## The Thomas Brassey Society A N N U A L R E P O R T 

Registered Charity No 1195546 



## **A message from our Patron** 


## _Dear Society Members,_ 

_Although Covid is still with us it has been another good year for both the Society and myself.  ‘The model railway exhibition, Making Tracks’ at the Chester Cathedral eventually happened and attracted an astonishing 45,000  visitors. This was so popular that I have been invited to create a new layout and return to the Cathedral in Summer 2022, I have chosen to mimic the Kilsby to Rugby Hillmorton Junction and will probably be ready to show a week earlier than last year._ 

_Looking through the Society’s Annual Report I am delighted that they have been able to obtain charity status which is a must to attract the sums of money needed to fund a statue of Thomas Brassey.  He has not been recognised as one of the greatest railway engineers in this country and it is right and fitting that a statue located at Chester station in his birthplace  will go a long way to remedy that._ 

_With best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year,_ 

## Pete Waterman 

## **Chairman’s Report** 

This Annual Report for 2021 covers a 14-month period from November 2020 to the end of December 2021. It is only our second year as a fully constituted voluntary organisation and it has been a period of unprecedented activity despite the constraints of the Covid-19 pandemic. Membership has almost doubled, to 110, and we are now a registered charity. In that capacity, the rest of this Annual Report follows the format recommended by the Charity Commission. Sections C and D provide a complete list of our activities and achievements, some of which are highlighted below. 

First, our new information panel outside Chester railway station was installed in November 2020 and formally unveiled on 8th December 2020 – precisely 150 years after Brassey’s death on 8th December 1870. An illustration of the panel was included in our last Annual Report and, once again, our thanks go to everyone involved in its design, installation and ‘socially distanced’ unveiling!  We are very proud of this lectern-style panel and pleased to record that it has attracted a great deal of interest over the past 12 months. 

By complete contrast, in spring 2021 the Society was contacted and asked for help by a community group at Cruet in SE France. They are trying to save an iron truss railway bridge, built by Brassey in 1859. It is important for its historical significance and valuable to the local people as part of a footpath and cycleway. We were happy to lend our support and practise our French translation _n’est pas!_ 

The Society’s next big event was to support our Patron, Pete Waterman, during ‘ _Making Tracks_ ’, the mammoth model railway  exhibition at Chester Cathedral. Our stall, alongside the model railway, gave us a wonderful opportunity to promote Thomas Brassey to the thousands of visitors. It was also an effective recruitment exercise, with over 40 new members signing up during that 7-week period. On 28th August, as the model railway exhibition entered its final week, we held a Members’ Luncheon in the splendid surroundings of the cathedral refectory. The gathering was attended by 50 members and guests, including a growing contingent of Brassey family descendants. 

Throughout all of the above we have continued to pursue plans for a statue of Thomas Brassey at Chester station. We have taken professional advice regarding funding opportunities and have developed a good relationship with the Public Statues and Sculpture Association (PSSA). We have collated information on many similar statues and have produced our own ‘Case Statement & Funding Prospectus’. Site meetings with various stakeholders have taken place at the station and we are now preparing to submit an application for outline planning permission. 

Not to mention the first-rate  newsletters, talks and lectures presented by our Secretary, Peter Bolt and our website, managed by Phil Pearn. Oh yes, it’s been a very busy year and an excellent team effort by everyone on the committee - thank you all. 

Stephen Langtree MBE 



**Trustees Annual Report for the period** 

## **Start date: 1 November 2020 End date: 31 December 2021** 

## **Section A Reference and administration details** 

Charity name: The Thomas Brassey Society Registered Charity No: 1195546 Charity’s principal address: 4 Poplar Farm Close Saughall Massie, Wirral, CH46 5NZ 

## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** 

**Trustee name Office Dates acted (if not for whole year)** John Stephen Scott Langtree MBE Chairman Richard James Coackley CBE Vice Chairman Peter Charles Bolt Secretary David William Bebb Treasurer David John Hooley Membership Secretary Peter William Cocker Minutes Secretary John Parton Whittingham Committee member Jean Fortune Researcher 4 Nov 2021 — 31 Dec 2021 

## **Section B Structure, governance and management** 

## **Description of the charity’s Trusts** 

Type of governing document: CIO—Association (Registered 18 August 2021) How the charity is constituted: Charitable Incorporated Organisation Trustee selection methods: After registration, by co-option and then subsequently at Annual General Meetings of the Society’s members. 

**Section C Objectives and activities Summary of the objects of** To advance the education of the public in the historic significance of the **the charity set out in its** life and works of Thomas Brassey in particular but not exclusively by **governing document** providing and assisting in the provision of educational materials, activities and events open to the general public on the topic of Thomas Brassey and the field of railway engineering more generally. **Summary of the main** Giving talks and lectures to conferences, other societies and organisa- **activities undertaken for** tions on all aspects of the life and works of Thomas Brassey. **the public benefit in relation to these objects** Raising awareness of Thomas Brassey by installing interpretation pan- **(include within this section** els and information plaques at key locations. **the statutory declaration that trustees have had** Educating the public about Thomas Brassey at public exhibitions by face **regard to the guidance** -to-face contact and by the distribution of literature. **issued by the Charity Commission on public** Providing a 60 minute film for the public about Thomas Brassey by a **benefit).** Society member. /continued over 



## /Section C continued 

Preparing and distributing literature about Thomas Brassey and his achievements through various outlets and events. 

Producing and circulating bi-monthly digital newsletters to members and other interested parties. 

Keeping an up to date Society web-site and Facebook account, accessible to the general public. 

## **Note** : 

In undertaking the work of the Society the Trustees have had due regard to the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance. 

## **Section D Achievements and Performance** 



1  The Society designed, funded, manufactured and erected a public Information Panel at Chester Railway Station, explaining the significance of Thomas Brassey in the construction of railways in the 19th century and providing educational material about some of his significant achievements, including the construction of the Victoria Bridge, Montreal, the Cefn Mawr Railway Viaduct and Chester Station.  The Panel was unveiled by the local member of Cheshire West and Chester Council, Councillor Samantha Dixon, on 8 December 2020. 

2  At the Model Railway Exhibition (“Making Tracks”) in the nave of Chester Cathedral, organised and run by our Patron, Dr Pete Waterman OBE DL, the Society installed a public information/ education stand.  This was staffed by volunteer members of the Society for six days a week from 16 July to 3 September 2021, involving over 600 person hours.  Trustees and other Society members engaged, face to face, with the general public (over 45,000 people visited the exhibition) explaining the achievements of Thomas Brassey, handing out more than 1800 educational “flyers” and with the aid of a wooden model, teaching scores of children (and some adults) the art of bridge building. The Erasmus Chapel at Chester Cathedral is dedicated to Thomas Brassey and his wife Maria and contains a bust of Thomas Brassey as well as an Italian wall mosaic, funded by their three sons. 

3  Between them, four members of the Thomas Brassey Society gave 7 talks about Thomas Brassey and his achievements (as volunteers) to the general public, engaging with various social and historical societies—either face to face or via Zoom. 

4  A 60 minute film about Thomas Brassey was prepared by one of our members and included cameo performances by professional actors who represented important characters in the Brassey history.  This was broadcast on line, due to Covid restrictions, during Summer 2021 and is still available to view. 

5  An educational flyer about Thomas Brassey has been produced, with nearly 2000 distributed throughout the year to the general public at exhibitions, talk and lectures.  / _continued over_ 



## _Section D continued/_ 


6  Trustees have explored the possibility of erecting a statue of Thomas Brassey outside Chester Railway Station (built by Thomas Brassey in his home city) which, coupled with the information panel already installed at the site in 2020 (see Item 1), would help educate the public about his significance in the construction of the British and international railway system in the 19th century.  To this end, Trustees have had discussions with members and officers of Cheshire West and Chester Council, representatives of Network Rail and Transport for Wales and the joint Chair of the Public Statues and Sculptors Association.  They have also investigated how such a statue could be designed and funded, including a discussion with a funding consultant. 

7  Seven members of the Society attended the Cheshire Local History Association annual conference on 30 October, 2021, staffed an education/information stand and handed out flyers on the life and works of Thomas Brassey.  Our Secretary was one of the speakers at the conference.  Two members also attended the Toy and Train Fair at Crewe Heritage Centre on 2 October 2021 and handed out flyers. 

8  We held an annual luncheon in Chester Cathedral attended by 50 members. 

9  We were asked for support by the community of Cruet in the Department de la Savoie, South East France, about saving one of the oldest metal truss frame bridges in France (built by Thomas Brassey).  We wrote in strong support, direct to the Department de la Savoie (local authority) and have since heard that the planned demolition has been put on hold.  The Secretary of Cruet Nature et Patrimoines, Joan Decker, has accepted honorary membership of The Thomas Brassey Society. 

10  With the stated aim of the society being to “advance the education of the public in the historic significance of the life and works of Thomas Brassey”, tentative approaches have been made to the University of Chester. 


Contact has been made with Professor Helen O’Sullivan, Provost & Deputy Vice Chancellor and we hope to take our ideas forward with the School of Humanities.  Clearly we are at an early stage, but we hope to explore ideas such as an annual “Thomas Brassey Lecture”.  These lectures could be related to Thomas Brassey himself or on themes inspired by his life. 

/ _General operation & administration continued overleaf_ 



/ _Section D continued_ 

In respect of the general operation and administration of the Society, the Trustees have: 

- held monthly and minuted meetings throughout the year via Zoom, including regular reports from the Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Membership Secretary 

- produced a bi-monthly newsletter for Society members 

- successfully registered as a Charity with the Charity Commission (18 August 2021) 

- successfully registered for Gift Aid with HMRC (11 October 2021 but effective from 18 August 2021) 

- increased our membership by 100% over the year to a current 110 members 


- maintained a Society web-site, providing information about Thomas Brassey and his achievements, about the Society and its operation, about its Privacy Policy and links to other relevant information and created a Facebook account—all accessible to the general public. 



**Section E Financial review** 

## **Details of any funds materially in deficit** 

## **Brief statement of the** 

The Society has no reserves and no reserve policy. 

Not applicable. 

**charity’s policy on reserves** 

**31 December 2021** 

## **Part A   Receipts and Payments** 



**Part B  Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** 



## **Section F Other optional information** 

None 

**Section G Declaration** 

**The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report** 

**Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees** 

|**Signature(s)**<br>**Full name(s)**<br>**Position (eg Secretary,**<br>**Chair, etc)**<br>**Date**<br>Peter Charles Bolt<br>Secretary<br>Chairman<br>JohnStephenScott Langtree<br>3 February 2022|||
|---|---|---|





||**Society Name**|**Society Name**|**Society Name**|**Society Name**|**Society Name**|**No(if any)**|**No(if any)**|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**The Thomas Brassey Society**|||||||||
||**Receipts andpayments accounts**|||||||||
||**For the period**<br>**from**||Period start date||**To**||Period end date|||
||||6 April 2021||||5 April 2022|||
|||||||||||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||||
||**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**||**Restricted funds**||**Endowment**<br>**funds**||**Total funds**||**Last year**|
||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**|
|**A1 Receipts**||||||||||
|Donations|**2,027**||**-**||**-**||**2,027**||**2,320**|
|Members’ subscriptions|**1,490**||**-**||**-**||**1,490**||**540**|
||**- 0**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|AGM / lunch - attendee deposits|**500**||**-**||**-**||**500**||**-**|
||**- 0**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**- 0**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**- 0**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**- 0**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR) _|<br>**4,017**||**-**||**-**||**4,017**||**2,860**|
|||||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**<br>**(see table).**||||||||||
||**- 0**||**- 0**||**- 0**||**-**|||
||**- 0**||**- 0**||**- 0**||**-**||**- 0**|
|**_Sub total_**|<br>**- 0**||**- 0**||**- 0**||**-**||**- 0**|
|||||||||||
|**_Total receipts_ **|<br>**4,017**||**- 0**||**- 0**||**4,017**||**2,860**|
|||||||||||
|**A3 Payments**||||||||||
|FundingReport|**- 0**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**125**|
|Website maintenance|**24**||**-**||**-**||**24**||**20**|
|Promotional|**182**||**-**||**-**||**182**||**-**|
|AGM and lunch deposit|**300**||**-**||**-**||**300**||**-**|
||||||||**-**|||
|Administration|**55**||**-**||**-**||**55**||**-**|
||**- 0**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|<br>**561**||**-**||**-**||**561**||**145**|
|||||||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment**<br>**purchases,(see table)**||||||||||
||**- 0**||**- 0**||**- 0**||**-**||**180**|
||**- 0**||**- 0**||**- 0**||**-**|||
|**_Sub total_ **|<br>**- 0**||**- 0**||**- 0**||**-**||**180**|
|||||||||||
|**_Totalpayments_ **|<br>**561**||**- 0**||**- 0**||**561**||**325**|
|||||||||||
|**_Net of receipts/(payments)_ **|<br>**3,456**||**-**||**-**||**3,456**||**2,535**|
|**A5 Transfers between funds**|**- 0**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**A6 Cash funds lastyear end**|**5,803**||**2,000**||**-**||**7,803**||**5,268**|
|**_Cash funds thisyear end_ **|<br>**9,259**||**2,000**||**-**||**11,259**||**7,803**|
|**Notes**||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**||||||||||
|**Categories**|**Details**||||**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**||**Restricted funds**||**Endowment**<br>**funds**|
||||||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**|
|**B1 Cash funds**|Cash held in bank current account||||**9,259**||**2,000**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|||||||||||
||||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**_Total cash funds_**||||**9,259**||**2,000**||**-**|



CCXX R1 accounts (SS) 

05/04/2021 

1 



||(agree balances with receipts and payments<br>account(s))|(agree balances with receipts and payments<br>account(s))|(agree balances with receipts and payments<br>account(s))||OK||OK|OK|OK|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**||**Restricted funds**||**Endowment**<br>**funds**|
||**Details**||||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**|
|**B2 Other monetary assets**|||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|||||||||||
||**Details**||||**Fund to which asset**<br>**belongs**||**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**<br>**(optional)**|
|**B3 Investment assets**|||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
|||||||||||
||**Details**||||**Fund to which asset**<br>**belongs**||**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**<br>**(optional)**|
|**B4 Assets retained for the**<br>**charity’s own use**|||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
|||||||||||
||**Details**||||**Fund to which**<br>**liability relates**||**Amount due**<br>**(optional)**||**When due**<br>**(optional)**|
|**B5 Liabilities**|Supply and installation of Interpretation<br>Panel||||Unrestricted||**3,380**|||
||||||||**-**|||
||||||||**-**|||
||||||||**-**|||
|||||||||||
|Signed by one or two trustees on behalf<br>of all the trustees|Signature||||Print Name||||Date of approval|
||||||David Bebb||||05/04/22|
|||||||||||



CCXX R2 accounts (SS) 

05/04/2021 

2