Mountsorrel Heritage Group
Chairman’s Report for the Annual General Meeting 2024
With a current membership of 50, MHG was formed officially in 2005 from a previous informal gathering of interested individuals. We were registered as a Charitable Trust in 2017 with key charitable objectives of delivering a museum facility for items of historical and archaeological interest, archives, photographs, flora and fauna and arts and relating to the village of Mountsorrel and the surrounding area.
Whist our membership numbers are slightly down on previous years our public engagement is certainly up in particular with our Facebook postings where our Fortnightly Photo feature reaches between 500 and 3000 viewers and generates conversation amongst not only village residents but the wider Mountsorrel diaspora across the UK, Europe and to the US and Australia. Our Monthly Talks on a wide range of subjects attracts a regular average audience of around 30. I would like to say a word of thanks here to the staff of MMC Venue where the talks are held, who are always so supportive of us in the admin that goes on behind the talks. Additionally, our Monthly Newsletter goes not just to the membership but also to a wide number of other individuals and organisations.
In the Museum we still have on display our “Blast From The Past” exhibition looking at the village’s quarrying heritage but are now starting to move to a more permanent set of subject displays that we will rotate over time coupled with far smaller short term displays. Our small but regular through flow of visitors to the Museum, some 585, was quite dwarfed at Revival 2023 when, thanks to us having gained the short-term loan of the Mountsorrel Bucket from the County Museum Service, we had over 600 visitors on the day.
With support through Borough Councillor Ward Grants we have been able to make the whole electronic Archive, photographic and documentary, available to view within the Museum.
Our Trust Aims also include Flora and Fauna and our main effort here is on the Navins Wildflower Meadow which this spring had a mass of cowslips in flower following on from the Snowdrops, and particularly a burgeoning number of Snakes-Head Fritillaries. Work on the Meadow started in 2005/6 and now has a proper marker stone courtesy of TARMAC with a small information board that we put together with input from pupils at Christ Church & St Peters Primar School. The meadow is managed organically within a programme of seasonal scything, seed-set and clearance. Additionally, we carry out some limited work in the Peace Garden ensuring that it looks at its best not only for Armistice Day but also during the summer when many folk enjoy the site as a peaceful corner of the village.
We recognise that to ensure the longevity of the Group we must recruit new and younger members and are actively addressing this challenge.
John C Doyle
John C Doyle Chairman Mountsorrel Museum & Heritage Trust http://mountsorrelarchive.org/ https://www.facebook.com/mountsorrelarchive/
MOUNTSORREL MUSEUM AND HERITAGE TRUST BALANCE SHEET FOR THE PERIOD JANUARY 1ST TO DECEMBER 21st2023
| INCOME Balance b/fw £3,448.10 Room Hire Members Subs £301.00 Speakers Fees Meetings Income £857.00 Insurance Donations £80.49 Stationary Sales £238.00 Web Hosting Quiz Eve Income £555.00 Quiz Eve expenses Grants £500.00 Printing Amazon £24.39 Sundry Expenses Lloyds (compensation) £60.00 Revival £302.76 Balance C/f Sundry Income £12.00 TOTAL £6,378.74 TOTAL Lloyds Bank Treasurers Account Cash In hand TOTAL These accounts have been independantly examined by Geoff Wainwright |
EXPENDITURE |
|---|---|
| £495.00 £410.00 £304.50 £183.34 £200.00 £381.12 £1,867.44 £47.00 £2,490.34 £6,378.74 £2,138.47 £351.77 £2,490.34 |