding the Benevolent Fund.  However, it is essential that we have stewards to assist at the convention as they are an integral part to ensure the smooth running of the events.  Those of us on the Convention Team are not able to take on the stewarding as well so I would ask everyone to please consider offering to help out at one or two events.  If we spread the load then you will not need to give up any time or miss any events you wish to see. Please give this very serious consideration for next year.  Thanks for all the ongoing support to myself and the whole Council team and I looking forward to serving the Ring for the coming year.

 

5.      To receive the Accounts of the Society and the Treasurer’s Report for the years ended March 2021 and March 2022

Rick Tynan spoke to the following report:

2019-2020 and 2020-2021

Early in August Members were circulated with two financial reports outstanding for the years ending March 31st, 2020, and 2021. I thank Members for their patience in awaiting them.

There were no questions received from the Management Committee, Council or Members, specifically concerning the delayed reports.

The reasons for the delay in issuing these were beyond my control and have been reported and minuted previously. But in brief, our previous accountant unfortunately suffered a stroke and retired during the financial year ending 31st March 2020. This meant searching for a new accountant. Some of the accountants approached did not work with clubs or associations. Also, during the Covid-19 pandemic that started in 2020, lockdowns and anti-covid measures restricted travel and face to face meetings at various points during the height of the pandemic. Businesses restricted their activities including accountants.

That said, the 2021 AGM approved Fell Grill in Southport as our new accountants. They are local to me and very accessible. I am now working closely with Oliver Grill (CA) and Anita Mata his assistant in all matters regarding the recording and reporting of the Ring’s financial activities. This working relationship can still be developed and improved but they have been very helpful so far.

2021-2022

More recently the report for the year ending March 31st, 2022, was circulated. I thank James Boyd, Harry Nufrio and Ian Marriott for questions specifically about this report, but some of which constitute general presentation enquiries that are applicable to all three reports. These will be explained below. However, all have either been addressed or are under review with the accountant.

Headlines

Despite operating a no-detriment Covid-19 policy throughout the period covered by all three and maintaining membership for those unable to pay their subscriptions total capital and reserves rose throughout: (£10,351.80), £18,194.72, £25,641.43, £44,732.21

Some reasons for this are:

·         the Eastbourne 2019 convention made just over £3000,

·         there were no conventions in 2020 and 2021,

·         some early 2020 registrations were refunded but many were rolled over to the next possible convention (now approx £6000),

·         the B & W fund has consistently received more than it has spent (now approx £13000)

·         We have received substantial sponsorship for the Eastbourne 2022 Convention, some during the 2021-2022 financial year.

·         Membership subscriptions received and donations to the general fund have exceeded the magazine and other running costs of the Ring.

Before addressing the specific questions received from Members, I need to advice the AGM of the general context against which these reports can be understood:

·         HSBC re-designated clubs and society accounts as Charitable Accounts liable for banking charges, which were expensive if operating cash and cheque accounts. Other banks researched were similar.

·         Making Tax Digital (MTD) become compulsory for organisations registered voluntarily for VAT from 1st April 2022

·         During the financial year ending 31st March 2021 the separate B & W and Convention accounts were closed and the funds transferred to the General Account.

·         Online banking for the General Account was applied for and accepted.

·         To comply with MTD, a compatible online accounting system (Xero) linked directly to the HSBC General Account was adopted and implemented in time for MTD deadline.

·         VAT returns are now generated by the accounting package and submitted directly from the accounting software.

·         Members should note that we have now purchased a Card Reader (SumUp) and have a PayPal account linked to the General Account. The accounting system enables us to account these properly.

Members’ Questions

A substantial proportion of the 2021-2022 income is shown as Other Income. Please explain this further.

Other Income was used to record income that did not come from members’ subscriptions or donations to the benevolent fund.

During this financial year we received sponsorship in the form of three substantial donations to the Convention Fund recorded as Other Income.

There were also numerous smaller donations to the general fund that arrived with members subscriptions to help with postage and administration that were recorded that year as Other Income.

This category also records miscellaneous sources of income such as advertisements and sales.

We have addressed this for next year by creating categories for individual conventions and I’ve ensured that the donations to the convention will be accounted against Eastbourne 2022.

On page 5, The B&W and Convention accounts show £12,735 and £5938 respectively for 31st March 2021 but nothing for 31st March 2022.

Those accounts were closed during the financial year ending 31st March 2022. The money was transferred to the general account. Those amounts formed the greater part of the year ending 31st March 2021 Capital and Reserves, £25,641.43. This can be seen carrying over into 2022 as the figure for Retained Earnings. I am not sure how else this could be shown but I hope this explanation clarifies that situation.

Is it proper to have the B&W fund accounted with the other funds?

I was advised by the bank and both accountants that we work with that this is acceptable as long as we have a robust accounting system that can successfully separate the funds thus ringfencing them.

The Xero system ensured that B&W transactions were separated from the others from the start. It now separates transaction for individual Conventions.

Can other terminology be used other than Profit and Loss, particularly for the B&W fund?

Two members would prefer the use of different terms e.g. Receipts/Payments or Income/Expenditure. (VAT software uses different Sales terminology again.)

I will need to research this further within the Set Up of the Accounting Package. I suspect this is possible but maybe not for different ring-fenced funds within the same bank account.

 

 

 

Why are the accounts unaudited?

Audited Accounts are certified as accurate by a suitably qualified accountant. This service is more expensive than help reporting unaudited accounts. Our accountants continued the same service as our previous accountant, who did not use the title ‘unaudited accounts’ but added a disclaimer, saying he was not responsible for their accuracy, at the end of the document on the signing page.

There are several things we could do in response to this question:

Continue with the current system of reporting unaudited accounts.

I research how much more it would cost to have the accountants certify the accuracy of the accounts.

We appoint an internal auditor with the correct qualifications.

Report proposed by Aidan Heritage, seconded by Robert Scott.

 

6.         To receive the Report of The Chief Welfare Officer

Alan Clarke reported he had kept in touch with members who had been unwell and also with family of members who we lost over the year.  He is finding that families are now asking if donations can be made to charities in memory of their loved one, and we are happy to do this.  Bob Hamilton had prepared a visual tribute which was shown at this time.

 

7.                  To approve Council’s recommendation for President Elect 2022-23

Philip Partridge is the recommendation for President Elect and all those present were in favour.  Philip thanked everyone for agreeing to this recommendation and looks forward to his year in office.

 

8.                  To confirm the election of Oliver Tabor as President for 2022-23

This was confirmed and Oliver Tabor stated he would carry out his duties as President to the best of his ability and intended to promote the British Ring at events he attends and also through his own public shows.  His dinner is being held in Southend-on-Sea on 25th March 2023

 

9.            To seek approval of the proposed Council for 2022-22

No ballot was required this year and Council members for 2022-23 are as follows:

Richard Cadell, Graham Colvan, Aidan Heritage, James Hobart, Danny Hunt, Brian Lead, Clive Moore, Robert Moss, John Russell, Carol Tynan

 

10.               To ratify appointments of Officers and Sub Committee Members made during the year

Officers: Moira Fletcher Executive Secretary, Rick Tynan Treasurer, Ajay Vora Assistant Executive Secretary.

Ex Officio:  Rev Alan Clarke Chief Welfare Officer, Clive Cullum Honorary Solicitor, Aidan Heritage Webmaster, Rena Fletcher Child Protection Representative, Alan Maskell Immediate Past President, Philip Partridge President Elect.

The role of Editor is being negotiated

Marketing Sub Committee – Robert Moss, Rick Tynan, Elliot Bibby, Oliver Tabor

 

11.              To elect a Returning Officer

Ali Price was confirmed as Returning Officer for 2022-23

 

12.              To announce the proposed venue for 2023 convention

Eastbourne was confirmed as the venue for 2023.  Dates are 7th to 10th September

 

13.              To approve the Official Auditor for 2022-23

As per the Treasurer’s report Rick it was noted that we approve an official accountant and that the situation regarding the auditing of the accounts will be followed up.  The accountant for 2022-23 will again be Fell & Co.

 

14.              To resolve any resolutions delivered to the Executive Secretary.

No resolutions were delivered to the Executive Secretary

 

15.              To seek approval of the proposed amendments to the Rules and Constitution

The proposed amendment to Rule 4, Constitution 1, Replace ’12 years of age’ with ‘8 years of age’, had previously been given in the June Key Ring.  As no questions or issues had been raised prior to this meeting the President asked for this to be accepted.  The acceptance of the amendment was approved by the meeting

 

16.              To Consider Any Other Business

Kay Murray expressed concern from some members regarding returning to the same venue for a second year as this means that the same people have the longest travel.  It was explained that we had been offered a good deal if we booked 2 years with Eastbourne and it seemed sensible to take the opportunity of that offer.  Future venues from 2024 onwards are still to be considered and members were asked to look at possible venues and pass information to the secretary.  A more north venue will certainly be looked at for 2024.

Kay Murray also asked for clarification that the printed copy of the Key Ring was continuing.  The Secretary was unsure about the need for clarification as at no time has there been any suggestion that the printed copy would be stopping. 

 

17.              Presentation of Long Service Awards

Certificates were presented for 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 65, 70, 75 years membership to those who were present at the meeting, and those not in attendance will be sent their certificates.

 

The President, Alan Maskell closed the meeting at 9.54 am, thanking those in attendance for their contributions.

 

 

 

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