2023-08-31-accounts

The Friends of Friar Gate Bridge Trustees’ Annual Report For the period 01/09/22 to 31/08/23

Reference and administration details

Charity Name: The Friends of Friar Gate Bridge Registered Charity Number: 1163174 Charity Principal Address: 32 Friar Gate, Derby, DE1 1BX

Names of Charity Trustees who manage the charity:

Mandy Coons Alistair Hodge Malcolm Holden Howard Thomas Chair Names and addresses of advisers: Solicitors Smith Partnership, Celtic House, Derby. DE1 1LS Website Human Interface Publications, 14 MacKenzie Street, Derby. DE22 3DD Treasurer Vacant position

Structure, governance and management

Type of governing document: Constitution How the charity is constituted: Charitable incorporated organization Trustee selection methods: Elected by general meeting

Objective and activities

Summary of objects of the charity

• 1.1 The objects of the CIO are:

• 1.1.1 to promote for the benefit of the public the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical, natural and man-made environment by promoting the historical and architectural heritage of Friar Gate Bridge (“the Bridge”) in Derby.

• 1.1.2 to advance the education of the public, in particular in relation to the history and architecture of the heritage of the Bridge by developing public interest in the architecture, history and heritage of the Bridge by means of publications, public lectures and exhibitions and co-operation with schools and other educational establishments and other bodies and societies.

Restoration – Progress, a circuitous road

We continued to liaise with Clowes Developments over their proposals for the adjacent Friar Gate Goods Yard, which they had made public at our last AGM: their resulting activities having been identified in Lathams’ viability report as being a key factor in providing the sustainable activity required by most funders likely to support the restoration of the Bridge. We received regular updates on their extensive preparatory work and on their considerable expenditure to make safe and preserve the listed buildings on the Goods Yard.

Clowes worked with the City Council on a bid for a contribution from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund towards the Goods Yard. Simultaneously we supported the Council on a separate bid for Levelling Up funds for the Bridge. After several months’ delay, we found that both bids had been unsuccessful.

We were surprised to find a preliminary planning proposal to demolish the arches adjacent to the Bridge but in April it was announced that Clowes had moved away from their essentially commercial development of the Goods Yard and were collaborating with Wavensmere Homes. Wavensmere would be building houses on the majority of the site while Clowes restore the heritage buildings (the warehouse and engine shed) for commercial and other uses. Once Wavensmere have worked up their proposals we would meet with them.

The failure of Derby City Council to openly acknowledge its ownership of the Bridge, or discuss its future, continues to aggravate. It appears that many councillors do not even understand that the Council owns the Bridge and has legal obligations, given that it is a listed structure. Prior to the City Council elections in May, we wrote to all the candidates asking for their plans for the Bridge if they were elected: only one replied

Education – revived and revised

We continued to meet our educational remit through offering to give talks to general interest groups and societies at their meetings. We had some postponements and others were arranged for after the end of this reporting year.

As always, we provided comment and content to the Derby Telegraph. We also provided a two-page article for a new, newspaper-styled publication, Derby Uncovered, the mouthpiece of a local heritage organization.

Through our trustee Alistair Hodge, representing the University, we are once again investigating ways to collaborate with the University’s students.

We continued to post news and information on social media and our website. We are grateful to Jayne Courts-Robinson of Human Interface Productions for her work on these matters on our behalf.

Other activities

We continued to hold back on presenting to Historic England the case for raising the status of the Bridge from Grade II to II* since a successful application may have restricted the Goods Yard site’s uses and made the planned restoration project unviable. We believe development of the Goods Yard site will improve the prospects for restoring the Bridge.

This year also saw the announcement that Derby is to be the home of the headquarters of Great British Railways, and we are using this as a lever in appropriate situations.

Financial review

The figures for this period remain straightforward and modest as demonstrated by the accounts. Our membership numbers remain static. We are grateful for members’ continuing financial support: we shall need all the funds we can muster as we move forward.

In a bizarre set of circumstances, created by the bank internally, we were forced by Barclays to open an account with another bank, which we did successfully with Lloyds.

The Future

Visible progress remains extremely slow but there is serious activity adjacent to Friar Gate Bridge from which we should be able to benefit. Whatever activities are finally decided by developers of the Goods Yard and by the City Council, the Friends of Friar Gate Bridge will be key to ensuring the Bridge’s long-term interests are properly served, since every other party is, at best, keeping it at arm’s length.

We have entered a critical phase of activity and, more than ever, need more support from new trustees and volunteers to ensure success.

Declaration

The report has been prepared by the Chair on behalf of the trustees.

Signature: Full name: Francis Howard Miles Thomas Position: Chair Date: 10[th] January 2024

The Friends of Friar Gate Bridge

Financial accounts

for the Year Ended 31st August 2023

The Friends of Friar Gate Bridge

Contents

for the Year Ended 31st August 2023

• 1 Income and Expenditure Account

• 2 Balance Sheet

The Friends of Friar Gate Bridge

Income and Expenditure Account

Income Membership Donatons Fundraising actvites Expenses Printng, advertsing and ofce PayPal fees Room hire Book purchase Surplus for the year	Year ended 31.08.23 £ 270 10 - 280 105 11 - 41 157 123	Year ended 31.08.23 £ 270 10 - 280 105 11 - 41 157 123	Year ended	Year ended
				31.08.22 £ 300 10 80 390 94 13 30 - 137 253

The Friends of Friar Gate Bridge

Balance Sheet

Current assets Bank account Current liabilites Creditors Net current assets Represented by Accumulated funds Opening reserves Surplus for the year Closing reserves	Year ended 31.08.23 £ 5,395 416 4,979 4,856 123 4,979	Year ended	Year ended
			31.08.22 £ 5,126 270 4,856 4,603 253 4,856