Friends of Bath Jewlsh Burfal Ground Charltable Incorporated Organisation Icio) Charity Numbor.1198905 Registered address: 33 Worcester Park, Larkhall. Bath BA16QU Trustees setvin durin Moya Boardman Jane Briggs Christina Hilsenrath Craig Cullis Parsor Taylor the lan David Committee members 8er4in Bemadette Metters the ear Chair.. Chrisb'na Hllsenrath Cra Secretary.. Ann Cullis Treasurer. lan Parsons REPORT OF THE TRUSTEE8 FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 The Trustses of the charity present their report the financial 8tstements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2024. The report covers the 12 months 1 Aprfl 2023-31 March 2024. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES ObJ•ctlv08 The objectives of the charity are.. To promote, for public benefit, Ihe preservatlon, care and improvement of Bath Jewish Burial Gr￿nd as a place of historic and ecological interesc. To advance the education of public through ts preseNation and maintenance of the Bath Jewsh Burial Ground. PUBLIC BENEFIT: ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE The charity conts'nued to provide activty for public benefft urKler Fts Charitable objects. Con86rvallon and r•pairs Our ￿n8ervats.0n approach is to restore and repair where ne￿ary so that the unique heritsge of the Burial Ground is preseNed for fijknre generations. In January 2020 the Friends agreed a four-year conserrfation and repair programme which is now complete. The last phase, the repair and repointing of the southern intemal boundary wall, was carried out by our stonemason Tony Warsinski in two phases: July -August 2023 and February- March 2024. Parts of the southem intemal wall Y￿re in very poor condition and sections had to be rebuilt and timtrconsumingly repaired. Tr completion of the work to the intemal walls has resulted in a remarkable transfomiation and lifted the appearance of the whole Burial Ground. We would like thank and to acknovledge the generosity of some of the local members of the Friends who made special donations towards the cost of this part of the restoration project. We greatly value their suppo The restoratlon of the cottage is now complete. However, over the wet and cold winter there were problems with condensation and mould growth on the intemal ea8t and west lim&plastered walls. Expert advice was sought and a compact ceiling- mounted vent'lats'on system will be instslled in early summer 2024. During the spring the l)roken roof ts'les were replaced, and in the 8ummer the gutter and down pipes were repainted. Head In April, a fallen gravestone bvas unearthed near to the cottage. The inscripts'on was on the underside, making it - uniquely in our Burial Ground - face east rather than west. Having carefully cleaned ic the inscription 'Emmanuel Solomon of Canterbury. can be seen. Unfortunately, there is nothing more in English and no date of burial. There is some Hebrew wording, but it is very wom and not legible. One of the unexpected outcomes of this discovery was that we also uncovered some broken pieces of lettering. We V#Ere ab￿ to identify that these were part of the inscnpts'on missing from the tomb of Joseph Sigmond. the society dentist whose table tomb (matching that of his wfe Catherine) are the first ones you see when entering the Burial Ground. Wle cwld see where they fitted so we asked Sally Strachey Historic Conservation, restoration experts, to 'glue' them back in pla￿ on the ledger stone. Sally Strachey Historic Conservation also straightened two tombstones that had been starting to lean, those of Solomon Kesseff and Sarah Moses. and did some routine rna1ntenan￿ on the delaminab'ng inscriptions on the gravestones of Daniel Rees and hbraham Leon. Memorial Although the Burial Ground is dosed for interments, the trustees pemiit memorials for Jewish people with a strorYJ associats'on with Bath erther personally or through their immediate family. A memorial plaque to Kttty Bloor has been placed adjacent to the North (street-side) wall by her son Gordon, who has lived tr majorfty of his life in Bath and for much of that in Combe D(wn. Research Our research into the lives of the people buried here, ts history of the Burial Ground, and the wider Jewish community in Bath has continued. During the winter of 2024 we will publish our book 'Jews wi Bath: a community and their Burial GrourKI.. 17CM>1945'. Memorial.. unmarked No burial register has survived. Only 43 headstones have legible or partially legible inscripts"ons. the rest being so wom or broken that we do not know who they commemorate. There are also burials in graves that were never marked. Our research identified people who are known to be buried here or where there is evidence that they are very likely to have been buried here. We decided to instsll a commemorative plaque listlng their names. Although we raised the £1,000 needed for this through donations, we have delayed commissioning the plaque until we vRre confident that our research into the Jewish Communty in Bath in the 19th and early 20th centuries was complete. This has now concluded and another 37 adults, children and infants who are very likely to be buried here have been idenb.fied (the last of these were only discovered in the summer of 2024). The plaque will now be installed in autumn 2024. Our re888r¢h al80 enabled u8 to identify a phobJraph among a set of glas8 plate negative8 from the 18908 that Volunteers of the Museum of Bath of Work wer8 catak¥uing. One of the plates marked 'Somer8' is a photograph of Mary Som8r8, the daughter of Reuben Somer8 who is buried here. His grand-daughter still alive and INeS in Bath, and had shared photo8 of Reuben and hls children wtlh us. The photograph. and Marfs lrfe story. vmre included In an exhibition at the Museum *) June 2023 arKI in an accompanying publKation. Vl8ltor8, Talk8 and Events nda During 2023 we held three public open days which are free for visltors.. 30 April, 25 June and 10 September. Visitor numbers can vary depending on the weather., numbers were parb'cularly high on 10 September, which was part of Bath's Heritage Open Days programme arKI the local Combe Do*n Art trail. Artists Robert Lee and Viv Meadows displayed their work in the cottage. The ￿ttage was open on both days of the Art Trail, Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 September, but the area of the Burial GrourKI itself was open only on the Sunday, as it is not pemiitted to visit Jewish burial grounds on Shabbat. the cottage was only ever a secular building, not used for religious purposes, we feel comfortable in contributing to a local event in this way. Guided Tours We offered three free guided tours, one evening walk on 31 May and a moming and afiemoon walk on 22 October. These ￿re well attended. Private visits We opened for two pTrrfate vists, one for Jewsh visltors to Bath and one for descendants of the Hillier family who INed in the cottage. We also hosted the Bath Listed Building team who were impressed Ntrith our conservation approach and ￿Stora￿'0n. The Bath Interfaith Pilgrimage Walk also included the Bath Ground in their walk on 10 September. About 20 people of all religions attended. nd raisin even We held a very successfvl fundraising event on 7 June whlch was included in the Bath Fringe Festival. Following the fascinating talk about Jewish refugee arts'sts of the East End given by Desanka Rowell in 2022, we were delighted that she agreed to hold another. also in support of the Burial Ground. Two Worfds.. the wortd of the soul and the reality of politics tokl the story of so The Trustees consider that the a￿Irt requirement of Section 144(1} of the Charities Act 2011 (the Act) does not apply, and that there is no requirement in the Goveming Document for the conducting of an audit. Income to the tharlty in 202J?4 was below £25.(MX) and therefore independent examination is not required. to th Flnanclal Ststffiients Tnwtaes 2023r24 Moya Boardman Jane Briggs Christina Hilsenrath Craig (Chair) Ann Cullis lan Parsons David Taylor TnMtev' rnmuneratlon and beneffts There were no Trustee8' remunerats'+)n or other benefits for the year end8d 31 March 2024 nor for the year ended 31 March 2023. There were no Tru8tee8' expenses paid for the year ended 31 Marth 2024 nor for the year énded 31 March 2023. Staff There y￿re no ernploye88. Chri8Jna Hilsenrath Craig, Chair