Trustees. Annual Report for the period Period start date 01 Apdl Period end date 31 March 2024 . 2025 From Section A Reference and administration details Charity name Lowewood Museum Trust CIO Other names charity is known by Lowewood Museum Trust Registered charity number (if any) 1192 Charity's principal address Lowewo¢)d Museum High Street Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire Postcode EN11 8BH Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity Dates aettd rf not for whole Trusts* name Office lif any) Name of person lor bodyl antltled toa olnt trustee ifan David Dent Chair Peter Dockar Treasuref steve Whitlam Secretary Broxbourne Borough Council Broxbourne Borough Council Siobhan Monaghan Leone Rayner Left at end of tern of office on 1 April 2024 Bryan Hewitt stephen Harris Left at end of temi of Offi on 1 April 2024 Left on 3 July 2024 From 24 May 2024 Liz Robertson Alan Carter 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, Ifor example, any custodian trustees) Name Dates acted if not for whole ear
Names and addresses of advisers {Optional infornlation) e of adviser Name Address Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional infonnation Naomi Delamore- Museum Project Manager Peter Basham - Curator Section B Structure, overnance and mana ement Description of the charity's trusts Constitution Type of goveming document leg trust deed, conslilulionl How the charity is constituted leg. Irusl, association, company) Chantable Incorporated Organisation Trustee selection methods leg. appninled by. elected by) Two Trustees are appointed by Broxboume Council. Olher Trustees are approved by resolution at a propedy convened meeting ofthe Board. Additional governance issues {Optional infomiation) Lowewood Museum is owned by Broxbourne Borough Council as is the museum collection. Broxboume Borough Council has a five year rolling service level agreement with the Lowewood Museum Trusl CIO and pays an annual management fee for the Trust to deliver museum and heritage services. The Lowewood Museum Trust has a 25 year lease on the museum building and pays a peppercom rent. The Trust is responsible for looking after the contenls of the museum whilst Broxbourne Borough Council is responsible for the exterior, garden and fabric as well as insurance for the collection and building. You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about". policies and procedures adopted for Ihe induction and training of truslees., the charity's organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works., Lowewood Museum Trust is a member of the Museums, Association, the Association of Independent Museums and the Hertfordshire Association of Museums. It also works closely wrth Museum Development South East, the Regional Museum Development Agency for the South Easl of England. • relationship with any related parties., IrLJStees' consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them. Lowewood Museum Trusl works closely with the Friends of Lowewood Museum, Love Hoddesdon Business Improvement District and the Broxboume Arts Forum. Other key partners during 2024125 included Broxboume Big Local, Goffs Oak Community Library Local History Group, the Lea Valley Growers. Association and WyldEdges CIC. During 2024125 Lowewood Museum Trust had three staffing positions. A Museum Project Manager and a Community Engagement Officer were bolh funded by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The Trust also employed a Curator funded from core budgets. The Community Alliance for Broxboume and East Herts (formedy known as the CVS) provides the Personnel and Payroll function for the Trust's employees.
Major risks were identified in the production of the Trust's business plan for 2022-2025 which was approved by the Board in March 2022. A security audil was conducted in 2024 and the findings reported to Ihe Board and implemented. Ob'ectives and activities The objects of the CIO are.. to advan education for public benefit in particular but not exclusively in the archaeology, natural history and social history of the Borough of Broxboume, Hertfordshire as told through ils herrtage, landscapes and stories of the people within the Borough by such means as the trustees see fit, including but not limited to,. . the provision and maintenance of a pemanent museum and infomiation service in the Borough of Broxboume". the care and curation of the museum collections and holdings., the exhibition and interpretation of the museum collections and holdings and the provision of public access to them- the provision of leaming experiences and activities for the education and enjoyment of the public- the provision of exhibitions, conferences, workshops and other events,. and to research, Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing documènt romote and ublish studies
During 2024125. Lowewood Museum was open every Friday and Saturday 10am to 4'.30pm. expt for January 2025 when it was closed for cleaning and redevelopment including the removal of two skips worth of broken furniture, 0dated marketing material, old electrical equipment etc. When open, the museum is staffed by a team of highly committed volunteers supported by the Trustees and the staff team. Total visits during 2024125 totalled 6,049.. up from 5.358 in 20234. During 2024125 the Trust continued lo develop its collection. Highlights include Masonic jewellery from the Waitham Cross lodge, Boy Scout badges and literature from the Womiley pack in the 1960s, a bronze age blade discovered in gravel pits near Broxbourne, a record by the band Argent {who have local links) and catalogues for East Herts College's Art Exhibitions from the 1970s. Many photographs from the museum's extensive photographic wllection were added to the collection management software. The Borough Beats exhibition, telling the story of the Borough's rock and roll music heritage, had opened in November 2023 and continued until June 2024., it continued to attract people from across the Borough and from further afield. The exhibition was accompanied by live music sessions in the museum and-an audience with. event with musicians from that era at the Imperial Club in Waltham Cross in May 2024. The next exhibition was Toys of our Time which opened in June and was curated by the museum's volunteers. This ran until the end of 2024. During the summer school holidays, a number of family events were put on to link to the Toys exhibition. The Glasshouse Legacy, telling the story oflhe Borough's horticullural history, opened on 14 February 2025 and had been c(>crealed with the Lea Valley Growers, Associalion, former employees of Rochford's nurseries as well as local environmental organisations including Wld Edges and the Seed Harvest Organisation. Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit) The museum renovated the Ward gallery in 2022 into a temporary exhibilion space to showcase items from the museum's extensive photographic collection. Curated by Tumford was installed in February 2024 curated by local residents who provided information and memories, and remained in-silu all year. Work began on Curated by Goffs Oak with a community event at Goffs Oak Library in March 2025. The Community Space on the ground floor exhibited a collection of stained glass works by artist Teresa Verrecchia from January 2025. This was followed by a small display on the history of Cheshunt's almshouses. The Petler Gallery. the main pemanent exhibition space, was refreshed in January 2023 to enable the showcasing of other objects from Ihe museum's collection. In 2024 this included a display marking the 50 anniversary of the creation of Broxboume Borough Council. New lighting racks were also installed in January 2025. Leaming experien$ included a talk on Beating the Bounds in June 2024 and a history walk in Hoddesdon the same month. These were part oflhe Hoddesdon Midsummer Festival which also saw a blue heritage plaque installed on the outside of the museum. This was formally unveiled by the Mayor of Broxboume along with three other plaques in Hoddesdon. A Fossil Fun day with Rockwatch was held in February 2025. Family events included a Spring Craft morning (April 2024), an Ostara and Spring event (April 2024), a Children's Music event with the Hertfordshire Music SeNice June 2024 , Music at the Museum June
20241, Family Games Days (July and August 2024), Model Railway Day (August 20241. a Halloween Spooky Day (October 20241, a Festive Thank You Day (December 2024) and Fossil Fun (February 2025) The museum continues to work with the Friends of Lowewood charity to produce and sell a number of research booklets on aspects of local history. Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional infomiation You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about.. policy on grantmaking., policy programme related investment., contribution made by volunteers.
Summary of the main achievements of the Gharity during the year Exhibitions Borough Beals opened on 4 November 2023. The exhibition celebrated the Borough's rock and roll music heritage especially the role of the Cheshunt Boys, Club which enabled the development of many bands and musicians who would go on to achieve local, national and international SucSs. The exhibition ran until June 2024 and was accompanied by live music sessions in the museum as well as question and answer sessions with some of the musicians featured. Toys of our Time opened in June 2024 and was curated by the museum's volunteers. This ran until the end of 2024. During the summer school holidays. a number of family events were put on to link to the Toys exhibition. The Glasshouse Legacy, telling the story of the Borough's horticultural history. opened on 14 February 2025 and had been co-crealed with the Lea Valley Growers, Association, fomier employees of Rochford's nurseries as well as local environmental organisations including Wyld Edges and the Seed Harvest Organisation. Curated by Tumford, a display of photographs of Tumford from the Museum's collection selected by local residents ran from March 2024 to April 2025. Events Events held at the museum during this period included.. Spring Craft moming (April 2024), Ostara and Spnng event (April 2024), Music at the Museum-The Cougars (April 2024), Children's Music event with the Hertfordshire Music Service (June 20241, Music at the Museum - Garden Party (June 2024), Beating the Bounds talk {June 2024), Hoddesdon Heritage Walk (June 2024) Family Games Days (July and August 20241, Model Railway Day (August 2024), Halloween Spooky Day (October 2024), Glasshouse Legacy Community Appeal Day (November 2024), Festive Thank You Day (December 2024), Fossil Fun (February 20251. Broxboume At War Community Appeal Day (March 20251. Quiet hours are provided at all family-orientated events to support children with additional needs. The museum's garden hosted the annual Holocaust Memorial Day service in January 2025. A school visit from the Robert Barclay Academy happened in July 2025. The Museum also hosted a visit from the Friends of Hertford Museum. Oulreach events included An Audience with the RoLJleltes and Friends al the Imperial Club in Wallham Cross {May 2024}, an exhibition to mark 50 years of Fairfield Primary School {June 20241 and the Curated By Goffs Oak co-curation day al Goffs Oak Library (March 2025} The Borough Beats exhibition panels were on display at Cheshunt Young Person's Centre and communit curators have laken the Windrush exhibition
panels to seven schools and community venues throughout the Borough, engaging with 165 children and 90 adults. Attendances There were 6,049 visitors to Lowewood Museurn during 2024125. The busiest month was April 2024 with large attendances al the events associated with the Borough Beats exhibition. The quielest month was January 2025 when the museum was closed for three weeks for cleaning and the refreshing of the galleries. National Lotte Herita e Fund In September 2021 the Lowewood Museum Trust successfully bid for a grant of£228,800 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund INLHFI. This will fund Your Heritage, Your Museuffl. This three year project will work with diverse communities throughoLrt the Borough of Broxboume, who haven't traditionally used the Museum's services, to capture their stories. The programme will recruit community curators through a series of outreach activities, pop up events and locally generated exhibitions. They will help redefine and refresh Ihe Museum galleries to tell local slories, past and present, replacing the dated slatic displays alongside an enhanced virtual presence and digital engagement. The NLHF programme includes funding for members of slaff., a Museum Project Manager and a Community Engagemenl Officer. A new Community Engagement Officer was recruited in June 2024. Key achievements over the course of the project so far include Ihe recruitment and training of 21 community curalors, delivery of five communty history projects. refreshing the upstairs galleries, development of an audience development plan, engagement with the local communty especially those from the South ofthe Borough. undertake environmental suslainability initiatives and evaluale the programme. Much of the focus dunng 2024125 has been around identifying next steps once the current NLHF grant finishes in January 2026. NLHF have been extremely helpful. funding a consultant to work with the Museum on options for the future. which will lead lo a new grant submission in the summer of 2025. other Grants The Lowewood Museum Trust has also reiVed grant funding from.. Hertfordshire Couniy Council's Locality Budgets Broxbourne Borough Council- Small Grants Scheme Tesco Community Grant The Museum worked with local partners including the Communily Alliance, Broxbourne Borough Council, B3Living housing association, Peabody housing association, Peace Cottage and Hertford Regional College on an application to the Arts Council's Creative People and Places fund. Annual General Meetin The Museum Trusl held ils AGM in November 2024, attended by 28 people including community partners. volunteers and members ofthe public. The Trust published its third annual report.
Award The Borough Beats exhibition won the Community Engagement award at the Hertfordshire Museums Association's annual award ceremony in February 2025. A Rornan clay rooftile with animal paw prints came second in the Object of the Year category whilst Helen Giles and Humam al Hashimi received Heritage Hero awards. Volunteers The museum is heavily dependent on volunteers to provide 'front of house., collections development. simple maintenance and gardening. Addilional volunteers were recruited and trained during 2024125. Volunteers contnbLrted over 2,980 hours in 2024125. A Volunteer Christmas and Thank You event was held in Dember 2024. Communi Venue The Museum continues to host the Woolly Crafters knitting group.
Section E Financial review
ReseNes are funds the trust holds as a buffer against future commitments (foreseen or otherwise) that it would otherwise not be able to meet. These typically range from 3- 12 months. In setting our reserves policy we considered.. Brief ststement of the charity's policy on reserves rf Cash-flow: the trust's ability to meet majority of cash-flow volatility in 6 month period. O Contingency: A Risk Analysis considered the potential financial risks and mitigants with contingency put in pla 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. O Closure: Amount of funds 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 of 4 months of planned expenditure (salaries. rates etcl currently £37k which we hope to build to 6 months over the coming years. Our current free reserves position for the year end is £77.6k (vs a cash balan £53k due to timings of NLHF payments which are in arrears) is comfortably ahead of our policy (and meets our 6 month resetve ambition} although we expect both to fall over 25126 in line with expected fluctuations of expendtture. Wrth the current NLHF funding due to end in January 2026, maintaining reserye levels above our stated minimum is a prudent position to take if any funding bridges are required ahead of any new phase of the programme. The NLHF fund is £24k in deficit at year end. This is due to the grant funding being paid in arrears (typically 3 months after the costs were incurred). The reseryes policy allows for this, and payments continue to be made by NLHF to us in line wrth the scheme rules. Details of any funds materially in deficit Further financial review detsils Ioptional infomiation You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about.. the charity's principal sources of funds (including any fundraising)., how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity., investment policy and objectives including any ethical investmenl policy adopted. Financially, our fourth year as a Trust has progressed well and in line with expectations. We reiVed £107.6k across our various funding sources and spent £106.6k so ended the year with a cash balance of £53k slightly up on last year1£52.Ok}. Income: Over the course of the financial year the Trust has raised £107.6k vs. £120k in the previous year. The NLHF °Your Herilage, Your Museum. accounted for £54.5k (2024 - £67.4k) We have now used £174.6k of the £241 k grant with the programme due to complete in January 2026, although we are in discussions with NLHF on options for further extensions. 10
The NLHF programme complements our £37k core funding from the Borough of Broxbourne Council (BBC). Additionally, we received a generous £7.8k in other grants including- £3.3k BBC grant towards new lighling in the Petter Gallery £1 k from Friends of Lowewood Museum also towards the lighting. local councillor grants which we used to support our part-time curator. £1 k was awarded from Tesco Community £2.5k generously awarded from local councillor gfants to support the broadening of our funding base. Shop sales of £4.1 k were flat year on year but created an improved net contribution of £2.4k to the museum (2023 = £1.9k). Finally, donations of £2.1 k were also in line with the previous year. This includes £0.4k from our new digital donation point installed in July 2024. Expenditure: In total the trust spent £106.6k in over the course of the financial year (2024 = 105.6k). £37 8k related to the day-to-day operation of the museum (Rates, Utilities. Exhibrtions, Shop expenditure. Insurance, part-time curator etc} and was broadly in line with last year (2024 £38. 6k) £63.7k (2024 - £67.4k) was NLHF funded°Your Heritage, Your Museum. related of which the majority1£49.6k) was staff salaries with the remainder supporting the various events and inilialives outlined in the main report. Overall: Overall, we have a closing cash position of £53.Ok (2024 = £52.Ok) which meets our reserves policy and sees us in a good position to support the growing work of the Trust over the coming years well as having the financial resilien to withstand any unexpected shocks. Section F Other optional information Section G Declaration The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees. report above. Signed on behalf of the charity's trustees 11
Signaturels) l. Wl)IF/ Full namels) Position leg Secretary, Chair. etc) David Dent Steve Whitlam Secretary Chair Date 31 July 2025 12
(HARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND ANO WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of Lowewood Museum CIO On accounts for the year ended 315t March 2025 Charity no (if any} 1192966 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination ofthe accounts ofthe above charity (llhe Trust") for the year ended 3110312025 Responsibilities and basis of report As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the aGcounts in accordan wrth the requirements of the Charities Acl 2011 {'the Act"). I report in respect of my examination of the Trusl'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 14515)(b) of the Act. Independent examiner's statement I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matters have come to my attention in conneclion wrth the examination which gives me cause lo believe that in, any material respect- accounting records were not kept in accordance w¢th section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records I have no concems and have come across no olher matters in onnection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order lo enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: Date: Name: Keith Grover Relevant professional qualificationlsl or body (if any): Member of ICAEW Address: HB Accountants Plumpton House. Plumpton Road Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, EN11 OLB 13
Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs lo highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief details of any items that the examinerwishes to disclose. 14
CHARITY COMMISSION Fok INGlJlND ANtJ WAIES 1192966 Receipts and pa ments accounts CC16a For thfrperfod Irom 0111M12024 J1103I2025 To Vnrostrfot funds R•stIk funds funds Totalfund8 L4$1y•ar Ih• n•x•st£ to th• n•Tht£ Ill th• E lo th•n•¥•t£ A1 Recto t$ BBC Grw NLFF Gt 31.18 37.185 51.519 51519 4X• S5 IWJ Irf51 IrK(YnEIVM ¢irfk 1224 FLYts5 Sub total(Gross ir(TheAR) 107, 121419 A2A$strt and sak Sub tot rot&lr&dpts 47,731 59.819 1D7,55U 120,419 A3P ents 4214 Sw¢ 11518 14713 $51 EY¥r 0mA$ 112Y Swdy SL* thFL 41 41 97 Z149 GtrAya Expe l¢ PrdL¥S1 Se5 &19] 55D 3.725 [RY Bls IT Srllwme Ew 9JS Exlirrh¥ 1.17S 791 Sub tot J7.0sr 1(,601 10&614 A4Asset and InvÈstmÈnt purchas84 888 tabl8 Sub tol Tot8lpaynentS 37,057 69.$46 1041 105,614 Net of ittdptpanentsj A5 Transfers betwe¢n funds A6 Cash funds last year8Trd Cash ltstjds thIsYewd 10,67 9.72 946 14,805 66.867 14.978 51,889 37.084 77.541 24.70 52.835 51,889 15
UrKestrklJd R•slrlr iÉ B1 C4$hfix 7F•YJ TF.541 UM•strl¢knd Restrl¢l2d rth 2 mor•tsry 4ss•Is FwwJrp•th•ss¢ B4 Assèts r•tslMd forthe ¢harlty'6 vlm B5 UablllUè Signature Print Namè Dale of pval iri11tLY 2S 16