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2025-03-31-accounts

Annual Report for Voices Gloucester

April 2024 to March 31[st] 2025

Reference and administrative information

Trustees at the date of
approval		 C Bebbington, Chair of Trustees
H Forbes, Deputy Chair
C Greenaway, Hon. Treasurer
T Conder
A Mackenzie-White
S Fiebig (appointed 26th November 2025)
S Goddard (appointed 26th November 2025)
Trustees who served
during the year but
resignedprior to approval
R Shafique (stepped back voluntarily from duties
Feb 2025)
K Berkeley (resigned April 2025)
Creative Director J Grange (appointed July 2025. Served as Creative
Director from April 2024)
Correspondence address c/o Gloucestershire Heritage Hub
Clarence Row
Alvin Street
Gloucester
GL1 3DW
Legal Status Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
Charity Number 1207923
Independent Examiners Albert Goodman
5th Floor
25 King Street
Bristol
BS1 4PB
Bank CAF Bank
25 Kings Hill Avenue,
Kings Hill,
West Malling,
Kent
ME19 4JQ

1

Introduction

Voices Gloucester is community-led, inquisitive, and passionate about lived history. We aim to foster creativity by providing a platform for Voices projects that challenge traditional interpretations of history and heritage. Our work respects and supports individual and community voices while developing confidence and engagement. We seek to stimulate meaningful dialogue about the past and its influence on the present and future.

Our core activity is driven by an open access Community Grant Programme, in which communities and individuals are able to propose projects that celebrate and share aspects of Gloucester’s history and heritage. Successful projects are selected by a community panel, and recipients are further supported and mentored in project design and delivery, safeguarding, audience engagement and marketing.

Prior to its registration as an independent charity, Voices Gloucester activities were hosted by a Gloucestershire-based charity GUST, set up in 2016 to act as an incubator and enabler for new projects and emerging talent in the city of Gloucester. Voices Gloucester was registered as an independent charity in its own right on 18 April 2024.

The period covered by this report was thus a period of considerable transition.

Trustees

The charity trustees are responsible for the oversight of the charity and support of its management team. The trustees give their time freely and receive no remuneration or other financial benefits. The trustees meet in alternative months.

Trustees may propose and participate in Voices Gloucester projects, but need to declare a conflict of interest and take no part in decisions which may pertain to the specific project in which they are involved.

Clare Bebbington (Chair)

Clare runs her own community engagement consultancy and previously held senior leadership positions in both private and not-for-profit sectors. She is currently a Trustee of the British Institute for the Study of Iraq and was formerly trustee and director of The John Smith Trust and member of the External Advisory Board for Oxford University’s History Faculty.

Heather Forbes (Deputy Chair)

2

Heather is Gloucestershire’s County Archivist. She is also a founder member of Gloucester Heritage Forum (now vice-chair) and loves to work collaboratively with heritage colleagues and a wide range of community groups across the city and beyond.

Clair Greenway (Hon. Treasurer)

Clair was Executive Director of Cheltenham Literature Festival from 2005-2011. She has been a Board member of the British Arts Festivals Association and a funding evaluator for the Wellcome Trust and Arts Council England. She is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Gloucestershire, and in 2015 was appointed Academic Course Leader for Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management.

Anthony Conder

Tony is a retired Museum Curator and now Volunteer with Gloucester Civic Trust. He researches Gloucester’s History and gives guided tours and talks about it.

Ashley MacKenzie-White

Ashley is an educator, conduit for communities and arts advocate. She was formerly an Engagement Officer for the Museum of Gloucester and is now Engagement Manager, National Museums Scotland. She is a former Outreach Officer for Historic England.

Kate Berkeley[1]

Before her retirement in March 2025, Kate was an archivist at the Gloucestershire Heritage Hub. Her work there provided the inspiration for several Voices projects, including the cataloguing the Lloyd Baker Collection (which included the papers of abolitionist Granville Sharp), and a project commemorating the wartime experiences of 10 Jewish boys who arrived in Gloucester on the Kindertransport in 1939.

Rider Shafique

Rider is a lyricist, MC, artist and producer, with an international profile. He is the founder of I-Dentity, a movement that uses performance and visual arts to explore identity and celebrate diversity. As a Director of the Picturedrome he hosts cultural events, Black Cinema monthly & exhibitions.

Rider Shafique voluntarily stepped away from his Board responsibilities until further notice in February 2025.

1 Kate Berkeley resigned as a Trustee for personal reasons on 27th April 2025

3

Management structure

Voices has a networked organisational model, described in Fig X below.

An active Community Panel sits at the heart of our activity. It considers and reviews grant proposals, making recommendations to the Management Team of projects it considers should receive funding. The membership changes regularly, and in 2024/5 the following individuals attended:

Faatimah Bham

Tony Conder

Ashley Mackenzie-White

Dylan Williams

Viva O’Flynn

Nana Pierre

Zora MacDonald

Debbie Innes-Turnill

The Panel met once in July 2024 and assessed 19 applications to be delivered, to March 2025,

Fig X: Voices Gloucester Organisational Model 2024/5

4

Its Management Team at the beginning of the period covered by this review comprised a Creative Director, Business Consultant, Marketing Consultant and Project Officer. All positions were held via freelance project contracts and confirmed at the Board Meeting in September 2024. Collectively, this team was responsible for the day-to-day operations of Voices Gloucester and the development and implementation of its long-term business plan.

The Board similarly evolved during this period, with the appointment of Chair and Deputy Chair in July 2024.

A working group comprising the Chair, Deputy Chair and Management Team members aims to support effective communication and decision-making.

Recruitment of Trustees

While hosted by GUST, Voices Gloucester was supported by a small working group which included both executive and voluntary/non-executive roles. Three of the founding Trustees were recruited from this group (Clare Bebbington, Heather Forbes and Rider Shafique) and one Trustee (Clair Greenaway) was a Trustee of GUST, giving us continuity as we manage the transition to an independent future.

Voices Gloucester has a close relationship with Gloucestershire Archives, governed by a memorandum of understanding (signed in December 2024), which includes the provision for one Trustee to be appointed from the Archives team. In the period covered by this report, this position was held by Kate Berkeley.

It is our intent that our Board members are recruited from those who have actively engaged with Voices Gloucester. Successful grant recipients often progress to membership of the Community Panel, and we hope that from there some will progress to become Trustees. In September 2024 , Ashley MacKenzie-White joined the Board, having first delivered a Voices Gloucester project ‘Dis Manibus’, a research and film project about ‘Hucclecote Woman’ a Roman woman whose remains are on exhibit at the Museum of Gloucester, and subsequently been an active participant on the Community Panel.

As the Voices Gloucester Board evolves, it is our intent to build the Board’s resilience by:

5

This is one of our key governance priorities in 2025/6.

Objectives

The aim of Voices Gloucester, as set out in our governing document is:

To advance education for the public benefit in the history and cultural heritage of the city of Gloucester and Gloucestershire and the people who lived and live there.

We do this through:

The curation and presentation of exhibitions, films, audio visual and written documents, other creative art forms, lectures, talks and workshops in educational establishments and public spaces

The provision of grants to support artists, charities and not-for-profit community groups who curate and produce such material to facilitate public education and preserve history and heritage for future generations

We deliver these objectives by:

Our legacy will be a resilient, adaptable organisation able to:

6

Achievements and performance 2024/5

Summary

Between March 2024 and April 2025, Voices Gloucester:

Examples of Voices Gloucester projects

Empowering Voices

In November, agencies from all over the city of Gloucester came together for the launch of new research about the needs and wishes of Gloucester’s young people and a film supported by Voices Gloucester. This project was led by a youth-led Gloucester community organisation CHISPA and carried out by a specially trained team of young researchers.

Belonging and Unbelonging

In September 2024 community quilt makers shared a platform in Gloucester Cathedral as part of Voices Gloucester’s annual Threads programme, which focuses on collaborative textiles projects as a way of exploring identity, heritage and feelings of belonging and unbelonging.

7

Gloucester First series of films

The Gloucester First series of films, captures heritage that is in risk of being lost by talking to senior people in the community about their own history. These have included short films about the first Mosque, the first Black owned business, the first interracial marriage, and, in 2024, the first Chinese School. The latter was showcased at the first Voices Gloucester film night, which also featured other Voices projects including Gloucester Rolling, about the developing community and culture of Gloucester’s skatepark, and Hucclecote Woman, a film bringing the Roman remains of ‘Hucclecote Woman’ to life.

Dordi Dordi, Dikka Kie

Our collaboration with Romany descendant Kelly Horsley supported her exploration of her family's history. This resulted in two exhibitions: the first was Kushti Divvus (Hello & Welcome) which shared over a hundred photographs, and detailed disappearing Romany cultural traditions. In June 2024, this was followed by Dordi Dordi Dikka Kie (Oh Dear Look at This) in which Kelly explored how Romany history had been presented in the media. Two ‘Romany Days’ at The Folk of Gloucester engaged over 200 people, many of whom had never attended a cultural event, or had their histories celebrated. Kelly's achievement was recognised by the national Family, Friends and Travellers Award for Culture and Heritage in 2024.

Beating Back the Past

The world’s oldest surviving music from the voices of enslaved people on the sugar plantations of Barbados was central to a trailblazing textiles and music installation hosted in Gloucester Cathedral in September 2024. Rider Shafique, a Gloucester artist of Bajan descent, and renowned photographer Vanley Burke, took this 18[th] century ‘slave song’ is a UNESCO world heritage document, held in Gloucestershire Archives, as a starting point for their exploration of the impact of the transatlantic slave trade. Together they explored the challenging themes of torture, inherited trauma and the legacy of chattel slavery. There was an accompanying programme of talks hosted by the University of Gloucester.

Squash!

Squash! was an exhibition telling the stories of the Lonsdale Youth Club in the 1970s – how friendships were made and the influence of music, sport and other activities on the young people living nearby.

The Schools Heritage Programme

8

Since 2022 we have worked in partnership with Gloucestershire Archives to deliver a schools programme co-designed with teachers and pupils. Each year we deliver a Heritage Schools Training day to teachers with Historic England, and in 2024/5 delivered the following:

Blue Plaque Project: a history of your school Three Gloucester primary schools researched at archives, then worked with a film maker to create films hosted on school and Voices, and also accessed by a blue plaque at the school.

Heritage Ambassadors - 17 pupils from 7 secondary schools worked with Gloucestershire Archives, Gloucester Cathedral and the Docks in the academic year 23/24, with a further 15 engaged in 24/25 who worked with Canon Photography and 100 Heroines, Gloucestershire Archives and Gloucester Cathedral

This culminated in a one-day Schools Heritage Conference held in June with workshops, discussions and guest speakers – including those who have led Voices Gloucester projects - held at the University of Gloucester.

Plans for Future Periods

During 2024/5 we developed a resilience funding bid for NLHF, which we were successful in being awarded shortly after in June 2025. This programme will run until December 2026, and which will enable us to:

  1. Deliver 20+ innovative community-led projects with low barriers to participation, distributing grants under £3k

  2. Develop mentoring/skills to increase participation

  3. Pilot green heritage projects

  4. Capitalise on trusted relationships by championing community-led history/heritage by establishing a strong, resilient organisation with robust staffing, sustainable funding and effective governance

  5. Empower Community Panel to inform VG decision-making

  6. Extend digital assets to enhance impact/legacy

Our legacy will be a resilient, adaptable organisation able to:

9

Financial Review

Prior to the charities incorporation Voices existed as a project with GUST a charitable incorporated organisation charity registration No. 1164727. As an incubator company GUST handled a small number of transactions (c£60k) in 2024-25 during the transition period. The transactions will be reviewed as part of GUST's annual accounts and GUST will report to the Charity Commission regarding this phase of the incubation relationship.

Voices Gloucester was incorporated in October 2024 and this is our first reporting period. Total income for the period was £80,854.68 and total expenditure was £23,714.71 . Income was received primarily from grant funding and expenditure related to establishing the charity and delivering initial activities.

At the year-end, the charity held cash balances of £57,139.97 in unrestricted funds. Given the early stage of development, this provides a modest but sufficient level of funds to support planned activities in the coming year. During the year, the charity did not hold any restricted funds. All income was unrestricted and applied to charitable purposes.

At this early stage, the charity does not yet have free reserves. Trustees are committed to developing a sustainable reserves base during the next financial year of £25,000. The trustees recognise that the main risks facing the charity are its reliance on short-term, small-scale funding and the need to increase income. These risks are being monitored and managed as the charity grows.

The charity does not hold any investments. Cash is held in a standard CAF Banking Charity account.

Acknowledgements

Voices Gloucester is grateful for the support of out many community, heritage and cultural partners across the city, and our funders and supporters in 2024/2025, which included:

National Heritage Lottery Fund

Historic England

Gloucester City Council - Shared Prosperity

Gloucester Culture Trust

All at GUST

10

All at Gloucestershire Archives

With particular thanks to our dedicated Board, Community Panel, and Community Practitioners

The Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts were approved by the board on 26th November 2025. Signed on behalf of the Board of Trustees:

Name:-

Signature:-

Date:-

11

VOICES GLOUCESTER All at Gloucestershire Archives With particular thanks to our dedicated Board, Community Panel. and Community Practitioners The Trustees, Annual Report and Accounts were approved by the board on 26th November 2025. Signed on behalf of the Board of Trustees: Name: Signature: Date:_ 3.12 10 11

----- Start of picture text -----
Voices Gloucester No (if any)
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period Apr-24 Mar-25
To
from
----- End of picture text -----

These accounts have been prepared on a cash accounting basis with unrestricted funds only. The charity was registered on 18th April, but activities did not commence until 19th November. Expenditure and income prior to that date were administered by GUST(No. 1164727) and will be reported within their statutory accounts for the same period. GUST is an incubator for new projects in the arts and heritage in

----- Start of picture text -----
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds Last year
funds funds funds
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Grants 5000.00 - £ - 5,000.00 -
Services 24980.00 - £ - 24,980.00 -
Other Revenue 50861.84 - £ - 50,861.84 -
Interest 12.84 - £ - 12.84 -
0.00 - £ - - -
0.00 - £ - - -
0.00 - £ - - -
0.00 - £ - - -
Sub total (Gross income for
AR) 80854.68 - £ - 80,854.68 -
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
0.00 - £ - -
0.00 - £ - - -
Sub total 0.00 - £ - - -
Total receipts 80854.68 - £ - 80,854.68 -
A3 Payments
Community Panel Admin 12.70 - £ - 12.70 -
Voices Events 500.00 - £ - 500.00 -
Community Grant Panel 1417.50 - £ - 1,417.50 -
Consulting 21069.00 - £ - 21,069.00 -
General Expenses 42.99 - £ - 42.99 -
Insurance, Governance & Admin 242.58 - £ - 242.58 -
IT Software and Consumables 317.95 - £ - 317.95 -
Subscriptions 31.20 - £ - 31.20 -
Telephone & Internet 80.79 - £ - 80.79 -
Sub total 23714.71 - £ - 23,714.71 -
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
0.00 - £ - -
0.00 - £ - -
Sub total 0.00 - £ - - -
Total payments 23714.71 - £ - 23,714.71 -
Net of receipts/(payments) 57139.97 - £ - 57,139.97 -
A5 Transfers between funds 0.00 - £ - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 0.00 - £ - - -
Cash funds this year end 57139.97 - £ - 57,139.97 -
----- End of picture text -----

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

11/12/2025

1

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrestricted fund5 to neartsi£ Restricted funds Endowment funds tp nwest£ Categorfjes to nearest £ 81 Cash funds Ckning Bank Balance 57,139.97 rotal cash fund5 57.139.97 aCCr￿(sI} UT¥re5tri¢ted funds to neAVtst£ R•5tricted fund5 to eartSt£ Endowment fyni15 lo nearest£ ukrainya￿ Fund inv￿Ce 472.50 Fund iowhlch asset bElon CO￿ lop¥onall Currfrntvalue lonal ctail.£ Fundto whlch as¥pt belvn Gu￿ent Valu B4 Assets retalned for the charit5es own use i oi- Fund to whlch relates Unresiriclod Fun Unrestrir.l¢d Fund knountdua onal 787.07 1,000.00 Details Tlah Clarke knsur£nce Inv Q0053 Invoicefrom Aert GDDdmah (Exiemal Whett duE B5 Llabllltles Signed by one or INstges behatt of all the trustees Signature Print Namg Date of approval . &E66idGTo CCXX R2 accouTris ISSI 04112r2025

Voices Gloucester Independent Examinerfs Report to the Trustees For the Period Ended 31 March 2025 Albert Goodman Independent examlners report to the Trustees of Volces Gloucester I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts for Vol￿$ Gloucester I'the charity.) for the period ended 31 March 2025. Responsibilities and basis of report As the trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordan￿ with the requirements of the Charities Act 20111.the 2011 Act"). I report in respect of my examination of the charity's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515llb} of the 2011 Act. Indepgndent gxamingr's statement I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the 2011 Act- or the accounts do not comply with these records I have no concerns and have come across no other mallers in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order lo enable a proper understanding of the accounts lo be reached. Mlchelle Ferrls Bsc {Honsl FCA DChA Albert Goodman LLP Goodwood House Blackbrook Park Avenue Taunton Somersel TA12PX Date.. 15 December 2025