May 27^th 2024.

Next club meeting Monday 3^rd June 2024.

· Annual General Meeting and Display Competition

Monday 1^st July 2024.

· Metal Detecting and its relationship with Numismatics By John Horn

August 2024.

· Summer Social – Trip to the Royal Mint

Meetings are held at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, commencing at 7.00 p.m.

Notices

The club's AGM and Annual display Competition for the Michael Broome Cup is the meeting where the officers report the status of the club and the membership voice their concerns/ideas. It is also the time where the club committee is elected for the forthcoming year and time to renew your membership.

As last year, with this newsletter is a single Committee Report with contributions from all the officers and the financial balance sheet. We will not be repeating the content verbatim at the meeting. After the formalities, the agenda points that the Committee requires membership feedback will be discussed. Then there will be the opportunity for members to raise any issues, so please take time to read the report and gather your thoughts prior to the meeting. The election of officers will follow.

If you are willing to stand for election to the Committee please contact the secretary at the number at the top of this newsletter.

The second part of the evening will be devoted to the Annual Display Competition, with the winner being awarded the Michael Broome Memorial Trophy for 1 year. Please bear in mind that all the displays should be treated respectfully, these are members own pieces and all should be handled carefully. The competition is open to all members and can cover any topic connected to numismatics. So to all members, please have a go and enter a display.

Because the formalities of the AGM now take very little time, there WILL be some time available at the end of the meeting for dealing but ONLY AFTER the Display Competition has finished. Dealers can put their coins out but should COVER THEM till the competition has completed. Note that Displays have priority over the use of tables.

Meetings are held at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, commencing at 7.00 p.m.

May Meeting

Our May meeting was a celebratory party for our 60^th anniversary. It was held in the Abbey Baptist church and was attended by 25 members and guests.

Following some introductory words from our treasurer, we were treated to a finger buffet and a cake decorated with the club logo. Thanks go to Peter, Jawaid and Will for organising the food. Also on hand were our ladies who provided teas and coffees throughout.

While everyone was enjoying the buffet, they had a chance to look at Michael’s display of coins. First there was a section specifically on numismatic items relating to Reading, including a Reading 1d from the reign of Edward III, tokens from later periods, tickets and a rare one pound note from one of the provincial Reading Banks. Then there were some interesting items on show concerning the Reading Coat of Arms and the scallop shell logo of the club(see below). He had also provided some booklet copies of one of Michael Broome’s papers on the ‘Coinage of Reading’.

A set of Victorian coins illustrated the full range of pre-decimal coins from the tiny ¼ farthing through to the gold £5 coin - a total of 21 different denominations, accompanied by a section showing coins from Ancient Greece through to the modern day, (including a Charles III 50p), an alphabetical display of Foreign coins, from Austria to Zambia and Banknotes from Algeria to Zimbabwe.

This was rounded off by a ‘little and large’ display of the smallest coin weighing in at ½ gm of gold and its big brother consisting of 2Kg of silver.

Also on display were the Michael Broome cup, the Marc Myhill shield, the minute book from the very first meeting of the club and lists of previous speakers and winners of the various competitions throughout the previous 60 years of the club.

After the buffet, Michael detailed some of the more interesting pieces from his display, John gave a short history of the club from its inception to the present day and Will gave us an idea of what it is like to be a new member of the club, having joined only a few years ago.

Michael then went on to talk about the Reading Coat of Arms. This has a crowned bust in the middle of four other busts at the corner of a square and has been in use since 1365 by the Guild of Merchants. An earlier very similar shield possibly represented Edward the Martyr and his four hunting companions. Michael explained about the court intrigues going on in the reign of Edward and how he was possibly poisoned by Queen Elfrida, so her son Aethelred (the Unready) could ascend the throne. Indeed a coat of arms was produced showing a crowned queen in the centre of four handmaidens or nuns, with an ‘R’ and ‘E’ on either side of the crowned figure, possibly short for Regina Elfrida. However the design formally granted to Reading Corporation had a change from men to women and occurred in 1566 when Elizabeth I was on the throne and so possibly it referred to her. Indeed the 1811 Token has the central queen much more in the Elizabethan style.

As an extra he showed the Reading University coat of arms, which has three scallop shells. The scallop shell is a badge connected to pilgrimage and associated with the ‘El Camino’ pilgrimage which runs for 500 miles from Switzerland to the Cathedral of Compostela in Spain. The cathedral contains the tomb of St. James. Empress Matilda brought back the hand of St. James (a holy relic) which was hidden in the walls of Reading Abbey, recovered after the dissolution in 1786 and given to Reading Museum.

Concluding remarks were made by Peter, with thanks being offered to all who had helped to make it such a successful day.

Documents for the AGM

Annual Committee Report

2023-234 Committee = Jawaid, Peter, John, Henry.

Our membership has returned to a moderate 30 members. This is not back to pre-covid numbers, which averaged 44 members, and is slightly under the number required to keep the club solvent and operational. Fortunately, the club has reserves to cover this sort of situation. This year we lost Val Milward a long time supporter of the club. A continuing reason for the drop in numbers has been the parking issue and our gradually older members not being so willing to come out at night. We do attract a small number of new members who have found us on the net.

The Hon Sec. is still receiving a steady supply of people contacting the club with coins for sale that belonged to various relatives or that turned up when houses were cleared. These all receive a standard reply, pointing out that the club is not a shop but that we have a ‘Links’ page on our website which gives details of local dealers.

Average attendance has been around the 20 mark, which represents about two thirds of the membership at any one meeting. We are back to our normal allocation of external speakers and Club events, and our Summer Social in August this year will be a trip to the Royal Mint.

During the year we have covered topics in areas such as 20C banknotes, Iron Age coins, Oxford mint halfcrowns, the Monneron brothers, the Bourton-on-the-water hoard and Pub tokens . In addition, we have had various Short Talks and Displays from our own members.

This year, our social events were the Xmas dinner at The Bull, Streatley, and the Party (thank you to Henry for the spread and to Michael for the quiz). Thanks are also due to Ian for his work at the auction.

On the thorny issue of committee members, we are pleased to report that Will and Tony have been helping out those of us who are left, however, Peter and John will stand down at the AGM and Will is moving to York. The positions of Hon. Sec and Hon. Treasurer are crucial to the well-being of the Club, and members need to address this.

We are going to be collecting subscriptions again at the June meeting. The Committee have decided that we will not raise the rate which will remain at £20 per annum.

In spite of a difficult year, the Club finances remain robust because of the strength of our reserves. Details are shown in the attached draft financial statements. They are being inspected by the Club’s Auditor. In essence, they show a deficit of £123.56 for the year. The main reasons for the deficit are the new obligation to take out insurance for our meetings at the Church (£182), increase in room hire (from £625 to £669), 4 fewer members (£80), offset by a very successful auction, which raised £374.20. The Committee has concluded that the Fixed Assets: Library, Cabinet and Computer Equipment valuation should be maintained at £82. Overall, on 30 April 2024, the Club had £271.16 in its current account and £2,733.84 in its deposit account.

Minutes of the 2023 AGM

Our President Gavin opened the meeting.

Item 1

Apologies were received from Ian, Martin, Michael, Stuart, David and Tony.

Item 2

Short notes were given on the combined reports from the committee that had been circulated with the May newsletter. What was known of the forthcoming program was laid out. Possible events for the Summer Social were discussed, including a trip to London. Peter explained some of the figures in the financial report and explained why we were keeping the subs unchanged at £20. Club membership has dropped since Covid but new members are coming to us, mainly through the internet. BANS has waived the yearly fees as not being worth the bother of collecting whilst the trade body has sufficient funds.

Item 3

Under points raised by members, Neil informed us that Albert Byde’s collection was coming up for auction in October. Tao Chong Zheng informed us that it might be possible for us to forge links with Reading University, in particular the Classical and Archaeological Society.

Item 4

No points for discussion were raised by the committee.

Item 5

There were no members wishing to join the committee from the floor. Gavin reminded everyone that John and Peter were standing down next year and that replacements had to be found if the club were to continue.

Committee (elected all at once) Proposer Neil Seconder Graham

Auditor Proposer Alistair Seconder Graham

President Proposer ?? Seconder John

Gavin next moved to accept the accounts Proposer Graham Seconder James

Item 6

Under AOB John Quinn pointed out that 50 years ago Graham had won the Annual Display competition. Graham is the longest participating member of the club.

The club was put on notice that as it was our 60^th Anniversary in 2024, we should celebrate it.

This completed the formal part of the meeting but a vote of thanks was given to the committee by the members.

READING COIN CLUB
INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT
	Year to		Year to
	30 April 2024		30 April 2023
	£	£	£	£
Income
Subscriptions		600.00		680.00
Auction Commission Sales	3,202.00
Costs	- 2,827.80	374.20		275.90
Donations & raffle		20.00		89.20
Bank Interest		24.42		5.55
		1,018.62		1,050.65
Expenditure
Room hire	669.00			625.00
Speakers' expenses	20.00			100.00
Computing, printing, postage & stationery	151.49			162.09
BNS subscriptions	32.00			32.00
Library	39.00			20.00
Insurance	182.00	1,093.49		174.00
Skittles cost	-
income	-			-
Xmas Buffet & refreshments (2 events)		48.68		65.29
Winter Social - cost	-
- income	-	-		-
Depreciation of fixed assets				50.00
		1,142.17		1,228.38
Surplus (Loss) for the Year		- 123.55		- 177.73
BALANCE SHEET
	30 April 2024		30 April 2023
Fixed Assets
Library, Cabinet & Computer, Projector	82.00		132.00
Less depreciation		82.00	- 50.00	82.00
Current Assets
Bank current account	271.16		419.13
Bank deposit account	2,233.84	2,505.00	2,209.42	2,628.55
Sundry creditors		-		-
Assets		2,587.00		2,710.55
Represented by:
Revenue Reserve
Balance brought forward		2,710.55		2,888.28
Surplus (- Deficit) for year		- 123.55		- 177.73
Balance carried forward		2,587.00		2,710.55
Hon Treasurer Peter Hall
25-May-24

Future Events.

· London Coin Fair at Novotel, Hammersmith 1^st June

· Midland Coin Fair – National Motorcycle Museum 9^th June

Past Events

• 10 years ago – Celebration dinner in honour of the 50^th Anniversary of the club

· 20 years ago – Informal celebration and buffet in honour of the 40^th Anniversary of the club

· 30 years ago – In 1992 a curator from Reading Museum talked about the reorganisation of exhibits and galleries at Reading Museum, and the introduction of computerisation.

· 40 years ago – Mr D Metcalf spoke on the somewhat complex topic of Crusader coins.

· 50 years ago – Vincent West spoke on Ancient British coins with a display of coins from Reading Museum.

Club Secretary.