AGM of ROWLANDS CASTLE HERITAGE
CENTRE Thursday 24[th] November 2022 at 19.00 in the Church on the Green
Trustees Present: Alan Eyers AE, Ania Shawcross AS, Alan Drinkwater AD, Rodney Duggua RD, Annabelle Cameron AC
In Attendance: Malcolm Smith MS, Charlie Shawcross CS, Caroline Bird CB, Loraine Moriarty LM, Gordon Charlesworth GC, (Brian Tomkinson BT (Rowlands Castle Historical Society) Fred Smith FS, Tod Sloan TS, plus 3 members of the public.
Apologies: from Prue Amner, Kevin Connell, Chris Stanley, Paul Griffiths, Tim Cowin, David Symonds
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Ite Subject Action
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1. Welcome
Alan Eyers (AE) welcomed everyone to the AGM. This
included five Trustees and other guests.
The minutes of the previous meeting on 25th November
2021 were confirmed and signed.
2. Election of Officers
All officers agreed to carry on in office as follows: AE – Chair; ,
Ania Shawcross (AS) -Deputy Chair; Prue Amner (PA) -Secretary;
Lorraine Moriarty (LM) – Treasurer
This was confirmed by a trustee vote.
3. Treasurer’s Financial Statement and Accounts
LM presented the statement of accounts (see addendum)
Income has been reduced this year because previous income
from displaying the model railway at Stansted has stopped. The
Queen’s Jubilee was the biggest event, including donations from
EDHC.
Ongoing costs are insurance and website costs, which are kept
to a minimum where possible. Our charity status helps to keep
costs down, for example allowing us to use free Google tools.
This year we have invested in a “Sum-up” card reader which
should be useful in the future to collect donations.
LM reported that the change of bank account proved more
difficult than anticipated but is finally complete and she thanked
the trustees for their patience.
The Income & Expenditure Statement and the Interim
Treasurer’s report were all formally approved by Tony Bird,
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Registered Charity Number 1174495
Chartered Accountant, who was thanked for examining the RCHC accounts. LM also thanked Joan Drinkwater for her patience in the interim as the accounts were changed over. 4. Chairman’s Report and Business Plan The Chairman noted that it was a good to display the Model Railway at various times during the year in the village. The Business Plan was reviewed earlier in the year in a special trustee meeting with lots of discussion about the future of the Heritage Centre. Many interesting ideas were discussed and developed, including a much closer relationship with the Historical Society. As we rely on donations to keep the Centre going we are hoping to organise various fundraising events over the next year to enable our work to develop. We are looking to develop our activities to include the younger generation, including school visits and developments on the website. AE thanked the Trustees, the Management team and volunteers for their continued support in being part of the team. He thanked LM and Joan Drinkwater, the previous treasurer, for their hard work during the transition to our new charity bank account. He also thanked the website team, particularly Graham Dale , who gives freely of his technical expertise; AS and PA for their continuing advice and support. He thanked those who made it possible to display and maintain the model railway – Malcom, the controller of trains, Annabelle and Jim for storage and Mark of Merrid who transports the railway from store to display. A final thanks went to local businesses, particularly the Hardware store for their kind donations from the calendar this year. AE finished by encouraging volunteers to get involved in any aspects of our work. 5. Proposal for relationship with Rowlands Castle Historical Society Charlei Shawcross (CS) presented the proposal, discussed earlier in the year by members of both groups to work more closely together. The groups will remain as separate entities but move towards sharing a common name and logo which will aim to present a unified face and avoid village confusion between the two groups. The programme of talks and the display of the model railway will remain separate; however, the groups will aim to develop research projects together and share content on the website. A member of Historical Society will sit on our management committee and the website group, RCHC members will be invited to contribute talks. Alan Drinkwater (AD) commented that trustees must be careful not to move away from the original aims of the charity or to aim to make a profit. He was concerned that there could be some confusion and challenges in this proposal, particularly regarding the copyright of articles on the website and the archive. Annabelle Cameron (AC) reassured AD that the archives could be recorded and kept separate but that this could be a large, joint
Registered Charity Number 1174495
future project.
Brian Tomkinson (BT) commented that the parallel aims and projects meant that closer working was beneficial to both societies and that the proposal had already been voted for unanimously at the Historical Society.
The trustees voted to adopt the proposal by 4 votes, with one abstention.
The other attendees voted unanimously for the proposal. 6. Reports from the Working Groups: -
The Website Group report was presented by Caroline Bird (CB), outlining current projects and ideas for the future. The website group has focused on User Experience and made improvements to the website based on this, including an improved search function and more links between pages. There is now a What’s On page for historical activities in the locality and a Children’s page. We have applied for Arts Council funding to further improve the Children’s activities and run children’s workshops, working with local artists. Several research projects have been uploaded including a Bessborough biography and stories from the Census. Future articles are planned on the Queen and Rowlands Castle, along with photos showing the village response to the Ukraine crisis.
Safeguarding statement: CB reported that it was necessary for the charity to have a Safeguarding policy adopted in line with Government guidelines to ensure everyone knows how to identify and report a concern or incident. This is particularly important now the charity wants to look at organising Heritage activities for children. The policy and procedure was agreed by the Trustees . This will be shared with all volunteers and uploaded to the website.
The Model Railway Group Malcolm Smith (MS) reported that we were able to display the railway twice at the Church on the Green, which proved to be a successful venue. Tod, Fred and Geoff were thanked for servicing the rolling stock. By setting up early we were able to show the railway to a year 6 class from St John’s School, which was a great success, and we hope to repeat this with other groups in the coming year. It is hoped that there will be sufficient volunteers to show the model in the village at events and possibly weekends in the near future. MS thanked all volunteers for their help in the past. Volunteers Mike Coomb and Tom Anderson sadly passed away this year, Mike had been particularly successful with fund raising and getting volunteers from Havant Rotary. Other volunteers would be very welcome and there will 14 attendees at the Volunteers’ lunch next week. Tod Sloan (TS) commented that moving the railway does have a detrimental effect on it. Some of the scenery needs refreshing as well as upgrades to the track, which will be carried out next time
Registered Charity Number 1174495
it is up. However, the layout may need some major work eventually and consideration should be made that the working functionality may be limited.
Date of next meeting
The next AGM of Trustees will take place in November 2023 date tbc.
The next Management Group meeting will be on December 6th
Meeting was followed by an Open Forum:
AD suggested we look at extending the boundaries covered by the Heritage Centre Website to include Chalton.
AE reported that we are investigating links with Portsmouth Water Reservoir Visitor Centre, which may offer a chance for (a static) display and premises and possible funding avenues. They also have educational outreach. MS commented that fundraising needs to be the priority before this can be considered. AD reiterated that the museum is an aspiration, which has been included in the Village Development plan. The meeting closed at 20.35
Signed ……………………………..…………………………….………Chairman Date……………………………
Registered Charity Number 1174495
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteosl members of Rowlands Castle Fkri* Centre On accounts for the year ended 30th September 2022 Charity no 1174495 Set out on page One I rewrt to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (Ihe Trusf) for the year ended 30" Septwnber 2022 As the charitys trustees. you are responsibSe for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 rthe A{) Responsibilities and basis of report I report in respect of my examination of the Trusfs accounts orried out under section 145 of the 2011 Ad and in rying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission uTrYer section 14515)(b) of the ACL Indendent I have o)mpleted my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examinerfs statement Con to my attention in connection with the examinatK)n whth gives me cause to believe that in, any material resFect: the ac(xJunting records were not kept in accordance with sedion 130 of the Charities Act., or the accounts did rv)t accorf with the accounting records; or the accx)unts did not c%)mpty with the apICable requirements con(wning the fom and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2W8 other than any requirement that the ac¢ounts gNe a Irue and fairf view which is not a matter onsKler8d as part of an Indendeftt examination. I have no cOnM$ and have come across no other matters in connection lryth the examination to which attention should be dravm in this report in order to erqb a proper understanding of accounts to be reath8d. Slgned= 23Tr1 November 2022 Namo: Anthony Bird Rèlevant professional quallficatlon(s) or body lif any): Chartered Acuntaftt Addr$. 4 Deerleap Lane, Rowlands Castle, P09 6FD
OI*ILANDS CASTI F ROWLANDS CASTLE HERITAGE CENTRE Annual Accounts 30 September 2022 Rowlands Castle Heritsge Centre Simplified Profit & Loss Account For the year erKled 30 September 2022 Queen's Jubilee 2.4CQ.(N) RCHC Income Queens Jubilee 2022 Sale of Books/Postcards Model Railwoy Donations 160.62 General Expenses Model Railway- Churth Hall Queensjubilee 2022 {1.722.661 Insuran Renewal (382.271 Webslte Developmentwork Software I2.1))) 1364.88) Profit/lLossl {881.53) 677.34 RowlarKls Castle Herltsge Centre Balance Sheet For the year ended 30 September 2022 2022 £2,429 £247 2021 £2,722 £159 Bank accounts Current account Petty cash Jubilee Funds In-fenced) 677 £1.999 Net atsets £2,880 Page I Registered Charity Number 1174495 23r¢4