The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the charity's [governing document], the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) " (effective 1 January 2019 ).
The Objects of the Norfolk Family History Society are set out in its Memorandum and Articles of Association to advance the education of the general public by:
(a) Collecting, publishing and making accessible in the interests of genealogy, heraldry and family history any document, record or book relating to the County of Norfolk
(b) Promoting the preservation of such documents and records on the advice of the County Archivist for Norfolk
(c) Encouraging the study of genealogy, heraldry and family history
(d) Giving educational assistance by way of lectures and otherwise with reference to record research.
The Society is fortunate to have its own premises and a sizeable collection of documents, books, and records, known as the Kirby Hall Library. This is staffed by volunteers and normally opens to the public for 4 regular sessions each week, Saturday mornings having recently been added (for details see the NFHS website).
The Society aims to be a centre of excellence in Norfolk Family History research and to promote the interests of both individuals and groups engaged in this activity. It 11
seeks to encourage and assist those interested by providing the means to share, exchange and publish information about Family History.
In furtherance of the Society's objectives, the NFHS has established the following activities, services and facilities which contribute towards those objectives:
• To advance the education of the public in Family History.
• Publishes a quarterly journal 'The Norfolk Ancestor’ with lively and interesting articles and information. The journal is available to all members in electronic format and is also sent to those members whose class of membership entitles them to receive hard copies.
• Produces a publicity brochure from time to time to be placed in Libraries, Churches, Museums and other establishments.
• Maintains a Society website (https://www.norfolkfhs.org.uk) to provide information to members and the general public, about the Society, its events and activities and lists of items held in the library collection.
• Has developed an online searchable database called ‘NORS’ for members only using a surname search of various resources.
• Operates an email and surface mail look-up service to members searching for individual and family names.
• Operates a Facebook Account for members to use and communicate with one another with 3,791 members on 31st March 2022.
• Keeps an up-to-date list of members' names and addresses and their family research interests to be shared with other members. This is used in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (2018).
• Allows the public and members free use of the internet at Kirby Hall for three family history subscription websites - Ancestry.com, findmypast.co.uk, and thegenealogist.co.uk plus a number of NFHS electronic databases covering many topics including family trees and manors.
• Provides thousands of fiche and film items for reference purposes within the library and for transcription activities.
• Runs a bookstall in the library to sell a range of literature about Family History and Norfolk although stocks continue to be run down as it is difficult for the Society to compete on price with the large internet-based booksellers. Stock includes books, monographs and CDs, some of which the Society has produced and published, relating to genealogical information.
• Has digitally photographed Parish Registers at churches and at the NRO to make these more readable/accessible to the public.
• Has digitally copied the Family Tree collection and stored the images on the Kirby Hall server with the intention of uploading the images on its online database as resources allow.
• Holds Norfolk and Norwich Parish Registers which members have transcribed in printed and electronic format; also, marriage indexes, Bishops' Transcripts, Monumental Inscriptions and photographs from over 400 churches within Norfolk.
• Enables access to a unique collection of paper copies of over 4,000 Family Trees, Pedigrees and Wills in the library.
• Collects many miscellaneous items about Norfolk villages and towns.
• Supports a local Group in London.
The Society's main aims during the year have been to:
• Continue to improve the facilities inside Kirby Hall.
• Maintain the property; ensure the that the fabric and the contents were protected during the pandemic lockdowns.
• Continue to computerise the library records.
• Maintain the range of services available to its members and the public at Kirby Hall and on the NORS online database.
• Continue to develop the NORS online database.
• Start the development of a new website to improve functionality, presentation and ease of use.
• Identify future actions to help to maintain future membership levels.
Public Benefit
The trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit. The purpose of the charity is encapsulated in its objects to make available its resources to as wide an audience as possible, to encourage the study of family history. To this end the library is normally open free to the public on four days a week and the Society Website gives all necessary general information to ensure that the public can benefit from its services. The wide range of activities listed above makes a positive contribution to the study of Norfolk Family History and contributes significantly to achieving the aims and objectives of the Society.
Membership
The membership of the NFHS on 31st March 2022 was:
Year Norfolk UK USA Australia Canada NZ Other Total
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2021/22 |
932 |
2,428 |
126 |
221 |
83 |
31 |
45 |
3,866 |
2020/21 |
969 |
2,483 |
138 |
221 |
83 |
34 |
40 |
3,968 |
2019/20 |
989 |
2,524 |
133 |
217 |
67 |
40 |
38 |
4,009 |
• Overall membership numbers are down, although there have been 563 new members during the year – obviously offset by members not renewing for whatever reason.
• There are 1,167 members who have been with us for 16 years or more.
• We, currently, have 75 Life Members and 182 10 Year Members – 36 of these 257 members elect to receive their copy of Ancestor online.
• Most new members continue to elect to receive an E-Ancestor.
Kirby Hall
• Around £5k worth of savings against budget have been achieved through a combination of applying best practice where possible, trade buying of goods, negotiation of contractors, hands on working on various projects, managing the compliance paperwork, control of contractors, project managing, negotiating zero or low delivery costs and keeping finger on the pulse has helped keep costs manageable. Thanks to our maintenance manager, Charles Bush for his contribution.
• Kirby Hall now has a better kitchen layout and modern adaptive tables and seating, new fridge, raised microwave to free up worktop space and cabinet doors that close. The front of the building has had clear sealed glazed units fitted and painted in a contemporary grey colour to give a fresh look. This theme has been carried over to the tired gents' cubicles that have also been refreshed with a contemporary theme and converted to unisex use. New carpet adorns the main walkway into the building and carries through to the kitchen.
• The dated heavy velvet drapes have been removed and all new vertical blinds fitted to the main library hall. A safety rail has been fitted to the stairway to heaven IT area at South end of the hall. New mains operated bell negating the need to replace batteries every five minutes has been introduced. Signage and various little tweaks continue to be applied to help make the space in Kirby Hall a more inviting and welcome place to visit.
Member communication
• We have continued to produce four editions of Norfolk Ancestor, the quarterly journal of the Society, during the year and thanks to Roger Morgan for his support and articles as co-editor and Rob Reeve for his excellent proof reading.
• We have also continued to develop the society's Facebook presence which continues to expand, and which currently has over 3,800 members.
• During the year we experienced repeated problems with mass emails to our members when those with BT email addresses were failing to receive them. Unfortunately, this took a little time to resolve satisfactorily with the third party email forwarding service.
• With the Covid pandemic requiring us to alternatives to talks being held in Kirby Hall we embarked on a programme of monthly events being offered using the Zoom platform. This has proved very popular and it enables us to offer an additional service to those members who are not able to visit Kirby Hall. We will continue to offer talks by Zoom in the future and will investigate offering hybrid meetings should we find there is a demand from members.
Library services
• The nearly 2,000 hard copy family trees that had been donated to the Society by members and scanned and placed on the Kirby Hall server have now been uploaded to NORS and provide another useful resource for our membership. Our thanks go to Paul White for his hard work in carrying out this work.
• During the year we were approached by the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Family History Society to see if we were interested in obtaining Parish Records for a number of West Norfolk parishes. The records had been digitally scanned by the Wisbech Museum in conjunction with the CHFHS as part of larger project involving the parish records across the wider fenland areas with CHFHS volunteers embarking on the transcribing exercise. This was a very generous offer and we have been very fortunate in obtaining this scanned data together with partial transcriptions on parishes where previously we had very little data. We will be starting to upload data to NORS later in 2022 when the data formatting has been adjusted to suit the formats within NORS.
IT services
• Work towards replacing our website had been delayed by the Covid pandemic restrictions but we have now been able to make progress during the year. Quotations were sought from our existing provider and new providers and the outcome has been that we decided to proceed with a new provider, Beachshore Ltd. This company provided a very competitive quote compared with the existing provider; it provided good, confirmed references and has wide experience with providing websites for other family history societies, the Family History Federation, and other genealogical organisations. The intention is to replace the existing dual website for the Society and NORS with a single site and we continue to work with Beachshore to develop our ideas and requirements. It is hoped that we will be able to launch our new website later in 2022.
• We started to experience a few minor glitches with the existing server in Kirby Hall during the year and as the installation was approximately 8 years old the decision was made to replace it. We installed a new server with solid state drives for storing our data. The data is now also backed up on portable hard drives and in the cloud thus providing us with a high degree of protection. There were some teething problems experienced with the new server after installation, but these have been gradually resolved.
Risk Assessment
The trustees review the risks to which the Society is exposed on a regular basis and their comments are recorded in the trustees' committee meeting minutes. The principal risks and uncertainties facing the charity have been identified using a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis, particularly those connected with the library premises and use of facilities; trustee and volunteer recruitment and membership attraction / retention. A business plan has been discussed with recommendations made and some actions taken although this is still and will continue to be an ongoing activity particularly with regard to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
1. To re-establish links with the Norfolk Record Office and initiate links with other heritage groups to help transcribe parish registers and undertake Monumental Inscription surveys.
2. To replace the current NFHS website and NORS online database website with an integrated single website with an updated interface and functionality.
3. To review membership prices with a view to continue to offer value for money in an environment where costs are continually increasing.
4. To investigate developing further our social media presence to extend the appeal to a wider demographic.
5. To continue to review and improve the safety, including the physical environment and attractiveness of the premises, by updating the facilities at Kirby Hall.
6. To develop the business plan for the Society and implement any necessary findings particularly in consideration of the impact of the Covid pandemic.
7. To develop a strategy to improve public awareness of the Society through an integrated publicity and communication policy with particular regard to attracting younger members.
8. To maintain and update a risk management strategy.
9. Wherever possible to apply professional continuous development and succession policies for all relevant areas of responsibility to ensure the future prosperity and legacy of the Society.
The NFHS is a registered charity governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association, a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006.
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
R ecruitment and appointment of trustees.
The Society requires a good cross section of skills on the Board of Trustees to cover all the areas which the NFHS encompasses. The Board is always looking for new trustees. Putting in place recruitment, selection and induction procedures as recommended by the Charity Commission is in progress. Role descriptions have been agreed and issued for several roles but a checklist for new Trustees to assess their skills and to ensure induction is carried out on all areas of operations has not yet been produced. Copies of the Charity Commission documents have been put on the server and printed and the Trustees continue to list and document their own procedures as these evolve.
The trustees' r eport was approved by the Board of Trustees.
I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of Norfolk Family History Society (the charity) for the year ended 31 March 2022.
As the trustees of the charity (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (the 2006 Act).
Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) . In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
the financial statements do not accord with those records; or
the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.
Mark Johnstone FCA
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.
All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
Norfolk Family History Society is a registered charity governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association, a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee as defined by the Companies Act 2006. The registered office is Kirby Hall, 70 St Giles Street, NORWICH, Norfolk, NR2 1LS, United Kingdom.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's [governing document], the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling , which is the functional currency of the charity . Monetary a mounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, [modified to include the revaluation of freehold properties and to include investment properties and certain financial instruments at fair value]. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.
Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.
Grants offered subject to conditions which have not been met at the year end date are noted as a commitment but not accrued as expenditure.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities .
Fixed asset investments are initially measured at transaction price excluding transaction costs, and are subsequently measured at fair value at each reporting date. Changes in fair value are recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year . Transaction costs are expensed as incurred.
At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any ) .
Stocks are stated at the lower of cost and estimated selling price less costs to complete and sell . Cost comprises direct materials and, where applicable, direct labour costs and those overheads that have been incurred in bringing the stocks to their present location and condition. Items held for distribution at no or nominal consideration are measured the lower of replacement cost and cost.
Net realisable value is the estimated selling price less all estimated costs of completion and costs to be incurred in marketing, selling and distribution.
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the charity 's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future p aymen ts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity ’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
Core activity
Core activity
Sales of publications and souvenirs
Advertising revenue
Core activity
Core activity
Kirby Hall expenditure
Postage and distribution costs of Norfolk Ancestor
Publications costs of Norfolk Ancestor
Projects and library
Movement in publications and souvenirs
Bookstalls
Stationery and consumables for members
Subscriptions paid
Group meeting expenses
Insurance
Donations
Core activity
Core activity
Trustees' expenses
Telephone and broadband
Post and stationery
Computer costs
General administration
Volunteer expenses
AGM expenses
Bank charges
Governance costs includes payments to the Accountants of £ 1,290 (2021- £ 1,290 ) for Independent Examination fees.
During the year 6 trustees were paid expenses totalling £1,815 (2021 : £544)
Endowment funds represent assets which must be held permanently by the charity. Income arising on the endowment funds can be used in accordance with the objects of the charity and is included as unrestricted income. Any capital gains or losses arising on the assets form part of the fund.
There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2021 - none) .