The Twelfth Man 2013

6 The Treasurer’s report this year is a rather depressing one for two main reasons, which, I hasten to add, are not linked in any way. Firstly, after several years of meticulously keeping our finances in order, our Treasurer, Roy Foster, has had to tender his resignation on health grounds. For those of you who have experienced, at first hand, the total dedication that Roy brought to this job, particularly in taking over the reins at a time when our financial position was dire, will appreciate that it would take a debilitating illness to bring him to this decision. Our Society owes him a great deal for all he has done for us but, in showing our gratitude, we must allow him time, hopefully, to regain his health so that he can at least enjoy the Thursday evenings free of the sometimes onerous duties of Treasurer. Secondly, after reporting on a record surplus last year of £2,353 we have to report a significant loss this year of £2,190. On the Income side two items give the key to most of the reversal. In 2012, the Diamond Anniversary Appeal raised £1,662 and the Xmas Lunch brought a profit of £1,075 with the added attraction of Sir Michael Parkinson as guest speaker. The Diamond Anniversary appeal was obviously, a one-off and in 2013, the payment of a fee to Dennis Amiss reduced the profit on the Lunch to £132. All other regular lines of income suffered reductions e.g. Subscriptions £140, Donations £260, Room Sponsors £150, Raffles £160 (of this £77 relates to purchase of Prizes), Book Sales £75. The shortfall on Coaching was some £149 (of which £63 was our contribution towards a visit to Headingley to experience the coaching facilities there) and this is a small price to pay for the excellent coaching services provided for the local youngsters in our area. On the Expenditure side we see an increase of some £675 in the cost of fees, accommodation, travelling and hospitality for our Speaker Evenings, which together with the coaching, are our main reason for existence as a Society. The other major increase was in the printing, production costs of The Twelth Man magazine where we had to pay an extra £529 to complete this TREASURER’S REPORT excellent and appealing publication. Hopefully we can look for a significant reduction in costs on this year’s magazine without detracting from its quality. The whole of these changes account for the transformation from profit of £2,353 to loss of £2,190. The question now is “How do we at least breakeven in the forthcoming year and work towards rebuilding our finances for the future?”. Our working capital has increased from £5,010 to £6,561 thanks to the generosity of members agreeing to the conversion of their loans, totalling £3,740, to donations but this amount will quickly go if our losses of this year were to continue. In the short term we have hopes of a good response to the Boycott Dinner on the 10th October, where every effort is being made to sell tickets to Members and other cricket enthusiasts in the County and beyond and, in due course to our Xmas Lunch on December 8th where, again, we hope to have a well- known speaker. Hopefully, non- members at these functions can be persuaded to become Members for an increasing membership must be the best way of securing the Society’s future. In some ways it is felt the success of 2012 led us to ease off on the necessity to attract room sponsors, raffle prizes and book sales etc. which help in some way to off-set the costs of Speaker evenings. We are faced with the inevitability that Speaker Fees will increase and there may come a time when we either, reduce the number of Speaker meetings or look to engage some lesser- known speakers who, over the years, have proved to be excellent whilst not always attracting the numbers attending. It is often a mistake to panic when faced with a financial reversal such as this but the Committee, who continue to work tirelessly to keep this great Society intact, will be looking very closely at all possibilities to redress the situation and are confident of relying on the full support of the Membership. If you feel in any way you can contribute to this process, please contact any of the Officers. Ron Firth, Vice Chairman