Treasurer's Report and Accounts

 

Treasurer’s Report - 2021 Accounts

There has been very little financial activity again this year, for reasons which are all well aware of, consequently my report is brief.

The accounts are presented in the usual format, with Income & Expenditure at the top and the Balance sheet below.  The prior year results are shown for comparison purposes – although neither year has been “normal”.

The key items are as follows:

 Income

Subscriptions were carried forward from 2020, so nothing of note in this line, although it is pleasing that we have had so many visitors since we resumed our monthly meetings. Along with Raffle and Sales this makes up the total income of £220.80 for the year.

Expenditure

Group insurance was carried forward so there is no charge for 2020, we renewed this as shown in 2021 and are covered for the year to 30/06/22.

Speaker costs shown are for one speaker this time due to restrictions which delayed decisions in this area.  We have also noticed that over the last couple of years speakers are moving on line rather than face to face, which may impact future bookings.                    

There are no costs for using the Church Hall in 2021 as we carried forward the previous year’s payment.  Costs for 2022 are expected to return to the usual level.

This year a total of £300 was donated to 2 charities for young people: -

Rainbows received £250 along with Zoe’s Place who received £50.

The cost of refreshments is higher than usual, as all outdated stock was disposed of   when meetings resumed and we then provided individually wrapped snack items.

We set up a Bursary of £500 using a legacy from Joan Smith, and this sum is included in the accounts; £100 is allocated for the two winners of the 2021 bursary (but not yet spent), the remaining £400 will be awarded and spent in coming years.

The closing position is a reduction of £486 this year, with total funds of £3,105 held by the group.  Despite the disruptions of the last 2 years, our financial position remains strong. This enables us offer membership fees for 2022 as follows: -

Renewal for existing Members         £15 for the year

New Members joining                       £25 for the year

Charges for Visitors                          £5 for Speaker Meetings, £2 Non speaker Meetings

Minutes of the 2021 AGM

 

Minutes of Cosby Quilters AGM  on Wednesday  17^th February 2021

Gina welcomed everyone to this our first AGM by zoom.  As requested by the Quilters Guild who we are insured with, she  proceeded to go through the  relevant health and safety issues.

Apologies were received from Sue Kerridge,  Janice Cook, Jean Waterfield and Shirley Smith.

Jan read the minutes of the AGM  of   the 5^th  February 2020 that had been put on the blog. There being no matters arising  she  proposed that the minutes should be accepted as read and this was  proposed  by Vicky Cooper and seconded by Sue Wilson.

Treasurers Report

Gina referred to the fact that the accounts had been put on the blog and asked if anyone had any questions. There being none she  explained  that the group was  in a strong financial position with a balance of £3,591.00  at the end of 31.12. 20 with our spend for the year being only £646 and this included payment for the hall which had been carried  forward to 21/22 year as has the insurance.

Income for the year was £1,770 mostly from  members subscriptions  and a donation of £500  from  our late President Joan Smith. The subscriptions will also be carried forward to the  21/22 year

A  further contribution of £250 in memory of Joan Smith has been sent to “Rainbows”.

. As there were no matters arising, Jacquie Durber proposed that the accounts be accepted and this was  seconded by Brenda Garner.

Nominations for committee.

It was decided that as we have a full committee it was not necessary to ask for nominations this year. Gina thanked all the committee for their support during the last year, in particular Sue Skelton for her work on the blog, Jan and Sue for their involvement in coordinating the yarn bomb, Jo for the work she had undertaken with regard to the banner and Pat for  all her  work in booking, cancellation and rebooking of all speakers  during this uncertain year.  Viv also thanked Gina for all her enthusiasm and her support in keeping things going throughout the past year.

Chairmans Closing Remarks

Gina  remarked that this our 32^nd year of Cosby Quilters, had promised great things with superb speakers and workshops  but that Covid had put paid to that. However with the vaccinations came the hope that we may be able to resume in the Autumn with our first speaker booked for September.

 Plans to date are

Yarn Bomb participation with our project being “Harry Potter.”

The Flower Banner being coordinated by Jo

The Blog. There have been various “show and tells “on the blog which Gina hopes will continue.

AOB.

Joan Smith Bursary.

Joan was a founder member of Cosby Quilters and it was decided to use her £500 donation to enable members to expand their craft skills. To  this end members who wished to participate  would be included in a prize draw with the chance for two  members  each year  to win  a bursary of £50 which they would put towards a training course of their choice   with the proviso that they would come and tell the group about their experience .

 

Gina closed the meeting at 7.40pm thanking everyone for their continued support during what has been a most difficult year.

Cosby Yarn Bomb 2022 Update

 These are the items that have been collected at the last two meetings.

Thank you to everyone you has contributed to our collection but we will still need more as we have a very large area to cover.  In particular we need more sea weed, sea urchins and barnacles to cover the rock that the fish will be swimming round.

November Meeting

At long last November 2021 saw our first evening meeting with a speaker!  It was Sarah Humphries first presentation since the original lockdown as well.

It was good to be returning to some semblance of normality while having to observe some degree of "distance" to stay safe.

However our speaker did not disappoint.  It was fascinating to hear her sewing and quilting journey and see so many examples of her work.  We were impressed with Sarah's early quilts, many of them large, all ham pieced over papers when she was still a teenager.

She was also able to show her complete lack of actual quilting in the beginning, followed by more and more hand quilting, increasing to the high density and quality of the quilting she does today, much of which is now machine quilted.

There was so much to see and admire - we have missed our regular sharing of quilt stories - so fingers crossed that we can continue doing so uninterrupted in the future.

Here is some examples of her work.

This quilt was designed to reflect Mary Quant, Vivienne Westwood and Kathleen Hamnett designs for clothes.

Her first quilt as a teenager

An initial attempt at machine quilting but the patchwork is still hand pieced

Two modern pieces made for challenges

Winners

 The Joan Smith bursary was drawn at the last meeting.  The first two winners are Marjorie Sanders and Gina Cooke.

Last weekend Viv Denscombe and Gina Cooke took part in the Leicester Race for Life. They were joined by two friends of Viv.

Cosby Yarn Bomb 2022

This year we will be making an underwater coral and fish scene.  With a bleached side to represent global warming shading up to a more colourful side to represent how it should be.  We are hoping that our members who like to do knitting and crocheting would help us to create the scene.  We need lots of help as those living in Cosby will also be doing their own displays.  Pat will be sending out an email with links to patterns but we also have copies of patterns.  We need in particular 300 small yellow fish.  We have 70 so far.  The patterns will be available at the next meeting meeting or contact Sue Wilson.

Here are some examples of items that have already been made.

October Meeting

Our October meeting was once again held in two sessions - afternoon and evening.  Both were well attended and were enjoyable events giving the opportunity to meet friends and fellow crafters and share our projects.

In the afternoon Janice Cook showed us her "lock down" projects.  She showed many examples and gave careful explanations of her experiments with Intense pencils and Intense colour blocks and several other techniques.  All were beautifully presented as the photographs show.

At both sessions we were brought up to date with preparations for next years Yarn Bombing.  A number of samples for our group's display had been prepared and wool and patterns were available for anyone who would like to join in.  This offer was especially taken up in the evening session.

There was added excitement when news came through that the village organisers of the yarn bombing had won the community award given by Blaby District Council which was taking place "live" as we were meeting.

Next month on Wednesday 3rd November our meeting returns to the evening when the speaker will be Sarah Humphreys with her talk Youngish Modernish.  we shall still be observing necessary Covid precautions.

Janice's initial trials were using the pencils on paper.

She created a cushion using a traced design, embroidering the design and colouring the flowers and leaves using the ink intense blocks, mixed with a paint medium.

Using the same method she created the two images below.

She also completed projects and challenges with Leicester Quilters. Making Dorset buttons and inch blocks.  These are just a few examples.

Sue Skelton showed us two quilts she made during lock down in an effort to reduce all the scrap she has accumulated.  Both the calico and the black were scrap ends of pieces previously made along with the coloured squares.

Kathy had made a quilt using Japanese Fabric.

Gina has been making quilts for the incubators at the Royal.

Pat's projects made since the last meeting

Sue Stacey showed us her wall hanging and handbag.

Denise Clare had crocheted a blanket, a shawl and knitted a shawl.