## **Market Harborough Story Centre** ## **Registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation** **No. 1198936** **Annual Report and Accounts Year Ended 31[St ] March 2025** 1 **Market Harborough Story Centre Trustee Report Year ended: 31[st ] March 2025** ## **Trustees:** **Sarah Smyth (Chair) (Deceased August 2024)** **Eleanor Shepherd** **Kate Chapman (Resigned 20[th] October 2025)** ## **Claire Bower (Chair)** **Ron Counte (Appointed 3[rd] October 2025)** ## **Christine Herrick (Resigned 3rd October 2025)** Market Harborough Story Centre (MHSC) was registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) on 12[the ] May 2022. **Objects:** The promotion for the public benefit of the art of storytelling by the provision of opportunities for public education and participation. ## **Activities 1[st] April 2024 to 31 March 2025** The main focus of the charity in the year ending 31 March 2025 was to attempt to secure a permanent base of operations for the charity and a local community arts centre. A number of sites had been looked into. MHSC worked with the Little Bowden local community group regarding a proposed new building on the Overstone Park development, but this was not ideal due to being some way from the Town centre at the top of Kettering Road. Other sites including those in Coventry Road and Granville Street were looked at but focus switched to the Community Centre in Roman Way when it became known that the owners Leicestershire County Council (LCC) had decided to sell it. Roman way is a centrally located 18,500 sq. ft. facility with a small number of existing tenants but with the majority of its 27 different areas unoccupied. It was considered by MHSC to be a perfect site for a Community Art Hub and could accommodate performance areas, meeting room, lecture and teaching rooms, gallery space, and income generating café facilities. It could also potentially house a cinema. MHSC set up a sub group called Arthouse 36 and a detailed business case was drawn up for presentation to LCC with a view to requesting a Community Asset Transfer of the site. Sarah Smyth and Ron Counte appeared on HFM promoting the idea and meetings were held between Arthouse 36, LCC and The local MP to pursue the matter. 2 LCC decided against a community asset transfer but MHSC were able to persuade Harborough District Council to reclassify the building as a Community Asset of Value on 6th August 2024. This change of status would have to be taken into account by planning committee on any proposal regarding the site in the coming five years. It also created a six month moratorium period during which LCC could not sell the site, and also gave the community the right to submit a bid. LCC valued the site at up to £2 million. MHSC then pursued potential sources of funding to submit a bid. Meetings were held with The Market Harborough and Bowden’s Charity (MHBC) who undertook a feasibility study and held consultations with a variety of local creative and charitable groups. As a result of these consultations they determined that there was sufficient demand from local groups to merit a bid for the building. This was done in October 2024 but LCC accepted another offer. the site will now become a school for children with special educational need. Despite the disappointment of failing to secure the site after a tremendous amount of time and effort on the project, MHSC felt that there were positives to be drawn from the project, namely that MHBC are persuaded on the benefit of funding a local Community facility, and that they are willing to invest significant six figure sums to secure such a site. Accordingly MHSC will continue to pursue options for such a facility. The Roman Way project took up most of the MHSC attention during the year. However a number of creative activities were also undertaken. The Film Producing division (HFP) filmed two new short original dramas, the first of which was made available online in September 2024. HFP were admitted to the Film and Video Institute in April, and were featured in the August edition of the national Film and Video Makers magazine in August promoting story telling at the heart of the process. A fourth film was in post-production in February 2025 and rehearsals were underway for a fifth film in March. The ChairArt division held two highly successful exhibitions, one in April and one in June attracting an increasing number of participants. More than 50 artists contributed to the June exhibition and Chair Art now has a permanent display in the Market Hall. On the fundraising front Contributions totalling £150 the sale of programs at Parsnips Theatre groups activities were received in January and February. Ron Counte presented a seminar on recorded sound to the Harborough Culture Café in March generating £50 in speaking fees. The success of this event lead to opportunities to partner with the Culture Café on future events to secure additional funding for the charity. 3 ## **What Next – Planned Activities for 2025-2026** Sadly MHSC fonder and Chairperson Sarah Smyth passed away suddenly in August 2024. Her inestimable contribution to the charity cannot be overstated. As Sarah was the point of contact for the charity’s banking, e-mail, web site, and general administration there was a substantial amount of work to be undertaken to restore these facilities and bring them back under control of the remaining Trustees. This has been achieved. Due to pressing family commitments Christine Herrick also had to step back from day to day involvement with the Charity in January. Her absence was also keenly felt. Christine and Kate Lawson both subsequently resigned as Trustees in October 2025. The remaining volunteers and Trustees have had to reorganise. Ron Counte, a Chartered Accountant, was appointed Treasurer and took over responsibility for finance and preparing the accounts. He was appointed a Trustee in October 2025. It became clear that new volunteers were required to carry the work of the charity forward effectively. To this end the immediate focus for the coming years would be raising awareness of the charity and recruitment of new volunteers. Multi award winning filmmaker Daniel Thomas and local author Diana Bretherick came forward to offer themselves as new Trustees and their skills and experience will be of substantial benefit to the Charity going forward. In the months following the year end MHSC presented at the VE Day celebrations and later has run a series of highly successful creative events at The Harborough Culture Café significantly raising its profile and generating funds. MHSC is now a very well regarded member of the Creative Harborough movement and took part in several events in the Autumn Arts Festival. A date for a Harborough Film Festival featuring HFP and local film makers Infinitra films has been secured for January 2026 at the iconic Harborough Theatre. The Harborough Writers Hub run by Diana Bretherick is now under the overall MHSC umbrella, and many of its members now participate in MHSC run events. Accordingly the talent pool available to the Charity for all forms of story-telling including poetry, stories, songs, plays, and film is extensive and expanding all the time. A Writers day event was held in September generating more funds. The future of the charity now looks very promising. 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