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THE ROYAL CROWN DERBY MUSEUM CHARITABLE
(Image shows Alison Solomon leading a Collecting Home
workshop)
Email address: ewoledge@royalcrownderby.co.uk
Website: www.royalcrownderbymuseum.com
Charity Number: 1179781
6 April 2022 to 5 April 2023
ANNUAL
REPORT
2023
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DETAILS
Reference and Administration Details
Registered charity number 1179781
Address Royal Crown Derby Museum 194 Osmaston Road Derby DE23 8JZ Trustees Olivia Dean (current acting chair) John Coyne Richard Horsley Hereward Tresidder James Lewis Stephen Smith (Resigned 16.2.2023) Elizabeth Neathy Joanna West Bank HSBC Crown Bank Hanley Stoke on Trent Staffordshire ST1 1DA Structure, governance and management Governing document Declaration of Trust adopted 25 September 2018. Trustees are appointed to represent a range of skills and knowledge. New trustees are briefed on their role and responsibilities and on the Trust’s principal policies and procedures.
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Organisational structure All policy and strategic decisions are taken by the Trust. The Trust normally meets every 3 months. Day to day management is delegated to the Museum Director.
Additional issues The Trust operates on the premises of the Royal Crown Derby Porcelain Company.
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OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
Objects
The objects of the Trust are the advancement of public knowledge, appreciation, and awareness in respect of porcelain, china, pottery, earthenware and ceramics of any other kind of artistic, historic, scientific or cultural interest (“ceramics”) and in particular in respect of Royal Crown Derby products and its predecessor Derby factories first established in 1750.
To support our objects we developed the following mission statement.
It is our mission to celebrate and share the stories and experiences associated with Royal Crown Derby to awaken curiosity, inspire creativity, encourage innovation, and to transform people’s relationships to ceramics
Activities
In planning our activities, we keep in mind the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit. The museum’s activities continued to be restricted due to the legacy of the pandemic in 2021 and there have been challenges to fully reopening; however, we have continued with our public engagement through:
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Maintaining our website, social media and online engagement (website, newsletters, Facebook and Instagram) .
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Using funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, distributed through the Association of Independent Museums (AIM), to engage with local British Caribbean communities (who are keen collectors of Royal Crown Derby) we ran a year long series of workshops called ‘Collecting Home’. The collected stories complemented the digital archive of stories from the Romany Traveller communities collected last year. This project culminated in a successful and well attended open day, and we maintain a wonderful digital archive of stories which can be viewed here.
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https://collecting-home-story-archive.webflow.io/
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Working with Derby College we were able to offer work placements to three SEND students who are helping us to digitize our staff records.
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We have been able to continue delivering the hands-on tours of the Museum and archive, as well as giving hands-on talks off site for clubs and societies.
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We experimented with having a pop up museum in town thanks to the City Lab team. We didn’t, however, get many visitors but that may have been because of the location of the pop up, which was off the main thoroughfare of the high street or Derbion Centre.
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The museum continues to run the RCD Collectors Guild supporting Royal Crown Derby. This year we ran an event for Guild Members supported by Bamford’s Auctioneers.
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The museum continues to be supported by a team of dedicated volunteers who spend many hours working behind the scenes to answer queries, improve documentation and aid in the accessibility of the collection. We estimate we have been supported with over 800 hours of volunteer time in the last year, and together we have completed the documentation and cataloguing of the research library.
Full reopening has not been possible since the pandemic due to loss of support infrastructure (café, shop, FOH staff) which were all maintained by RCD prior to the pandemic. A lot of effort this year went into preparing funding applications; however, large-scale applications must wait until there is certainty about the continued occupancy of the shared factory/museum site. Meanwhile, in preparation for the possibility of future larger scale funding bids, the Board spent a day with consultant reviewing governance structures, skills mapping and future planning.
As in previous years, the museum has only continued to operate in its current form thanks to financial support from Royal Crown Derby Limited.
Fundraising
Having secured several small-scale grants in the past 3 years, the museum aimed to be more ambitious in its applications this year. A medium sized grant
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application for a digitised factory tour in partnership with the University and the Theatre was paused to allow space for the preparation of a large-scale application to NLHF.
Future Direction
Relying on financial support from Royal Crown Derby is not sustainable or desirable in the long term. Museums Development East Midlands have generously supported us with 20+ hours of consultancy time which will take place in the next financial year. Together we will exploring options for (amongst other things) digital legacy, funding and new ways of working with Royal Crown Derby.
RCD continues to support the museum in the short term during this consultancy.
Statement from the Director
We continue to deliver good work in engagement and community, we are very grateful for the support of Museums Development East Midlands in helping to think though future options and to navigate some challenges. I would also like to thank my fantastic volunteer team as well as the many people who have worked in partnership with us this year for their unfailing support and optimism. It goes without saying that we are very grateful for Royal Crown Derby’s continued support.
Dr Elizabeth Woledge
Statement from the Chair
We must acknowledge the support and encouragement for the maintenance of the historic collection received from the Royal Crown Derby Company with whom we have had positive dialogue. We are grateful for the support and guidance offered by the external advisory bodies with whom we have been engaging as we progress towards the goal of a re-invigorated museum offering. I am grateful also to our Director for her continued work in engaging with communities and individuals, often in less traditional ways, to bring out
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the stories and significance of Derby porcelain in their own lives and community. We have been fortunate to welcome the advisory support of Dr R. Larsen of the University of Derby, a great asset to our deliberations. I wish to acknowledge the sterling support given by the trustees; my thanks go to them all.
Olivia Dean
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:
Olivia Dean, Trustee Date:
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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Statement of Financial Position
| Statement of Financial Position | Statement of Financial Position | Statement of Financial Position | Statement of Financial Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| INCOME | |||
| 2022-2023 | 2021-2022 | ||
| Interest | 48 | 2 | |
| Funding | 0 | 9,138 | |
| Donations | 1,179 | 771 | |
| Other | 2,021 | 1,743 | |
| Viewing Fee | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 3,248 | 11,643 | |
| EXPENDITURE | |||
| Consultancy fees | 3,000 | 0 | |
| License Fee | 0 | 0 | |
| Exhibition upgrade | 0 | 0 | |
| Bank charges | 66 | ||
| Cost of delivery | 10,112 | 19,523 | |
| Bad debt write of | 0 | 14,600 | |
| Total | 13,178 | 33,702 | |
| Net income for the year | -9,930 | -22,469 | |
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Statement of Assets and Liabilities
| Opening assets and liabilities at 31 March 2022 | Opening assets and liabilities at 31 March 2022 |
|---|---|
| Museum Inventory at cost | 340,200 |
| Creditors (Licence fee) | 0 |
| Debtors (Viewing fee) | 0 |
| Cash | 204 |
| Bank Account | 36,769 |
| Total | 377,173 |
| Net income for the period (as above) | 9,930 |
| Closing assets and liabilities at 31 March 2023 | |
| Museum Inventory at cost | 340,200 |
| Creditors (Licence Fee) | 0 |
| Debtors (Viewing Fee) | 0 |
| Cash | 224 |
| Bank Account | 26,819 |
| Total | 367,243 |
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT
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