EMILY DAVIDSON MEMORIAL PROJECT MEMBER’S REPORT AND UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JANUARY 2019

FD Business Ltd

Contents
	Page
Member’s Report	1—4
Accountant’s Report	5
Profit and Loss Account	6
Balance Sheet	7
Notes to the Financial Statements	8
The following pages do not form part of the statutory accounts: Trading Profit and Loss Account	9

The Chair presents her report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 January 2019.

Review of Business

The Beginning

The Emily Davison Memorial Project (EDMP) was officially launched on 6th February 2018, the date that Parliament passed the Representation of the People Act 1918, when some women got the right to vote. The first official meeting was held at 3pm on 15th February at 31 Links Road, Epsom, Surrey KT17 3PP, attended by Sarah Dewing and Paul Taylor (What’s on in Epsom).

The Organisation

The aim of the EDMP is to support the creation of a memorial to the suffragette Emily Wilding Davison in Epsom and Ewell. It was decided to form an unincorporated association to run the project and the constitution was finalised on 18th February 2018, with Sarah as Chair and Paul as Vice­Chair. It was decided not to become a charity, even though this may have opened up more funding sources, due to the urgency of trying to complete the time­limited project during the centenary year of 2018 if possible.

Support for the Project

Support came from a variety of places: Initial discussions with local borough councillors was favourable and there was cross­party support from local MP, Rt. Hon Chris Grayling MP, and Emily Thornberry MP, who had attempted to get a statue of Emily installed at the Houses of Parliament in 2013, the centenary of her death.

Philippa Bilton, Emily’s descendent, expressed her desire to be involved with the project, and we also received encouragement from “Emily Inspires” project in Morpeth, Northumberland, that was also running a campaign to install a statue of Emily in her home town. Several academics in modern and suffragette history were also excited by the initiative and offered their support, and Jeremy Harte and David Brooks form Bourne Hall Museum also joined the group.

On 24th April 2018, the council unanimously passed a motion, tabled by Cllr. Kate Chinn, formally calling for support for the project. Since then, the group has worked closely with the council to move the project forward. Two councilors, Eber Kington and Tella Wormington regularly attend EDMP meetings. Cllr. Kington and CFO Amardip Healy were identified as our main points of contact for both councilors and council staff.

Membership

A call­out was sent through the Facebook page set up by Paul and a list of potential group members was drawn up and invited to the next meeting on Wednesday 14th March at Bourne Hall, Ewell. This was well attended, and a number of people volunteered their participation.

The current group comprises of:
Plilippa Bilton Descendent of Emily Davison
Sarah Dewing Chair & Local resident and artist
Charlotte Dring Whitehall civil servant
Dr. Subo Emanuel Local GP, formerly of the Old Cottage Hospital
Cllr. Eber Kington Leader of RA Group, Epsom & Ewell Borough Council
Peter Stamps Treasurer & local business person
Paul Taylor Vice Chair & local business person
Barbara Watts Epsom Siroptimists
Cllr. Tella Wormington Town Ward Councillor, Epsom & Ewell Borough council

Also closely associated with the project are:
David Brooks Bourne Hall Museum
Christine Charlesworth Commissioned sculptor
Irene Cockcroft suffragette historian
Jeremy Harte Curator, Bourne hall Museum
Alana Harris Lecturer in Modern British History, Kings College London

Other volunteers who have contributed time to the fundraising aspect of the project:
Jonathan Gunesekera Formerly of W.S. Atkins
Nathan Dewing Graduate student

The Memorial Design

Local sculptor Christine Charlesworth agreed to take on the commission. She is a member of both the Royal Society of British Sculptors and Society of Women Artists, with many previous commissions to her name. After much discussion between Sarah and Christine, it was agreed that it should be a life­size bronze of Emily, seated on a contemporary granite bench, in a conversational pose, with her books and mortar board beside her and her many suffragette badges adorning her jacket, representing her academic achievements, intelligence, sacrifice and courage. Being seated would also make her accessible on a human scale to the public who could sit beside her and engage with her. An accompanying plaque would describe not just the tragic circumstances of her death, but more importantly her life and importance to the suffragette campaign. We also hope to integrate an interactive video element to the work.

Christine has created a 1/3 scale bronze resin maquette of the statue which she has exhibited locally. We are hoping to sell some copies of this and also a bronze bust of the life­size model once it is completed, with profit donated to the project. It also provides a very useful promotional tool.

Finance

A community bank account was opened at Metro Bank and accountant Peter Stamps from local business FD Business Ltd. agreed to act as Treasurer. An initial budget was drawn up. It is outlined below:

Cost of life­size bronze sculpture £32,400
Cost of maquette £3,780
Cost of the granite bench £2,000
Cost of accompanying information plaque £1,800*
Cost of engraving the bench £1,000*
Cost of unveiling event £5,000*
Contingency @ 10% £4,598
Total £50,578

* Estimated costs

A Treasurer’s Report accompanies this report.

The Site

Discussions were held with the council about siting the statue in a prominent location in the town centre from the beginning of the project. However, it took until July to finally agree on the specific location in the market place and sort out the legal implications. This was due to the fact that both the county and borough councils needed to be consulted around permissions and agreements. The market place was also due for redevelopment and the memorial needed to become a part of the official plan, which took some time.

Timeline

An ambitious timeline was set for the fundraising campaign to be completed by November 2018, to allow enough time for the memorial to be created for an unveiling on the anniversary of her death on 8th June 2019. The urgency was due to the national focus on 2018 being the centenary year of women getting the vote, and all the publicity around this, including the Vote 100 campaign and various other statues of suffragettes being unveiled around the country.

Council Support.

The council have been supportive since the beginning, in terms of facilitating the legal and planning side of things, liaising with Surrey County Council, and agreeing to take ownership and responsibility for insuring and maintaining the statue once installed. In addition to support from many councilors, in particular Eber Kington and Tella Wormongton, Amardip Healy, Chief Finance Officer at the council has been most helpful in facilitating the identification of a suitable site, the permissions needed for the memorial and the commitment of the council to take ownership and to cover insurance and maintenance. She also acted as liaison with Surrey County Council. An Agreement in Principle was given on 26th June 2018, and the specific location for the statue was agreed in July.

Fundraising

Initially, due to the limited time capacity of the group, we had hoped that we could secure a small number of substantial sponsorships, using member’s own contacts, or approaching CSR and HR departments of large corporates with a local presence. However, we needed to wait until we had developed a suite of sponsorship packages and had a confirmed site. Unfortunately, this was not until July, with the summer holiday season approaching, which meant that Charlotte had limited opportunity to approach companies until September. By this time, many had already allocated their CSR funds. Charlotte Dring offered to take the lead on this.

At the same time, Sarah was researching and applying to various grants funds, including the Heritage Lottery Fund, Surrey Community Fund and the Goisoncott Foundation, unfortunately without success to date.

Paul initiated donate buttons on both the Facebook page and website, but donations from the public were slow to come, perhaps because more awareness of the project was needed.

Organising fundraising activities was also discussed, but it was decided that we did not have the capacity as a group to manage any at this time.

A “100 for 100” campaign was launched in the autumn, to encourage smaller local businesses to give to the project. However, at the first meeting of 2019, it was agreed to suspend this campaign that had limited success and it was felt might limit the amount that could be offered by local business.

A significant boost was given to the project in early February, with the council approving a contribution of £20,000 from development funds towards the project. This will greatly help us to secure match funding going forward.

Publicity and Promotion

Paul Taylor took the lead on publicity and promotion of the project. Initially, this was primarily through his local online platform, What’s on in Epsom, followed by a Facebook page, website www.emilydavisonproject.org and Twitter account @emilymemorial . He also used his contacts within the local area and arranged a photo shoot and live video link at the racecourse on the anniversary of the 1913 Derby on 4th June. Paul, Sarah and Subo also attended the annual local Business Awards ceremony at UCA with the Maquette and handed out leaflets.

A large and ambitious promotional event was organized by two other members of the EDMP group, Dr. Subo Emanuel and Philippa Bilton, entitled, “Celebrating Inspirational 21st Century Women, inspired by Emily Davison” and was held at the Queen’s Stand at Epsom Racecourse on 12th October 2018, to highlight the current wealth of local female talent in all areas of life, whose potential is being realized because of women like Emily and the sacrifices they made in the fight for gender equality. 120 guests attended a discussion panel, drinks, dinner and networking, sponsored by Peacocks & Co., a local firm of female solicitors. Although not advertised as a fundraising event, a maquette of the proposed statue was on display and the artist, Christine Charlesworth was on hand to answer questions. Sarah Dewing also gave a short presentation on the project. Following the event, Subo has been following up with some of the guests who expressed an interest in supporting the project and we are hopeful this will provide results in the future.

Local BBC Surrey Radio also interviewed Sarah Dewing about the project following the council’s decision to allocate funds to the project at the beginning of February and it is hoped they will also cover the display of the maquette at the Ashley Centre on International Women’s Day on 8th and 9th March 2019.

One Year On: Challenges and successes

There have been challenges and successes in our first year. The main challenge has been raising sufficient funds to enable the creation of the statue to begin within the original timeline. Consequently, this was extended at the beginning of 2019 with the new goal to unveil the statue on October 11th 2019, the anniversary of Emily’s birthday.

Other challenges were the difficulty in adequately raising the profile of the project in such a short time when there were other, high profile unveilings of suffragettes around the country. The current political and economic climate may also have contributed to the difficulties attracting funding.

Despite these challenges, it is important to focus on what we have achieved in a very short time:

• Success in agreeing on a location within the redeveloped market place with both Epsom & Ewell Borough Council and Surrey County Council
• A commitment by EEBC to take ownership, install, insure and maintain the memorial
• Increasing awareness of the campaign
• Increasing support from the local community and others involved in commemorating important suffragettes across the country.
• A significant contribution by the Borough Council towards our fundraising goal, which brings us close to the halfway point and will enable us to pursue match funding and give potential sponsors confidence that the project will succeed. This will help considerably to increase momentum to reach our goal.

The Next Steps

Going forward, the EDMP will focus in three main areas:

1. Increasing public awareness of the project, both locally and nationally, through online media, press and radio, and exhibiting the maquette wherever possible, including on International Women’s Day on 8th and 9th March in the Ashley Centre.
2. Recruiting more volunteers to help with social media and fundraising
3. Focusing on support from local business and community groups, both in terms of awareness raising and raising funds for us.
4. Using the Council’s demonstrable financial support, to kick start a renewed fundraising campaign, focusing on sponsorship, grants and donations.

And finally..

I would like to thank everyone who has supported the EDMP over this last year, but especially the members themselves. Our progress is undoubtedly due to their enthusiasm and commitment and I am confident we will achieve our goal this time and that Emily will take her rightful place both in the beautiful new Market place, and in the history of Epsom and Ewell.

On behalf of the committee
Ms Sarah Dewing 13/02/2019

We have compiled the financial statements of the project from the accounting records and information and explanations you have given to us.

This report is made to the committee in accordance with the terms of our engagement. Our work has been undertaken to prepare for approval by the committee the financial statements that we have been engaged to compile, to report to the committee that we have done so, and to state those matters that we have agreed to state to them in this report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Company and the Company’s director for our work or for this report.

You have acknowledged on the balance sheet as at year ended 31 January 2019 your duty to ensure that the company has kept proper accounting records and to prepare financial statements that give a true and fair view. You consider that the project is exempt from the statutory requirement for an audit for the year.

We have not been instructed to carry out an audit of the financial statements. For this reason, we have not verified the accuracy or completeness of the accounting records or information and explanations you have given to us and we do not, therefore, express any opinion on the financial statements.

Peter Stamps 13/02/2019

FD Business Ltd FCMA, CGMA, FIoD

9 Lyncroft Gardens Epsom

Surrey KT17 1UR

	Notes	2019 £
TURNOVER		2,155
GROSS PROFIT		2,155
OPERATING PROFIT AND PROFIT FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR		2,155

The notes on page 8 form part of these financial statements.

2019

Notes £ £

CURRENT ASSETS

Cash at bank and in hand 2,155

2,155

NET CURRENT ASSETS (LIABILITIES) 2,155

TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES 2,155

NET ASSETS 2,155

Profit and Loss Account 2,155

TOTAL FUNDS 2,155

Member’s responsibilities

The members have not required the project to obtain an audit.

The chair acknowledges her responsibilities for complying with the requirements of accounting records and the preparation of accounts.

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.

On behalf of the board

Ms Sarah Dewing 13/02/2019

The notes on page 8 form part of these financial statements.

Accounting Policies

• 1. Basis of Preparation of Financial Statements

   

The financial statements are prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the FRS 102 Section 1A Small Entities ­ The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland and the Companies Act 2006.

Turnover

Turnover is measured at the fair value of the consideration received or receivable, net of discounts and value added taxes. Turnover includes revenue received from supporters of the project.

Average Number of Employees

Average number of employees, including directors, during the year was as follows: NIL

TURNOVER

2019

£ £

Donations 1,655

Grants 500

2,155

GROSS PROFIT 2,155

OPERATING PROFIT AND PROFIT FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 2,155