ST MARY’S TOTNES HERITAGE TRUST – CHAIR’S REPORT 2024
Following the handover of the St Mary’s Church restoration project to the Reverend Jim Barlow, Totnes Rector, the trustees were keen to embrace a new venture which would raise the profile of the trust as one of the key heritage organisations in the town.
In early April we wrote to all the heritage organisations and invited them to a meeting to discuss the possibility of holding a heritage festival. The meeting was well attended and the suggestion was met with enthusiasm.
It was agreed that the festival would be a free festival and included Totnes Castle (English Heritage) who allowed free entry for the day for anyone with a local postcode which was a great draw. The date was set for the last Saturday in September when local people would be back from holidays and yet there would still be visitors in Totnes and other parts of South Devon.
The planning was carried out with the trust acting as the umbrella organisation, working with all the other heritage organisations who created their own events for the trust to coordinate into an exciting programme. At this stage the Marketing Department of the Totnes Town Council offered to come on board and prepare the programme for printing which was very welcome.
Publicity was widespread and consisted of social media publicity, a feature in the local free directory which is delivered to every household in Totnes and the printing of 2000 programmes for distribution around the town.
The festival was a huge success and exceeded expectations. The town was crowded all day and, although it was all free, many festivalgoers made donations to the individual organisations as they visited the many venues and enjoyed the events.
Most significantly, the festival dramatically raised the profile of the heritage trust and it is envisaged it can be established as a regular event in the Totnes calendar with the heritage trust as the lead organisation.
Emily Price
Chair
1 August 2025
St Mary's Totnes Heritage Trust
Income & Expenditure Account for the St Mary's Totnes Heritage Trust For the year ended 31 December 2024 4
Registered Charity Number 1182256
| INCOME Donations Donation Station Gift Aid Crowdfunder Events Grants Totnes PCC Sales Interest Total income EXPENDITURE Donation Station Totnes PCC Trustee Expenses Publicity Consultant. Printing |
2024 £ 8764 826 2572 0 0 0 0 0 88 12,250 186 9,380 - - 1,000 |
2023 £ 8578 1097 2056 0 519 0 0 0 260 12,510 |
|---|---|---|
| 186 40,075 - - - - |
| - Donations return - Events Costs 381 Miscellaneous 133 Total expenditure 11,080 Balance sheet for the St Mary's Totnes Heritage Trust as at 31 December 2024 2024 CURRENT ASSETS £ Balance at bank 4462 Savings Account 7131 11593 |
- 2,500 260 564 |
|---|---|
| 43,585 | |
| 2023 £ 2,380 8,043 |
|
| 10,423 |