Charity Registration No.1173070 BERWICK BARRACKS HERITAGETRUST ANNUAL REPORT AND UNAUDITED FINANCIALSTATEMENTS FOR THEYEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025
BERWICK BARRACKS HERITAGETRUST LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Trustees: Stuart Bankier- re-appointed 24 January 2024 John Elliott- appointed 24 March 2022 Jonathan Lang- re-appointed 25 October 2023 Sir Philip Mawer- reappointed 26 May 2024 Trevor Mitchell- appointed 17 October 2024 Scott Sherrard - appointed 24 March 2022 Charity Number: 1173070 Principal Address: clo Berwick Community Trust William Elder Building 56-58 Castlegate Berwick-upon-Tweed Northumberland TD15 1JT Independent Examiner: Robert lan Guthrie 4 Tweed Close East Ord BeDNick-upon-Tweed TD15 2LU Bankers: UnityTrust Bank plc PO Box7193 Planetary Road Willenhall VW19DG
BERWICK BARRACKS HERITAGETRUST TRUSTEES, REPORT Forthe Year ended 31 March 2025 The Trust was established in 2017 with the primary aim of furthering the redevelopment and preservation of Berwick's Grade 1 listed Barracks. The vision which has aLI along informed and guided the Trust's work has been of a Fedeveloped Barracks providing a secure home for. and showcasing, Ber*vick's considerable archival and museum collections; serving as a vibrant cultural and heritage hub, and a year-round resource for the peopLe of Berwick and the Eastern Borders: and, through increasing the area's visitor numbers. helping to drive the town's economic regeneration. In the year covered by this report, significant steps have been taken towards the realisation of this vision. as our report describes. The Trust's objects are not, however, confined solely to the Barracks but also give Trustees discretion to undertake other projects which advance the arts. cultural, education and heritage activities. This gives Trustees a welcome degree of flexibility to promote activities within these objects which further the charity's primary aim, some examples of which we give later in this report. Overall. the year under review saw very significant progress towards achieving the charity's principaL aim, aLong with the increase in the pace of the charity's activities which we predicted in our lastAnnuaL Report. The 'Llvlng Barracks, Project We referred In our previous report to the intended submission to the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) - by English Heritage Trust {EHT) on behalf of the Group of Partners driving this project- of a Stage 2 bid for additional funding to help make the vision of a 'Living Barracks, a reality. This submission. with its supporting business case, was made in the summer of 2024. On 28 February 2025. English Heritage announced that the bid had been successful and that the NLHF had awarded a grant of £4.5 miLLion towards the project. The grant will significantly help the Barracks Partnership Group to ensure the conservation and refurbishment of the East Block on the Barracks site, a(ong with the conversion of the former Mobilisation Store into an environmentally controlled store for all of Berwick's archives. New gallery spaces will be created in the East Block to house Berwick's important Burrell collection: the regimental museum of the Kings Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB): and other town collections. The refurbished Block will also
house a search room where the public can engage with the town's archival records. Together with funding provided earlier by the Arts Council as part of HM Government's Cultural Development Fund, the grant is also supporting a programme of community outreach, collections care and organisational resiLience-buildingto help ensure a sustainable future forthe Barracks as a visitor destination and community resource. In a further boost, planning permission for the development was granted early in 2025, thus paving the wayfor work to proceed. These two successes have enabled the Barracks Partners- English Heritage. the BerNick Barracks Heritage Trust (BBHT). the KOSB. the MaLtings (Berwick) Trust and Northumberland County Council (NCC}- to move fonNard with renewed confidence in developing fully detailed plans for the redevelopment. As this report was being prepared. contracts forthe proposed work were put out to tender, a crucial stage in gaining clarity about the true extent of the funding which (at a time of continuing high infLation in construction costs) will be needed to complete the redevelopment. Nevertheless. the considerable achievement of the Partners, led by English Heritage, in gaining the significant funding already pledged should not be underestimated. Meanwhile other developments have occurred which are critical to the success of this complex and multl-faceted project: Work has continued on the catatoguing and conservation of the collections heLd bythe various Partners. Funding has been allocated by NCC towards the refurbishment and updating of the Gymnasium Gallery adjacent to the East Block. The temporary cinema in the Mobilisation Store (mentioned in our last report and the intended future store for BenNick's archives) has opened suc¢essfuLIy. The artists, studioslworkshops. also mentioned in the Trust's last report. were successfully opened in the West Block of the Barracks in the summer of 2025. These have been jointly funded by Northumberland County Council, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. the North East Combined Authority. Create Berwick and the Cultural Development Fund. The summer of 2025 also saw the offices of the Maltings (BeiCk} Trust- the intended future day-to-day, lead operator of the Barracks site- move into the West Block while the MaLtings' Eastern Lane site is being redeveloped. The Contribution of the Trust Having been a key contributorto the initiation of the Living Barracks project, the BBHT'S role in support of it has inevitably altered as the project has gathered momentum. The Trust is a non-executive member of the Partnership Board (non-executive in that. unlike the other Partners, it does not have a direct presence on the Barracks site) and is also
represented on two of the Task Groups advising the Board-those responsible for communications and forfundraising. In these and other contexts, it aims to represent. in particular, the voice of the local community in the discussion and development of the project. In addition. the Trust has sought to act in an enablingway to furtherthe project, in support of aLlthe Partners. For example: Be_rwic_k's_Arc_h_ives- in the spring of 2025, the Trust awarded a grant of £4,500 to the Berwick Record Office to help fund the continuation to the summer of 2026 of a temporary post vital to the continued digitisation of the archives, photographic collection. This followed an earLiersmall grant to the Off ice towards a temporary archive assistant post. -con_servation a.nd Temporary Displg.y of Colloctions- in April 2025, the Trust applied through the Community Foundation North East for a grant of £27.000 over 3 years to fund a temporary conservation and engagement centre- subsequently named The Storehouse - in the Clock Block on the Barracks site. Thanks to the generoslty of the FB & PFB Lough Fund, this funding has been awarded and The Storehouse opened in the late summer of 2025. As its development falls outside the scope of this report, a fuller account of this project WILI be given in our next annual report. Holy Trinity School's 300th Anniversary- in March 2025, the Trust separately obtained a grant of £5,000 from the Northern Angel Fund (also administered by the Community Foundation North East) to enable three of the organisations active on the Barracks slte to work in different ways with HolyTrinity School- a first schooL in Berwick currently transitioning to become the town's largest primary school-to mark its 300th anniversary. Specifically, this grant will: Enable volunteers under the oversight of the NCC Archive Service to research the school's history. The results of this research are already informing other planned activities involving staff and pupils of the school. o Help the Maltings (Berwick) Trust to engage an artist to work with the school in designing and creating a commemorative artwork to be placed in the school to celebrate its tercentenary. ALLOW staff of the Tortive Theatre- based at the Straw Yard adjacent to the Barracks - to engage with pupils in a drama project reflecting the school's history. Again, a fuller account of this work will be given in the Trust's next Annual Report.
Outreach Activity ALongside the practical steps being undertaken to help forward the 'Living Barracks, project. the Partners are now engaged in a major programme of outreach activity to build community engagement with and commitment to the project. The first major flowering of this was an event directed by Matthew Rosier. a distinguished contemporary artist. in which some 800 local people- representing diverse community groups within BenNick-were invited to parade in the Barracks, and fiLmed while doing so. The resulting film was projected onto the buildings around the Barracks square during a number of evenings in Late February 2025. where it was viewed by over 2.000 local residents. The project demonstrated both the community's pride in and attachment to the Barracks and the potential of the Barracks square as an amphitheatre for staging large scaLe cultural events. This outreach programme wilL continue during the redevelopment of the Barracks over the next 2-3 years. Publications With the help of the Trust, Dr Stephen PLatten has continued his work on the production of an illustrated 'Guide to County Durham' modelled on the former. well-known Shell Guides- as mentioned in the Trust's last report. In addition to the three opening essays in the Guide. the gazetteer of individual places of interest in the county which will make up the bulk of the rest of the Guide is now some 90% complete. The task of writing the rest of the copy and assembling the photographs and other illustrations for the Guide is expected to be completed early in 2026, with publication following towards the end of that year. Meanwhile, sales of Dr Platten's companion 'Guide to Northumberland' and of his short bookLet 'Benvick Barracks - a History and Guide'_ continue satisfactorily. Financial Report During the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, the Trust received income from saLes of the Benmick Barracks History and Guide and made a donation to the Berwick Records Office. Details of all income received and of expenditure by the Trust can be found in the Accounts appended to this Report, which have been independently examined. Governance Following the resignation of Mr Julien Lake as a Trustee (reported previously), the Trust welcomed the appointment of Mr Trevor Mitchell to the Trustee body in October 2024. Prior to his retirement. Trevor served as the Director for the North and LeveLling Up of Historic England.
The other Trustees who served during the year covered by this report are listed on page 2. They act in a voluntary capacity and do not receive any remuneration. In the course of the year, Trustees reviewed and substantially updated the Trust's safeguarding policies and procedures. as welL as its procedures for ensuring that charities or other organisations to which grants are awarded by the Trust are properly accountable for observing the Trust's expectations in this and other respects and for reporting on the outcome and impact of the grants they receive. This Trustees, report has been approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on the Board's behalf by- Stuart Martin Bankier Trustee th Dated: 16 October 2025 Sir Philip Mawer Trustee Dated: 16 October 2025 th
Independent examinerfs report to the trustee5 of Berwick Barracks Heritage Trust I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Berwick Barracks Heritage Trust (the Charity) for the year ended 31 March 2025. Responsibilities and basis of report As the charity trustees of the Charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 20111'the Att,). I report in respect of my examination of the Charitvs 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 examinerfs statement have completed by examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect: l. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by Section 130 of the Act,. or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or 3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Account5 and Reports) Regulations 2008 otherthan 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: R9k Name: IA GufkiiZIF Address: Lk TwCfi3 CLOSF f*sf o£b, LAeohJ rbig 2LL4 Date: gl,.(20Z
BERWICK BARRACKS HERITAGE TRusr ststement of Financial Activities for the year ending 315t March 2025 Year Ending 31st March 2025 Year Ending 31st March 2024 Incoming Resources Sales of Barracks Books Shell Guide Donations Other Donations 222 8,715 25 Totsi Income 222 9,020 Resources Expended NCC re Ber¥vick Archives support Bank charges Governance Cost5 Totsi Expenditure {1,685) (9) (40) {40) (1,734) (40) Surplus / (Loss) for the Year 11,5121 8,980 Balance Sheet as at 31st March 2025 Year Ending 31st March 2025 Year Ending 31st March 2024 Current Asset5 Cash at Bank 41,630 43,142 Total Assets 41,630 43.142 Represented by: Unrestricted Funds Barracks Shell Guide 30,841 10,789 32,353 10,789 Total Funds 41.630 43,142