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BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST (A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE)

TRUSTEES’ REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Company registration Number 06685688 Charity Number 1137777

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Contents	Pages
Reference & Administrative Information	1
Trustees’ Annual Report	2 - 20
Independent Examiner’s Report	21
Statement of Financial Activities	22
Balance Sheet	23
Cash Flow Statement	24
Notes to the Financial Statements	25 - 34

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST REFERENCE & ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Trustees	Nigel Hardy (Chair)
	Cllr Craig Cheney
	Fiona Hallworth
	Karen White
	Samuel Alvis
	Eleanor Denney
	Simon Face
	Helen Renwick	(appointed 14/4/2023)
	Julia Trow	(appointed 14/4/2023)
	Huw James	(appointed 14/4/2023)
	Edmund Fay	(appointed 14/4/2023)
	Jocelyn Ormond	(appointed 14/4/2023)
Company registered	06685688
number
Charity registration	1137777
number
Registered office	Bristol Museum & Art	Gallery
	Queens Road
	Bristol
	BS8 1RL
Independent Examiner	Joshua Kingston BSc	(Hons) ACA
	Burton Sweet Limited
	The Clock Tower
	5 Farleigh Court
	Old Weston Road
	Flax Bourton
	Bristol
	BS48 1UR
Bankers	Natwest Bank PLC
	PO Box 238
	32 Corn Street
	Bristol
	BS99 7UG

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

During 2023, we have celebrated the 200th anniversary of Bristol Museums. Bristol Museums’ forerunner, The Bristol Institution for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and the Arts, officially opened 200 years ago on 6 January 1823 and we have marked this milestone with several events and projects.

In July 2023, the annual Bristol Museums Development Trust (BMDT) Summer Party was hosted at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG) combined with an open evening of the whole museum for additional partners, friends, collaborators, and guests. It was an opportunity to share the galleries & collections and introduce expert curators to both existing and new supporters. It was accompanied with music from friends at the Fitzhardinge Consort and was a wonderful celebration, with the museum filled with guests.

In recognition of the 200th anniversary BMDT launched the ‘1823 Club’ – an introductory patron offer to encourage and welcome new supporters to the Patron Circle. It was a great success with an additional 33 members joining and a further £6,600 raised.

For the first time since the pandemic, Bristol Museums hosted a full exhibition and event programme at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery. Lunar New Year celebrations returned in person welcoming over 6,000 visitors during the weekend. The temporary exhibition programme was varied and exciting including a moving image installation by Sir John Akomfrah CBE; the museum’s first virtual reality experience exploring the world famous Lascaux Caves; interventions of Peter Brathwaite’s Black Portraiture in our art galleries; ‘Opulent Origins’ imagining the first Fine Art exhibitions hosted by Bristol Museum in the 1820s; and welcoming Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year back to BMAG for the first time since 2014.

We have also seen the fruition of previous BMDT grants. The Applied Art gallery opened the newly designed re-display of Delftware. Throughout the year, this new display has been well promoted through a series of talks and events including hosting the ‘Digging for Delftware’ symposium over two days at both BMAG and M Shed. This event is of international significance and borne out of the specialism on the subject held in both the team and the collection here in Bristol.

The ‘Goldenhot Butterfly Queen’ by Stacy Lynn Waddell went on display in the contemporary Art Gallery in recognition of International Women’s Day in March 2023. This significant and impressive piece was supported by a previous grant from BMDT.

We have also seen visitor numbers across the main sites of Bristol Museum & Art Gallery and M Shed return to pre-COVID levels.

However, the year has also presented several challenges to the museum service. As a civic museum service, supported by Bristol City Council, it has not been alone in feeling the reduction of budgets across the local authority. During 2023 the service underwent a restructure, resulting in a reduction of the staff team and operating budgets.

These internal challenges are framed by the wider issue of the cost-of-living crisis. With rising costs nationwide, the propensity of visitors to give has also been arguably reduced.

Furthermore, the whole museum service has been required to increase its commercial operations to meet budget demands. The Lascaux Caves VR experience exhibition saw an increase in ticket price to reflect the technical offering and meet rising commercial targets. M Shed has also had a change in operational focus. The previous temporary exhibition space has been temporarily repurposed to expand the commercial venue hire offering.

These changes and challenges have impacted the individual giving income stream for BMDT. Following the growth seen last year (supported by hosting Grayson’s Art Club and the halo effect of re-opening)

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we can see a slight reduction this year. This can be understood and explained by the high turnover of the Front of House teams (increased training on welcome ask needed), staff morale, reduced exhibitions (impacting donations on tickets), and less available disposable income from visitors. However, despite this it is worth noting that levels are still in line with pre-covid levels (2019/20).

The Development team has once again pivoted and created fundraising campaigns to support the welcome ask. In July, during the first week of the school holidays, a specific welcome ask focused on raising money for the conservation of the much-loved Lodekka Bus. During the week all on-site donations were driven towards this campaign resulting in £2,869 being raised. This was the first time we had attempted this type of fundraising and it is a development of the welcome ask initiatives trialled last period. We plan to continue exploring other creative ways to engage with the public as we no doubt face continued stretched times in terms of local authority funding.

During this period, the trustees continued to respond to the internal requests for grants, many of which are detailed in the report below. Decisions on grants funded have been driven by the strategy agreed by the Board in 2022 which sets out the Board’s priorities for 2022-2025 against identified strategic goals; catalytic funding, innovation or to fill a gap in the wider funding landscape. Furthermore, key themes for funding have been identified and agreed by the trustees for prioritisation;

Projects that explore ‘the future of museums’ in particular those that embrace digital technology in cultural institutions or in fundraising.
Those that reflect Bristol City Council priorities particularly on climate change and social and economic inclusion.
Ongoing citywide storytelling, encouraging community participation and an understanding of the social value of heritage and the wellbeing benefit of engagement with arts and culture.

Assessment of grant requests against these criteria can be seen in funds designated. Once again, we have focused on digital engagement through a grant to improving gallery interactives. Sharing citywide stories is demonstrated in the ‘About Alfred’ project and approval to produce a film sharing the history of Guy Bailey. Catalytic funding has been allocated to the Sounds of the South West project to support a larger external funding application (a collaborative bid across Archives South West for continued digitisation of sound archives).

As per the previous year, the trustees also continued to distribute funds to fulfil the needs of Bristol Museums in many aspects of its operation for the engagement of the public in the region. BMDT has worked to understand the current pressures on the service and the grants awarded have reflected the current demands.

During this period, five new trustees have been successfully recruited and appointed. These appointments focused on identified key skills needed within the board – including finance, fundraising and legal expertise. For the first time the recruitment process was managed internally. It was a successful campaign, and the development of recruitment marketing assets will be of future use. All new trustees have been successfully inducted and introduced to both BMDT and the wider museum service.

We want to thank all our supporters, whether patron, volunteer, sponsor, friend or visitor. None of this would be possible without them.

Looking forward, the Trust remains in the fortunate position of holding strong reserves, and we hope to use these to further support Bristol’s museums through this time of uncertainty.

The trustees of Bristol Museums Development Trust (BMDT) are passionate about supporting Bristol Museums to fully utilise their collections and sites. To gain a wider perspective on possible opportunities, they take an active interest in not just Bristol Museums’ sites and collections, but across the cultural and heritage sector in Bristol.

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The trustees (who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act) present their annual report together with the financial statements of Bristol Museums Development Trust (the company) for the year ended 30 September 2023. The trustees confirm that the annual report and financial statements of the company comply with the current statutory requirements, the requirements of the company’s governing document and the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) “Accounting and Reporting by Charities.”

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

a. CONSTITUTION

The company is registered as a charitable company limited by guarantee and was set up by a Memorandum of Association on 1 September 2008. The company is constituted under a Memorandum of Association dated 1 September 2008 and its registered charity number is 1137777.

b. METHOD OF APPOINTMENT OR ELECTION OF TRUSTEES

Those acting as trustees during the year ended 30 September 2023 are listed in the Legal and Administrative Information on page 1.

The Trust may have between five and twelve trustees. The term of office is three years, after which a trustee is eligible for re-election for one further term which may be of one, two or three years as resolved by the trustees. After two consecutive terms, a trustee is eligible for re-election only after a year has elapsed since he or she retired as trustee. However, if the trustees consider it in the best interests of the Trust, a trustee may be re-elected on his or her retirement.

From time to time, conflicts of interest will occur and trustees are required to declare any potential interests and withdraw themselves from any decisions if appropriate.

New trustees are appointed by the existing trustees, following a formal recruitment process. The Trust's aim is to include persons with a wide range of skills and experience who are sympathetic to its purpose of supporting the promotion and development of Bristol Museums and Bristol Archives, and who in turn will make the needs and opportunities of the service widely known.

The Board would like to welcome the new trustees who were recruited this period including Julia Trow, Helen Renwick, Huw James, Ed Fay and Jocelyn Ormond. These trustees were appointed following a thorough recruitment process which identified the additional skills and expertise these new appointments would bring to the Board.

c. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE AND DECISION MAKING

The operations of the Trust are closely related to those of Culture and Creative Industries within which Bristol Museums and Bristol Archives sit, as part of Bristol City Council. The Trust maintains its independence since the number of trustees representing the local authority is restricted to no more than twenty percent of the total number of trustees.

At Board meetings the trustees review the progress of fundraising initiatives, supported by the Development Team at Culture and Creative Industries. Major decisions of the Trust are made after listening to the views of the senior management of Culture and Creative Industries.

The trustees have continued to benefit from the formal grant request process that was implemented the previous year. The Grant Application Form continues to be well used by the staff of Bristol Culture & Creative Industries to apply for grants for projects they are working on or would like to initiate. This has two major benefits, firstly clear understanding of the purpose of the needs of projects which leads to confidence in the decision-making process and efficient use of funds. Secondly, it increases the skills

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base of staff who must present their case on paper and often in person which helps in their application for external funding.

RISK MANAGEMENT

Due to the objectives and activities of the Trust, these risks largely focus on Bristol Museums’ Development Team’s ability to secure funding over the short term and open up new income streams over a longer period of time, for example through developing individual giving including gifts in wills. The level of reserves currently held is sufficient to provide sustainability of the Trust.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

a. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT

The Trust was established on 1 September 2008, as the Museum of Bristol Development Trust, and on 11 April 2010 changed its name to Bristol Museums Development Trust to better reflect the scope of activities undertaken. The Trust’s objects were amended by special resolution dated 16 July 2013 (and registered at Companies House on 6 August 2013) to:

“(I) to support for the benefit of the public the building, establishment and maintenance of museums, galleries and archives of artefacts, art, documents, and other associated material in Bristol, including the collection, storage, research and conservation of all such material; and

(II) to advance the education of the public (in particular but without limitation to those living within the greater Bristol area and those geographic, ethnic and disabled communities who do not traditionally attend museums and galleries) in particular (but not limited to) by providing support to the provision and improvement of the facilities, collections, exhibitions, formal and informal learning opportunities, public events and other educational activities, including in digital form, available to the public at the museums, galleries and archives in Bristol and within the communities of Bristol and across the internet.”

There are seven visitor sites within the Culture and Creative Industries portfolio, all of which have no general admission fee.

The Edwardian Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG) has galleries over three floors with a diverse range of objects, from Jurassic marine reptiles to magnificent art.
M Shed is located on Bristol’s historic dockside. It retains the character of its original use as a 1950s transit shed, while telling Bristol’s long and varied history through the objects and people who shaped the city.
Blaise Museum is housed in an 18th century mansion built for Bristol merchant and banker John Harford, with the dairy and conservatory designed by John Nash.
The Red Lodge Museum, built in 1580 as a lodge for the Great House that once stood on the site of the present Bristol Beacon, is furnished in Elizabethan, Stuart and Georgian styles. Interesting features include the Great Oak Room, with its original Elizabethan plasterwork ceiling and wall panelling, and the Elizabethan style knot garden.
The Georgian House Museum, built in 1790 for wealthy slave owner and sugar merchant John Pinney, and for a time home to the enslaved African Pero, is displayed as it might have looked in the 18th century to give visitors an insight into life above and below stairs.
Bristol Archives, established in 1924, looks after the city’s historic archives, such as those relating to its churches, families such as the Smyth’s of Ashton Court, and former major

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employers J S Fry & Sons among others. Visitors can access over 800 years of Bristol history and enjoy regular exhibitions, workshops, and screenings from the Film Archive.

Kings Weston Roman Villa was discovered during construction of the Lawrence Weston housing estate and is a late 3rd century villa complete with bath suite, mosaic floors and Roman central heating.

Through permanent displays, a diverse programme of world-class exhibitions and events, learning programmes with schools, and work with local communities, these sites inspire the people of Bristol and beyond to learn about Bristol and the wider world. Temporary exhibitions at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery and M Shed may be ticketed or visitors may be asked to ‘Pay What You Can’, this money going direct to Bristol Museums and Bristol Archives, part of Bristol City Council.

b. PUBLIC BENEFIT

The trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in Section 17(5) of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit in exercising their powers or duties. They have referred to this guidance when reviewing the Charity's aims and objectives and in planning its future activities.

c. AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY

The trustees work with the Bristol Museums’ Development Team to develop the Trust’s fundraising strategy of developing both restricted income, for projects and capital activity, and unrestricted income from general donations.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

a. GOING CONCERN

After making appropriate enquiries, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. The strong reserves position and the low level of charity running costs means that trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing financial statements. Further details regarding the adoption of the going concern basis can be found in the Accounting Policies.

b. OVERVIEW

The benefits of the Trust's work are in supporting the ongoing and future success of Bristol Museums and Bristol Archives. The trustees recognise the achievements of the Trust by its ability to provide funding, both in the financial year under review and into the future.

During the period covered by this report the Trust focused on rebuilding unrestricted income from visitor donations and related activities, as part of the recovery from the pandemic. This unrestricted income is allocated by the Trust to a host of projects across all Bristol Museums’ and Bristol Archives’ collections and venues.

UNRESTRICTED INCOME

Donation streams

The unrestricted income is made up of a variety of donation streams, including income from donation boxes, welcome desks, online donations, regular direct debits, contactless giving points, the Patron Circle (including the 1823 club), appeals, donations on tickets and gift aid.

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We are delighted that the main museum sites - Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG) and M Shed have been open for the whole of this reporting period. Welcoming visitors into our sites is vital for the success of our donation boxes and welcome desks. Unfortunately staffing at the historic houses (The Red Lodge and The Georgian House) as well as Blaise Museum have remained challenging, with these sites being temporarily closed for short periods to enable the larger sites to remain open.

During the period 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023, BMAG welcomed 320,462 visitors (compared to 315,372 from Oct 21 - Sep 22) with M Shed welcoming 338,022 visitors (compared to 255,653 from Oct 21 - Sep 22).

During the current period a total of £192,419 was received in unrestricted donations (compared to £267,649 during the previous period). The Trust acknowledges that this is a reduction from the previous year’s figure but recognises that it is in line with the last pre-pandemic year (2018/19) which saw £201,953 of unrestricted donations raised.

The reduction in unrestricted donations across our sites (as will be seen in figures given below) can be attributed to several factors:

The ‘halo’ effect felt last year as our sites began to re-open following lockdowns and visitors demonstrating their joy at returning resulted in increased donations.
Hosting the very popular Grayson’s Art Club last year at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery – which was free to enter, and visitors donated higher in thanks.
Removal of the temporary exhibition space at M Shed, reducing ability to link welcome ask initiatives to exhibitions as well as donation ask linked to paid for tickets.
Restructure of staff service in Bristol Museums over the past 12 months, resulting in a less experienced front of house team to support the donation ask combined with reduced staff morale during this difficult period.
Increase in commercial activity at Bristol Museum introducing a higher ticket price for exhibition entry, having an impact on donations – both at the welcome desk as well as when booking chargeable tickets.
Removal of pre-bookable free of charge visiting time slots. This was a covid initiative, which encouraged additional donations at the time of booking. With the removal of all covid restrictions, this pre-bookable option was stopped.
Cost of Living Crisis nationally – visitors have less propensity to give generally.

At Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, total donations from visitors amounted to £77,629 (compared to £149,516 the previous year).

At M Shed, when open, total donations from visitors amounted to £64,921 (compared to £84,937 during the last period). This included £22,154 which was received from donations made when booking free museum entry tickets and chargeable exhibition tickets (previous period £27,101).

During the financial year the Trust received £5,453 from contactless donations (compared to £7,753 in the previous financial year). While this has decreased over the past 12 months, the Trust still sees this as a growth income steam and investment in new contactless donation stations hopes to encourage this figure increase in future years. As mentioned above, the rapid growth last year was largely attributed to hosting Grayson’s Art Club. The Trust hopes that donations via this method will continue to increase in future years.

During the financial year unrestricted online donations were £3,507 (compared to £3,091 during the previous period).

The Trust also continued the Direct Debit (DD) program, for donors who wished to make regular donations throughout the year. During the current period we saw a slight decrease in DD givers with a total of £1,610 being received, compared to £1,856 in the previous period.

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An additional £2,422 of unrestricted income was generated from gift aid claims related to unrestricted donations (compared to £3,551 during the previous period).

The trustees are grateful for donations received from our supporters and have been touched by the incredible support received from our visitors over the past year.

The Patron Circle

The Patron Circle is an annual membership scheme for individuals who want to develop a closer relationship with Bristol Museums, their expert curators and museum staff, and expand their knowledge of the collections. The benefits of joining the Patron Circle include invitations to private views, curatorled behind the scenes tours including an early morning one with breakfast, a summer party, as well as ‘special access’ events, as programming allows. Patrons can spread their payments using direct debit.

Introduction to 1823 Club

To celebrate the 200th anniversary BMDT launched the ‘1823 Club’ – an introductory patron offer to encourage and welcome new supporters to the Patron Circle. It was a great success with an additional 33 members joining and a further £6,600 raised.

One new 1823 member commented: “As you know, I can’t get over what is offered to supporters!……. I’ve learned so much, really appreciated the insight into how the museum operates, and feel really closely linked to the museum now and invested in it. I’m singing the praises of the museum to anyone who will listen!……I’m so impressed by all your team does to engage supporters, and really grateful for the opportunities I’ve had with these events.”

Following the success of the 1823 Club a review of the Patron Circle has taken place, and a revised offering with tiers of membership will be introduced soon, with the aim of encouraging a further growth in Patrons. The Trust is incredibly grateful for the support of its patrons. In the current period, the Patron Circle generated a total income of £15,150 (compared to £18,750 during the previous period), before gift aid was applied.

DESIGNATED AND RESTRICTED FUNDS

The Trust receives restricted donations from individuals and organisations which are held in restricted funds and used strictly in accordance with the donors' wishes.

Restricted Funds:

During the financial period we have received £28,000 from a number of larger individual donations (over £500). Our major donors are usually motivated to support a particular project or collection within the museum service, reflected in the restricted funds accounted for by BMDT. The Board of Trustees thank our donors for these gifts.

Jean Allan Legacy:

A further gift of £6,750 was made to the Trust by Giles Woodward the trustee and executor of the will of Jean Allan. Jean was a local resident who died in 2022. She left a discretionary charitable fund, and it was felt that supporting the Museums was in line with her wishes. Of this £6,750, £2,750 was given to support our Applied Arts Collection, £3,000 to our Industrial Collection to support the conservation of Pyronaut (Bristol’s former fireboat housed at M Shed) and the remaining £1,000 was given to support the social history collection at M Shed. The trustees are very grateful for this additional gift.

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Chinese Textiles Project:

Following the generous donation to Bristol Museums by Sally Sparks and Viv Young of two Chinese textiles collections from southwest China (including from the Miao and Dong peoples), BMDT was delighted with the generous support from three donors which significantly contributed to a project to catalogue and digitise the collection.

A generous gift was received from a donor with a particular interest in this collection (but who wishes to remain anonymous), which built on their earlier donation in the previous financial year. This gift was further strengthened by two donations from John & Susan Hart to further support the project.

The funding from these donors made it possible to catalogue and digitise these two important collections of Chinese textiles made by the Miao and other people of southwest China. Through their support the project curator has:

Arranged condition assessments by freelance textile conservators prior to bringing to museum.
Packed and froze textiles to ensure no insect infestation.
Completed acquisition paperwork.
Researched and procured freelance photographer.
Arranged temporary photography studio and helped set up lighting rigs.
Assisted the photographer by preparing and laying out objects to be photographed.
Researched, digitised and catalogued 266 objects.
Uploaded cataloguing information and photos to EMu database, adding locations.
Sewed museum numbers onto or otherwise marked 266 objects.
Packed collections into boxes.
Supervised volunteers, trained colleagues.

These two important collections have been secured for the citizens of Bristol and made accessible online for audiences and researchers around the world, laying the groundwork for future exhibitions. The Miao, Dong and Gejia textile collections now form an important part of the Designated Chinese collections, showing the fine craft skills and artistic heritage of women in several of China’s 55 ethnic minority groups. We hope to be able to develop the project in various ways in future, by creating an exhibition, by programmed talks and tours, recording oral history with the collectors, blogs and displays. The cataloguing of each embroidery and item of clothing, drawing on the detailed records of the collectors, will make the collection and associated documentation an important world resource for the study of Miao textiles in future. The collection is likely to become a source of inspiration for artists and students of fashion, as well as those engaged in embroidery and other craft skills. The collection will soon be available for use in talks and special sessions. The photographs of the objects, now available online, are works of art in their own right.

BMDT would like to express their gratitude to all donors for enabling this interesting and important project to happen.

Industrial & Maritime Fund:

Funds have continued to be raised to support our Industrial & Maritime fund. £3,549 was raised by dedicated volunteer Clive Brain. Clive regularly attends local groups (Probus, Rotary and WI for example) to deliver talks focused on the wonderful Industrial & Maritime collection. His talks are so well received that groups often request to visit M Shed to see and experience the collection first-hand. Donations are made in thanks for both activities. The Board of Trustees would like to extend their deep gratitude to Clive for his continued voluntary support of M Shed.

£3,500 was donated by The Bristol Port Company. This donation was given to support the annual Docks Heritage Weekend, a collaboration of activities between the Harbourside Heritage Sites to celebrate

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the history of the dockside. M Shed is a lead partner, and the event frequently welcome nearly 8,000 visitors across the weekend. The Bristol Port Company also attends to share information on their Avonmouth site and how the current modern port operates.

The Bristol Museums Development team also ran a successful campaign to support the conservation costs for the much-loved Lodekka Bus in M Shed. In July, during the first week of the school holidays, a specific welcome ask focused on this campaign. During the week all on-site donations were driven towards this campaign resulting in £2,869 raised. This was the first time we had attempted this type of fundraising and it is a development on the welcome ask initiatives trialled last period.

BMDT also secured £45,518 in grants from external funding bodies

Foyle Foundation (£37,000):

In September 2022 we were awarded £37,000 by the Foyle Foundation towards a project to digitise items from Bristol Archives sound archives. This funding has supported Bristol Archives to employ an in-house audio engineer for a fixed term contract of one year. During this year it is estimated that roughly 2,000 audio items including vital parts of the British Empire & Commonwealth Collection, could be digitised.

The work follows on from a previous project, Unlocking Our Sound Heritage (UOSH), a British Libraryled, National Lottery Heritage Fund-supported project. UOSH was a digitisation project that digitised rare, unique and at-risk audio items, preserving these perishable items for the future. Bristol Archives was the South West regional hub for this project, hosting both the specialist equipment and expertise to support digitisation of audio material from multiple organisations. UOSH was able to digitise over to over 4,625 audio objects from across the region.

Following the appointment of an audio digitisation engineer in April 2023, 508 digital items (508 WAV files, plus 508 Mp3 access copies) have been created so far. For the rest of the 6 month period, the audio engineer will be working on local BBC recordings, which is by far the biggest collection. He says: Out of all the work so far, the speech therapy recordings have been the most rewarding. They are recordings of children’s speech therapy after undergoing mouth and facial surgery in the 1940s. These were recorded onto acetate disc, which is like a vinyl record but even more fragile. The discs needed extensive cleaning, and they degrade considerably each time they are played. The content is quite captivating, it consists mainly of children reading nursery rhymes and trying to improve their pronunciation. Elsewhere, the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection has been engaging and varied. There has been content across a range of formats that has included spoken memoir, musical performances, and speeches.

Another enjoyable part of the role has been creating a network of other audio digitisation specialists across the country. We have an active group messaging system which has enabled us to contact each other informally to share information and advice.

BMDT would like to thank the Trustees of the Foyle Foundation for their support of this vital project.

National Manuscripts Conservation Trust (£17,000)

In November of 2022, the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust (NMCT) approved a grant of £17,000 towards a project to help preserve building plans held at Bristol Archives.

Bristol Archives hold an extensive, highly vulnerable set of building plans, dated 1851-1948. They were collected from many local organisations through Bristol Corporation’s Board of Health remit for monitoring sanitation. Representing a century of urban development and social change, this collection of c 40,000 plans bound into 314 large volumes, provide a near-complete record of all new and altered buildings in Bristol over this period, from large public venues to industrial sites to private residences.

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Binding the plans ensured their survival but created a substantial conservation problem, as they are extremely delicate. Although highly popular for many research interests, some volumes are already restricted access to prevent handling and more will be restricted soon.

This funding supports an exploratory project to conserve one volume of plans to develop methodologies for ambitious intervention for the whole collection. A specialist conservator has been appointed on a four-month contract to disbound the selected volume, with the plans and supporting documentation flattened, repaired as needed, digitised, and then rehoused in archival-quality sleeves and boxes.

The original plans will remain permanently accessible at Bristol Archives; production of these documents will be a much quicker process, with both staff and researchers able to handle them more safely and confidently. The digitised images will be published on online, to reduce wear and tear on the originals and provide access to the records for global audiences.

Bristol Archives’ collections strategy highlights these plans as one of their most critical conservation priorities, due to their condition, quantity, significance and heavy demand. BMDT hopes that this project will provide proof of concept for how these important papers can be preserved, as evidence for a potential large-scale funding bid for the remaining volumes.

Interviews were held in the Spring 2023 for the project conservator. The preferred candidate was an EU resident and unfortunately recruitment processes meant there was a delay in her being able to start. Aina joined the project at the beginning of September this year.

Aina has collaborated with Bristol Museums’ in house paper conservator and one of the archivists to develop a treatment strategy incorporating conservation, documentation and storage solutions for the selected volume.

At this point in the project (3 months in), she has been able to remove all the plans from the volume, remove old adhesive and is currently working to conserve some of the more vulnerable pieces to allow safe handling for digitisation.

The project has been very successful so far, providing a significant amount of information that can be used for planning the larger scale conservation project. Key learning to date:

Timescales for disbinding the volumes
Processes for removing adhesive from the various material types and stabilisation techniques
Modification of the store plan which means the disbound plans will take up less space than originally thought
Addressing numbering issues should be done after conservation alongside the digitising
Enriching the catalogue work can then happen using the digital copies, reducing handling of still vulnerable plans.

Designated Funds:

The Trust also channels a portion of the unrestricted donations it receives from visitors across Bristol Museums’ sites into Designated Funds. These help Bristol Museums and Archives to care for its collections and historic buildings and engage with schools and communities in areas of disadvantage across the city.

Some of these are detailed below.

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Theme 1: Building & Collections Preservation

Temnodontosaurus Conservation (£19,380)

In March 2023, the Board approved a grant of £19,380 to support a long-gestating project to conserve the skull of a Temnodontosaurus, a type of marine reptile. The aim of this project is to conserve, prepare, mount, study and display this unique specimen. This specimen may be the second significant discovery by Mary Anning and as such is of huge historical importance. It is also scientifically significant as large Temnodontosaurus skull preserved in 3D are rare. The specimen was not on public display as it needed conservation work. Once the work is complete, it will go back on display, to coincide with an exhibition in early 2024 focused on Mary Anning.

The project is due for completion late 2023.

M Shed Seating (£18,079):

Approved in June 2023, this grant of £18,079 is to provide updated seating in the public areas at M Shed. The seating in the reception area at M Shed is bespoke, created to fit around the staircase in the centre. The seats were looking worn out after almost a decade of wear and tear.

The seats will be reupholstered with a fabric with longer wear. This will ensure commitment to the original design as well as sustainability. In addition, there will be an arm added to each unit to make them more accessible. This alteration is based on feedback the museum operations team have received. The project is due to complete at the end of 2023.

- MEND (Museum Estate and Development Fund) Match funding (£75,485 & £45,000):

In March 2022, the Trustees of BMDT were delighted that BMAG had been successful in a bid to the MEND Fund, run by ACE/DCMS. MEND is an open access capital fund targeted at non-national accredited museums and local authorities to apply for funding to undertake vital infrastructure and urgent maintenance work.

BMAG was awarded £679,365 from MEND. BMDT had previously approved 10% match funding for this project. As Bristol City Council secured the sum of £679,365 by ACE/DCMS from the MEND funding, which constituted 90% of the total figure coming from them. Therefore the 10% match funding (as previously approved by BMDT) will be £75,485 (10% of the total figure of £754,850). In September 2022 the Board approved a further grant of £45,000 to support the delivery of the work funded by the MEND grant.

In January 2023 permission to accept the MEND grant and proceed with procurement was provided via the Bristol City Council Capitol Investment Board.

The most urgent part of this project was the need to replace the boilers ahead of Winter 2023. In March 2023 asbestos know to be present in the boiler room was removed in anticipation of this work beginning. Tendering for the boiler replacement took place in May and June 2023 with the contract being signed on the 22nd of June. Work began on site in August and continued until an issue was discovered with the installation of the new flue. The flue had to be routed through a collections store and they identified suspected asbestos. Collections protection and building work had to stop while this was tested and checks for contamination were undertaken. Work to remove the asbestos took place in October with the final installation work completed the boilers were commissioned on the 27th October. Still outstanding is making good of the area with the collections store, which was affected by the new flue being installed.

Alongside this work our building team completed the tendering process for project management consultancy for the remaining 3 areas of the project. Museum staff have been working with successful company, Hartnell Taylor Cook (HTC), for the last 6 weeks, bring them up to speed on the project and

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allowing them to familiarise themselves with all the work to date, the buildings, and the unique issues the work presents. Work will continue throughout 2024.

Theme 2: City Wide Storytelling & Engagement

Creative Classrooms (£18,000):

£18,000 was approved by the Board in June 2023 to support the Creative Classrooms project. This project will be taking place across the academic year 23-24 and will test new ways of working with schools and academies to open up access to the Museum Collections and the histories and stories it holds to local school children.

There are three broad aims:

To familiarise all teachers with the art collections at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (demonstrating their depth and breadth) and how they can be accessed in-person and online.
To support non-specialist teachers at KS1 and KS2 by co-creating a professional development programme that builds knowledge, skills and confidence.
To work collaboratively with specialist Art & Design teachers to produce programmes and resources to support students working at KS3, KS4 and A-level.

The Learning Team have approached the Cabot Learning Federation and they have agreed to be our partner for this project. The CLF is a multi-academy trust consisting of 21 schools covering primary, secondary, 16+, and alternative provision.

The Board of Trustees look forward to hearing how the project develops.

About Alfred (£3,000):

This is a collaborative project with local artist, Kayle Brandon. Kayle is producing a piece of work exploring one of the most iconic specimens in Bristol Museum & Art Gallery’s collection; Alfred the Gorilla. Through visits to the archives at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, and conversations with staff, Brandon is gathering digital, photographic, and video material researching the life, death, and post-life stories of Alfred the Gorilla.

This research is informing categories and questions to be explored in a 'zine' publication in digital and physical format. The zine allows the mixed media research material to be categorised and presented together, acting as a working manual that can be shared as a resource for the other artists and community groups involved in the larger scale artwork which will be the subject of a future bid.

The zine will be an integral part of the larger scale project, appearing in the final show and will be built on as the project grows. After completion of the Research & Development (R&D) phase It will be available to the staff, artists and community centres involved in this phase and published on the museum website at a future date.

Brandon has also been liaising with audiences, artists, and community representatives, to help develop the larger About Alfred project bid. A group of schoolchildren from Year 6 have visited, to observe their interests and responses to Alfred. Bristol based artists; Lucy Woolett, Jan Lee Ming, Heath Bunting, Solomon O.B and Manu Maunganidze are interested in being participating artists within in the larger citywide work. Easton Community Centre and St Paul's learning centre are supportive as two of 3-4 community venues to host this work.

The timescales for this R&D phase of the project have been extended to allow space for processing of the research. The artist is now working with a bid writer for an application to the Arts Council Project Grant stream in January 2024. Remaining Research & Development time will be spent finishing work

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on the museum archives, talking with additional experts including Bristol Zoo and wildlife filmmakers, artists, and community centres, and with visitors to the gallery.

BMDT have granted £3,000 towards this research and development phase and look forward to seeing full project take shape.

Tribute to Guy Bailey (£8,000):

In September 2023 the Board approved a grant of £8,000 towards the creation and premiere of a new 15-minute film, plus an evening of tributes, to honour Guy Bailey OBE, who was a central figure in the Bristol Bus Boycott story. The aim of this project is to tell the story of an under-represented but key aspect of the Bristol Bus Boycott legacy and to ensure representation of an influential and inspiring protagonist in the Bristol story. The film will be made by grassroots filmmaker Clive Smith, with narration by Guy’s niece, Jacqui Wilson, both of whom hold rare archival footage of Guy from over the years.

On completion the film will be launched at the tribute event (planned for June 2024) and will become part of the museum’s collections. This ensures that the story is accessible and preserved for posterity.

Digital Engagement: Gallery Interactives (£19,500)

This project was approved funding in December 2022 with the aim to purchase equipment and software to allow the museum’s Interactive Technologist to prototype new interactives and uses of technology to improve engagement with visitors. The Digital Team believe that investing in this technology and knowledge now will lead to greater savings in the future. This stage of our project involves having these interactives prototyped and developed in-house, which will greatly increase both the speed at which interactives can be implemented in gallery and decrease the costs compared to outsourcing externally.

As of the end of September 2023, the Interactive Technologist estimates that the prototyping project is around 40% complete across six main themes: 3D Scanning; 3D Photogrammetry; 3D Printing; 3D Projection Mapping; Sensors/Immersive Projections and Hardware Replacement Prototype for M Shed Interpretation.

Each are at varying stages of progress. The 3D Scanning section is complete, with four collection items successfully scanned and more in the planning stages, leading to digital 3D models with 3D printable geometries that can be used as a digital record of a collection item as the geometry is of high quality. 3D Photogrammetry, is roughly 75% complete and has enabled the production of 3D models with colour data, though further technique refinement is sought. The photogrammetry models mean that 3D digital models can be created of pretty much anything on screens, projectors people's phones, etc. Meanwhile, 3D Printing is about halfway through prototyping. The work undertaken so far means small objects can be printed in-house, though tactile objects and large prints (bigger than 25x25x25cm) are yet to be completed. However, the remaining sections - 3D Projection Mapping, Sensors/Immersive projections, and Hardware Replacement Prototype still require more work.

The project has seen some tangible results so far. A 3D scan of a shoe in the museum collections was used to create a tactile object on display for an exhibition called Concealed/Reveal. There are plans to create 3D prints of a Pangolin for a project in the World Wildlife gallery around the ecological crisis, as well as 3D printing work for a display about Mary Anning.

Theme 3: Staff Development

Visitor Experience and Operations (VEO) Team Training and Development (£19,850):

This fund was approved at the September 2023 Board meeting and is for the one-off costs of providing a full range of training schemes to upskill the current VEO workforce across the museum sites.

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The training will cover Collections, Difficult Conversations, Engagement/Accessibility and bespoke training for senior VEO staff aimed at increasing employee morale and staff retention through providing a better and consistent front of house leadership team.

This project supports BMDT’s charitable objects through increasing the VEO teams’ knowledge and experience. The VEO team are often the public’s first, and sometimes only, point of contact with the museum. The trustees believe that offering greater development opportunities to this team has a clear benefit to the public and will give the team the tools to engage people more deeply in the museum’s work.

Training has commenced and the trustees look forward to reviewing staff feedback following the completion of the training.

Theme 4: Catalytic Funding

Contemporary Art Membership (£2,250):

This was a grant to pay for Bristol Museum’s annual membership of the Contemporary Art Society. Membership entitles the museum to access the art acquisition scheme (every four years), which fell in 2023 for Bristol, and is worth £12,000 to the organisation.

The Museum approached BMDT to pay for the membership because the Council was undertaking a review of subscriptions held by staff and would not have completed this by the required payment date. A pause in membership would have meant losing access to the acquisition scheme, as well as training opportunities. This would have meant fewer contemporary art acquisitions for the museum and less training and networking for the curator.

Julia Carver, Fine Art Curator is proposing to use the acquisition grant in combination with the final tranche of a grant from Art Fund’s Moving Image Award of £200,000 (also supported by BMDT) to acquire a moving image work by Turner Prize-winner Tai Shani. This proposal is currently being reviewed by both BCC and the funders.

Membership also entitles the museum to participate in the craft acquisition scheme (due next year), other acquisition schemes as well as training and travel. This year Julia has had the opportunity to travel to Cambridge to participate in a seminar and to Porto and Lisbon with a group of art curators from museums in Exeter, Manchester, Chichester and Reading, where they visited a wide range of galleries, from the Gulbenkian in Lisbon and Serralves Foundation in Porto to charities, historic houses, studio complexes and independent, artist-led spaces in both cities, altogether 14 sites over a three-day trip.

The grant means the museum maintained its relationship with CAS and will make a new acquisition which it would have otherwise not been possible.

Continued digitisation of the Bristol Archives Oral History collection (£4,651):

This is a small grant to compliment the grant received from the Foyle Foundation towards the sound archives project. This funding enables the team to make the Audio Engineer position a full 12-month fixed term contract as well as cover all staff on costs.

This project supports BMDTs strategic goal to “Fill a gap in the wider funding landscape”. Funding of archival digitisation is challenging to source, with many funding sources specifically focusing on museum collections. The development team were only able to find two trusts to apply to of which one, The Foyle Foundation, was successful. With BMDT support the Archives team will be able to make the most of this rare funding opportunity to continue the vital digitisation work for another 12 months and hopefully digitise a substantial proportion of the remaining collections.

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Sounds of the South West (£15,000):

This is a grant to support Bristol Archives’ participation in Sounds of the South West, a multi-partner, multi-year project planned by Archives South West (ASW), the network of local authority archives of which Bristol Archives is a main member. The heart of the project will be based at Bristol Archives and Bristol Culture will be the lead project partner. Altogether the network covers the seven historic counties of south-west England. The full project cost is forecast to be £1,282,018.

This project builds on the momentum, awareness, and networks created by Unlocking Our Sound Heritage (UOSH), the UK-wide, British Library led, National Lottery Heritage Fund supported project that ran from 2018 to 2022, preserving 300,000 audio recordings.

Bristol Archives was south-west England’s ‘hub’ for UOSH, digitising 5000 items for the region in their sound room (extensively resourced by UOSH). While this might seem like a lot of recordings, it’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the extent of material that needs preservation. Sounds of the South West will develop this successful model to meet regional needs, incorporating best practice and lessons learned.

Bristol Archive’s is in the process of putting together an application to The National Lottery Heritage Fund to 90% of the project costs, leaving 10% to be found by other means. All of the ASW members and the 19 other organisations participating in the project have committed funds towards this 10%, of which this grant forms a part.

- Protest Display at M Shed (Including Colston Statue) £30,000:

BMDT approved a grant of £30,000 in September 2023. This funding, along with equal funding from the Friends of Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives, hopes to support phase 1 of this project and unlock future funding for phase 2 of the planned project.

The statue of Edward Colston was erected on Colston Avenue in the centre of Bristol in 1895 and was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest march on 7th June 2020. This was a result of longstanding objections in the city against the veneration of Colston, who was a leading figure in the Royal African Company and played an active role in the trafficking of over 84,000 enslaved African people. The Colston statue was displayed in the Window on Bristol in the Life Gallery in M Shed between 4th June 2021 and 3rd January 2022. The display was developed by Bristol Museums in partnership with the We Are Bristol History Commission. The display also included the opportunity to participate in a public consultation survey in which the people shared their views on the statue, its removal, and what should be done with it in future.

Over 14,000 responses were collected and analysed by the We Are Bristol History Commision, who estimate that this is the largest piece of public consultation to inform the future display of a museum object carried out anywhere in the world. The results of this survey and the recommendations from the History Commission and Project T.R.U.T.H will form the bedrock of this exhibition, which will also be a sector leading approach to coproduction and community curation.

Following analysis of the public survey results, the We Are Bristol History Commission made the following recommendations on the future of the Colston statue:

We recommend that the Colston statue enters the permanent collection of the Bristol City Council Museums service.
We recommend that the statue is preserved in its current state and the opportunity to reflect this in the listing description is explored with Historic England.
We recommend that the statue be exhibited, drawing on the principles and practice of the temporary M Shed display where the statue was lying horizontally. We recommend that attention is paid to presenting the history in a nuanced, contextualised, and engaging way, including information on the broader history of the enslavement of people of African descent.

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The museum team plan to create the display in line with these recommendations and wider guidance from community partners. As such the statue of Edward Colston will be displayed at M Shed in the People gallery, where the Celebrating cinema screen is currently. The statue will be displayed in its current state, laid on its side, behind the screen. It will be encased in a custom-built display case with sides reaching to above visitors’ head height. Black Lives Matter protest placards will be displayed alongside the statue, with additional contextual information about Colston, the statue and Bristol's involvement in the Trans-Atlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans (TTEA).

It is hoped that in phase 2 a series of large digital screens and projections will allow for interpretation to be updated as narratives change over time. This will also allow holistic and emotional responses to the statue to be displayed. The display will focus on the gallery theme of Protest and will not make the statue the focal point of the display. Large scale images of the June 2020 crowd on the outside of the screening wall would centre the protestors (rather than Colston). This is to ensure that the wider, nuanced, and contextual existence of the history of Colston and the statue, as well as Bristol's role in the TTEA, is the focus and drive of the redisplay.

Following this project, the long-term aim is that it will feed into the refreshment of the wider displays at M Shed – starting in the People Gallery - to include the history of the TTEA in Bristol and its legacies, via co-production with African Heritage Communities. The existing TTEA section would become a coproduced reflection space for community use. This would reflect the current decolonial approach of integrating the history of Britain’s empire-building overseas, including the TTEA, into the story of domestic British history.

The redisplay and refresh is currently underway and is supported by a bespoke Group of Advisors from our Community Partners.

Funds Undesignated:

More Uncomfortable Truths (£19,800)

As described in our pervious Annual Report £19,800 was approved in the December 2021 Board Meeting for the next iteration of ‘Uncomfortable Truths’ - More Uncomfortable Truths. The project aimed to build upon the previous 2019 ‘Uncomfortable Truths ‘project, which gathered a lot of attention at both local and national level in questioning how museums deal with the decolonisation issue.

More Uncomfortable Truths (MUT) looked to build on the success of the project in 2019 which involved 12 young people of colour from the University of the West of England in creating 6 podcasts relating to objects and paintings across collections at BMAG. This time the Bristol museums team engaged with students at the University of Bristol in March 2022 and appointed 10 students to work on a brief to create a more obvious display around contentious museum collection artefacts in the Front Hall of the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery. Although the podcasts of 2019 were successful, it was felt something more tangible and obvious to the museum visitors would be a preferred outcome in this project. Again though, the aim would be for the participants to open up the conversation about Bristol Museum & Art Gallery’s colonial heritage. This would reveal cases where items in the collections have hidden stories around colonial activity which could be about how they were originally taken from their countries of origin or their continued significance to the communities from which they were removed and to suggest how to face up to or help resolve these difficult pasts through repatriation or other means.

Through a two-week series of workshops and guided reflection sessions, the group worked alongside museum staff and external partners to critically explore previously ‘hidden’ histories in our collections, interrogate our galleries and reflect on the colonial heritage of our organisation. This initial stage of the project ran from 20th June – 1st July, supported by Community Centred Knowledge. At the end of this period the participants’ presented ideas and proposals, which highlighted topics and learnings not originally anticipated. Although further debate followed, unfortunately the project stalled, partly due to internal staffing capacities and it was felt that the project was unlikely to be completed as originally envisaged. However, the museum team feel the project does represent significant learning for the

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Culture staff involved as to the complexities and sensitivities inherent in these debates. As a consequence of this situation, it was indicated in the previous report that only a proportion of the previously approved £19,800 would be transferred over.

Since that report was published the team at Bristol Museums concluded that due the time that had elapsed since the workshops, combined with the lack of leadership for the project (resulting from the staff restructure) it would not be possible to complete this project as outlined in the grant application to BMDT. A decision was made by the museum team to cover project costs incurred to date from their internal budgets, and not draw down on the approved grant. Internal museum funding could be used due to a reduced workplan over the previous year. It was felt that it would be better to return the money to the unrestricted fund so a future, more robust, grant application can be submitted. The full amount has now been unrestricted in the BMDT accounts.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

a. OVERALL REVIEW

Income

Income received in the period ending 30 September 2023 amounted to £273,289, of which £80,870, was restricted for specific projects and £192,419 unrestricted income.

Income from corporate sponsorship and corporate membership was received by Bristol City Council through Culture and Creative Industries.

The trustees gratefully acknowledge the support of all its donors, including Trusts and Foundations.

Expenditure

The bulk of the expenditure was for the transfer of £190,409 in funds to Bristol City Council, relating to a range of grants and donations secured in current and previous years to support the work carried out by the Culture and Creative Industries portfolio of museums.

The transfer of a grant takes place once the acquisition or project to which it relates has commenced and is often transferred in instalments to coincide with the specific project timeline and expenditure budget.

Major operating expenses incurred by the Development Team, including salaries and office accommodation, are underwritten by Bristol City Council through Culture and Creative Industries.

Financial management

Day to day management and administrative support of the Trust, including overseeing the operations of the Trust’s bank account, was provided by a volunteer bookkeeper supported by the Bristol Culture & Creative Industries’ Development Team.

b. RESERVES POLICY

The Trust has a policy of maintaining unrestricted reserves in the region of £50,000 in order to fulfil its governance requirements and meet its commitments for grant-making according to its policy (see below). Larger reserves are not required because support costs such as salaried staff and premises are provided by Culture and Creative Industries, part of Bristol City Council. During the financial year the Trust continued with its grant-making activity to Bristol Museums and Archives, however unrestricted reserves remain higher than in previous years, to enable the Trust to make funds available to Bristol Museums and Archives for possible future key developments.

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

At the year end the Trust held designated funds of £50,000. The remaining unrestricted funds of £239,389 will be utilised by the Trust for future grant making as opportunities arise.

Restricted funds accumulate for specific projects until the fundraising target has been reached and then the money is paid out for the delivery of the project. Restricted funds also accumulate where grants are received for a specific project and delivery of that project can take time to conclude. As a result, the Trust may hold restricted funds for a couple of years without incurring expenditure. The level of restricted funds at the year-end was £292,485.

c. GRANT MAKING POLICY

In line with its objectives, the Trust makes grants from its unrestricted income to support Bristol’s museums. The Trust also supports fundraising and other initiatives that foster greater financial sustainability for Bristol’s museums by increasing the share of its unrestricted income.

Decisions on grant-making are made at the Trust’s quarterly Board meetings, in response to written funding requests from the relevant Culture and Creative Industries staff member. All requests must be in line with the Culture and Creative Industries business plan.

For larger projects, the Trust’s early involvement is important in helping to leverage grants from larger funders and donations from private individuals.

d . MATERIAL INVESTMENTS POLICY

The Trust does not hold funds for a significant period of time and therefore all funds are held in the Trust’s bank accounts.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

The Trust will continue to pursue its objectives of supporting for the benefit of the public the development of world-class museums and archives in Bristol. The trustees believe that the enjoyment of the arts and museums can change people’s lives, foster understanding about ourselves and others and should be freely accessible to all.

The growing income from the Trust will enable it to continue to pursue grant funding opportunities with Bristol’s museums and to continue to develop underrepresented audiences, support museum visits from schools in disadvantaged areas, care for collections and deliver pioneering exhibitions which inspire visitors.

Statement of trustees’ responsibilities

The trustees (who are also directors of Bristol Museums Development Trust for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report (incorporating the strategic report and directors' report) and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102: The Financial Reporting' Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the income and expenditure of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements 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.

In preparing this report, the trustees have taken advantage of the small companies exemptions provided by section 415A of the Companies Act 2006.

Apr 17 2024

This report was approved by the trustees on ……………………. and signed on their behalf by:

Nigel Hardy

Fiona Hallworth

Trustee

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Bristol Museums Development Trust

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Company for the year ended 30 September 2023.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity’s trustees of the Company (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (‘the 2006 Act’).

Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the Company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity’s accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5) (b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

Since the Company’s gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, which is one of the listed bodies.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the Company as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
the accounts do not accord with those records; or
the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

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

Joshua Kingston BSc (Hons) ACA Burton Sweet Limited The Clock Tower 5 Farleigh Court Old Weston Road Flax Bourton Bristol BS48 1UR

Date: Apr 17 2024

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (Including Income and Expenditure Account) YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Unrestricted Funds £ 192,419	Restricted Funds £ 80,870	Total Funds 2023 £ 273,289	Total Funds 2022 £ 500,928
192,419	80,870	273,289	500,928
150,766 8,844	48,209 57	198,975 8,901	311,333 15,126
159,610	48,266	207,876	326,459
32,809 256,580	32,604 259,881	65,413 516,461	174,469 341,992
289,389	292,485	581,874	516,461

The Charity has no recognised gains or losses other than the results for the year as set out above.

All of the activities of the charity are classed as continuing.

The notes on pages 25 to 34 form part of these financial statements See note 6 for fund-accounting comparative figures

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST

BALANCE SHEET

AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Company number: 06685688

Note Current assets Debtors 7 Cash at bank and in hand Liabilities Creditors : amounts falling due within one year 8 Net current assets Total assets less current liabilities Net assets FUNDS Unrestricted funds General funds 12 Designated funds 12 Restricted funds 12 Total funds	2023 £ 19,830 916,853 936,683 (354,809) 581,874 581,874 581,874 239,389 50,000 292,485 581,874	2022 £ 48,804 745,805
		794,609 (278,148)
		516,461
		516,461
		516,461
		206,500 50,080 259,881
		516,461

For the year ending 30 September 2023 the charity was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011.
● The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.
The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of financial statements.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies' regime.

Apr 17 2024

These financial statements were approved by the Trustees on…............................. and are signed on their behalf by:

…................................................ Nigel Hardy Trustee

…................................................ Fiona Hallworth Trustee

The notes on pages 25 to 34 form part of these financial statements

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST

CASH FLOW STATEMENT

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Note Net cash inflow from operating activities 9 Non-operational cash flows: Net cash inflow/(outflow) for the year 10	2023 £ 171,048 - 171,048	2022 £ 335,379
		-
		335,379

Cashflow Restrictions

Charity law prohibits the use of net cash inflows on any endowed or other restricted fund to offset net cash outflows on any fund outside its own objects, except on special authority. In practice, this restriction has not had any effect on cash flows for the year.

The notes on pages 25 to 34 form part of these financial statements

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

1 Accounting policies

Accounting convention

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the historical cost convention (except where otherwise stated in the accounting policy note) and in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued in October 2019, and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), and the Companies Act 2006.

The charity is a public benefit entity as defined under FRS102.

The Trustees consider that the charity is a going concern with no material uncertainties affecting it. In making this judgement the Trustees have considered the wider economic conditions surrounding the charity, the charity's reserves and a sufficient time scale from the signing date of these financial statements.

Income

Income from donations is included in income when these are receivable, except as follows:

I. When donors specify that donations given to the charity must be used in future accounting periods, the income is deferred until those periods;

II. When donors impose conditions which have to be fulfilled before the charity becomes entitled to use such income, the income is deferred until the pre-conditions have been met.

Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised in the period in which it is incurred. Most expenditure is directly attributable to charitable activities and has been included in that cost category. Support costs have been included entirely under the heading Charitable Activities.

Governance costs include those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the charity and include the audit fees and costs linked to the strategic management of the charity. Governance costs are included within support costs.

Grants payable are charged in the year when the offer is conveyed to the recipient except in those cases where the offer is conditional, such grants being recognised when the conditions attaching are fulfilled. Grants offered subject to conditions which have not been met at the year end are noted as a commitment, but not accrued as expenditure.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discretion of the trustees.

Designated funds form part of unrestricted funds and have been identified as being for particular purposes by the Trustees. They are not restricted and can be transferred to the general funds at any time at the discretion of the

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid after taking account of any discounts due.

Creditors

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any discounts due.

Cash at bank and cash in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

2 Income from: Donations and legacies

Unrestricted Funds £ 174,847 2,422 - 15,150	Restricted Funds £ 35,304 48 45,518 -	Total Funds 2023 £ 210,151 2,470 45,518 15,150
192,419	80,870	273,289
Unrestricted Funds £ 245,348 3,551 - 18,750	Restricted Funds £ 212,402 1,396 19,481 -	Total Funds 2022 £ 457,750 4,947 19,481 18,750
267,649	233,279	500,928
Unrestricted Funds £ 142,200 144 2,505 3,481 2,436	Restricted Funds £ 48,209 - - - -	Total Funds 2023 £ 190,409 144 2,505 3,481 2,436
150,766	48,209	198,975
Unrestricted Funds £ 244,675 144 2,112 5,277 2,256	Restricted Funds £ 56,869 - - - -	Total Funds 2022 £ 301,544 144 2,112 5,277 2,256
254,464	56,869	311,333

3 Expenditure on: Charitable activities

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

4 Net income/(expenditure) for the year

This is stated after charging:		2023	2022
		£	£
Independent examiner's fees :	- for independent examination	1,624	1,504
	- for other services	812	752

No Trustees have been reimbursed or received any remuneration during the current or prior year.

Aggregate donations from Trustees, key management personnel, and other related parties was £440 (2022: £500). There were no staff employed by the charity in the current or previous year.

The key management personnel are considered to be the trustees.

There were no aggregate employment benefits paid to key management personnel during the current or prior year.

5 Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

6 Statement of Financial Activities comparative figures

Unrestricted Funds £ 267,649	Restricted Funds £ 233,279	Total Funds 2022 £ 500,928
267,649	233,279	500,928
254,464 15,126	56,869 -	311,333 15,126
269,590	56,869	326,459
258,521 (1,941)	83,471 176,410	341,992 174,469
256,580	259,881	516,461

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

7 Debtors

Gift Aid Accrued income Other debtors	2023 £ - 16,330 3,500	2022 £ 1,785 44,019 3,000
	19,830	48,804

During the year, Bristol City Council acted as agents of Bristol Museums Development Trust in the collection of donations from the public to Bristol Museums Development Trust. Money collected by Bristol City Council during the period, which has not been transferred to Bristol Museum Development Trust at year end is recognised as income in the period and included as a debtor in the Balance Sheet.

8 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Accruals and grants payable Other creditors	2023 £ 354,409 400	2022 £ 276,223 1,925
	354,809	278,148

9 Reconciliation of net movement in funds to net cash inflow from operating activities

2023 £ 65,413 28,974 76,661	2022 £ 745,805	2022 £ 174,469 (37,692) 198,602
171,048		335,379
2023 £ 916,853		Change £ 171,048
2022 £ 745,805	2021 £ 410,426	Change £ 335,379

10 Analysis of changes in cash during the year

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

11 Movement in funds

For the year ended 30 September 2023

At 1 Oct 2022 £ 62 5,268 - 10,221 785 2,949 10,071 8,356 300 6,250 - 115 3,307 209,372 2,825	Income £ - - 45,518 - - - 10,552 - - 3,000 1,000 - - 20,800 -	Expenditure £ - - (6,669) - - (100) (4,299) (8,356) (300) - - - - (28,542) -	Transfers £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	At 30 Sep 2023 £ 62 5,268 38,849 10,221 785 2,849 16,324 - - 9,250 1,000 115 3,307 201,630 2,825
259,881	80,870	(48,266)	-	292,485
- - - 50,000 - - - - - - - - - - - 80	- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	(3,000) (3,400) (4,651) - (30,000) (21,380) (2,250) (18,000) 1,110 (19,500) 19,800 (18,079) (15,000) (19,850) (8,000) -	3,000 3,400 4,651 - 30,000 21,380 2,250 18,000 (1,110) 19,500 (19,800) 18,079 15,000 19,850 8,000 (80)	- - - 50,000 - - - - - - - - - - - -
50,080 206,500	- 192,419	(142,200) (17,410)	142,120 (142,120)	50,000 239,389
256,580	192,419	(159,610)	-	289,389

516,461	273,289	(207,876)	-	581,874

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

11 Movement in funds (continued)

For the year ended 31 September 2022

At 1 Oct 2021 £ - 625 5,268 - 785 - 4,633 47,856 - - 1,063 - 1,645 2,014 16,757 2,825	Income £ 562 - - 10,221 - 3,750 7,643 - 300 6,250 - 9,260 113 - 195,180 -	Expenditure £ (500) (625) - - - (801) (2,205) (39,500) - - (1,063) (9,260) (1,643) 1,293 (2,565) -	Transfers £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	At 30 Sep 2022 £ 62 - 5,268 10,221 785 2,949 10,071 8,356 300 6,250 - - 115 3,307 209,372 2,825
83,471	233,279	(56,869)	-	259,881
2,640 - 7,220 50,000 - - - 35 - 100,000 3,098 - - -	- - - - - - - - - - - - - -	(2,640) (4,250) - - (15,000) (2,264) (11,500) (19,736) (19,800) (120,485) (3,018) (30,000) (15,000) (4,000)	- 4,250 (7,220) - 15,000 2,264 11,500 19,701 19,800 20,485 - 30,000 4,000 15,000	- - - 50,000 - - - - - - 80 - - -
162,993 95,528	- 267,649	(247,693) (21,897)	134,780 (134,780)	50,080 206,500
258,521	267,649	(269,590)	-	256,580

341,992	500,928	(326,459)	-	516,461

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

11 Movement in funds (continued)

Fund Descriptions - Restricted

Archaeology relates to individual donations to contribute towards the purchase of a fossil for the Geology Department.

Black Lives Matter Exhibition/Education relates to monies donated for either an exhibition or education programme around the subject of Black Lives Matter or Bristol's Black History.

Bomford Trust represents monies donated by Bristol Bomford Bequest Trust for the purchase or collection management of the Bomford Collection of Ancient Glass .

Bristol Archives represent monies received to be used for The Bristol Archives.

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery Refurbishment Projects represents monies donated for the art galleries.

Bristol Threatened History Society represents the transfer of funds from the Bristol Threatened History Society whose purpose was to ‘support Archaeological work in the City of Bristol by providing educational events and encouraging publication of the City’s archaeology’.

Egypt Gallery represents monies donated for the Egypt Gallery.

Goldney Portrait represents a donation from a supporter for the conservation of the portrait of Thomas Goldney III [1696 -1768].

Industrial & Maritime Collections represents monies received as donations for this collection, particularly but not restricted to the Working Exhibits (the trains, cranes and boats in the collection situated on the Harbourside outside M Shed) and support for the annual Docks Heritage Weekend.

Japanese Porcelain Fund represents monies received to fund a curatorial post for the specific purpose of cataloguing and digitising the Finch collection of Japanese Porcelain.

Learning Team represents monies received for developing new workshops for schools, offering financial support to enable schools that may not have visited a Bristol Museums' site for some time to take up one of the workshops.

M Shed revenue projects represents monies received to be used for M Shed.

Natural History Butterfly Collection represents monies donated to support the cataloguing and digitisation of butterfly collection held at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.

PORF Benches represents the Grant received from Post Office Remembrance Fund to restore benches outside BMAG.

Social History represents monies donated to be used in connection with the Social History Collection housed at M Shed.

T Merriman represents donations made in memory of Tony Merriman.

Van Neste Creative Cafes represents funding received from the Van Neste Foundation to support Bristol Museums’ dementia-friendly Creative Cafes.

Visual Arts Collections represents funding for the acquisition, conservation, display, research into and the works of art and artefacts cared for by the Visual Art curators.

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

11 Movement in funds (continued)

Fund Descriptions - Designated

About Alfred is a designated fund and represents a grant from the trustees for a research & Development project for a wide project to use digital, photographic, and video material researching the life, death, and post-life stories of Alfred the Gorilla .

Arts Funds Moving Image Fund is a designated fund and represents funds granted by trustees to the Visual Arts team to acquire artists' film and video.

Art Shed is a designated fund to support the delivery of the Art shed programme.

Blaise Redevelopment is a designated fund and represents a grant to scope redevelopment opportunities at Blaise Museum, including the laboratory space for community engagement.

Bristol Oral History represents additional funding to be used alongside the grant from the Foyle Foundation for digitisation of oral collections .

British Empire & Commonwealth Collection is a designated fund for the Documentation Assistant to support the team’s outreach programme.

Capital Development refers to funds designated for the redevelopment of Bristol Museums.

Catering review refers to funds designated for consultancy review of the catering options for M Shed, BMAG and Red Lodge and propose commercially viable recommendations.

Colston Redisplay 2024 is a designated fund, and represents funds granted by trustees to produce phase 1 of a Protest Display at M Shed including the Colston Statue.

Conservation of Japanese ceramics and Delftware is a designated fund towards conservation and the creation of bespoke mounts for redisplay.

Conservation of Temnodontosaurus is a designated fund for the conservation of the Temnodontosaurus (marine reptile) skull and associated project work.

Contemporary Art Society Membership is a designated fund for the payment of Bristol Museum’s membership with the contemporary art society.

Creative Classroom Pilot is a designated fund granted by the trustees to support the Learning Teams to test new ways of working with schools and academies to open up access to the Museum Collections to local school children.

Fluttering Through History is a designated fund for staffing to support digitisation of Butterfly data, gathered through an interactive display at ‘Think Global Act Bristol’ exhibition.

Framing of the Valeria is a designated fund to support the framing and transport of a major new acquisition through the Contemporary Art Society Valeria Napoleone XX award.

Fundraising Budget is a designated fund to support the work of the Development Team.

Improving Gallery Interactive Technology is a designated fund to support improvements and innovations to technology across the museum sites.

More Uncomfortable Truths is a designated fund to support the development and delivery of the next project building on Bristol Museum’s ‘Uncomfortable Truths’

M Shed Seating is a designated fund to re upholster and update the bespoke seating in the M Shed foyer.

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

11 Movement in funds (continued)

Fund Descriptions - Designated (continued)

Museum Estate and Development Fund is a designated fund to provide match funding for the Bristol City Council as part of their application to the Arts Council England for funding towards infrastructure repairs, maintenance and sustainability improvements at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

Participation Community Fund is a designated fund to support the work of the Participation and Community Engagement Team.

Sounds of the South West is a designated fund for matched funding to support an application by the Bristol Archives to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for participation in Sounds of the South West, a multi-partner, multi-year project planned by Archives South West (ASW).

Team Training and Development is a designated fund to support training for Bristol Museums Front of House Team.

Tribute to Guy Bailey OBE is a designated fund to support the production of a tribute film focused on Guy Bailey OBE and his role in the Bristol Bus Boycott.

Visitor Giving Project is a designated fund to support the individual giving strategy to encourage visitors to donate across the venues.

Welcome and Orientation is a designated fund for a consultancy review of our welcome and signage, both internal and external, at our lead sites.

12 Analysis of net assets between funds

As at 31 September 2023 Restricted funds Unrestricted funds Designated funds General funds As at 31 September 2022 Restricted funds Unrestricted funds Designated funds General funds	Other Net assets £ 292,485 50,000 239,389	Total £ 292,485 50,000 239,389
	581,874	581,874
	Other Net assets £ 259,881 50,080 206,500	Total £ 259,881 50,080 206,500
	516,461	516,461

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

13 Company limited by guarantee

The Company is limited by guarantee and as such has no issued share capital. In the event of the Company being wound up the liability of the members is limited to £1 each.

14 Related party transactions

There are no transactions with trustees or other related parties other than those disclosed as required by the SORP elsewhere in the financial statements.

2023-09-30-accounts

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST (A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE)

TRUSTEES’ REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

a. CONSTITUTION

b. METHOD OF APPOINTMENT OR ELECTION OF TRUSTEES

c. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE AND DECISION MAKING

RISK MANAGEMENT

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

a. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT

b. PUBLIC BENEFIT

c. AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

a. GOING CONCERN

b. OVERVIEW

UNRESTRICTED INCOME

Donation streams

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

The Patron Circle

Introduction to 1823 Club

DESIGNATED AND RESTRICTED FUNDS

Restricted Funds:

Jean Allan Legacy:

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Chinese Textiles Project:

Industrial & Maritime Fund:

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

BMDT also secured £45,518 in grants from external funding bodies

Foyle Foundation (£37,000):

National Manuscripts Conservation Trust (£17,000)

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Designated Funds:

Theme 1: Building & Collections Preservation

Temnodontosaurus Conservation (£19,380)

M Shed Seating (£18,079):

- MEND (Museum Estate and Development Fund) Match funding (£75,485 & £45,000):

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Theme 2: City Wide Storytelling & Engagement

Creative Classrooms (£18,000):

About Alfred (£3,000):

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Tribute to Guy Bailey (£8,000):

Digital Engagement: Gallery Interactives (£19,500)

Theme 3: Staff Development

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Theme 4: Catalytic Funding

Contemporary Art Membership (£2,250):

Continued digitisation of the Bristol Archives Oral History collection (£4,651):

Sounds of the South West (£15,000):

- Protest Display at M Shed (Including Colston Statue) £30,000:

Funds Undesignated:

More Uncomfortable Truths (£19,800)

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

FINANCIAL REVIEW

a. OVERALL REVIEW

Income

Expenditure

Financial management

b. RESERVES POLICY

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

c. GRANT MAKING POLICY

d . MATERIAL INVESTMENTS POLICY

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

Statement of trustees’ responsibilities

YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Apr 17 2024

Fiona Hallworth

Trustee

Trustee

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Bristol Museums Development Trust

Responsibilities and basis of report

Independent examiner’s statement

BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (Including Income and Expenditure Account) YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023