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10 CONDICOTE JAZZ NIGHT Saturday 11th July, 6.30pm Bring a picnic and enjoy a fun evening of outdoor LIVE MUSIC, Refreshments and a BBQ featuring POTTERY Classic Handmade English Flowerpots featuring Thomas ‘Spats’ Langham & Emily Campbell Plus support artist Nick Gill on Piano and Blue Anthology (Jazz, Blues & Swing) TICKETS £7.50 (Children Free) Tel: 01451 831248 SPONSORED BY SHOAL COMPUTER SOLUTIONS Whichford Pottery Café • Shop • Flowerpots • Garden Gallery • Working Pottery Special Event at the Pottery Plant Well, Grow Well, Eat Well! Saturday 20 th June 10am to 5pm • Guest speaker Pippa Greenwood (please call or go online to book talk tickets - £15) • Special offers on pots • Unusual perennials for sale by Marina Christopher of Phoenix Perennial Plants Whichford Pottery, Whichford, Nr. Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, CV36 5PG Tel: 01608 684416 www.whichfordpottery.com Need Help With Bureaucracy? Contact Robb Eden for Business Tax Accounts Preparation & Analysis PAYE & Book-keeping Vat Returns Sage Training More than just accounts - a personal service tailored to your needs. We will work with you to help you get the best from your business. 01608 651802 robbeden@aol.com It’s only June & it feels as though I’ve had a full calendar year of pulling my hair out when dealing with HMRC. Why is it that everyone else seems to be embracing the digital age when HMRC’s antiquated systems are creaking and are not fit for the purpose? Have you tried to send an e-mail to them? Have you tried to contact them? No chance. They seldom pick up the phone, they don’t give out e-mail addresses & refuse to correspond via anything electronic unless it’s via a fax machine. Another bugbear, when trying to reconcile payroll issues, is that they don’t work on calendar months. For instance, if you make a payment on a payslip dated 5 th June they won’t allocate this payment to May (the payment period mostly falls in the May month) they will treat it as a June payment even though only 5 days of June have elapsed. This causes enormous issues for clients, especially when HMRC allocate payments that are clearly identified as one month to another month or even another year! I’ve been calling for a radical shake up of the tax system & it needs to be done sooner rather than later. The most important thing is to make everything simpler, people understand calendar months, they understand calendar years but they don’t understand months or years ending on the 5 th of the month. Getting that changed will be a start, then the government needs to seriously think about introducing flat rate tax, it’s easy, everyone pays the same percentage of tax, we do away with all that paperwork and, dare I say it, we may even be able to do away with accountants who’ve managed to create, in conjunction with HMRC, a tax system that baffles everyone. A system that takes with one hand & gives back with another is always fraught with difficulties and invites both individuals and companies to exploit the inevitable loopholes to their advantage. The job of the taxman is to create a working system that brings in the highest amount of tax possible. I believe that they should also be charged with overseeing a system that’s fair to all, something that isn’t happening at the moment. Punitive rates of tax and complicated tiers of bureaucracy are hindering rather than helping and are reducing rather than increasing the tax take. If you’re in business or about to start a business it makes sense to contact an accountant who can guide you through the maze. Whether you’re a sole trader, partnership or a limited company it is important that you keep up to date with the ever changing legislation that affects your business. Whether it’s Vat, Payroll, Corporation Tax or Self-Assessment it’s vital that you understand your obligations by filing your returns and paying any tax due on time. The financial penalties for not doing so are severe. Robb Eden is based in Moreton-in-Marsh. He can be contacted either via e-mail at robbeden@aol.com or by telephone 01608 651802.
11 11 AN UPDATE ON ALAIN AND NEPAL From Julie Hall, abbreviated to include an update from Alain Rouveure Just over a year ago I interviewed local entrepreneur, shop-owner and philanthropist Alain Rouveure, and found him to be passionate and selfsacrificing in his efforts to help the people of Nepal through his own means and by fundraising as part of his business at the Alain Rouveure Galleries in Todenham. Recent developments both at home and abroad warranted a return visit, and we met in April, initially to discuss the progress of his existing projects and the development of new ones – with an update by Alain (in red) following the earthquake in Nepal only days later. The Rouveure Galleries sell genuine Tibetan rugs made by workers employed and supported by Alain in Nepal, using unique and traditional dyes to produce high quality rugs that are sold through the shop. The exquisite jewellery handmade by silversmiths in Nepal also sells well, as do the smaller items and textiles. Alain pays his workers well – he is a strong advocate for Fair Trade rather than Aid and is a member of RUGMARK, a world organisation. The new gallery exhibits a small part of Alain’s extensive collection of antique and highly collectable textiles, masks and other wares, including some rare and valuable Shaman dresses recently exhibited in Paris and Venice. He has been collecting since 1979. Approximately every four months Alain returns to Nepal, seeing his workers and following up with his charitable work amongst the families and communities he supports. For Alain, this is the most important part of what he does: the welfare of the people he has come to know and love, providing work so that they can benefit and profit from his support (both practical and emotional) and become as independent as possible. I am still spending a lot of time on the phone trying to contact the families we know in Nepal. As electricity cuts prevents mobile phones from charging it makes it difficult and extremely frustrating. However, l do manage to speak to most we know and love, and get news of others via their network. The school we sponsor was affected but luckily, as it was Saturday, very few children were in and no one was hurt. All our other friends have escaped serious injuries but unfortunately there has been major damage to their homes, traditionally built with mud and brick. Many communities are completely wrecked. The worst is in the countryside where houses were often old and weak. Most have now gone … with a monsoon about to start … if the current situation was not bad enough already! The Alain Rouveure Nepal Relief Fund was set up over 30 years ago specifically to accept contributions from well-wishers and supporters also wanting to make a difference. During his regular visits to Nepal Alain monitors the different projects and ensures that 100% of the donations received are spent directly where they count, without one single penny spent on ‘admin’. Alain’s foundation is too small to make it administratively viable to become a registered charity, so he relies solely on his own income and that generated by the Galleries; donations are very gratefully received (details on his website www.alainrouveure.com); even a small regular contribution of £5 or £10 a month makes possible some of his projects in Nepal on a long-term basis. An example is the Namo Buddha School which Alain supports, and he is on the Board of Directors. Currently they have 300 children enrolled, 70 of whom are boarders. Readers who would like to sponsor a child abroad can donate a small amount to this school for books, stationery and toys; a larger/ more regular monthly amount could educate a child. For example: £500 a year would sponsor a day student’s fees and food, £45 would repaint a whole classroom, £55 would provide a school bench & table for 4 children. I paid this year's fees for our 10 children during my visit in February. Perhaps you could help fundraise by holding a cake sale at your or your child’s school? Alain is keen to develop relationships between Namo Buddha and schools here in the UK, to promote better understanding of each country’s society and culture, educational styles & philosophies. This could be achieved by letters between the children, by fundraising projects, or even by ‘twinning’ with a suitable school here in the Cotswolds! If you are reading this and are a teacher, child or parent who thinks this is the opportunity you have been looking for, then please contact Alain via his website or the Galleries – what are you waiting for, let the adventure begin! The Namo Buddha School three hours away from Kathmandu was hit, but luckily only the old original farmhouse that had been converted into a primary school. The new classroom block we are building with an antiseismic reinforced concrete structure has only suffered minor damage. Fortunately, on the day of the first and most powerful earthquake, many students were away and the boarding children were playing outside. Most people who work and live in the Kathmandu valley come from distant villages, which are left peopled by women, children and the elderly. They hear that most of their family homes have been raised to the ground. The majority of these communities are very isolated at the best of times, making it difficult for aid to reach them fast. Our glass-maker friend Bharat (some of you will have met him at the galleries) his wife and little boy, are safe amongst the mayhem in Kathmandu and so is our silversmith friend Krishna and many of ‘our group’. Most of their relatives in the villages made it, but not all. Like millions of Nepalis, they camp outside with the bare minimum, under plastic, sharing with others the little they still have. Of course people will try to rebuild their homes as rapidly as they can. I perfectly know that in Nepal, especially rural Nepal, most do not have bank accounts or access to bank loans, charged at rates of between12% and 16%. Many will have to rely on money lenders at interest rates between 30% and 50%, sometimes higher. I have seen it too many times, bailing out some families with long term interest-free loans. Although I am sure some of the financial aid coming in will be put to good use, Nepal has its fair share of financial scandals operating with impunity. Long term funding is important, and cash without strings to buy the building material needed to get the poorest in the communities back on their feet. l feel that planning to help build at least one solid (anti-seismic reinforced concrete pillar system) community centre / village hall, that would very likely be the most resistant and the safest place in the small community, could be a start. It would also be a good investment that would be run by the community elders. And importantly, in my experience, this would also minimise jealousy between families as to who gets help and who does not - because it is not if but when the next earthquake will hit Nepal. On behalf of our Nepalese friends I wish to thank those of you who have enquired about making donations towards easing their burden in these traumatic times. I am grateful and humbled to have some support from clients and friends who feel the same as I do. Thank you. One of the ways to contribute is by cheque made payable to ALAIN ROUVEURE RELIEF FUND Sent to Alain Rouveure, Crossing Cottage, Todenham near Moreton in Marsh, GL56 9NU or by bank transfer to ALAIN ROUVEURE RELIEF FUND; LLOYDS TSB 30 95 75; Account 22238 668 IBAN GB43LOYD 3095 7522 238 668, BIC/SWIFT LOYDGB21385 ALAIN ROUVEURE GALLERIES TIBETAN RUGS, HIMALAYAN TEXTILES, TRIBAL ART The e planning to help build at least one solid (anti-seismic r
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