Fundraising
In the early days of the Flower Show, the majority of costs were met by public subscription, with there being an expectation that the wealthiest residents would fund the celebrations. The accounts from 1922, shown below, include a list of the sums donated by each donor. It was only after this that the show was to become self-sufficient.
Income and expenditure
In 1922, the total income was £54/8/11 with a profit of £3/13/3.
By the mid 1980s costs had inceased 20-fold, with income in 1985 being £1,188.03 and in 1986 £1,616.98.
By the 1990s, turnover had further increased 5-fold, with income of £5,055 in 1990 and £6,508.21 in 1991.
Marquee
The cost of the marquee seems to have varied quite a lot over the years: in the 1922 accounts shown above it was £16, whereas in 1938 it was only £7 from Young & Co. Was it a particularly large marquee in 1922? Who knows!
In 1947 the marquee was supplied by Marks of Aylesbury, but we don’t know the exact cost. In 1949 the cost had increased to £16 for a marquee measuring 100 ft x 30 ft.
By 1988 the cost had increased to £761.60 + VAT (at that time 15%) making a total of £875.84
Both the size of the marquee and costs continued to increase. By 2022, the marquee measured 132 ft x 40 ft (40m x 12m), was supplied by Bucks Wigwams and the total cost, including seating and flooring for the dance, was in excess of £5,000.
Accounts from the 1980s and 1990s
Click to view the accounts from 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991.
Return to The Lee Flower Show: A History