2022-12-31-accounts

Tenterden & District Museum Association Report and Accounts 2022

Compiled :January 2023

Highlights from the Curator by Robin Wilkins

This year we were finally free from Covid restrictions, but sadly not from the after-effects. There were noticeably less coaches and visitors in the town. Across the country, museums and art galleries reported visitor numbers lower than from before the pandemic. Tenterden Museum defied that national trend, and we recorded numbers of visitors and contacts which have only been higher once in the last ten years. This is directly attributable to the hard work by the team on special exhibitions, new initiatives and schools activity. Our major activities included:

• Our winter project in the Buildings Room. The doorway to the Reserve Collection was relocated to give easier access to the loft and the Buildings Room was repainted. The artefacts were redisplayed and new wallboards were created for the 3 displays. A new cabinet was purchased to display the Tenterden Theatre wallpaper. A new interactive system provides additional information on the exhibitions.

• A new harness display - created in the Tapestry Room, a textiles display in the Reserve Collection and the Cinemas display re-positioned in the 20[th] Century Room.

• Creating an attractive new web site – www.tenterdenmuseum.co.uk - Jerry D’Arts is regularly updating this with new information.

• Publishing a new Museum brochure to market our new Tours and Museum Experiences.

• Helping Jane Mills create the new ‘Town Trail’ introducing families to major landmarks in the Town.

• • Two brilliant and well attended Special Exhibitions – ‘40 Years a Potter’ co-curated with William Barham and ‘Royal Occasions’ documenting Royal visits here, to complement the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

• New guided tours for over 80 people on coach tours or from clubs and societies.

• Museum Experiences – readings of Ghost Stories with bubbles and canapes for our paying audiences.

• • Visits from schools, cubs and brownies for over 160 children.

• A talk by Nat Cohen and a visit to Smallhythe for Members covering the National Trust Dig.

• A Local Authors Day to showcase the talent of the local authors whose books we sell in the Museum.

• A joint promotion with K&ESR featuring their Hop Special train journeys complemented by our Hop Exhibition in the Agriculture Room.

• A venue for 2 writer’s groups who have been working in the Museum. One group has produced a set of Love Stories for our Museum Experience nights.

• A venue for three Folk Festival acts performing to over 100 visitors.

• A special Halloween ‘Ghost Hunt’ for children and families during the October half term break.

• Talks for the Macular Group and St Michael’s W.I. featuring items from our collection.

• Providing a venue for the film ‘Sound of Water’ which used the Museum as a set in November.

• We were able to hold in-person events for our

• AGM in May at the Social Hub attended by more members than for many years.

• Patrons & Guests Evening to coincide with the opening of the 40 Years a Potter exhibition.

• Stewards & Volunteers for both training and social events.

• We also

• Refurbished ‘Robey’ the landmark portable steam engine outside the Museum.

• Ran our first Internship for Rachel Traves who helped us with our digital archive files in exchange for information from the whole management team, learning all about how we run the Museum.

• Participated in the Wheels of Time Launch in Dover and the Volunteering Day in Tenterden.

Strengthening our Organisation

Our new Advisory Board met twice this year, an inaugural meeting in January and one in October to review the Forward Plan that they helped to construct. The next meeting in February will review progress in 2022. We added 3 new Stewards to the volunteer team this year and have 3 more to train when the new season starts. 2 more people have joined the Management Team to assist with Events and Members Nights to support new initiatives we have planned for 2023. Half of the Steward team are now involved with the management and running the Museum. We are also utilising skills outside of the Steward team to help us with Social Media and Technology activities.

12 new members and one new Patron joined the Association. Thank you all for your continuing support.

Accounts Summary for 2022

We had a strong year financially. We made a surplus on our ongoing activities of £13,000 due to better than forecast admissions, shop & Christmas card sales, donated books and tours/experiences. This more than covered our one-off/project activities leaving us with over £47,000 in the bank for our future plans.

		2022
Museum Accounts 2022	FY 2022	Budget	FY 2021	Notes
INCOME
Admissions	5643.75	3125	2999.00		1
Shop sales	2468.04	1200	1687.14		2
			10761.6
Christmas shop	11082.39	10000	7		2
OTC donatons & Donated books	2056.84	300	653.98		3
Big Donatons & Bequests	330.00	0	375.49		3
Subscriptons & New members	906.00	200	408.00		4
Events/Tours/Experiences	1312.00	450	530.00		5
Grants	1000.00	1200	1005.00		6
Gif Aid	656.18	350	437.18
Bank interest received	27.96	0	4.04
			18861.5
Total Income	25483.16	16825	0
EXPENSES					7
Rent, rates & water	113.15	150	108.34
Light and heat	1734.25	2400	1833.07
Insurance	772.16	575	145.60
Equipment, repairs &
maintenance	139.20	300	239.85
Fire & Security	405.20	400	634.80
Telephone & broadband	223.78	250	245.44
Outreach & schools	50.00	250	75.49
Printng,statonery & postage	333.29	350	354.32
Sundry expenses	49.83	150	102.71
Membership recruitment	0.00	100	0.00
Conservaton & displays	591.11	550	363.45
IT	171.92	250	117.45
Events/Tours/Experiences	348.59	350	307.28		5
Training & Team building	174.50	150	70.29
Advertsing	239.77	250	78.60
Card Payment fees	247.43	150	151.21
Shop Purchases	1557.01	750	400.79		8
Card Purchases	5171.95	7500	7392.50		8
			12621.1
Total Expenses	12323.14	14875	9
Surplus	13160.02	1950	6240.31

ONE-OFF ACTIVITIES	FY 2022	Budget	FY 2021
Income				9
Exceptonal items			1180
Experiences	3000	3000
Wild Escape	2565
Total Exceptonal Income	5565	3000	1180
Expenses
Exceptonal items	295.74		2540.8	10
			14021.9
Store Room Project & cabinets			5
Special Exhibitons Room			5420
Buildings Room	11174.37	25000	0	11
Experiences	769.56	3000		9
			21982.7
Total Exceptonal Expenses	12239.67	28000	5
OVERALL Surplus/Defcit	6485.35	-23050	-14562.4
CASH
			37279.3
Savings Account	34307.29		3
Current Account	9425.48		3448.28
Cash in hand	3565.38		85.19
Total cash	47298.15	17762.8	40812.8
STOCKS	2788.07		2246.8

Notes to the accounts

1. Visitors and Events

	2022	2021	Increase
PayingAdults	1971	1502	+31%
Free	1162	438	+165%
Events	661	289	+129%
Total	3794	2229	+70%

Visitor numbers in 2021 were impacted by late opening due to Covid restrictions. In 2022 we have seen a healthy increase in the paying visitors and a large number of families, members and free concessions. We’ve also counted the number of people who came to visit the Museum while we were open selling Christmas Cards. Our Events numbers include school visits as well exhibitions and other events.

2. Shop sales & Christmas sales

	2022	2021	Increase
Shopsales	2468.04	1687.14	+46%
Cards 4 Good Causes	0	702.19
Christmas sales	11082.39	10059.48	+10%

Shop sales have been significantly boosted this year by additional sales of books from local authors. Sales of Christmas cards was also significantly up (+10%) on last year.

3. Donations, donated books and event sponsorship

Our donations income was swelled significantly by the sale of donated books. The biggest seller this year was the Tenterden Street names book which raised over £1100. Adrian Greaves donated 15 copies of his Map Book – Tenterden to the Sea which sold out raising £300. His first edition proof books raised a further £111. Peter Foster and William Barham also donated the proceeds of their book sales. Large donations were also received this year from Paul Chapman, Cathy & Maurice Dalton, Nick Hudd, Paul Summers and Hilary Wilkins. The Patrons Evening was sponsored anonymously with wine provided by Graham Latter.

4. Patrons & Members

William Barham was enrolled as a Patron this year and 12 new members joined the Association.

5. Events, Tours & Experiences

Our Ghost Stories Museum Experience was delivered twice and raised £375. Guided tours raised over £480.

6. Grants

We are grateful to the Town Council who gave us a grant of £1000 this year.

7. Expenses

Expenses were tightly controlled again this year and came in under budget. Those significantly at variance to the budget/last year include

• Light & heat – electricity charges came in under budget and last year due to careful usage. Increased charges will mean higher bills again next year.

• Insurance is higher than budgeted due irregular invoicing from Ashford Borough Council.

• Telephone & broadband costs are reduced by an introductory discount.

• Training & team building costs were slightly higher due to an extra social event for volunteers.

• Card payment fees were higher due to the increased use of cards and increased sales.

8. Shop, books, and card purchases

Shop purchases exceeded budget due to the significantly higher number of books purchased. Some invoices are outstanding from Christmas card purchases, but we still spent less than budgeted.

9. One-Off Grant Income

Two grants were received from South-East Museums this year. We applied for £3000 towards the costs of generating additional income from Tours and Experiences. We did not incur many of the costs anticipated due to the generosity of storywriters and performers who donated their services for free. The grant of £2565 for the Wild Escape will be spent in 2023.

10. One-off exceptional items

A total of £296 was spent on a name-badges for the Stewards

11. Buildings Room project

Just over £11000 was spent refurbishing the Buildings Room. A cabinet was purchased to display the Tenterden Theatre wallpaper, wallboards were created for the 3 displays – the theatre, the town buildings and brewing and pubs, and a new interactive system purchased to provide more detailed information on the display items. Improved access was created to the Reserve Collection and the Loft and the Buildings Room was redecorated. The £25,000 budget allocated was underspent.

Advisory Board

In the 21[st] Century, museums are expected to play a key role by ensuring that local heritage is protected, preserved, and promoted to all sectors of the community. We have created an Advisory Board to help us respond to the needs of the various groups we aim to serve. We have recruited representatives from Tenterden Town Council, Ashford Borough Council Heritage Dept, Arts Council/South East Museums, the Local History Society, The Col. Stephens Railway Museum, Tenterden Social Hub, Tenterden Schools Trust, local clubs and societies, Museum Association Members and Museum Volunteers to serve on this Board. The Board met twice in 2022 and assisted in the production of the Forward Plan which was reviewed and approved in October. It will meet again in February 2023 to review our progress.

Young People and Schools Activities by Peter Foster

After 2 years of restrictions due to Covid we were finally able to fully engage again with schools and young people.

• Peter Foster visited Northiam School in February with a work package for Year 5 on ‘The Big Freeze’ looking at the impact of the harsh winter of 1750. Children from the school visited the Museum in July to see artefacts discussed on that and the previous visit in December 2021 when shipbuilding at Smallhythe was presented.

• In June, Peter visited Wittersham School with a work package for years 3,4 and 5 on shipbuilding.

• Visits from Tenterden Primary and Benenden School had to be postponed due to the excessively hot weather in July when these visits were scheduled.

• A work package on Smuggling was delivered to 2 classes at Tenterden Juniors in December.

• We were delighted to host visits from the Cubs in July and the Brownies in October again.

• We facilitated the internship of Rachel Traves from Highworth School who asked if she could learn more about the internal workings of the Museum. All members of the Management Team contributed to that insight.

We have a major programme lined up for early 2023, enabling junior school children from Tenterden and St Michaels to join in with the nationwide Arts Fund ‘Wild Escape’ initiative. Designed to introduce young children to the importance of ecology, biodiversity and climate change, it will culminate in an exhibition of their work in the Museum on Earth Day – April 22nd. We hope this will further strengthen and deepen our relationship with our local schools.

‘Kids Zone’Activities in the Museum

We’ve added to the Kids Zone activities around the Museum with a new “Trap the Rat” game in the Agriculture Room. A Medieval Ship puzzle has been purchased to add to the activities in the Store Room for 2023. We will also look to add some more items for the children to handle and examine.

Publicity, Communications and Social Media by Debbie Greaves

Significant progress has been made by Debbie Greaves on our Facebook and Instagram social media platforms this year.

• Our Facebook page is now watched by 793 followers, up from 651 last year. We are using Facebook to post pictures such as “Then and Now” and ask questions such as “Where in the Weald”

• Our following on Instagram is now up to 689 from 609 last year. We are using Instagram to promote and record Museum events such as short film clips from the Folk Festival.

We are no longer ‘Tweeting’ though we have kept our account on Twitter.

We continue to provide a quarterly newsletter to our members and maintain a blog site for interested users edited by Sue Hatt. We also track and respond to comments on TripAdvisor, are featured on the Chamber of Commerce website and are grateful to My Tenterden for advertising our activities. A new Museum website has been created and is being maintained by Jerry D’Arts.

Genealogy Enquiries by Colin Young

A total of 64 enquiries have been responded to by Colin Young on behalf of the Museum and the Local History Society.

• 33 relating to family

• 21 relating to property

• 10 general enquiries.

In addition to Colin’s enquiries, the Museum has responded directly to other queries and supported many local people with pictures and information from our archives.

We are grateful to Colin, Jack Gillet, Debbie Greaves and John Weller for the support they give to answering enquiries from our visitors and other members of the public.

Special Exhibitions by Sue Hatt

This year we had two Special Exhibitions. The first, ‘40 Years a Potter’ was co-curated with William Barham. It was based on his book about the life of Dorothy Watson, who latterly ran the Bridge Pottery in Rolvenden. She had an interesting life that was documented on the wallboards and in the interactive system presentations. The exhibition also featured some of her delightful pottery from William’s own collection. This was a very popular exhibition, with many visitors coming to the museum just to see the pottery and read her story. William has been kind enough to donate the proceeds of his book sales at the Museum. The second exhibition, entitled ‘ Royal Occasions’ featured visits to the town and district by Royalty. Wallboards and presentations detailed visits from the early Kings to inspect their ships in Smallhythe right up to recent visits by Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana, the Queen Mother and the Princess Royal. The exhibition was intended to complement the Platinum Jubilee celebrations but was overtaken by the death of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

Next season we will be doing something different, with a single exhibition, featuring ‘Kent – the Garden of England’ and a set of events to run alongside in support of the main exhibition themes.

AGM Business

	Resoluton	For	Against	Abstain
1	To approve the Report and Accounts for 2022
2	To appoint David Payne as Auditor

Election of Trustees

Under our new Constitution,Trustees have to be elected every three years. Since we elected the Trustees last year, no further elections are required this year. The current Trustees, Debbie Greaves as President, Jonathan Harrison as Vice President, Mike Hill as Chair and Robin Wilkins as Curator, all remain in post and are willing to do so for the next year.