Treasurer's Financial Report 2012
The treasurer's report for the financial year 2012, presented at the Annual General Meeting of the Martham Local History Group. It covers the Group's bank balance, membership receipts, and the year's programme of talks, visits and events.
Financial Report – 2012
On the 31 August 2012, the closing figure for the Martham Local History Group bank account was £1222.20, an increase of almost £400 on 2011. This sum includes subscription receipts from 35 members totalling £350.00, and income from raffles over the year totalling £70.87 after deduction of prizes awarded.
We held a number of events during the past twelve months starting with another interesting talk by Neil Storey on "The Real Dad's Army"; this was followed earlier this year by talks on "The History of the Herring Industry", "Wings Over Norfolk - Part 1", an illustrated talk on Moregrove Hall, and "Dressing the Queen". The last four talks were presented by various local speakers in the Martham Methodist Church schoolroom. We have been pleased with the numbers attending these events but continue to urge members to pass the word around so that more people can attend these entertaining and enlightening evenings. The talks are generally held on a Tuesday evening and last for no more than a couple of hours.
We also had a coach trip to Blickling Hall in May and the outing was subsidised from Group funds to offset the hire of the coach. There were also two trips on the Wherry Albion during May & June, both days blessed with fine weather fortunately. There was also one local walk to Grange Farm, Common Road to find the edge of the old Martham Common.
The Village Hall has again been booked for a return visit on 20 October by Derek Edwards, who is giving an illustrated talk on the second part of his "Wings Over Norfolk", and should include numerous photographs of well-known Norfolk places. So it is your committee's request that you support this event, for which a small entry charge will be made (£3 for adults & £1 for children under 16). Tickets will be available from Chapman's butchers on Martham Green. We will also be holding a raffle during the evening & light refreshments will be available.
The History Group once again entered a scarecrow for the annual scarecrow competition in May, and thanks to the expertise of its creator - Noel - and the generosity of other members in providing suitable clothing to make the "teddy boy", however, we were didn't win a prize this year. Well done to all involved.
Perhaps the biggest event of the year was the staging of the Jubilee exhibition "Martham - Sixty Years of Change" in the parish church over four days in June. Almost 400 people signed the visitor's book, and proceeds from the exhibition resulted in a donation from MLHG of £646.73 being paid to the church, in addition to personal donations and raffle receipts totalling almost £1300. A big thank you to all who helped in setting up and stewarding the event, plus also to those who came to view the exhibition.
Finally we are always on the lookout for new members, and with an annual membership fee of only £10.00 do take advantage of the offer of joining today, when your subscription will be valid until 31 December 2013; and would all existing members please pay their annual subscriptions promptly before the end of February, thank you.
Chris Harrison
MLHG Treasurer
8th September 2012