The Duxford Radio Trust Annual Report 2023 – 2024-final
Registered Charity No. 1169780
The Trustees of the Duxford Radio Trust (DRT) present their annual report for the year 16 November 2023 to 15 November 2024. Accounts for the above period are listed separately. The Duxford Radio Trust was formed in 2016 to take over the assets and activities of the former Duxford Radio Society (DRS). The Trust is privately funded and during 2023-2024 was not in receipt of state grants. DRT also operates a wholly owned subsidiary, Duxford Radio Limited (DRL), a company limited by shares.
1. Summary of DRT Activities November 2022 – November 2023
During 2023-2024 engineering, conservation, restoration and electro-mechanical construction work has continued at the DRT engineering workshop and store. Various items of DRT historic military radio communications and exhibition equipment have been loaned to two local museums.
A significant amount of engineering work has been expended in overhauling and preparing additional radio communications, navigation and radar equipment for future exhibition at Waterbeach Military Heritage Museum (WMHM) including designing and building a target simulator for the ‘Monica’ tail warning radar used in the RAF Lancaster bombers and overhauling the RAF VHF ground station radio communications equipment which would have been operational at RAF Waterbeach. This will be capable of being demonstrated to the public in full working condition as it would have been during WW2.
DRT trustees have been acting as WMHM volunteers for explainer duties when required and have been demonstrating Morse code and RAF radio communication and navigations equipment to individual visitors and organised groups of visitors to WMHM when the museum was open.
Extensive sorting and re-packing the DRT collection of spare equipment, valves and cathode ray tubes is being carried out and will be an ongoing long-term task. Such components are vital for the maintenance of the operational historic military communications equipment.
A transportable radio communications transmitting and receiving station has been constructed as a wheeled three-tier desk which will enable DRT/DRL to once again demonstrate radio communications in action to the public using both modern commercial equipment and historic military communications equipment. It is hoped to be able to operate this radio station at WMHM in the future, subject to the agreement of WMHM and the Waterbeach site owner. A further quantity of DRT exhibition display units, previously utilised at IWM Duxford, have been overhauled and re-configured to suit the space available at WMHM ready for future installation.
2. DRT Reference and Administrative Information
The Trust is constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and was registered with the Charity Commission on 19 October 2016. Registered Charity No. 1169780, registered in England. The Trust name can be abbreviated to DRT.
The DRT Trustees
Peter Brown Richard Pope Richard Howes John Moore PhD Brian Roberts Pauline Howes Beryl Pope
There have been no changes of trustees during the period of this report. Trustees are appointed by the continuing Trustees and should number between three and ten competent persons according to the needs of the Trust. During the period under review the Trust had supporters but did not have any formal volunteers, only the above listed Trustees who are officers of the Trust.
Company secretary Richard Howes Registered Administrative Office 4 Burgoynes Farm Close Impington Cambridge CB24 9ZU
Email Contact details duxfordradio@gmail.com Internet Web site
www.duxfordradio.org
https://sites.google.com/view/new-drt-v5/home
3. DRT Objectives
The Duxford Radio Trust is a not-for-profit communications, history, and technology foundation, formed in 2016 to take over the assets of the former unincorporated organisation, The Duxford Radio Society, which from 1992 – 2016 had organised the operation of the volunteer radio section at the Imperial War Museums, Duxford, England. From 2016 – 2020 DRT/DRL took over the operation of the IWM Duxford volunteer radio section for IWM, until the site closed for the Covid pandemic. The sited was subsequently reorganised by IWM and the radio sections at Duxford and HMS Belfast closed down. DRT was then told by IWM to leave the Duxford Airfield site due to the change of focus of the museum and was told the history of communications, radar and navigation in military conflict was not of interest to IWM.
The primary role of DRT is the education of the public in the field of communications used in military conflict and civil emergencies, and the celebration of the efficiency and effectiveness of the armed forces and the emergency services of the Crown by means of the management and protection of the collection of historic communications equipment, documents, and artefacts for exhibition to the public for the purposes above.
The Trust conducts research into the causes, needs, evolution, history of application and technical implementation of all types of communications used in military conflict and civil emergencies. The Trust collects, conserves, restores, records, maintains in working order (where practicable), a reference collection of historic equipment, technologies, documents, and other artefacts related to communications in military conflict and civil emergencies.
The Trust fulfils its public education obligations by using its equipment and document collection together with the accumulated knowledge and experience of the trustees and supporters to provide the materials for public exhibitions/demonstrations of historic radio communications, navigation, and radar artefacts.
The Trust fulfils its public education obligations by supporting independent work of other third parties in research, documentation, collection, conservation, restoration and exhibition of historic communications artefacts by providing support, materials and information from its internal collection and human knowledge/experience base. The Trust also fulfils its public education obligations by publishing the Duxford Radio journal three times per annum containing articles on specific historic equipment or communication related techniques. Copies of the Duxford Radio Journal are archived in Cambridge University Library. A newsletter is circulated to supporters by email from time to time.
The Trust has a wholly owned subsidiary, Duxford Radio Limited, formed on the advice of the Charity Commission, to conduct any activities which, under UK charity law, are not considered wholly and exclusively for the public benefit, such as the Radio Amateur transmitting station. The limited company name can be abbreviated to DRL and is company number 10762055, registered in England, a company limited by Shares.
The DRL activities include the ownership and operation of the special exhibition Amateur Radio communications station and associated equipment (when operational), and any trading activities necessary on behalf of the DRT parent charity etc. In the past the Trust partly fulfilled its public education obligations by its DRL subsidiary owning and operating the licensed permanent exhibition radio transmitting and receiving station at IWM Duxford. While the IWM radio station has now been removed, however the core DRT registered radio call sign G0PZJ has been retained for future use and an appropriate Notice of Variation (NOV) exhibition radio call sign obtained from OFCOM to operate from Waterbeach Military Heritage Museum in the future as GB0WMM.
The DRT collection of Allied Forces communications equipment consists, in many cases, of complete working communications systems, (as opposed to the more common museum approach of a fragmented collection of individual objects obtained by the receipt of random donations). However, the unique feature of the DRT collection is not just the historical and technical significance of the items held, but the specialist ability of displaying and explaining the operational, working historic radio, navigation, and radar systems equipment to the public, visually supported by educational graphics panels.
The DRL Directors currently are Richard Howes, and John Moore. The Company Secretary is Richard Howes. The Health and Safety Manager for both DRT and DRL is Peter Brown and the Treasurer for both is John Moore. The Supporter Liaison Secretary and Data Controller is Brian Roberts.
Both the Trust and DRL have reviewed and continued with the same banking facilities which were created in 2016-2017.
4. Summary of objectives contained in revised DRT Constitution V8a dated 21 October 2020
The objects of the CIO:-
The advancement of education of the general public, in the history of communications in military conflict and civil emergencies, and the consequent development of the technologies, equipment and techniques as applied to the related fields of activity of radio communications, line communications, radio navigation, radar (the process of radio detection and ranging, transponding etc.) and other forms of communications and communications technology as appropriate by means of:-
(a) the research, documentation, collection, conservation, restoration, preservation, and storage of various items of electrical, mechanical, electronic, optical, and other military and non-military equipment employing various technologies together with related documents, images and ephemera, in order that they be exhibited and demonstrated to the general public in permanent and/or temporary exhibitions at selected locations in the United Kingdom.
(b) providing specialist technical knowledge, information, equipment, engineering services, other artefacts and the services of interpretation, explanation, and display, to support national, regional, and local exhibitions and other similar activities, in order to create, establish and maintain a museum or other historic communications exhibits and/or displays open to the general public.
(c) providing specialist technical knowledge, information, equipment, artefacts, historic documentation, exhibitions, and support relating to communications as required for:-
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The general public
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Schools and educational/training groups and establishments
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Collectors, restorers, conservators, and users of historic communications equipment
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History societies and other groups
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Museums
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Other public and private events and venues, permanent or temporary
5. Activities, Performance and Public Benefit
The Trust was formed on 15 November 2015 and became a registered charity on 19 October 2016.
During the period under review, DRT/DRL has been actively supporting the Trustees of the Waterbeach Military Heritage Museum and also the management of both the Pye History Trust and the Cambridge Museum of Technology Trust in respect of exhibiting the history of communications to the public.
6. Subscriptions and Donations Received
Supporter donated subscriptions and various other donations of funds have been received from private individuals in the UK for the express purpose of supporting the operation of DRT and maintaining and storing the DRT equipment collections. Various other non-restricted financial donations and donations of storage racking, equipment, documents, and electronic, and electro-mechanical components have been received from private individuals and from organisations in the electronics industry. The Trust is most grateful for these donations. The Trust is registered for Gift Aid recovery on subscriptions and financial donations.
7. Heritage Assets
The collection of historic communications equipment and documents owned by the Trust, which currently date from the approximate period 1916 – 2024 is considered by the Trustees to qualify to be treated as Heritage Assets. Throughout this reporting period the Trustees have continued to conserve, restore, maintain, research, catalogue, and assess the present-day market value of these heritage assets in accordance with SORP FRS102. The cataloguing and valuation process was severely arrested by the pandemic and the move away from IWM Duxford, but is again ongoing.
The individual value of such items is estimated by researching the average selling price actually achieved at public auction and public on-line auction and by applying the knowledge, experience, and judgement of the Trustees as to the historical significance, scarcity, desirability, utility and condition of each item. The Trust has purchased Spectrum approved museum cataloguing software in order to begin to migrate the internal collection recording database to the British Museum Spectrum standard.
8. Other Information
The Trust has maintained appropriate product and public liability insurance for DRL activities via the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) radio club group policy and for DRT activities via a separate insurance policy using the same insurance brokers as the RSGB. The workshop fire extinguishers are inspected and maintained on a two-year schedule by a third-party specialist supplier.
The suite of replacement operating policies and risk assessments have been maintained appropriate to the changed circumstances and locations of DRT/DRL engineering and exhibition facilities.
DRT/DRL have declared the following formal operating policies:-
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Health and Safety Policy
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Complaints Policy
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Data Protection & Privacy Policy
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Code of Conduct Policy
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Safeguarding Policy
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Volunteering Policy
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Equal Opportunities Policy
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Media & Social Networking Policy
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Radiological Protection Policy (ionizing & non-ionizing)
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Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) Policy
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Emergency Procedure/Emergency Evacuation Policy (workshop & store)
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Infectious Diseases Policy (replaces original Covid-19 policy)
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13 Interim Collections Policy (acquisitions & disposals)
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OFCOM EMF Compliance Policy (draft only as radio station not in regular use)
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Briefing policy and process for visitors to storage site and workshop
DRT/DRL have conducted the following formal Risk Assessments/Procedures:-
| 1. Overall operation at DRT/DRL Workshop and Store | updated |
|---|---|
| 2. Activities in DRT/DRL 32 ft workshop | updated |
| 3. Activities in DRT/DRL storage containers | updated |
| 4. Activities in remaining IWM Duxford storage container | updated |
| 5.1. Manual Handling of equipment | ex Duxford to be modified |
| 5.2. Operation of Temporary DRT/DRL radio Station | created |
| 6. Equipment Storage and Handling | ex Duxford to be modified |
| 7. Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) | ex Duxford to be modified |
| 8. Infectious diseases (inc.COVID-19, Influenza, Norovirus etc) updated | |
| 9. Working at height | created draft v1 |
| 10. Visitor Access to DRT Facility | created v1a |
| 11. Visitor to DRT facility Briefing Document | created |
| All ex-Duxford operating procedures | to be modified |
| Event/exhibition planning procedure | created draft v1 |
NOTES:-
Items listed above as ‘to be modified’ were in operation at IWM Duxford and are being adapted or updated. Other risk assessments will be performed when required for a specific event or activity.
The Trust has continued to operate the wholly owned subsidiary company, Duxford Radio Limited (DRL), for any activities which are not considered by the Charity Commission to be wholly and exclusively for the public benefit. DRL is registered with HMRC for corporation tax. DRL is registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) to hold personal data on supporting individuals for approved purposes subject to their express agreement.
DRT has registered with HMRC for the Gift Aid system and maintains a public Internet website www.duxfordradio.org or https://sites.google.com/view/new-drt-v5/home to communicate information to the general public about DRT/DRL activities in interpreting and exhibiting the history, application, and technology of communications in military conflict and civil emergencies.
The DRT historical-technical journal Duxford Radio is archived in the Cambridge University Library.
9. Statement of Conformance to Public Benefit Requirements
The Trustees have had regard for the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission from time to time and contained within documents PB1, PB2 and PB3 and have acted accordingly.
The Trust has supported the general public, organised groups, local museums and individuals with exhibition equipment, historical and technical information both directly and indirectly via exhibition, publications, web site and email communication.
10. Additional Information
The Trustees and Directors are most grateful for the activity, support and assistance given by the supporters of the former IWM Duxford Radio Section and also by the current local and distant supporters and donors.
No DRT Trustee or DRL Director received any personal benefit or remuneration or expenses from the Trust or DRL Ltd , only re-imbursement of agreed personal expenditure on specific purchases made on behalf of, or for, DRT/DRL where appropriate.
End DRT Trustees Report 2023-2024 report December 2024 final
Duxford Radio Trust Group and Charity Balance Sheet As of 31 October 2024
| Group | Charity | |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed Assets(Note 1) | ||
| Office Equipment Etc |
12,585.00 | 12,278.00 |
| Current Assets | ||
| Cash at Bank and in hand | 7,337.00 | 6,423.00 |
| Shares (Note 2) | 0 | 100.00 |
| ____________ | ||
| Total Current Assets |
19,922.00 | 18,801.00 |
| Creditors : Amounts Falling due |
0 | 4.00 |
| within 1 year | ||
| Total assets less current liabilities |
19,922.00 | 18,280.00 |
| ____________ | ||
| Combined Total Income DRT and DRL | 4,724.00 | |
| Combined Total Expenditure DRT and DRL | 4,114.00 | |
| ____________ |
Note 1 Heritage Assets
Work continues to estimate the value of the collection of historic military communications artefacts and documents (see Trustees Report). The value to date is estimated as £110,000 to £150,000, and the work is on-going.
Note 2
100 £1 shares in Duxford Radio Ltd wholly owned by Duxford Radio Trust.