IAN STEVENSON ARCHIVE TRUST (Charity Registration No 1181101)
Annual Report for the period 01 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
This has been a year of progress for the Trust. Much more use has been made of the archive material, particularly by Highcliffe Castle staff and volunteers for heritage displays within the Castle. Researchers using the archive have included Bournemouth University students and the Girl Guide movement.
The Trust welcomed the appointment of Paul De Jonghe as a Trustee on 11 April 2023. He grew up in Highcliffe and since retiring as a Royal Navy officer has been carrying out research on the local area, particularly its role in World War II in developing radar and communications systems.
He has been very helpful to Ian Stevenson in reorganising the Trust's present manual filing system and will have a key role when the Trust's catalogue is compiled electronically within Highcliffe Castle's own archive catalogue. This is not expected to start until 2025, when the electronic cataloguing of the Castle's archive is likely to be completed.
The Trust was pleased to accept gifts from two of its supporters. Mr Russell Stones, of Barton-on-Sea, Hants, gave a large legal document of 1894 under which the Board of Agriculture agreed to Major Edward Stuart Wortley, owner of Highcliffe Castle, taking out a £1,825 loan, with interest, to carry out improvement works on the estate.
Mr Everett Jones, of Mudeford, Dorset, who in 2022 donated an early cabinet portrait of a young girl taken by local headmaster and photographer Horatio Ellwood, has now given the Trust another Ellwood phograph of a young girl.
The Trust reports no income or spending during the financial year. All expenses have been met by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, owners of Highcliffe Castle, with whom the Trust has a loan agreement for its archive.
Agreed by the Trustees
Ian Stevenson (Chairman) Mary T Asgharzadeh-Parsa Anthony J Parkinson Paul De Jonghe