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2021-09-26-accounts

Charity registration number: 1177252 Friends of the Stockton & Darlington Railway

Annual Report and Financial Statements for the Year 27/09/2020 to 26/09/2021

Friends of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. WWW.SDR1825.org.uk. Registered Charity 1177252

1. Introduction

This second Annual Report is an account of the activities of the Friends of the Stockton & Darlington Railway (FSDR), for the year 27[th] September 2020 to 26[th] September 2021. The FSDR year runs from the anniversary of the opening of the railway on 27[th] September 1825.

The Friends became a constituted group in 2013 and a registered charity in 2018. The particular legal form of the charity is as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).

This Annual Report reflects a second year of the COVID pandemic, which once again curtailed some of our work and events, although volunteer groups did meet and our participation in numerous working groups with partners in local authorities and government agencies continued. The ability to hold volunteer maintenance and to enjoy exercise, fresh air and nature was limited at times, but members and the public through our guided walks programme took advantage of our activities where regulations permitted.

Summary of the purposes of
the charity as set out in its
governing document		 Para 1.17 To advance the education of the public
about the Stockton and Darlington
Railway (S&DR) and its seminal role in
the development of the modern railway
through its national and international
influence and the conservation of the
structures, archives and artefacts of the
S&DR.

2. Acknowledgements.

As ever, the work of the FSDR would not be possible without the significant support and work of many people. We work with many individuals, communities, and organisations and while there is always a danger in missing out someone, we would in particular like to thank the following for continued support and participation;

• The Trustees and our many other volunteers within our Area Groups, those who attend our meetings and events, or simply follow us on Facebook. Those, whose physical and administrative tasks have kept the charity growing and our objectives to be worked towards.

• The staff and elected members of Durham County Council staff, Darlington Borough Council, Stockton Borough Council and the Tees Valley Combined Authority who continue to support us in our efforts and to work in partnership.

• The local organisations, businesses and communities along the S&DR who have provided us with physical help and support.

• To those who have provided funding for our work, in particular this year Historic England for Capacity Grant Funding through the S&DR Heritage Action Zone; and to the Culture Recovery Fund and staff at the National Lottery Heritage Fund for support during a difficult time.

3. Chair’s Report.

The last year has been exceptionally hard for all of us as the Covid pandemic has made life at the least difficult and for some brought tragedy and heartbreak and I offer my best wishes to all who have been affected. Against this background of lock-downs and self-isolation the work of the Friends of the S&DR and our many partners has continued as we look forward to and try to plan for better times ahead.

Our membership continues to hold steady and I pay thanks to all of those volunteers along the 26 miles who continue to celebrate our rail heritage in whatever way they can, be it through repair works, guided walks, litter picking, tree planting or just trying to enthuse their neighbours and relatives to get involved. While all of these efforts should be applauded special mention this last year should go to the Brusselton Incline Group for their fantastic installation of sleeper blocks, rails and interpretation at the Masons’ Arms Crossing in Shildon, and to supporters at Middleton St George with the on-going clearance and landscaping works at Fighting Cocks.

Much of the work of myself and the Trustees is not so obvious but is absolutely essential in building partnerships, commenting on and steering planning applications along the line and providing guidance on solid factual information on the S&DR and early railways to ensure our story is told properly.

In particular we are now not only members of the wider S&DR Rail Heritage Board, but also the Executive group along with Durham, Darlington and Stockton councils, the TVCA and Historic England. The Exec group steers the wide range of projects for 2025 and the legacy it will provide beyond. Two key current projects are the Branding and Interpretation Strategy being undertaken by Bright White Consultants of York, and the S&DR Economic Impact Assessment by Hatch Associates. The branding work will deliver an overall style/design of interpretation along the line linking the 26 miles as one continuous story for the first time. Initial designs will be complete later in 2021 with hopefully the first on the ground installations in late 2022. The EIA work is a statistical wonder, but its primary task is to provide hard evidence for funders and decision makers that if significant sums of money are spent on the S&DR this will have real socio-economic benefits for the communities and business along the line and wider region. It will be a powerful tool in gaining support in future years.

We were awarded a substantial grant from the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) early in 2021 and this has allowed us to undertake detailed studies of fund-raising opportunities, volunteering, business planning and re-designing our website which now includes a substantial archive section of documents, maps and photos…it is the place to go for S&DR information. We also used the CRF funding to look at our future business planning and on a practical level buy some PPE, tools, display boards and a marquee for use at events.

We are also fortunate to be receiving grant aid for specific projects from Historic England through a three-year capacity grant delivered through the Heritage Action Zone. This is allowing us to look at and address issues such as heritage crime and education, start surveys of some of the smaller branch lines and produce what will hopefully be a definitive, well referenced but engaging booklet on just why the S&DR is so important and which will be used to help develop an education programme and teaching aids.

Aside from our own direct work, we’re also working with and supporting a wide range of likeminded people such as the Stories Along the Line Project with Citizen Songwriters and Shildon Heritage Alliance with the ‘Save our Stute’ campaign.

The last year has seen some controversial and quite frankly very disappointing developments. The decision made by the Science Museum Group through the National Railway Museum to

not re-new the loan of Locomotion No.1 to Darlington proved not unexpectedly controversial. After carefully examining the legal position on ownership, the FSDR Trustees decide to remain neutral on the matter. While acknowledging the deep emotional and cultural symbolism of No.1 being in Darlington, our concern is for the whole 26 miles. We engaged with all those involved in a number of phone calls and emails and ultimately the solution of confirmed loans, including the 1975 replica, from the NRM/Beamish to Darlington and the return of No.1 for the first 6 months of 2025, appeared a successful compromise. It did sadden us that this situation arose at all at such short notice and we hope partners will in future discuss such matters on a longer timetable to allow a sensible debate. I would also like to assure FSDR members that at no time did your trustees express an opinion for or against Shildon or Darlington, a misunderstanding in NRM internal emails set this rabbit running and we have since received an apology and clarification on this matter from the NRM.

The other deeply disappointing development of the last year was the granting of planning permission by Darlington Council to allow the Fighting Cocks pub to be turned into a convenience store. The early railway Inns of the S&DR are of considerable significance to its heritage and the loss of the Fighting Cocks was fiercely fought by ourselves and local groups. We are on record at being appalled by this poor decision by DBC but once granted there are no avenues for us to pursue to have it overturned. On a more positive note we continue to work with a number of partners at Fighting Cocks to see some significant restoration of railway character and interpretation.

There is a growing amount of correspondence from other heritage railways about what is happening in 2025 and how can they join in. In particular we now have an active correspondence with the Tanfield and Stainmore railways. To help spread the word we have also joined the Heritage Railway Association (https://www.hra.uk.com/). Again to help with support and advice we have also become members of the https://www.heritagetrustnetwork.org.uk/.

While we value all our members, I feel I ought to make a special mention of Brendan Boyle who we sadly lost after a long illness this year. Many of you will be familiar with his wellresearched articles in the Globe, especially those on railway taverns where his twin loves of railways and beer met. Brendan will be sadly missed. On a positive note much of his research together with information from many other members is currently being passed onto Historic England, where their casework officer Eric Brance-Instone is reviewing legal protection for S&DR buildings and structures. This has recently seen Hackworth’s House and the Coal Drops at Shildon elevated to Grade II*, with other buildings added to the list for the first time. In a related project two casework officers have been appointed to talk to communities about ‘local listing’, buildings not quite important enough for national designation, but which should be identified and protected through the planning process. Look out for more on this from September through to January 22.

Looking forward to the next year there are potentially some exciting developments. We are working on a bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Darlington Council to provide substantial support for our work along the line, Durham County Council should hear in October about a bid for ‘Levelling Up’ grant which will help build the S&DR walking/cycling route and restore some key buildings, and survey work is underway at Edward Pease’s house on Northgate to inform a restoration. Also during the next year outline plans for the events of 2025 such as an international exhibition of early locomotives should become clearer. In our own work we hope to help the research of our members on the Yarm branch line become

published and undertake research on branch lines, Quakers and the early history of this the most significant of railways.

Every year I’m amazed at the passion and time given by our volunteers and there are frankly too many people to thank individually, but my gratitude in particular goes to our trustees who work incredibly hard and without whom we wouldn’t be pushing forward with such great promise as we are.

Niall Hammond, Chair, Friends of the S&DR.

4.Membership Secretary’s Report

Ordinary Members – 140 including 3 lapsed members who re-joined and 26 new members. Corporate Members – 19 including 1 new member.

Fees & Donations:Ordinary Members - £3386.49 (including donations of £1803) Corporate Members - £950

Total £4336.49

An increase of £1422.49 on previous year.

Membership renewal invitations were issued to Ordinary Members on 02.08.2021

Membership renewal invitations were issued to Corporate Members on 01.08.2021.

Renewal date is 27.09.2021.

Peter Bainbridge

Membership Secretary

5. Planning Officer’s Report

  1. It is the job of the planning system, through Local Plan policies and decisions on planning applications, to serve the aims and objectives of the Rail Heritage Board and facilitate the proposals of the Programme and Delivery Plan of the Heritage Action Zone. Throughout the last year, the Friends have continued to ensure the protection, enhancement and promotion of the S&DR by responding to opportunities to comment on emerging Local Plans, on other studies and on planning applications.

  2. All three Local Plans (Durham County, Darlington Borough and Stockton Borough) contain a specific policy for the S&DR and we have submitted comments in support of them at all stages in the consultation process. The Stockton Plan was formally adopted in 2019; the Durham County Plan followed in October last year. Darlington Council submitted its

Draft Plan to the Secretary of State in August 2020; the Examination on Public commenced last May and will resume later this month to consider modifications. We have drawn attention to the absence of the Coal Depot Branch and errors in plotting the Croft Branch on the proposed Policies Maps.

  1. We have responded to a number of planning applications, but with less success than in previous years.

  2. The biggest disappointment came in early June when Darlington Council’s Planning Committee approved the conversion and extension of Platform 1 pub, formerly the Fighting Cocks Inn, to a Sainsbury’s food store. This was approved, despite the contrary recommendations of the Council’s Conservation Officer and opposition from the residents of Middleton St George, the Parish Council, the community group proposing to buy out the pub and ourselves. The conduct of the meeting, the misinformation provided by the officers and the lack of understanding by some of the committee raises a number of questions that need to be addressed if future catastrophes are to be avoided.

  3. Elsewhere our request for minor alterations to other proposals were not taken up by the officers, resulting in missed opportunities at Gainford, Whessoe Road, the former S&DR new town at Middlesbrough, Layfield House and 704-706 Yarm Road (both at Eaglescliffe).

  4. We have commented on other applications, which at the time of writing, have yet to be decided. These include the proposals for the North Road Rail Heritage Quarter and for the major enhancement of Bank Top Station. We have objected to development alongside the Etherley Incline and to proposals to extend private gardens on to the Croft Branch at Hurworth Place. We can only wait and see if our submissions are to be successful.

  5. There is now concern that some Council planning officers may not be giving sufficient importance to their policies to protect, enhance and promote the heritage assets of the S&DR in dealing with developers and their planning applications. This could be seen to conflict with their Council’s involvement and commitment in delivering the objectives and projects of the Heritage Action Zone. The Rail Heritage Board should be asked to take this up with the respective Councils.

  6. Since the AGM in December 2020 I have logged approximately 175 hours in performing my duties as planning officer. This includes time spent on monitoring the three Councils’ online planning registers for applications on or adjacent, to the S&DR and its branch lines; identifying any issues which need to be addressed, visiting the sites and submitting comments after consulting the Trustees and Friends. In some cases there are meetings with developers and negotiations to modify the proposals to resolve any problems. I also prepared for, attended and spoke at Darlington’s Planning Applications Committees regarding the application to change the Platform 1 pub into a food store.

  7. I am again very grateful for help given to me by individual Friends and those in the various local interest groups, BIG, SIG etc, for their local knowledge, visiting sites, taking photographs, talking to local residents and notifying me of any issues they come across whilst ‘out there’ and think needs attention.

Ross Chisholm, Planning Officer and Trustee

6. Research & Archives Officer’s Report

I am in regular contact with Search Engine, NRM, York and confirm that the papers of John Wesley Hackworth & the proposed Foreword (75 pages) to ‘Timothy Hackworth & the Locomotive’ (not used) which the family has donated have now been catalogued with 80 scans made of letters. Ref: Hackworth Family Archive and accessible on line.

My work from 27[th] September 2021 in that year was mainly on research for the films the Friends produced and for the HAZ Festival (1) events[1] , culminating in my virtual talk ‘The Hackworth Brothers’ on 31[st] October 2021.

Since then I have worked with the Friends on Historic England Listings for the buildings at Locomotion which resulted in three being raised to Grade2* & three others Grade2. I am now working with a student in amassing information for the display panels.

I have continued to carry out research on people who worked on the S&DR, the House Plaques and the inclines. I have completed transcribing the ‘Young’ letters of the 1880’s which will go to Search Engine and continued work on transcribing the Samuel Holmes’ Letters[2] (2) with the intention that I will complete this task by the end of 2021.

I have provided information to various authors and for article in ‘The Globe’ and have proof read a number of books and papers.

I am currently doing a complete search of the graves at St John’s Church in Shildon in association with the 1954 plan when all gravestones were in place (report to follow).

JANE HACKWORTH-YOUNG Researcher, Friends of the S&DR.

1 The Friends of the S&DR is not taking part in the imminent HAZ Festival this year and members need to consider if the Friends should take part next.

2 Samuel Holmes was a grandson of Timothy, who like many members of the family, went to America and was involved in setting up Railway Companies or working for them. Samuel assisted his cousin, Robert Young (another of Timothy’s grandsons) in his research for ‘Timothy Hackworth & the Locomotive’.

  1. Flnan¢lal Stalement. FRIENDS OF THE STocfoN & DARLINGTON KAILWAY INCOME & EXPENDITURE STATEMENT YEAR- 1710912010 to 2610912021 Year to Date September INCOME-. Kktnbet5hp SUb￿riPt￿)n arKI DwatK> Sde of Pthliath)r Gift hid Recovered Propcts Iresew8d> Income 5.427.99 601.28 646 12 36,529.00 43.204.39 Ltss.. Expenditurt Admirwstra￿"￿ Expenses Printing Stationary Propcts Iresewedl 8¥￿￿tIU 3Y2.21 1.16388 21,437.21 22.923.30 surp￿$/10el1citI 20.281.tyJ Resetves brought forward 9,788.10 Reserwes carried forward 30,069.191

FRIENDS OF THE STocfoN & DARUNGTON RAILWAY BALAPKE SHEET YEAR. 2710912020 to 2610912021 CURRÉNT ASSETS.. Curr•ntAc£¢)unl. 2610912021 30,(￿9.19 CURIIENT ASSErs... Debtors... Non ￿)￿69.1* CURRÉNT LIABILMES.. Non FINANCED BY: Revenue Reserve 201712018 Revenue Reserye 201812019 Revenue Reserye 201912020 Revenue Reserve 201912020 Revenue Resetwe 202012021 2,359.98 3,983.05 625.07 2,820.(K) 20,281.09 3OJ)69.19 NB... Outstandlng Reserved Funds balance 17,911.79 Agreed by the Trustee$ 5 t)ecember 2022

8. Independent Examiner’s Report

EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE FRIENDS OF THE STOCKTON & DARLINGTON RAILWAY

I report on the accounts of the Charity, registration no. 1177252, The Friends Of The Stockton & Darlington Railway, (FSDR) for the year ended 26 September 2021 which are as set out on the enclosed pages.

Respective Responsibilities of FSDR Trustees and Examiner

The FSDR members are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The members consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Basis of Independent Examiner’s Report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the FSDR and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from you as members concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is as to whether the accounts present a “true and fair view” and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent Examiner’s Statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

have not been met; or

T J Hardman 7 Elvet Waterside CTA Durham DH1 3DA 6 December 2022