## **Tewkesbury Museum Annual Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2023**
## **Contents**
|**Subject**|**Page No.**|
|---|---|
|Reference and Administrative Details|2|
|Trustees’ Report|3|
|Independent Examiner’s Report|9|
|Statement of Financial Activities|10|
|Balance Sheet|11|
|Notes to the Accounts|12|
1
## **Reference and Administrative Details**
**Charity Number** 1185929
**Address**
64 Barton Street Tewkesbury Gloucestershire GL20 5PX
**Trustees**
Ian Bartlett (retired 22/10/22) Karen Brennan (retired 22/10/22) Ian Coates Emma Cook Paul Drake Joanne Raywood (Chair from 10/5/22) Catherine Robertson (appointed 5/12/22) Jennifer Smart
2
## **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:
1. The establishment and maintenance of one or more Museums in Tewkesbury
2. 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:
1. Effective stewardship of the CIO’s collections and archives
2. Exhibiting, interpreting and providing access to collections and archives
3. Collecting artefacts in its own right or in collaboration with other Museums
4. 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’.
3
## **Review of 2022/23**
## Visitors
After prolonged closures in the last two years due to Covid 19 and roof repairs, the Museum returned to normal in 2022/23 and recorded very satisfactory visitor figures:
- We opened on 285 days of the year, the second highest in nine years
- We hosted 5,758 visitors, the highest in the last twenty-five years
- The average of 20.2 visitors a day was the highest in the last nine years
## Building
As for the previous twenty years, the poor repair of our building has continued to cause problems, with both exhibition rooms on the second floor now being closed since November 2021 due to unsafe ceilings and a leak from the west wall.
There has, however, finally been some good news: in March 2023 the Museum Estate and Development Fund awarded our landlord, Tewkesbury Town Council, a substantial grant to pay for repairs. More details are given in ‘Plans for the Future’ below.
## Events
Our walks and talks are an important part of delivering our second object (page 3):
- 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, around 15 people attend each walk
In 2022/23 there were 38 walks with 529 participants, a big step up from 2021/22 when there were 16 walks with 208 participants
- Talks are held in the 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+
2022/23 was particularly successful, with 11 talks attracting 459 participants. By comparison, in 2019/20, the last year when a full programme was held, there were 8 talks with 352 participants.
## Collections
Between a lack of suitable volunteers and Covid, we have been struggling for some years to bring our records up to the standards required by Spectrum, the UK collection management standard. This situation has started to improve, with our collections trustee, supported by our Chair, training a dozen new and existing volunteers to help with this project.
4
In spring 2022 we moved most of our Victorian exhibition into store so that we could accommodate a temporary display on the ground floor celebrating 100 years of Guiding in Tewkesbury, curated by a local enthusiast. This proved very popular, especially with visitors old enough to have owned similar items in their youth. When this exhibition finished, items belonging to or about local man Sir Raymond Priestley, an Antarctic explorer on expeditions with both Scott and Shackleton, were moved from the second floor, where they had languished unseen for nearly a year, and redisplayed on the ground floor.
We have held a large amount of archaeological deposits on loan from Tewkesbury Borough Council since 2004. We have given notice to terminate the relevant agreements, requesting that these items should either be taken back or, preferably, that title should be transferred to the Museum so that we can manage these collections indefinitely.
## Trustees and Volunteers
We have been looking for trustees to help us with fundraising, building management and volunteer management for over a year. Despite advertising on on-line recruitment websites, on our own website and social media, and via posters in our window and in shops, suitably qualified applicants have proved very elusive, and existing trustees have had to work hard to compensate for this deficiency.
Volunteer numbers have climbed steadily, passing 30 at the end of the year. This has made it easier to comply with our new policy of avoiding lone working wherever possible.
## **Plans for the Future**
As mentioned above, our landlord has been awarded a large grant to address the many defects that have plagued the building – and the Museum – for many years. Work is expected to begin in autumn 2023, and to last for about nine months.
We do not yet know how great an impact this will have on the Museum. It is likely that we will have to close to visitors for at least half, and possibly all, the time. We are hoping that volunteers will be able to enter the building to carry on with the conservation and cataloguing of our collections for some of this time, but there is no certainty of this.
When more is known about the timing of the works we will try to secure temporary accommodation where volunteers can work and where all or part of our collection can be stored and, hopefully, displayed to visitors.
These repairs will remove the difficulties and, indeed, the existential threat, that the poor condition of our building has posed for many years. The building will not, however, be perfect: it will still be cold, drab and inaccessible to visitors with mobility issues. We are therefore working on an additional project to transform the interior of the Museum.
5
The details have not yet been finalised, but it is likely that improvements will include:
- The whole of the ground floor will become accessible to wheelchair users
- An enlarged room on the ground floor will contain the reception desk and an area for reading, resting or enjoying a ‘virtual Museum’ display
- An accessible toilet will be installed
- The back room on the ground and first floors will be extended to provide better exhibition space and 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
Raising funds for this project is likely to take two years or more, so, even if our grant applications are successful, it could be three or four years before all the works are completed and the transformation is complete.
Our Arts Council re-accreditation expired in June 2023, so we have been working on a reaccreditation application. However, the repairs that will start in late 2023 have introduced so much uncertainty that we have decided to apply for provisional re-accreditation instead. We will register for full accreditation again once the repairs have been carried out and we – and visitors - are able to return to our building.
The inventory and cataloguing project, now in full flow, will continue. It will probably continue into 2024/25.
We hope to find several new trustees, to ease the burden on existing ones and to allow more focus on volunteer training and fundraising.
## **Financial Review**
## Income
Total income, £18.2k, was almost exactly the same as in 2021/22, but there are some large differences within this total figure:
- Donations were low last year, as we were closed, due to Covid restrictions and roof repairs, for six months. 2022/23 visitor numbers are well over twice those for 2021/22, and visitor donations reflect this increase, climbing from £2.5k to £6.8k
- In addition, we received £1.7k from the closure of the Friends of Tewkesbury Museum and £1.5k from the Tewkesbury Town Mayor’s fund
- Gift aid, introduced in September last year, more than doubled from £0.9k to £2.0k
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- Grants fell to £0.8k this year from £10.3k last year, when we received two large grants totalling £9k, one relating to Covid and one toward the refurbishment of the Battle Room
- Our walks and talks programme, returning to full strength after being severely curtailed in the previous two years, contributed a significant amount of income, growing from £0.5k last year to £2.1k this year
- Donated trustee expenses dipped slightly from £1.1k to £1.0k
- Trading income remained at £2.0k, with £0.3k extra from costume hire – again, greatly restricted in the last two years - making up for a similar fall in sales
## Expenditure
Total expenditure fell £6.6k from last year’s £18.2k to £11.6k. Main variances were:
- Project expenditure reduced £6.1k from last year’s £9.0k - which included £6.1k on the Battle Room - to £2.9k
- Cost of Sales increased by £0.7k, due to the £0.8k write-off at 31/3/23 of remaining Alley Books. This reflects a marked downturn in sales of these books which resulted in a stockholding, before the write-off, of 6 years
- Utility costs, mainly electricity, reduced £2.1k from £2.9k to £0.8k, due partly to an overly prudent accrual at 31/3/22, which fell in a long period when our provider was unable to generate invoices. This accrual led to our 21/22 costs being overstated, and our 22/23 costs being understated, by about £1k. We benefited from a fixed rate contract that expires at the end of July 2023
## Surplus and Reserves
We recorded a net surplus for the year of £6.7k, increasing our net assets from £37.0k to £43.7k. This may seem excessive for a charity with total 2022/23 expenditure of £11.6k, but, with the repairs to our building starting later this year and with our transformation project commencing, it is fortunate that funds have been built up to this level in recent years.
Our reserves policy is to hold:
- General funds of six to twelve months of our forecast ongoing running costs (ie excluding projects and other non-recurring costs)
- Restricted and designated funds of up to two years of our forecast project costs
Our running costs are estimated at £8.5k in 2023/24, and we have set our general funds at £6.2k, equivalent to 9 months of such costs.
7
We have £1.5k restricted funds and have set designated funds at £36.0k:
- The grant obtained by Tewkesbury Town Council for repairs should cover most of the extra costs we will incur in relocating to alternative premises while works are carried out, but we will inevitably incur some costs ourselves, and we will lose up to nine months’ visitor donations
- Initial estimates suggest that our transformation project could cost up to £600k, including VAT. Typically, funders will only cover 95% of total costs, so we may have to contribute £30k toward the project. There could, moreover, be additional costs that funders do not consider to be part of the project and for which we will be fully liable ourselves, eg fundraiser fees
## **Approval**
This report was approved by the Trustees on 24 July 2023 and signed on their behalf by:
## **Joanne Raywood (Chair)**
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## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts**
## **Report to the trustees/** Tewkesbury Museum **members of**
**On the accounts for the** 31 March 2023 **period ended**
**Charity no.** 1185929
**Set out on pages** 10 to 18 **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 31/3/2023.
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:** Melanie Kisby **Address:** 66 Church Street Tewkesbury Gloucestershire GL20 5RZ
9
## **Tewkesbury Museum Statement of Financial Activities Year Ended 31 March 2023**
|**_All Figures in £_**
**Income**
Transfer from predecessor
organisation
Donations and legacies
Charitable activities
Trading activities
**_Total income_**
**Expenditure**
Raising funds
Charitable activities
**_Total expenditure_**
**_Net income/(expenditure) and_**
**_net movement in funds_**
**Reconciliation of funds**
Total funds brought forward
**_Total funds carried forward_**|Note
2
_3_
_4_|Current Year|Current Year|Prior Year
Total
Total
0
846
14,184
14,871
2,076
498
1,959
1,958
**_18,219_**
**_18,173_**
1,621
710
9,932
17,516
**_11,553_**
**_18,226_**
**_6,666_**
**_-53_**
37,036
37,089
**_43,702_**
**_37,036_**|Prior Year
Total
Total
0
846
14,184
14,871
2,076
498
1,959
1,958
**_18,219_**
**_18,173_**
1,621
710
9,932
17,516
**_11,553_**
**_18,226_**
**_6,666_**
**_-53_**
37,036
37,089
**_43,702_**
**_37,036_**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||Unrestricted
0
12,029
2,076
1,959|Restricted
0
2,155
0
0|||
|||**_16,064_**|**_2,155_**||**_18,173_**|
|||1,621
9,157|0
775||710
17,516|
|||**_10,778_**|**_775_**||**_18,226_**|
|||**_5,286_**
36,916|**_1,380_**
120||**_-53_**
37,089|
|||**_42,202_**|**_1,500_**||**_37,036_**|
10
## **Tewkesbury Museum Balance Sheet at 31 March 2023**
|**_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
0
6
579
44,581
**_45,160_**
7
1,458
**_43,702_**
8
36,000
6,202
42,202
1,500
**_43,702_**|Prior Year
Total
258
1,204
38,106|Prior Year
Total
258
1,204
38,106|
|---|---|---|---|
||||**_39,568_**|
||||2,532|
||||**_37,036_**|
||||25,000
11,916|
||||36,916
120|
||||**_37,036_**|
Approved by the trustees on 24 July 2023 and signed on their behalf by:
Joanne Raywood ……….………………………………….
Paul Drake ……….………………………………….
The notes on pages 12 to 18 form part of these accounts.
11
## **Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2023**
## **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), effective from 1 January 2019; 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 notes to the accounts and/or the Financial Review in the Trustees’ Report. Investment income, gains and losses are allocated to the appropriate fund.
12
## 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.
13
## 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 equipment, including cabinets, cases and platforms, 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 below £250 are not considered material. Any such purchases are, therefore, charged when incurred. Acquisitions above £250 are recorded on the balance sheet. Provisions or write-offs are made, if appropriate, following a review of stocks held and the rate of sales.
## 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 18 relate to this organisation only. They include cash and bank balances that were transferred from the predecessor organisation.
14
## **3 Analysis of Income**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
All Figures in £ Current Year Prior Year
Unrestricted Restricted Total Total
Transfer from predecessor organisation 0 0 0 846
Donations Donations 8,895 1,500 10,395 2,625
and Legacies Donated trustee expenses 1,006 0 1,006 1,065
Gift aid 1,978 0 1,978 860
Grants - government 0 325 325 4,821
Grants - other 150 330 480 5,500
Total 12,029 2,155 14,184 14,871
Charitable Walks and talks 2,076 0 2,076 498
Activities Archaeological storage 0 0 0 0
Total 2,076 0 2,076 498
Trading Sale of goods 1,151 0 1,151 1,495
Costume hire 355 0 355 10
Christmas 453 0 453 453
Total 1,959 0 1,959 1,958
Total Income 16,064 2,155 18,219 18,173
**----- End of picture text -----**
Details of grants are given in the Financial Review.
15
## **4 Analysis of Expenditure**
|_All Figures in £_
Fundraising and marketing
Cost of sales
Christmas
Total
Projects
Walks and talks
Visitors
Insurance
Utilities
Broadband and IT
Trustee expenses
Collections
Other
Total
**_Total Expenditure_**
Raising
Funds
Charitable
Activities|Current Year|Current Year|Current Year|Current Year|Total
224
1,264
133
1,621
2,895
162
485
1,522
759
1,289
1,006
607
1,207
9,932
**_11,553_**|Prior Year
Total
104
556
50
710|Prior Year
Total
104
556
50
710|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||Unrestricted
Costs
224
1,264
133||Restricted
Costs
0
0
0|||||
|||1,621||0||||
|||2,895
42
155
1,522
759
1,289
1,006
607
882||0
120
330
0
0
0
0
0
325|||8,986
430
70
1,520
2,914
1,366
1,065
322
843|
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||9,157||775|||17,516|
|||||||||
|||**_10,778_**||**_775_**|||**_18,226_**|
All charitable expenditure is incurred in running the Museum and its activities. There are no governance 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
Written off
**_Closing stock_**|Current
Year
258
845
-316
-787
**_0_**|Prior Year|
|---|---|---|
|||0
789
-531
**_258_**|
## **6 Debtors**
|_All Figures in £_
Trade debtors
Prepayments and accrued income
**_Total_**|Current
Year
Prior Year
0
0
579
1,204
**_579_**
**_1,204_**|
|---|---|
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## **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
1,080
378
**_1,458_**
Current
Year
120
2,155
-775
0
1,500
25,000
0
-1,815
12,815
36,000
11,916
16,064
-8,963
-12,815
6,202
36,916
16,064
-10,778
0
42,202|Prior Year|
|---|---|---|---|
||||0
2,532|
||||**_2,532_**|
||||Prior 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|
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## Total Funds
|Opening balance
Income
Expenditure
Closing balance|37,036
18,219
-11,553
43,702|37,089
18,173
-18,226|
|---|---|---|
|||37,036|
Restricted Funds - Income. In 2021/22 grants were received for the Battle Room refurbishment, a new computer, the Rebuilding the Foundations project and our programme of talks. All such grants were spent in the year, except for £120 for talks wheich was carried over to 2022/23.
In 2022/23 grants and donations were received from South West Museum Development for a trustee advert, from Barnwood Trust for an access audit, and from the Tewkesbury Town Mayor's Trust for accessibility improvements. All such income, and the £120 brought forward from 2021/22, was spent in the year, except for £1,500 from the Mayor's Trust, which has been carried forward to 2023/24.
Designated funds are for project expenditure not covered by grants or donations. See the Financial Review in the Trustees' Report for more detail.
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