2021-04-30-accounts - The Rottingdean Preservation Society

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ROTTINGDEAN HERITAGE

9 August 2021

ANNUAL REPORT

AGM | Tuesday 24th August 2021 at 6pm | Whiteway Centre

In Brief…

Chair’s Report

Chris Davidson

NEW LIFE FOR THE PHONE KIOSK

RH acquired the phone kiosk from BT early in 2020, and it has become a popular book-swap during the pandemic

NEW VILLAGE SIGNS

All change! Rottingdean Preservation Society finally became Rottingdean Heritage at the AGM held in December 2020. Since then we have been consulting widely to re-position ourselves as a heritage organisation, and are developing a new constitution as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). The focus will be on more use of the various heritage buildings we own by the community, for the benefit of visitors and the village alike.

The change of name has coincided with changes in the committee. Rob Upward , well known to many for his support for the stewards and the Grange, will step down, and is ably replaced by Sue Jones , a distinguished artist who has recently moved to the village. Anne-Sara Odor and Marcus Bagshaw , who have both done so much to enhance the Gallery and Museum over the past few years have also resigned, and we welcome Fiona Kirkcaldy (Gallery), and Mike Laslett (Museum). Both are already planning an exciting programme for next year.

Like all other organisations, COVID has had a major impact on our activities, but once regulations eased, we have been pleased to see how quickly visitors have returned, particularly at the Windmill, and we are now open every Sunday during the summer.

The coming year should see many developments in the society, with the formation of the CIO, and the planning for a major exhibition to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Sir William Nicholson’s birth at The Grange, where he lived just over a century ago.

As always, we can only continue with the support of our volunteers and members, who have been so loyal over the course of this pandemic. But we do need to attract more if we are to realise our ambitions, and we are planning a programme of members events over the coming year with this in mind.

RH, working with other organisations in the village, have installed updated signs to replace those made for the RPS over 30 years ago, both in the village and on the Terraces.

Secretary’s Report

Rowena Bennett

We were delighted to welcome back the Castle Theatre Company from Durham University in mid-July who gave two excellent performances of “All’s Well That Ends Well” in the lovely rear gardens at The Grange. Members were offered priority purchase of tickets

ANNUAL REPORT 2021

ROTTINGDEAN HERITAGE

9 August 2021

MR KIPLING MEETS STANLEY

Mike Laslett, our curator, introduces Rudyard to Stanley, a popular puppet from BBC Children’s TV, in May this year.

SHAKESPEARE IN THE GRANGE GARDEN

Rottingdean Heritage welcomed back the Castle Theatre company again this July. The show nearly didn’t happen because of COVID amongst the cast, but they finally made it - All’s Well that Ends Well, indeed!

GALLERY RE-OPENS

Mikey Skinner’s colourful show welcomed visitors when regulations eased and the Gallery re-opened in May.

and both nights were sold out well in advance. It is our intention to find ways to offer more activities to our members in the future; any ideas that members may have for such activities will be of interest to the committee.

The use of the phone kiosk as a book swap proved very successful during the lockdowns when the library was closed and charity bookshops were not open. Interest in the book swap has now waned and alternative uses are being considered.

Treasurer's Report

Sue Swinnerton

At the close of business 30 April 2021 Rottingdean Heritage had cash funds of £31,547 and Investments of £205,196. The cash funds are notably higher than other years due to Business Grants received from BHCC during lockdown. We added £15,000 to our Investments and spent funds renewing the kitchen at the Grange to ensure it is compliant with health and safety requirements.

Funds totalling £2,842 was spent on the Grange gardens, fully employing our gardeners throughout the year and ensuring the gardens are constantly kept up to their incredibly high standard. We have started to update facilities at the Gallery with the introduction of a Cash Register and Wi fi. During the very difficult year of 2020 we chose not to charge Artists for rent for the Gallery nor did we charge them commission.

All aspects of RH accounts have been examined to see where savings could be made. Investments have been set aside for the upkeep of all Rottingdean Heritage buildings, especially the Windmill. Full details of the year’s accounts are circulated to members with the Agenda for the AGM.

The Grange Gallery 2021

Fiona Kirkcaldy, Art Gallery Director.

In January I took over the role of Art Gallery Director. Circumstances were anything but normal at the time; we were in lockdown, so I could neither visit the gallery, nor meet anyone connected to it. It wasn’t the best of starts!

Finally, in May, we threw open our doors again with an exhibition by Mikey Skinner. His show Brighter Days was bursting with exactly the colour and life we needed after the long winter lockdown.

Since then, we have been hosting back-to-back exhibitions, recruiting and training new stewards, streamlining our operations and systems, and planning new shows.

In June Louise Arnold came on board as Gallery Manager, immediately improving the running of the gallery. Pat Rosine has also worked tirelessly as Steward Manager, motivating stewards, planning our Garden Party and Day Trip, and much else.

We have some very exciting exhibitions booked for later in the year. ReThreaded the popular textile group will be exhibiting in September,

ANNUAL REPORT 2021

ROTTINGDEAN HERITAGE

9 August 2021

VIRTUAL WINDMILL TOUR

Our 1802 19th Century windmill meets 21st Century virtual technology, thanks to Greg, a village resident, from Future Virtual. This marvellous technology is able to show parts of the mill that are never usually accessible for the public to view. Visit www.rottingdeanheritage.org.uk and register to view!

ROTTINGDEAN TREASURES

These Tyrolean visitors to Rottingdean between the Wars featured in this year’s exhibition of our Archives by Mike Laslett. Among the many new exhibits are the Roll of Honour from St Aubyns School for the two World Wars which is the result of painstaking research by John Cummings.

View these and many more images in the new Archive section of our website: www.rottingdeanheritage.org.uk

and the ‘Hundred Heroines - Museum on Demand’ photographic exhibition planned for November promises to be extraordinary.

We will also be sprucing up the gallery space, remodelling our ‘shop’ area and adding some Rottingdean Heritage branded merchandise to our stock. An artist said to me recently – ‘There’s nowhere in Sussex quite like The Grange’ – maybe that’s why 2022 is fully booked already!

Windmill Report

Colin Dellar

In May and June 2021 local artist Amanda Rosenstein Davidson held an art exhibition in the Mill. The first 3 weekends of the exhibition commemorated Tin who was the founder of 'Stomp' and the final 3 weekends were part of the Brighton Festival Open Houses . This exhibition attracted 1060 visitors. In July through to the end of September the Mill will be open every Sunday afternoon. This is a substantial increase to our usual openings and it will be interesting to see how many visitors we get.

The Mill is in good condition and the only work outstanding is to replace the metal plate which surrounds the shaft on the outside where it enters the Mill and it is hoped that this work will take place this summer.

Museum and Archive

Mike Laslett, Curator

In 2021 the pandemic starved us of personal visitors, but did not stop the continual string of queries by e-mail concerning enquirers’ properties and their family trees. It also meant extra time available for filing in the archive room and I can now locate things more easily.

We continued to receive donations and are always pleased to receive more. A collection of small photographs of the village in 1908 were enlarged to make an attractive photo montage which may also appear on mugs and tea towels in future.

As soon as restrictions eased, we were pleased to mount yet another of our ‘Treasures’ exhibitions but this time we had the whole of the North Room to use. Many of the items, such as items from the village school and Rottingdean School, reference books and some Edwardian clothing, were being exhibited for the first time. I was ably assisted by John Cummings, Karen North, Sue Swinnerton and Mike Jolley in mounting the exhibition.

Wearing my curators hat I had the dubious pleasure of showing the Kipling Room to Stanley, a puppet from BBC Children’s TV.

Membership and Media Report

Barry Wright, Membership Secretary, Publicity, Media and Web

More membership challenges

Unfortunately the number of active members fell again in 2021 down to 210 from 251 in 2020, and although our volunteer numbers remain

ANNUAL REPORT 2021

ROTTINGDEAN HERITAGE

9 August 2021

MEMORIAL GARDEN IN THE JEKYLL TRADITION

A generous donation from the St Margaret’s Women’s Group has enabled Sue Backhouse and her team to create a memorial bed in the upper garden at The Grange. This gave the opportunity of building a Jekyll bed from scratch, using an area that was previously the site of an old tree stump - a very welcome addition to the award-winning Grange Gardens.

reasonable at 47, the downward trend that I have reported for the last few years continues.

It would be easy to blame this on the circumstances of the last sixteen months, but the trend is clear and we must do more to attract new members and volunteers. The popularity of the members-only event of Shakespeare in the Grange is encouraging and we will work to develop further such events throughout next year as clear membership benefits.

Our social media presence has increased dramatically (especially on Facebook where we have 554 followers) but this hasn't yet resulted in more individuals committing their cash to the work of our charity.

Better news from our site

On a more positive note, our website www.rottingdeanheritage.org.uk has been very well received, and is now becoming central to the way we communicate with members and volunteers alike. If you wish to get regular blog communications from us you need to register as a SITE MEMBER which is easy to do. So far we have 84 site members who have done just that, but if you need help with this then please get in touch and we can guide you through the process.

Some interesting statistics for you:

More people access the site from their mobile phones (1698) than their computers (1569) and tablets (233)! This year (Jan - July 2021) we have had 3500 sessions with 2155 unique visitors and an average visitor time of 2m 41s - so the site is doing well and growing. The top five pages are: 1) Home Page, 2) The Grange, 3) What's On Now, 4) The Grange Tea Garden and 5) What's On Next.

We have certainly upped our game in supporting the artists that exhibit at The Grange Gallery, and this should translate into more interest and a higher footfall. We will continue to work hard to raise the profile of Rottingdean Heritage online and hope that this will eventually lead to more members joining the society.

Finally, we do need more volunteers to help with the social media side of our activities, especially on Instagram, so if you know of anyone who would be interested in getting involved then please let me know.

Barry Wright rhmemsec@gmail.com

Keep up to date with all our exhibitions and other activities on: www.rottingdeanheritage.org.uk

ANNUAL REPORT 2021

RorriNGDEAN HERFTAGE Charity Number. 264056 Receipts and Payments Accounts For the Year Ended 30 April 2021 Sectlon A Receipts and Payments Funds Funds Funds Funds Year Receipts SUbstuitn8 Grftd Doftations Donan$ Rent Rece Tea Garden Eyhil)ftM)ns and Rerrt Musèum Sales Other Income Fr¢m SubscriptKJnsAttount 780 1.375 558 17.4(KJ 2,495 25,108 4.688 25,870 630 760 11.500 1.400 4.594 11,5 1.400 4.594 586 18276 18276 42.046 42.tJ46 75,808 At and Inveslment Sales Fiom United Trust Bank From sdOWn Hargreakes 14,000 14.000 Total ReceFpts 41046 42.046 89,808 Payments Museum Stock for Res* Museum Costs Grange Rent and Rale5 Utilities Advertising and Pub Grange Runnmg Costs Gardening and Pknts Rep8ws. Maintenance and Securty ComrnerciJ and Ger¢eral Insurance Membefshffjj Costs Arttst Payments Inetof ComMS1Ol Wd[ffl Rep5 and Pawts SubsGriptions and DonatK)ns Meetings and Annual Report Mts¢elkneou$ 1.440 S.213 434 5,785 8.154 2.420 6.154 2,420 1.910 6.453 2,976 5.884 2.842 2.842 5.794 5.794 10.079 2.683 1156 4.508 755 4.508 755 25 335 19,557 S20 176 400 272 57.599 A$sand knve51ment PLfrchases Tts Untsl Trust Bk 15.000 15,orKJ 15.000 15,000 Total Payments 47.8S4 47,854 57.599 Not of Rrt6iptsl{Payments 5.808 32,209 Trnn¥frrs Belln Funds Cash Funds Lastyear End 37.355 37.355 5.146 ash Funds This Year End 31,547 31.547 37.355

ROTllNGDEAN HERITAGE Charlty Number: 264056 Receipts and Payments Accounts For the Year Ended 30 April 2021 Section B Statement of Assets and Liabilibes as at 30 April 2021 Endowment Funds FIMds Cash Funds Uoyds TSB Current Account 5.282 Petty Cash Lisit Prol&on Total Cash Fund8 31,547 Hargreave5 Lansdown Pcmddio Un"(£ed Trust Bank 7.152 Funds to which CurTent Val Assets Retsined for Charitys Own Ik%e Stock ft)r Resale 4.591 4.591 Funds io whith AmoLmt liability reles Due Llabilities Deposit held Te Flat Deposit held Te Tea Garden Independent Examin8s' In1 due Unrestrirt 700 UnrestEirA Signed by one ortv trustees on behalf of all thg tntstees.. Signature l)*e of Approwal ozi

Independent Examiner's Report on the Accounts Report to the trustees of Rottingdean Heritsge on accounts for the year ended 30 April 2021 I report to the trustees on my examirgtÉon ofthe accounts ofthe above tharity l.the TrusVI for the year ended 30April 2021. Respective responsibilities of trust5 and examiner Asthe chariWstrustees are respDnsible for the preparab.on of the accounts in acwrdante with the requirements of the Charities Att 20111.the Arfl. The chartV5 trustees considerthat an audit is not required forthis year {under section 144121 of 2011 Act and that aft Independent examinatiors is needed. It Is my resporsibility: To exarnine the èccounts under section 145 ofthe 2011 A¢L' To followthe procedures laid down in the General Directions gNen by the Charity Commissioners under section 145101 ol the 2011 Act.- To stste whether parbcular matters have a)me to my attention. Basis of independent examine5 report My èxamination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions gtven bythe Charity Commission. An examination indudes a remew of the accour*ting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the actounts presented with those records. tt also indudes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the 3ccounts and seeking explanations from you ès tn]¢4ees conmIng any such matter5. The prOdureS undertèken do not prowde 311 the evidence that would be required audit, and consequently no opinion is glven as to whetherthe accounts pre5enta.true and fairf view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statsment below. Independent examinerfs statement I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matter5 have come to my attertion l. Which gives rlle rea50nable Uset9 believe that in. any material respett, the requirements: To keep accounting records in accordan with sertion 130 ofthe 2011 Act: and To prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and cornplywith the accounting requirements ofthe 2011 Art: have not been met: or 2. Towhich, in rrty opinion. atter¥tion should be drawn in orderto enable a proper under5taftding of the accounts to e reached. Signed= Date= 25 August 2021 Name: Philip Woodgate. FCCA Professional Body: ACCA Address: Woodgate Accounting ServiS Ltd. Unit43. Newhaven Enterprise Centre, Newhaven. EastSusse& BN99BA