Disability Art, Culture and History (DACH) | Charity no. 1167102 ## **DISABILITY ART, CULTURE AND HISTORY (DACH)** # **Trustees' Annual Report and Receipts & Payments Accounts** # **For the financial period 2 January 2024 to 1 January 2025** Registered charity number: 1167102 Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) |**Charity information**|**Details**| |---|---| |Charity name|Disability Art, Culture and History (DACH)| |Charity number|1167102| |Legal form|Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)| |Financial period|2 January 2024 to 1 January 2025| |Principal address|Bellwood House, Felixkirk, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, YO7 2DP| |Prepared for|Charity Commission annual return filing. Trustees should review and
approve before submission.| Trustees' Annual Report and Receipts & Payments Accounts | 2 January 2024 to 1 January 2025 Disability Art, Culture and History (DACH) | Charity no. 1167102 ## Contents 1. Chairman's introduction 2. Objectives and public benefit 3. Review of activities and achievements 4. Financial review 5. Structure, governance and management 6. Future plans 7. Approval statement 8. Receipts & Payments Accounts 9. Statement of Assets and Liabilities Trustees' Annual Report and Receipts & Payments Accounts | 2 January 2024 to 1 January 2025 Disability Art, Culture and History (DACH) | Charity no. 1167102 ## 1. Chairman's introducton This report covers the work of Disability Art, Culture and History (DACH) for the financial period 2 January 2024 to 1 January 2025. DACH is a small Charitable Incorporated Organisation operating entirely through voluntary effort. Its work is focused on disability, education and diversity, with a particular emphasis on preserving and promoting the history of invalid carriages, mobility vehicles and wider disability transport heritage. The year was one of consolidation rather than dramatic expansion. The charity continued to build on the public engagement and heritage work undertaken during the previous year, including interest arising from the BBC Antiques Road Trip broadcast in December 2023 and continuing interest in the book 50 Years of Mobility Scooter History. The Invalid Carriage Register remained DACH's main public-facing project and continued to provide advice, information and practical support to owners, researchers, museums and disability heritage contacts. The trustees also recognise the continuing impact of the serious accident involving DACH's voluntary director, Professor Simon McKeown, on 5 July 2023. This continued to affect administrative capacity during the period, although core research, advisory and preservation work continued through voluntary effort. ## 2. Objectves and public beneft DACH is established to advance disability art, history and culture. Its charitable purposes include education, the promotion of disability history and culture, and the conservation, interpretation and public understanding of historic disability-related vehicles and associated material. A principal area of activity is the promotion, support and conservation of invalid carriage history and vehicles. This is delivered through the Invalid Carriage Register, through work with museums and private owners, through historical research and publications, and through the long-term objective of establishing an Invalid Carriage Museum or national collection. The trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission's public benefit guidance. DACH's work provides public benefit by preserving historical knowledge, supporting access to specialist information, encouraging public understanding of disability history, and assisting museums, researchers, vehicle owners and members of the public to engage with this heritage. ## 3. Review of actvites and achievements ## Invalid Carriage Register The Invalid Carriage Register remained the charity's main public-facing activity. It continued to act as a free public historical resource, recording and promoting knowledge about invalid carriages, Invacars, mobility scooters, trikes and related vehicles. The Register supports public education and research by gathering information about surviving vehicles, historic photographs, manuals, documents, memories, film material and other ephemera. During the year the Register continued to receive and respond to enquiries from private owners, collectors, researchers and members of the public. This included advice on identifying vehicles, tracing provenance, understanding original use and encouraging preservation of relevant papers and vehicle histories. Trustees approved the new logo which is based on the original Invacar Logo. Trustees' Annual Report and Receipts & Payments Accounts | 2 January 2024 to 1 January 2025 Disability Art, Culture and History (DACH) | Charity no. 1167102 ## Historic vehicle preservaton and private owner support The charity's voluntary director continued, privately and at his own expense, to identify and rescue further historic vehicles and related material. These activities were not treated as charity acquisitions during this financial period, but they support DACH's wider charitable purpose by preventing the loss of nationally significant disability transport heritage. DACH continued advising owners on preservation, interpretation and responsible long-term care. In one significant case, the charity assisted an owner in presenting historical evidence to challenge the potential loss of a vehicle's original registration. This work helped protect the integrity and authenticity of a surviving historic invalid carriage. ## DVLA and historic registraton work DACH continued to provide specialist evidence and advice for historic vehicle registration and provenance matters, including where relevant matters involving the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). This is a practical area in which the Invalid Carriage Register provides public benefit: loss of original registration can weaken a vehicle's historical record, while accurate documentation helps protect provenance, interpretation and future conservation. The ICR successfully resisted DVLA arguments to moving to an age related plate – setting a precedent for the carriage vehicles. ## Museums, natonal collectons and heritage contacts The charity continued to maintain and develop relationships with museums and heritage organisations. This included continuing links with Preston Park Museum and further contact with people associated with the Science Museum Group. These discussions helped place DACH and the Invalid Carriage Register within a wider national heritage context and supported future opportunities for interpretation, collecting and public engagement. Discussions are ongoing with Preston Park, with regard to vehicle donations and a small grant application next year. This work builds on earlier work in which the Invalid Carriage Register and DACH's volunteers have advised museums, curators and private owners where invalid carriages or related mobility vehicles were poorly documented or insufficiently interpreted. The long-term aim is that disability transport heritage should be treated as part of national social, medical, manufacturing and transport history, rather than as an isolated curiosity. ## Public interest following BBC Antques Road Trip The BBC Antiques Road Trip segment filmed in April 2023 and broadcast in December 2023 continued to be useful during this reporting year by increasing public awareness of invalid carriage history. The broadcast helped demonstrate that this heritage can be presented in a way that is accurate, accessible and engaging, while also supporting enquiries and new contacts in the following year. ## 50 Years of Mobility Scooter History and future publicaton work The charity continued to promote and build contacts around the publication 50 Years of Mobility Scooter History. The book documents the development of the mobility scooter and supports DACH's educational objective of making disability transport history better known. Plans are ongoing to make it a Epub and Print on Demand on Amazon. During the year, further contacts were developed around future publication work, including the wider ambition to publish a comprehensive history of the British Invalid Carriage. This connects directly to earlier research and to the need identified in DACH's heritage work: the subject remains under-published and at risk of being misunderstood or lost. Contact was also made with charities and potential funders to explore whether future support could help with the book and associated design, publishing and public engagement work. Trustees' Annual Report and Receipts & Payments Accounts | 2 January 2024 to 1 January 2025 Disability Art, Culture and History (DACH) | Charity no. 1167102 ## Disability and motoring organisatons Meetings and contact continued with Disability Motoring UK (DMUK) and other disability and motoring contacts. These conversations were important in linking DACH's historical work with contemporary disability mobility, vehicle access, disabled drivers and public understanding of mobility rights. ## FBHVC and the wider historic vehicle sector DACH's relationship with the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) remained strategically important. The FBHVC exists to represent historic vehicle interests and, according to its own national survey material, the wider historic vehicle sector represents a substantial UK heritage, economic and skills ecosystem. DACH's work argues that disability vehicles should be understood as part of that sector. Invalid carriages and early mobility vehicles sit at the intersection of historic vehicles, disability rights, NHS history, state welfare, manufacturing, design and independent living. Maintaining links with the historic vehicle movement helps DACH advocate for the inclusion of disabled people's transport heritage in wider heritage debates, especially around originality, registration, conservation, public interpretation and future access. ## Storage and future collecton development Professor McKeown again raised the need for improved long-term storage solutions. A growing body of vehicles, documents and ephemera has been preserved through private effort, but the trustees recognise that this is not sustainable indefinitely. DACH's long-term charitable direction requires proper storage, cataloguing, ownership arrangements and public benefit planning if the collection is to develop into a national resource. ## 4. Financial review The charity had no income and no spending during the financial period 2 January 2024 to 1 January 2025, based on the Santander bank statements supplied. The opening bank balance was £257.38 and the closing bank balance at 1 January 2025 was £257.38. |**Category**|**Amount (£)**|**Explanation**| |---|---|---| |Opening cash/bank balance at 2
January 2024|257.38|Balance brought forward at the start of the
financial period.| |Receipts|0.00|No receipts were paid into the Santander account
during the period.| |Payments|0.00|No payments were made during the period.| |Closing cash/bank balance at 1
January 2025|257.38|Balance retained for future charitable activity.| The trustees consider the charity to be financially stable at its current scale. However, reserves are extremely limited and the charity remains dependent on voluntary effort and privately supported activity. The trustees recognise that future development of the Invalid Carriage Register, book publication, museum development and storage solutions will require external funding and stronger financial planning. ## 5. Structure, governance and management DACH is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation governed by its constitution. The charity is managed by its trustees and supported by volunteers. It has no paid employees. **Name Role / status during 2024-25 period** Trustees' Annual Report and Receipts & Payments Accounts | 2 January 2024 to 1 January 2025 Disability Art, Culture and History (DACH) | Charity no. 1167102 ||| |---|---| |Dr Paul Darke|Trustee / Chair| |Spencer Hudson|Trustee| |Claire Darke|Trustee during the reporting period. No formal trustee change took
effect during this period.| |Professor Simon McKeown|Voluntary director / principal volunteer lead for DACH and Invalid
Carriage Register activity.| During the period Claire Darke privately indicated that she may wish to step down at a later date, but no formal resignation or removal took effect during this reporting period. Any subsequent formal trustee change should be reported in the relevant later annual report. The trustees reviewed the charity's activities and financial position in the context of its limited resources. The principal risks remain low financial capacity, reliance on volunteers, storage and conservation pressures, and the specialist nature of the charity's knowledge base. These risks are managed by keeping expenditure low, maintaining records, preserving public-facing information through the Invalid Carriage Register and working collaboratively with museums, owners, researchers and sector bodies. ## 6. Future plans The trustees intend to continue: - maintaining and developing the Invalid Carriage Register as a public educational resource; - supporting museums, owners, researchers and disability organisations; - developing relationships with the Science Museum Group and other national heritage bodies where appropriate; - protecting historic vehicle provenance through research, documentation and DVLA-related advice; - developing the publication strategy for the history of the British Invalid Carriage and related mobility history; - seeking charitable funding and partnerships for book design, publication, exhibitions, digitisation and public engagement; - identifying sustainable storage and ownership solutions for rescued vehicles and associated material; - improving administrative systems and bringing Charity Commission reporting fully up to date. - Working with our small but active and knowledgeable group of excellent volunteers. ## 7. Approval statement This Trustees’ Annual Report covers the financial period from **2 January 2024 to 1 January 2025** . The trustees approved this report at a meeting held on the 29[th] of June 2026, and authorised its submission to the Charity Commission as part of the charity’s work to bring its statutory reporting up to date. The delay in submission was partly caused by the serious accident involving DACH’s voluntary director, **Simon McKeown** , on **5 July 2023** , which significantly affected administrative capacity. Approved by the trustees on: _________29/6/2026___________ Signed on behalf of the trustees by: ___Dr Paul Darke_________________ Name: Dr Paul Darke Position: Chair of Trustees Trustees' Annual Report and Receipts & Payments Accounts | 2 January 2024 to 1 January 2025 Disability Art, Culture and History (DACH) | Charity no. 1167102 ## 8. Receipts & Payments Accounts For the financial period 2 January 2024 to 1 January 2025 Basis: receipts and payments basis, prepared from the Santander bank statements supplied. Amounts are shown in pounds sterling. ## Receipts |**Receipts / Payments**|**Unrestricted**
**funds (£)**|**Restricted**
**funds (£)**|**Total funds (£)**| |---|---|---|---| |Donations and grants|0.00|0.00|0.00| |Book sales / PayPal receipts transferred to
bank|0.00|0.00|0.00| |Other income|0.00|0.00|0.00| |Total receipts|0.00|0.00|0.00| ## Payments |**Receipts / Payments**|**Unrestricted**
**funds (£)**|**Restricted**
**funds (£)**|**Total funds (£)**| |---|---|---|---| |FBHVC / historic vehicle sector
membership or related cost|0.00|0.00|0.00| |PayPal / online services|0.00|0.00|0.00| |Other payments|0.00|0.00|0.00| |Total payments|0.00|0.00|0.00| ## Statement of cash movement |**Receipts / Payments**|**Unrestricted**
**funds (£)**|**Restricted**
**funds (£)**|**Total funds (£)**| |---|---|---|---| |Cash funds at 2 January 2024|257.38|0.00|257.38| |Add: total receipts|0.00|0.00|0.00| |Less: total payments|0.00|0.00|0.00| |Cash funds at 1 January 2025|257.38|0.00|257.38| ## 9. Statement of Assets and Liabilites |**Assets at 1 January 2025**|**Amount (£)**|**Notes**| |---|---|---| |Santander business current account|257.38|Closing balance carried forward. Full account
details are deliberately not reproduced in this
public report.| |Other cash or bank balances|0.00|None identified from records supplied.| |Total cash funds identified|257.38|Subject to PayPal balance confirmation if
applicable.| Trustees' Annual Report and Receipts & Payments Accounts | 2 January 2024 to 1 January 2025 Disability Art, Culture and History (DACH) | Charity no. 1167102 |**Liabilities at 1 January 2025**|**Amount (£)**|**Notes**| |---|---|---| |Creditors / unpaid invoices|0.00|None identified from records supplied.| |Loans or overdrafts|0.00|None identified.| |Other liabilities|0.00|None identified.| ## Notes to the accounts 1. The accounts are prepared on a receipts and payments basis. Only money received into and paid out of charity-controlled accounts during the reporting period is included. 2. No restricted funds were identified during the reporting period. 3. The charity has no employees and no trustee remuneration was paid. 4. Vehicles and ephemera privately rescued, purchased or stored by Professor Simon McKeown are not treated as charity assets in these accounts unless and until ownership is formally transferred to the charity. Trustees' Annual Report and Receipts & Payments Accounts | 2 January 2024 to 1 January 2025