Provincia Britannia - Annual report - 2004 (Nova Roma)

Britannia Annual Report for 2757

Britannia has had a very good year in 2757, building on the successes of 2756. Many of our citizens have taken an active part in the central government, as well as contributing to the growth of various provincial projects.

I am requesting proroguation for the coming year, as I have not yet served even one complete year in office, and I feel there is much more that I can helpfully accomplish.

MAGISTRATES

I took over the provincial governorship from D. Iunius Silanus in June this year.

C. Moravius Laureatus Armoricus and A. Apollonius Cordus have continued as legates, although they are no longer assigned to particular regions as this did not seem to be the most practical use of their time.

C. Flavia Aureliana and C. Moravius Laureatus Armoricus have continued as editors of the provincial newsletter.

A. Gratius Garseius Avitus and A. Apollonius Cordus have translated the provincial website in to Latin, and M. Duilius Fusconius is working on a translation in to Welsh and Cornish.

I am most grateful for all of their help and dedication to the province.

E-MAIL LIST

The province has a new email list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/britannia-provincia

This was set up to replace the old email list when we realized that the previous list was not in fact under the control of the provincial magistrates, and after several requests to transfer ownership yielded no results. The new list is owned jointly by myself and my two legates. The list is open for anyone to join, but in order to reduce spam, only citizens of the province are on unmoderated status.

WEB SITE

The province has a new website at http://www.britannia-provincia.co.uk

We decided it was worth investing in a domain name and dedicated hosting for the provincial website, and as Equestria Iunia Laeca wished to step down from her position as provincial webmaster, this seemed like a good opportunity to do a complete re-design. The site now uses CSS to handle it's appearance, and should consequently be fully compliant with new disability legislation in the UK which came in to force this month.

The site is currently available in English and Latin, and we are aiming to have translations in to Welsh, Cornish, and Scottish and Manx Gaelic in order to cover all the languages of the province.

NEWSLETTER

Inter Alia, the provincial newsletter, is going strong, and has just introduced a monthly news supplement which will keep citizens who do not wish to subscribe to the main list abreast of important developments in Nova Roma. The main publication continues to collect various interesting articles, and we are planning to go to paper copies next year.

PERSONAL CONTACT

Upon taking up the governorship, I personally emailed every citizen in the province with whom I was not already acquainted, and had a fairly good response. I have also contacted every new citizen approved by the censors since I was appointed.

The province has held two successful provincial gatherings this year, in Chester and London.

The Chester meeting was attended by five citizens, and included visits to a Roman festival and Chester amphitheatre. My thanks to C. Flavia Aureliana for her work in organising the meeting.

The London meeting was attended by 10 citizens, and included visits to the British Museum and Museum of London, the ruins of a mithraeum, and various remaining parts of the Roman city wall. We also had a picnic of Roman food.

EUROPEAN CONVENTUS

The province is extremely proud to have been selected as the host of the V Conventus Novae Romae in 2759. The rally will take place at Hadrian's Wall, and will be very exciting - details will be confirmed nearer the time as a committee is currently being arranged.

STATISTICS

The province currently has 65 citizens, not counting socii.

This year, 11 of our citizens (17%) paid taxes; we have the third-highest number of tax-paying citizens in any European province (after Hispania, 22, and Thule, 12). Two more have promised to pay before the end of the year.

At least six of our citizens (9%) are known to be active in the central government, whether as senators, elected officials, or appointed assistants.

Approximately half of the province's citizens have proved to be active at present (whether by paying taxes, attending meetings, or responding to emails from the governor).

ACCOUNTS

The province received £26.76 in tax revenue (after forwarding half to the central treasury).

We spent £6.09 on our domain name (2 year registration) and £3.71 on website hosting (for 1 year).

This leaves the province with a treasury of £16.96.

BUDGET FOR 2758

Our initial balance for 2758 will be £16.96 carried over from 2757.

I hope we can raise the number of tax-paying citizens for the coming year to 20 by facilitating regional tax collection. Assuming a tax rate for Britannia of £5 (as last year), this would give us a provincial income of £50.

2758 is a census year, which will necessitate some additional expenditure: I estimate approximately £10 to send letters out to those citizens who do not respond to email contact.

The provincial domain name will not need renewing in 2758, but our web hosting will need to be renewed at a cost of around £5.

These expenditures would result in a provincial treasury at the end of 2758 of £51.96.

Note: There may also be administrative costs involved in the arrangement of the European conventus, for which citizens will be reimbursed as and when the occasion arises.

C. Fabia Livia