2024-12-31-accounts - Claymills Pumping Engines Trust Limited

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THE CLAYMIL L S PUMPING ENGINES T R UST LTD.

COM P ANY REGISTERED IN ENGLAND NO 2871763 CHARITY NO 1030331

A nnual Report & Accounts

for the year ending

31[st] December 2024

Registered Office:

The C laymills Pumping Engines Trust Limited Meadow Lane, Stretton, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire DE13 0DA Tel: (01283) 509929 Web: www.claymills.org.uk

Bankers:

Barclays Bank Plc High Street Burton-on-Trent

Legal and Administrative Information

Organisation of the Charity

The organisation is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 15[th] November 1993 and registered as a charity on 14[th] December 1993.

The company was established under a Memorandum of Association, which established the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed under its Articles of Association. Under those articles, members of the Board of Directors are elected at each AGM.

Directors

The following persons served as Directors and Trustees during the period:

Mr Andrew Parsons - Chairman Mr John Cooper – Secretary Mr John Reeve – Treasurer Mrs Jan Dingley - resigned 3[rd] October 2024 Mr John Ford Mr John Freeman Mr Derek Goodman Mr Stephen Goodman Mr Zak Goodwin - resigned 19[th] October 2024 Mr Clive Haffenden Mr Geoff Sherratt Mr Ian Yates

Objects of the Charity

To promote and preserve for the benefit of the public the nineteenth century Claymills Pumping Station complex including all buildings, engines and equipment therein situate at Meadow Lane, Stretton, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

Charity Funds

The funds of the Charity are administered by the Board to meet the objectives of the Charity. Sufficient funds are retained to ensure that the Charity can continue to meet its objectives. Funds not immediately required are deposited in a COIF Charity Deposit Fund.

Activities and Achievements

Introduction

This is the Directors’ Annual Report for Claymills Pumping Engines Trust for the period 1[st] January 2024 to 31[st] December 2024, the Trust’s 31[st] year of operation.

This report constitutes a summary of the Trust’s activities and achievements in four broad areas related to its stated objectives which are 'to preserve Claymills Pumping Station and open it to the public as a heritage attraction'.

As previously, this report covers the four areas as follows:-

Management activities.
Finances, Fundraising and Marketing.
Operating the site as a public museum/heritage attraction.
Restoration and maintenance activities.

1. Management activities.

The Trust continues to operate a Strategy Board and an Operational Board in order to focus on these different aspects of managing a charitable Trust. Board members are free to attend either or both meetings and both Boards are chaired by the Chairman of the Trust and each takes place approximately monthly. The Main Trust Board meets every quarter and in total the number of meetings held during 2024 were as follows: -

Strategy Board – 5 Occasions
Operational Board – 7 Occasions
Main Trust Board – 4 Occasions

The Operational Board focuses on ensuring that the Trust operates on a day-to-day basis and encompasses issues such as management of volunteers, events planning and operation, maintenance and safety. The Strategy Board focus is on issues such as compliance, fund raising and policy and process issues, and in particular for 2024, our actions taken in order to achieve re-accreditation as a Registered Museum for a March 2025 re-accreditation decision.

The Strategy and Operational Board meetings take place virtually via Zoom and this continues to work well. The quarterly meetings of the Main Trust Board take place ‘in person’ at Claymills and as always, we remind members that all Board meetings are open for any member to attend should they so wish – please ask for the Zoom link to the meeting you wish to attend or attend in person for the quarterly ‘on site’ meetings of the main board.

A key role of the Board is to ensure that the Trust remains compliant with UK law, for example with regard to Health and Safety, to Heritage England due to the site’s Grade II* listing, and to maintaining our archive and collection as required by the conditions of our museum’s registration.

Importantly, the Trust works in partnership with our landlords, Severn Trent Water (STW). One aspect of this is an annual health and safety audit carried out by STW health and safety professionals. Another important discussion is to review progress regarding their role, as landlords, to repair and maintain our Grade II* and Grade II listed buildings. These meetings with STW are open and fruitful, and we thank STW and their officers for their continued support to the Trust.

During 2024, extensive works were undertaken by STW to the woodwork of A/B Engine House, the Feed Pump House, the Victorian Workshop and the Agitator House, including elements such as doors and windows, and also works to replace the Boiler House roof and associated internal guttering. These works were undertaken using specialist contractors and the work was done to a high standard.

Further major work funded by STW is scheduled for the remainder of the ‘office’ side of the site and to C/D engine house during 2026/2027.

The Trust continues to have dedicated sub-groups for specific purposes such as the Museums Accreditation sub-group, the Events sub-group, and the Archive Team, outcomes and actions from which feed into the appropriate Board meetings.

The Trust’s Annual General Meeting was held on 18th May 2024 at the Pumping Station with over 20 members in attendance. As always, the Chairman presented the annual report and the Treasurer presented the accounts. In accordance with the constitution, half the directors stood down and were subsequently reelected, and the three officers of the Trust, Andrew Parsons (Chairman), John Reeve (Treasurer) and John Cooper (Secretary) were re-elected unopposed.

Sadly, during the last year and after the AGM, we lost two directors – Zak Goodwin who has taken an ‘opportunity of a lifetime’ to work for the British Antarctic Survey at Rothera base in the Antarctic, and Jan Dingley. Jan continues to strongly support the Trust through her book shop work and as part of the archiving and events team, and we are hoping that Zak will return in due course following his 18-month secondment ‘down south’. The role of boiler house area manager has been taken on by Clive Haffenden, supported by Jacob Fowkes.

By the year-end, membership of the Trust was 355, a small decrease on last year.

2. Finances, Fundraising and Marketing

The Trust’s policy of conservative and careful financial management, which includes the retention of one year's ‘running costs’ (£25,000) for reaction to an emergency situation continues.

The Trust also continues to take advantage of Gift Aid – whilst an onerous task to claim, gift aid in 2024 was worth over £5,500 to the Trust.

As reported in the accounts, the Trust once again achieved a small balance of income over expenditure of £10,278.

The Trust was also able to identify a ‘one-off’ source of coal at a very competitive price and so the decision was made to buy a full load – we now have a healthy stock of the black stuff! This supply will take us through 2025 steamings.

We continue to be successful in gaining grant aid. We applied for, and were fortunate to secure, a number of grants during 2024 to a total of £135,000, most of which are promised monies for activities to be carried out in 2025 and which as yet will not show wholly or partially in the accounts as in many cases funds are held by the grant provider and we draw down on these fund values against invoice and records of work. Examples include £30,000 from the Association for Industrial Archaeology for Boiler number 1, £37,500 from East Staffordshire Borough Council for the new entrance building construction phase, and £54,000 from the Severn Trent Water Community Fund for completion of the fit out of the new Visitor Building. A grant total of £135,000 is a staggering amount and the work done to research, apply and report on these grants should not be underestimated and our thanks go to those members who took roles in this process including attendance at specific events in order to benchmark, network and discuss opportunities for funding with other groups.

In addition, a number of members of the Trust made significant personal donations to projects and we thank these members for their support and generosity.

The Living Van book shop also generates significant funds and the Trust also generates an income stream from use of our car park for football coach parking.

As you can see, the Trust’s finances continue to be well managed and our thanks go to our Treasurer, John Reeve, for his continued work to manage our finances.

3. Operating the site as a visitor attraction

2024 was a bumper year with each steaming being a record in terms of either income or visitor numbers (or both!) excepting October which of course last year (2023) was our 30th Anniversary event.

We have altered our advertising approach and we now focus on social media articles and physical visits with our stand to large ‘steam related’ events. Our thanks go to those members who support such visits and who update social media. We believe that this changed approach is the main reason behind our success in 2024 in which total visitor numbers were 4,979 – the second highest annual total ever.

We also gained two important awards for our activities – one from the Burton Civic Society who awarded the Trust the Olga Lloyd Award in recognition of our “outstanding contribution to heritage and tourism in Burton upon Trent”. This is the second time we have won this award. We also won an Association for Industrial Archaeology (AIA) Award for the restoration of the pipe drug. Both these awards included a cash prize.

All of the 2024 steaming events were ‘normal’ 2-day events which were well attended and, as always, well supported by a wide range of groups and individuals who willingly and at no cost bring large heritage engineering items to the site to be placed on display, for example full size and scale traction engines, and vintage cars. We continue to commission and advertise special add-on activities such as Professor Pumpernickel, the Tammy Land Girls, and the National Fire Service which have all proved popular with visitors. In addition to our main steaming events, other events took place such as a Land-Rover Day and Model Railway exhibition. Such non-steaming events support our objectives (as the site can also be viewed in static condition) and help build networks and future visitors to steaming events. The site also opened for Heritage Open Days (‘Claymills by Night’) which we will continue to support but numbers through the gate for this national initiative continue to be small. The Trust continues to support the Claymills Classic Car Club who hold meetings on site approximately monthly and whose members often display their vehicles free of charge at the Trust’s various events.

We continue to advertise and promote the work of Claymills through published articles (for example, Vintage Sprint) and through talks to a variety of groups (such as the Association for Industrial Archaeology Annual Conference, the Newcomen Society and the Victorian Society.)

The Archive Team has now completed a Working Machines and Engines Inventory which, for the first time, records and makes available general and technical information about all our machines and engines. This, alongside the on-line catalogue, makes information about our collections available to the public in line with best museum practice.

4. Restoration and maintenance activities

The site is restored, maintained and operated by a team of unpaid volunteer Trust members who undertake all of the work on the site, which is open for volunteers to attend on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, plus of course additional days due to preparation for events. Friday working by the Archive team also continues and we welcome any other members who may wish to support this important and interesting work.

The 2024 volunteer hours totalled some 15,471 recorded hours, an increase over last year but a figure which suffers from an amount of under-recording. Added to this should be the hours spent by the various directors regarding preparation and attendance to meetings, fundraising and so on, which totals some 1034 hours giving a total of 16,505 hours. This is a good number – equivalent to around 2,100 man-days or 9.6 full time staff. Volunteer hours can, in some cases, be used as match funding for grant aid so it is imperative that we accurately record all volunteer hours.

The work of volunteers is co-ordinated by nominated Area Managers all of whom are directors, with a director coordinating all volunteer activity, and a director responsible for site health and safety for volunteers and the public. There are arrangements for formal induction, training and supervision of volunteers. The buildings, infrastructure, boiler, steam systems and engines receive maintenance as required to allow for the functioning of the site and to meet legal and health and safety requirements.

Highlights of 2024 included the continuing running of all four beam engines and the initiation of major projects for boiler number 1 and for a new entrance building – we look forward to these projects progressing through 2025. As always much maintenance work to various engines and equipment has taken place and whilst it is not possible to list all activities carried out we recognise as ever the efforts of our dedicated band of volunteers.

This concludes the annual report for 2024 – another successful year where progress was made in many areas. In summary, we continue to ensure that Claymills thrives in terms of equipment, infrastructure, finances and compliance, and of course both volunteers and visitors. 2025 will see some major steps forward in terms of major projects, not least the continuing restoration of boiler number 1, and the support of our members and volunteers will, as always, be vital to our continued achievement of our objectives.

Prepared 13[th] January 2025 by A Parsons on behalf of the board of directors of CPET.

Financial position

The Statement of Financial Activities is set out on the pages that follow. The net result for the year was an increase in charity funds of £10,278.

Total funds of the Charity at 31[st] December 2024 were £226,624.

Post balance sheet events

None.

Statement of Trustees Responsibilities

The Trustees as directors of the charitable company are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the accounts in accordance with applicable law and the United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare accounts for each financial year that give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the surplus or deficit of the charitable company for that year. In preparing those accounts, the Trustees are required to:

Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
Prepare the accounts on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the company will continue in business.

The Trustees are responsible for maintaining proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to enable them to ensure that the accounts comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

This report was approved by the board on 29[th] January 2025 and was signed on its behalf by:

Andrew Parsons, Chairman, Trustee Director

Independent Examiner’s Report on the Accounts of

Th e Claymills Pumping Engines Trust Ltd

For the year ended 31[st] December 2024

I report on the accounts that are se t out following this report.

Respective responsibilities of directors and examiner

The charity’s directors are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The cha r ity’s directors consider that an audit is not required for th e year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2 0 11 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination i s needed.

Having satisfied myself that the c h arity is not subject to audit under company law a nd is eligible for independent examination, it is my responsibility to:

examine the accounts under s e ction 145 of the 2011 Act;
to follow the procedures laid d own in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 A ct; and
to state whether particular mat t ers have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner’s report

My examination was carried out i n accordance with the general Directions given b y the Charity Commission. An examination incl u des a review of the accounting records kept by t h e charity and a comparison of the accounts prese n ted with those records. It also includes considera t ion of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees conce r ning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required i n an audit and consequently no opinion is given a s to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair view' and the report is limited to those matters set out in t he statement below.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examinatio n , no matter has come to my attention:

which gives me reasonable c ause to believe that in any material respect the r e quirements: • to keep accounting recor d s in accordance with section 386 of the Compan i es Act 2006; and
to prepare accounts whic h accord with the accounting records, comply wi t h the accounting requirements of section 396 of the Companies Act 2006 and with the met h ods and principles of the Statement of Recommen d ed Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Chari t ies have not been met;

OR

to which, in my opinion, att e ntion should be drawn in order to enable a prop e r understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed Date 10[th] April 2025 ~~res~~ Name Brian E. Ke a tes Address 29 Rose Lan e Newhall Swadlincote , Derbyshire DE11 0LN ~~Pe~~
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Statement of Financial Activities

For the year ending 31[st] December 2024

Income and Expenditure Note Income Operation of the Pumping Station 6 Grants and restricted donations 7 Bank Interest Total Income Expenditure Cost of operation of the Pumping Station 8 Managing and administering the charity 9 Total Expenditure Excess of income over expenditure Funds brought forward at 1stJan 2024 Funds carried forward at 31stDec 2024	Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total 2023 62,209 62,209 54,420 604 2,385 2,989 17,900 3,932 3,932 3,430
	£66,745 £2,385 £69,130 £75,750
	48,081 6,359 54,440 63,656 4,412 4,412 1,596
	£52,493 £6,359 £58,852 £65,252
	14,252 (3,974) 10,278 10,498 130,292 86,054 216,346 205,848
	£144,544 £82,080 £226,624 £216,346

Balance Sheet

At 31[st] December 2024

	Note	Unrestricted	Restricted		Total	2023
		Funds	Funds
Fixed Assets	4	65,994	34,968		100,962	99,434
Current Assets
Shop + Stationery Stock		7,178			7,178	5,633
Cash in Hand		1,036			1,036	1,313
Cash at Bank		54,980	47,110		102,090	92,989
Coal & Biomass		12,255			12,255	14,326
Debtors & Pre-payments	2	3,146			3,146	2,711
		£144,589	£82,078	£	226,667	£216,406
Current Liabilities
Creditors less than 1 year	3	(44)			(44)	(60)
Net current Assets		£144,545	£82,078	£	226,623	£216,346
Funds
Unrestricted funds		£144,545	-	£	144,545	£130,292
Restricted funds		-	£82,078		£82,078	£86,054
		£144,545	£82,078	£	226,623	£216,346

For the year ending 31[st] Decembe r 2024, The Claymills Pumping Engines Trust Lt d . was entitled to exemption from audit under sectio n 477 of the Companies Act 2006.

The members have not required th e company to obtain an audit in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.

The directors acknowledge their r e sponsibility for complying with the requirement s of the Act with respect to accounting records and for the p reparation of accounts.

These accounts have been prepare d in accordance with the small company regime (Section 419(2) of the Companies Act 2006).

These accounts were approved b y the board on 29[th] January 2025 and were s igned on its behalf by:

J.C.Reeve, Treasurer, Trustee D irector

Notes to the Accounts

1 Accounting Policies

The accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention and are in accordance with applicable accounting standards and the Statement of Recommended Practice Accounting for Charities (SORP 2005).

The Trust is not registered for VAT and expenditure includes VAT where applicable.

Fixed Assets

Ownership of the site, buildings, plant and machinery lies with Severn Trent Water Limited and are not disclosed within these accounts. Other historic assets do not represent a true value as they include many gifted items. The reader of these accounts should appreciate the undisclosed aspect of the inventory which arises and which remains a difficult judgement of value.

Historic assets have not been depreciated on the basis that they will only appreciate. Following the lease agreement with STW and the passing of ownership of historic engines & equipment, these assets have been reclassified and will be depreciated over the remaining term of the lease. (being 60 years)

Fixed assets are depreciated according to the following table.

New Buildings	4.0%
Modern Tools & Machinery	12.5%
Office & ShopEquipment	20.0%
Leasehold Property	Remainingterm of the lease(1.67%)

Income

All income is accounted for gross and when receivable.

Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for gross and when incurred. All restoration costs at the Claymills site are written off as incurred. Acquisition costs of historic assets are currently written off as incurred.

Water and electricity costs are borne by Severn Trent Water.

2 Debtors & Pre-payments Gift Aid Pre-payments 3 Creditors Other creditors	2024 461 2,685 2023 125 2,586
	£3,146 £2,711
	2024 44 2023 60
	£44 £60

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4 Tangible Fixed Assets Cost: Brought Forward Additions Disposals Balance c/f Depreciation: Brought Forward Charge Disposals Balance c/f Net Book Value: At 1stJanuary 2024 At 31stDecember 2024	Total Leasehold Property Historic Engines & Machinery Modern Tools & Machinery Office & Shop Equipment New Buildings 161,756 9,316 0 3,259 276 161 0 19,794 2,093 0 23,298 6,120 0 115,129 942 0
	£171,072 £3,259 £437 £21,887 £29,418 £116,071
	(62,322) (7,788) 0 (2,108) 0 0 0 0 0 (13,955) (1,485) 0 (22,551) (1,658) 0 (23,708) (4,645) 0
	£(70,110) £(2,108) 0 £(15,440) £(24,209) £(28,353)
	£99,434 £1,151 £276 £5,839 £747 £91,421
	£100,962 £1,151 £437 £6,447 £5,209 £87,718

5 Transactions involving Trustees

None

6 Incoming resources from the operation of the Pumping Station Subscriptions & Donations Open Day Takings Shop Takings	2024 18,767 27,563 15,879 2023 21,391 17,929 15,100
	£62,209 £54,420

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7 Unrestricted Grants AIM East Staffordshire Borough Council Restricted Grants & Donations Operational Grant Income AIM West Midlands Museum Development Trent & Dove Community Association Capital Grant Income Community Foundation for Staffordshire East Midlands Airport Community Fund Donation 8 Cost of operation of the Pumping Station Restoration of Claymills site Shop Stock Insurance Advertising Education & Children’s Activities Operating Expenses Running site in steam Other Coal & Biomass Depreciation & Amortisation 9 Managing & administering the charity Postage & Stationery Legal & Professional fees Office & Administration costs	2024 204 400 2023 £604 £0 500 1,885 3,400 6,000 6,000 2,500 £2,385 £17,900 2024 Unrestricted Funds 2024 Restricted Funds 2023 6,451 228 13,019 5,176 5,694 51 2,747 2,440 1,820 8,742 651 975 3,696 9,295 71 4,643 8,752 15,311 1,159 12,486 5,630 2,154 6,905
	£48,081 £6,359 £63,656
	2024 2023 574 2,404 1,434 488 1,108
	£4,412 £1,596

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