## **Hebden Bridge Local History Society Report of the trustees for the year ending 31[st] August 2023** ## **Objectives and Activities** The purpose of the charity is to advance the education of the public in the history, heritage and culture of Hebden Bridge, the Upper Calder Valley and surrounding areas. The Society held a series of twelve talks on a wide range of historical topics given by speakers with expert knowledge in the subject. Talks were open to members and visitors in a fully accessible town centre venue and advertised in advance. The talks were also recorded and made available to members after the event. A report of each talk was published in the local paper, in the Society newsletter and on the website. The Society maintains a local history archive at the Birchcliffe Centre in Hebden Bridge. This has been open to members and visitors on two afternoons each week. Archive staff were on hand to help with general research as well as family history. In addition, archive staff answered queries by email from both members and non-members. The archive is now on the national register of archives. This will allow the Society to make sections of the catalogue available on Archives Hub and the National Archives Discovery Catalogue thereby widening access to the content. Through links with Pennine Heritage, Huddersfield University staff and students also made significant use of the archive. The Society has a published booklist of 17 books on a wide range of topics relevant to the history of the Upper Calder Valley and surrounding areas. These are available in local outlets and via the Society’s website. A new title, _Traditional Food in the South Pennines_ , was published this year and work continued in preparing _Little Hill Farm_ and the _Heptonstall Court Rolls_ for publication in the future. The Society joined with the Halifax Probate Group at Halifax Minster in October to celebrate the completion of the transcription of wills and inventories for all the townships in the Parish of Halifax from 1688 to 1700. In planning activities for the year, the Society kept in mind the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and fee charging. The membership subscription was kept at £15 per year. Visitors to lectures were charged £4. Use of the archive by members is free but £3 for visitors. Queries by email cost £2 for members and £5 for non-members. The Society’s website has been updated and includes a wealth of information on the Society’s activities and the history of the local area. The price of books is kept as low as possible to just cover publication costs. ## **Volunteers** The Society is run entirely by volunteer trustees and members. The trustees were greatly helped during the year by several volunteers. Diana Monahan helped with technical set-up and used her extensive knowledge to answer queries, John Crampton and James Botten assisted with cataloguing in the archive, members of the Family History group supported enquiries and research, John Billingsley kept the Folklore Group alive, and David Shepherd advised members on pre-history matters. _Hebden Bridge Local History Society is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity No: 1196787_ ## **Achievements and Performance** Membership numbers continued to be strong at 223 members. ## **Talks** A full series of 12 talks took place in the Methodist Church from September to March. With consent from the speakers the talks were recorded, and the recordings were made available to members to view at home. This enabled members who don’t live locally or can’t attend on a Wednesday evening to watch the talks. An average of 86 people accessed each talk in person or online and a total of 85 visitors attended in person. The response to the talks was very positive – _“I was unable to come along last night but have just watched the video. What an excellent presentation!” (17[th] century Yeoman Farmhouses)_ _“Exceptionally interesting historical account of the development of the tea trade. Well presented.” (Tea in 18[th] century Britain)_ _“Please pass on my congratulations to the speakers for their diligent research and excellent presentation. I watched that one twice as it had so many different aspects and have now been today to the Bankfield Museum to see the pictures on exhibition.” (Landscape paintings of John Holland)_ ## **Archive** The Society received a number of donations of items for the archive during the year including: - the papers of Malcolm and Freda Heywood, who were involved in the publication of _Pennine Valley_ in 1992 and the _History of Todmorden_ in 1996, - Andrew Bibby’s extensive research notes for his book _All Our Own Work_ on the cooperative Nutclough Mill, - The papers of Mary Atack, a nurse, donated by her relative, Barbara Atack, - Papers from the Hebden Bridge Piano Festival, the Town Twinning Society, Mayroyd Action Group and the early papers of Todmorden Cricket Club. Preservation and cataloguing of these and other donations continued with help from volunteers. Archive staff answered 14 queries by email and 264 documents were consulted in person by members and visitors. ## **Exhibitions** Material from the archive was used in the creation of an exhibition at the Town Hall in Hebden Bridge by the Natural History Society. ## **Publications** The Society published _Traditional Food in the South Pennines_ by Peter Brears, with beautiful hand drawn illustrations by the author. _The Medieval Park of Erringden_ and _City in the Hills_ were both reprinted, the latter for the third time. _Hebden Bridge Local History Society is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity No: 1196787_ ## **Financial Review** The Society’s aim is to fund the talks, administration of the society and the running of the archive from income other than that received from book sales. This allows the proceeds of current book sales to be used to fund the publication of future titles. This arrangement allows the Society to remain viable if there are no new books published. Major expenditure on work like the redesign of the website and the purchase of new shelving for the archive has been funded from legacy income that the Society had built up prior to becoming a charity. The Society had £22,800 in unrestricted funds at the end of the financial year. The main financial risks to the Society are loss of premises to house the archive, damage to archive items and storage space, reduction in membership numbers, loss of premises to hold the talks and an inability to recruit sufficient trustees and other volunteers. The Society aims to keep £10,000 in reserves to cover the risks. ## **Structure, Governance and Management** The Society is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). It is administered by a management committee of trustees, which can have up to 12 members. The committee meets every 2 months. In accordance with the constitution one third of trustees retire each year at the annual general meeting but they are eligible for re-election. New trustees can be elected at the AGM to fill vacancies or can be appointed by the trustees during the year. All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no remuneration or other benefit. As a new charity the Society is in the process of developing policies to guide its activities. This year policies on financial controls, trustee conflicts of interests and trustee expenses have been approved by the trustees. Work is ongoing on a risk register which should identify any other policies that are required. The Society works in partnership with Pennine Heritage Ltd (registered charity no: 509974) as South Pennine Archives. The Society follows relevant policies of Pennine Heritage and Hebden Bridge Methodist Church for its activities at the archives and lecture hall respectively. ## **Reference and Administrative Details** Hebden Bridge Local History Society (HBLHS), charity No. 1196787, is registered at The Birchcliffe Centre, Birchcliffe Road, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8DG. ## **Trustees** All trustees were appointed at the AGM of 26[th] October 2022 |Murray Seccombe – Chair|David Cant| |---|---| |Barbara Hall – Secretary|Hilary Fellows| |Rachel Smith – Treasurer|Sheila Graham| |Nigel Smith – Archivist|Sarah Keates| |Barbara Atack|Anne Mealia| _Hebden Bridge Local History Society is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity No: 1196787_ Hebden Bridge Local Hlstory Socloty 1196787 Roceipts and paymonts accounts For tho period 0110912022 3110812023 CC16• To Section A Receipts and payments Unre$trtctod funds toth noar￿t Rastrictsd Endov•m8nl funds fund5 to the nearnst to the noarmt to the nèarest Total funds Last year n￿reSt £ A1 Rè¢elpts Transfer from unincorporated association - Hebden Bridge Local History Society embers IP5U scriplions Isitors lo ectufes onations aleo ublicalions ueries an In 21.914 3.071 340 296 340 296 3,828 70 70 424 47 70 70 eres Sub to¢•l(Gross incoffle for AR) 7,675 7,675 25.485 A2 Ass•t a Im*￿tMont sales,18ge table). ro￿ rnc8ipts A3Pa ents Cost ol lectures Admin15tralion Archive costs Newsletters Cost of publications ,083 2,083 23 Sub total A4 Asset and investmant urchases, tsblo Sub totsl Net ofrn¢el￿{payrnonts) AS Transfars b•tween funds A6 Cash funds last ￿ar ond Cash funds this year end CCXX R1 accounts ISSI 1011012023 Section B Statèment of assets and liabilities at the end of th¥ period Unrestrictèd funds to n•ar•st £ 7,$94 15.069 97 Restricted funds to n•ar•$t £ Endowment fund• to n•aroSt £ Cattyori•s O•tsi15 B1 Ca•h fwKI• Current account Savings account Paypal account Cash a￿nt so Tot•1 ¢•sh funds 22.810 14re• bI￿ne¢S wth receipts d payments aCr￿unt{sII -" Unr•strfct•d fund• to É to £ R•¥trict•d Endo¥￿1•nI funds to n••rn•t £ D•tslls B2 Oth•r mor*tsry ••••ts Fund to C￿¢ ••t b•long• {optlon•l Curr•nt valu• on•1 Oet•l B3 Inv••lm•nl ••Mts Fund to *thl¢h ass•t b•long• C￿1 loptlo￿lI Curr•nt valu• D•tsl ¢h•rlt¢• own u FWKI to 4*thSch Amount du• li•bility loption•l} r•l•l•• Wh•n du• lopllon811 D•lalls B5 Uablllti Signed by one or trustees on beh8M ol all the trustee5 Signature Print Nam& Date of roval CCXX R2 eoxurts ISS) I(W11Y2023 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of ptE&D&) £Ri¥e LLC4L thJTD£Y JOCIOY On accounts for the year ended Charity no (if any) I IfL787 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity 1.the Trust") for the year ended "31 O t LO %3 Responslbllllfjes and As the charity trustees of the Trust. you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance wtth the requirements of the Chartties Act 20111.the Acr). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145{5)Ib} of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matters have come to my attention I ') in connection with the examination vthich gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. acwunling records were not kept in accordance with secth)n 130 of the Act or the accounts do not ac￿rd with the accounting records Independent examinerfs statement I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connedion with the examination lo which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets rf they do not apply. Slgned.. Date: 14•. /0 23 Name.. Relevanl professlonal qualification(s) or body (if any): Address.. /./<&.rJ& IER October 2018