# **FRIENDS OF OYSTERMOUTH CASTLE (THE FRIENDS)** 

**Registered Charity No 1011377** 

**Financial Statements Year Ended 31st December 2024** 



**Friends of Oystermouth Castle** 

**1011377** 

**Registered Charity number:** 1011377 

## **Registered address:** 

7 Libby Way Mumbles Swansea SA3 4LB 

**Trustees** : Paul Lewis Chair & Trustee Marie Hughes Secretary & Trustee Gerallt Williams Treasurer & Trustee Sian O’Neil Trustee Clive Hughes Trustee Michael Eames Trustee John Marvelley Trustee Chris Oldfield Trustee 

## **Independent Examiner:** 

Bevan Buckland LLP Ground Floor Cardigan House Castle Court Swansea Enterprise Park Swansea SA7 9LA 

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**Friends of Oystermouth Castle** 

**1011377** 

## **Trustees Annual Report Year ended 31st December 2024** 

## 1. **Structure, Governance and Management** 

The Friends is an unincorporated association registered with the Charity Commission. The management committee adopted its constitution in July 2012.  The Friends members elect management committee members from its members at the Annual General Meeting or Extraordinary General Meeting. 

## 2. **Licence to operate** 

The City and Council of Swansea (the ‘Council’) own the freehold premises of Oystermouth Castle. 

Under the terms of a Licence to Operate (the ‘Licence’) The Friends and authorised guests are permitted non-exclusive use by the Council to use Oystermouth Castle as a Heritage Visitor facility.  The Licence provides that the Friends may retain any income arising from the use and operation of Oystermouth Castle, less an annually agreed contribution towards the cost of maintenance of Oystermouth Castle. 

## **3. Financial Review** 

## 3.1 **Income & Expenditure** 

See attached appendix 1 accounts as independently examined for the Friends of Oystermouth Castle by Bevan Buckland LLP, Chartered Accountants, tax and financial planners. 

The income this year was slightly down on the year to £63,400.69 this was due to the castle not operating fully until May 2024 this was because a delay by the council in not ensuring safety measures were in place. 

The total amount of unrestricted funds as of 2023 was £188,030. As of 2024 it is £221,400. There were no restricted funds in either year. 

The accounts have been prepared on receipts and payments basis in accordance with the Charities Act 2011. 

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**Friends of Oystermouth Castle** 

**1011377** 

## **4. Bank Account** 

The Friends have banked with NatWest since 2015.  We presently have three accounts, namely a current account, grant account and a savings account. 

A portion of income is held in the current account to cover: 

1. Essential Costs 

2. Prior agreed events at the Castle which are arranged by the Council 

3. Materials purchased for the Friends use 

4. All functions which are the Friends responsibility e.g. AGMs, insurance, accountancy fees 

5. The Friends contribution towards the Castle conservation 

6. Other sundry items 

## **5. Public Benefit Statement** 

The Friends objectives are to provide access and presentation at the Castle.  The Friends promote the history and heritage of the site to visitors and provide a venue for local schools, colleges and universities.  The Castle hosts medieval re-enactments and living history societies, which recreate all aspects of life during the Middle Ages. 

We have managed to run guided tours three times a week in July, August and September, organise Easter bunny, Halloween and Christmas events and have 9 educational school tours. We have liaised with the schools to ensure their visits fit into the school’s curriculum, they have workbooks which have been compiled by the Friends and vetted by the schools to assist with the tour. We are aiming to expand this further by working with Cynefin into a second term to put in place activities including a three-dimensional computer program so that the children can review or prepare their visit. 

## **6. How we fulfilled our Aims** 

The Friends set up a training programme for potential new tour guides to shadow our experienced guides and we are continuing this by making a more structured approach. The programme of guided tours last year provided us with useful positive feedback for the trustees. As a result, this coming year we will be providing one tour on a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and a Sunday. 

The trustees have reviewed their strategic aims and objectives to enhance the way we do business. To enable us to comply with legislation regarding young and vulnerable people a number of the friends have been DBS checked. 

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**Friends of Oystermouth Castle** 

**1011377** 

## **7. Special Events and Year Highlights** 

The past year has seen the trustees engaging with local Swansea Council representatives to with the aim to enhance the profile of the castle. 

The volunteer numbers have increased slightly since reopening, but we are always looking for volunteers to join and commit whatever they can to help keeping the castle opening and functioning effectively. 

During the past year the Friends formed separate teams, for tour guides, events organisation, odd jobs and extended their connections with the Ostreme Theatre Players, who gave magnificent support when called upon. 

The Friends and Swansea Council are still engaged with Hiraeth Architecture to carry out the next stage of our feasibility study. The proposals we are now looking to put in place include a new reception area, educational area, shop, toilet facilities, exhibition area etc. These proposals have been helped by a grant of £148,020.00p from the UK shared prosperity fund as part of the UK government levelling up agenda. The Friends have contributed to this project by paying for additional ecology and structural reports and preplanning enquiries. Hiraeth on behalf of the Friends of Oystermouth castle are working with surveyors, CADW and Swansea council to submit planning application by 31[st] March 2025. When this stage is completed, we will move onto the build stage which is estimated to be in excess of £3 million, the castle will then be in a position looking forward to giving a better experience for visitors improved working conditions for the Friends and we will be able to put on more events. 

## **8. Future Plans** 

- Ensure the Castle is a safe and presentable building for the Friends and its visitors 

- Tent savings can be used as match funding with Feasibility Study improvements made 

- Grant Applications will be required when Feasibility Study improvements made 

- Wales Culture Grant to be set against Hiraeth fees and future improvements 

- More structured training and recruitment procedures to apply 

- More signage 

- Use of QR codes in signs and leaflets 

- Introduce improvements in line with the grant money received 

- Continue to raise funds to give a secure future for our work. 

- Continue to work in partnership with others to fulfil our aims. 

- Continue to engage with the local community to further and enhance the knowledge of the Castle’s history and continuing story 

- Promote the Castle as a community attraction that local people want to visit on a regular basis 

- Our overall assets in the bank accounts has now risen to £220698.73p It is our intention to use this money to match fund any grants we will obtain to improve the new reception etc when planning has been granted. 

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**Friends of Oystermouth Castle** 

**1011377** 

## **9. Volunteer Help in 2024** 

The trustees have been overwhelmed by the help and support that the Friends have given to the Castle and wish to record their sincere thanks to all who have kept the Castle open and enjoyed by the public. 

Looking forward we presently have 50 potential ‘friends of Oystermouth Castle’ for this coming year and recently held a recruitment campaign which has drawn interest from potential new members. 

The events team are always looking for help with the productions they put on at the castle, no special skill is required only plenty of enthusiasm. 

## **10. 2025** 

Looking forward, let us hope that this year is a successful one, and we continue to make progress. With a number of big issues in the pipeline we can look forward with great optimism to make the castle one of the cornerstones for attracting visitors for the county and benefiting our local community. 

Appendix 1 

Paul Lewis Chairman 19[th] March 2025 

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**Friends of Oystermouth Castle** 

**1011377** 

## **CC16 Recei ts and a ments accounts p p y** 

**From** 

> 01/01/2024 **To** 

31/12/2024 

**Section A Receipts and payments** 

||**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to the**<br>**nearest £**||**Restricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to the**<br>**nearest £**||**Endowment**<br>**funds**<br>**to the**<br>**nearest £**||**Total funds**<br>**to the**<br>**nearest £**||**Last year**<br>**to the**<br>**nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**A1 Receipts**||||||||||
|Donations & legacies|**1,934**|**1,934**|**-**||**-**||**1,934**|**1,934**|**586**|
|Charitable activities|**56,842**|**56,842**|**-**||**-**||**56,842**|**56,842**|**72,015**|
|Other trading activities|**10,472**|**10,472**|**-**||**-**||**10,472**|**10,472**|**9,681**|
|Investments|**1,958**|**1,958**|**-**||**-**||**1,958**|**1,958**|**835**|
|Grants|**99,957**||**-**||**-**||**99,957**|**99,957**|**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross_<br>_income for AR)_|**171,163**|**171,163**|**-**||**-**||**171,163**||**83,117**|



## **A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).** 

||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|||||||||||
|**_Total receipts_**|**171,163**||**-**||**-**||**171,163**||**83,117**|



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**Friends of Oystermouth Castle** 

**1011377** 

|**A3 Payments**|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Raising funds|**17,824**|**17,824**|**-**||**-**||**17,824**|**17,824**|**13,934**||
|Charitable activities|**2,079**|**2,079**|**-**||**-**||**2,079**|**2,079**|**10,062**||
|Castle maintenance|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**5,030**||
|Admin expenses|**14,986**||**-**|**-**|**-**||**14,986**||**2,297**||
|Repairs and cleaning|**1,175**|**1,175**|**-**||**-**||**1,175**|**1,175**|**2,703**|**2,703**|
|Bank charges|**720**|**720**|**-**||**-**||**720**|**720**|**930**||
|Insurance|**496**||**-**|**-**|**-**||**496**||**491**|**1**|
|Sundry|**556**|**556**|**-**||**-**||**556**|**556**|**397**|**397**|
|Future Developments|**99,957**||**-**|**-**|**-**||**99,957**|**99,957**|**-**||
|**_Sub total_**|**137,793**|**137,793**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**137,793**||**35,844**||



|**A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)**|**A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)**|**A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)**|**A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)**|**A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)**|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|**-**|**-**||
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||
|**_Sub total_**|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||
||||||||||||
|**_Total payments_**|**137,793**||**-**||**-**||**137,793**||**35,844**||
||||||||||||
|**_Net of_**<br>**_receipts/(payments)_**|**33,370**||**-**||**-**||**33,370**||**47,273**||
|**A5 Transfers**<br>**between funds**|||**-**||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
|**A6 Cash funds**<br>**last year end**|**188,030**|**188,030**|**-**||**-**|**-**|**188,030**|**188,030**|**140,757**||
|**_Cash funds this year_**<br>**_end_**|**221,400**|**221,400**|**-**|**-**|**-**||**221,400**||**188,030**||



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**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
Friends of Oystermouth Castle 1011377<br>Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the<br>period<br>Unrestricted  Restricted  Endowment<br>Categories   Details    funds   funds   funds<br>to nearest £  to nearest £  to nearest £<br>B1 Cash funds  Bank account  3,397    - -<br>Bank account  -    -  -<br>Bank account  34,078    -  -<br>Bank account  183,923    -  -<br>Cash  2    -<br>-<br>Total cash funds   221,400                     -                       -<br>(agree balances with receipts<br>and payments account(s))  OK  OK  OK<br>Unrestricted  Restricted  Endowment<br>funds   funds   funds<br>Details to nearest £  to nearest £  to nearest £<br>B2 Other<br>monetary assets  -    -    -<br>- - -<br>=EEE<br>Fund to which  Cost  Current value<br>Details<br>asset belongs  (optional) (optional)<br>B3 Investment<br>assets  - -<br>- -<br>- -<br>===<br>Fund to which  Cost  Current value<br>Details<br>asset belongs  (optional) (optional)<br>B4 Assets  Stock   Unrestricted  1,870<br>retained for the  -<br>charity’s own use  - -<br>- -<br>-    -<br>Fund to which  Amount due  When due<br>Details<br>liability relates  (optional) (optional)<br>B5 Liabilities  Independent  Unrestricted  858    -<br>examination fee<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>=a: -<br>9<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>




**Friends of Oystermouth Castle 1011377** Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees Signature Signature ~~EE~~ Print Name Print Name ~~es~~ Date of Approval Date of Approval ~~| es |~~ 

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|||**Friends of Oystermouth Castle**<br>**1011377**|**Friends of Oystermouth Castle**<br>**1011377**|
|---|---|---|---|
|Independent<br>examiner's report<br>on the accounts<br>CHARITYCOMMISSION ~~oe~~<br>FOR ENGLAND AND WALES||||
|**Section A                                     Independent Examiner’s Report**|**Section A                                     Independent Examiner’s Report**|**Section A                                     Independent Examiner’s Report**||
|**Report to the trustees/**<br>**members of**||**Report to the trustees/**<br>Friends of Oystermouth Castle||
|||||
|**On accounts for the**<br>**year ended**||**On accounts for the**<br>31stDecember 2024|**Charity**<br>**no**<br>**(if any)**<br>1011377|
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|**Set out on pages**||1 – 10||



I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended **31/12/2024** . 

**Responsibilities and** As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the **basis of report** preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”). 

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. 

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**Friends of Oystermouth Castle 1011377** ~~Se~~ 

**Independent** I have completed my examination.  I confirm that no material **examiner's statement** matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: 

- accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or 

- the accounts do not accord with the accounting records 

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. 

**Signed: Date:** ~~pO~~ **Name:** Michael Jones ~~pt~~ **Relevant professional qualification(s) or** ACCA **body (if any):** ~~a~~ **Address:** Bevan Buckland LLP Ground Floor, Cardigan House Castle Court, Swansea Enterprise Park, Llansamlet, Swansea SA7 9LA ~~———~~ 

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