The Association’s capital balance remains virtually unchanged on the year, with a shortfall in the current account of £56. Income was down due to lower receipts from advertising and a reduction in the surplus from the Garden Visit.

On the expenditure side the item for postage is considerably lower because of the stamp reserve held over from the previous year. A one-off donation of £1,000 was made to the Stour Valley Action Group as the committee believed that supporting the campaign against the proposed Buntings’ development was necessary. The lower sum for Website costs was due to holding over an invoice to the current year.

Not shown in the accounts is a problem we have encountered with fraudulent attempts to take money from the Association’s funds by direct debit. In all cases these have been recovered through the bank.

Twenty-eight new individual members have joined the Association during the year along with one parish council, however a considerable number of magazines were returned by the Post Office, indicating that people had died or moved away. Crosschecking these against annual subscriptions resulted in the removal of a considerable number of names, so the net result was an increase of 3 to 666. Any ideas for increasing membership would be welcomed by the Executive Committee.

Michael Goodbody