The audited Accounts for the year show the combined income and expenditure of the No1 and No 2 current accounts and the Savings Account.
Financial Code of Practice The Financial Code of Practice defines roles and responsibilities and underpins the processes of budgetary control and financial reporting, record maintenance, account preparation and audit. Gift Aid Gift Aid is a scheme by which a charity can reclaim from the Inland Revenue the basic tax on money paid to it by way of subscriptions or gifts. In the 2005-06 year 156 members provided Gift Aid Declarations and the Inland Revenue credited a total of £526.03 to the Society's account in 2006-2007. In the current year the number of Declarations stands at 161, generating £513.62 for next year's accounts. At 78% of memberships this is a slight reduction on last year's 81%. The scheme costs members nothing and all those who pay tax are invited to sign up. Declarations remain in force while membership of the Society is maintained. Grants Received The Society is grateful to Down District Council for its continuing support of the Society's activities. In the financial year the Council provided two grants - £300 in support of the production of Lecale Review, and £100 for the St. Patrick's Festival Lecture. Membership Drive The membership drive continued throughout the year. In total 26 new members joined during the year. However, 10 of the existing members did not renew their subscription. During the year, sadly, three members passed away; our President, Jimmy Hawthorne, John Ritchie and Ivor Ray. By the end of the year the number of memberships stood at 208 (80 family memberships, 121 individual members and 7 honorary members). This compares with 194 and 186 in the previous two years. Membership subscription income increased from £2235 (of which £65 was for advance membership) in 2005-06 to £2446 (of which £20 is advanced membership fees) in 2006-07. Equipment Costs Purchase of a portable microfilm reader and copies of microfilm reels of the 1901 Census underpinned the seven-month project to place the complete 1901 Census of Lecale on the Society's Website. To maintain, preserve and develop the Society's extensive electronic records, systems and archives, the Executive Committee authorised the purchase of a portable computer. All administrative, membership and financial records, and the Society's website data and development files, are now maintained electronically and available as required. Data is routinely backed-up to assure recovery in the event of equipment failure. Journal The cost of 500 copies of the Lecale Review was £2287 compared with £2395 in 2005. The reduced cost was despite the larger size of the 2006 journal, from 84 pages in 2005, to 108. Each of the 208 members was supplied with a copy of the journal. The increased receipt from sales reflects payments from outlets for the 2005 journal. The following is the stock of unsold journals at year-end -
P. DEVLIN
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