## Charlbury Museum & Heritage Centre 

Annual Report 2023-24 

## **Charity Number: 1200994** 


Address: 

Charlbury Museum & Heritage Centre 

The Corner House 

Market Street 

Charlbury OX7 3PN 

## Trust Structure & Management 

On January 31, 2025, the Charlbury Museum and Heritage Centre had 5 Trustees: 

|**Name**|**Date of Appointment**|
|---|---|
|Anthony Graeme|07.01.2024|
|John Campbell|07.01.2024|
|Susan Rangeley|14.11.2022|
|Stephen Bartlett (Treasurer)|19.03.2023|
|George Ogier|07.01.2024|



All Trustees are volunteers and local residents. Trustees are recruited from our community. We do not have a chair, and decisions are made through consensus at our monthly meetings – which are chaired on a rotation. The post of Secretary is currently vacant due to a recent resignation: the position is currently being advertised. 

## Activities, Achievements and Performance 

The Charlbury Museum and Heritage Centre collects, displays, and maintains artefacts, archives, and photographs relating to the town of Charlbury, and assists research into its history, for the benefit of local people and the wider public in general. 

In 2023-24 a program of museum work involved specialist volunteers and helpers from the community: 

- Digitizing the museum photographic archive 

- Cataloguing the museum collection, updating the records and labelling 

- Specialist conservation cleaning sessions prior to opening 

## Exhibitions 

The Museum has a permanent collection tracing the Town’s history. 

Each year there is a special exhibition, for the 2023 season (April – September) the museum curated a small show titled: _**Hidden Treasures – Hidden Histories.**_ Inspired by some recent donations by a local detectorist, the museum was loaned other historic items found in the locality by another detectorist, plus pieces from the permanent collection. It was very popular, attracting the interest of the community. 



In 2023 the museum received a number of important donations to its permanent collection from local people and organizations: 

   - An early 19[th] century longcase clock by a Charlbury maker 

   - The Christopher Bartlett Collection (Charlbury honey producer of early 20thc) 

   - Sir Peter Parker commemorative train nameplate gifted by the Cotswold Line Promotion Group. ( a special event was hosted in Charlbury Museum with members of the CLPG) 

- A team of over 30 volunteer stewards from Charlbury welcomed visitors from during the 2023 season. 

## Engaging with Oxfordshire Museums 

As one of the smaller museums in the county, Charlbury Museum & Heritage Centre values the interaction with other local museums and is a Member of the Oxfordshire Museums Council. One trustee regularly attends the monthly meeting of the Heritage Collections Group in Burford, Oxon. 

## Fundraising 

The museum is not currently grant aided, so fundraising initiatives are important. 

Two annual fundraisers for the museum took place in the summer of 2023, organised by the Trustees and a volunteer team, they were well supported by the community. 

## Separation 

The Museum was first established in 1949 and moved to its current buildings in 1962. Until recently, the Museum was managed by a committee of the Charlbury Society. However, in 2022 it was agreed that the Museum would be better able to apply for grants – and therefore put itself on a more professional footing – if it became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) in its own right. The Trust was established as a CIO in November 2022 and in 2024, the separation from the Charlbury Society was completed. 

## Accreditation 

The CM&HC is now registered with the Arts Council and commenced work towards accreditation in 2023. The museum is being guided by Philip Claris, Accreditation Advisor, and Southeast Museum Development, in October 2023 he visited the museum to meet with trustees and a volunteer who is helping with the process. In early 2024 a Mentor, Victoria Stevens was appointed, and the museum will look forward to engaging with her in the year ahead. 

## Public Benefit 

For over 75 years Charlbury Museum has been at the heart of the community. It continues to offer visitors an inspiring glimpse into the history of the town and offers specialist archive research on family history to local visitors and from abroad too, plus historic information on the buildings and land in the Charlbury area. 

Outreach work seeks to involve the local primary school, plus clubs and societies. 



Financial Review: These are the accounts of the CM&HC for 2023-24 


Tom Bartlett Treasurer March 1 2025