ROWLANDS CASTLE HISTORY AND HERITAGE AGM MINUTES
Tuesday 19[th] November 2024 at 7.30 pm in Parish Hall
Trustees Present: Alan Eyers, Prue Amner, Rodney Duggua, Alan Drinkwater, Kevin Connell, Annabelle Cameron.
Apologies: Ania Shawcross, Paul Griffiths.
In attendance: From the Management Group, Brian Tompkinson, Lorraine Moriarty, Caroline Bird, Malcolm Smith and 47 members, 1 new member and 5 guests.
Introductions
Alan Eyers welcomed all to the meeting and introduced the Trustees.
Minutes of the last meeting:
Minutes were accepted and there were no actions.
Formal Re - election of Officers
The following Trustees were confirmed to continue in these roles:-
Chairperson - Alan Eyers
Vice Chairperson - Ania Shawcross Secretary - Prue Amner Interim Treasurer - Lorraine Moriarty
Approval of Financial Statement and Accounts
Lorraine Moriarty presented the Financial Statement. The Examiner’s Report was accepted. and both are Appendix 1.
Chairman’s report – including Merger with Rowlands Castle Historical Society and progress on Interim Business Plan is at Appendix 2.
Chairman, Alan Eyres presented his report to the meeting explaining that the Historical talks and visits will continue along with the activities of the Heritage Centre. Membership for the combined organisation will continue as for the Historical Society. Alan gave thanks to all those who volunteer.
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Especial thanks to Alan Drinkwater, who has resigned as Trustee, for his creativity for setting up the RCHC initially to acquire the model railway, initiate the website and apply for charitable status. Many thanks for all his hard work.
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Also thanks to Paul Griffiths, who has resigned as Trustee, for a new role in UAE. Alan wished him well and thanked him for his input over the years.
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Alan thanked Ted Redsull, posthumously, as he had donated his archive collection of 75 folders of photos to RCHH which are now being categorised for the archive.
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Alan thanked Lorraine Moriarty who is standing down as treasurer but she will act as interim until a new treasurer is found.
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Thanks to Malcolm Smith who, over the years, has acted as controller of the model railway and this role has been taken over by Gordon Charlesworth. Malcolm will still be a volunteer.
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Thanks to Annabelle and Jim for storing the model railway between displays.
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Thank to Caroline Bird for editing the website and Graham Dale for his technical support. The Website Editor’s report is Appendix 3
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Thanks to Charlis Shawcross who has developed the Heritage Trails around the village, two of the four are now live.
The Business Plan will be revised for RCHH for their future plans and activities which will included Railway 200 celebrations.
AGM Meeting closed at 20.05 pm
Date of next Trustee meeting November 2025 date TBC
The meeting continued with a talk by Tim Cowin on the history of Rowlands Castle Village Green.
Signed _____ Date_______
Appendix 1 Treasurer's Report For the Year Ending 30 September 2024
Introduction
This has been a significant year for the charity, as we have worked towards the merger with the Historical Society, which will provide a new income stream.
Income
Our income for the year was derived from three primary sources: donations, grants, and advance membership fees (relating to the merger). Below is a breakdown:
1. Donations:
Total donations received during the year amounted to £401.95, reflecting generous support from individuals to the year’s events.
2. Grants:
We successfully secured several grants, totalling £1,218.00. These funds are earmarked for specific projects, partly completed in this financial year. The remainder of the expenditure will be incurred in the coming year.
3. Membership Fees (Post-Merger):
Following the decision to merge with the Historical Society, it was also agreed to create a new membership of the joint venture. Some membership fees (£480.00) have been received in this financial year, but have been put into the balance sheet, rather than being taken as income, as the merger doesn’t officially commence until this AGM is concluded. The membership model has already and will continue to strengthen our financial position and will assist in extending our reach within the community.
Expenditure
Our expenditure this year was focused on the following key areas:
1. Exhibitions:
A total of £795.67 was spent on delivering our core program of events. This included direct costs such as hall hire and printing.
2. Website Administration Costs:
Website software and licence expenses totalled £605.31. These covered essential hosting and software tools.
3. Insurance:
There was also the annual renewal of the liability insurance of £416.33, which was extended this year, at no extra cost, to cover future guided visits.
Financial Position
At the close of the financial year, we ended with a net deficit of £197.36. This negative outcome still leaves us in a healthy and stable financial position moving into the next year.
We also now have the opportunity to increase our membership base, which we anticipate will provide recurring income in the form of membership renewals and increased engagement with our activities.
Conclusion
In summary, the financial outlook for the newly combined History and Heritage group is positive. The Historical Society has approved the transfer of their residual funds at the date of closure to the RCHC bank account.
I would like to extend my gratitude to the Historical Society, our donors, members, and grant providers for their continued support. Together, we are ensuring that the RCHH can continue making a meaningful difference in the community.
Signed, [Marcus Lorraine Moriarty Treasurer 20 October 2024
| Rowlands Castle Heritage Centre Income and Expenditure Account For the year ended 30 September 2024 Income General Donations Fundraising Events May Day Picnic Sale of Books/Postcards Village Fair Easy Fundraising Grant Funding Expenditure Fundraising Events Deerleap RCA Community Activity Event General Expenses Hall Hire Other Expenses Printing/photocopying Write backs Insurance Renewal Model Railway Expenditure Website Other Software Net (deficit) / surplus |
2024 2024 2023 2023 £ £ £ £ 109.84 592.88 0.00 3,248.01 0.00 122.94 0.00 4.00 189.58 59.72 102.53 0.00 1,218.00 0.00 1,619.95 4,027.55 0.00 (602.46) 0.00 (5.00) (315.00) (200.00) (24.75) (229.20) (455.92) (172.00) 0.00 (400.00) (416.33) (398.87) 0.00 (320.48) (605.31) (21.00) 0.00 (232.63) (1,817.31) (2,581.64) (197.36) 1,445.91 |
2023 £ |
|---|---|---|
| 4,027.55 | ||
| (2,581.64) | ||
| 1,445.91 |
| Rowlands Castle Heritage Centre Balance Sheet As at 30 September 2024 Bank accounts Current account Petty cash Net assets Current Liabilities Future Membership Fees Beneficiaries Capital account Income account B/F Net surplus/(loss) in year Total funds |
2024 2024 £ £ 4,178 227 4,405 480 3,925 1,872 2,250 (197) 3,925 3,925 |
2024 2024 £ £ 4,178 227 4,405 480 3,925 1,872 2,250 (197) 3,925 3,925 |
2023 £ 4,045 77 1,872 804 1,446 |
2023 £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4,122 | ||||
| 4,122 | ||||
| 4,122 | ||||
| 3,925 | 4,122 |
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts for the year ended 30th September , 2024. Having completed my examination, I can confirm that no matters have come to my attention and that the Income and E xpenditure Account and Balance Sheet are an accurate reflection of the Charity ' s transactions for the year.
Antony Bird ACA
11 November 2024
Appendix 2 CHAIR’S REPORT
It was confirmed at the Historical Society AGM last month that the RCHC and the RCHS will hence forth be known as the Rowlands Castle History and Heritage, RCH&H. The talks will continue as in previous years. A full program has been has been arranged up to April of next year, details of which are available on the website. As the RC Heritage Centre is a registered Charity, so will always be the RCHC but the combined two will be known as RCH&H from now on. This will combine our joint experience, expertise and resources to much greater benefit well into the future. Membership is available at £20.00 a year, as in previous years, or for a donation of £5.00 per talk on the evening. A few special talks are being arranged for which the entrance of £5.00 will be applicable. All of these will also be publicized via the Grapevine, posters in the village and on the website.
As always there are people to thank. Firstly the Trustees for their continued support and advice throughout the past year. My fellow Committee members without whom ‘nothing’ would happen. It is a strong team, and a team effort it is. It has been a busy year with the arrangements for the combining of the HS and the HC, for which I must also include Tim & Brian from the HS in their help and advice. As Tim has now taken a step back from the Committee, for work reasons, our thanks to him as it was his father who started the HS all those years back. His continued involvement in giving the odd talk will keep ‘tied’ to us into the future, which can only be a good thing. Brian has joined the Management Committee. His extensive knowledge of all things HS has, and will, be invaluable. We now have a stronger team to move things forward and establish the RCH&H on much stronger footing. We are all looking forward to the possibilities.
As many of you know we have been asked by the family of Ted Redsull, who sadly passed away earlier this year, under his wishes we, as the RCH&H, become the guardians of his vast & varied collection of village history and heritage artifacts. We have roughly 80 folders, of various sizes, full to the brim of pictures; photos, documents, newspaper cuttings, etc. We are going to catalogue and record these in order to preserve them well into the future. Each folder’s content will be gone through and the content individually identified. The aim is to them all available for research by ourselves or interested parties wanting to discover more of the village history and heritage sometime in the near future.
Our thanks to a friend of the RCH&H who is allowing us to store all these files in a not now used office as a safe place. This will keep all the files plus other artifacts safe and protected while we carry out the required work on them.
Some of the items are over 100 years old so will need special care. We are looking into possible funding for this enterprise and for suitable Software and storage to
achieve this important work. Ted’s commitment to collecting all his items will be put to good use by way of a homage to his love on his/our village. He will be sadly missed.
As with all committees people come and go. Lorraine, who has been our treasurer for some years is now looking to cut down her involvement due to increased work commitments. She has performed the role as a smooth operation. Our accounts are independently audited each year, a copy being sent the Charities Commission afterwards. Lorraine will stay on the Committee where she continues to be an asset in the general organisation of all things we do. We are therefore looking for someone to take over the not so onerous task of keeping our financial records up to date.
Also taking step back is Malcolm, who from the very start has been the!!! Controller, organising the ‘Drivers’ / volunteers for every display of the Model Railway. He has completed this task with great enthusiasm but will remain as volunteer. Thankfully, Gordon has agreed to take on this role and will henceforth be known as the!!!! Controller, thank you to both of them.
The model is safely stored away in Deerleap. Tod our railway Tech-guy is working on some of the rolling stock, updating the couplings to make the setting up of the model much easier. our elderly. This large task will be finished in time for next year’s displays. Our big thanks to Annabelle and Jim for allowing us to keep all the parts in safe storage there.
We have to move the model from Deerleap to the Church-on-the-Green, to have it up and running as required, so our grateful thanks to both Mark, Merrid Fencing and Shaun Morris (Builder) for transporting the boxes and for giving us their valuable time during their working week.
We are very lucky to have Graham who keeps the tech-side of the webside up to date. His time and knowledge are invaluable to us. Caroline our Editor, along with the website group are constantly feeding him updates. We regularly get good feedback from visitors to the site. There are lots of interesting things to see and read for the young and ‘not so young’ to explore.
As a result of all these activities this year, we will revise our Business Plan next year to include all these developments and the new plans we are formulating.
Appendix 3 Website Report 2024
The work of the website team is focused to meet the RCHC ' s strategy and charitable aims: “ To establish and maintain a museum in Rowlands Castle in order to advance the education of the public in the history and heritage of the village, its former inhabitants and the surrounding area ”
Review of the Year
The website is managed by a small sub - committee of volunteers. J ust before Christmas last year, we launched our new look home page, with a simplified structure and using photos provided by local photographers. We have improved the accessibility of the website by using the U serway Accessibility Widget to ensure the website is accessible to people with disabilities.
Heritage Projects
Thanks to the research of local volunteers, we have added new articles relating to the local history of the village. Our World War 2 pages have been expanded to include a section on aircraft crashes around the village.We have added a section on the 1994 Tour de France and added a number of biographies of village residents, including Sir Alliott V erdon Roe and D orothy Sweetnam. A U niversity dissertation about E arly Settlement in the Idsworth area has been added to the Archaeology section.
Educational Activities
Committee member Charlie Shawcross has created a number of local Heritage Trails, which we have uploaded to the website. These can be accessed via a direct link from the Home P age.
U sing your mobile phone you can take a walk around a part of the village following the links on the map, pausing to read about the history of various spots along the way. Trail one takes you around the V illage Green and Trail two leads from the P arish Hall up L inks L ane and down Bowes Hill.
Plans for the future
We aim to continue to revise and improve the historical information on the website to make it a comprehensive resource for L ocal and family history researchers. N ew projects include adding a gallery of paintings by local resident Mary J ane L omer ; developing the section on the history of local Schools and completing the remaining Heritage Trails. With the help of a grant from ED HC we have also commissioned a local artist to develop a Children’s Heritage Trail which should be available for download from the website.
Volunteers
We always welcome volunteers who have their own research interests and who can help develop the website as an online museum. We would also welcome volunteer photographers who have an interest in recording the village as it is currently, in order to create an archive for the future.If anyone has anything they would like to contribute, in terms of research, family histories, photos or other ideas please contact me via the website.
Finally, a big thank you to the volunteers who give up their time to make the website what it is and in particular thanks go to Graham, whose technical advice and expertise is invaluable. Caroline Bird
19th N ovember 2024