2021-03-31-accounts

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date 01 April 2020 31 March 2021 From To

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name The Sand House Charity

Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any) 1171875 Charity's principal address 7 Ayots Green

Dunscroft Doncaster Postcode DN7 4HG

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

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Name of person (or body)
Dates acted if not for
Trustee name Office (if any) entitled to appoint trustee
whole year
(if any)
1 Richard Nigel Bell Chair
2 Philip Crawley
3 Mandy Keating
Richard F Young Resigned 02 Dec
4
2020
5 Sandy Jessop
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
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Names of other trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole year

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Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser Name Address

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Not applicable

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document

Constitution dated 02 March 2017

(eg. trust deed, constitution) Charitable Incorporated Organisation – Foundation Model How the charity is constituted

• (eg. trust, association, company)

Apart from the initial charity trustees, every trustee must be Trustee selection methods appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a (eg. appointed by, elected by) properly convened meeting of the charity trustees.

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

A Financial Policy and Procedures document was formally You may choose to include approved at a meeting of trustees held on 15 June 2017. additional information, where relevant, about:

A Health and Safety Policy document was issued on 7 November 2017.

• policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;

A Privacy Statement was issued on 20 May 2018.

the charity’s Policies for Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults were organisational structure issued on 28 May 2018. and any wider network with which the charity An Equality & Diversity Policy was issued on 8 April 2020. works;

• relationship with any An Expenses Policy was issued on 8 April 2020. related parties;

The above policies are reviewed each year.

• trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system Richard Young resigned his trusteeship on 2 December 2020. He

• and procedures to manage will be replaced by Mick Jenkinson, as from 1 April 2021.

• them.

The initial period of appointment of trustee and Chair, Richard Bell, expired on 2 March 2021. (He was subsequently reappointed to both roles at the next trustees’ meeting, on 21 April 2021.)

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Section C Objectives and activities

To advance the education of the public in history, art, sculpture and other related subjects having a link to the former Victorian Summary of the objects Sand House of Doncaster. of the charity set out in its governing document

In planning and undertaking our activities during this period the trustees had due regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.

As we approached the start of 2020/21, doubts were arising over our plans for a major project (the re-mounting of the Sand House play) and for creating a large display in the new Danum Gallery, Library and Museum. As the coronavirus pandemic took hold, coinciding with the start of our new year, it became clear that plans would have to change.

Summary of the main activities undertaken for In the event, we have still managed to make progress with the public benefit in fulfilling the charity’s objectives, but in different ways from what relation to these objects we might have expected. Overall, however, our activities have (include within this been constrained by the pandemic. section the statutory declaration that trustees In summary, the following activities took place for the public have had regard to the benefit. guidance issued by the Charity Commission on  12 illustrated talks (online) public benefit)  One “Then & Now” video for Heritage Open Days (online)  One launch event for picture poem cards (online)  Provision of substantial resources for new museum  Development and launch of card model kit  Provision of model kit & other resources to 2 schools  Composition of substantial parts of a suite of piano music for use in 2021 and beyond  Regular educational posts on social media  Regular newsletters to subscribers  Website maintained and updated

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

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The severe restrictions on the events that it was possible to run meant that our need to call upon volunteers was greatly reduced from previous years. Nevertheless, we should like to acknowledge the valuable input provided by two volunteers in You may choose to include particular (in addition to our trustees) during the year. The further statements, where development and launch of the card model kit of the Sand relevant, about: House and the composition of substantial parts of a suite of piano music (to be used to pursue our educational aims in  policy on grantmaking; future) would not have taken place but for the major input  policy programme related provided by volunteers Duncan Harper and Ben Gaunt, investment; respectively.

• contribution made by volunteers.

While our Patron, Matthew Schellhorn, has no formal role in the governance of the charity, we should like to acknowledge his continuing support and valuable input .His advice and the access to other help that he creates through his contacts make a very real contribution towards fulfilling our aims..

Section D Achievements and performance

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Section D Achievements and performance

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic meant the cancellation of Summary of the main five in-person illustrated talks. In order to continue to make such achievements of the talks available, arrangements were made to deliver some via charity during the year Zoom. The usual in-person talk was updated and split into Parts 1 and 2, recognising that shorter durations worked better when viewing on a screen. Four Part 1 and four Part 2 talks were delivered to an aggregate adult audience of 136 people. Four shortened, child-friendly talks were delivered to an aggregate audience of 48 children and parents. These child-friendly talks were accredited by the Children’s University.

The online talks were offered free of charge, but with a request for donations. The main income that they generated was a £100 donation from the Doncaster & District Family History Society, for whom Part 1 & 2 talks were delivered.

The challenges of leading in-person guided walks around the Sand House locality during the pandemic were considered too great. As Heritage Open Days promoted the use of online “events” so, with the help of relevant training webinars, it was decided to produce a video for HOD 2020 The result was “The Sand House: Then and Now” (20 mins). It used historic photos taken at and close by the Sand House and new photos taken at the same locations. The images were supplemented by a narration, which was also sub-titled, to increase accessibility.

The HOD video was posted on Facebook and YouTube, as well as having a dedicated page on our website. Feedback was excellent. During the 10 days of HOD 2021 the video received 8k minutes of views, rising to over 12k minutes to date.

During a poetry workshop back in 2019, ten local poets each produced a poem about the Sand House. These were subsequently printed on ‘postcards’, with the historic photo that inspired the poem on the reverse. An online launch of the poem cards took place on 26 January 2021, thanks to the good offices of the local Read To Write group, many of whose members contributed to the project.

Through the year over 100 hours were spent on preparing the Sand House display for Doncaster’s new museum. The museum is part of a new building named the Danum Gallery, Library and Museum, opening in May 2021. Much of the time was expended on audio-visual material, which visitors will access via a touchscreen. This display will provide the most comprehensive offline information on the Sand House so far assembled.

Following a suggestion by our Patron, Matthew Schellhorn, it was decided to develop and produce a card model kit of the Sand House, aimed at children. Matthew very kindly engaged the voluntary services of his father-in-law, Duncan Harper, to design the kit. Duncan went on to produce an excellent kit, which went into production in late-November 2020. The kits were ready for sale in time for Christmas.

Matthew Schellhorn also donated kits to his former school, Hatfield Travis C of E Primary, in January 2021. Along with other child-friendly resources, both Travis and Hatfield Woodhouse

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Section D Achievements and performance

Primary School were able to teach their pupils about this unique feature of their town.

Our Patron’s proactive support for the charity has continued undiminished. It is also evident through his commissioning of composer Ben Gaunt to write a suite of piano music, based upon a walk through the Sand House’s Cloisters tunnel. The composition work progressed through the year and is expected to be completed in summer 2021. It is planned to establish links with schools and colleges, to use the music in an educational context, as well as for fundraising, through live performance.

One of the most effective ways of sharing educational material with the general public, in accordance with our charity’s object, is through social media. Facebook is the most useful platform in this context, although both Twitter and Instagram are also used, albeit to a lesser extent. Our Facebook followers grew by 21% through the year, reaching 2755 by 31 March 2021.

Facebook is also a useful tool for advertising our events, although the pandemic restricted those to online activities this year.

We send out regular newsletters via Mailchimp. Eleven were sent during the year, to an audience which rose from 227 to 237. Both ‘Open rate’ and ‘Click rate’ for these newsletters are higher than those of our peers, according to the Mailchimp analytics.

Another way of sharing information to fulfil our educational object is through our website. This was maintained and updated throughout the year. In particular, a project page was added for Heritage Open Days and the Shop page was overhauled.

Last year we reported on the publication, in e-reader format, of Keeper of Secrets . This romantic suspense novel, by Doncaster author Lynda Stacey, features the Sand House tunnels. The book came out in paperback format in early December 2020. It has helped to generate more income for the charity, especially in the lead-up to Christmas.

Following the inconclusive search, in November 2019, for a lost section of tunnel, using ground penetrating radar (GPR), it had been hoped to arrange a site visit on to Network Rail property to undertake a visual search. The pandemic had the effect of minimising site visits, so we are yet to make the intended visit. Nevertheless, we have remained in contact with Network Rail on the matter, with the intention of progressing it during 2021/22.

The re-mounting of the Sand House play has remained in abeyance due to the pandemic. It is now likely that the play will have to wait until 2022/23, when re-planning and funding is taken into account.

Someone who provided a great deal of historical information about the Sand House was Thomas Hague (1910 to 1996). He grew up in the house, living there from being 10 to 22 years of age. In April 2020, research into Mr Hague’s Will resulted in

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Section D Achievements and performance

contact being made with his Executrix, Mrs Christine Phipps. Following regular correspondence, Mrs Phipps and her husband donated a substantial collection of Thomas Hague’s personal documents and photographs to the charity. While much of the collection has only indirect relevance to the Sand House, nonetheless it provide a fascinating insight into the life and times of one of the Sand House’s most important characters.

One change took place to the Board of Trustees during 2020/21. On 2 December 2020, Richard Young, one of the charity’s original trustees, stepped down from his role. Retirement from his role with Visit Doncaster and the launch of an unrelated business led to his decision. The remaining trustees are very grateful for the staunch support provided by Richard, not only since the charity was formed, but also for five years before that.

Following Richard Young’s resignation from the Board, approaches were made to other potential trustees, one of whom joined at the start of the 2021/22 year. Details will be provided in the next annual report.

Chair of Trustees, Richard Bell, undertook training sessions amounting to about four days in aggregate. Subjects included first aid, digital skills, fundraising, diversifying income and the effects of Brexit. Sessions ranged in duration from one hour to one day. A training record is now being maintained.

Richard Bell continued to represent the charity at meetings of the Doncaster and District Heritage Association. These meeting moved online at the start of the pandemic. They remain a useful way of keeping abreast of developments within the local heritage community, as well as guaranteeing table space at the annual Local History Fair (Covid-19 permitting).

Finally, we have continued to record all the hours expended by our volunteers, along with details of the activities undertaken. A total of 973.4 hours were expended, down fractionally from 988.3 hours in 2019/20. These hours were donated by a total of 8 people. This number is down from 20 in 2019/20, reflecting the lack of in-person events where our volunteers would normally help. APPENDIX A provides a detailed breakdown of the 2020/21 hours and activities.

Section E Financial review

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Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

The Sand House Charity aims to hold the equivalent of at least three months’ running costs in reserve at all times. In practice, the charity has very few unavoidable costs, with insurance and accountancy services and web hosting being the only major ones.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

Not applicable.

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

• the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);

• how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;

• investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

The charity’s usual principal sources of Unrestricted funds are donations by:

• groups receiving illustrated talks

• individuals attending illustrated talks

• individuals attending guided walks.

All of these have been greatly impacted by the pandemic. While donations have been received for some of the online talks, the total was not significant. The only exception was a donation of £100 from the Doncaster and District Family History Society, for a two-part talk.

A third party who sells merchandise relating to the Sand House donates the profits from all those sales. These donations formed a significant proportion of the charity’s income during 2020/21.

In an effort to help boost the charity’s income, following the cancellation of in-person illustrated talks, the Board agreed to sign up to AmazonSmile. Under this scheme, every qualifying purchase by a supporter who has nominated our charity results in a monetary donation from Amazon. Enrolment took place on 11 February 2021, with any donations to the charity taking place at three-monthly intervals thereafter.

An appeal for monthly donations from supporters had limited success, although all donations are greatly appreciated. Two trustees and one other supporter set up regular direct debit donations, each of £5 per month.

With the enforced postponement of the stage play re-mount, the charity asked the three organisations who had already paid grants whether the money could be retained, pending the revival of the project. The results were:

• Grant of £150 from Doncaster & District Heritage Association – DDHA agreed that the charity could retain the money in the Restricted Fund.

• Grant of £5000 from the Liz & Terry Bramall Foundation – No reply to two enquiries, so money retained in the Restricted Fund.

• Grant of £3000 from the Charles & Elsie Sykes Trust – The Trust asked for the money to be returned. This was done on 14 July 2020. They indicated that they would look favourably on a repeat application in due course.

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Section F Other optional information

The charity can continue its routine educational work (Covid-permitting) of providing illustrated talks, guided walks, school visits and attendance at history fairs while incurring very little cost. It is envisaged that larger, project-type work will be funded by grants and our own fundraising activities. In simple terms, beyond the routine work, our activities will be determined by the level of funding that we can secure.

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Full name(s) Richard Nigel Bell Position (eg Secretary, Chair of Trustees Chair, etc) Date 07 July 2021

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APPENDIX A

The Sand House Charity: Details of volunteer hours and activities during 2020/21

Background

The number of hours expended by volunteers on behalf of The Sand House Charity have been recorded. This has been done to:

• identify how much input is required to manage the charity’s activities

• formally record the types of activities undertaken by the charity, both by general category and in detail

• provide potential funders, where required, with information on the charity’s resources and activities

• assist in estimating the resources required for future activities

• facilitate the preparation of the charity’s Annual Report.

The following sections provide an analysis of the recorded hours and activities.

Hours expended per volunteer

Only the names of the charity’s trustees have been identified in the above table. Other volunteers’ names are encoded, to protect their identities.

Hours expended per month

The increased activity during April 2020 relates mainly to producing content for the display in the new museum and setting up and delivering online talks. The peak in December 2020 is due to a combination of increased merchandise sales and research relating to the Thomas Hague Collection of documents and photographs.

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Hours per Activity Type

All volunteer hours are recorded against a standard menu of Activity Types. They are defined as follows:

Administration: Routine, office-based tasks not linked directly to a funded project. Examples include typing up meeting minutes, general correspondence, collating documents for accountant, etc..

Events excl. talks: This includes all events that are neither talks nor part of a funded project. Examples include attending history fairs and community gatherings, but also includes any preparation and follow up specifically relating to the event.

Meetings (not linked to specific projects): Trustees' meetings and meetings linked to the general running of the charity. They exclude any meetings that form part of a project, whether funded or not.

Projects - Chargeable: All time spent working on activities that have been funded specifically, from grants and other external sources.

Projects - Non-chargeable: All time spent working on either preparing for activities for which external funding is going to be applied for or on activities which form a time-limited package (such as a series of sand modelling workshops) for which no external funding has been obtained.

Research: This will usually be research into the history of the Sand House, possiibly but not necessarily at various libraries and archives i.e. it could be online, or reviewing previously acquired research material.

Social media: Posts and comments aimed at educating the public. (Technical updates and general, non-educational posts are classified as Administration).

Talks: These will usually be illustrated talks to either specific groups or the general public. Include preparation and any follow up specifically relating to the talk.

Training: Attending a training course or workshop or delivering training to others working for The Sand House Charity.

Other: Any activity not specifically included within the other Activity Types. Should a new Activity Type be identified it may be added to the drop-down list.

Using the above definitions, the volunteer hours per Activity Type across the whole of 2020/21 are as shown in the pie chart below.

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Breakdown of ‘Projects – Non-chargeable’ Activity Type

The hours expended on the largest Activity Type have been analysed in detail and broken down into the following specific activities.

There was no ‘Projects – Chargeable’ time expended during 2020/21. As and when the play remount receives external funding the time expended on it will be recorded as ‘Projects – Chargeable’.

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Charity Name No (if any) The Sand House Charity 1171875

Receipts and payments accounts

For the period Period start date from 1-Apr-20

Period end date To 31-Mar-21

Section A Receipts and payments

Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total funds funds funds funds to the nearest to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ £

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to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
£
A1 Receipts
Grants - - - -
Donations 1,312 - - 1,312
Fundraising - - - -
Other 24 - - 24
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
1,336 - - 1,336
Sub total (Gross income for AR)
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total - - - -
Total receipts 1,336 - - 1,336
A3 Payments
Advertising - - - -
Donation - - - -
Equipment, Materials and costumes 102 - - 102
General project costs - - - -
Insurances 430 - - 430
Loan repayment - - - -
Professional fees 575 - - 575
Room hire and refreshments - - - -
Travel and accommodation expenses - - - -
Volunteer expenses - - - -
Grant repayment 30 3,000 - 3,030
Other 24 - - 24
Sub total [ 1,162 ] 3,000 - 4,162
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - -
Total payments 1,162 3,000 - 4,162
Net of receipts/(payments) 175 - 3,000 - - 2,825
A5 Transfers between funds - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 819 8,417 - 9,236
Cash funds this year end 993 5,417 - 6,410
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

			Unrestricted		Restricted
Categories	Details		funds		funds
B1 Cash funds	NatWest account Total cash funds		to nearest £ 993 - - 993		to nearest £ 5,417 - - 5,417
	(agree	balances with receipts and payments account(s))	OK	OK
			Unrestricted		Restricted
			funds		funds
B2 Other monetary assets	Details None		to nearest £ - - - - - -		to nearest £ - - - - - -
B3 Investment assets	Details None		Fund to which asset belongs	Cost (optional) - - - - -
B4 Assets retained for the	Details Equipment		Unrestricted Fund to which asset belongs	Cost (optional) -
charity’s own use					- - - - - - - -
			Fund to which		Amount due
B5 Liabilities	Details None		liability relates		- - - - - (optional)
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees		Signature	Print	Name
			Richard	Nigel Bell

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CC16a
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Last year

to the nearest £

8,150 2,652 359 - - - - - 11,161

11,161

150 45 418 - 2,170 - - 33 - - 2,815

2,815 8,346 - 890 9,236

Endowment funds

to nearest £ - - - -

OK

Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - - -

Current value (optional) - - - - -

Current value (optional) 2,500 - - - - - - - - When due (optional)

Date of approval 23-Aug-21