2022-03-31-accounts

						The objects ofthe CIO are: to advance education for public benefit in	The objects ofthe CIO are: to advance education for public benefit in
						particular but not exclusively in the archaeology, natural history and
						social history ofthe Borough of Broxbourne, Herffordshire as told through
						its heritage, landscapes and stories ofthe people within the Borough	by
						such means as the trustees see fit, including but not limited to;
						~ the provision and maintenance of a permanent museum and
Summary		ofthe objects			ofthe	information service in the Borough of Broxbourne;
charity	set		out in its			~the care and curation ofthe museum collections and holdings;
governing			document			~ the exhibition and interpretation ofthe museum collections and holdings
						and the provision of public access to them;
						~ the provision of learning experiences and activities for the education
						and enjoyment ofthe public;
						~the provision of exhibitions, conferences, workshops and other events;
						and
						~ to research, remote and ublish studies
						2022/23 was the first full year ofoperations for the museum under the
						management ofthe Lowewood Museum Trust CIO. The museum was
						open every Friday and Saturday 10am to 4:30pm, except for three weeks
						in January 2023 when it was closed for cleaning and redevelopment	of
						two ofthe museum's galleries. When open, it is staffed by a team of
						highly committed volunteers supported by the Trustees and the staff
						team. Total visits during 2022/23 totalled 5,089 people.
						During 2022/23 the Trust continued to develop its collection, adding	items
						to the collection management software especially items from the
						extensive photographic collection. Highlights include a Hoddesdon
						Grammar School Athletic Cup from 1876,a war damage survey map	of
						Cheshunt from 1939-1941,an iron age Belgic pot found in Wormley	in
						1962and items from the excavation of Perriers Manor in 1958/59.
						April saw the end ofthe Voices from the Voluntary Sector exhibition
						produced by the CVS for Broxbourne and East Herts to record the
Summary ofthe main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard tothe guidance						contributions ofthe community and voluntary sector in Broxbourne over the past 50years. This was followed by Jubilations and Coronations which opened on 30 April and ran until 2 July. This exhibition documented how Borough residents and businesses had celebrated Royal occasions over the past 150years. The next exhibition was Forty Fascinating Finds which highlighted rarities from the museum's collection.
issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)						The museum renovated the Ward gallery into a temporary exhibition space to showcase items from the museum's extensive photographic collection. The first display Cura/ed by t4rorm/ey opened on 1 March	2023
						and all ofthe photographs were chosen and curated by local residents
						who provided information and memories at a community workshop at
						Wormley Community Centre in January 2023. A small exhibition
						highlighting the work ofthe Seed Harvest organisation was displayed	in
						the museum's cafe as was the work produced for the 70 Sewn Stories
						project by youth charity The G//ted to mark the Platinum Jubilee.
						The Petter Gallery, the main permanent exhibition space, was refreshed
						in January 2023to showcase other objects from the museum's collection.
						New display panels were also installed telling a wider history ofthe
						Borough and utilising photographs from the collection.
						Staff and volunteers photographed, re packed and stored the framed	art
						works not on display. Thanks to a generous donation from Friends of
						Lowewood, the Museum purchased plastazote to interleave between	the
						framed works to protect them

Section D Achievements and performance Section E Financial review

									Reserves are funds the trust holds as a buffer against future
Brief statement					ofthe				commitments (foreseen or otherwise) that it would otherwise not be able
charity's		policy			on		reserves		to meet. These typically range from 3 —12 months. In setting our
									reserves policy we considered.
									Cash-flow: the trust's ability to meet majority ofcash-flow volatility	in
									6 month period.
									Contingency: A Risk Analysis considered the potential financial
									risks and mitigants with contingency put in place to cover the most
									challenging and credible. For Lowewood, this is primarily the risk	of
									delays to the Borough Of Broxbourne Council grant (paid April and
									October) and issues in accessing National Lottery Heritage Fund
									(NLHF) grants which are paid 3 months in arrears.
									Closure: Amount offunds required to complete all obligations and
									close down the charity.
									Given the stability of our primary funding source (Borough of Broxbourne
									grant) and the NLHF we have set a minimum reserves policy of3 months of planned expenditure (salaries, rates etc) which is currently f30k. Our current free reserves position for the year end isf56k which is in line with
									our policy although we expect this to fall over 2023/24 in line with known
									fluctuations ofexpenditure.
									The NLHF fund is F19.4k in deficit at year end. This is due to the grant
Details ofany				funds				materially	funding being paid in arrears (typically 3 months after the costs were
in	deficit								incurred). The reserves policy allows for this, and payments continue	to
									be made by NLHF to Lowewood line with the scheme rules.
Further financial						review details			(Optional information)
You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about: ~ the charity's principal									Financially, our second year as a Trust has progressed well and in line with expectations. The "Your Heritage, Your Museum" programme is fully up and running and we are successfully drawing down funding from our 2143k NLHF grant against it (albeit as the funding is paid in arrears it
	sources of		funds (including						requires us to maintain higher reserve levels to protect our cashflow).
	any fundraising);
~	how expenditure has supported the key objectives ofthe charity;								We have seen some challenges relating to cost-of-living/inflation increases (particularly utility bills) but have been successful in applying for the additional government support from its Energy Intensive Industries scheme which applies from April 2023 and so will be helpful to the Trust
~	investment			policy				and	finances in the upcoming financial year,
	objectives		including					any
	ethical investment							policy
	adopted.								Income:
									Over the course ofthe financial year the Trust has raised F70.0k.
									This comprised the F32.1kcore funding from Borough of Broxbourne
									Council (BBC),with an additional f26.0k drawn down from our f143k
									NLHF "Your Heritage, Your Museum" grant.
									We received f3.1k in other grants including:
									F2k of Herffordshire County Council Grants from Councillors
									Mark Bishop and Lewis Cocking which we using to extend the
									support ofour part-time curator.
									f1k Shell Pension grant which has been put towards improving
									our arden and also our art-time curator.