## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period**
**From 1 January 2024 To 31 December 2024**
## **Charity name: Bath and Counties Archaeological Society**
## **Charity registration number: 1189630**
## **Objectives and Activities**
||SORP reference||
|---|---|---|
|Summary of the purposes of
the charity as set out in its
governing document|Para 1.17|To promote for the public benefit the study
of archaeology in all its branches.|
|Summary of the main activi-
ties in relation to those pur-
poses for the public benefit,
in particular, the activities,
projects or services identified
in the accounts.|Para 1.17 and 1.19|The society achieves these aims by orga-
nizing public lectures given by leading ar-
chaeological professionals and excursions
to study archaeological and historic sites.
Members participate in fieldwork projects
using the society's own archaeological
equipment. Projects include geophysical
studies as well as excavations under the di-
rection of the society's director of archaeol-
ogy. The society provides training and ex-
perience of a broad range of archaeological
and historical investigative techniques
which may be applied to the study of the lo-
cal heritage and from time to time organizes
specific training sessions in contemporary
archaeological techniques.
Reports of all projects undertaken are pub-
lished on the society's website or in the so-
ciety's journal of record Camertonia. Access
to society records is possible via the soci-
ety's website. The society also publishes a
regular newsletter which informs readers of
current society activities and other activities
organized by local groups to provide a use-
ful resource for those interested in archaeo-
logical events. The society answers general
enquiries from members of the public and
works with the local authority to enhance
the Historical Environment Record (HER).
Additional|
|Statement confirming
whether the trustees have
had regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity Com-
mission on public benefit|Para 1.18|The Trustees can confirm that they have
complied with their duty to have due regard
to the Charity Commission's public benefit
guidance when exercising any powers or
duties to which the guidance is relevant.||
|---|---|---|---|
## **Achievements and Performance**
SORP reference
|Summary of the main
achievements of the charity,
identifying the difference the
charity’s work has made to
the circumstances of its ben-
eficiaries and any wider ben-
efits to society as a whole.|Para 1.20|**Activities**
Excavations continued at Oldfield (previ-
ously known as Marston Mill), near Frome,
with the uncovering of medieval remains.
An excavation was conducted in partnership
with the National Trust of the Prior Park Ba-
son.
A geophysical survey at Cleaves House
near Timsbury to identify the exact location
of a large Georgian house known as ‘The
Fort’.
A geophysical survey of Four Acre Field on
Lansdown revealed possible Iron Age and
Roman remains.
In September, we carried out an excavation
in Royal Victoria Park, Bath.
In July, we had a stall at ‘Bristol’s Brilliant
Archaeology’ day at Blaise Castle.
Members presented a paper at the Bath
History Festival, and we had a stall.
**External representation**
We contributed to the Bathscape project
and attended meetings of the Bath World
Heritage Site Advisory Group.
**Excursions**
The society was able to organise a full pro-
gramme of visits: Three Somerset Churches
(April); Hinton Priory (May); Tretower Castle
and Court (June); Taunton Town and Mu-
seum (July); Castle Cary Town and Mu-
seum (August); Avalon Marshes Centre
(September).
**Lectures**
Lectures were held on A Career in Ruins
(Andrew Ziminski, January); Exhuming Old-
field (Dr Robert Heath, March); The Tem-
perance Movement in Bath and Bristol (Alan
Clarke, October); Medieval Myth Busting
(James Wright, November); and English
Monasteries from the Earliest Times to
1540 (Dr Giles Mercer, December).
Archaeology Online, the partnership devel-
oped with Bristol Museums, Bristol and
Avon Archaeological Society and Bristol
and Gloucestershire Archaeological Soci-
ety, held one lecture.
**Publications**
Regular Newsletters were sent to members.
New project reports were published on the
website and together with the Facebook site
both were updated on a frequent basis to
maintain communication with members.
A number of mailshots on specific subjects
were also made to members.
**Committee**
The Committee held four meetings to plan
the society’s business and to review the fi-
nancial situation of the Society to ensure|
|---|---|---|
that such decisions were taken as necessary to support the organisation. **Trustees** The trustees met in November and approved a number of policies and procedures, including Safeguarding. Two new trustees, Tim Lunt and Marek Lewcun were appointed. **AGM** The AGM was held in February and Bob Whitaker was elected a life member.
## **Financial Review**
|**Financial Review**|||
|---|---|---|
|Review of the charity’s finan-
cial position at the end of the
period|Para 1.21|Income was down at £4556 (2023: £5405)
but so was Expenditure at £3855 (2023:
£4308) resulting in a surplus of £701 (2023:
£1097).
Membership income was £2856 (2023:
£2852). Lectures showed a surplus of £695
(2023: £1099) and Excursions a surplus of
£483 (2023: £1021). Increasing costs are
likely to put pressure on these surpluses
and we may need to consider pricing.
For the first time, we received a rates bill for
the portacabins at Lilliput Farm used for the
storage of equipment. The initial demand
was for £1500 a year, but we were success-
ful in getting a 90% reduction, paying £308
for two years’ rates.
Equipment repairs were nominal in 2023 but
came back with a vengeance in 2024 as we
had to replace the EDM, £1584 in total.
ACCUMULATED FUNDS now stand at
£23076 (2023: £22375) and Available Cash
of £19564 (2023: £19063).|
|Statement explaining the pol-
icy for holding reserves stat-
ing why they are held|Para 1.22|Trustees maintain under review the financial
risks to which the charity is exposed. In a
typical year society costs would include in-
surance, room and other hire fees, subscrip-
tions to other organizations, social media
and website fees, repairs to and replace-
ment of equipment, and other potential
costs that may arise as a consequence of
the work that BACAS undertakes. The
Trustees have reached the view that it
would be prudent for BACAS to aim to re-
tain a level of reserves of some £5000.
Cash over and above the reserves may be
used to fund ongoing activities. This policy
is reviewed annually. No change to this pol-
icy was required in 2024.|
|Amount of reserves held|Para 1.22|£5000 + £3113 ARA grant|
|Reasons for holding zero re-
serves|Para 1.22|N/A|
|Details of fund materially in
deficit|Para 1.24|N/A|
|Explanation of any uncertain-
ties about the charity contin-
uing as a going concern|Para 1.23|None identified.|
## **Structure, Governance and Management**
|Description of charity’s
trusts:|||
|---|---|---|
|Type of governing document
(trust deed, royal charter)|Para 1.25|Constitution.|
|How is the charity consti-
tuted?
(e.g unincorporated associa-
tion, CIO)|Para 1.25|CIO|
|Trustee selection methods
including details of any con-
stitutional provisions e.g.
election to post or name of
any person or body entitled
to appoint one or more
trustees|Para 1.25|Trustees are elected from the membership.|
## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
|The charity’s organisational
structure and any wider net-
work with which the charity
works|The charity’s organisational
structure and any wider net-
work with which the charity
works||The Society is managed by a General Com-
mittee all of whom are elected from the
membership. Five of the Trustees are also
members of the General Committee. Spe-
cialist groups/committees reporting to the
Trustees are formed as necessary.|
|---|---|---|---|
||The charity’s organisational
structure and any wider net-
work with which the charity
works|Para 1.51|The Society is managed by a General Com-
mittee all of whom are elected from the
membership. Five of the Trustees are also
members of the General Committee. Spe-
cialist groups/committees reporting to the
Trustees are formed as necessary.|
|||||
## **Reference and Administrative details**
|Charity name|Bath and Counties Archaeological Society|
|---|---|
|Other name the charity uses|BACAS|
|Registered charity number|1189630|
|Charity’s principal address|7 Maycliffe Park
Bristol
BS6 5JH|
## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity**
|1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year**|**Name of person (or body)**
**entitled to appoint trustee**
**(if any)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Henry Lowe|Chair|||
||Dr Janet Pryke||||
||Bob Whitaker||1/01/2024 – 8/02/2024||
||John Richards|Secretary|||
||Shaun Wilson||||
||Roger Underhill||||
||Marek Lewcun||29/11/2024–31/12/2024||
||Tim Lunt||29/11/2024–31/12/2024||
## – Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved
**Director name**
## **None**
Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity
|**Trustee name**|**Dates acted if not for whole year**||
|---|---|---|
|**None**|||
## **Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others**
|Description of the assets
held in this capacity|None|
|---|---|
|Name and objects of the
charity on whose behalf the
assets are held and how this
falls within the custodian
charity’s objects|N/A|
|Details of arrangements for
safe custody and segregation
of such assets from the char-
ity’s own assets|N/A|
## **Exemptions from disclosure**
Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details
N/A
## **Other optional information**
## **Declarations**
**The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.**
**Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Signature(s)
Full name(s) Henry William Peter Lowe
Position (eg Sec- Chair of Trustees
retary, Chair, etc)
Date 17/04/2025
**----- End of picture text -----**
**Bath and Counties Archaeological Society**
**1189630**
## **Receipts and payments accounts**
## **CC16a**
||**Recei**|**Recei**|**pts and pay**|**ments ac**|**c**|**ounts**|**CC16a**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**For the period**
**from**||Period start date
31.12.23|**To**||Period end date
31.12.24||
|**Section A Receipts and**|**payments**|||||||
||**Unrestricted**
**funds**||**Restricted**
**funds**|**Endowment**
**funds**||**Total funds**|**Last year**|
||**to the nearest**|**£**|**to the nearest £**|**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**|**to the nearest £**|
|**A1 Receipts**||||||||
|Subscriptions|**2,856**||**-**|**-**||
**2,856**|**-**|
|Lecture entrance fees||**695**|**-**|**-**||
**695**|**-**|
|Excursion income||**483**|**-**|**-**||
**483**|**-**|
|Gift Aid||**321**||||**321**||
|Survey Deposits||**200**||||**200**||
|Donations
||**1**|**-**|**-**||
**1**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|**-**||
**-**|**-**|
|Sundry sales||**-**|**-**|**-**||
**-**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|**-**||
**-**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|**-**||
**-**|**-**|
|**Sub total**(Gross income for AR)|**4,556**||**-**|**-**||
**4,556**|**-**|
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**||||||||
|**(see table).**||||||||
|||**-**|**-**||**-**|
**-**||
|||**-**|**-**||**-**|
**-**|**-**|
|**Sub total**||**-**|**-**||**-**|
**-**|**-**|
|**Total receipts **|**4,556**||**-**||**-**|**4,556**|**-**|
|**A3 Payments**||||||||
|Room Hire||**835**|**-**|**-**||
**835**|**-**|
|Surveys||**-**||||**-**||
|Print postage stationery||**68**||||**68**||
|Insurance||**457**||||**457**||
|Publications||**58**|**-**|**-**||
**58**|**-**|
|Camertonia||**-**||||**-**||
|Subscriptions||**153**|**-**|**-**||
**153**|**-**|
|Paypal TicketLab||**112**|**-**|**-**||
**112**|**-**|
|Misc||**176**|**-**|**-**||
**176**|**-**|
|Equipment repairs|**1,584**||**-**|**-**||
**1,584**|**-**|
|Website||**104**|**-**|**-**||
**104**|**-**|
|Durley Hill exp||**-**|**-**|**-**||
**-**|**-**|
|Portacabins Rates||**308**|**-**|**-**||
**308**|**-**|
|**Sub total **|**3,855**||**-**|**-**||
**3,855**|**-**|
|**A4 Asset and investment**||||||||
|**purchases, (see table)**||||||||
|||**-**|**-**||**-**|
**-**||
|||**-**|**-**||**-**|
**-**||
|**Sub total **||**-**|**-**||**-**|
**-**|**-**|
|**Total payments **|**3,855**||**-**||**-**|**3,855**|**-**|
|**Net of receipts/(payments) **||**701**|**-**|**-**||**701**|**-**|
|**A5 Transfers between funds**
||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**|**-**|
|**A6 Cash funds last year end**|**22,375**||**-**|**-**||**22,375**|**-**|
|**Cash funds this year end **|**23,076**||**-**|**-**||**23,076**|**-**|
## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**
|||**Unrestricted**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Categories**|**Details**|**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|
|||**to nearest £**|**to nearest £**|**to nearest £**|
|**B1 Cash funds**|Nat West Bank|**22,606**|**-**|**-**|
||Cash|**10**|**-**|**-**|
||Paypal Account|**460**|||
|||**-**|**-**|**-**|
||**Total cash funds**|**23,076**|**-**|**-**|
||(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))|OK|OK|OK|
|||**Unrestricted**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|
|||**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|
||**Details**|**to nearest £**|**to nearest £**|**to nearest £**|
|**B2 Other monetary assets**||**-**|**-**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|**-**|
||**Details**|**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**|**Cost (optional)**|**Current value**
**(optional)**|
|**B3 Investment assets**|||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||**Details**|**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**|**Cost (optional)**|**Current value**
**(optional)**|
|**B4 Assets retained for the**|Plant and Equipment @ W D value||**-**|**-**|
|**charity’s own use**|||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
|||**Fund to which**|**Amount due**|**When due**|
||**Details**|**liability relates**|**(optional)**|**(optional)**|
|**B5 Liabilities**|Unused Grant|3113|**-**||
||Refundable survey deposits|200|**-**||
||||**-**||
||||**-**||
||||**-**||
Date of Signature Print Name approval
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
HENRY LOWE
0710512025