REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER- IJ81435M IEnglATrd Wale51 REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER.. 1149454 REPORT OFTHE TRUSTEES AND UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED31 JULY 2023 FOR VICTORIA CROSS TRusr IA COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEÉ) R¢pd Smith Al￿¢•aleS Limited Capia House Greatcliffc Court Greaicliffe Road B3rDsI¢y Sou¢h Yorkshwt S75 3SP 'ODiC186)* 19104tt024 014PANIES HtsL6E A12 vIcroRIA CR05S TRUST CONTENTS OFTHE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED3I JULY 21J23 Pa8¢ Rtport of ihe Trusiees Ipdcp¢ndent Ey8rninyrf5 RepDrt Staiement of FlnancialPfjs11io Nfjte4 lo thE FinBncixlStaterneTrl¥ D¢t&itt41 State￿ent pfFillADcial Attivltit vicroRIA CROSS TRUST REPORT OPTHE TRUSTEES OR THE YEAR ENDED31 JULY 2023 The trustees whts art also d￿￿t0[S of ihe chanty for the putposes ofthe COMP￿leS Act 2006, present their report w)th the fmkncial statrmertis of the charity for the ytar ended 31 July2023. The trusieu havE ￿0Pted the provision$ of Aceouniing and Reporting by Chdritie5. s￿teMent of RecLimmended Prd¢ii¢e applicable to charitits prepanng thtv( a¢COunts ui ac¢ordanc¢ With the Financial Reporting S¢andard appli¢abPe in ¢he and Republic of Irtland {FRS 102) leff¢¢tiv¢ l January 20191. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES Oble¢lIv￿ #irns The Vic¢oria Cross is the hi8hest military honour of the United Kingdom honours sysltm. It is awarded for gallanny nd valour'in the fa¢p of the enemy" 10 rn2mbers of the Brit15h and Comrnonwtalth 5trV1cetntn and wornen. To da 1363 Viciori? Cr055es h4v¢ been awarded 5iD¢e c¢eation ID 1856 Across the United K￿gdOfft and thE test of thE world. there are many prtvatc gravts and memorials to those awuded tht Victtsn8 Cr055. A Small nUTnbtr of thek BravE5 art tarcd for by the Cornmonwealrh War Grdvts Comrni55ion beo8uSt Iheir remit only Covtts VIcioriaCTOSS recipients killed th ￿tIon durin8 ¢therof the world wa￿. All graves of Victoria Cross recipients who fought and died outside dale5 of the￿ cJ)nflicts are priyately owned. A sm?11 nyTnber of ih¢s¢ 88ain ar¢ Siill ca￿d for by iheir farnily, the rest li¢ forgott￿. neglettpd and in SOTne ¢&ses Art w lo51 lorever Thr Victoria Cross Tryst IVCT) 5Eek5 th* the final ruting places of ih¢ Victotta CrO&S fttipients rema nled and ttr¢d for respecting thE Wlshes of famili¢s aTrJ communiiiES al￿*. In addition. the charity also aim5 10 educate tht public ￿ the &wrie5 bEhiDd thE VC r¢cipients. These twt objectivts ¢ontinue to be the prirn8ry of the VCT with no requ￿tment to extend thern ￿loWIng us to effect ￿8￿1#r maintenAlltt of themori&ls 45 well as de¥elopthg edue&tional prograrnme With sthools. Pas¢ I VICTORIA CROSS TRusr REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY Z&23 OWEcfivES AF4D ACTlVIflES SiE•ifirsnl activit￿$ During th¢ periad August 2022 to July 2023. ￿ wert 3blt to fijrthtr devtlop and stsstsin our business pkn following money received through an Armed Forces Covenant Orant awarded in April 2021, thai had b¢cn th¢ bvdrock of our plans Our 5llccets in aEhieV￿g and indeed exceEding the re4Uirtd Outcomts requwed by ihe AFCG led to our project MAtht8inthg the Memories ￿Ulg published & a leading txample of project mana8emeni and d¢liverwg su¢ces5 in the medi8. The year 2022r23 allowed uy to M￿U￿1$¢ our fthancial strategy of developing In￿Me through S￿¢5 at the VCTg rtthil tl¢¢ in Lokesid¢ Doncasier. We had been able ￿ devtlop a footprini in a reuil shop unli aDd bec¢)rne self-$ustairting and grant free throush income ¥ve were able 10 8eDer4te. The product5 we sell ￿ very carefvlly 5elerted. they Are not the usual '5econd hand. goads fo￿￿ many Charyty shop5 a5 A ￿SU]I Df high salts we were able to gairj a signif￿rtt finan¢ial IoDthold that allowcd US to plan into the mcdium tctrn. The work at Ihe ttuil premi5e5 did noi redutt Our capacity to undertakr grave Clean￿8 and eduEÈtional vTrSits io local Khools. ID fa¢1. th¢ VCT wa5 also able to e5tsblish a Small display section Wilhin the shop and create a netv memorial to seven loul VC r¢cipients withm thc Pr￿In(t of the shoppin8 Centre, all part of our developing ability w ¢xpand the delivery of our chantsble aim5. Th mernorial plaquE5 rommemorJiing the Seven Don¢arter VC$ w4S Tecogni&ed by thE lthptnttl War Mus¢um as a Site of 1ntertS18nd isrtcOrdEd In the￿regIsters. April to October We were able to CO]npltte a significantnumt¢r ofrtstOrationsAnd eleons8nd inspeaionsduringthis ￿riOd. This included 20 cleans and 518nificant repairs and restoration5 of rnemwia15. 11 is importpnt to not¢ thal the grave re5wrations are seasonal as Our equipment is difficul¢ to operate in fhe wiD¢¢r months 43 th¢ ¥rekni gentrated rule5 a dan$￿vS enviroDmeni reducin8 visibilityand iThcreJsin8 risk5 of￿clden We w¢r¢ also able ¢0 organise and host a number of memorial and ￿-¢￿￿t￿en1 vents yt tht Lakesidt ¢tntst that mc(¢d sigDificant iDt¢rest and 8ttEnd8D¢¢ ftom the publir. Through All thE5È a¢tivities wt allned to support veierdns d volunivrs who wollld b¢nefit in several way5 through engagernent in wr Activitits With welfatt And well-being oGrave cleans 30 achieved oGrave inspECtions 48 achieved forthe full year Maintained 15 regularveterdnsand 2 new cadets Pr¢5entation5 aleVen￿ed￿ration IS plus over 10.ow ¢nygem¢ntsat the shop o I￿reaSed tyTnover£3k per moDth- £9k arhieved (March 20231 ge2 VICTORIA CROSS TRUST REPORT OFTHE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 20Z3 OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES October2022 to April 2023 This period fo¢used our activity of developing retail and limi*d educ*ion wiih opportunity to pla¢E our retail offer￿¥ And development Within a busy shopping ¢￿tre. We also focused on sthwl vi5ity pfvS¢Dting l¢pmin& cODtent to mÈet the naiiottal cu￿1¢￿IuM and tngaging With St￿dents acrrpSS all ages fr0rn 6 years ty 16 10 hplp them undetstand the history 8SSC*iattd With the VC and achieve iheu own leBrnin8 oulMnies. Our irteome from saks c4nEinued ro yow and provided u5 with a h¢althy rpseTV¢ and an ability to plan for the forthcoming yw dnd grea￿ a￿aY of work. In January 202J however wp faced 3 significant challenge from our landlords when proposed price I￿￿<4S¢S were pres¢Th￿ to U5 Wlth only a 5hort-terTn lea￿ available. As & rcsult. the vcr explored al¢ernative5 and were abl¢ to 5Ecure longer term lew in retail premi5e5 In the Frenthgate 5hoppthg ¢Entre close to the Doncaster public tran5POrt mierchange and with a much larger foorfall. TrustEE5 agreeé that a rnov¢ to new prcmisles was Iinancially sensible and would provide u5 with long tenn premi5¢5 from which we Could ¢oniuiu¢ ¢0 ￿DW. The move was undertakEll April 2023 and Ihe rtew shcy) premiseseguipped and opened in June 2023 wiih a imm¢diaie unpacg On sales trcnds at the close of thc financial year. Thp Vcr Saw o coniinueo trend in ve￿￿nS wishing io b¢corn¢ regular volunteers and sttk opportunities f*r other organisalionsto uiilis¢ ournew reiail pr¢rnis¢s for opportuni¢ies ro develop veteran5 for employfftent. DUE to its l(Kation the pr¢rnises are far rnore a¢cv55ible for the fftajority of vetrrJn5. and we have *¢n a significant irt¢rta5t irt footfall at the new retail store. (hjtend ofmarch 2023 sO¢iO1 medih 4nd public profile int￿sed signifi¢antlyènO issummarised btlow." oTwitEer- 20k followers tsFacebook Grtsup-Friend5 ofthe Vitwrip Cro$S Tryst 2k followers (up lO%I o Facebook Pag¢- The Vic¢oriaCrOss Trv$t987 followers increased from 687 o Linkedln- The Victona Cross- 510 follower5 InCr&￿d ftorn 387 Facebook alone has had an intrease Df 25% to 400k Views of the Fr￿0$ ofthe Victoria Cyoss Trusi over the la* 12 months wilh ￿ld]VidUal posts on Twitter attrACSing tsn avttagt 7k en8a8tmenis. We have an increase in Visi￿r$ on averase ￿ the Lakeside and ihpn Frenchgate shops with oV￿40k estimated to have visitrd uS4nd Èxpenenced Oureducational displlys, rethil ofttrmg thdopportuttities to tngag¢ with veieraD5. The period from March to July 2023 was a challen8¢ having ¢0 move premises and rnaiDMin intome as Well as a