THE TWENTY-EIGHTH
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE NEWCASTLE AND GATESHEAD
VOLUNTARY SOCIETY FOR THE BLIND
(Formerly known as the Home Teaching Society for the Blind).

(ESTABLISHED 1867).
Registered under the National Assistance Act, 1948.

FOR THE
TWO YEARS ENDED 31st MARCH, 1978.

MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL OF THE SOCIETY
(At 5th July, 1979)

Chairman and Hon. Treasurer: Mr. A. JOHNSTON.

Vice-Chairman: Mr. J. R. PEACOCK.

Members:
Mr. G. W. WEST, J.P., A.C.I.S.  
Mrs. O. VERITY
Mrs. M. DIXON   
Mr. F. WIND.
Mr. J. GRAY, M.B.E. 
Mr. G. S. P. YEOMAN
Mrs. M. E. LAWRENSON 
Mr. E. E. TAINCH
Miss A. K. McCUTCHEON 
Mr. H. J. ROBSON
Miss R. SOMERVILLE.

TRUSTEES:
LLOYD'S BANK LTD. (Trustee and Executor Dept.).

HON. AUDITORS:
Messrs. PRICE WATERHOUSE & Co.

HON. SOLICITORS:
Messrs. DAVIES, BELL & REED.

OFFICE:
SUTHERLAND MEMORIAL HALL
109 Jesmond Road.
Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 1NJ
Telephone: 811259.

NEWCASTLE AND GATESHEAD
VOLUNTARY SOCIETY FOR THE BLIND.

Sutherland Memorial Hall 
109 Jesmond Road 
Newcastle upon Tyne.
NE2 1NJ.

5th July, 1979.

ANNUAL REPORT

TWO YEARS ENDED 31st MARCH, 1978.

The Newcastle and Gateshead Voluntary Society for the Blind has pleasure in presenting its report for the two years ended 31st March, 1978, this being the twenty-eighth Annual Report. It is worthy of note, however, that the Society has been in existence for 111 years being known as the Newcastle and Gateshead Home Teaching Society for the Blind prior to 1949.
From 1st April, 1971 Gateshead Trust for the Blind was registered by the Charity Commissioners to undertake voluntary services for the local blind people. By arrangement the Society pays over to the Gateshead Trust an agreed proportion of the amount it receives from the collections made by the R.N.I.B.

The combination of two reports is regretted. Difficulties have occurred owing to shortage of secretarial staff and the fact that the audited accounts of the Society for the year ended 31st March, 1977 were mislaid. However, Income and Expenditure Accounts and Balance Sheets are given separately for each year.

Membership of the Council of the Society remained unchanged during the two years with the exception that Mr. J. H. Hicks resigned his membership at the end of September 1976 and subsequently died. New members welcomed to the Society and the Council during the current year are Mr. H. J. Robson and Mr. E. E. Tainch.

Social, Educational and Recreation Activities. During 1976/77 outings were held to Breamish Valley, Skipton and Whitby and in 1977/78 to Alwinton, Harrogate and Seahouses. There were also annual summer visits to Whitley Bay kindly provided by the Rotary Club of Newcastle upon Tyne. 'Speaker Meetings', some of a musical nature, were held during most months. Games of dominoes were first in popularity by the blind people on Mondays and Wednesdays. Darts and whist have their attraction for a small number of them. Christmas teas and entertainment were again provided by the Soroptimists Club of Newcastle upon Tyne, the Inner Wheel Club of Newcastle upon Tyne and in memory of the late Mrs. Pierie.

A Christmas Gift of £1.00 was sent to each registered blind person on our Register in 1976 and this was increased to £2.00 in 1977.
Services for the Blind. The Society acts as agent for the distribution of pensions provided by the Royal Blind Pension Fund and of radio sets supplied by the British Wireless for the Blind Fund. Batteries for radio sets are purchased by the Society and sold to the Blind people at cost price as are also white sticks.

Premises. Use of the Sutherland Hall is made to the North East Games Association for the Blind for competition events. The hall is also used by Tyne Sound News, a charitable organisation that puts news on tape for the blind, for recording sessions.

Office. Mrs. M. Rennie resigned as Secretary in December 1977. She was replaced by Mrs. J. Clow in January 1978 but she resigned at the end of May 1978. We are now glad to have with us Mrs. D. Trevethick who took up her duties in July of last year.

Finance. The total income of the Society for the year ended 31st March, 1977 was £4,455 as compared with £2,896 for the previous year. For the year ended 31st March, 1978 the total income was £6,268.

STATISTICS.

Number of Registered Blind Persons at 31st March, 1978. Figures were supplied by Newcastle upon Tyne Metropolitan District, Social Services Department.

Age Group.                                 Female   Male
Under 2 years ....................................................   -          -
2 - 4 years ..........................................................   -	-
5 - 15 years ........................................................... 9         8
16 - 20 years .....................................................   5	    4
21-39 years ………..........................................	    18	   24
40-49 years ....................................................	    15	   16
50-59 years …….............................................	    22	   39
60 - 64 years ……................................................  26	 22
65 - 74 years ………….......................................   74	 61
75 years and over ..............................................  234   100
All ages - TOTAL ................................................  403   275

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.

Messrs. Davies Bell & Reed, Honorary Solicitors.
Messrs. Price Waterhouse & Co., Honorary Auditors.
British Wireless for the Blind Fund.
Newcastle upon Tyne Rotary Club.
Newcastle upon Tyne Inner Wheel Club.
Newcastle upon Tyne Soroptimist Club.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING.
The twenty-eighth Annual General Meeting of the Newcastle and Gateshead Voluntary Society for the Blind was held in Sutherland Memorial Hall, 109 Jesmond Road, Newcastle upon Tyne on Thursday, 5th July, 1979.

Mr. A. Johnston was in the Chair. Mr. J. R. Peacock, Vice-Chairman, and Mrs. D. Trevethick, Secretary, were in attendance.

Also present were Mrs. O. Verity, Miss A. K. McCutcheon, Mr. G. S. P. Yeoman, Mr. J. Gray, Miss H. Wadsworth, Mr. A. Lawrence, Miss R. Somerville, Mrs. M. Dixon, Mr. F. Wind, Mr. H. J. Robson, Mr. E. E. Tainch.

APOLOGIES for absence were received from: 
The Lord Bishop of Newcastle.
Mr. G. W. West, J.P., A.C.I.S. 
Mrs. M. E. Lawrenson.
Mrs. J. Kirkup.
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Minutes of the twenty-seventh Annual General Meeting had been circulated. They were taken as read and confirmed.

Chairman's Comments. The Chairman said 'Although severe inflation continued during the two years in question, happily increased distributions to the Society, by the Royal National Institute for the Blind, covered the increased costs. However, the Society still cannot afford the services of a caretaker. This is unfortunate as greater use may be made of the Sutherland Memorial Hall if we had one. Similarly, secretarial help is restricted to six hours a week which is hardly sufficient to cope with all the administrative work and it also means that any callers at the hall can only receive attention on Tuesday and Friday mornings in the week.

The burden of organising outings, dealing with accounts and Christmas Grants, the inspection of the building and supervision of repair work as well as many other matters has all been carried by members of the Council.

I only became Chairman in the current year and I consider it a privilege to act as such. Mr. G. W. West resigned as Chairman at the end of March of this year and I am sure that our thanks are due to him for all the work which he did during his term of office. I also gladly acknowledge all the work and effort put in by the members of the Council.

The Society is purely a voluntary one. Its income is derived entirely from voluntary contributions from the public and the major part of the actual work is carried out voluntarily by members of the Council without cost to the Society.

I am glad to have this opportunity of thanking you all for your help and support and I know that you share with me a desire not only to maintain but also to expand, if possible, our services to the blind people. If anyone has any ideas on this matter I hope that they will pass on to me, or any member of the Council, their suggestions'.

Report for the years ended 31st March, 1977 and 1978. The Chairman moved the adoption of the report. Mr. J. R. Peacock seconded the motion which was agreed unanimously.

Accounts. Mr. A. Johnston, as Honorary Treasurer, said 'Although I am now Chairman of the Society I am also continuing to act as Honorary Treasurer.

I have pleasure in presenting to you the audited accounts of the Society for the years ended 31st March. 1977 and 1978 which have already been circulated to you.

If you will look at the Income and Expenditure Accounts for the two years you will see that the income of the Society has increased in both years compared with each previous year. This is mainly accounted for by increased distributions by the R.N.I.B. Also in each year the Society received Special Bequests and there were increases in investment income.

On the expenditure side you will see that the cost of Services to the Blind fell in 1976/77 but increased in 1977/78. The increase in the second year was because your Council decided to increase the Christmas Grant to the blind from £1 to £2. The expenses of the Sutherland Hall increased in 1976/77 mainly because of the increase in rates and insurance but fell in 1977/78 because of the fall in the amount of repairs which were necessary and an increase in the contributions towards expenses by the Workshops for the Adult Blind Voluntary Fund and a new contribution by Tyne Sound News who have now the use of the hall for recording sessions.

In the year ended 31st March, 1977 the total income of the Society was £4,455 and the total expenditure was £2,309 leaving a surplus for the year of £1,146 before making any adjustment for the market value of investments. In the year ended 31st March, 1978 the comparable figures were: total income £6,268 and the total expenditure £3,431 leaving a surplus of £2,837.

The Balance Sheets show that the investments of the Society were valued at 31st March, 1977 at £11,008 and at 31st March, 1978 at £12,295. Bank balances and cash were £2,748 at 31st March, 1977 and £4,517 at 31st March, 1978.

If anyone has any remarks to make on the accounts please do so, and if there are any questions I will try to deal with them.

I formally move the adoption of the accounts of the Society for the years ended 31st March, 1977 and 31st March, 1978 as audited by Messrs. Price Waterhouse & Co.'.

Miss A. K. McCutcheon seconded the adoption which was agreed unanimously.

Election of the Council. Mr. J. R. Peacock moved and Mrs. M. Dixon seconded the re-election of the Council. This was agreed unanimously.

Election of the Honorary Auditors. Messrs. Price Waterhouse & Co., and

Hon. Solicitors. Messrs. Davies, Bell & Reed.

Mr. G. S. P. Yeoman proposed and Mr. H. J. Robson seconded the re-election. This was agreed unanimously.

Mr. J. R. Peacock proposed a Vote of Thanks to Mr. A. Johnston as Chairman and Honorary Treasurer. This was seconded by Mr. J. Gray and agreed unanimously.