Hebden Bridge Local History Society Report of the trustees for the year ending 31[st] August 2025
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 furthers its charitable purposes for the public benefit through a lecture programme, archive collections, a website, special interest groups and publications.
A series of talks on a wide range of historical topics is given by speakers with expert knowledge in the subject. These are open to members and visitors in a fully accessible town centre venue and advertised in advance. The talks are also recorded and, with the consent of the speaker, made available to members after the event. A report of each talk is published in the local paper, on a local news website, in the Society newsletter, and on the Society website.
The local history archive at the Birchcliffe Centre in Hebden Bridge is open to members and visitors on two afternoons each week. Archive staff are on hand to help with general research as well as family history. In addition, archive staff answer queries by email from both members and nonmembers.
The website provides information on all the activities undertaken by the Society as well as access to the archive catalogue, copies of newsletters, and research resources including monumental inscriptions and the work of the Charlestown History Group.
The Society has a published booklist of 20 books on a wide range of topics relevant to the history of the Upper Calder Valley and surrounding areas. These are available to buy in local outlets and via the Society’s website and to consult in libraries in Calderdale.
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, James Botten, Juliet Frobisher and Hudson Ray assisted with cataloguing in the archive, Keith Stansfield and other members of the Family History group supported enquiries and research and Michael Peel attended trustee meetings as an observer.
Hebden Bridge Local History Society is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity No: 1196787
Achievements and Performance
Membership numbers continued to be strong at 187 members, down on last year but still well above numbers prior to Covid.
Talks
Despite problems with building work and heating at the venue there were eleven talks this year. Subjects ranged from the growth, development and decline in football in the Calder Valley to the experience of civil conflict in Sowerby, 1638-1660 and the opening of the Hebden Bridge Trades Club and the first Labour government. Seven of the talks were given by members of the Society which is testament to the breadth of knowledge amongst the membership. The talks were well attended with an average of 39 members and visitors on the night and 27 members who watched the recordings.
Archive
The archive received a number of donations of items during the year including:
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The archives of Out in the Valley, an LGBTQ+ social group.
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The archives of Calder Valley Organic Gardeners.
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Scrap books kept by the Cragg Vale branch of the Yorkshire Country Women’s Association.
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Deeds relating to several local buildings.
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Documents and artefacts relating to past local industries and chapels.
Preservation and cataloguing of these and other donations continued with help from volunteers. Archive staff answered 10 queries by email and 411 documents were consulted in person by a total of 26 individuals over 41 visits. Through links with Pennine Heritage, Huddersfield University staff and students also made significant use of the archive.
National Lottery Heritage Fund grant
The Society worked with Pennine Heritage to implement a grant received by them from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to protect and develop the South Pennine Archives. This is a partnership between the digital images archive owned by Pennine Heritage and the document archive owned by the Society. The project runs until June 2026 and will deliver:
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The digitisation of a selection of documents from the Society’s archive focusing initially on the 7,000 natural history records collected in the late 19[th] and early 20[th] centuries and the Stonesheygate collection, about 3,000 pages of material covering the late 18[th] and 19[th] centuries providing details on farming, cloth making and estate management.
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A new website for the Pennine Horizons digital archive and the digitised documents.
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Refurbishment of the foyer and reception areas of the Birchcliffe Centre to house permanent exhibitions on the history of Hebden Bridge and the Birchcliffe Chapel.
Exhibitions
The Society facilitated two exhibitions on historical subjects at the Town Hall in Hebden Bridge. The first in November 2024 - Alice Longstaff, the End of the Role for Pennine Heritage and the second in March 2025 - From Townships to Town.
Hebden Bridge Local History Society is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity No: 1196787
Publications
281 books have been sold this year - 145 through retail outlets, 107 through the website and 29 directly to members and visitors and at events.
The Society is celebrating the culmination of their most ambitious project yet: the publication of the Heptonstall Court Records 1570 - 1626 . The volume will be of immense interest to family and local historians, as well as those interested in the ways society was organized at a local level. The project began with a group of members of the Society working to increase their knowledge of both Latin and palaeography by translating local historical documents. The tutor was Neville Ingrey, previously a Latin master at Hipperholme Grammar School. When the Covid pandemic put a stop to meetings, the group decided to use email contact to undertake the translation of the Latin entries in the Heptonstall manor court records. The manorial court was an early system of regulating the community, and these entries record the proceedings of the baron court, which dealt with transfers of property, upholding the rights of the lord of the manor, and ensuring that offences against the community were punished.
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.
At the end of the financial year the Society had £23,303 in unrestricted funds. The main financial risks are the loss of premises to house the archive, damage to archive items and storage space, a 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.
Following the resignation of the Chair two years ago none of the existing trustees felt able to take on the role. It was therefore agreed to rotate the position of Chair at meetings and to redistribute the other responsibilities amongst the other trustees. This arrangement has continued to work well this year.
The Society has continued to develop policies to guide its activities. This year a policy on serious incident reporting has been approved by the trustees.
Hebden Bridge Local History Society is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity No: 1196787
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 served for the full year.
Barbara Hall – Secretary Rachel Smith – Treasurer Nigel Smith – Archivist Barbara Atack David Cant Catherine Chatham Hilary Fellows Sheila Graham Sarah Keates Anne Mealia
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustee’s report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees.
Signature:
Full name: Barbara Ethel Margaret Atack
Position: Trustee
Signature:
Full name: Nigel John Bowker Smith
Position: Archivist
Date: 28/10/2025
Hebden Bridge Local History Society is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity No: 1196787
| Hebden Bridge Local History Society | Hebden Bridge Local History Society | Hebden Bridge Local History Society | Hebden Bridge Local History Society | Hebden Bridge Local History Society | 1196787 | 1196787 | 1196787 | CC16a | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For the period from |
01/09/2024 | To | 31/08/2025 | ||||||
| Section A Receipts and payments | |||||||||
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 2,440 400 1,434 2,592 92 323 |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - - |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
Last year to the nearest £ |
||||
| Membershipsubscriptions | 2,440 | - | - | 2,440 | 2,524 | ||||
| Visitors to lectures | 400 | 400 | 244 | ||||||
| Donations | **1,434 ** | - | - | **1,434 ** | **57 ** | ||||
| Sale of Publications | **2,592 ** | - | - | **2,592 ** | 3,112 | ||||
| Queries | **92 ** | - | - | **92 ** | **131 ** | ||||
| Bank interest | 323 | 323 | 371 | ||||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
7,281 |
- | - | 7,281 | 6,439 | ||||
| - - - 7,281 |
- - - - |
- - - - |
- - - |
||||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales,(see table). |
|||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| ~~Sub total~~ | - | - | |||||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
|||||||||
| 7,281 | 6,439 | ||||||||
| Cost of lectures | **1,304 ** | - | - | **1,304 ** | 1,058 | ||||
| Administration | 863 | - | - | 863 | 1,839 | ||||
| Archive costs | 1,144 | - | - | 1,144 | 1,402 | ||||
| Exhibitions | 570 | - | - | 570 | - | ||||
| Newsletters | 110 | - | - | 110 | 49 | ||||
| Cost ofpublications | 6,815 | - | - | 6,815 | 1,598 | ||||
| **Sub total ** | 10,806 | - | - | 10,806 | 5,946 | ||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
|||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| **Sub total ** | ~~-~~ | ~~-~~ | |||||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
|||||||||
| 10,806 | 5,946 | ||||||||
| - 3,525 | |||||||||
| - 3,525 | - 3,525 | 493 | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| 23,303 | 23,303 | 22,810 | |||||||
| 19,778 | 19,778 | 23,303 |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
12/02/2026
1
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B5 Liabilities Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B1 Cash funds B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details 32 day account Details Signature Details Current account PayPal account Cash account Details Savings account |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 608 - 8,329 - 10,435 - 356 - 50 - 19,778 - OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - Barbara Ethel Margaret Atack Print Name |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| OK | |||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| When due (optional) |
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| Date of approval |
|||
| Barbara Ethel Margaret Atack | 28/10/2025 |
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
12/02/2026
2
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl Members of Hebden Bridge Local History Society On accounts for the year ended 315t August 2025 Charlty no (If any) 1196787 Set out on pages 1&2 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (Ihe Trust") for the year ended Responsibillti08 and basls of report As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 {Ihe Ad.). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have foHowed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145{5)(bl of the Act. Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have •xaminer'3 statement come to my attention in Connection with the examination (other than that disclosed below '} which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. the accounting records We not kept in accordance wilh section 130 of the Charities Ad,. or the accounts did not accord with the aOurrtlng Cords", or the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements con¢eming the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a Irue and fair, view vthich is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be rehed. ' Please delete the words in the brackets rfthey do not apply. Slgned: Date: Name: 4}9 thy4 Relevant professional qualfflcatlon($l or body (If any): Address: -/u HILLJ fé6KLr 24)S IER Oct 2018
Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matt8rs of concem (see CC32, Independent examination of chariiy accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brlef dotail$ of any items that the examiner wi$he$ to disclose. IER O¢t 2018