Dear Members,
Its that time of year again where we should be holding our Annual General Meeting, however, due to the pandemic, we are unable to hold a physical meeting, so the committee have decided to postpone the AGM until it is safe to hold it.
Irrespective of the pandemic, I have submitted our accounting documents to our auditors, and we have received back our accounts for the financial year January to December 2020, which I would like to share with you the highlights:
Our total income from rents and subscriptions was £7,355.
We have several costs that we must pay every year, Rent to KBC, Water Rates, Insurance, Professional Subscriptions and Auditors, total cost paid £4,060.
The balance of £3,295 is then available to invest in running our 4 fields. The committee ensures that these funds are fully invested in the day to day operations to ensure that you, as members, benefit from your yearly investment! During 2020 we have spent on hedge trimming, skip hire, gravel, padlocks, other general field maintenance and administration. In total during the year we have spent £3,977.
You will see that we spent £682 more than we had available, we were able to do this because we had a funding surplus carried forward from previous years, however, the surplus has now been used up. Between 2016 to 2020 we have spent in total £6,253 more than our income investing in our fields. The spend over these years was necessary to ensure that all 4 fields were maintained to a satisfactory standard to ensure that you continue to enjoy the pleasures that cultivating your plots give.
Going forward it is now obvious that our income in recent years was not sufficient to cover our spending requirements so, as treasurer, I proposed the rent increase for 2021, which was fully supported by the committee. This will ensure that a continued robust level of investment in our 4 fields can be maintained for the foreseeable future.
John Burn
Treasurer.