Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Chairman’s Report for the year 2019

It gives me great pleasure, once again, to submit my second report on the activities of The Old Cicestrians and the Committee for the past year. I must first thank an active and supportive committee who worked hard for the Association during the year.

The year 2019 was a quieter and more normal one after the excitement of CHSB90 in 2018. During the year we saw the completion of the project to publish “The Fallen” Copies have been sent to the statutory bodies and a copy has been presented to Chichester High School. A photo was published in the Chichester High School Newsletter. Colin Snook, Richard Wood-Kneller and Professor Anthony Cook are congratulated for their hard work in bringing this project to fruition and Ian Walters for his inspiration in suggesting the idea. Copies are still available and will be on sale at the Christmas luncheon.

Membership and Finance are in the capable hands of Richard Wood-Kneller and Jonathan Harry. The membership list has been linked to a spreadsheet on subscriptions and we are grateful to Andrew Charnick for his help in setting this up. Over 140 of our members are now recorded on e-mail, which smooths communication. Up to date figures of membership and our financial accounts will be reported to the AGM. New members from the High School old and new are always welcome to join and your committee has continued to discuss widening membership/co-operation with the Chichester High School for Girls Alumni.

The summer event for members, spouses and friends continued the travel theme from previous years. We visited the Isle of Wight and specifically the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. In lovely weather, an enjoyable day was had by all, not just the trainspotters and former members of the Chi High Railway Club, two of whom Alan Green and Bill Allen were joined by Colin Snook in running the day. And our prospective trip in 2020 may be a visit to Jersey.

And following the AGM our annual Christmas Lunch will be addressed by Professor Inigo Everson OBE. Inigo was at Chi High from 1954 to 1961 and is a marine research expert who has been part of the British Antarctic Survey Group.  Your committee debated the issue of widening the attendees to a ‘mixed’ lunch with partners and ‘Old Girls’, which provoked a robust discussion. The Committee agreed, without a vote, that the status quo would remain.

Joint organisers John Wood and Dennis Sheppard do sterling work in the arrangements.

John Child has maintained links with the new Chichester High School with possible plans for helping at the school with local history and relating this to “The Fallen”. The Archive catalogue revision has been sent out with more information to follow. Alan Green is to be praised for his hard work on the archive.

While the Website and Facebook page remain excellent vehicles for communication between members, and Richard Wood-Kneller (Webmaster) and Scot Baston (Website Designer) are commended for their work on the site, however, we need a fresh face or assistance to help or take over the site and keep the information on the site up to date. Please let Richard or the Chairman know if you can help.

One of the disappointments of the year was a difficulty in reviving the Golf Tournament, as we have no-one prepared to organise the day. Prospects of a revival depend on someone coming forward to assist. We have contacts to enable the day to be run at Bognor Regis Golf Club.

Our committee meetings are held at the Chichester Gymnastics Academy, The Tim Peake Sports & Conference Centre and we are grateful to Darryl Wulff for his continuing support at this venue.

Dr Bill Allen OBE

Treasurer’s Report on the Accounts for the year ended 31 October 2019

Firstly, I wish to thank John Child who managed our finances for so many years and handed me a complete set of records in impeccable order. Jonathan Harry will report separately on the membership status in detail. The accounts show that we seem to be replacing those who die with new members.

Our two events this year were our Christmas Luncheon and our excellent trip to the Isle of Wight. Both of these were successful and covered their costs. 

This year was the 100^th anniversary of the ending of the Great War. Thanks to Colin Snook and Ian Walters we were able to pay homage to those Old Boys who gave their lives for King and Country in the Second World War. This took the form of a book entitled “The Fallen” and its sales produced a surplus of some three hundred pounds. Our terrific CHSB90 anniversary event took place last year but some expenses were only met this year and so some six hundred pounds is shewn as a prior year item.

We decided at the beginning of this year to move to an accrual basis of accounting. A change of this nature is confusing and so I have also prepared a pro forma set of accounts on the previously used cash basis. I hope this helps those of you who wish to follow the change more easily.

Richard D Wood-Kneller FCA

Thursday, 7 November 2019