2023-03-31-accounts

The Buckinghamshire Military Museum Trust

Registered charity number: 1189645

Receipts and payments account

for the year ended 31st March 2023

Wenn Townsend

Chartered Accountants

Oxford

The Buckinghamshire Military Museum Trust

Charity Number 1189645

Trustees:	Lt Col Derek Plews VR (Chairman)
	Lt Col Simon Edward Wilkinson TD
	Sir Nicholas Cosmo Bonsor Bt (died 21.03.2023)
	Major General Gregory Stephen Smith CB
	Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher Bt KCVO
	Lt Col Ingram Bernard Murray (retired 30.06.2022)
	Mr John Stewart Ray (Treasurer)
	Mr John Sheldon
	Mr Stephen Barker
	Capt Courtenay Coade
	Mr Simon Williams
	Mr Stephen Berridge (appointed 10.06.2022)
	Major Michael Hrycak (appointed 16.06.2022)
	Mr Alastair Murray (appointed 31.03.2023)
Secretary:	Prof Ian Beckett
	Tides
	Trewelloe Road
	Praa Sands
	Penzance
	Cornwall
	TR20 9SU
Principal Office:	Old Gaol Museum
	Market Hill
	Buckingham
	MK18 1JX
Bankers:	CAF Bank Ltd
	25 Kings Hill Avenue
	Kings Hill
	West Malling
	Kent
	ME19 4JQ
Independent examiner:	D J Pluck FCA
	Partner
	Wenn Townsend Chartered Accountants
	30 St Giles’
	Oxford OX1 3LE

The Buckinghamshire Military Museum Trust

Trustees Report for the year ended 31st March 2023

History, Objectives and Activities of the Trust

The Buckinghamshire Military Museum Trust was established in 1985 to collect, document, preserve and exhibit material relating to auxiliary military forces raised in the historic County of Buckinghamshire.

Representative parts of the Trust’s collection have been on public exhibition at the Old Gaol Museum, Buckingham since 1993, and at Claydon House, by agreement with the National Trust, since 1995.

Those parts of the collection not on public exhibition are held at Buckinghamshire County Museum and Buckinghamshire County Record Office, that latter site being available to the public. In addition, some items are on display at T A Centres in the County.

The Trust is an accredited Museum.

Management Governance Arrangements

Per the requirement of the Trust Deed, the number of Trustees shall not be less than three in number and not exceed fifteen in number. There are currently twelve Trustees. New Trustees are nominated by existing Trustees. The Trustees will make all decisions regarding the Trust and its actions.

Achievements and Performances of the Trust

We have continued to improve our public engagement through attendance at local events and making more use of our social media presence. We attended a high-profile public military history festival, Warfest, near Buckingham, where we were able to engage with significant numbers of people, explaining the role of the Trust and displaying items from our extensive collection. We were also pleased to be invited to participate in Buckinghamshire Council’s Armed Forces Conference, which took place on 12 June, 2023. This event was targeted at local employers and was part of the Council’s campaign to achieve the Ministry of Defence’s Employer Recognition Scheme Gold status. As such, it attracted a large number of the county’s business community and provided an excellent opportunity to explain our purpose to an important audience sector.

We have continued to grow our collection, procuring a number of important medals and other items over the course of the year. We have also renegotiated loan agreements with several organisations, and conducted condition inspections of artefacts loaned to Claydon House and the Old Gaol, Buckingham, and at the County Museum Reserve Collection at RAF Halton. We continue to work with the Trustees of the Old Gaol regarding defects in the building’s infrastructure to ensure the maintenance of our exhibits there.

The Trust aspires to find other suitable locations in which to display elements of our collection. In pursuance of this, we have opened discussions with Buckinghamshire Council and with the Discover Bucks Museum (formerly the Bucks County Museum). Meanwhile, we propose to step-up our fund-raising and outreach efforts. We hope to attend the Bucks County Show and are in the process of developing an on-line “shop”, hosted on our website. We are also working on a new publication, entitled “The Military History of Buckinghamshire in 100 Days”.

We are pleased to have completed negotiations to assume responsibility for the residual commitments of the Friends of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry with respect to regimental memorials relating to the Buckinghamshire Battalions (TA).

Over the course of the year, we were delighted to welcome the well-known comedian and military historian, Alastair Murray, as a Trustee.

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The Buckinghamshire Military Museum Trust

Trustees Report for the year ended 31st March 2023

Financial Review

Total income for the year was £5,652 (2022: £4,733), expenditure was £7,352 (2022: £7,889), giving a net loss for the year of £1,700 (2022: net loss of £3,156).

The Trustees consider the current level of free reserves of £20,025 (2022: £21,725) to be adequate.

Public Benefit Statement

The Trustees have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission in exercising their powers and duties.

Trustees' responsibilities statement

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The law applicable to charities in England & Wales requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the Charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP 2019 (FRS 102);

• make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;

• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Charity will continue in operation.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the Trust Deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Agreed by the Trustees on 26th September 2023 and signed by

………………………………

Lt Col Derek Plews VR

Trustee

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The Buckinghamshire Military Museum Trust

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of The Buckinghamshire Military Museum Trust

I report to the Charity Trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31st March 2023 which are set out on page 4.

Responsibilities and basis of report

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 Charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 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 examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records.

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.

D J Pluck FCA

Partner Wenn Townsend, Chartered Accountants Oxford

26th September 2023

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The Buckinghamshire Military Museum Trust

Income and expenditure account for the year ended 31st March 2023

Income				2023	2022
	Unrestricted	Restricted		Total	Total
Grants	-		1,600	1,600	3,100
Donations	2,371		280	2,651	636
Dividends	1,167		-	1,167	993
CAF Bank interest	79		-	79	4
Viney Memorial Lecture	-		-	-	-
Sale of Booklets	125		-	125	-
Sale of Our County at War videos	30		-	30	-
	─────	─────		─────	─────
	3,772		1,880	5,652	4,733
	─────	─────		─────	─────
Less Expenditure
Acquisition costs	1,153		-	1,153	650
Website costs	892		-	892	966
Accountant’s fees	258		-	258	228
Painting restoration	600		1,880	2,480	-
Bank charges and general expenses	458		-	458	101
ZOOM Subscription	144		-	144	144
Virgin Money giving fee (refund)	-		-	-	(180)
Uniform Repairs	-		-	-	5,580
ZOOM Talk Costs	-		-	-	400
Viney Memorial Lecture	-		-	-	-
Uniforms of The Bucks Yeomanry booklets	456		-	456	-
Warfest	1,262		-	1,262	-
Pull up promotional banners	249		-	249	-
	─────	─────		─────	─────
	5,472		1,880	7,352	7,889
	─────	─────		─────	─────
Net income/(expenditure)	(1,700)		-	(1,700)	(3,156)
Balance of income brought forward	36,706		-	36,706	39,862
	─────	─────		─────	─────
Balance of income carried forward	£ 35,006	£	-	£ 35,006	£ 36,706
	═════	═════		═════	═════
Represented by:
1,323.707 M & G Securities Limited
Charifund Inc Market value: £19,633 (2022:	£20,910) 14,981		-	14,981	14,981
Cash at bank	20,025		-	20,025	21,725
	─────	─────		─────	─────
	£ 35,006	£	-	£ 35,006	£ 36,706
	═════	═════		═════	═════

Lt Col Derek Plews VR ) ) ) Trustees ) Mr John Ray )

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