Woodchurch Heritage Trust 1st January 2023 to 31 December 2023
| Balances at 1 January 2023 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Lloyds Bank 01096355 | £24,812.35 | ||
| Lloyds Bank 02568110 | £1,478.03 | ||
| Lloyds Bank 54888862 | £60,883.00 | ||
| Cambridge & Counties Bank | £33,856.35 | ||
| £121,029.73 | |||
| Receipts | |||
| Donations and Legacies | |||
| Donations | £725.53 | ||
| Donations | £140.00 | ||
| £865.53 | |||
| Charitable Activities | |||
| £0.00 | |||
| Other Trading Activities | |||
| Sales / Publications | £249.70 | ||
| Book Sales | £110.69 | ||
| 150 Club | £789.00 | ||
| 150 Club | £717.16 | ||
| Fund Raising Events | £293.47 | ||
| Amazon Smile | £20.77 | ||
| Ashford Lottery | £115.20 | ||
| BBQ | £192.50 | ||
| £2,488.49 | |||
| Investments | |||
| Income Lloyds Ordinary Shares | £2.93 | ||
| Interest (Cambridge & Counties | £778.37 | ||
| £781.30 | |||
| Other | |||
| £0.00 | |||
| Total Receipts | £4,135.32 | £4,135.32 | |
| Payments | |||
| Website Hosting and support | £31.89 | ||
| Travel and Subsistance | £18.00 | ||
| Office Equipment | £696.50 | ||
| 150 Club Prizes | £1,100.00 |
£1,846.39
Premises
| Premises | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Water Rates | £42.26 | ||
| Electricity | £2,440.00 | ||
| Guardian Security | £1,982.21 | ||
| Insurance | £2,735.30 | ||
| Repair and Renewals | £320.94 | ||
| Conservation/Restoration | £331.39 | ||
| Storage Shed | £219.99 | ||
| £8,072.09 | |||
| Office | |||
| Telephone | £577.71 | ||
| Broadband | £391.00 | ||
| Items Purchased For Resale | £45.00 | ||
| Subscriptions | £208.00 | ||
| Software | £1,140.00 | ||
| Publicity | £388.98 | ||
| Hire of Hall | £24.00 | ||
| Base for metal shed | £118.03 | ||
| Advertising Sign | £100.49 | ||
| BBQ Expenses | £158.33 | ||
| £3,151.54 | £13,070.02 | ||
| -£8,934.70 | |||
| Balances at 31 December 2023 | |||
| Lloyds Bank 01096355 | £14,432.64 | ||
| Lloyds Bank 02568110 | £1,036.03 | ||
| Lloyds Bank 54888862 | £61,991.64 | ||
| Cambridge & Counties Bank | £34,634.72 | ||
| £112,095.03 | -£8,934.70 |
Woodchurch Heritage Trust
AGM Minutes
Wednedsay10 May 2023
7pm at Woodchurch Memorial Hall
Present: Joyce Nash (co-chair); Gina McKay (co-chair); Charles Boxer (curator); Viv Vidal (assistant curator); Roy Head (treasurer); Wade Nash (Chair of Trustees). Also present were the following members of the public – Neil Mckay (volunteer); Josie Mackie; Dee Massey; Peregrine Massey; Peter Webb (volunteer); Sandra Marmara; Peter Marmara; Reg Short: Jennifer Styles; Roger Styles; Roy Sharp; Ann Sharp; Tiggy Carter (volunteer); Charlie Nicholls; Jan Nicholls; Lesley Boxer; Chris Bushby; Rosemarie Bushby; Richard Fair; Gaety Fair; David Fogden; Jon Chaplin (volunteer).
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Welcome: Joyce welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained the format of the evening, that the AGM would be taken first and then Josie Mackie would give a talk entitled Woodchurch in the 1920s. Joyce introduced the committee to the audience.
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Apologies for Absence: Katrina Harris; John Harris; Gary Samson (secretary); Kate Anson (assistant curator) plus 16 others who had been contacted but were unable to attend.
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Minutes of the 2022 AGM: These were accepted as a true record.
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Maters arising: a) Charles was asked if the inventory of farming tools had taken place. The enquirer stated that they would see Charles after the meeting.
b) It was asked if the £21 550.86 under the heading of Grants was earmarked for anything specifically. It was stated that the grants had been as a result of Covid and it was to help businesses, including museums, to have the ability to remain a viable business and re-open. This figure was taken from the Treasurer’s report- January 2021 to December 2021.
- Chair’s report: Gina McKay and Joyce Nash reported: The 2022 season got off to a good start with the visit from Sara Thornton (weather forecaster) visiting the museum and as a result of her other programme, ‘On the Map’, we had an influx of visitors after she had been on air; 105 in June. Visitor numbers are steadily increasing; a total of 595 for the season. Of these, 474 were adults and the remaining 121 children. There have been a couple of school visits, one from a class at our local school and the other from a school in Folkestone. There has also been a request for an artefacts box from the reception teacher at Woodchurch school; the theme being ‘Long Ago’.
We have a steady number of volunteers who join us on Wednesdays throughout the year to undertake such tasks as gardening, maintenance, and general sorting of the study centre. Special mention must go to Mick and his daughter, Katie, who have made a very good job of
restoring the farmer’s cart in the cart shed. Also, special mention must be given to Peter Webb and Peter Baldock who have been restoring the milk float (still to be finished), making shelves for the study centre, repairing the clock in the study centre, and repairing the scale model of the windmill, which is now part of our new temporary exhibition, ‘Woodchurch Windmill’. We have managed to acquire mugs, tea towel and postcards depicting the windmill and these are on sale at the museum. Last, but by no means least, thanks must be given to Peter Buckley who constantly battles with weeds, brambles and grass. He works hard to ensure that the museum grounds are inviting. Thank you to all. In November, Joyce organized a get together for volunteers, not only of the museum but also The Hub and Meal Delivery.
Before the museum opened for this season, we had an action day. Those who came along did a sterling job with the gardening and cleaning (not a cobweb in sight, once finished). Wade treated everyone to one of his special barbecue lunches, which was most welcome. We have lost two ‘meeters and greeters’ but gained two to replace them. We have also had meetings with careers teachers of two of the high schools in Ashford in the hope that we can generate some interest in the museum and, hopefully, we can offer work experience. We do still have a need for more volunteers both weekly for gardening and maintenance (whatever time can be spared) and seasonally for meeting and greeting - this commitment is normally a minimum of one three hour session a month. Why not give it a go? We continue to organize the study centre so that it can be used for study, meetings and perhaps, small group teaching.
We are looking to extend the ‘Wheels of Time’ initiative by becoming part of Kent’s Children’s University.
- Treasurer’s report: see attached summary and details summary. Roy highlighted a few of the items which have risen sharply over the last year, namely –
| ITEM | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Insurance | 2149.56 | 2220.20 |
| Electricity | 672.00 | 1010.27 |
| Sofware | 594.80 | 2820.00 |
Roy also mentioned about investing some of the money which matured from Secure Trust Bank. He did suggest Lloyds. Wade mentioned that it is more difficult for charities to invest. However, we are seeing more opportunities as interest rates are rising. Charles informed the audience that the amount received from donations doesn’t cover expenditure and in the past money came in from ‘Wings and Things’. Viv asked how many people were still in the 150+ club. Joyce said that in the past there had been 200 but now we are down to 150. As the audience only had access to the 2021 accounts, Joyce will email the 2022 account to everyone who attended.
- Curator’s report: Charles gave the following report. The past year has been one of challenges as we emerge from Covid and address reaccreditation, inflation and record-keeping with the new Axiell computer system. Even so, we seem to be doing some things right as we receive universal praise from our visitors. Our collecting policy of acquiring only items which have a connection with Woodchurch certainly pays off as we are able to tell a story about each object. In
common with most museums, we have only a very small proportion of the collection on display and so we try to allay this with temporary exhibitions to bring them out. The subject in 2022 was ‘Inspired by Woodchurch’. This was so popular we have extended it to 2023.
Our current preoccupation is maintaining our Accredited status which proves that we operate to professional standards as far as an all-volunteer organisation can and which is essential for eligibility for grants from public bodies.
An important element of this effort is the recording of all objects in our collection. We are getting used to our new Axiell system but we need additional help from new volunteers. If you know of anyone who might be interested in this, do please let me know.
I am grateful to Kate and others for the curatorial and conservation work they do without publicity or complaint. Our museum is something of which we can be really proud. Let us hope that we can continue and complete what we have started. He also mentioned that the documentation for re-accreditation needs to be submitted next month. Also the Axiell system will allow inputters to work from home.
- Reports from other ofcers: Wade informed everyone that the IT system at the museum has been updated.
Also that after a recent audit by AccessAble we have been given a very good report and our museum is advertised on their website.
The Parish Council have given the museum the go ahead to place banners along the fencing of the playground when the museum is open.
Viv mentioned that Wheels of Time has brought an influx of visitors since we became part of this initiative.
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Electon of Ofcers and Commitee: Officers and Committee present are willing to stand again unless there are any objections. There were none. Joyce also mentioned that Gary Samson, our secretary, although not with us due to Covid, was also willing to stand again unless someone else would like to take on the role. There were no takers.
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Any Other Business: Charles mentioned the funeral of John Brymer which took place earlier today. John helped out at the museum.
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It was asked if our museum had links with Tenterden museum? Charles said that there hasn’t been since Debbie left.
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Wade mentioned about installing interactive technology so that we are able to display more artefacts.
It was also felt that advertising at Tenterden museum and the shops in Tenterden could be explored. Wade mentioned that our leaflet is in the process of being updated.
- Date of 2024 AGM: Wednesday 8 May 2024
WOODCHURCH VILLAGE LIFE MUSEUM CO-CHAIR’S ANNUAL REPORT MAY 2024
As I look around the museum grounds, at the cart shed and into the museum gallery I can see the amount of work that has gone on in the past few years to achieve what we have today and which earns many compliments from both our visitors and volunteers.
So what has gone on?
The cart shed, its contents and the gardens have benefitted from weekly Wednesday maintenance and restorations, for example of the hop duster, milk float, wagons and many hand tools, from a committed few, some of whom are not even Woodchurch residents. Whilst mentioning volunteers, earlier this year we were very pleased to renew our accredited status with the feedback report stating:
The Panel commended the impressive volunteer effort in running the museum.
One of the Accreditation Advisors for SE Museum Development, Philip Claris, emailed the following:‘I am writing to offer my congratulations to you on recently receiving the Award of Full Accreditation from Arts Council England. This is a notable achievement for everyone involved. Please take a moment to congratulate yourselves!
I saw that the Panel gave the following commendation: Panel commended the impressive volunteer effort in running the museum. Panel commendations such as this are fairly rare, so this is high praise and much deserved – well done!’
In the museum itself, members of our small, but dedicated committee, have given more space to the Windmill exhibition changing its location with a smaller Toys display, while very attractive Royals memorabilia is shown next to our slightly reduced Inspired by Woodchurch exhibits. We hope that the coronation squares made last year by the primary school pupils will encourage more families to visit.
Small numbers of visitors is sometimes dispiriting for our ‘meeters and greeters’ but those who do come usually stay a little while and leave with admiring comments. We are monitoring visitor times to ascertain the most efficient opening and closing hours.
Another change which the committee is seriously considering is an increase in the annual 150+ lottery subscription which has been held at £12 since it inception. Many subscribers buy 2 lots of £12 so we are planning a £20 charge. We hope this meets with a majority agreement.
You may be interested in the main development points raised by the accreditation panel:-
1.2 Ensure charity information held on the Charities Commission website is up-to-date; evidence at next return.
1.3 Confirm the museum’s current arrangements for access to professional advice in line with the 2018 Accreditation Standard, including taking action towards appointing a Museum mentor. Develop recruitment and succession plans for the governing body and volunteers. Report at next return. 2.1 For next return, expand action planning to include financial resourcing for tasks.
2.2 At next return, provide an update on progress with improving financial sustainability.
5.2 By next return update museum's procedural manual in line with the latest version of SPECTRUM, ensuring documentation plan covering next steps to improve museum documentation.
Confirm progress towards reaching inventory level documentation by 01/06/2026. Provide update on this work at next return.
6.2 Update on plans to commission a conservation report and/or an assessment and advice to conserve our Roadman’s Caravan and other items.
8.2 Consider formalising how you gather visitor feedback and how this information could be used to improve the museum’s offer. Report at next return.
We feel confident that these points can be adequately addressed. Please look at the museum’s Future Plan, copies of which are available at this meeting, and can be accessed on request. The committee are already aware of many of the points raised by the accreditation panel and will aim to address more of these in the coming months.
This autumn we hope to repeat the popular social evening of 3 years ago, in order to thank all our volunteers for their positive and energetic input in keeping Woodchurch Village Life Museum ‘alive and kicking.’
THANK YOU Gina McKay and Joyce Nash 2024