2021-03-31-accounts

Holst Birthplace Trust: Chairman’s Report for the year ending 31st March 2021

The year ending 31st March 2021 was a strange one for the world and the Holst Birthplace Museum was not exempt from the impact of that strangeness. The year began with the Museum closed due to the restrictions imposed to control the COVID - 19 pandemic. It remained closed for most off the year but we were able to open for a brief period between 26 September 2020 and 4 November 2020, when we welcomed pre-booked parties of between 1 and 6 connected people on two days per week for visits of 1 ¼ hours. We held an official re-opening event on 21 September 2020 based in the front garden and the pavement in front of the Museum, with strictly limited numbers but including Cheltenham MP, Alex Chalk, who cut the ribbon across the front door, and guest appearances from “Gustav Holst”; celebrating his 146th birthday, and his good friend “Ralph Vaughan Williams”, in the persons of Richard Watson and Phil Collins respectively. John and Mandy Rowlands also donned Victorian dress, adding a touch of vivacity and period charm to the event. Although lower-key than we would have liked, it was a very joyous occasion with several volunteers coming along to celebrate the reopening, suitably socially distanced. We did not know at the time that we would have to close again after such a short period.

A further impact of COVID was that Laura and Lucy were on full or partial furlough from 8 May 2020 until beyond the end of the year under review. This was done to help preserve the Trust’s financial resources at a time of considerable uncertainty. In the event Government grants, paid by Cheltenham Borough Council, did much to alleviate our losses, but, in general, we only knew retrospectively as lockdown periods got extended, that these funds would be forthcoming. The absence or partial absence of Laura and Lucy meant that additional workloads fell upon Trustees and Volunteers and I am grateful to all those who helped to keep the Museum going, and indeed, progressing in some ways over the course of the year.

A huge amount of effort was again expended in reviewing the marketing approach for the Museum and what its proposition is to potential visitors. The “Holst Victorian House” branding will be launched in September 2021 to further develop the theme of “A Victorian home brought to Life” utilising the story of the Holst family’s time living in the house. Mike Jenkinson, who is project managing the re-branding programme and has worked tirelessly on it, will talk more about this at the close of the meeting. We are also engaged in producing a series of videos for use both in the house and on the web which will support the story and greatly enhance our digital offering. We are grateful to the L. G. Harris Trust for their donation towards the cost of producing these videos.

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The staging of live events was not possible during the year but several “virtual” events have been staged. An example was the “Virtual Victorian Easter Festival”, which Laura and Lucy were able to set up at short notice before they were furloughed and which ran very successfully and replaced the “real” event that was due to take place over the Easter school holidays. Various other imaginative ideas were developed with the aim of keeping the Museum in people’s minds during the period when they were unable to visit, and to raise funds. These included:

• Piano recitals performed on Holst’s piano at the museum by Tsukushi Mitsuda,

• Aaron LeMaistre, John Wright, Adam Heron and Robin Smith with Hannah Hughes. Thanks are due to Millie Musset for arranging to have these recitals filmed and recorded and for preparing the videos for loading on to the website.

• A Christmas recital performed by Catherine Martin’s nephew, Peter Martin and

• his accompanist, Matthew Jorysz.

• A composite video featuring Museum Volunteers and pupils and staff of

• Cheltenham College, with each singer separately recording themselves singing I Vow To Thee My Country and the separate recordings then being combined with a piano accompaniment played by Kit Perona-Wright from the college. Amazingly the end result was very impressive.

• An object of the month featuring an item from the Museum’s collection shown

• on our website with notes about the item. Thanks are due to Kirsty Hartiosis who provided these items whilst Laura was furloughed.

• Videos of cooking in a mini-kitchen produced by Mandy and John Rowlands.

• ZOOM presentations by Lits Philippou on Afternoon Tea, Gin, Victorian Wining

• and Dining and Tea as a drink.

Thanks are due to all those who performed in or helped to create these on-line items. Alan Parker and his Events Committee are hoping to stage “live” events again very soon.

As ever, there are many people who I need to thank for the work they have done and the support they have given to the Museum over the course of the year under review.

Let me start by thanking my fellow Trustees and the Honorary Secretary, who have had to take on additional work due to the furloughing of staff and who have met, albeit via ZOOM, much more regularly than we did pre-Covid. I thank them for their support, patience and forbearance. It would be invidious to single out individual

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Trustees but I am none-the-less going to mention two and I hope that their colleagues will forgive me. Firstly I would mention Tom Clarke. Like me, Tom will step down as a Trustee at the end of this meeting, having completed his maximum six-year term as Membership Trustee. This means that he has been there throughout my term as Chairman and has had to show patience and forbearance for a good deal longer than anyone else. Tom has been constantly supportive and is a great ideas man and lateral thinker. His contribution will, I am sure, be much missed.

Secondly I would like to mention Mike Jenkinson. Mike was co-opted as a Trustee in October but has been a Holst mainstay for much longer than I have been involved with the Museum. His primary rôle on the Board is to project manage Re-branding, which on its own is a huge task but Mike has also taken a hand in Volunteer Training and web-site updating for re-opening. That is in addition to his rôle as Editor of the Newsletter, which rôle he fulfilled for eight years before handing it on to Anci Seymenliyska following the publication of the most recent addition. Many thanks, Mike.

My next thanks are to Laura and Lucy. As previously mentioned, they were not around for much of the 2020/21 year and their absence was noticed. It is good to have them back exhibiting their customary dedication and enthusiasm. Incidentally, Laura has also been there throughout my six years in office and so she probably deserves a medal for patience as well.

The Museum continues to be blessed with a wonderful group of Volunteers. It is a continuing truth that the Museum cannot operate without Volunteers. It is also a continuing truth that we need more Volunteers, and so if you know any likely candidates, please direct them to Judith Syvret!

Thanks are due to all Volunteers but among those deserving special thanks are Rachel Tedd and Christine Eyre for running the Museum Shop for a number of years before recently handing that job over to Carol Over and Marina Moore. Rachel, of course, continues in the rôle of Honorary Secretary and gets involved in a number of other things for the Museum.Thanks to all four of them.

Catherine Martin showed great initiative in contacting Ian Skelly of Radio 3 fame. This was having learned that he is an admirer of Holst. Ian subsequently mentioned the Museum in his programme giving us very welcome publicity.

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Angela Applegate, who has given presentations on Holst to various organisations for many years in order to raise funds, went digital this year. Being unable to give live shows she recorded her presentation and made it available to download from the website so that the Holst message could continue to be spread and funds could continue to be raised. Many thanks as always, Angela.

I would like to thank our President, Martyn Brabbins, and Vice-President Bill Parker for their continuing support. Sadly Vice-President Marjorie Imlah passed away during the year, on 14 December 2020. Marjorie was a past chair of the Trust and remained a great supporter of the Museum and its activities. She is much missed.

Our Patrons are also due thanks for their interest and support.

We continue to be grateful to Cheltenham Borough Council for their grant under our Service Level Agreement. This is in addition to the funds that they provided under the Government’s COVID relief programmes.

Details of all donations received are shown in the Trustees’ Report and our gratitude is extended to all individuals, Trusts and corporate bodies that have contributed during the year. Every donation is much appreciated.

Before moving on to developments on the Board of Trustees, I would like to thank all of you and all the other Members - the Friends of the Holst. Your subscriptions continue to provide valuable income to help with the running costs of the Museum and, more important in many ways, your commitment as Friends makes it clear that there is a significant group of people interested in the continuing prosperity of the Holst.

It has been an active year in terms of changes in the Board of Trustees. David Addison resigned as Collections Trustee on 29 October 2020 but remains a member of the Collections Committee. He was replaced by the co-option of Sarah Staniforth, who is standing for election today. Alan Gilmour resigned as Marketing Trustee on 09 December 2020. We are still looking to recruit a replacement. You may recall that Meurig Bowen stood down as a Trustee at last year’s AGM, having completed his maximum six year term. During the year we have co-opted Mike Jenkinson as Rebranding Trustee, Martin Renshaw as Digitisation Trustee and Judith Syvret as Volunteers Trustee. They are all standing for election today.

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Alan Parker has completed three year’s as Events Trustee as is standing for reelection today.

Liz Giles, Clive Petch and Marina Moore are all eligible to continue as Trustees and have agreed to do so, with Marina taking on the rôle of Membership Trustee. I am also very pleased, not to say relieved, to report that Rachel Tedd will be continuing as the Honorary Secretary.

As previously mentioned, Tom Clarke has completed his maximum six years as Membership Trustee and will therefore retire at the close of the AGM. Once again, Tom, many thanks for a job well done.

Also as previously mentioned, I have also completed my maximum six years as Chairman of the Trust and will step down at the close of the AGM. I am delighted to be able to say that, provided that you as members duly elect her as a Trustee, Hilary Simpson will be elected as Chair of the Trust at a meeting of the Trustees following the AGM. Hilary has lived in Cheltenham, in fact in Pittville, for about nine years and has kept herself busy since she arrived having been Chair at Friends of The Wilson, a Trustee at Friends of Pittville and committee member at the Cheltenham Arts Council, for four years in each case. She is also I am also Secretary to the Pittville History Works group and to the Pittville Pump Room Revival group and acts as HR Adviser to the William Morris Society. She is well equipped to become our Chair and I wish her every success in leading the Trust.

As this is my final Report, let me conclude by saying that it has been a pleasure and a privilege to Chair the Holst Birthplace Trust for the past six years. It is sobering to reflect that, thanks to the combined effects of rainwater ingress and a global pandemic, the Museum has been closed for a little over 25% of my time in the Chair. I sincerely hope that my successor will have greater success in keeping the Museum open. When I became Chairman my overarching ambition was to leave the Trust in a solvent state when I handed over, and for much of my time generating sufficient income to achieve that was a major issue. As it happens, thanks to no actions on my part, the Trust has never been as solvent as it is today. That is not a reason for complacency because that level of solvency arises from non-repeatable sources. It does mean, however, that the Trust will be able to carry out some of its plans intended in part to secure greater regular income in the future. I am confident that the remaining and new Trustees will succeed in implementing those plans.

Thank you for your attention.

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erfs re number 107 I rewt on aCC￿nts for the year ended 31 March 2021. which are annexed. The tharfvs trustees are responsible for the weparatlon ofthe accounts. The tharws trnstees consider that an audit is not required for this ￿ar under section 144 of the CharftlesArt 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination bs needed. It Is my responsibilty to: Examlne the accounts urthr settlon 145 ofthe Charitie5 Act. Follow the procedure5 taid drywn in the generdl DIrertI￿s8INtn bythe Charttles Commlsslon (under secknon 145{Sllb) of the Chariiie5 Attl, and State whether parti￿lar matters have ujme to my attentlr My examlnation was carrled in accordan￿ wlth generdl d1rett1c￿S 8l¥en bythe Chariiies Commisslon. An examlnation indudes a review ofthe accounting recwds kept bythe tharfty and a comparfson of the acctyjnts preserrted with those record& tt alx+ indudes consideratlon of any unusual items or disdosure in the accounts and seeking explanationsfrom the trustees Con￿MIng any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not prwde all the evidence that would be requlred In an audit and consequenty no opinion i$ 8lven as to lAt￿her the accounts present a.true ènd f41rt vlewand the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. Inde￿nd￿rt Exaffllnerfs Slatemert In connectlon wFth my examination, no mter has come to my attentkn: l. vthith gives me reasonable cause to believethat. In any material respert. the requirements to keep accounting records in accordance WTth settion 130 of the Charities Act to prepare accounts which aCc￿d with the ac£ountin8 records and comply wth the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met: or 2. to whl£th. in my opinion. attention should be drawn in ￿dertO enable a proper understanding ofthe accounts to be readd AJ EIIts FCA