2022-03-31-accounts

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Tewkesbury Museum Annual Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2022

Subject	Page No.
Reference and Administrative Details	2
Trustees’ Report	3
Independent Examiner’s Report	10
Statement of Financial Activities	11
Balance Sheet	12
Notes to the Accounts	13

Reference and Administrative Details

Charity Number 1185929

Address

64 Barton Street Tewkesbury Gloucestershire GL20 5PX

Trustees

Ian Bartlett Karen Brennan Ian Coates (appointed 18/1/22) Emma Cook (appointed 18/1/22) Paul Drake Steve Goodchild (Chair – retired 22/10/21) Joanne Raywood (Chair from 10/5/22) Jenny Smart (appointed 18/1/22)

Trustees’ Report

Structure, Governance and Management

The Museum is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, number 1185929.

The Museum’s governing document is its Constitution, approved by the Charity Commission on 22 October 2019.

The governing body consists of up to nine trustees. Up to four trustees may be nominated by Tewkesbury Town Council, subject to ratification by the existing trustees.

The Museum has comprehensive policies and processes for the recruitment and induction of new trustees.

The Museum is run entirely by volunteers.

Objectives and Activities

The objects of the Museum are:

The establishment and maintenance of one or more museums in Tewkesbury
The advancement of public knowledge and education about the history and heritage of Tewkesbury and its environs.

Our constitution lists the main activities of the Museum as:

Effective stewardship of the CIO’s collections and archives
Exhibiting, interpreting and providing access to collections and archives
Collecting artefacts in its own right or in collaboration with other museums
Working in partnership with other organisations that have an interest in the history of Tewkesbury and its environs

We also engage or plan to engage in other important activities that further our second object such as walks, talks and external displays.

The trustees have complied with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to guidance on public benefit published by the Commission, specifically PB2 ‘Public benefit: running a charity’.

Review of 2021/22

The Museum was closed for all but the last few days of the first five months of the year, partly due to Covid 19 restrictions and partly to roof repairs continuing beyond the date when the restrictions were lifted. Then, in November, the ceiling of one of our second floor rooms developed a crack and we were forced to close the whole museum for another three weeks until the ceiling was made safe.

As a consequence of these closures, the number of days we were open and our visitor numbers were considerably reduced compared to the last pre-Covid year:

In 2019/20 we were open on 262 days and had 4,531 visitors
In 2021/22 we were open on 107 days and had 2,125 visitors

On the upside:

2021/22 was much better than 2020/21, when Covid restrictions allowed us to open on only 75 days and we had only 1,394 visitors
In 2021/22, as in 2020/21, we received some Covid-related government support which has helped us maintain our financial position
Our visitors per day increased from 17 in 2019/20 to 20 in 2021/22. This seems to be due partly to a ‘post-Covid bounce’ and partly to the lure of the refurbished model fairground which was opened just before the first lockdown in 2020

As for the previous twenty years, our building has continued to cause problems, although there may be a glint of light at the end of the tunnel:

The second floor has been closed since November
The ceiling of one room was propped before Christmas; that of the other room was declared unsafe in February and has also been propped
Visitors are disappointed that they cannot view a third of our displays, although they have, for the most part, been very tolerant
The second floor will not open until our landlord, Tewkesbury Town Council, obtains a grant to carry out structural and other necessary repairs – see ‘Plans for the Future’
Our roof is now much better than it was. The leak that had, for years, forced us to install a 50-litre tank to collect rainwater, has been fixed. The roof is, however, still not perfect. In particular, a new leak appeared in November which necessitates a tarpaulin to protect the floor and occasional mopping-up

A positive step toward the Town Council obtaining funding was the building finally being included on Historic England’s ‘Heritage at Risk’ register following a review in November. This had been due 18 months earlier, but was delayed, first by a flood and then by Covid

Covid also delayed the opening of our refurbished Battle Room, scheduled for the 550[th] anniversary on 4 May 2020. Instead, this major improvement was completed in September 2021. An official opening ceremony was held a few months later, attended by Clive Montellier, the Secretary of Tewkesbury Battlefield Society, which made a generous contribution toward the cost of the project.

The adjoining room, which houses our medieval, Roman and prehistoric collection, was repainted and re-arranged.

Our walks and talks are an important part of delivering our second object:

Walks, run in conjunction with ‘Project Alleycat’, take place mainly in the spring and summer and focus on the history of Tewkesbury’s unusual alleys and courts. They are particularly popular with visitors to the town, although well-attended by local people as well. Typically, 15-20 people attend each walk
Talks are held in spring and early autumn and attract far more locals than visitors. There is a wide variety of subjects, but nearly all have a strong connection to the Tewkesbury area. Attendance varies widely, depending on the subject and the speaker’s reputation, between 15 and 50+
After a break of two years, the first walk took place in August 2021 but the first talk was not held until March 2022:
In 2019/20 there were 15 walks with 271 participants; in 2021/22 there were 16 walks with 208 participants
In 2019/20 there were 5 talks to private groups and 8 to the public, with 280 participants; in 2021/22 there was a single talk with 55 participants

Our Chairman for the last four years, and trustee for many more, Steve Goodchild, stepped down from the board in October. Fortunately, he has not left us completely and is still a very active and important volunteer. After a short gap, Steve was replaced by Joanne Raywood, who retired as Tewkesbury Town Mayor on 9 May 2022 and became our new Chair on 10 May.

When we re-opened at the end of August, we found that Covid had left us with fewer volunteers than before, and opening for as many days as we did was only possible due to the extra effort of a few stalwarts who covered many more sessions on reception than they would normally have done. Volunteer numbers have picked up since February, perhaps reflecting an increased confidence that the worst of Covid has passed. New recruits are being trained using an expanded version of our Volunteer Handbook that Joanne has worked to produce.

Steve Goodchild updated ‘A Short History of Tewkesbury’s Alleys’, a book by John Rogers originally published over a hundred years ago. It has sold, mainly through local shops, extremely well, far eclipsing the rather meagre sales we are able to achieve with the limited sales area we have in the museum.

Plans for the Future

The poor condition of the building has overshadowed the Museum for many years; its potential cannot be achieved while structural problems threaten its exhibits. We are hopeful that this situation will finally be resolved in the next two or three years. This means that this period of time will be dominated by building works and the challenges they will pose.

Following the museum building being added to the ‘Heritage at Risk’ register, Historic England encouraged our landlord to submit a grant application for a grant to address part or all of the structural problems with the museum building. This application was submitted in May 2022. If successful, we will probably have to close to visitors – again – for several months.

In addition to these repairs, the trustees have ambitious plans to improve the interior of the museum. Grant applications are being prepared for these, with the costs of a professional fundraiser being shared between the landlord and the museum. There are several elements to these improvements:

The whole of the ground floor will become accessible to wheelchair users, who are currently unable to visit the museum because the only ground floor room which is level with the entrance passageway is currently used as an office
Today’s office and toilet will be merged, and the enlarged room will contain the reception desk, seats for reading and resting, and an enhanced sales area
An accessible toilet will be installed in the room that is currently an underutilised kitchen
Our very steep and little used rear staircase will be removed, allowing the back room on the ground floor and the one above to be extended. The ground floor room will then be large enough to accommodate temporary exhibitions, a Christmas grotto and small community events, and the first floor room will serve as a combined office and store
A general refurbishment will make the interior look more attractive
Better insulation and heating will make the museum warmer and more welcoming for visitors and volunteers alike

We do not know how long it will take to raise sufficient funds for these improvements or how long they will take to be carried out. It is possible that the museum will re-open after the structural repairs have been made and then have to close a few months or a year or two later, or it may be possible to combine the interior works with the structural ones and avoid having to close a second time.

Other, more routine, improvements that we will be working on include:

The date of our submission for re-accreditation with the Arts Council has been deferred – by the Council, due to Covid - several times. It was originally due in March 2020; we now have a new deadline of June 2023. A lot of the work we did for the 2020 submission is still valid; but a lot more will have to be repeated
Training on our collection management system, Modes, will be carried out. This will enable faster progress to be made on cataloguing our collections, an exercise that Covid delayed considerably
The potential closure of the museum in the near future has made more urgent a project we were already planning before: to take our museum out into the community by setting up external displays. This will involve obtaining agreement from local venues, curating several new displays, acquiring suitable cabinets (and relevant funds). We expect this to be a challenging but rewarding project

Financial Review

There is little to be gained by comparing income and expenditure for this year with that for last year:

The current incarnation of the charity (the CIO) did not take over the running of the Museum until 1 June 2020, and the 2020/21 figures were, therefore, for only ten months
Both years were affected by Covid, leading to a substantial loss of visitor donations, compensated for by government grants
The £37k surplus for 2020/21 was due in large part to a £33k transfer of funds from the CIO’s predecessor charity (Remaining funds – of less than £1k - were transferred in 2021/22)

In 2021/22, grants made up a large part of our income, over £10k. We received four restricted grants, two private and two from government sources:

£5k from Tewkesbury Battlefield Society toward the cost of refurbishing the Battle Room
£0.5k from the Friends of Tewkesbury Museum toward a new computer
£0.6k from Tewkesbury Borough Council toward the cost of relaunching our talks programme
£0.3k from Bristol City Council to offset costs incurred in our participation in South West Museum Development's ‘Rebuilding the Foundations’ project

In addition, we received two unrestricted, Covid-related government grants totalling nearly £4k.

The Museum was only open half the year, but donations were over 60% of those in 2019/20, the last pre-Covid year, reflecting higher footfall per day open and a higher average donation per visitor. We believe that the refurbished model fairground and Battle Room have contributed to both these phenomena.

Sales jumped in the year due to the republication of the ‘History of Tewkesbury’s Alleys’ book. This contributed most of the £0.9k surplus on sales.

The Museum claimed gift aid on its donations for the first time, receiving nearly £0.9k just after the year-end.

A few items of expenditure reduced to some extent during our periods of closure, but others, including one of the highest, insurance, continued at the same rate. Electricity consumption – mainly for heating - fell when we were closed, but price increases drove the overall expenditure to a higher figure than we had budgeted.

£9k project expenditure included £6k to complete the refurbishment of the Battle Room (started in 2019/21), £2k on building repairs and £0.5k for a new PC.

Overall, our deficit for the year was a mere £0.1k, leaving us with substantially the same net assets as the previous year.

Our reserves policy is to hold designated funds of up to two years of our forecast project costs and general funds of one to two years of our forecast running costs. In normal times our projects might involve replacing a display case or two and other costs of mounting a new exhibition. We are not, however, in normal times, as the anticipated structural repairs and internal refurbishment over the next two or three years will require significant sums of money – perhaps £350-400k in total.

While these funds will have to be raised from grants, and the responsibility for much of them lies with our landlord, we anticipate having to contribute toward fundraising costs for some of the expenditure ourselves, and there will inevitably be other costs for which we are responsible and unable to obtain grants.

The trustees have therefore set aside £25k as designated reserves against such outgoings, leaving general reserves of £12k, in line with our budgeted expenditure on ongoing activities for 2022/23.

In our last annual report and accounts we included memorandum accounts as well as official ones. This was because the official accounts were distorted by the £33k received from the ‘old’ Tewkesbury Museum, the predecessor to the current CIO. The memorandum accounts sought to present a more balanced view of the Museum’s financial performance by presenting the combined figures of the new and old charities together. In 2021/22 another transfer – the final one - was received from our predecessor organisation, but, as it was for less than £1k, the distortion is minimal and memorandum accounts are not considered necessary.

Approval

This report was approved by the Trustees on 14 June 2022 and signed on their behalf by:

Joanne Raywood (Chair)

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Report to the trustees/ Tewkesbury Museum members of

On the accounts for the 31 March 2022 period ended

Charity no. 1185929

Set out on pages 10 to 19 Responsibilities and I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the basis of report above charity (“the Trust”) for the period ended 31/3/2022.

As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters examiner's statement have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Signed: Date: Name: Elizabeth Giles Address: c/o Tewkesbury Museum 64 Barton Street Tewkesbury Gloucestershire GL20 5PX

Tewkesbury Museum Statement of Financial Activities Year Ended 31 March 2022

CurrentYear	CurrentYear	Prior Year Total Total 846 33,072 14,871 15,673 498 35 1,958 18 *18,173* *48,798* 710 0 17,516 11,709 *18,226* *11,709* *-53* *37,089* 37,089 0 *37,036* *37,089*
Unrestricted 846 8,521 498 1,958	Restricted 0 6,350 0 0
*11,823*	*6,350*	*48,798*
710 11,286	0 6,230	0 11,709
*11,996*	*6,230*	*11,709*
*-173* 37,089	*120* 0	*37,089* 0
*36,916*	*120*	*37,089*

Tewkesbury Museum Balance Sheet at 31 March 2022

*All Figures in £* Current assets Stock Debtors Cash at bank and in hand *Total current assets* Liabilities *Net current and total net assets* Funds of the charity Unrestricted: Designated Other Total Restricted *Total funds* Creditors: amounts falling due within one year	Note Current Year Total 5 258 6 1,204 38,106 *39,568* 7 2,532 *37,036* 8 25,000 11,916 36,916 120 *37,036*	Prior Year Total 0 278 40,990	Prior Year Total 0 278 40,990
			*41,268*
			4,179
			*37,089*
			20,000 17,089
			37,089 0
			*37,089*

Approved by the trustees on 14 June 2022 and signed on their behalf by:

Joanne Raywood ……….………………………………….

Paul Drake

……….………………………………….

The notes on pages 13 to 19 form part of these accounts.

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2022

1 Accounting Policies

The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:

a) Basis of preparation

These accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant note(s) to these accounts.

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with:

The Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), issued on 16 July 2014; and with
The Charities Act 2011.

Tewkesbury Museum meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

b) Going concern

Given the Museum’s level of year-end reserves, the Trustees consider that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operation for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis.

c) Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of our charitable purposes.

Restricted funds are donations where the donor has specified they should only be used for certain aspects of our work. The costs of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund, unless expressly forbidden by the donor.

The aim and use of each material restricted fund is set out in the accounting policy notes. Investment income, gains and losses are allocated to the appropriate fund.

d) Income

Income is recognised when the charity becomes entitled to the resources, it is more likely than not that the trustees will receive the resources, and the monetary value can be measured with sufficient reliability.

Donations, grants and gifts are recognised when receivable. If a donation is subject to performance conditions, the income is recognised in our Statement of Financial Activities when it is probable that those conditions will be met, unless it is considered more appropriate to include it as deferred income in Creditors.

There has been no offsetting of assets and liabilities, or of income and expenditure, unless required or permitted by the FRS 102 SORP.

Legacies are recognised when there is a high probability that they will be received and the amount can be measured with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

Gift Aid recoverable is included in income when there is a valid declaration from the donor. Any Gift Aid amount recovered on a donation is considered to be a part of that gift and is treated as an addition to the same fund as the initial donation unless the donor or the terms of the appeal have specified otherwise.

Interest on deposits is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably, which is normally on notification by the bank of the interest paid or payable.

Trading income is recognised at the point of sale.

e) Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation and the amount can be measured with reasonable certainty. All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis under the following headings:

Expenditure on raising funds comprises marketing costs, costs incurred in seeking donations, grants and legacies, and the costs of fundraising activities
Expenditure on charitable activities comprises the costs of running the Museum and its programme of walks and talks, and in storing archaeological artefacts on loan
Support costs are incurred in support of expenditure on the objects of the charity. However, as the Museum has no staff, governance or accounting costs and its administrative costs are negligible, it is considered that there are no support costs
Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

f) Volunteers

The value of the services provided by volunteers is not included in these financial statements.

g) Fixed assets

Assets costing more than £1,000 are capitalised at their historical cost when purchased.

The Museum’s objects and display furniture do not generate income, and are, therefore, not classified as fixed assets. Any acquisition costs are charged when incurred.

h) Stock

It is uncertain whether merchandise will be sold, and acquisition costs are not material. Any such purchases are, therefore, charged when incurred.

i) Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discounts offered.

j) Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments.

k) Creditors

Creditors are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

2 Basis of Accounts

Tewkesbury Museum was registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 22 October 2019. On 31 May 2020 the predecessor organisation transferred its assets and liabilities to the new organisation, which assumed the running of the museum from 1 June 2020. The Accounts and Notes set out on pages 10 to 19 relate to this organisation only. They include cash and bank balances that were transferred from the predecessor organisation.

3 Analysis of Income

CurrentYear Unrestricted Restricted 846 0 2,625 0 1,065 0 860 0 3,971 850 0 5,500 8,521 6,350 498 0 0 0	CurrentYear Unrestricted Restricted 846 0 2,625 0 1,065 0 860 0 3,971 850 0 5,500 8,521 6,350 498 0 0 0	Prior Year Total 33,072 1,339 0 0 11,334 3,000
		15,673
		35 0
498	0	35
1,495 0 10 453	0 0 0 0	18 0 0 0
1,958	0	18

*11,823*	*6,350*	*48,798*

Details of grants are given in the Financial Review.

4 Analysis of Expenditure

----- Start of picture text -----
All Figures in £ Current Year
Unrestricted Restricted Total Total
Costs Costs
Raising Fundraising and marketing 104 0 104 0
Funds Cost of sales 556 0 556 0
Christmas 50 0 50 0
Other 0 0 0 0
Total 710 0 710 0
Charitable Projects 2,756 6,230 8,986 6,859
Activities Walks and talks 430 0 430 0
Visitors 70 0 70 0
Insurance 1,520 0 1,520 1,073
Utilities 2,914 0 2,914 1,402
Broadband and IT 1,366 0 1,366 630
Trustee expenses 1,065 0 1,065 0
Equipment & maintenance 453 0 453 1,312
Other 712 0 712 433
Total 11,286 6,230 17,516 11,709
Total Expenditure 11,996 6,230 18,226 11,709
----- End of picture text -----

All charitable expenditure is incurred in running the Museum and its programme of walks and talks. There are no govenance or accounting costs. There are, therefore, considered to be no support costs.

5 Stock

All Figures in £ Books for resale Opening stock Additions Sold or donated *Closing stock*	Current Year Prior Year 0 0 789 0 -531 0 *258* 0

6 Debtors

All Figures in £ Trade debtors Prepayments and accrued income *Total*	Current Year Prior Year 0 0 1,204 278 *1,204* *278*

7 Creditors

8	All Figures in £ Trade creditors Accruals *Total* All creditors are due within one year. Funds of the Charity All Figures in £ Restricted Funds Opening balance Income Expenditure Transfers Closing balance Unrestricted Funds Designated Funds: Opening balance Income Expenditure Transfers Closing balance General Funds: Opening balance Income Expenditure Transfers Closing balance Total Unrestricted Funds: Opening balance Income Expenditure Transfers Closing balance	Current Year 0 2,532 *2,532* Current Year 0 6,350 -6,230 0 120 20,000 0 -3,186 8,186 25,000 17,089 11,823 -8,810 -8,186 11,916 37,089 11,823 -11,996 0 36,916	Prior Year
			2,978 1,201
			*4,179*
			Prior Year
			0 0 0 0
			0
			0 0 0 20,000
			20,000
			0 48,798 -11,709 -20,000
			17,089
			0 48,798 -11,709 0
			37,089

Total Funds

Opening balance	37,089	0
Income	18,173	48,798
Expenditure	-18,226	-11,709
Closing balance	37,036	37,089

Grants toward the Battle Room refurbishment, new computer, Rebuilding the Foundations project and programme of talks are regarded as restricted. All such grants were spent in the year, except for talks where a balance of £120 will be spent in 2022/23.

Designated fund expenditure consists of project expenditure not covered by grants. The closing designated fund balance is in respect of expenditure on projects that are expected to be carried out in the next two years, including fundraising and other costs associated with the proposed structural repairs to and interior refurbishment of the museum building.

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