Administrative Details  

1.     The Trustees in 2007 were David Beech [Head of Philatelic Collections at the British Library] who was chairman of the Trustees, Gavin Fryer [from 1.7.07], Robin Pizer who was Corresponding Trustee, Susan Hopson [until 1.7.07], David Tett and Nicholas Wraith [until 1.7.07].  

2.     The Trust has no offices. The address of the Corresponding Trustee is 6 Drews Court, Churchdown, Gloucestershire GL3 2LD and all communications or enquiries concerning the Trust or its work may be sent to that address.  

3.     The Trust's websites www.rossitertrust.com and www.rossitertrust.co.uk became operational in 2001 and underwent substantial revision in 2003 and 2005.  

4.     The bankers to the Trust are The Bank of Scotland, 21 Prince Street, Bristol BS99 7JG. The independent examiner is Mr Michael Elliott, Coulthards Mackenzie, 14 More House Farm Business Centre, Wivelsfield, Haywards Heath West Sussex RH17 7RE. The websites are managed by Mr Tony Lancaster, 20 Milner Road, Kingston, Surrey KT1 2AU  

5.     The Trust has no paid staff and is run on a voluntary basis by the Trustees.  

6.     There are no other formal links with any person or body charitable or otherwise save in relation to arrangements with those that sell the Trust's books to the public at large. Currently these are

1.     Vera Trinder, 38 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9EU, UK;
2.     Leonard Hartmann, PO Box 36006, Louisville, Kentucky 40233, USA;
3.     Vaccari srl., Via M. Buonarroti 46, 41058 Vignola (MO), Italy;
4.     Trust's representative for Australasia: Allan P. Berry, 238 Waikiekie Road, Thames, New Zealand.  

7.     Any individual arrangements for co-operation on research or books are made ad hoc according to the needs and circumstances relating to the researcher or author.  

Structure, Governance and Management  

8.     The Trust originated under a provision in the will of Stuart Rossiter who died on the 19^th December 1982.  

The Trust is governed by a Trust Deed dated 3^rd June 1985 and by an Order of the Charity Commission dated the 24^th January 1995 and by a Deed of Modification dated the 21^st August 1995. This was the twelfth full year of operation for the Trust. The Trust's main objectives are set out in paragraph 12 of this Report. The Trust's financial year is the calendar year.  

9.     The power of appointing new trustees is vested in the existing Trustees. It is policy to have periodic changes in Trustees for the benefit of the Trust's activities by balancing the need for continuity of experience with the need for new experience and skills.  

Risk Management  

10.  The Trustees undertake periodic reviews of risks to which the Trust is exposed. The key risks identified are:  

illness or resignation of Trustees
financial
damage to stock of books
challenges to decisions of Trustees
infringement of others' copyright
books priced too high
website attacked and defaced.  

Objectives  

11.  The policy objectives set out in paragraph 6 of the 1995 report remains unchanged. That paragraph said:  The Trustees have found that there are many projects for research and publication which can be funded usefully within the terms of the charitable objects of the Trust; the path of progress is to move forward slowly but deliberately, and with an eye to quality of text and publication while still trying to publish what commercial interests could not afford to publish economically and which private individuals could not afford to publish privately.

12.  It is worth repeating here that the objects of this Trust are to:  

1.     promote research into the history of the postal services and to support publication in this area to a high academic standard;  

2.     to sell publications at a price which tends to see the return of printing cost and research expenses so that the money can be made available for new publications but which allows the public to purchase at a reasonable cost;  

3.     to facilitate research enquiries by paying bills for photocopying and other reasonable and relevant expenditure from archives distant from the researcher where the Trustees are as satisfied as they can be that a book will result which will fall within the Trustees' publication policy;  

4.     to have an Annual Lecture open to the public free of charge by someone who is an acknowledged expert in a field encompassed by the objects of the Trust and where possible publish an article or monograph based on the Annual Lecture;  

5.     to publish books year on year which cover the widest field of knowledge within the Trust's objects and not to restrict activity to any particular area.  

Persons wishing to benefit from the funds of this Trust are invited to make a written application setting out a synopsis of their proposed research and publication. An application form is on the website. The Trustees then ask further questions before deciding on the merits of an application and whether the application is within the objects of the Trust and if approved can be fitted into the Trust's cash flow for the intended year of research or publication.

There are no restrictions on who can apply or on the subject within the objects: that is to say the Trust acts worldwide in respect of both.  

The Trustees personally encourage applications through personal activity and publicise the ability to make applications in the published works of the Trust and on the Trust's website.
After repayment of the Trust's publication costs, the usual position is one of sharing the further proceeds of sale with the author. Research grants as such are not normally repayable; likewise small grants to have an archive or collection of research value preserved by copying are not repayable.  

The Trustees consider most of their applications immediately through the post to give speed of response and to avoid the cost of travel to meetings. Formal Trustee meetings are normally held three times a year.  

Accounts  

13.  Audited accounts are available and are published on the Trust's websites.  
Assets of the Trust at the 31^st December 2007 were valued at  £390,710.
Investment income was £19,248. Revenue from sales of books was £4,931 and the total income [disregarding capital gains and losses] was £25,772.Expenditure was £3,744.  

Included in this was expenditure for administration and postage expenses of £1,967 and for one year's audit fees £400.  

14.   The Trustees have:  

1.     Established an income reserve which is designed to be available to cover the cost of important works which might be too expensive to fund out of annual income on a year by year basis. The income reserve on the 31^st December 2007 was £11,393 and the accumulated income surplus £34,720. Forward publishing and grant plans or commitments assume that all this money will be spent in the next four years.  

2.     Established a policy that sales revenue from publications shall be treated as income in the year in which the revenue arises and will not be treated as capital and will not (unless circumstances warrant) be credited to income reserve. This policy is consistent with making sure that money is made available to fund further projects as soon as that income has been received.  

3.     Established a policy to have long term capital increase with consequential income increase but not at the expense of having enough annual income to fund at least two books, one research grant and the Annual Lecture as well as being able to pay ordinary expenses.  

15.  The Trustees as will be seen from paragraph 14 are prepared to allocate income on a forward basis because by its very nature publishing work entails a long rather than a short working period between approval of a project and publication. The author needs to have financial assurances that funds will be available for publication before embarking on the details of researching and writing.  

There is therefore a difference between policy on income reserve (for applications which may be made in the future) and money reserved for specific projects to meet forward contractual obligations to authors.  

In 2005 the Trust took advice from an Independent Financial Advisor who, after considering the Trust's attitude to risk, recommended the capital investments be spread as follows :

           25% in fixed income
           25% in property funds
           50% in equities.

Specific funds recommended were :

           Fixed income M&G Charibond
           Property - Charities Property Fund
           Equities - M&G Charifund. 

As a result the Trustees redistributed the capital investment in accordance with the recommended split. Since then the Trust has continued broadly with this split as its attitude to risk has not changed. The Trustees formally review this policy each year at a Trustee meeting. The Trust has two chartered accountants on the Board of Trustees and consider this provides adequate safeguards of good practice and judgment. In the event that the policy is changed from that suggested by the IFA, the Trustees will take formal external advice.  

Achievements  

16.  No books were published by the Trust in 2007 due to longer than expected delays in the final stages of publishing two books, the death of one potential author and loss of interest by another potential author.  

17.  Looking ahead to 2008 and beyond, provided that the texts are completed, the programme for publishing approved by the Trustees at the moment is Express Mail, After Packets and Late Fees in India before 1870, the eighth volume of the Stuart Rossiter Trust Postal History Journal, Free French Censorship in Syria and Lebanon, Indian Imperial Post Offices 1877, Iraq Postal Rates 1927-1952 and Dutch Mail in Times of Turmoil Part I 1568-1795. There are a further 8 books in the early stages of writing.  

18.  The 2007 Stuart Rossiter Memorial Lecture was given by Pat Grimwood-Taylor 'Social Postal History'.  

19.  The cumulative position as in December 2007 from the last quarter of 1995 is summarised by the Trustees as follows:  

1.	Books published	27
2.	Books published with financial assistance from the Trust	14
3.	Book published by an Annual Lecturer privately from which the Trust has benefited	1
4.	Support for a pamphlet for a display of county postal history in a Welsh Museum in 2003	1
5.	Applications for publications approved in 2007	0
6.	Books to be published with financial assistance from the Trust	1
7.	Support for conservation for future and present research and publication purposes of papers in the Archives of St Helena	1
8.	Research grants taken up and paid	8
9.	Applications for publications approved in 2007	0
10.	Memorial Lectures	11

20.  Six copies of books published in the UK by the Trust are deposited with the British Library and Libraries of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales and the Library of Trinity College Dublin (as required under Legal Deposit Regulations) and in addition copies are given to the Philatelic Collections at the British Library, the libraries of the Royal Philatelic Society, London, the National Philatelic Society and the Postal History Society. Thus any member of the public may request their local library to obtain a copy for reading.