2021-12-31-accounts

TENBURY WELLS MUSEUM & HISTORY GROUP CIO

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

1[st] JANUARY 2021 TO 31[ST] DECEMBER 2021

Charity name: Other name the charity uses: Registered charity number: Charity’s principal address: Social Media / Website:

TENBURY WELLS MUSEUM & HISTORY GROUP CIO

Tenbury Museum 1186814 Goff’s School, Cross Street, Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, WR14 8EF @tenburymuseum www.tenburymuseum.org.uk

Objectives and Activities

The objectives of the Charity are:

• To advance the historical education of the public in Tenbury and the surrounding area

• To undertake and promote research into the history of Tenbury and its environs,

• To assist, in conjunction with other interested parties and societies, in the conservation of Tenbury’s historical buildings and amenities.

The activities of the Charity:

• Providing and maintaining a museum within Tenbury by acquiring, preserving, and displaying items of historical interest

• holding monthly members meetings with historical talks given by guest speakers

• Taking part at local agriculture shows and festivals

• Taking part in Heritage Open Days

• maintaining the Hidden Tenbury digital trail app

• Promoting the museum and its activities

The Trustees have kept in mind the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, particularly with regard to reopening the museum this year following the covid lockdown, by extending the opening hours on certain weekends as well as using another social media platform to be more accessible to a wider audience.

Trustees attended several webinar events, hosted by West Midlands Museum Development, particularly concerning the recruiting, management and retaining of volunteers. The Trustees are grateful to all their current volunteers for their continued support; the museum and its activities are entirely managed and stewarded by them and could not function without their efforts.

Achievements and performance

• following planning approval for building renovations in December 2020 the Trustees submitted an Expression of Interest to the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) in March 2021. This was approved in April 2021.

• Further public consultation via in-house questionnaires and online surveys undertaken

• A formal bid was submitted to NLHF in August to help fund the refurbishment of a proposed new site, the Old Fire Station.

• An Expression of Interest was also submitted to the Capital Investment Programme, run by Arts Council England to help boost the charity’s match funding should NLHF accept our bid.

• During 2021, the museum did not open its doors until 21[st] May due to covid restrictions and closed at the usual date of 31[st] October, but with extended opening hours on certain weekends. Following the reopening we saw a substantial increase in local visitor numbers, as well as overall numbers by month, when compared to the same period in 2019, (our last full year of opening pre covid).

• The museum took part in the National Heritage Open Days in August, in which various childrens’ activities and a quiz was centred around the theme of food.

• The museum took part in the local Apple Festival in October and was well received.

• 5 history talks were given over the year by guest speakers to an increased audience of members and non-members alike.

• Rationalisation of the museum collection began to ensure its continued educational value, its accessibility and its beneficial worth to visitors and the local community.

• New displays depicting local cider making and promotion of volunteering roles were installed.

• An Instagram page for museum was opened

The reopening of the museum and the restarting of history talks have benefitted visitors and volunteers by providing educational activities, stimulating curiosity and encouraging interest in Tenbury’s heritage. It has benefitted the local economy through increased footfall of visitors and has helped promote the group’s aim of moving the museum into a heritage listed building.

Financial Review

At the end of 2021 the charity’s finances were in a very good position having received a healthy number of membership subscriptions and higher amounts raised via retail sales and public/private donations than in previous years.

The Charity’s Financial Reserves Policy was reviewed by the governing committee. To mitigate financial risk from unforeseen expenditure, sudden closure, a shortfall in income or an inability to control costs, the Trustees aim to maintain free reserves in unrestricted funds at a level that equates to approximately six months of unrestricted expenditure. The Trustees consider that this level will allow time to develop new sources of income or to cut-back on related expenditure. All the Charity’s funds this year were unrestricted; there were no restricted funds. Reserve amounts are monitored at regularly held committee meetings and stated at every AGM in the Treasurer’s Report. There are no funds materially in deficit. There are no funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others.

Principal risks facing the Charity:

• Reduction in public donations

• Reduction in membership and related subscriptions

• Termination of lease for Goff’s School site with Malvern Hills District Council

The Charity’s principal sources of funding this year:

• Membership fees

• Public donations made while visiting the museum

• Private donations by individuals posted to Treasurer or anonymously via local solicitors

• Sales of small merchandise donated to the museum for the sole purpose of raising funds

• Admissions fees for non-members to monthly history talks

• Proceeds of a locally produced historical booklet kindly donated by the author

• Proceeds of a Charity Car Wash via local Fire Service held September 2021

How funds have been spent this year:

• Housekeeping: electricity bills, Insurance and compulsory fire safety checks plus replacement printer and laminator & consumables

• Membership fees: Association of Independent Museums, Rural Museums Network

• Advertising: Banner and printing of leaflets

• Events: Heritage open days, Applefest, guest speaker costs, hire of meeting rooms

• Freelance consultant fees: providing advice for NLHF bid

Details of future aims/plans

• Maintain Accredited status by undergoing renewal process once reopened – advised Summer 2022 - and review policies as required.

• Engage with audience development and resume museum promotion through continued participation in local shows, festivals, Heritage Open Days and postings on social media platforms.

• Continuance of regular members meetings with guest speakers (2022 season fully booked).

• Fundraising to help cover running costs including installation of a contactless card reader for retail sales.

• Relocation funding: Two strong initial bid submissions, both to the Arts Council, England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund were declined in December. NLHF did, however, acknowledged the necessity for the museum to move premises and offered to meet with Trustees in January 2022 to help move the project forward. The museum will continue to be run as it currently is and with continued support from the public for the relocation and Trustees remaining fully committed to providing a new heritage centre, it has been agreed to resubmit to NLHF sometime during 2022, following guidance on a few amendments. If refused a second time, an extraordinary meeting with wider membership will be called to discuss the museum’s long-term future and next steps.

Structure, Governance and Management

The museum is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and has an association model constitution, adopted in December 2019.

Trustees are committee members who are appointed or reappointed at the Annual General Meeting held every February.

The museum is managed by a governing committee, consisting of 6 Trustees and 2 co-opted members, one being a representative of Tenbury Town Council. Trustees receive no remuneration or other benefits from the Charity.

The Charity is an Arts Council England accredited museum; a member of the Association of Independent Museums; a member of the Rural Museums Network and a member of the West Midlands Museum Development run by Ironbridge Trust. It was also a member of the Small Charities Coalition until its dissolution in Autumn 2021.

The museum’s Accreditation mentor is Rachel Cockett, Director of Development at Birmingham Museums Trust.

• Trustee name Office held

• 1 Steven Malek Chair 2 Philip Rees Vice Chair 3 David Patrick Treasurer 4 Tracey Morris Secretary 5 Monica Rees Education Officer 6 Jill Malek Curator/Archivist

Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Tracey Morris Full name(s) Steven Malek Position (eg Secretary, Chair Secretary Chair, etc) th Date 20 January, 2022

Charity Commission

Charity Commission Annual Return 2021

TENBURY WELLS MUSEUM AND HISTORY GROUP CIO

Charity registration number: 1186814

Most of the information you give in this form will become publicly available on the Register of Charities. Any field that the Charity Commission will not display will be clearly marked. This document is a record of the information provided in the Annual Return 2021.

Financial period

Financial period start date

01/01/2021

Financial period end date

31/12/2021

Income and spending

Income £

£6,969

Spending £

£2,973

Fundraising - professional fundraiser

Did your charity raise funds from the public?

Yes

Did the charity work with any professional fundraisers?

No

Fundraising - commercial participator

Did your charity work with any commercial participators?

No

Government contracts

During the financial period for this annual return, d, id the charity receive income from contracts (other than grant agreements) with central government or local authorities?

No

Government grants

During the financial period for this annual return, did the charity receive income from grants from central government or local authorities?

Yes

How many grants did your charity receive from central government or local authorities?

1

What was the total value of these grants?

£450

Income from outside the UK

Did your charity receive income from outside the UK ?

No

Spending outside England & Wales

Did your charity operate outside England and Wales?

No

Trading subsidiaries

Did the charity have any subsidiaries?

No

Trustee payments

Did any of the trustees receive any remuneration, payments or benefits from the charity other than refunds of legitimate trustee expenses?

No

Did any of the trustees resign and then take up employment with the charity?

No

Employees' salaries

Did any of your charity's staff receive total employee benefits of £60,000 or more? Select No if your charity does not have any staff , or does not pay any staff.

No

For your highest paid member of staff only, what was the total value of their employee benefits?

(For example if your highest paid member of staff received £35,000 enter 35000). If you do not have any staff or did not pay any staff, enter 0 (zero)

£0

Volunteers

How many UK volunteers, excluding trustees, did the charity have during the financial period?

9

Financial controls

Did your charity review its internal financial controls?

Yes

Privacy statement

Any information you give us will be held securely and processed only in accordance with the rule on data protection. We will not disclose your personal details to anyone unconnected to the Charity Commission unless:

• you have consented to their release; or

• we are legally obliged to disclose them; or

• we regard disclosure as either (a) necessary so that we can properly carry out our statutory functions or (b) necessary in the public interest.

We may share and disclose information about you with relevant public authorities, regulatory bodies and agencies, outside the Charity Commission but only if:

• we can lawfully do so; and

• we decide that disclosure is necessary for national security, crime detection, prevention, and law enforcement, or other issues in the public interest

Information we collect about you

We will use this information:

To enable us to carry out our statutory functions and duties;

This will include the following actions:

• (a) update, consolidate, and improve the accuracy of our records;

• (b) undertake crime detection and prevention and law enforcement and assist the third parties specified above to investigate or prevent crime and carry out law enforcement;

• (c) data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes

Information we receive from other sources.

Information we receive from other sources

We may combine this information with information you give to us and information we collect about you.

We may use this information and the combined information for the purposes set out above (depending on the types of information we receive).

We will ensure that any such disclosure and use is proportionate; considers your right to respect for your private life; and is done fairly and lawfully in accordance with the data protection principles of the Data Protection Act.

The Data Protection Act 1998 regulates the use of 'personal data', which is essentially any information, however stored, about identifiable living individuals.

As a 'data controller' under the Act, the Charity Commission must comply with it. Any changes we may make to our privacy statement in the future will be set out in the replacement version of this form.

Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.

Declaration

Your role at the charity (select one):

⊠ Trustee David Given names Patrick Family name 01584 810502 Telephone number Email [e-mail] 05/09/2022 Date submitted

It is a criminal offence under section 60 of the Charities Act 2011 for anyone to knowingly or recklessly provide false or misleading information to the commission; this includes suppressing, concealing or destroying documents.