FINANCE REPORT 2026

 

1 INTRODUCTION

 

Following on from the Annual Prisoner Convention – Portmeiricon 2026, we have conducted a finance review for the society financial year ending 30 June 2036.

In line with our primary objectives to ensure effective and efficient running of the membership and to organise an annual Convention in Portmeirion, the following material demonstrates how the society is currently providing, and will continue to offer great quality and value for money.

 

Before reading and digesting the details presented - if you haven’t already done so - please familiarise yourself with the Society Details and Basis for Operation, specifically the section that details the guiding financial principles under which we operate, as they underpin the specific breakdown for the last membership period.

As always, we encourage and appreciate your questions and feedback which can be raised through the normal website contacts.

 

Based on a detailed analysis of all incoming and outgoing monies, we have concluded that membership and Convention rates will remain unchanged for the next period.

 

 

2 SCOPE OF INFORMATION

 

The information contained in this statement covers Six of One’s financial dealings for the past financial year, specifically:

  1. Membership period 01 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.
  2. Breakdown of expenditure categories as a proportion of overall spend and assessment of reserve funds.
  3. While the society handle arrangements and payments for village accommodation, these are effectively pass through costs for individual members directly with Portmeirion and as such are neutral and therefore, excluded from the scope.

3 FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

 

3.1 Summary

 

A breakdown of expenditure as percentages of the total spending are shown in the chart opposite. See the individual sections below for details on what has been spent and the status of the reserve.

 

3.2 Magazine production and distribution

 

Magazine production and associated distribution costs accounted for a combined total of 43% of the overall spend which is an increase of 13% on last year.

 

The current society magazine “Degree Absolute” is now well established and so costs are more predictable than previously although we continue to monitor both production costs and, especially postage costs as these are more volatile and likely to change over the year.

 

Overall costs for this year include the three main issues of the magazine plus the production of the Convention programmes and the subsequent Convention report. 

Consideration of received membership fees against these costs have allowed us to keep membership rates at the same levels for the forthcoming year.

 

We once again thank the members for continuing to make their payments electronically wherever possible. We are a small team of volunteers and electronic payments make administration less time consuming, more efficient and are automatically integrated into our financial accounting processes.

 

3.3 Website operation

 

Since introducing the revamped website at the 2023 Convention, we continue to develop the features and content of the website. For example, we implemented an online only application process for Convention accommodation last year and this is proving to be much more efficient than previous postal arrangements.

 

The hosting provider, Freeola have not increased their annual charges by any substantial amount in the last year, and so the total cost of operating the website continued to be approximately 1% of the overall spend.

 

As a basic indication of the traffic received on the new website, since its launch, there have been in excess of 150,000 views of the homepage.

 

3.4 Convention guest expenses

 

Whilst guests receive no explicit payment for their attendance, they are paid accommodation, travel and meal expenses as a standard principle of not being out of pocket.

 

For this year’s event, we were delighted to secure two main Prisoner personalities in Ian Rakoff and Roy Beck plus other entertainment.

 

Accommodation costs are naturally rising year on year and ongoing challenges with transport costs resulted in an overall expenses bill of 41% of the total spend which is 6% up on last year. For the next period, we will continuously review costs to ensure we attract the best and most appropriate guests for the 60th anniversary event with a corresponding assessment of accommodation and transport charges.

 

3.5 Equipment refresh

 

For the last Convention, we completed an ongoing technology refresh of the Hercules Hall equipment as well as a total replacement of the outdoor sound system.

This has significantly improved sound and vision quality as well as creating efficiency the time it takes to set up the systems. Hercules Hall has also seen an improvement from a health and safety perspective in that the short-throw projector is now located on the stage instead of the aisle and the move away from the old four-speaker system to just two at the front of the hall have massively reduced the amount of cabling around the room. This has been further improved by moving the “tech desk” to the front of the hall from the rear corner which also allows us to get more chairs into the space.

 

Technology refresh clearly comes in cycles and so we expect the majority of the replacement equipment to be good for at least five years although it will be actively tracked each year. Unsurprisingly, equipment costs for this year came in at 7% compared with 23% in the previous period. The majority of this was for the purchase of a new video camera for recording events and guest interviews. Other costs were taken up with removeable media for storing and transporting digital content and consumable such as batteries.

 

For the next period, we plan to purchase another video camera to allow multi-angle shots and to allow filming in two places simultaneously.

 

3.6 Badges and Raffle

 

Production of numbered convention badges for all attendees accounted for 1% of the overall spend, while the procurement of raffle prizes accounted for another 1.5%.

The incoming revenue from the raffle was 15% more than the costs.

 

3.7 Portmeirion Staff

 

We continue to enjoy a very good relationship with Portmeirion and we are grateful to be able to hold our annual Convention in The Village.

 

Although we do not pay Portmeirion explicitly to hold our event, there are a number of catering, organisational and ground staff who help with setting up and packing away the event. For the staff who go beyond their normal duties in assisting us, we provide a modest amount of money to acknowledge this, which accounted for 0.8% of the overall spend.

 

3.8 Team expenses

 

As noted in our guiding principles, the organising team pay the same rates for Convention registration as all other members and are paid no monies during the event.

 

Outside of the Convention, travel and subsistence expenses are provided to those members who need to go to Portmeirion on society business. For example, transporting some of the new equipment to site and testing it required three members of the organising team and one society member to travel to Portmeirion in the month before the event.

 

Some of the organising team and other members arrive well before the start of the Convention to set up the event and are paid reasonable subsistence expenses. Note that travel expenses are not provided in this case as they would be travelling to attend the Convention anyway.

 

In line with society expenses policy, relevant members were provided with Convention and travel expenses which accounted for 5% of the overall spend which was 4% lower than the previous period as technology refresh and improvements in Portmeirion’s storage facility required less time and effort than the previous period.

 

3.9 Bank Charges

 

For a number of years, Six of One has operated a “Treasury Account” provided by Lloyds Bank. This was historically a free service, but, like many other institutions, Lloyds have moved to a charging model for particular services such as foreign currency conversions and handling cash and cheques and it is for this reason that we encourage our members to pay by electronic means in order to mitigate such charges.

 

We have looked into the potential to change to another provider, research has shown that is impossible to avoid charges unless organisations are, for example, registered charities. On this basis, we will remain with Lloyds for the foreseeable future.

 

Although the chart shows bank charges at 0%, this is due to low value rounding and so the actual value is 0.34% which, overall, we consider to be insignificant.

 

3.10 Managing the Reserve

 

Societies such as Six of One, which may be essentially considered a “fan-club” have no formal regulations in the way they operate, but there are guidelines on best-practice.

 

One such guideline for operations like ours is to maintain a reserve to deal with unexpected costs and events. The general recommendation is for a society like Six of One with an annual subscription is to hold between one and two-year’s worth of funds.

 

On this premise, our target is to hold the lower level of one year of membership funds plus convention costs.

 

When we implemented the new system of financial reporting and management in 2023, we were well above target. The end-of-membership-year trend is shown in the graph opposite.

For 2025, the combined effect of securing top rated guests as well as a major refurbishment had resulted in our reserve being reduced to 84% of the target. We expected this to recover through much reduced equipment refresh costs in the coming years as well as implementing a modest increase in Convention pricing.

 

At the end of the 2026 membership year, we have recovered the reserve to 99% of the target and this is the main reason for keeping membership and Convention costs the same. There is always the potential for unexpected events and associated costs and we therefore expect the reserve to naturally fluctuate above and below the target.

 

For the next financial year, we have agreed a budget forecast and will be continually looking at ways to provide the best possible experience and value for money. Finances updates are provided at each of our monthly team meetings and all decisions are jointly agreed.

 

This report has been produced and agreed by the Six of One organising team, July 2026

 

 

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