Steve Sutcliffe has been Treasurer of WOS for six years – it should have only been five, but we were not in a position to replace him in 2021 and he’s very kindly done another year, but at the beginning of November 2022 he will finally have to leave Council and this post.

The Treasurer is an officer of the Society and a Council member.  In normal times there are three Council meetings a year usually around Newtown but in the last 18 months all meetings have been virtual on Zoom.

The “job” is not too onerous and this is Steve’s list of things to do and a rough idea of the time involved:-

• Maintain the records on Quicken which is dead easy and takes a couple of hours about every two months to update from the bank and Paypal records.
• Produce a summary financial statement for each Council meeting – Quicken does most of it. Steve reckons a couple of hours to produce and circulate to Council members.
• Monitor the Direct Debit account with Go Cardless and liaise with the membership secretary basically by forwarding renewal emails and new member emails to her. This takes minutes each time but it’s pretty regular when emails arrive.
• Produce a budget for Council and a report for members to go with the annual accounts and be presented at the AGM in November – say a morning to do this.
• Liaise with Council members when required and contribute to decisions on such matters as the annual conference fees and organisation and Birdfair organisation and funding. It’s pretty regular stuff but usually a fairly short meeting but attendance at Conference is expected and Steve likes to attend Birdfair when it happens.
• Arrange a local audit for the end of the year accounts – Steve has been lucky here as a former employee of his is qualified and happy to help free of charge. You don’t need a qualified person but do need someone with relevant skills and time.

The person appointed by Council does need some sort of financial skills but overall the WOS accounts are pretty simple.  A volunteer would be hugely appreciated by Council and especially one with an active interest in ornithology in Wales.

IF YOU WOULD BE INTERESTED IN TAKING OVER FROM STEVE, PLEASE CONTACT US either at chair@birdsin.wales or web@birdsin.wales AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!