Details

Parent Category: Annual Reports

Expenditure

Overall expenditure within the general fund has increased by 28% on the previous year.

{fusionchart id="11" Expenditure 2010}

Meeting room expenditure has increased (46%) mainly due to the increased rent charged by SWMC. As we note in our comments on accommodation this is an area the trustees are watching with interest and concern.

Unusually we report donations of £100 as expenditure; this is attributable to our donation to the Friends of St Michael's Church. The church, in the village of Much Hoole, Lancashire, houses several stained glass window commemorating the life and work of Jeremiah Horrocks who predicted and observed the first transit of Venus in 1639. These windows with others in the church were smashed in an act of wanton vandalism which we unequivocally condemn. The restoration appeal was brought to our attention by our Honorary President, Dr Allan Chapman and the trustees and members felt a duty to help preserve this important part of our national astronomical heritage.

Fundraising expenditure shows a marked increase, nearly 200%, to £482. Much of this spending however was funded by the IoP grant received in the previous year; the expenditure recorded includes the purchase of display boards, printing of promotional material, and catering for our outreach events.

Annual expenditure of guest speakers is down slightly by 10%, totalling £310 in the year to March 31^st 2010; however due to the heavy snow which affected much of the country in December 2009 one of our regular guests was unable to attend; if this cancellation had not occurred the annual total would have been very similar to that reported last year.

Subscription expenditure shows a significant fall by almost 60% to £56. This is due to the Federation of Astronomical Societies offering massively reduced subscription rates.

The purchase of the Celestron C14 telescope was funded from both the New Horizons and the general funds; hence the Observatory Development spending shown.

Observatory operating costs (opex) shows a year-on-year increase of some 23%; this is in part due to increased insurance costs as additional assets have been purchased and partly in support of our New Horizons project; a major contributor however in increasing energy costs. The trustees plan to review energy consumption and cost to see if a better deal can be secured with an alternative supplier.

The trustees note that historically the main insurance purchased was to cover the observatory as a buildings and contents policy; the current policy covers a wider range of charitable activities and employers and public liability however the premium is not broken down by our provider, therefore the cost is assigned to observatory opex as the building remains a core part of the policy; this also allows for easier comparison with historic data.

The New Horizons fund expenditure was to part fund the purchase of the Celestron C14.

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