Chairmans Address 2023
This has been another difficult year for the Museum as we have had to cope with not being able to open to the public which in turn has meant that we have been unable to generate any significant revenue from admission fees. Luckily our financial position has remained stable thanks to regular monitoring by our treasurer and strictly controlled outlay.
The loss of our under-cover storage at Sandtoft was a real blow to us especially with the unprecedented extremes of weather that we saw throughout 2022. We were, however, very lucky that the landowner has continued to support us by giving up some of his own storage space free of charge to us to keep our more precious vehicles under cover. He allowed us to park vehicles on his land free of charge and for that we must remain very grateful indeed. Clearly, we need to find under cover storage for our artifacts and the solution to this came in the form of articulated box trailers. These are currently being rented from a local company at a considerable discount but regretfully this monthly out-going often exceeds our income. Again, this is being very carefully monitored. We continue to generate income through our standing order supporters’ scheme, loan of a vehicle to Brighton City Airport, Amazon smile & PayPal just giving. We also received a sizeable donation from the RAF & Defence Fire Services Association specifically to help cover the cost of the trailer rental. We also enjoy subsidised outdoor yard space rental from a local haulage company which allows us to keep vehicles off site in a secure location. Several vehicles are also stored on a MOD establishment free of charge.
We have continued to meet every weekend at all our locations throughout the year and generally we have been engaged on the maintenance of the collection and the development of the Museum for the future. We have attended a few shows with vehicles and equipment which has kept the Museum in the public eye. The Mobile Display Unit has proved its worth of several occasions and this will continue to be developed this year. The team has remained strong, and our volunteer numbers remain constant.
Our focus this year has been to work with Scampton Holdings as they prepare their bid for the potential buy up of the former RAF base at Scampton. We had hoped to have news by now of their bid being successful but sadly, the timeframe keeps slipping. This is a multi-millionpound bid and clearly everything needs to be right before a successful outcome can be achieved. Both the trustees and Scampton holdings remain positive and hope that the successful bidder is announced soon.
The Museum is trying very hard to build on its relationship with the RAF & Defence Fire Services Association in the hope that eventually the Museum will be able to provide a spiritual home for the Association which will, in
turn, lead to more volunteers and greater awareness of military firefighting in general. Hand in hand with this, approaches have been made to senior management in the RAF, Defence Fire Rescue and CAPITA to try and attract more interest with the next generation of serving firefighter. It is hoped that the Museum will be successful in receiving a donated Major Foam Vehicle from the MOD soon!
In closing, I would like to thank all of you for your continued support over the last year. The scale of the issues that we have dealt with over the last year are huge, complex and often way outside of the norm associated with running a Museum.
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
Report to the trustees/ members of
Museum of RAF Firefighters
On accounts for the year ended
31/12/2022
Charity no 1172939 (if any)
Set out on pages
1-3
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/12/2022 .
Responsibilities and As the charity trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the basis of report accounts in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent I am qualified to undertake the examination by being a qualified member of examiner's statement AAT .
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act; or
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the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
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the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed: Name:
Date: 10/01/2023 Name: ~~Mrs. Phoenix Graham AATQB~~ Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): AAT Qualified Bookkeeper 1
Address:
52 Manor Street, Ruskington Lincs NG34 9ER
Section B Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
Give here details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .
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