Annual General Meeting of the Club, to be held remotely on Thursday, 3 June 2021
Chair’s report to The Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club 2021
This has been an extraordinary year which has affected the lives of everyone. And as a Club, we extend our condolences to those who have lost family or friends.
We, as a Club, cannot thank Lee and Michael enough for their hard work, ingenuity, persistence and good ideas. Through their efforts, the Club has flourished despite COVID. Thank you.
All our events over the last year have been virtual.
On the 4th of June 2020 we had our first virtual AGM. I hope this will be our last.
On the 15th of August we had a virtual colloquium on Ivanhoe led by Professor David Purdie and Kirsty Archer-Thompson
On the 9th of September Dr Lucy Wood took us on a virtual tour of Edinburgh’s Old Town and its Walter Scott connections
On the 15th of October Dr Daniel Cook spoke on Scott as a writer of shorter fiction
On the 12th of November, Dr Lillian Elliott spoke on ‘The “Waverley” Phenomenon and Material Imagination’. This was our first ever live virtual talk and very successful it was, too.
On the 4th of March 2021 Anne McClary spoke about Sir Walter Scott’s relationship with traditional song, and she sang to us from the Phoebe Anna Traquair Centre
On the 8th of April, Ray Perman gave his postponed talk on The Financial Ruin of Sir Walter Scott – and how he got out of it
On the 6th of May we had a very successful meal delivered to us by Paul Wedgwood of Wedgwood’s Restaurant in Edinburgh. The meal was such a one as Walter Scott would have eaten. It was great success and many thanks to Michael & Lucy Wood for a brilliant idea. And I gave a short toast to Sir Walter Scott as we remembered the 250th anniversary of his birth
This evening, the 3rd of June, we will hear from Dr Iain Gordon Brown who will be speaking on “Frolics in the Face of Europe: Walter Scott, Continental Travel and the Tradition of the Grand Tour”
On the 6th of July Professor Alison Lumsden will give her Jane Millgate memorial lecture, which we will sponsor, at the 12th International Scott Conference held virtually in Edinburgh 6th to the 8th July 2021. This is the opening lecture of the conference.
On the 21st of August, we look forward to a colloquium on Kenilworth led by J. H. Alexander and Lee Simpson
And on the 2nd of September we look forward to our postponed 111th annual dinner, presided over by Professor Murray Pittock, the Club’s president, with Sir Tom Devine proposing the toast
Iain Torrance
Accounts
Summary
Subscriptions: We welcomed 5 new members in 2020.
Donations: Vernon Anderson still gives us an annual donation of £120. Chris Harvie gave us £500. £100 came from other members.
Annual Dinner: Even though it was cancelled we show a profit of £210 as two members didn’t cash their cheques.
Other Functions: 29 members are owed £705 for events that were cancelled. (35 tickets for Ray Perman event and 24 for Lillian Elliott event). They can request a refund or swap the tickets for future events. Even after refunding we will show a profit of £114 as the speaker in March only took a small fee.
Postage and Stationery: This cost is going down as more members opt to receive communications via email instead of via post. (Now at 130 members – over double from 2018)
Online: The Website cost has risen by £40 to £193 as I discovered that I hadn’t been billing the club for all the associated domain names. We now also pay £56 p/a for our online photography storage account https://www.flickr.com/photos/
Audio Equipment: We spent £113 on a Lavalier Microphone and an Audio Recorder to assist with the creation of online events.
General Reserves: We have £10,330 - of which £705 is due to be refunded for cancelled events. (A further £2314 is held for the KG fund)
Assets: The value of our Assets at purchase cost is currently £2430
The Public Lecture Fund: We have a reserve of £4851
Accounts -- page 1 of 2
Accounts - page 2/2
The accounts have been certified by The Very Rev Canon Allan Maclean of Dochgarroch.