**SENHOUSE MUSEUM TRUST Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity No. 1175131** ## **ANNUAL REPORT** **to** ## **31 March 2021** **Charity no. 1175131** 1 ## **ANNUAL REPORT for the year ending 31 March 2021** ## **A. LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION** THE SENHOUSE MUSEUM TRUST was constituted as a charity on 12[th] April 1985 by Declaration of Trust and converted to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 12 October 2017 Trustees at 31[st] March 2021 Dr. Peter Richard Wilson - Chairman of the Trustees Professor Maureen Fordham William Bernard Griffiths Roderick Grimshaw Eleanor Kingston Peter Messenger Rachel Margaret Newman Linda Radcliffe Treasurer: N. Randall Clerk to Trustees: Position vacant The Trust Deed provides that the Trustees can appoint new Trustees and officers and establish committees. Principal Office Senhouse Roman Museum, The Battery, Sea Brows, Maryport, Cumbria, CA15 6JD The Trustees have appointed professional service providers and advisers, as below: |Bank|HSBC Bank plc, 3 Pow Street, Workington,| |---|---| |Cumbria,|| ||CA14 3AH| |Solicitor|Cartmell Shepherd, Solicitors, Montgomery| |Way,|| ||Rosehill, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA1 2RW| |Independent Examiner|Tattersall Bailey Chartered| |Accountants, 3 Fisher|| ||Street, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA3 8RR| |Investment adviser|Alington Ruthin Stockbrokers &| |Investment|| ||Management, Clwyd House, 3c Clwyd| |Street, Ruthin,|| ||Denbighshire LL15 1HF| 2 The Trust Deed empowers the Trustees to receive and apply funds, to purchase articles for re-sale and to hold property as a Museum, to invest Trust funds and to acquire land for archaeological purposes. In particular, the Trustees may set apart as an endowment fund part of the Trust Funds and apply the income for Trust purposes. VAT Registration no. 531 4021 02 ## **Objects of the Trust** The Charity's objects (the "Objects") as set out in the Articles are: 3.1 to advance the education of the public regarding the history of the Romano-British period in general and West Cumbria in particular by the establishment and maintenance of a public museum within the Civil Parish of Maryport; 3.2 to exhibit in such a museum the Netherhall Collection and any other documents, artefacts or items of interest relating to the history and archaeology of Maryport and West Cumbria and of the Romano-British period in particular; 3.3 to promote research into the Romano-British period in general and West Cumbria in particular and to disseminate and publish the useful results thereof. ## **Organisation and history of the CIO and its predecessor Trust** The Trust opened the Senhouse Roman Museum in a Grade 2 listed building on the sea cliffs overlooking Maryport Harbour in April 1990. The Museum houses the Netherhall Collection, on loan from Mr J Scott Plummer. This is the finest collection of Roman sculpture and inscriptions from a single site in Britain. Mr Scott Plummer is a lineal descendant of John Senhouse, who established the collection at Netherhall before 1599. The Museum is located next to the site of the Roman fort, which forms part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site (WHS), a trans-national World Heritage Site containing Hadrian’s Wall, the Antonine Wall and the upper German frontier, the _Limes_ . The Trust works closely with a number of organisations with related objectives, including Historic England, Cultura Trust, 3 Museums Development North West, Arts Council England, Cumbria Tourism, Cumbria Cultural Learning Network, the Cumbria Museum Directors Group, Cumbria Museums Consortium, the Solway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Grampus Heritage and Training, the Hadrian’s Wall Learning and Interpretation Group, Maryport Cultural Consortium, Cumbria Arts and Culture Network and the cultural services of Allerdale Borough and Cumbria County Councils. ## **Risk management** The major risks to which the Trust is exposed, as identified by the Trustees, have been reviewed and systems have been established to mitigate these risks. ## **Responsibilities of the Trustees for the Annual Report and Accounts** The Trustees’ duty of public accountability and stewardship requires that they: keep proper accounting records of the transactions in each fund within the charity present Annual Accounts which disclose a proper appreciation of the charity’s financial transactions during the year, and which give a true and fair view of the charity’s funds at the end of the year provide the Annual Report which contains information on the objects and constitution of the charity and which describes its activities and future plans. ## **B. GOVERNANCE 2020-21** Trustees met virtually three times on 6 May, 8 October and 18 January 2021. Professor Ian Carradice retired as a Trustee. Trustees are grateful for the museum-specific knowledge that he brought to the work of the Trust. Ian Caruana retired as Clerk to the Trustees and the Trustees commenced an open and transparent recruitment process with the expectation of recruiting a replacement in early 2021-22. Arts Council England Museum Accreditation (Full) continues to be maintained. The Health and Safety Policy and the Safeguarding Policy were reviewed and approved on 6 May 2020. 4 The Manager continues to report weekly by telephone to the Chairman of Trustees as her line manager. A written report is circulated to all Trustees monthly. A subgroup was formed consisting of the Chair, one other Trustee and the Museum Manager to steer the museum's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This steering group provided regular updates to the Trustees. ## **C. REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES** Due to the Covid-19 national lockdowns the museum was closed to the public from 18 March 2020 to 14 August 2020, 2 November to 4 December 2020 and 1 January to 18 May 2021. This resulted in the museum opening to the public for four months only. During the national lockdown the Manager worked from home with the exception of essential work required to maintain the security and condition of the collection and the building. The Manager's duties were focused on preparing the museum to reopen when the on-going lockdown allowed. Activities were supported by a small grant from Arts Council England and Government Business Support Grants. There were 1,540 visits to the Museum during the year (2019-20: 8,803). The Museum continues to offer free entry to residents within the CA15 postcode area. The severe reduction of numbers was due to the national lockdowns. In August to October and December visitor numbers were approximately 70% of numbers in the same period in 2019. Trustees continued to liaise with the North of England Civic Trust (now Cultura Trust) about the development of Camp Farm in line with the **Memorandum of Understanding** . Although the Trust still has permission to use the fort field for volunteer-led tours and group visits, only a limited number of tours were scheduled for 2020-21. The Forward Plan for 2020-21 and 2021-22 (outline) was significantly revised to take account of the impact to the museum's activities due to the pandemic. The VAQAS accreditation continues to be maintained by annual ‘mystery shops’ by Visit England assessors. The assessment scheduled in August 2020 resulted in a slight increase on the overall score. The Manager represents the museum on the Hadrian’s Wall Marketing and Transport Group and with Cumbria Tourism. Meetings of these groups were transferred to a virtual platform. 5 The museum was visited in October by the High Sheriff for Cumbria, Julie Barton. The visit was hosted by Maryport Town Council. On 18[th] March 2020 the museum closed temporarily due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Two members of staff were furloughed under the Government’s Job Retention Scheme. They remained on this scheme while the museum was closed to the public. At the end of March 2021 the museum continued to be closed to the public and both Museum Assistants remained furloughed. ## _**Permanent Collection and Displays**_ The museum continues to offer an identification service for archaeological material found by the local community. The Portable Antiquities Scheme’s Finds Liaison Officer for North Lancashire and Cumbria carried out only one finds identification and recording day. This service was suspended by the Portable Antiquities Scheme during the pandemic. A full inventory was carried out of the stored collection to identify ways to make better use of the storage. Full accessioning of the finds from the 1990 excavation of Milefortlet 21 continued as part of the documentation backlog. A small group of volunteers continued to work through the backlog when Covid-19 restrictions allowed. The Manager represents the museum on the Hadrian's Wall Curators Group. Meetings of this group and the Hadrian's Wall Learning and Interpretation Delivery Group continued throughout the year virtually. ## _**The Battery**_ Remedial work on the museum building commenced with the internal work scheduled during July and August when the museum was closed during the national lockdown. This work included installing fire breaks within the building and fire-proofing the gas meter. ## _**Exhibitions, events and visits**_ Plans to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the opening of the museum were well developed by April 2020. However all events, exhibitions and activities were suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. A scaled down virtual offer was transferred to 6 the museum website and social media feeds. These included temporary exhibitions and a Slow Art Day on Saturday 4th April. Every weekend from August to October visitors benefited from volunteer-led tours of the fort. The museum also offered tours of the fort to pre-booked groups, including evening visits. The annual Literary Festival scheduled for November was postponed. The team responsible for organising the festival edited and published a collection of poetry and prose produced during the previous year's creative writing workshops. The publication, _Writers in the Winter Museum,_ was released in August. The Museum was open to the public for additional days between Christmas and New Year (27th - 30[th] December). ## _**Education**_ No schools visited the museum due to the pandemic restrictions. Irene Louden (Learning Co-Ordinator) worked with the Museum Manager to develop a range of virtual and Covid-secure activities to provide a service for local schools. The museum continues to maintain its Arts Award Centre registration with 4 Arts Award advisers. The advisors support young people to carry out Arts Award projects from Discover to Gold. The Museum was visited by a small group from Andante Tours led by Tony Wilmott of Historic England. the group also visited the site of the 2011-15 excavations. A small group from Higham Hall, led by Bruce Bennison, visited the museum as part of their tour of Roman and Early Medieval religious sites. The Tuesday morning art group, the creative writing group, Maryport & District Archaeological Society, Maryport & District Natural History Society, The Sociable Reading Group and the Young Archaeologists’ Club suspended their meetings pending the relaxation of the Covid-19 restrictions. The Manager represented the museum in meetings with the Hadrian’s Wall Education Forum, Hadrian’s Wall Learning and Interpretation Group, Cumbria Cultural Learning Network and Cumbria Arts and Culture Network. All meetings were conducted virtually. ## _**Research**_ 7 The report of the 2011 - 2015 research excavation was published by Professor Ian Haynes and Tony Wilmott of Newcastle University. The publication, _A Cult Centre on Rome's North-West Frontier,_ is available to purchase from the museum's shop. ## **D. MANAGEMENT AND FINANCE** ## _**Management and Staffing**_ Jane Laskey continues as Museum Manager, assisted by Museum Assistants Tim Okins and Vanessa O’Donnell, and a group of enthusiastic and committed volunteers. The Museum Assistants were furloughed under the Government's Job Retention Scheme while the museum was closed to the public. They returned to work in August and were furloughed again in November and from January onwards during the second and third national lockdowns. Volunteer activities were suspended during the lockdowns and partially reinstated when restrictions allowed. The volunteers focused on providing the guided tours of the fort and continuing the documentation back-log. All training for staff and volunteers was suspended with the exception of in-house training in maintaining a Covid-secure workplace. The Manager attended virtual training workshops provided by the Association for Independent Museums and Museums Development North-West. The workshops were aimed at supporting the Covidsecure reopening of the museum. The Museum has a group of 18 volunteers. The volunteers contributed 169 hours of their time to the Museum’s activities. The volunteers continue to be co-ordinated by Judy Wagg. ## _**Finance to year end 31 March 2021**_ ## **Operations and Development** Operating costs for the museum were lower than the previous year because of Covid 19, amounting to £70,595 for Museum Operations and Management and £14,876 for Administration, total £85,471 (2020: £99,101). ## **Museum revenues** The total receipts at the museum were £5,083, Commercial Fundraising produced £2,929, donations and increased grants £58,644; additionally, investment income amounted to £57,782 providing a total income of £124,437 (2020: £106,667). 8 ## **Museum costs** Staff costs were slightly higher at £49,235 (2020: 45,172) for the Museum operations. Development expenditure There was no development expenditure in the year. The final publication and report costs for excavation work carried out regarding the Roman settlement on Camp Farm remains outstanding. These accounts contain a provision of £31,639 set aside as part of the five-year £250,000 excavation work sponsored by the Senhouse Museum Trust and carried out by Newcastle University (see note 11, Creditors, in accounts). ## **Donations and grants** Total grants and donations of £58,644 were received, including £ 2,500 from the Mainhouse Charitable Trust. Allerdale D C: £20,636, The Arts Council £20,220, HMRC £9,478, Newcastle University £4,000. ## **Investments and Reserves** Investment income received was slightly lower at £57,782 (2020: £61,048). At the end of the year the Trust’s total net assets were valued at £1,680,061 (2020: £1,348,599). Trust investments are currently invested approximately 75% equities, 21% fixed interest, 4% held in cash. Restricted Funds valued at £364,931 (2020: £235,570) are invested to provide income to support the activities of the Trust. The Valuation Fund of £60,000 represents the capital interest of the Trust in the Museum building, owned freehold by the Trust, and employed exclusively in furtherance of the charitable objects of the Trust. ## **PATRONS** The Trust enjoys the support of Lord Inglewood and Professor David Breeze. Peter Richard Wilson Chairman of Trustees 9 William Bernard Griffiths Trustee io THE SENHOUSE MUSEUIVI TRUST FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THB YEAR ENDED 3 1st MARCH 2021 COF4TENTS Pa TrIDEPENDFNT EXAMINER'S REPORT STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTtVlTtES BALANCE SHEET NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS SCHEDULE OF fNVESTMENTS HELD Ind8pend•nt Éxamlnor'$ provlsloDal Report lo the TNitee5 of Tho Senhouao Museum TtU8t I report on the atsDunls ofthe charity forthe y¢ar8nded 31 March 2021. whiFh are set out on the fdlov+ing pège$. Rtrspeetlve r¥spoT￿lbl1[tIes oftyustees and examlnei The chgri¢y'5 Iruslees a￿ responsibl8 for the preparalion of Ihe account5. The tharity's trusleÈs consKler Ih81 an audit 1$ nol Rquired for this year under seGIKJn 144121 of the Charibes Acl 2011 Ilhe 2011 Aeii and Ihat èn independent exarnin8knon 13 needed. It 18 my responsbllily ID.. examine th¢ actounts under sedion 145 oflhe 2011 Act follow the PTocedures laid down In th8 ueneral D4rections given by Ihe Charfty Commis8l¢n under seclion 14515llbl of the 2011 Aci,. and slate whether partscularmaiieT5 have come te my adenllon. Basls of Indep6ndeDt examlne*8 wepcrt My èxaminallort was ¢arnled out In accordance wth Ihe 9eneral Eirectlons given by ihe Charity Commlssim. An examin3lion includes a review of the aLWUTrting rets)rds kepl by the Chanly and a comparlson of the acfyJunl$ pre$enled wlh those r¥cord$. 11 also include$ mnsidei3lion of any unusual Ilems or dlsclosures in the a<￿0UnIs, and SEeking explanation$ Irom you a5 truslees concerning any such mallErs. The Pro￿dureS undertaken do not provide all the evideno thatwoukj be requlred In an audit Consequently no opinion is 95ven as 10 whether 8¢counts present a'lruE ond fail viw and the report 15 limiled 10 those mattets sel out n i*)e Sta￿me￿i balow. Ind•p8ndeniexamln•es ststsme*t In connection wlth my examination, no matier ha5 come lo my alienlion.. ttith give¥ me reasonable csuse to bel￿¥6 th31. in any material respeEI, Ihe requirements.. 19 ke8p 8ccounlhg ieu)rds In accordante ￿1￿ section 130 of the 2011 Arl," and to prepare aC￿U￿$ thkh a￿ord wkh the arcounling ￿￿r￿S pnd comrdy wlh the arxounlin9 requlrements orihe 2011 Act. have not been mel.. oi to which, In myopinion, attention 8hould be drawn in orderlo efftab￿ a properunder5tan&ingof the BGGounts to be Rached. Paul B*ley rolle￿811 B&Mey CharteredACcGunts￿S 3 Fishers1￿¢1 Cérlisle CA3 8RR 13January 2022 QJ 8205 10 10 (c tr. I J UJ T*rJ r5 N r )0 OO 8{{88{%1 fts v* ottfJO o* pl u)0 **r r Q* ¢¥ VJ Ill Iij 888g8lg{{58- OOV) ¢4 Itll I I Independènt Examlnerf? provisional R8POrt to the TTU$tee$ of The Senhou88 hluseum Trust I report on the a¢count5 olthe charity forthe yearended 31 Marth 2021, which are Set out on the following pages. R￿pectIVe responsibllltles of tnJstse8 and examlner The charity's twstees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity's tru8tees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144121 of the Charilvas Ad 2011 Ilhe 2011 Acll and Ih8t an dependen¢ exaTnination i% needed. It is my responsibility to-. eKamine the acAxunt5 under section 145 of the 2011 Act." follow the pror*dure5 laid dov4n in the general Di￿￿10n$ given by the Charity Commission under section 1451Sllbl of the 2011 Act,. and state whether particular matters have eome to my attentlon. Bas1$ of Independent examlnerfs roport My examination was carried out in a¢¢ordance wth the general Direttions given by the Charity Commission. An exarnination includes a review of the accounting re(xrds kept by the charity and a comparison of Ihe accounts presented with those ￿cor