A Year of Celebrations (cont)


Recently, an Otford Community Jubilee choir has been formed, which we hope will sing at some events during Jubilee week - apart from when the beacon is lit. This choir is currently meeting once a fortnight in St Bartholomew’s Church and is open to anyone who fancies a sing, so just come along on Tuesday evenings. All the information about plans for Jubilee week is available on Howard Leicester’s website – so do keep up to date with what’s going on.


In April we look forward to celebrating St George’s Day – combined with Shakespeare’s birthday. We will again hold the event on our own territory, in The Woodman by the pond. All being well, we will have a guest speaker! Our thanks to Jim, the landlord, for allowing us to take over his pub for this event. A special ticket will be required for this lunch and it will be limited to 40 members.


Although we some way off from the Olympics, I’m sure that many Otfordians will be taking a keen interest in the different sporting events as they take place. I wonder how many visitors from around the world will take a day off and visit the countryside. Otford is exactly the sort of place they’ll be looking for!


Up to the end of 2011, the weather has been quite mild. But at the beginning of January the very cold weather arrived. It has been the coldest January for many years, with a heavy snow fall and temperatures down to –10C. When the next 3 months have passed, we can look forward to one of the most eventful summers in living memory. So often do we hear people sing the words ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ and this summer we hope our celebrations for our Queen are indeed filled with the kind of Glory which so naturally comes to life on these great British occasions – all a part of the tradition which has grown over many generations.


A.V. Wiltshire Chairman


Treasurers Report


Our position at the end of our Financial Year ending 31st December 2011 has strengthened as a result of an excellent performance in collecting membership subscriptions and the exceptional factors itemised below.


Exceptional Factors Residue of Funds transferred from Radio


Anonymous Donation to be used for The Gateway Project


£2471.03 £1000.00


As a result of the above our Income exceeded our expenditure by £4751.15p but when these factors are adjusted we still had a surplus of £1280.12p. This compared to a small loss in the previous year of £40 Profits on the Fete were £359.70, although £146.08 of the profit was donated to the Fete Committee. The Garden Party raised £172.35 which includes the proceeds from the Raffle (£75.85) which have been donated to The Otford Benevolent Society.


Our balance sheet is strong with the total of our accumulated funds rising from £17,960 at the end of 2010 to £22711 at the end of 2011. However, under the terms of the transfer of Radio Funds 50% (£1235.65) of the transferred amount must be spent on the Apple Orchard Project. Similarly, the Anonymous Donation of £1000 must only be used on the Gateway Project.


Outlook for 2012 We start 2012 on a positive note thanks to the success of our Gift Aid Campaign. We have now received £737.93p from HM Revenue and Customs, although this arrived too late for our financial year 2011. We still have to claim on our 2011 subscriptions which should raise a further £200. Additionally, we were successful in selling the remaining stock of Christmas Cards the proceeds of which arrived too late for 2011 and so will feature in our 2012 accounts. The proceeds from the sale of the cards was £109.


Derek Buck 2


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