Business Enterprise Heritage Trust
Chairperson’s Report, 2020-21
The period was dominated by the COVID restrictions, which meant that the library premises were closed to visitors for much of the time. A visitor protocol was developed for safe use of the premises, which allowed work by the trustees to proceed: namely completing the re-ordering of the collection following the installation of new shelving in Unit 5, and continuing to catalogue the collection.
With respect to cataloguing, many of the books are so old that they do not carry an ISBN. Although these books can often be matched to titles in the British Library or the Library of Congress catalogues, the editions held by these libraries often differ from the editions held by the Trust. In the light of this difficulty, experience has shown that cataloguing is best conducted as a two-stage procedure; the first stage is to record the details of a book, allocate an accession number, paste in a barcode, and re-shelve; the second is to enter the book on the online Heritage Catalogue. The first stage is more difficult than the second; it requires more skill and expertise, and so this stage has taken priority.
The Trust has received three major donations of books and ephemera during the remission of lock-down. Rev. Dr. Margaret Yates of the University of Reading donated 500 books on economic history, including major sub-collections on industry and trade in the Home Counties, and on urban and rural history generally. Dr. John Aldrich of the University of Southampton donated a similar number of books on the history of economics and statistics, including some interesting nineteen century publications. Mr. Neville Bridger, a specialist bookdealer, donated some important items of railways ephemera, including the financial records of some major railway companies, including the Great Western Railway, and a number of large-scale maps and plans. Other acquisitions continued to be made, mainly through purchases by the chairman made from charity bookshops that specialise in academic books.
The meetings of trustees have been conducted by e-mail, as not everyone has access to Teams or Zoom. It was resolved to ask the Charity Commission to authorise amendments to the foundation Trust deed that would allow the Trust to continue to accumulate a capital fund which will generate sufficient annual income to cover the basic running expenses of the Trust. Although the Trust has substantial capital investments, interest rates are now so low that a much larger capital is required to generate a given amount of income than was the case when the Trust was established 21 years ago. Subject to this qualification, the Trust remains in a strong financial position, owning the leasehold on both its properties (valued at £400,000), and having capital funds in excess of £250,000.
The main advantage of the Trust over other research libraries is the fact that visitors can browse (under supervision) in the main stacks as well as in the designated Reading Room. Because shelving in the stacks is organised by topic, the visitor can see all the books held on a given topic shelved adjacent to each other. Thus a visitor seeking to consult a specific book can immediately see a full range of books on the relevant topic, browse these books, and order specific books for consultation in the Reading Room.
Another advantage of the Trust is that readers’ access is fully inclusive. Readers do not need to belong to some organisation, or pay a subscription, in order to use the Library. The combination of fully inclusive access and the opportunity to browse in the stacks is quite exceptional among specialist research libraries the UK.
Although the Library has been closed to visitors, interest in using the Library appears to be increasing, and we are looking forward to welcoming more visitors after restrictions have been lifted. Academic researchers and history enthusiasts have so far been the main users, but an important objective of the Trust is to actively encourage wider access, as indicated above.
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES i1s$ z 7Kus Receipts and payments accounts For t p•rlod from CC16a .20 To 0.5.04-Zi Section A Receipts and payments Unrestri¢tsd lund5 to tb8 nearest Restricted fund$ Endowment funds Total lunds La8t year toth• noar#8t£ toth nBar•st£ to thg tJo4rg•¢£ A1 Recelpts Sub total(Gmss income for ARJ -5A) Saibo t> A2 A¢t and Inv•8lm•nt sal8s, tsblel. Sub total 123174- 2190- 181 A3Pa rnent8 *• Sub tot&1 A4 A¥set and Inv•stm•nt Yhae¥, see tabl• io Sub total Iz Net of receipts/(paymonts) AS fransf•Ys bètwrt funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds thls year end £££ 52 CCKX R1 accounts ISSI 11106r2021
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrèstri¢t$d R¥$tri¢tgd funds tund Endowment fvnds Categories Dtai15 to nearp&t£ to ratE to rbEamt£ 81 Cash fund LL ryb5 Total cash funds £WMl$ll OK Unrestrfcted fundB to npares¢£ Restrlcted funds to no•rest£ Endovrtnent funds to n•orest£ Details 82 Othgr monetary assots Fund towhlch assot bèfo Currentvalu8 Detslls Co8t lopl•MII B3 Investment assets flie .32 -2) LF ZOJ 7LS bj) resh> ¢1 ISSo25ts4 -71 Fund to whlch aswt b0n Details CDJt loptionnl Currontvalu• B4 Asset5 retsinod for the ¢harlty's use Fund toWhh Amovnt dug V¥h•n duo Detalls BS Llabllltl•s Signed by one orM) trustees on haOf all the trustees Signaturn Print Name Date of roval t*b) ILk [4tr 1. CCXX R2 accounts ISSI 111C612021
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustoesl members of 8L)si rocss EweRPEISS Hskffi)GO f(6-, S Ap£iL 20 1+01 On a¢¢ounts for the year ended Charity no (if any ioW610 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity ('the Trust.) for the year ended Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with Ihe requirements of the Charities Act 2011 he Acf). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's a¢¢ounts rArried out under section 145 of the 2011 Ad and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions grven by the Charity Commission under section 145{5)Ib) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matters have come to my attention ) in cor)nection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in. any matenal respect: accounting records were not kept in accordance with s8Ction 130 of the AGt or the ac¢ounts do not accord with the accounting records Independent examinerfs statement I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Signed: v¢S OHIO Ef4vJE Dato: 12)2 Name: Relevant professlonal qualification{s) or body (If any): Jlf4 Address: H I RWELLÉ H/L C70RIDxi MLcftTh- 2C£ 75P IER October 2018
Section B Discloslire Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern {see CC32, Independent examination of chanty accounts: d1CtionS and guidance for examiners). Glve hare brief details of any items that th examiner wlshes to dlselo80. )Ir4. IER O¢tob•r 2018