Ironbridge Coracle Trust Receipts & Payments account For the year ended 31 March 2021
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Ironbridge Coracle Trust
Trustees’ Annual Report for the period
From 1[st] April 2020 to 31[st] March 2021
Charity registration number: 1161685
Objectives and Activities
Purposes of the charity
The Ironbridge Coracle Trust (ICT) aims to advance the culture and heritage of the craft of coracles and coracle making in the Ironbridge Gorge and on the River Severn for the benefit of the public.
Summary of activities
The Old Coracle Shed, purchased by ICT in 2015, was the workshop of Eustace Rogers, a renowned coracle maker. Coracle uses on the River Severn included transportation of people and property, line and net fishing, laying eel lines, securing driftwood, rescuing people and animals, recovering cadavers, and poaching.
Set at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site and Conservation Area, and less than 70 metres from the base of the world famous Iron Bridge, the Shed is the only remaining physical reference to a coracle building tradition that dates to prehistoric times. The Shed forms an important and unique part of the view that any visitor can see when looking at the Iron Bridge for the first time from the Ladywood Car Park at the south end of the Bridge.
The Shed, built in the 1920s from timber reused from Buildwas Bridge, was owned by the Rogers family until the death of Eustace Rogers in 2003. ICT owns this heritage property and during this year (April 2020 - March 2021) has been delivering the second phase of a National Lottery Heritage Fund project to preserve and restore the property so it is available to the public as a viewable exhibition space for the display of coracles and associated equipment to tell the story of coracles in Ironbridge.
ICT trustees have had regard to CC’s guidance on public benefit and have taken a decision that all its exhibitions and buildings will be freely accessible by the public, and that additional resources, when available, will be invested in running workshops and events to make the best use of the Trust’s buildings and exhibitions to benefit people with dementia and mental health issues.
The charity may charge for the provision of some services such as car parking, printed leaflets, guided tours and use of the Trust’s coracles.
Policy on grant making and social investment
ICT has not made any grants to individuals or organisations during the year’s activities and no investments have been made during the year.
Contribution made by volunteers
ICT relies heavily on its many volunteers and supporters to run its annual regatta and to help maintain its heritage building. Many have been involved this year in staffing the new shed during opening times allowed under Covid regulations.
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Achievements and Performance
The Ironbridge Coracle Regatta was not able to be held during 2020 due to Covid regulations
The projects made good progress in the year 2020/21, due to sterling work from the project team: Marion Blockley, Graham Peet and Julia Tinker.
The new shed was ready to fully open from Easter 2020, only to be caught up in the Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdown. The old shed completion was scheduled for April 2020, but this was delayed by lockdown and also by the high flood level in Ironbridge in March. Work was completed in September 2020.
We have still managed to achieve a lot of the outputs required by the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF), and fully completed the Arts Council of England (ACE) Cultural Destinations Project.
Staff
The project manager (consultancy) has reduced her time by 50% during the lockdowns, and we have agreed with NLHF to extend the project for at least four months, until the end of November 2022. The project team has held a virtual weekly meeting to review priorities and progress.
Capital works
Work recommenced on site on 18 May with additional precautions in light of the Covid 19 pandemic. Numbers visiting the site for meetings were restricted to enable social distancing.
Roof replacement work was completed and the locally sourced recycled replacement sheets of corrugated iron have blended in well. The corrugated iron sheets are laid over rubber sheeting, on new marine plywood boards. The electrical cabinet was been installed and connected to the mains.
Work to the stone retaining wall and steps has been completed.
The windows have been repaired and the panes with graffiti left in situ. One has a significant fracture and the glazier recommended that a transparent film be placed over the glass to stop it being lost, and this was done. The window frames have been decorated with grey anti-corrosion paint.
The works were inspected at every stage by our retained structural engineer, including the props under the shed, roof timber replacement, windows, doors and the external fences and paths.
Activities and events - Covid Impacts
We were also scheduled to participate in and deliver activities at a number of local events throughout 2020, but these, and our own planned programme of activities which was trialled in February- March 2020 and due to be launched April 2020 were severely curtailed by the sequence of lockdowns during the Covid pandemic 2020- March 2021.
A number of have-a-go sessions and other activities were run as part of the World Heritage Festival in September. We obtained additional resources to produce a series of videos that attracted 7000 views during the Festival.
Sculpture installation for the coracle trail .
We secured permission for access from the adjacent landowner to enable us to dig the foundation trench and fill with concrete. Traffic control along The Wharfage was agreed with Telford & Wrekin Council and installation took place in two stages - 23 March the concrete footings and plinth were installed and 20 April the sculpture was lifted into position using a crane and bolted to the plinth. An interpretation panel has been fixed close to the sculpture.
New Trustees to the Ironbridge Coracle Trust Board.
We have recruited five new trustees with a range of skills to enhance the governance of the Ironbridge Coracle Trust and ensure its sustainability beyond the Heritage Fund project. The new trustees include an experienced Parish Clerk; another has a national role with endangered Heritage Craft Skills and experience of paddling coracles from childhood; another is an archaeologist working for the National Trust who has extensive
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community engagement experience; another is chairman of a local history group, with a background in Human Resources. Posts will be confirmed at the AGM in 2021.
Communication with project supporters has mainly been through our Facebook page. We are planning to try and reach a younger audience using Instagram and Facebook and also to drive more interest in content on our website. There are currently 767 followers for our Facebook page. Recent posts have reached 10,659 and generated engagement with 4421. Recent posts on Instagram have generated an increase in followers from 302 to 413, with the majority of followers in the 25-34, and 35-44, 45-54 age ranges. We have also recently starting using googlemaps and attracted 1516 views.
Performance against objectives
The Trustees’ objectives for 2020/21 were:
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to continue delivery of the NLHF second round project, including the conservation of the old shed
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to open the new coracle shed to the public
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to run the regatta
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to raise funds to help achieve our charitable objectives
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to build on our volunteer base
These objectives were not fully achieved due to the pandemic, but good progress was made with the completion of the old shed and attracting volunteers.
We are grateful to many grant givers this year, including Veolia, The Gorge Parish Council, The Arts Council England (via Graham Peet) and Telford and Wrekin Council .
Financial Review
The charity aims to hold sufficient funds in hand to cover one year’s activities (£2500 for insurance cover and the regatta outlay). These are not held as separate reserves, but retained as cash in the main bank account.
For this year (20/21) the charity had a balance of £7195.18 at the start of the year.
The opening balance was boosted by several sources of income during the year, ending with a balance of £7903.32.
Total project funding expended on the Arts Council and NLHF project was £117825.63.
The charity is run entirely by volunteers so as long as there is sufficient funding to cover insurance costs the charity is not putting any person or other organisation at risk. The project manager, interpretation and evaluation consultants are funded through the project grants and are self-employed.
Risks to the charity include trustees leaving or retiring, financial procedures not being followed or grants being wrongly used or claimed. And also, as we now know, from being scammed!
Additional risks include breaches of Health & Safety regulations which are reduced through careful Risk Assessment, including Covid Risk Assessments; Reputational risk which is controlled by a process of signing off media; and GDPR compliance which is monitored by our GDPR policies.
The trustees require guidance and assistance with financial procedures and JHP Shrewsbury has been employed as financial advisors to the board.
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Structure, Governance and Management
ICT is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation whose only members are its Trustees. It is registered with the Charity Commission no. 1161685.
The constitution allows for up to 12 trustees, and there are currently 9.
The posts are Chair, vice chair, treasurer, secretary, social media and communications officers. We are proposing to introduce a new role of company secretary and minutes secretary at the 2021 AGM.
If there are vacancies these are widely publicised prior to the AGM, with any specific requirements made clear (ie, local resident, legal or financial background, coracle builder).
Trustees are selected by open invitation at the AGM. Prospective trustees are requested to send in details before the AGM which are made available to existing trustees to check if they are eligible.
If elected at the AGM, the secretary will contact new trustees with information about their duties and responsibilities and requesting information to enable their registration as new trustees, including their relationship with any related parties. This includes a link to the Charity Commission guidance on good trusteeship and the existing policies of the charity, within a new trustee handbook.
Trustees for the year 20/21 responsible for approving this report
| Trustee | Office |
|---|---|
| Gerwyn Lewis | chair |
| Bruce Watson | Vice-chair |
| Mark Williams | Treasurer |
| Jude Pilgrim | Secretary |
| Kath Petty | Minutes secretary |
| Peter Twibill | Communications |
| Deborah Lissamore | Social Media |
| Grant Foden | |
| Terry Kenny | |
| Mary Lewis | Co-opted Oct 2020 |
| Julia Tinker | Co-opted Oct 2020 |
| Vivi Culshaw | Co-opted Oct 2020 |
Declaration
The trustees above declare they have approved the annual report above for 2020/21 Signed on behalf of the trustees
Signature …………………………………………………………………….. Gerwyn Lewis . Position: Chair
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IRONBRIDGE CORACLE TRUST
(Registered Charity Number - 1161685) RECEIPTS & PAYMENTS ACCOUNT
YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021
| RECEIPTS Grant Income Heritage Lottery Fund T & W Council - Community Buildings & Facilities Grant Cultural Destinations Grant (T & W Council) Telford & Wrekin Council Veolia Gorge Parish Council Donations & Contributions Received Other Heritage & Regatta Events EXPENDITURE Insurance Coracle Shed Expenses Trust Collection Expenses Coracle Purchases Project Management Heritage & Regatta Events Accountancy Training Sundry Expenses Input VAT claimed RECEIPTS LESS EXPENDITURE TRANSFERS BETWEEN FUNDS Bank Balances Brought Forward Bank Balances Carried Forward |
Year Ended 31- 03-2021 Restricted Unrestricted Total £119,625 £0 £119,625 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £973 £973 £0 £1,000 £1,000 £0 £29 £29 £0 £0 £0 |
Year Ended 31- 03-2020 Restricted Unrestricted Total £90,687 £0 £90,687 £10,000 £0 £10,000 £60,000 £0 £60,000 £0 £3,235 £3,235 £90,687 £0 £90,687 £90,687 £0 £90,687 £0 £439 £439 £0 £1,673 £1,673 |
|
| £119,625 £2,002 £121,627 £0 £1,240 £1,240 £79,966 £0 £79,966 £1,775 £0 £1,775 £0 £0 £0 £18,350 £0 £18,350 £2,585 £0 £2,585 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £54 £54 £15,149 £0 £15,149 |
£160,687 £5,347 £166,034 £0 £566 £566 £164,928 £0 £164,928 £2,516 £0 £2,516 £1,248 £0 £1,248 £10,679 £0 £10,679 £4,396 £0 £4,396 £2,000 £0 £2,000 £992 £0 £992 £0 £54 £54 £11,732 £0 £11,732 |
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| £117,825 £1,294 £119,119 |
£66,944 £620 £199,111 |
||
| £1,800 £708 £2,508 £0 £0 £0 £23,867 £7,195 £31,062 |
(£37,804) £4,727 (£33,077) £4,157 (£4,157) £0 £57,514 £6,625 £64,139 |
||
| £25,667 £7,903 £33,570 |
£23,867 £7,195 £31,062 |
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Independent examiners report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiners Report
| Report to the trustees/members of | Ironbridge Coracle Trust |
|---|---|
| Charity Number (if any) | 1161685 |
| On the receipts and payments account for the year ended |
31 March 2021 |
| Set out on page | 6 |
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31 March 2021
Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”)
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act
Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have
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Examiners statement come to my attention in connection with the examination which give me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
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the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
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.
Signed: Date: Name: Rob Humphreys Relevant professional James, Holyoak and Parker Limited. qualifications or body: Chartered Accountants
Address:
1 Knights Court, Archers Way, Battlefield Enterprise Park, Shrewsbury SY1 3GA
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