Chairman’s Report to the Orford Museum CIO Trustee Meeting To be held at Unit 3, Potkins Lane, Orford Friday, 8 October 2021 at 4.00pm
Since the last meeting, Sue Johnston and I met with Jan Willis, Chairman of Felixstowe Museum on 3 August, to discuss the ways in which we might learn from their experience in staffing and running their museum. Felixstowe is a very different museum to us. It is much bigger and of a quite different character. Their museum, like ours, is housed in a building owned by English Heritage and all costs such as electricity and maintenance are born by English Heritage. They charge a small entrance fee (£3 for adults and £1 for children) and have a small shop and café. Their income from these amounts to about £15,000 a year and they have reserves of about £30,000. They also have found that they must employ a paid curator which they are now doing for four days a week at a basic salary of £24,000 per annum. They raise this through fund-raising, donations and grants and one of the tasks of the curator is to find grant funding for his own salary. Jan Willis admitted, therefore, that the future is precarious and was envious of our large reserves. However, we, unlike them, have currently no income. They also have difficulty in finding Trustees prepared to take an active part in the running of the museum.
In addition to the above meeting, Michael Flint, Sue Snowdon and I had a meeting with Tony Bone, Chairman of Aldeburgh Museum on 14 September. I had contacted Tony as Michael and I had met him some years ago and I felt that he would be helpful to us as he has done a magnificent job in reviving Aldeburgh Museum from a fairly low base. They are housed in the Moot Hall which is owned by Aldeburgh Town Council who also use part of it. The museum was closed down some time ago and totally re-furbished thanks to a lottery grant. It now employs three part-time staff and is open every day during the summer months but only at weekends during the winter. They are also able to charge a small entrance fee and have a shop but, again, they are dependent on grants for salaries. They also only have reserves of about £30,000. We all felt that there were many ways in which Orford Museum and Aldeburgh Museum could collaborate and, indeed, I am very hopeful that one of their staff members, Stephen Mael, could come and work for us as our Curator. He currently works part-time for Aldeburgh but is looking for more work and I met him and Tony on Thursday, 30 September to discuss this. We also visited the Castle and the office in Potkins Lane. I feel that this is an arrangement that could work very well for us and I do urge the Trustees to consider it urgently as we really must have someone in the office and liaising with English Heritage in the Castle if we are to keep this Museum going. We do also, of course, need new, active Trustees and we must do our best to recruit them. I am hopeful that the workshop currently being arranged will help us do this. I have had contact with two Orford residents who might be
interested but, though I think they would bring experience and advice to the board, I do not think they would actually be very active. We might also consider recruiting representatives from the NOTT, the PCC and English Heritage. Aldeburgh, like Felixstowe and us, have great trouble in finding active volunteers and Trustees willing to get really involved in the work of running their museum.
The question of Stephen’s salary was discussed and the arrangement being suggested by Tony Bone is that they would continue to pay him his salary and that we would be invoiced for the hours he works for us. This would include NI, pension and holiday pay and works out at about £13.50 an hour until March 2022. From April 2022, this would rise to £15.00 an hour due to a pay rise plus a rise in NI contributions. On top of this, Stephen would also require mileage of about £6.00 a day and Aldeburgh would ask us to contribute £15.00 a month to their payroll expenses. This arrangement would relieve us of any need to employ payroll assistance and, of course, there would be no need to advertise, short-list and interview possible candidates. I would suggest that we start during the winter months ahead with enough time for him familiarise himself with the Museum and that we then review the situation at Easter when Aldeburgh opens again full-time.
So the suggestion is that, initially, he would work for us for two days a week from 10.00am to 4.00pm each day making a total of twelve hours. This would cost us £162.00 plus mileage per week. Stephen could start on 1 November 2021.
I attach Stephen’s CV and I feel (and hope you will all agree) that he is just what we are looking for. He has the experience to build upon the excellent work that Jenna has done for us in the four years that she has been with us. However, it is quite clear that, given the pressures of her main job and her family commitments, we cannot ask her to continue with the considerable responsibility and workload that running our museum demands of her and we must consider the future. I do hope that she will not sever her connection with us and that she will be able to find time to help Stephen familiarise himself with the workings of the museum. I would like to thank her on behalf of all the Trustees of Orford Museum for all she has done for us and for her help and support for me.
I also attach a curator’s job description which I must emphasise is just a draft and open to all for discussion and revision. I feel that these are the things that need to be done but I fully realise that no one person is going to be able to undertake them all.
I think there are also other ways that we could collaborate with Aldeburgh Museum and, indeed, they have already agreed to sell our books in their shop. They are also trying to establish a Friends organisation and I think this might be an area in which we could benefit each other as we have considerable experience in doing this though we lack active helpers.
Since the last meeting, Veronica Worrall and John Poulter have resigned as Trustees. I have thanked them on your behalf and removed their names from the Charity Commission website.
Stocks
At last, after five years, we have a date for moving the stocks up to the Museum in the Castle. This will be done on Monday, 8 November. A protective case has been made of which English Heritage approves and I feel they will be a great addition to our display. I do hope that Trustees will go up and see them in situ. The NOTT (to whom they belong) has agreed to pay half of the costs involved and I hope that they may also show some interest. I will put a notice in both the Village Voice and The Link informing residents that their stocks are now there for all to see and to bring them up to date with other changes at the Museum.
Elizabeth Spinney
Chairman Orford Museum
Orford Museum CIO
Registered Charity No: 1183699
| General Fund (Unrestricted) Payments Rent Rates Insurance Electricity Telephone Computer etc Ofce costs Conservation Aquisitions Subscriptions Display Curator Sundry Friends: Fund raising expenses Friends printing Gen exp/Maint Postage Touching the Tide Ipswich Building Society Total Payments Surplus Defcit Balance Sheet as at 30 September 2017 Cash at Bank/Building Society Santander Ipswich Building Society Coif CAF Total Assets Representing: General Fund (Unrestricted) Balance as at 1 October Surplus (Defcit) for the year Balance as at 30 September Independent Examiner's Report Receipts and Payments Account y/e 30 September 2021 |
2021 2020 2019 3,540.00 3,540.00 3,540.00 315.84 311.52 206.44 1,183.18 1,178.13 1,173.22 806.73 575.83 548.00 483.33 473.39 731.96 369.34 1,287.88 2,452.50 828.05 2,248.45 804.99 1,631.65 62.00 175.00 370.00 1,752.90 2,918.49 6,045.03 3,622.52 34.92 53.00 220.00 2,038.00 661.00 1,432.02 1,655.94 308.19 14,149.53 18,409.17 17,020.74 2,863.12 41,134.34 17,012.65 18,409.17 58,155.08 2021 2020 2019 50,030.68 2,451.99 7,403.82 74,382.91 83,222.25 215,915.94 100,313.69 86,189.92 50,000.00 224,727.28 221,864.16 ### 221,864.16 223,319.76 182,185.42 2,863.12 -1,455.60 41,134.34 224,727.28 221,864.16 223,319.76 |
Receipts Grants Major donors Wallace book Trial leafets Publications Postage Equipment hire Coif Inc/Dec Sundry receipts Education Friends: Events Subscriptions Gift Aid Bulletins Memories DVD CAF a/c Int Total Receipts Defcit Donations/castle box Calendar/Xmas card Making of a Borough Building Society interest David Andren/ R.Unwn 2019 legacy The Value of the COIF units are based on bid Market Value |
2021 359.88 23.00 14.50 1.50 1,160.66 14,123.77 10.00 491.25 130.00 698.09 17,012.65 |
2020 2019 350.00 250.00 406.49 842.74 1,970.00 28.50 99.60 313.89 15.00 125.90 3.00 3.00 2,306.31 1,952.54 49,583.26 11,189.92 116.00 1,857.00 2,267.00 618.75 692.25 3,457.34 107.50 10.00 16,953.57 58,155.08 1,455.60 18,409.17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17,012.65 | ||||
I confirm that the above accounts are in accordance with the records and documents provided to me. Perry Hunt