2024-03-31-accounts - The Sand House Charity

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Trustees’ Annual Report for the period

From: 01 April 2023 Period start date To: 31 March 2024 Period end date

Charity name: The Sand House Charity

Charity registration number: 1171875

Objectives and Activities

	SORP reference
Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document	Para 1.17	To advance the education of the public in history, art, sculpture and other related subjects having a link to the former Victorian Sand House of Doncaster.
Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts.	Para 1.17 and 1.19	In summary, the following main activities took place for the public benefit: • Illustrated talks • Guided walk • Pop-up sand art sessions for families • Further development of VR project • Planning/fundraising for audio play • New video for Heritage Open Days • Attendance at History Fairs • Fundraising for museum projector • Proposal for ‘Friends of the Sand House’ • Historical research • Educational posts on social media • Newsletters to subscribers • Website maintained and updated
Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit	Para 1.18	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.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

	SORP reference
Policy on grant making	Para 1.38
Policy on social investment including program related investment	Para 1.38

Contribution made by volunteers	Para 1.38	Volunteers are a vital part of our activities. The entire running of the charity is carried out on a voluntary basis. More specifically, we would not be able to run our pop-up sand art sessions, guided walks, our larger Illustrated talks, or some of our other events were it not for our volunteers. During 2023/24 we were delighted to add to our volunteer pool three Asda Community Champions, to supplement our dedicated team. The help of every one of our volunteers is invaluable, and we are enormously grateful for the time and effort that they devote to The Sand House Charity.
Other		Our Patron, Matthew Schellhorn, continued to be extremely supportive of our charity. Our Chair of Trustees maintained regular contact with him throughout the year. During this year, Matthew made a specific contribution by giving two more performances of the 24-minute piano piece inspired by carvings at the Sand House, which he had previously commissioned. The second of these performances took place in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Achievements and Performance

	SORP reference
Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole.	Para 1.20	In summary, The Sand House Charity exists to share the unique legacy of Doncaster's Victorian Sand House with as wide an audience as possible, and to encourage learning and engagement through presentations, performances, and other creative activities. Our seven illustrated talks took place to an aggregate audience of 179. They contributed to our educational aim through not only telling the detailed story of the Sand House, but also placing it in context with other historical facts. One of the talks was given to a local primary school, with the children undertaking other, related study on the day of the talk. It was also pleasing that one talk to a group supported by Age UK Doncaster led to two more invitations from that same organisation. One guided walk took place and was attended by 24 people. The history of the Sand House was revealed, while showing attendees clues on site as to its former existence. We ran pop-up sand art sessions at Woodlands Community Library & Hub, in a Doncaster suburb. They took place over five days of October half-term. 121 people attended. The majority comprised children aged 11 and under. They learnt sand sculpting skills, developed artistic skills and they and their accompanying adults were introduced to the Sand House history.

For Heritage Open Days 2023, we opted for an online event, creating and launching a video. It was aimed at explaining the best-known section of the tunnels that were linked to the Sand House, i.e. the Cloisters, with its many sculptures. In the period from publication until the end of the financial year, the new video achieved 415 YouTube views, placing it second in popularity behind the video that we created for Heritage Open Days 2020. On Facebook, the Cloisters video was easily the best performing video on our page during the same period. Having begun to develop a project, in 2022/23, aimed at creating a virtual reality (VR) experience of the Cloisters, we proceeded to the point of applying for funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF), in November 2023. Unfortunately, our application was unsuccessful. We believe that the Sand House lends itself perfectly to the use of VR. Therefore, we plan to re-apply for funding, taking into account the feedback received from NLHF. No date has yet been set for a re-application. Having decided, during 2022/23, to produce a podcast version of Peter Spafford’s “Sand House” stage play, that project was developed during 2023/24. With the majority of the funding in place, including a £500 donation from Doncaster & District Heritage Association, a date of August 2024 was set for recording the play. For some time, we have had an aspiration to provide projected video, etc., at our permanent display in the Danum Gallery, Library & Museum (DGLAM), in Doncaster. In February 2024, we became aware of the Central Locality Capital Investment Grants, being offered through Doncaster’s Social Isolation Alliance. A funding application was submitted, and we were notified in late March that it had been successful. Working in collaboration with Heritage Doncaster, the owner/operator of DGLAM, we immediately put in hand the provision of a ceiling-mounted projector. The installation is expected to take place in June 2024. Following a very successful premiere in March 2023 by our charity’s Patron, Matthew Schellhorn, the piano piece inspired by the Sand House sculptures received two more public performances during this financial year. The first took place in Weymouth, Dorset, in May, and the second in Lucerne, Switzerland, in March 2024. Both were accompanied by projected images of the tunnels and sculptures, and both received positive feedback from the audience. Following a pause of three years due to Covid 19, we were able to attend two history fairs, in autumn 2023. The Local History Fair, in September, was held at DGLAM and organised by Doncaster & District Heritage Association. With exhibitors placed throughout the building, we were able to set up our stand alongside the museum’s permanent Sand House display. There were many visitors and the whole event was excellent in helping us to share the Sand House story with more people.

Just two weeks after the Local History Fair, we exhibited at Doncaster & District Family History Society’s Family History Fair. Once again, this event was well attended, and we engaged with many people who were previously unaware of the Sand House. We were also able to reach an even larger audience, having been invited to give an illustrated talk during the event. In May 2023, we undertook refurbishment work on the grave of Thomas and Beatrice Hague, who had lived in the Sand House from 1917 until 1932. The grave lies in Hyde Park Cemetery, a very short distance from the site of the Sand House. Historical research into the Sand House, its tunnels, and the people associated with them is an ongoing feature of our work. We have pursued several avenues during this year. For example, we were able to visit and interview Mrs Mary Gill, widow of Dennis Gill. Dennis had suffered a serious eye injury in an accident in the Cloisters tunnel in 1942. The information from Mrs Gill, and subsequently from her son, enabled us to build a much clearer picture of an incident that had been mentioned in vague terms many times. In February 2024, we received a further batch of documents and photographs relating to the younger Thomas Hague, from the Executrix of his Will. They add further detail to the life story of one of the last residents of the Sand House. The early stages of a review of the minute books of Doncaster’s Corporation’s Public Health Committee revealed new information about the latter years of the Lumby family’s occupancy of the Sand House and the start of the Hague family’s. This research will be continued. Also in historical research, a 40-year-long mystery was solved. Sand House creator, Henry Senior, had not previously been located in the 1851 Census records despite numerous attempts. In March 2024, he was located on a non-indexed page of the Census for Barnsley, South Yorkshire, along with his wife and first surviving child. Through social media we have once again shared a great deal of factual information about the Sand House with a large audience, thus giving easy access to educational material. We have over 500 followers on Instagram and over 600 on X (formerly Twitter). Our Facebook followers number 3.4k. Four newsletters were sent to our subscribers during the year, compared with five in 2022/23 and three in the previous year. Throughout the year, our website (www.thesandhouse,org.uk) was maintained and

updated, promoting both our charity and the Sand House itself. Additions included a new webpage on ‘Myths’, dispelling much of the misinformation that is often heard about the Victorian marvel. Sand House-related merchandise was enhanced with the inclusion of limited-edition prints and postcards of a superb pen and ink drawing, by Duncan Harper. During this year, the Trustees developed the principles of a Friends of the Sand House supporters’ group. Under the scheme, subscribers would receive certain benefits in return for a regular monthly donation. When we launched the proposed scheme, there was interest shown, but insufficient so far to justify the workload involved. We hope to gain further support over time, to make Friends of the Sand House sustainable. Through 2023/24, we continued to record all hours expended by volunteers and the activities that they undertook. In total, 660 hours were expended, down from 725 in the previous year, but very similar to the hours in 2021/22. APPENDIX A provides a detailed breakdown of 2023/24 hours and activities.

A

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:


Achievements against objectives set	Para 1.41
Performance of fundraising activities against objectives set	Para 1.41
Investment performance against objectives	Para 1.41
Other

Financial Review

Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period	Para 1.21	As at 31 March 2024, the charity’s balance of Unrestricted funds was £2,154. This was an increase of £566 compared with the start of the financial year.

		Also at 31 March 2024, the charity’s balance of Restricted funds was £8,350, compared with £11,390 at the start of the year. All but £40 of this decrease was due to returning £3,000 to one funder, as they declined our request to use the money for the changed scope of the play project, i.e. from stage-based to a podcast version.
Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held	Para 1.22	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, web hosting and, where necessary, accountancy services being the only significant ones.
Amount of reserves held	Para 1.22	At the end of the financial year, the charity’s reserves equated to £2,000. The only expected outgoings from the Unrestricted funds over the subsequent three months were volunteer expenses for running sand art sessions, amounting to less than £150.
Reasons for holding zero reserves	Para 1.22	N/A
Details of fund materially in deficit	Para 1.24	N/A
Explanation of any uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern	Para 1.23	N/A

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

The charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising)	Para 1.47	The charity’s principal sources of Unrestricted funds are: • Donations from groups receiving talks • Individuals attending talks • Individuals attending guided walks • Monthly donations from some supporters • Donation of profits from merchandise sales Disbursements from easyfundraising enhanced our income. Income to Restricted (i.e. project-specific) funds normally comes principally from grants from Trusts and Foundations. During 2023/24 we received notification of one successful grant application, but the funds were not transferred to us until after the year end.
Investment policy and objectives including any social investment policy adopted	Para 1.46	N/A
A description of the principal risks facing the charity	Para 1.46


Other		The charity can continue its routine educational work of providing illustrated talks, guided walks, online information and attendance at history fairs while incurring very little cost. It is envisaged that larger, project-type work will continue to 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 grant funding that we can secure.

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of charity’s trusts:
Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter)	Para 1.25	Constitution
How is the charity constituted? (e.g unincorporated association, CIO)	Para 1.25	Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees	Para 1.25	Every trustee must be appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. No new trustees who were appointed during 2023/24, but there was one resignation, for personal reasons.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:


Policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees	Para 1.51
The charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works	Para 1.51
Relationship with any related parties	Para 1.51
Other

Reference and Administrative details

Charityname	The SandHouse Charity
Other name the charity uses	N/A
Registered charity number	1171875
Charity’s principal address	7 Ayots Green Dunscroft Doncaster South Yorkshire DN7 4HG

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year
Richard Bell	Chair
SandyJessop		Resigned 29.09.2023
Mick Jenkinson
Andrew Isaacs
Mark Waterhouse
Heather Charlton

Corporate trustees – names of the directors at the date the report was approved

Director name

Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity

Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year

Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others

Description of the assets held in this capacity	N/A
Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the	N/A

assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects Details of arrangements for N/A safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets

Additional information (optional)

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of Name Address adviser N/A

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

Exemptions from disclosure

Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details

Other optional information

Declarations

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

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Full name(s) Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Date
	Richard Nigel Bell
	Chair
	12 June 2024
	12 June 2024

APPENDIX A

The Sand House Charity: Details of volunteer hours and activities during 2023/24

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 month

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The hours per month were relatively consistent except for notable peaks in July, August and October. July’s increase was due to greater administrative activity than normal, preparing the previous year’s annual accounts and report, plus work on the Friends of the Sand House proposal. In August, the bulk of the workload came from preparing the Cloisters video for Heritage Open Days (48 hrs). The guided walk also contributed 20 hours. October’s peak was due to provision of sand art sessions, involving multiple volunteers.

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 specific project. Examples include attending history fairs and community gatherings, running pop-up sand art sessions, 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: All time spent working on specific, time-limited activities with a particular output at the end, whether or not they have been funded specifically, from grants and other external sources. Examples include the Sand House play, the schools literacy project (Exploring Culture), and 3D digital modelling/VR work.

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 2023/24 are as shown in the pie chart below.

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Breakdown of ‘Projects’ Activity Type

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

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END

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Charity Name No (if any) The Sand House Charity 1171875 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period Period start date Period end date To from 01/04/2023 31/03/2024

Section A Receipts and payments	Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts	Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ - 698 - 99 71 320 - - 1,188 - - - 1,188 - 16 20 503 - - 10 95 19 - 663 - - - 663 525 40 1,589 2,154	Restricted funds to the nearest £	Endowment funds to the nearest £	Total funds to the nearest £	Last year to the nearest £
Grants	-	-	-	-	3,817
Donations held in NatWest account	698	-	-	698	2,329
Other	-	-	-	-	100
Fundraisingactivities	99	-	-	99	122
Disbursements(Amazon/easyfundraising)	71	-	-	71	62
Gift Aid from HMRC	320	-	-	320	1,728
	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-
*Sub total*(Gross income for AR)	1,188	-	-	1,188	8,158

A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).
	-
	-				-
*Sub total*	-				-
*Total receipts* A3 Payments
					8,158

Repayunusedgrant	-				-
Postage	16				-
Equipment, materials & costumes	20				65
Insurance	503				448
Professional fees	-				4,683
Room hire	-				92
Subscriptions	10				-
Training	95				-
Website	19				-
Other					10
	-				-
**Sub total **	663				5,298

A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)
	-
	-
**Sub total **	-				-
*Total payments* *Net of receipts/(payments)* A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end *Cash funds this year end*
					5,298

	525	-3,000		-2,475	2,860
	40	-40		-	-
	1,589	11,390		12,979	10,119
	2,154	8,350		10,504	12,979

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

11/07/2024

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

NatWest Account Details Details *Total cash funds* (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))	Unrestricted funds to nearest £	Restricted funds to nearest £	Endowment funds to nearest £
	2,154	8,350	-
	-	-	-
	-	-	-
	2,154	8,350	-
			OK
			Endowment funds to nearest £
	-	-	-
	-	-	-
	-	-	-
	-	-	-
	-	-	-
	-	-	-
Signature Details Details Equipment Props & costumes for play Details	Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) Unrestricted - Restricted - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Print Name RichardNigel Bell		Current value (optional)
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			Current value (optional)
			4,750
			1,032
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			When due (optional)






			Date of approval
	RichardNigel Bell		12/06/2024

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)

11/07/2024

Notes to the Accounts

Basis of preparation.

These financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost basis and in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 and related Regulations.

As the charity's level of income is below £250,000 the Trustees have opted for the accounts to be prepared under the receipts and payments method. This is in accordance with the Charity Commission guidelines for small charities and is seen as appropriate for this organisation.

The Trustees have also decided that there should not be an independent examination of the accounts on this occasion, because the charity's income is below £25,000 (in fact, only £1,188). This is in accordance with Charity Commission guidelines.

Fund accounting

Incoming resources that may be applied for the charity's general purposes are treated as unrestricted incoming resources and are credited to the unrestricted fund.

Where a donation or grant is required to be used for a specific purpose, the amount concerned is treated as restricted income and is credited to the appropriate restricted fund.

Movement of funds

Unrestricted funds General fund - NatWest account Transfer between funds Restricted funds Transfer between funds TOTAL	Balance at 01/04/2023 Incoming resources Expended resources Balance at 31/03/2024 1589 1188 -663 2114 0 40 0 40
	1589 1228 -663 2154
	11390 0 -3000 8390 0 0 -40 -40
	11390 0 -3040 8350

	12979 1228 -3703 10504

Trustees' remuneration, benefits and expenses

The were no trustees' remunerations in the period of these accounts.

CCXX R3 accounts (SS)

11/07/2024