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Arts & Entertainment I Poole
Annual Report and
Financial Statements
YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025
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## Contents 

Introduction – Chairman ........................................................................................................................................................................1 Introduction – Chief Executive................................................................................................................................................................2 Trustees’ Report ....................................................................................................................................................................................4 Management of strategic goals and achievements for 2024/25...............................................................................................................6 Financial review ................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Structure, Governance & Management ................................................................................................................................................ 15 Reference and Administrative Details ................................................................................................................................................... 20 Directors’ responsibilities for financial statements ................................................................................................................................ 21 Independent auditor’s report to the members of Poole Arts Trust Limited ............................................................................................ 22 Consolidated statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2025 .................................................................................. 25 Consolidated statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2024 .................................................................................. 26 Company statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2025 ....................................................................................... 27 Company statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2024 ....................................................................................... 28 Consolidated balance sheet at 31 March 2025 ...................................................................................................................................... 29 Company balance sheet at 31 March 2025 ........................................................................................................................................... 30 Consolidated cash flow statement for the year ended 31 March 2025 ................................................................................................... 31 Notes to the financial statements ......................................................................................................................................................... 32 



**Report of the Directors** 

## **Introduction – Chair** 

As Chair, I am pleased to present this report for the year 24/25 which has seen Lighthouse continue to strengthen its role as a cultural hub for Poole, Dorset and beyond in increasingly challenging circumstances. 

Once again, we delivered our mission of providing a rich and incredibly diverse programme across the wide range of The Arts that we are lucky enough to be able to showcase “under one roof” at Lighthouse. 

This is due to the leadership of Elspeth McBain our CEO, the hard work and ingenuity of our people and the enthusiastic loyalty of our audiences. 

Speaking of roofs, however, we are highly conscious of the increasing costs of maintaining the building; of employing the workforce and literally of keeping the lights on, pressures we are all familiar with in our daily lives. 

The significant increase in these costs over this year has resulted in a deficit, but one we have been able to manage judiciously without sacrificing the programme or the audience experience. We will of course be looking to improve this position in the coming year. 

This past year, we have implemented a number of different initiatives that help us better know and understand our audiences. As you can imagine they are as diverse as our programme which can be quite a challenge for marketing. Our new team has implemented a technology programme called Crowd Engage which integrates with the ticketing and bar ordering systems to make a visit to Lighthouse as seamless and enjoyable an experience as possible and helps us understand the different needs of our different audience segments. This is helping us build a more effective and efficient Marketing Plan which makes best use of our resources. 

At Lighthouse we are driven by the conviction that The Arts are deeply important to personal and community wellbeing because every day we see it in action. 

There is now a growing body of robust evidence that in addition to bringing joy, The Arts yield measurable benefits for mental health, physical well-being, social cohesion, and preventative health. A major study (by DCMS, Frontier Economic, UCL) found that engaging in culture (for example attending events or taking part in creative activity) brings an estimated £8 billion annually in benefits via improved quality of life and increased productivity. Participating in music, theatre and ballet, is particularly linked to reductions in depression and pain, better life satisfaction, and improvements in overall wellbeing, and regular cultural engagement is associated with lower risks of depression in older people. 

Equally, exposure to and participation in The Arts plays a crucial role for early years and school age children in developing creativity, emotional intelligence, social skills, and resilience. 

We must continue to defend the crucial importance of The Arts as funding of all kinds is squeezed, and we are extremely grateful to The Arts Council and to BCP Council for their ongoing support and confidence in Lighthouse. There is, however, always so much more we can do, so we would also like to thank those individuals and organisations who have supported us during the year, either through our Friends programme; through individual donations, or by giving to our Christmas appeal. It really does make a difference. 

We go into the next year with three excellent new Trustees joining the Board, strengthening our Skillset across a range of disciplines and energising us for the challenge and opportunities ahead. 


MT (Mary Teresa) Rainey OBE, Chair of Trustees 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

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**Report of the Directors** 

## **Introduction – Chief Executive** 

I am pleased to reflect on a year that has been both highly productive and deeply rewarding, while also presenting significant challenges— particularly on the financial front. Political and economic instability, both at home and abroad, has affected many aspects of our operations. Rising costs of food and drink, energy, heating, and the significant increase in National Insurance contributions have placed real pressure on the organisation, our audiences, and our artists alike. This has left us with a financial deficit that is greater than we had budgeted, but having anticipated this, we are able to draw on our designated reserves. 

Despite these pressures, artists continue to inspire with their extraordinary work and because of this our audiences have remained engaged and resilient. They continue to support a diverse programme that spans high-profile drama, celebrated performers, innovative new works, and more experimental small-scale artists, both local and international. Audience levels remain strong, a testament to the strength of our artistic offering and the loyalty of our community. 

This year we continued to develop our contemporary music programme, welcoming a diverse range of celebrated artists to our concert hall. Highlights included memorable performances from Paul Weller, Kate Rusby, Nick Mason, Bombay Bicycle Club, Tony Hadley, Afro Celt Sound System, The Unthanks, Boyzlife, Peter Andre, The Levellers, Brit Floyd, Jason Donovan and Blue. 

We remain committed to bringing the very best of today’s music to our audiences. While competition from Bournemouth venues means that some artists and promoters bypass us, we continue to work tirelessly to attract great musicians and ensure our stages reflect the richness and variety of the contemporary music scene. 

We are proud to be the home of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and Bournemouth Symphony Chorus. I am grateful to Dougie Scarfe for his support and collaboration that creates a real partnership.  In 2024, BSO  welcomed Mark Wigglesworth as their new Musical Director, who is captivating audiences. Their extensive programme at Lighthouse gives our communities the chance to experience world-class musicianship and remarkable repertoire, right on their doorstep. 

Our new in-house pantomime Sleeping Beauty was another highlight, delighting 19,000 customers across 39 performances. Making this production was a fantastic achievement and a testament to the dedication and creativity of our teams. We are also deeply grateful for the continued provision of Theatre Tax Relief, which remains vital to the development of new productions and our ability to take creative risks. Our Creative Engagement programme continues to be an integral and important part of our work. It supports artist development, creates opportunities for our community to participate in the arts, and helps local schools to deliver inspiring creative experiences. Sustaining this work is challenging, especially in the current funding climate, and we are deeply grateful to all those who have given their time, resources and financial support to ensure this important programme not only continues but grows. 

Thanks to generous support from the D’Oyly Carte Foundation, and individual donations, we have been able to expand our popular Young Technicians courses to meet demand and to provide bursaries to enable participation. Building on the success of our Young Writers programme, this year we are also launching an adult creative writing initiative, further extending the reach of our engagement work. 

Lighthouse is proud to be an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation and to receive vital support from BCP Council, our freeholder. CEO Graham Farrant and Cllr Andy Martin have given tremendous backing to the local cultural sector, for which we are ever grateful.  We are thankful to all our stakeholders for their continued endorsement of our work and mission. 

Individual donors and sponsors remain crucial to our success. Their generosity has helped sustain our education and learning programmes, while also supporting much-needed updates to our building and equipment. An extraordinary gift enabled us to replace our 30-year-old foyer furniture, transforming the look and feel of the venue and greatly improving audience comfort. We were also delighted to donate our former sofas to local community groups, extending their usefulness. 

Our annual Christmas Appeal once again demonstrated the generosity of our community, enabling hundreds of young people and families to attend our pantomime and other performances and to take part in the arts. 

Alongside our artistic programme, Lighthouse also plays an important role as a venue for commercial and non-artistic events. We were thrilled to receive the Silver Award for Best Business Events Venue at the 2025 South West Tourism Awards — a wonderful recognition of the team’s hard work and hospitality. 

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**Report of the Directors** 

I am indebted to our Chair, MT Rainey OBE, Deputy Chair Monika Barnes and our dedicated Board of Trustees, whose expertise and voluntary commitment continue to strengthen and guide us. 

Everything we do at Lighthouse is a team effort and I am equally grateful to Team Lighthouse, who deliver with skill, humour and enthusiasm every day. This year marked the first full cycle for three of our senior managers, Sue Lloyd, Katy Griffiths and John Baker whose fresh perspectives and ideas have already made a tangible impact. I am grateful to Pete Wilson and Martyn Balson who complete the senior management team for their hard work and support. 

Finally, my heartfelt thanks to our Lighthouse family — our friends, audiences, partners, donors and funders — whose support makes everything we do possible. 


Elspeth McBain, Chief Executive 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

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**Report of the Directors** 

## **Trustees’ Report** 

The Board of directors of Poole Arts Trust Limited and Subsidiary Company present its annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025.  The directors of the trust are its trustees for the purpose of charity law and throughout this report are collectively referred to as its directors. 

## Reference and administrative details 

Poole Arts Trust Limited is a charitable company limited by guarantee.  It is registered as a charity (no. 275961 England and Wales) and as a company (no. 01368325).  The address of its registered office, details of directors and principal external advisers are shown on page 20. 

## Objectives and activities 

The objects of The Trust are to present a rich and well-balanced artistic and entertainment programme to help develop the tastes and expectations of the people of Poole and its surrounding areas.  The Trust also aims to provide audiences with opportunities to experience, learn and participate in a wide variety of complementary activities. 

## Vision 

A nationally significant and regionally important multi-arts venue that is one of the cultural gems of Dorset, at the heart of our community and locally loved. A dynamic, vibrant place where people feel inspired, entertained, welcomed, and where artists and performers feel supported and empowered to do their best work. 

## Mission 

To provide the community of Poole and the wider region with a vibrant, diverse, and relevant cultural programme of live performances, film, engagement, and participation, that entertains, moves, surprises, and challenges our audiences through an ever-changing programme, which stretches from the popular and familiar to the eclectic and innovative, reflecting and respecting the breadth of their interests and their trust in us. 

## Supporting Artists 

Lighthouse is here to enable and encourage established, emerging and experimental artists to create, rehearse and perform their work, using our world class facilities to inspire and delight those who encounter it and support the national arts ecology. 

## Supporting Culture 

As an active and collaborative partner with other creative organisations, Lighthouse supports local strategy to establish the region as a vibrant place to live, work and visit. 

## Supporting our Community 

We are dedicated to maintaining our iconic venue to create a bright, safe and environmentally responsible facility, with a 

range of attractive amenities, activities and cultural opportunities the community can be proud of. 

## Values 

Together with the whole team we have developed three key principles that we apply to all that we do. 

## Aspirational 

We passionately believe in the power and the value of Lighthouse. We believe that bold, audacious arts can enrich and inspire the lives of our community through shared cultural experiences. We are up for it! 

## Welcoming 

We are a friendly and inclusive organisation that is collaborative, open, and responsive. We welcome our staff, volunteers, artists, audiences, partners, and our community and work together effectively and safely, ensuring that teamwork is at the heart of everything we do. 

## Excellence 

We strive for excellence in every aspect of the work we create and present, our workforce and our delivery, to ensure quality remains high and consistent. 

## Principle Aims 

Lighthouse’s principle aims are to: 







## Strategic Priorities 

Our current business plan covers the five years from April 2022 to March 2027. These are the areas we will be focussing on over the next few years: 

- Delivering a wide-ranging and great arts programme 

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**Report of the Directors** 

- Retaining, building, diversifying, and growing our audiences 

- Developing creative people through Lighthouse Academy 

- Connecting with our community 

- Improving equity, diversity, inclusion & belonging 

- Delivering an environmental sustainability strategy 

- Building financial resilience and effective resources 

- Supporting the cultural strategy of the region 

These will be achieved by: 

- Developing our people 

- Building our profile 

- Environmental Sustainability 

- Increasing fundraising & commercial income 

- Developing digital and IT 

## Public benefit 

The wide variety and diversity of a high-quality live arts programme enriches local cultural life and individual growth and development while feeding community interaction, economic prosperity and the national and international profile of Poole, Dorset, and the wider region. 

During these difficult times, where the cost-of-living and inflation crisis, together with an increasing level of global political instability and conflict, is impacting life so fundamentally, the ongoing importance of Lighthouse providing all of these things continues to be emphasised. The venue and organisation’s connection to its audience, staff team and performers is consistently galvanised and in such a way that the benefits will always be present. 

Poole Arts Trust continues to be committed to providing an ever more accessible programme; this is delivered through a number of initiatives and policies. The performance and meeting spaces offer local artists, community organisations and commercial businesses a unique facility in which to perform and meet, with a significant proportion of the programme dedicated to community performances. 

Despite the wider challenges, ongoing investment in our programme, ticketing, finance & EPOS systems, staff teams and café facilities have enabled growth this year. The previous years’ installation of cinema equipment in the Theatre (the launch of ‘Stage on Screen’ represents Dorset’s largest and highest spec independent cinema) has also had a positive impact. 

In terms of audience numbers, the first staging point postCOVID was Summer 2023, after which expected attendance began to recover. At the end of 23-24 a 3% reduction in audiences was a positive outcome, after nearer a 15% reduction in 22-23. The difference now, at the end of 24-25 is negligible (<1%). We are very much in a post-pandemic period now and excited to see growth in audience who, evidence suggests, increasingly value the unique live experiences available at Lighthouse. 

Our audience has always been both urban and rural. Poole has both high wealth and areas of significant deprivation with 32% 

of the town’s population in the lowest socioeconomic groups in the country. Accessible ticket prices, good communications, an ambitious Creative Engagement team, and an exponential planned increase in the use of digital tools are enabling us to reach further into these communities. The organisation has always been careful to maintain affordable ticket pricing to ensure that access to its events and programme are not restricted. In the year ended 31 March 2025 the average ticket price was £21.47 (2024: £21.85). 

Pre-pandemic the organisation invested in a ticketing and sales review with the aims of both maximising earned income and improving accessibility. The result of this investment was that some tickets did become more expensive, but a significant proportion became cheaper. The overall result is a more resilient, forward-looking organisation. At the point the pandemic hit the position was growing stronger, and the latter months of this year give us confidence that the financial effects of the pandemic are now largely in the past. 

Creative Engagement is a key part of our vision, enabling us to support our community to develop cultural career pathways, participate in cultural activity, extend our reach to the local community, meet the needs of specific local groups, and build local and regional partnerships with education providers and regional artists. 

During this year we have provided 111 sessions with over 3,500 participant engagements. Please see further details re. Achievement 2 – Retaining, Building, Diversifying & Growing our Audiences on page 6. 

The organisation has always worked closely with schools, colleges and universities offering talks, mentoring and project participation opportunities. 3,636 (2024: 3,738) schools tickets and 344 complimentary teacher tickets were issued. Over 25% of our work is for children and young people. 

We operate, and continue to grow and develop, a comprehensive access policy, ensuring that all sectors of the community can experience our building and programme. This year we developed a system for online booking of tickets under the accessible tickets scheme. At the end of March over 3,200 (2024: 2,100, 2023: 600) members had signed up to the scheme and the number is continuing to grow. 

Our participation in the BCP Council Access to Leisure and Learning scheme continues to ensure financial barriers are reduced for many on low incomes. We also provided 2,816 (2024: 2,726, 2023: 1,731) free companion seats for disabled patrons. 

Specific activities include 11 dementia film screenings and 50 (2024: 13) ‘Silver Screen’ events, as well as relaxed performances for audience members with autistic spectrum conditions, sensory, communication or learning difficulties and anyone who would benefit from a less formal environment. 

Part of this year’s audience development work has been to consider our existing net promoter score. This is currently set at 82. This is particularly gratifying when, for the same period, for example, Apple are currently posting a score of 62. 

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**Report of the Directors** 

We have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning our future activities. In particular, the directors consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set. 

## **Management of strategic goals and achievements for 2024/25** 

Throughout the ongoing challenges of the current year, we have continued to pursue the organisation’s current strategic priorities (see page 5). 

With the still ongoing inflation / cost-of-living crisis, increasing political instability across the globe and their impact on costs and recruitment, the organisation’s post-COVID recovery has been gratifying but hard won and remains subject to notable caution. We are enormously grateful to all those who support Lighthouse financially and who help invest in the measures to operate in the new and ever-changing environment. 

## Achievement 1 – Delivering a wideranging and great arts programme 

Historically, our programme is significant, broad, and diverse and our ‘80/20 Vision’ underpins how we deliver this. Through this vision we continue to take more ownership of the work we present; 80% of our work is received, but at least 20% is selfproduced or enabled by Lighthouse. Lighthouse is well-known for its diverse programme and high-quality output. 

Even before the pandemic, the impact of the economic downturn that commenced in 2008 forced many companies to change and adapt their business models to survive. One way that Lighthouse responded was by actively supporting work from exciting non-mainstream companies developing opportunities for new talent with real ambition, expanding the programme for younger audiences whilst also honing our own producing and creating skills. 

The successes Lighthouse had achieved despite financial challenges were because the work delivered met the needs of audiences by providing access to the best national work within their locality. A relentless focus on delivering the best work means that attendance is now within just 1% of what we might have expected it to be pre-pandemic. 

BSO are our most significant partner and the good working relationship with the orchestra continues and is underpinned by the Residency and Service Level Agreements which reflect both the financial pressures on Lighthouse following several years of diminishing grant from BCP Council. These have been renewed this year. We have been delighted to continue to support the orchestra’s adoption of streaming to engage with and grow new audiences. 

This year’s programme was packed with highlights including, Paul Weller, Kate Rusby, Tim Peake, Sandi Toksvig, Fisherman’s Friends, London African Gospel Choir, Motionhouse, _Pride &_ 

_Prejudice *Sort Of,_ Acosta Danza, _1984,_ Jah Wobble (who issued a live EP of selected tracks recorded at the show) and Will Young. 

We were also delighted to be able to present our fourth completely self-produced traditional Christmas pantomime, _Sleeping Beauty_ .   Despite the uncertain outlook, audience members were as keen as ever to enjoy this wonderful show at Christmas-time. 

## Achievement 2 – Retaining, Building, Diversifying and Growing our Audiences 

Audiences have remained loyal and engaged, and Lighthouse has bucked the trend that other venues have experienced and attendances are substantially back to pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019-20. 

Our ongoing programme is specifically designed to appeal to a diverse range of visitors from across Poole and the South-west. Children and Young People and people of diverse backgrounds (BAME, LGBTQ+, disabled) are a priority. 25% of our programme is aimed at children and young people and families. We continue to enable Dorset School of Acting and Stagewise to offer training opportunities to young people from the venue. This year saw the Lighthouse-produced inaugural Poole Pride festival. 

Our in-depth work with Arts Council England’s _Illuminate_ project profiles audience data annually. This maps our target audiences to support art-form and organisational benchmarking against other venues, consortia, and geographical areas. Approximately 40% of our users are based in Poole, with the remaining 60% largely travelling from across the south coast and south west. Previous data analysis shows that bookers from the BH area equates to a 23% household penetration rate. 

The central desire to be a genuinely inclusive venue at the service of the community is reflected both in our ticket prices and our continued commitment to ensure everyone, locally and regionally, has access to the unique and vibrant experience Lighthouse has to offer. 

With such a broad range of events, genres, scale, and spaces our continuing challenge is to maintain our existing audiences, who are strong, loyal repeat attenders, whilst both finding new audiences and encouraging them to stay with us and encouraging repeat bookings from one-time visitors. 

Filling all available capacity would require 50% of the adult population within a 45-minute drive time to attend at least once a year. The challenge now is to improve this penetration of the local catchment. 

Our new business plan considers the impact of digital technology on the reach of our audience development strategy. One small step was the organisation’s first foray into podcasting, with the snappily titled Pridecast in support of Poole Pride. The audience development strategy itself is currently subject to significant revision as we aim to take advantage of the enhanced 

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**Report of the Directors** 

communication we can undertake with audiences as technology marches on. 

## Achievement 3 – Developing Creative People Through Lighthouse Academy 

The Lighthouse Creative Engagement programme, which includes Lighthouse Academy under the banner of our ‘GET Creative’ strategy, goes from strength to strength and we continue to develop our relations with schools, artists, and our local community. As well as a fascinating programme of outreach from visiting artists, workshops and pre- and postshow talks we have developed a range of bespoke new programmes of our own. 

The Young Writers and Young Technician’s programmes are now celebrated mainstays of our annual calendar. With both schemes helping incredibly talented young people develop their skills. To this we have added Junior Writers, Pipeline and the Young Producers programme. The two Young Producers played a pivotal role supporting the team in bringing the first Poole Pride festival to fruition. This year’s Young Techs completed their ABTT Copper Award in collaboration with the cohort from the South Bank Technical Academy, achieving an average pass mark of 93%! 

We have continued to develop the ‘Partner Schools’ programme – a formalised, two-way, relationship between the organisation and applicant schools to bring participation and education opportunities to local youngsters and have invested in an additional team member to support this and the wider creative engagement programme. This has proved enormously valuable, with 29 schools now participating and with a notable uptake in the level of commitment and engagement, inspiring pupils and connecting them with the extraordinary work Lighthouse has to offer. In the current year we again increased the number of participating schools. 

This year we supported 121 artists through our Sanctuary programme, providing research & development and rehearsal space and financial support as we seek to lead in growing both talent and Poole’s cultural identity and to ensure the building is utilised even while closed to the public. 50% of this year’s cohort were from previously under-represented backgrounds. 

This year the Sanctuary programme welcomed artists as such as Dan Gaisford (Rank), Victoria Briggs (now bringing our 2025 Christmas show to the Sherling Studio), Lunar Collaborative (New Zealand, our first international company) and Holly Cassidy, who has received further external funding to develop the show. Sanctuary will return again in Summer 2025. 

## Achievement 4 – Connecting with our Community 

Lighthouse provides a significant range of opportunities for people of all backgrounds within our community to take part in a wide range of cultural activities, see inspiring, entertaining, thought provoking and exciting performances through a highquality cultural programme. Our audiences are engaged, curious and eager to get closer to the artists, the creation process and the ideas that are presented.  The pandemic increased our resolve to ensure that Lighthouse is relevant to and provides opportunities for and in our community. We will offer unique opportunities to engage with the artists and creatives who make this work and develop a deeper understanding of the arts. 

We are actively expanding our outreach programme as we are committed to responding to the needs of our community, extending the activities that we offer and   developing new connections and collaborations with communities that we have not yet had links with, and the diverse communities who have an established cultural programme across the BCP region. 

Our aim is for Lighthouse to be the creative heart of the local community through a broad and far-reaching cultural provision that is relevant, targeted and particularly supports young people to connect with cultural activities and experiences. 

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**Report of the Directors** 

Lighthouse has a unique position to provide significant cultural experiences to our communities, to support young people and children to access the arts and to ensure that our BCP region is culturally vibrant and residents, visitors and those who work here can access high quality arts and culture within their own neighbourhood. 

To this end we continue to invest in our Creative Engagement team who develop and deliver our outreach and learning programmes from Poole Pride to Lighthouse Academy, the partner schools programme, and beyond, these are increasingly vital parts of our work. Further additional funding is necessary to bring the programme to its full fruition and the Development team are working hard to support this ambitious programme. 

## Achievement 5 - Improving Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging 

The arts as a whole and Lighthouse in particular are actively confronting the inequalities that exist within the sector, particularly around race and disability. Nationally, one of the Arts Council’s key priorities is diversity in programme, artists, staff, and audiences. This covers a wider range of protected characteristics, including race. 

Lighthouse understands that it has a fundamental responsibility to ensure that representation from the wider UK demographic is seen both within the staff and volunteers as well as the artists and creatives it presents and engages. 

Lighthouse continues to build decisively on the strategic plan for equality, diversity, inclusion & belonging (EDIB). 

Following completion of the AMA’s Breakthrough programme undertaken by all of the SMT, our focus will continue to be on race and disability for the time-being, and this will be supported as we progress into 2025/26 by our comprehensive annual EDIB Action Plan. 

Ethnicity across the organisation has increased from 8% of the workforce in 2022-2023 identifying as other than White British to 11.5% in 2024-25 which is a significant shift.  We are committed to ensuring that our work represents the cultural diversity of the UK as a whole, notwithstanding the comparative levels of diversity in the region itself, which is increasing. 

We aspire to continue a programme of audio described and captioned performances as well as touch tours. We offer relaxed performances where the environment has been specifically adapted for families with children with an Autistic Spectrum Condition, individuals with sensory and communication disorders, those with learning disabilities and anyone who would benefit from a more relaxed environment. This includes both pantomime and orchestral performances, amongst others.  We introduced British Sign Language (BSL) interpreted performances of the pantomime. 

Lighthouse joined the Dorset Race Equality Council and the LGBT+ Network for Change (previously LGBT Dorset Equality Network) in 2019. 

## Achievement 6 – Maintaining a WorldClass Facility 

The award-winning building[1] remains the focus of all our activity and is recognised as an invaluable facility which directly benefits the community locally and across the region. 

As the shift in emphasis brought about by the last few years gathers pace, we will be actively seeking to deliver work via digital technology and to expand, in our planning, what it means to operate a geographically rooted venue in a digital environment while pursuing a 10 year master plan for true environmental sustainability. 

The extensive 2015-17 capital project was driven by a desire to make Lighthouse more open to the local community whilst at the same time significantly enhancing the facilities for the performing artists. The wide range of educational projects and community activities undertaken following the completion of the project is testament to its huge success. The refurbishment has ensured that Lighthouse is enjoying a continued role at the heart of the local community. 

Having retained and progressed in our Investors in People (IIP) accreditation, our staff continue to receive detailed training and mentoring, with a variety of specific programmes in place to ensure – in line with our values - the customer experience at Lighthouse is second-to-none. 

We have continued to support internships in the Marketing team. We are always delighted when we see our interns go on to build further on their training with us or with employment elsewhere in the sector. Our stated aim is for participants from the Young Technicians programme to be provided with ongoing opportunities in the organisation once they have completed their course. We are also pleased to host school-age work experience students throughout the year. 

Purple Seven analytics has long been a key element of our customer feedback process. This system captures feedback on both performances and the venue and has given tremendous insight. This feedback and the related investment in training, facilities and mentorship is proving vital in growing customer service and is seeing the Lighthouse offer go from strength to strength. We also continue to monitor social media to evaluate performances, including Facebook, Twitter, and Trip Advisor, amongst others. 

Lighthouse is a large building and we have committed to reducing our energy and carbon outputs wherever possible. We have made all practical improvements in reducing our carbon 

1 Southwest Community Building Category, 2018 Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) awards. 

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footprint and our building continues to surpass benchmark expectations for our industry sector in terms of its energy efficiency. 

The global environmental situation is of increasing concern and significance to the artistic community, and we are conscious of our responsibility to play our part in addressing this. 

Lighthouse is developing a comprehensive set of actions and targets that are informed by data analysis with a view to reducing our environmental impact and being sustainable in the future. Responding to the arts sectors programme/campaigns on the global environmental situation. Major projects will be planned sequentially over the course of the business plan with smaller projects delivered by other teams across Lighthouse. Every decision we make as an organisation should consider best sustainable practices. 

Organisational procurement policies now ensure internal processes prioritise sustainable and environmental practices and external consultants are in the middle of a high-level review of what specific technologies may be targeted to implement significant change in the organisation’s carbon footprint. This has resulted in a detailed report and set of recommendations tentatively under the banner, _Towards Net Zero._ These recommendations represent a substantial funding challenge that we are beginning to work through now. 

Ensuring we have a healthy workforce has become a major priority post pandemic and the staff wellness programme which was introduced in June 2021 has gone from strength to strength. The organisation appointed its first two Mental Health First aiders in November 2021. Progressive additional intakes have now been inducted and four first-aiders are now providing this invaluable role throughout the organisation. 

positive result earlier than this, in 2023-24. As we increasingly feared at the time, this was an anomaly, mostly fuelled by a particularly unprecedented combination of received shows. Although income is stabilising and, in some instances, growing, costs are increasing at a greater rate and there is a risk medium term investment cannot be achieved as funds are focussed on the nearer term. 

## Achievement 8 – Supporting the Cultural Strategy of the Region 

The cultural strategy for the region continues to evolve since the merger of local authorities that now combine to make up BCP Council and the funding crises that this and many other local authorities are now having to contend with. Lighthouse has taken a central role in working to ensure arts and culture in Poole remains central to the council’s objectives. 

To this end, Lighthouse and BSO proposed the joint working programme with the local authorities and Arts Council which was sponsored by ACE as the Cultural Enquiry, and evolved into a separate, formal, ‘Cultural Compact’ across the whole conurbation and wider region. Significant work has been undertaken to advocate for the continued role of the Compact in supporting the cultural strategy of the region, despite the significant ongoing financial challenges and potential loss of funding. 

The financial challenges faced by BCP council has led to a reduction in funding for cultural organisations, as well as a reduction in staff resources for culture, but the current position is stable, with an underlying positive commitment for the future and the important contribution art and culture makes to the wellbeing of the region. 

## Achievement 7 – Enabling through Financial Resilience 

The financial impact of rising labour, production, and overhead expenses have added to the challenges of austerity and funding cuts faced in the recent memory. 

The support we received from the CJRS, Additional Restrictions Grant (Administered BCP), ACE Emergency Response Fund and DCMS Cultural Recovery Fund has supported Lighthouse to be in a more resilient position to address the challenges of recovery post-pandemic and the current ongoing challenge of the cost-ofliving and inflation crisis. 

The Development (including fundraising) team was the focus of particular investment this year and is showing significant progress in starting to generate support for the organisation. We were pleased to welcome our first two Patrons: lead patron and panto / TV star Chris Jarvis and inspirational round the world solo yachtswoman Pip Hare. 

The organisation was scheduled to return to its previous financial strategy of building reserves through ongoing and increasing annual surpluses from 2024-25, but better than expected attendance in the latter half of the year enabled a 

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**Report of the Directors** 

## **Financial review** 

## **Year ended 31 March 2025** 

The Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA page 25) for this year shows incoming resources from unrestricted operations totalling £7,028,671 (2024 - £6,270,602) and total unrestricted resources expended totalling £7,254,319 (2024 - £6,245,631). This resulted in a deficit of £225,648 (2024 - surplus of £24,971) before transfers. 

The deficit, together with transfers reanalysed from Artistic Risk Reserve, was added to unrestricted reserves resulting in unrestricted reserves carried forward of £1,338,755 (2024 - £1,433,403). 

In line with the overall strategic planning of the organisation, the board acknowledges these results are a positive step in the ongoing process of growing and maintaining full financial resilience and look forward to the further results adding to this position in subsequent years, following the current cost of living crisis. 

We also remain a key asset to the BCP Council who is our other major funder, who have also confirmed continued grant funding on a standstill basis, for the year commencing 1 April 2025. The subsequently confirmed memorandum of understanding with BCP indicates the expectation that this funding will remain static for the following three years. 

Our delivery aims, remain robustly centred on delivering each of these primary funders’ cultural objectives. 

**182,401** The number of tickets sold for events at Lighthouse (2024: 181,373) 

**391,512** Number of seats available (2024: 376,552) 

Turnover (i.e., total incoming resources not including voluntary and investment income) for the year ended 31 March 2025 was £6,213,847, compared to £5,440,852 in the prior year. 

In respect of the events programme, the SOFA reports that unrestricted income was £4,497,679 (2024 - £4,018,581) which, after deducting the cost of the events programme of £6,222,267 (2024 - £5,416,016) leaves a trading deficit of £1,724,588 (2024 - £1,397,435). We are grateful for grant income support from our principal stakeholders of £736,410 (2024 - £779,510) which, along with our trading income, was matched against this deficit. 

The organisation has been successful in being retained as a ‘National Portfolio Organisation’ of Arts Council England for the periods ending 2023-2027. Support is provided at a standstill due to the effect of overall cuts in funding by the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport. We are grateful for their continued support. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**10** 



**Report of the Directors** 

## **Income** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
Bars,<br>Catering,<br>Trading Co<br>13% Merchandising, etc.<br>11%<br>Grants -<br>Arts Council<br>England<br>5% Grants -<br>Borough of<br>Poole<br>6% 2024-25<br>Total income:<br>£7.107m<br>2024-25<br>Of which, unrestricted:<br>£7,028,671<br>£7.029m<br>Other direct<br>programme income<br>16%<br>Ticket Income<br>40%<br>Rental Income<br>9%<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>



**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
Bars,<br>Catering,<br>Trading Co Merchandising, etc.<br>13% 10% Grants -<br>Arts Council<br>England<br>6%<br>Grants -<br>Borough of 2023-24<br>Poole<br>Total income:<br>7%<br>2023-24 £6.361m<br>£6,270,602 Of which, unrestricted:<br>£6.271m<br>Other direct<br>programme income<br>15%<br>Ticket Income<br>42%<br>Rental Income<br>7%<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**11** 



**Report of the Directors** 

## **Expenditure** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
Trading<br>Bars,<br>Co<br>9% Catering,<br>Merchandising, etc.<br>9%<br>Support Costs<br>16%<br>2024-25<br>£7,254,319<br>2024-25<br>Total expenditure:<br>Marketing<br>£7.476m<br>& Publicity<br>Direct of which unrestricted:<br>8%<br>£7.254m<br>programme<br>& Event Costs<br>Establishment 48%<br>Cost<br>10%<br>Trading<br>Co Bars,<br>9% Catering,<br>Merchandising, etc.<br>9%<br>Support Costs<br>16%<br>2023-24<br>£6,245,631 2023-24<br>Marketing Total expenditure:<br>& Publicity £6.535m<br>8% Direct of which unrestricted:<br>programme £6.246m<br>& Event Costs<br>48%<br>Establishment<br>Cost<br>10%<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

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**Report of the Directors** 

The Trust is, as always, very grateful for the support and efforts of its volunteers. During the year, the volunteer Front of House team continued to actively support the daily activity of the organisation. The board continues to meet regularly and to further support at important decision points. The table below estimates that 3,724 volunteer hours were provided during the year (2024: 2,352). If this is very conservatively valued at £80 (2024: £70) per hour for Board members and £12.00 (2024: £10) for other volunteers this amounts to £59,920 (2024: £36,240). 

||Hours|
|---|---|
|Board members|224|
|Volunteer Stewards|3,500|
|Total|3,724|



Comparison of annual volunteer hours: 







We are grateful to our ongoing hirers for their loyalty, patience, and support during the ups and downs of the previous years and look forward to welcoming you to Lighthouse once again in the new financial year. 

## **Poole Arts Trust (Trading) Limited** 

Subsidiary address: 

Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for Arts Kingland Road Poole Dorset BH15 1UG 

Results: 

The activity of the controlled company consists primarily of event production, room rentals and related hospitality. These are a vital part of our earned income stream and though minimal, are shown in the consolidated results as in previous years. 

The year’s trading total turnover increased notably from £773,508 to £863,528. 

The deficit for the year amounted to £27,307 (2024: surplus £132,345). 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**13** 



**Report of the Directors** 

## Plans for the future 

## Challenges, aims & objectives for 2025-2026 

- The continued challenge for 2025-26 will be to maintain strong delivery and financial resilience, amid a significant cost-of-living and inflation crisis, aiming all the while to achieve our underlying business plan and move into a period of growth. We are particularly concerned about the role staff costs play in the overall cost base, the necessity for substantial fundraising to fully deliver on the promise of the ‘GET Creative’ strategy, and the continued challenge of recruiting skilled staff. 

- To invest substantially in the diversity of the organisation, its programme, staff, and audience. We recognise there is always more to do in making Lighthouse accessible to everyone, audiences, staff and artists, we would aspire and hope to reach. 

- To successfully build ‘GET Creative’ as the new umbrella for all Creative Engagement and Artist Development activity for the organisation. This includes fundraising for and the delivery of an enhanced programme of work. 

- Developing and maximising engagement and fundraising opportunities, to further support the creation and development and delivery of Creative Engagement programmes for the benefit of future generations of practitioners, audiences, and staff. 

- Maintaining and building cash reserves to further mitigate business risks and support overall charitable objectives. The pandemic served to underscore the relative frailties of this ambition, but it remains a core aim of the organisation to build and maintain reserves to provide resilience and grow as an organisation. 

- Maintaining the building and improving fabric, access, and facilities. This will include investment in the Concert Hall, technical equipment, the Beacon, Digital Signage and Front of House furniture. 

- Developing the next stage of our Environmental Sustainability plan: a detailed action and funding plan setting out as a building and organisation, our potential routes to net zero. 

- In line with our continued Investors in People status, we aim to introduce a Managers Charter to introduce parity and uniformity of approach across the middle-management level team members. 

- The induction of three new board members as previous trustees approach retirement. 

- Completion of the joint ‘Force for Good’ programme with local JP Morgan staff. This work will proceed in tandem with the adoption of a comprehensive new Audience Development Strategy. This new strategy promises significant benefits to audiences and the organisation alike, with enhanced communication, insights and segmentation enabled by sophisticated data analysis. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**14** 



**Report of the Directors** 

## **Structure, Governance & Management** 

## **Organisational Structure** 

The directors who have served during the year and since the year end are set out below. Directors are appointed for a period of three years and are then eligible for re-appointment for a further three years. If a director holds a second period of office, then on the expiration of that second period of office the director shall not be eligible for re-election for at least one year unless a third term is exceptionally requested or required. Lighthouse’s current chair is MT Rainey OBE. The Deputy Chair is Monika Barnes. 

The Chief Executive is responsible for the day-to-day management of Lighthouse and for implementing policies agreed by the Board of Trustees. The Chief Executive is assisted by five senior managers. 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
Board<br>MT Rainey (Chair)<br>Monika Barnes (Deputy Chair)<br>Jane Webster (Chair of Finance Sub-Committee)<br>Spencer Clarke<br>Alison Gannage Stewart<br>Caroline Gitsham<br>David Hoare<br>Tony Johnson<br>Greg Lowson<br>Channa Vithana<br>Chief Executive<br>Senior Management Team<br>Audiences and Communications<br>Development<br>Finance<br>Operations<br>Programming<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


In recent years we have introduced new operating procedures including a new Health and Safety Policy, renewed Access Policy, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Action Plan, Environmental Policy, Staff Handbook and Risk Register, which are updated on an ongoing basis. Each of these will be subject to revision following the learning curve of the past year and the changes in the wider world. 

Whilst the formal training budget has increased over the years, it remains limited and so we continue to find opportunities for ensuring continued investment and development opportunities for our team. 

We continue to invest wherever we can in developing and supporting our people. The formalisation of the Recruitment Sub-Committee at board level helped to facilitate the identification and recruitment of board members with the appropriate skills and diverse backgrounds to support the challenges facing the organisation over the coming years. 

We are pleased to have once again retained our _Investors in People_ (IIP) award. We will strive to ensure that we continue to meet the IIP Standard structure and benchmark for improvement, to help our teams to be the very best they can be and to maintain their overall wellbeing. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**15** 



**Report of the Directors** 

## **Governance** 

The company is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association which were originally adopted on 13 May 1978. The Memorandum and Articles of the charity were last updated and adopted by the board on 2 October 2012. For the trading company, these were last updated and adopted by the Board on 22 July 2014. 

## **Trustee recruitment and training** 

When a vacancy arises potential trustees with appropriate skills are sought using a variety of open recruitment methods. The board, with the support of the recruitment sub-committee, identifies candidates with relevant skills and experience to ensure a balanced range of expertise. In recent years, we have increased the strength of the board, with members having backgrounds in education, law, digital, HR, PR, marketing, architecture, food and beverage and operational management. 

Appointments to the board of Poole Arts Trust are made within national guidelines of best practice for charitable organisations. Any positions that become available are reviewed against a core skills matrix which is aligned with the business plan and our diversity and equality policies. Posts are advertised, and applicants are invited to complete applications prior to interview. The Board may consider direct recommendations to specifically skilled posts or secondments where particular expertise may be required for a limited period. The recruitment process is supported by the Lighthouse HR team with oversight from the Board Recruitment Sub-Committee. Final appointments are approved by the Board. 

The board met five times (plus subgroups) in the year as well as holding an Away Day. 

## **Management policies** 

## Reserves and financial policies 

As a result of the events of the previous two years, the organisation has reviewed its reserves policy and has made changes to re-designate the appropriate balances. 

The approach now is to maintain unrestricted reserves at a level sufficient to cover a weekly multiple of lost turnover in light of the overall risks facing the organisation and to maintain designated reserves to support both exceptional maintenance costs and to underwrite specific artistic risks as authorised by the board, in line with the charity’s overall objects. 

As at the year-end cash on deposit totalled £1,709k (2024: £2,488k) and net current assets was £837k (2024: £1,185k). The total of unrestricted and designated funds was £1,836k (2024: £2,061k). 

Income in the year was £7,107k (2024: £6,361k). Notwithstanding the effects of inflation, this is in line with general expectations for a standard year. To maintain free reserves at a level of eight weeks of turnover of this level is £1,093k. 

After transfers from designated funds, unrestricted funds carried forward are £1,339k (2024: £1,433k) and excluding unrestricted funds represented by Tangible Fixed Assets of £1,041k (2024: £895k) the balance of free reserves was £298k (2024: £538k) – about two weeks projected turnover. 

The organisation takes an increasingly active approach to the management of risks, with management, control and mitigation at Management and Senior Management level, reporting to the board to enable active engagement and oversight of the relevant strategic aspects. 

## Unrestricted Reserves 

As at 31 March 2025, consolidated unrestricted reserves totalled £1,836k (2024 - £2,061k), comprising £1,339k (2024 – £1,433k) on the undesignated element and a fund balance of £497k (2024 - £628k) on the designated reserves (see below). 

During the year, the directors have reviewed the Reserves Policy and have re-examined the Trust’s requirements for free reserves in the light of the predominant risks to the organisation and its working capital. 

As a result, the directors believe that the free reserves position, being equal to eight weeks of anticipated turnover (see above), on unrestricted reserves is adequate. This view is informed by the ongoing financial strategy to build financial resilience across the organisation and the board’s view of progress to date. 

## Designated reserves 

As at 31 March 2025 the balance on designated reserves totalled £497k (2024: £628k). 

These reserves are set aside to assist in the twofold purpose of mitigating the predominant risks to the organisation over the coming periods and to underwrite specific artist risks as the board may agree to pursue in line with the charity’s objects. 

Generally, where designated reserves are used to underwrite artistic risk, this would be with a clear understanding of potential ROI and the board’s minuted approval. 

The general risk reserve relates to those risks affecting the ongoing resilience of the venue and organisation, in the particular light of continued uncertainty over inflation and cost pressures (for both the organisation and audiences), consistency of statutory funding streams and the ongoing ambition to maintain Lighthouse as a world class facility within Poole and the Southwest. 

The directors have identified the benchmark for free reserves set by DCMS during the Cultural Recovery Fund process of eight weeks projected turnover is a helpful starting point and have rearticulated the organisation’s reserves policy accordingly. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**16** 



**Report of the Directors** 

## Investment policy 

In formulating an investment policy, the Trust has recognised that whilst it may generally have surplus funds to invest, these are likely to be called upon in the short term. On a day-to-day basis surplus funds are collected each evening by our bank and placed on deposit at zero risk. 

The charity maintains a variety of deposit accounts in order to take up the opportunity of earning a higher rate of interest on any cash balances not required for day to day operating where this can be achieved. 

The increase in the Bank of England base rate, and its associated impact on general banking has meant that the organisation is now in a position to benefit from earned interest on its cash holdings and currently use Insignis to manage this in a cost effective and efficient manner. 

## Creditor payment policy 

It is the Trust’s policy to pay creditors in accordance with payment terms agreed. Remembering its responsibilities to small local suppliers in the geographic area in which it operates, this group of suppliers are generally paid before large national or multinational companies. We have been fortunate to have been able to maintain this commitment to date. 

## Funding 

The directors are satisfied that the Trust’s assets are available and adequate to fulfil its obligations for both restricted and unrestricted funds. 

## Programme risk policy 

A new method of assessing programme risk was introduced a number of years ago. This has proven immensely valuable to the building of the programme. 

The promotion of our own events is identified as the highest risk. Each received show or event is categorised within a fivestep range of very high risk to low risk. The programming team have again planned for reduced programme risk in 2025-26, but with some areas of higher expected return. 

In order to deliver the range and quality of events, there will always be a degree of risk that cannot be mitigated or diversified away. This is recognised by way of the grants provided by our core funders, BCP Council and Arts Council England. 

## **People and organisation policies** 

## Culture and Values 

We have a motivated and committed team, an exciting arts programme and real and increasing confidence stemming from our clear business strategy, supportive team, and achievements during recent months. 

We aim to continue to strengthen the artistic programming, marketing, and operations teams, resulting in improved programme performance, customer experience and secondary income. 

The organisational values continue to be actively embraced by the staff team and underpin all of our behaviours and organisational approach: 

Aspiring Welcoming Excellent 

Staff communications have always been a high priority, with a planned programme that includes annual organisational meetings, weekly internal newsletter (Lighter Reading), monthly senior management team meetings, quarterly all management meetings and regular 1-2-1’s. 

We are proud to continue to retain our Investors in People status and work hard to ensure our team continue to feel valued and fully supported in their roles. 

As a local employer and cultural leader, we have developed our provision of learning opportunities – offering paid internships, and fully-programmed work experience placements for local schools, as well as the wider Creative Engagement and Lighthouse Academy programme. 

## Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (EDIB) 

Lighthouse’s Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Policy positively communicates our commitment to promoting these values in the community, in service delivery and in employment practice. It is a priority area and GOAL 5 of our business plan, up to 40% of our work in a normal year has a direct focus on growing and maintaining diversity and equality. 

We recognise the key part we must play within the arts in Poole and the South-West in addressing social inequality and injustice and continue to focus on how Lighthouse can improve its provision to a wider range of diverse communities. These recommendations form the basis of our annual EDIB action plan. 

We are committed to ensuring that our arts programme represents the cultural diversity of the UK, notwithstanding the comparative levels of diversity in the region itself. 

A key development in our HR Strategy in recent years has been a programme of internships that will create meaningful career pathways into the arts. We continue to be accredited under the “Positive about Disability” scheme and are committed to offering people with a disability fair access to employment 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**17** 



**Report of the Directors** 

opportunities. We were active participants in the Government’s Kickstart scheme with five placements across the organisation, during the COVID period and immediate afterwards. 

appropriate weightings in the light of additional responsibilities and /or the marketability of the role. 

## Fundraising Standards 

Our Access policy includes affordable ticketing and subsidised events for under 26’s. Our ‘Live 4 Five’ programme offers tickets for £5 to young people under the age of 26 and hundreds of tickets are issued under this scheme each year. The annual ‘Lighthouse Christmas Appeal’ provides free theatre tickets to families and groups who would otherwise not be able to attend. 

We continue to develop our informal relationships with community groups such as the Dorset Blind Association, BCP Council Mental Health Forum, Forest Holme Hospice Bereavement Café and Poole Stroke Survivors Group to whom we have always offered a regular place to meet and socialise. 

We are members of the RADAR national key scheme as well as the Poole Community Toilet Scheme. 

Together with BCP and the Alzheimer’s Society, we have also continued to build an audience for cinema screenings tailored for audience members living with dementia and their carers, working with local groups to reach and engage audiences. There were 11 Dementia Friendly Screenings this year. 

## Health & Safety 

The health and safety of staff, volunteers, visiting artists, contractors, visitors and visiting members of the public is of paramount importance to Poole Arts Trust. 

These policies are actively managed throughout the organisation. These policies are subject to continuous review and are re-published annually together with the staff handbook. 

We have continued many of the approaches taken during the pandemic period to maintain the underlying level of health and safety. 

We are delighted that in the last year there have again been no reportable Health & Safety incidents at Lighthouse. There continue to be no major incidents, and, throughout the organisation, the team recognises the application of good practice in Health & Safety as a key component in achieving our objectives as a venue and as an employer. 

## Pay Policy for Senior Staff 

The Senior Management Team are the key management personnel of the charity in charge of directing and controlling, running, and operating the Trust on a day-to-day basis. All the Trustees give of their time freely and no trustee received remuneration in the year. Details of trustees’ expenses and related party transactions are disclosed in notes 5 and 12 to the accounts. 

The pay of all staff, including the senior management team, is reviewed annually by the board in its role as remuneration committee and is normally increased in line with inflation. In view of the nature of the charity the organisation benchmarks against other arts centres of a similar size and applies 

All fundraising undertaken by Lighthouse is carried out in-house and led by our internal Head of Development. We are fully registered and regulated by the Fundraising Regulator who maintains oversight in this area. 

The protection and quality of life of vulnerable people and other members of the public is central to Lighthouse’s values and mission. We are hugely careful to ensure fundraising prospects are ethically identified and stewarded and this is always done on an individual basis, in line with our fundraising policy. Where a more general fundraising scheme is in place, we are careful to ensure marketing materials do not represent an intrusion, persistent or otherwise, in the privacy of any member of the public. 

## Environmental Sustainability 

The Board and Management of Poole Arts Trust are committed to championing sound environmental and sustainable values, principles, and practices in all we do. We recognise the fine balance between endeavour and sustainability on our natural environment. 

Lighthouse’s environmental sustainability policy and action plan is updated annually. This clearly set out our impacts on the environment as a diverse business and our commitments to reducing these impacts. We are focussed on managing and reducing our energy consumption, water, waste, supply and use of resources and services. It is anticipated that this plan will be subject to a significant level revision in the next round of overall business planning. 

We continue to work with Julie’s Bicycle (www.juliesbicycle.com) to achieve full industry-standard recognition. Julie’s Bicycle completed a full post-capital project assessment of the building. 

Our programme of replacing legacy front of house lighting with LED has seen the final elements complete by the end of summer 2024. The initial reduction in energy use is estimated at approx. £10k p.a. In future rounds of capital investment, we are also revisiting options for photo-voltaic panels on the roof, given changes in the market since the previous review, as well as the gradual renewal of the stage lighting stock in favour of energy efficient models. 

The organisation’s energy performance rating is, per DECC certification, Grade B43 – placing the organisation positively against the average of 100 points. Prior to the 2015-17 capital project the building was running at 25% below the CIBSE benchmark for electrical energy and 53% below for thermal energy. These figures are now 54% and 63% below the typical benchmark, respectively. 

We have seen that as the years progress the benefits of ongoing capital investment will continue to build. In the future these will include improvements in our water system to reduce wastage, on top of – amongst other things - increased use of the 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**18** 



**Report of the Directors** 

opportunities afforded by the changes in building zoning giving rise to greater efficiency throughout the venue. The work on the ‘Towards Net Zero’ report will also feed into these outcomes. 

Risk assessment and internal control 

The directors continue to place substantial emphasis on the area of risk assessment, recognising that promoting artistic work is a volatile and unpredictable activity. Business risks within the Trust are considered under the areas of operational, financial, and reputational risks and are reported upon on a frequent basis. The types of risks affecting the Trust are constantly under review. These are updated where necessary using past experience so that the necessary steps can be taken to lessen these risks. 

The directors continue to: 

- Clarify the responsibility of management to implement the directors’ policy and identify and evaluate risks for their consideration. 

- Communicate that employees have responsibility for internal control as part of their accountability for achieving objectives. 

- Embed the control system in the Trust’s operations so that it becomes part of the culture of the charity. 

- Develop systems to respond quickly to evolving risks arising from factors within the Trust and to changes in the external environment. 

- Include procedures for reporting failings immediately to appropriate levels of management and the directors together with details of corrective action being undertaken. 

The directors are pleased to note that having monitored the internal financial control systems during the year the controls in place continue to conform to guidelines issued by the Charity Commission. The Risk Register continues to be reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis by the board and senior management, with due regard for the level of reserves, insurance and direct organisational change required to mitigate these risks. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**19** 



**Report of the Directors** 

## **Reference and Administrative Details** 

## **Registered and principal office** 

Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for Arts 21 Kingland Road Poole Dorset BH15 1UG 

## **Directors** 

The present membership of the Board is set out below. All directors served throughout the year except where indicated: 

(appointed 21 May Spencer Clarke 2024) (retired 8 October Donald Nordberg 2024) MT Rainey (Chair) Jane Webster Monika Barnes (Deputy Chair) Alison Gannage-Stewart Tony Johnson Channa Vithana Caroline Gitsham David Hoare (appointed 4 July Greg Lowson 2025) 

## **Chief Executive Officer and Senior Management Team** 

Elspeth McBain continued to serve as the Chief Executive Officer. 

The other members of the senior management team during the year were Martyn Balson (General Manager), Katy Griffiths (Head of Programming), Sue Lloyd (Head of Development), John Baker (Head of Audiences & Communications) and Peter Wilson (Head of Finance). 

## **Bankers** 

The Co-operative Bank 2nd Floor, St Paul’s House, 10 Warwick Lane London EC4M 7BP 

## **Investment managers** 

Insignis 8 Devonshire Square London EC2M 4YJ 

## **Auditors** 

Hopper Williams & Bell Limited Highland House, Mayflower Close Chandlers Ford Eastleigh Hampshire SO53 4AR 

## **Solicitors** 

## **Company Secretary** 

The company secretary is Peter Wilson. 

Wilsons Solicitors LLP Alexandra House St Johns Street Salisbury Wiltshire SP1 2SB 

## **Registration numbers** 

Company: 01368325 Charity: 275961 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**20** 



**Report of the Directors** 

## **Directors’ responsibilities for financial statements** 

The trustees (who are also directors of Poole Arts Trust Limited for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Report of the Directors and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). 

Company law requires the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and its subsidiary, and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the companies for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the directors are required to: 

- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; 

- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP; 

- make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; 

- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and 

- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business. 

The directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and its subsidiary, and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. 

In so far as the trustees are aware: 

- there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company's auditor is unaware; and 

- the trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information. 

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions. 

## **Directors’ interests** 

Each of the directors is also a member of the company. The company has no share capital, but each member has undertaken to contribute a maximum of £1, if required, in the event of winding-up of the company. 

Signed on behalf of the Board 

MT Rainey OBE Chair 

14 October 2025 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**21** 



## **Independent auditor’s report to the members of Poole Arts Trust Limited** 

## **Opinion** 

We have audited the financial statements of Poole Arts Trust Limited (the ‘parent Charity’) and its subsidiaries (the ‘Group’) for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the consolidated statement of financial activities (incorporating income and expenditure account), the consolidated balance sheets, the consolidated statement of cash flows, and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). 

In our opinion, the financial statements: 

•give a true and fair view of the state of the Group’s and of the parent Charity’s affairs as at 31 March 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources for the year then ended; 

•have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and 

•have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006. 

## **Basis for opinion** 

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. 

## **Conclusions relating to going concern** 

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate. 

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the Group and the parent Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least 12 months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue. 

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report. 

## **Other information** 

The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, including the Trustee and Strategic Report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. 

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**22** 



## **Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006** 

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit: 

•the information given in the Trustee and Strategic report, which includes the strategic report and the directors’ report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and 

•the strategic report and the directors’ report included within the Trustee and Strategic Report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements. 

## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception** 

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the directors’ report and strategic report included within the Trustee and Strategic Report. 

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion: 

•adequate and proper accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or 

•the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or 

- •certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or 

- •we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit 

## **Responsibilities of trustees** 

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 21, the trustees (who are also the directors of the parent Charity for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. 

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the Group and parent Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so. 

## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements** 

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. 

Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements. 

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. Due to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities even though the audit has been properly planned and performed in accordance with the ISAs (UK). The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below: 

- We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks that are applicable to the parent and group, and the sectors in which they operate. These include but are not limited to compliance with the Companies Act 2006, UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice and the relevant tax compliance regulations. 

- We obtained an understanding of how the company is complying with these frameworks through discussions with management. 

- · We enquired with management whether there were any instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations or whether they had knowledge of actual or suspected fraud. These enquiries are corroborated through follow-up audit procedures including but not limited to a review of legal and professional costs, correspondence, and a review of board minutes. 

- We assessed the susceptibility of the company’s financial statements to material misstatement, including the risk of fraud and management override of controls. We designed our audit procedures to respond to this assessment, including the identification and testing of any related party transactions and the testing of journal transactions that arise from management estimates, that are determined to be of significant value or unusual in their nature. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**23** 



- We assessed the appropriateness of the collective competence and capabilities of the engagement team, including consideration of the engagement team’s knowledge and understanding of the industry in which the company operates in, and their practical experience through training and participation with audit engagements of a similar nature. 

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. 

This description forms part of our auditor’s report. 

## **Use of our report** 

This report is made solely to the parent Charity’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the parent Charity’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the parent Charity and the parent Charity’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed. 

Michaela Johns (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of Hopper Williams & Bell Limited, Statutory Auditor Highland House Mayflower Close Chandlers Ford Eastleigh SO53 4AR 

**Date:** 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**24** 



## **Consolidated statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2025** 

**(Incorporating the Group Income and Expenditure Account and Statement of Comprehensive Income)** 

||**Note**|**Unrestricted**|**Designated**|**Restricted**|**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**2025**|
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Incoming Resources**||||||
|**Donations and legacies**||||||
|Grant income|1|736,410|-|-|**736,410**|
|Donations, legacies and gifts|1|74,319|-|77,962|**152,281**|
|||**────**|**────**|────|**────**|
|**Donations and legacies income sub-total**||810,729|-|77,962|**888,691**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Income from charitable activities**||||||
|Income from events programme||4,497,679|-|-|**4,497,679**|
|Bar, café, and merchandising||743,221|-|-|**743,221**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Income from charitable activities sub-total**|1|5,240,900|-|-|**5,240,900**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Income from other trading activities**||||||
|Theatre tax relief||53,334|-|-|**53,334**|
|Commercial trading activities|3|863,528|-|-|**863,528**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Income from other trading activities sub-total**||916,862|-|-|**916,862**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Investment income**||||||
|Bank interest receivable|2|47,180|-|-|**47,180**|
|**Other income**||13,000|-|-|**13,000**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Total incoming resources**||7,028,671|-|77,962|**7,106,633**|
|||══════|══════|**══════**|**══════**|
|**Resources Expended**||||||
|**Cost of generating funds**||||||
|Bar, café, and merchandising|1|613,132|-|-|**613,132**|
|Commercial trading operations|3|641,335|-|-|**641,335**|
|||────|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Costs of generating funds sub-total**||1,254,467|-|-|**1,254,467**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Charitable activities**||||||
|Costs for events programme||5,999,852|-|222,415|**6,222,267**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Costs of charitable activities sub-total**||5,999,852|-|222,415|**6,222,267**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Total resources expended**||7,254,319|-|222,415|**7,476,734**|
|||══════|══════|**══════**|**══════**|
|**Net income/(expenditure) for the year**||(225,648)|-|(144,453)|**(370,101)**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|
|Transfers between funds|15|131,000|(131,000)|-|**-**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Net movement in funds for the year**||(94,648)|(131,000)|(144,453)|**(370,101)**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|
|**Funds brought forward at 1 April 2024**|15/16|1,433,403|628,080|4,181,954|**6,243,437**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Balances carried forward at 31 March 2025**|15/16|1,338,755|497,080|4,037,501|**5,873,336**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|



There were no other recognised gains or losses other than the net incoming reserves for the year. All incoming resources and resources expended derive from continuing activities. 

The accompanying accounting policies and notes form an integral part of these financial statements. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**25** 



## **Consolidated statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2024** 

**(Incorporating the Group Income and Expenditure Account and Statement of Comprehensive Income)** 

||**Note**|**Unrestricted**|**Designated**|**Restricted**|**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**2024**|
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Incoming Resources**||||||
|**Donations and legacies**||||||
|Grant income|1|779,510|-|5,000|**784,510**|
|Donations, legacies and gifts|1|22,281|-|85,667|**107,948**|
|||**────**|**────**|────|**────**|
|**Donations and legacies income sub-total**||801,791|-|90,667|**892,458**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Income from charitable activities**||||||
|Income from events programme||4,018,581|-|-|**4,018,581**|
|Bar, café, and merchandising||592,298|-|-|**592,298**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Income from charitable activities sub-total**|1|4,610,879|-|-|**4,610,879**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Income from other trading activities**||||||
|Commercial trading activities|3|834,711|-|-|**834,711**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Income from other trading activities sub-total**||834,711|-|-|**834,711**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Investment income**||||||
|Bank interest receivable|2|23,221|-|-|**23,221**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Total incoming resources**||6,270,602|-|90,667|**6,361,269**|
|||══════|══════|**══════**|**══════**|
|**Resources Expended**||||||
|**Cost of generating funds**||||||
|Bar, café, and merchandising|1|530,760|-|-|**530,760**|
|Commercial trading operations|3|587,777|-|-|**587,777**|
|||────|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Costs of generating funds sub-total**||1,118,537|-|-|**1,118,537**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Charitable activities**||||||
|Costs for events programme||5,127,094|-|288,922|**5,416,016**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Costs of charitable activities sub-total**||5,127,094|-|288,922|**5,416,016**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Total resources expended**||6,245,631|-|288,922|**6,534,553**|
|||══════|══════|**══════**|**══════**|
|**Net income/(expenditure) for the year**||24,971|-|(198,255)|**(173,284)**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|
|Transfers between funds|15|12,000|(12,000)|-|**-**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Net movement in funds for the year**||36,971|(12,000)|(198,255)|**(173,284)**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|
|**Funds brought forward at 1 April 2023**|15/16|1,396,432|640,080|4,380,209|**6,416,721**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Balances carried forward at 31 March 2024**|15/16|1,433,403|628,080|4,181,954|**6,243,437**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|



There were no other recognised gains or losses other than the net incoming reserves for the year. All incoming resources and resources expended derive from continuing activities. 

The accompanying accounting policies and notes form an integral part of these financial statements. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**26** 



## **Company statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2025** 

**(Incorporating the Company Income and Expenditure Account and Statement of Comprehensive Income)** 

|||**Unrestricted**|**funds**|**Restricted**|**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**funds**|**2025**|
||**Note**|**Undesignated**|**Designated**|||
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Incoming Resources**||||||
|**Donations and legacies**||||||
|Grant income||736,410|-|-|**736,410**|
|Donations, legacies and gifts|1|74,319|-|77,962|**152,281**|
|||**────**|**────**|────|**────**|
|**Donations and legacies income sub-total**||810,729|-|77,962|**888,691**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Income from charitable activities**||||||
|Income from events programme||4,497,679|-|-|**4,497,679**|
|Bar, café, and merchandising||743,221|-|-|**743,221**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Income from charitable activities sub-total**||5,240,900|-|-|**5,240,900**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Income from other trading activities**||||||
|Gift aid from Poole Arts Trust (Trading) Limited|3|190,456|-|-|**190,456**|
|Theatre tax relief||9,334|-|-|**9,334**|
|||──────|──────|──────|**──────**|
|**Income from other trading activities sub-total**||199,790|-|-|**190,790**|
|||──────|──────|──────|**──────**|
|**Investment income**||||||
|Bank interest receivable|2|47,180|-|-|**47,180**|
|**Other income**||116,044|-|-|**116,044**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Total incoming resources**||6,414,643|-|77,962|**6,492,605**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|
|**Resources Expended**||||||
|**Cost of generating funds**||||||
|Bar, café, and merchandising|1|613,132|-|-|**613,132**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Costs of generating funds sub-total**||613,132|-|-|**613,132**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Charitable activities**||||||
|Costs for events programme||5,999,852|-|222,415|**6,222,267**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Costs of charitable activities sub-total**||5,999,852|-|222,415|**6,222,267**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Total resources expended**||6,612,984|-|222,415|**6,835,399**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|
|**Net income/(expenditure) for the year**||(198,341)|-|(144,453)|**(342,794)**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|
|Transfers between funds|15|131,000|(131,000)|-|**-**|
|||**─────**|**─────**|**─────**|**─────**|
|**Net movement in funds for the year**||(67,341)|(131,000)|(144,453)|**(342,794)**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|
|**Funds brought forward at 1 April 2024**|15/16|992,001|628,080|4,181,954|**5,802,035**|
|||-───────|**─────**|**─────**|**───────**|
|**Balances carried forward at 31 March 2025**|15/16|924,660|497,080|4,037,501|**5,459,241**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|



There were no other recognised gains or losses other than the net incoming reserves for the year. All incoming resources and resources expended derive from continuing activities. 

The accompanying accounting policies and notes form an integral part of these financial statements. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**27** 



## **Company statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2024** 

**(Incorporating the Company Income and Expenditure Account and Statement of Comprehensive Income)** 

|||**Unrestricted**|**funds**|**Restricted**|**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**funds**|**2024**|
||**Note**|**Undesignated**|**Designated**|||
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Incoming Resources**||||||
|**Donations and legacies**||||||
|Grant income||779,510|-|5,000|**784,510**|
|Donations, legacies and gifts|1|22,281|-|85,667|**107,948**|
|||**────**|**────**|────|**────**|
|**Donations and legacies income sub-total**||801,791|-|90,667|**892,458**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Income from charitable activities**||||||
|Income from events programme||4,018,581|-|-|**4,018,581**|
|Bar, café, and merchandising||592,298|-|-|**592,298**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Income from charitable activities sub-total**||4,610,879|-|-|**4,610,879**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Income from other trading activities**||||||
|Gift aid from Poole Arts Trust (Trading) Limited|3|114,586|-|-|**114,586**|
|||──────|──────|──────|**──────**|
|**Income from other trading activities sub-total**||114,586|-|-|**114,586**|
|||──────|──────|──────|**──────**|
|**Investment income**||||||
|Bank interest receivable|2|23,221|-|-|**23,221**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Total incoming resources**||5,550,477|-|90,667|**5,641,144**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|
|**Resources Expended**||||||
|**Cost of generating funds**||||||
|Bar, café, and merchandising|1|530,760|-|-|**530,760**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Costs of generating funds sub-total**||530,760|-|-|**530,760**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Charitable activities**||||||
|Costs for events programme||5,127,093|-|288,922|**5,416,015**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Costs of charitable activities sub-total**||5,127,093|-|288,922|**5,416,015**|
|||**────**|**────**|**────**|**────**|
|**Total resources expended**||5,657,853|-|288,922|**5,946,775**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|
|**Net income/(expenditure) for the year**||(107,376)|-|(198,255)|**(305,631)**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|
|Transfers between funds|15|12,000|(12,000)|-|**-**|
|||**─────**|**─────**|**─────**|**─────**|
|**Net movement in funds for the year**||(95,376)|(12,000)|(198,255)|**(305,631)**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|
|**Funds brought forward at 1 April 2023**|15/16|1,087,377|640,080|4,380,209|**6,107,666**|
|||-───────|**─────**|**─────**|**───────**|
|**Balances carried forward at 31 March 2024**|15/16|992,001|628,080|4,181,954|**5,802,035**|
|||══════|══════|══════|**══════**|



There were no other recognised gains or losses other than the net incoming reserves for the year. All incoming resources and resources expended derive from continuing activities. 

The accompanying accounting policies and notes form an integral part of these financial statements. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**28** 



## **Consolidated balance sheet at 31 March 2025** 

Company number: 01368325 Charity number: 275961 

||**Note**|**2025**||2024||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**£**|**£**|£|£|
|**Fixed assets**||||||
|Tangible assets|7||**5,035,963**||5,058,676|
|**Current assets**||||||
|Stock|8|**48,610**||46,029||
|Debtors falling due within one year|9|**884,505**||755,310||
|Debtors falling due after more than one year|9|**14,808**||-||
|Cash in hand and at bank||**1,133,157**||2,201,129||
|Investments|10|**505,517**||287,149||
|||||`────`||
|||────||||
|||**2,586,597**||3,289,617||
|**Creditors: amounts falling due within one**||||||
|**year**|11|**(1,749,224)**||(2,104,856)||
|||||`────`||
|||────||||
|**Net current assets**|||**837,373**||1,184,761|
||||||`────`|
||||────|||
|**Net assets**|||**5,873,336**||6,243,437|
||||**══════**||══════|
|**Funds**||||||
|Unrestricted funds:||||||
|Undesignated|15||**1,338,755**||1,433,403|
|Designated|15||**497,080**||628,080|
|Restricted funds:||||||
|Development project|16||**3,995,433**||4,163,661|
|Other restricted funds|16||**42,068**||18,293|
||||||`─────`|
||||**─────**|||
||||**5,873,336**||6,243,437|
||||**═══════**||═══════|



These accounts were approved by the Board of Directors on 14 October 2025 

MT Rainey OBE **Director** 

The accompanying accounting policies and notes form an integral part of these financial statements. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**29** 



## **Company balance sheet at 31 March 2025** 

Company number: 01368325 Charity number: 275961 

||**Note**|**2025**||2024||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**£**|**£**|£|£|
|**Fixed assets**||||||
|Tangible assets|7||**5,001,581**||5,023,166|
|**Current assets**||||||
|Stock|8|**42,349**||38,017||
|Debtors falling due within one year|9|**1,047,504**||843,608||
|Debtors falling due after more than one year|9|**14,808**||-||
|Cash in hand and at bank||**885,892**||2,200,879||
|Investments|10|**505,517**||287,149||
|||||`────`||
|||────||||
|||**2,496,070**||3,369,653||
|**Creditors: amounts falling due within one**||||||
|**year**|11|**(2,038,410)**||(2,590,784)||
|||||`─────`||
|||─────||||
|**Net current assets**|||**457,660**||778,869|
||||||`─────`|
||||─────|||
|**Net assets**|||**5,459,241**||5,802,035|
||||**═══════**||═══════|
|**Funds**||||||
|Unrestricted funds:||||||
|Undesignated|15||**924,660**||992,001|
|Designated|15||**497,080**||628,080|
|Restricted funds:||||||
|Development project|16||**3,995,433**||4,163,661|
|Other restricted funds|16||**42,068**||18,293|
||||||`─────`|
||||─────|||
||||**5,459,241**||5,802,035|
||||**═══════**||═══════|



These accounts were approved by the Board of Directors on 14 October 2025 

MT Rainey OBE **Director** 

The accompanying accounting policies and notes form an integral part of these financial statements. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**30** 



## **Consolidated cash flow statement for the year ended 31 March 2025** 

||||**2025**|||2024||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Note**|**£**||**£**|£||£|
|**Net cash inflow/(outflow) from**||||||||
|**operating activities**|19|||**(695,993)**|||455,164|
|**Cash flows from investing activities**||||||||
|Interest received||**47,180**|||23,221|||
|Purchase of tangible fixed assets||**(200,791)**|||(241,988)|||
||||||`─────`|||
|||─────||||||
|Net cash inflow from investing||||||||
|activities||||**(153,611)**|||(218,767)|
||||||||`────`|
|||||────||||
|**Increase/(decrease) in cash**|20|||**(849,604)**|||236,397|
|||||**══════**|||══════|



The accompanying accounting policies and notes form an integral part of these financial statements. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**31** 



**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **Notes to the financial statements** 

## **Accounting policies for the year ended 31 March 2025** 

## **Basis of preparation** 

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019) – (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006. 

Poole Arts Trust Limited meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy notes. 

## **Going Concern** 

We confirm that the financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, which assumes that the organisation will continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. In making our assessment the directors have considered the group’s current financial position, and its likely future cash flows. 

## **Consolidation policy** 

Poole Arts Trust (Trading) Limited is considered to be a subsidiary of Poole Arts Trust Limited because the two companies are under common control and have a unified management. 

These financial statements consolidate the results of the charity and its subsidiary on a line-by-line basis, in accordance with the Companies Act 2006. 

All profits Poole Arts Trust (Trading) Limited are gifted to Poole Arts Trust. 

The subsidiary undertaking, Poole Arts Trust (Trading) Limited (Company Number 01368368), is exempt from the requirements of Companies Act 2006 relating to the audit of accounts under section 479A. Under Section 479C, a parent guarantee has been provided over the outstanding liabilities of the subsidiary company as at 31 March 2025 until they are satisfied in full. The guarantee is enforceable against the charity by any person to whom the subsidiary is liable in respect of those liabilities. 

## **Incoming resources** 

Voluntary income including donations, gifts, legacies, and grants that provide core funding or are of general nature are recognised where there is entitlement, receipt is probable, and the amount can be measured with sufficient reliability.  Such income is only deferred when: 

- The donor specifies that the grant or donation must only be used in future accounting periods; or 

- The donor has imposed conditions that must be met before the charity has unconditional entitlement. 

Investment income is recognised on a receivable basis. 

Income from charitable activities includes income received under contract or where entitlement to grant funding is subject to specific performance conditions. This is recognised as the related goods or services are provided. Grant income included in this category provides funding to support performance activities and is recognised where there is entitlement, certainty of receipt and the amount can be measured with sufficient reliability. 

Income is deferred when: 

- Admission fees or performance related grants are received in advance of the performance or event to which they relate. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**32** 



**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **Resources expended** 

Expenditure is recognised when a liability is incurred and is accounted for net of VAT.  Contractual arrangements and performance related grants are recognised as goods or services are supplied. 

- Costs of generating funds are those costs incurred in attracting voluntary income, and those incurred in trading activities that raise funds. 

- Charitable activities include expenditure associated with the staging of concerts, stage productions, art exhibitions and educational programmes and include both the direct costs and support costs relating to these activities. 

- Governance costs include those incurred in the governance of the charity and its assets and are primarily associated with constitutional and statutory requirements. 

- Support costs include central functions and have been entirely allocated to event programme costs on the basis that this is our core activity, and that further allocation would not be meaningful. 

## **Fund accounting** 

Restricted funds are used for specific purposes laid down by the donor.  Expenditure for those purposes is charged to those funds. 

Unrestricted funds are grants and other incoming resources received or generated for expenditure on the general objectives of the charity. 

Designated funds are unrestricted funds that have been designated for specific purposes by the directors. 

The nature and purpose of each fund is described on pages 41 to 43 in the reserve notes. 

## **Key sources of estimation uncertainty** 

Tangible fixed assets are depreciated over their useful lives taking into account residual values, where appropriate. The actual lives of the assets and residual values are assessed annually and may vary depending on a number of factors. In re-assessing asset lives, factors such as technological innovation, product life cycles and maintenance programmes are taken into account. Residual value assessments consider issues such as future market conditions, the remaining life of the asset and projected disposal values. 

## **Tangible fixed assets** 

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost, being purchase price less accumulated depreciation. 

Individual fixed assets costing £500 or more are capitalised at cost.  This would also apply to a group of assets that form part of a suite and have a combined value of £500 or more. 

## **Depreciation** 

Depreciation is calculated to write off the cost of tangible fixed assets over their estimated useful lives by equal annual instalments. The periods applicable are: 

||**No. ofyears**|
|---|---|
|Leasehold property|5-30 years|
|Equipment|5-20 years|
|Furniture|10-20 years|
|Fixtures|5-30 years|



Assets are only depreciated in the accounting period following the year of purchase and when brought into use. 

During the year the estimated lives of assets were reassessed.  The effect of the reassessment was a decrease in depreciation charges in the year of £44,697 for the group and £38,641 for the charity. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**33** 



**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **Stocks** 

Stocks are valued at the lower of cost, being purchase price, and net realisable value, and comprise bar stocks, food, confectionery, and consumables. 

## **Investments** 

Investments comprise cash deposits held for investment purposes in deposit accounts with access greater than 90 days. There is a planned programme to draw on these deposits to fund our growth. 

## **Financial instruments** 

The trust only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value. 

## **Liquid resources** 

Liquid resources include amounts in bank deposits that are immediately accessible by the Trust. 

## **Recognition of liabilities** 

Liabilities are recognised within the financial statements in respect of all expenditure for which the entity has a measurable obligation, be it constructive or legal, at the balance sheet date.  Any expenditure which is committed to, but not measurable at this time, is disclosed within the notes to the financial statements as a contingent liability. 

## **Contributions to pension funds** 

## **Defined Contribution Scheme** 

The pension costs charged in the year represent the amount of the contributions payable to the group personal pension plan in respect of the accounting period.  The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the trust in an independently administered scheme. 

## **Taxation** 

The charity is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes. The charity's trading subsidiary gift aid any available profits to the parent charity.  Theatre tax relief is calculated as a proportion of the income and core expenditure incurred, within the trading subsidiary, on the theatre production in respect of the accounting period. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**34** 



**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **1. Surplus / (deficit) for the year** 

|Note<br>**Incoming Resources**<br>**Turnover**<br>Ticket income<br>Other direct programme income<br>Rental income<br>Bars, merchandising, etc.<br>Trading company<br>3<br>Fundraising<br>Interest receivable<br>2<br>Theatre tax relief<br>Other donations<br>Other unrestricted donations<br>Other Income<br>Sponsorship income<br>**Turnover**<br>**Grant Income**<br>Arts Council England, Southwest<br>BCP Council<br>National Theatre Connections<br>**Grant Income**<br>**Total Incoming Resources**<br>**Resources Expended**<br>**Cost of Sales**<br>Direct programme and event costs<br>Trading company<br>3<br>Bars, merchandising, etc.<br>**Total Cost of Sales**<br>**Administrative Expenditure**<br>Establishment costs<br>Marketing, fundraising and publicity<br>Support costs<br>**Total Administrative Expenditure**<br>**Total Resources Expended before**<br>**Restricted Depreciation**<br>**Net Surplus / (Deficit) before Restricted**<br>**Depreciation**<br>Restricted depreciation<br>**Net Surplus / (Deficit) after Restricted**<br>**Depreciation**|**2025**<br>**Total**<br>**£**<br>**2,778,163**<br>**1,075,405**<br>**644,111**<br>**743,221**<br>**907,528**<br>**65,419**<br>**47,180**<br>**9,334**<br>**77,962**<br>**-**<br>**13,000**<br>**8,900**<br>**6,370,223**<br>**348,510**<br>**387,900**<br>**-**<br>**736,410**<br>**7,106,633**<br>**3,539,606**<br>**641,335**<br>**613,132**<br>**4,794,073**<br>**744,768**<br>**725,391**<br>**1,044,274**<br>**2,514,433**<br>**7,308,506**<br>**(201,873)**<br>**(168,228)**<br>**(370,101)**|2024<br>Total<br>£<br>2,613,790<br>926,167<br>460,873<br>592,298<br>834,709<br>13,015<br>23,221<br>17,018<br>85,667<br>4,768<br>733<br>4,500|
|---|---|---|
|||5,576,759<br>348,510<br>431,000<br>5,000|
|||784,510|
|||6,361,269<br>3,143,893<br>587,777<br>530,761|
|||4,262,431<br>630,535<br>475,046<br>998,313|
|||2,103,894<br>6,366,325|
|||(5,056)|
|||(168,228)<br>(173,284)|



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**35** 



**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **2. Interest receivable** 

||**2025**|2024|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|£|
|Bank interest|47,180|15,153|
||══════|══════|



## **3. Income from commercial trading activities** 

The trading subsidiary is Poole Arts Trust (Trading) Limited, which is incorporated in the United Kingdom (company number 01368368). Poole Arts Trust (Trading) Limited operates all commercial trading operations carried on at the Poole Arts Trust Limited premises. A summary of the trading results is shown below. 

|he trading results is shown below.||||
|---|---|---|---|
|||**2025**|2024|
||Note|**£**|£|
|Turnover||863,528|773,508|
|Theatre Tax Relief||44,000|61,201|
|||──────|──────|
|Total income|1|907,528|834,709|
|Cost of sales and administration costs|1|(641,335)|(587,777)|
|Management charge||(103,044)|-|
|Gift Aid Distribution||(190,456)|(114,587)|
|||──────|──────|
|Total expenditure|1|(934,835)|(702,364)|
|||──────|──────|
|**Net profit**||(27,307)|132,345|
|||══════|══════|
|**The assets and liabilities of the subsidiary were:**||||
|Fixed assets||34,382|35,509|
|Current assets||636,185|586,663|
|Current liabilities||(256,474)|(180,772)|
|||──────|──────|
|Total net assets||414,093|441,400|
|||══════|══════|



www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**36** 



**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **4. Staff costs** 

||**2025**|**2024**|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|**£**|
|Wages and salaries|2,249,113|1,847,122|
|Social security costs|163,782|129,375|
|Pension costs|49,694|42,465|
||──────|──────|
||2,462,589|2,018,962|
||══════|══════|



The number of employees whose emoluments amounted to over £60,000 in the year was as follows: 

|||**2025**|2024|
|---|---|---|---|
|||**Number**|Number|
|£60,001|- £70,000|1|1|
|£80,001|- £90,000|-|1|
|£90,001|- £100,000|1|-|
|||══════|══════|



The average number of (full time equivalent – FTE) employees during the year were made up as follows: 

||**2025**||**2024**|
|---|---|---|---|
|**FTE**<br>Management and administration<br>21<br>Marketing and publicity<br>6<br>Establishment<br>16<br>Bars, and merchandise<br>17<br>Direct programme and event<br>18<br>────<br>Total FTE<br>78<br>═════<br>Average number of employees<br>133<br>═════||FTE<br>20<br>6<br>13<br>17<br>13<br>────<br>69<br>═════<br>124<br>═════||



Key management personnel compensation: 

|**2025**|**2024**|
|---|---|
|**Gross**<br>**wages**<br>**£**<br>**NI Ers**<br>**£**<br>**Pension**<br>**£**<br>**Benefits**<br>**£**<br>**Total**<br>**£**<br>338,383<br>39,898<br>22,441<br>4,101<br>404,823<br>═════<br>═════<br>═════<br>═════<br> ═════|Gross<br>wages<br>£<br>NI Ers<br>£<br>Pension<br>£<br>Benefits<br>£<br>Total<br>£<br>280,320<br>33,350<br>21,866<br>3,690<br>339,226<br>══════<br>═════<br>═════<br>═════<br>═════|



www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**37** 



**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **5. Directors** 

No director or person with a family or business connection with a director received remuneration in the year, directly or indirectly, from the charity.  £296 (2024: £nil) travelling expenses were reimbursed to one director during the year (2024: Nil). 

## **6. Operating surplus for the year** 

The operating surplus for the year is stated after charging: 

||**2025**|**2024**|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|**£**|
|Auditors’ remuneration:|||
|Audit services|23,000|19,500|
|Non-audit services|3,000|4,400|
|Depreciation of tangible fixed assets|221,601|346,645|
||══════|══════|
|Audit services in respect of Poole Arts Trust (Trading)|||
|Limited|-|3,500|
|Non- audit services to Poole Arts Trust (Trading) Limited|3,500|-|
||══════|══════|



## **7. Tangible fixed assets** 

## **Group** 

||**Improvements**<br>**to long**<br>**leasehold**<br>**property**<br>**£**<br>**Furniture, fixtures and**<br>**equipment**<br>**£**<br>**Assets under**<br>**construction**<br>**£**<br>**Total**<br>**£**|
|---|---|
|**Cost**<br>At 1 April 2024<br>14,776,737<br>1,641,539<br>12,840<br>**16,431,116**<br>Additions<br>56,189<br>144,602<br>-<br>**200,791**<br>Disposals<br>-<br>(1,903)<br>-<br>**(1,903)**<br>─────────────────────────────────────<br>**───────**<br>At 31 March 2025<br>14,832,926<br>1,784,238<br>12,840<br>**16,630,004**<br>─────────────────────────────────────<br>**───────**<br>**Depreciation**<br>At 1 April 2024<br>10,268,262<br>1,104,178<br>-<br>**11,372,440**<br>Provided during the year<br>184,560<br>37,041<br>-<br>**221,601**<br>─────────────────────────────────────<br>**───────**<br>At 31 March 2025<br>10,452,822<br>1,141,219<br>-<br>**11,594,041**<br>─────────────────────────────────────<br>**───────**<br>**Net book value**<br>At 31 March 2024<br>4,508,475<br>537,361<br>12,840<br>**5,058,676**<br> ═════════════════════════════════════<br>**═══════**<br>At 31 March 2025<br>4,380,104<br>643,019<br>12,840<br>**5,035,963**<br> ═════════════════════════════════════<br>**═══════**||



www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**38** 



**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **Charity** 

|||**Improvements**||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**to long**|**Furniture, fixtures**|||
|||**leasehold**|**and**|**Assets under**||
|||**property**|**equipment**|**construction**|**Total**|
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
||**Cost**|||||
||At 1 April 2024|14,776,737|1,584,730|12,840|**16,374,307**|
||Additions|56,189|143,633|-|**199,822**|
||Disposals|-|(1,903)|**-**|**(1,903)**|
|||─────────────────────────────────────|||**───────**|
||At 31 March 2025|14,832,926|1,726,463|12,840|**16,572,229**|
|||─────────────────────────────────────|||**───────**|
||**Depreciation**|||||
||At 1 April 2024|10,268,262|1,082,879|**-**|**11,351,141**|
||Provided during the year|184,560|34,944|**-**|**219,504**|
|||─────────────────────────────────────|||**───────**|
||At 31 March 2025|10,452,822|1,117,823|**-**|**11,570,645**|
|||─────────────────────────────────────|||**───────**|
||**Net book value**|||||
||At 31 March 2024|4,508,475|501,851|12,840|**5,023,166**|
|||═════════════════════════════════════|||**═══════**|
||At 31 March 2025|4,380,104|608,637|12,840|**5,001,581**|
|||═════════════════════════════════════|||**═══════**|
|All of the above assets are used to further the primary objects of the charity.||||||
|**8. Stocks**||||||
|||**2025**|**2025**|2024|2024|
|||**Group**|**Charity**|Group|Charity|
|||**£**|**£**|£|£|
||Consumables|24,947|24,947|16,686|16,686|
||Goods for resale|23,663|17,402|29,343|21,331|
|||─────────────────||──────────────────||
|||48,610|42,349|46,029|38,017|
|||═════════════════||══════════════════||
|**9. Debtors**||||||
|**Amounts falling due within one year**||||||
|||**2025**|**2025**|2024|2024|
|||**Group**|**Charity**|Group|Charity|
|||**£**|**£**|£|£|
||Trade debtors|129,635|114,858|110,243|91,111|
||VAT recoverable|18,014|247,435|53,022|206,419|
||Other debtors|24,219|16,574|53,676|52,160|
||Prepayments and accrued income|712,637|668,637|538,369|493,918|
|||─────────────────||──────────────────||
|||884,505|1,047,504|755,310|843,608|
|||═════════════════||══════════════════||



www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**39** 



**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **Amounts falling due after more than one year** 

||**2025**|**2025**|2024|2024|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Group**|**Charity**|Group|Charity|
||**£**|**£**|£|£|
|Trade debtors|14,808|14,808|-|-|
||─────────────────||──────────────────||
||14,808|14,808|-|-|
||═════════════════||══════════════════||
|**10. Investments**|||||
||**2025**|**2025**|2024|2024|
||**Group**|**Charity**|Group|Charity|
||**£**|**£**|£|£|
|Deposit accounts|505,517|505,517|287,149|287,149|
||══════════════════||═════════════════||
|**11. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year**|||||
||**2025**|**2025**|2024|2024|
||**Group**|**Charity**|Group|Charity|
||**£**|**£**|£|£|
|Trade creditors|375,050|365,827|500,259|489,694|
|Other creditors|326,594|308,763|297,758|280,948|
|Amounts owed to group undertakings|-|316,240|-|513,303|
||──────────────────||──────────────────||
||701,644|990,830|798,017|1,283,945|
|Box office receipts in advance|1,047,580|1,047,580|1,306,839|1,306,839|
||──────────────────||──────────────────||
||1,749,224|2,038,410|2,104,856|2,590,784|
||══════════════════||══════════════════||



Deferred income as at 31 March 2025 consists of grant income which is specifically allocated for use in future accounting periods and will be released accordingly in the subsequent period. 

||**2025**|**2025**|2024|2024|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Group**|**Charity**|Group|Charity|
|Box office receipts in advance analysis:|**£**|**£**|£|£|
|Opening balance|1,306,839|1,306,839|639,687|639,687|
|Tickets sold for events|4,770,367|4,770,367|5,093,471|5,093,471|
|Tickets transferred to SOFA|(5,029,626)|(4,606,889)|(4,426,319)|(4,003,909)|
|Tickets transferred to subsidiary|-|(422,737)|-|(422,410)|
||──────────────────||─────────────────||
||1,047,580|1,047,580|1,306,839|1,306,839|
||══════════════════||═════════════════||



## **12. Related party transactions** 

The charity has taken advantage of the exemption not to disclose transactions with group undertakings, all of which are eliminated on consolidation in these financial statements.  During the year a member of key management had an employee loan of £83 (2024: £nil) for personal van hire.  As at 31 March the balance due to the charity was £83 (2024:£nil) 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**40** 



**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **13. Members’ liability** 

The Trust is limited by guarantee and has no share capital.  Each of the directors is also a member of the company.  At the year ended 31 March 2025 there were 9 members (9 members at 31 March 2024), each of whom has undertaken to contribute a maximum of £1, if required, in the event of the winding up of the company. 

## **14. Analysis of net assets between funds** 

||**Tangible**|**Current**|**Current**||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Group**|**fixed assets**|**assets**|**liabilities**|**Total**|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|Development project|3,995,433|-|-|3,995,433|
|Other restricted funds|-|42,068|-|42,068|
||───────|───────|───────|───────|
|Restricted total|**3,995,433**|**42,068**|**-**|**4,037,501**|
|Unrestricted fund|1,040,530|2,082,449|(1,749,224)|1,338,755|
|Designated fund|-|497,080|-|497,080|
||───────|───────|───────|───────|
|**Total**|**5,035,963**|**2,586,597**|**(1,749,224)**|**5,873,336**|
||═══════|═══════|═══════|═══════|
||**Tangible**|**Current**|**Current**||
|**Charity**|**fixed assets**|**assets**|**liabilities**|**Total**|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|Development project|3,995,433|-|-|3,995,433|
|Other restricted funds|-|42,068|-|42,068|
||───────|───────|───────|───────|
|Restricted total|**3,995,433**|**42,068**|**-**|**4,037,501**|
|Unrestricted fund|1,006,148|1,956,922|(2,038,410)|924,660|
|Designated fund|-|497,080|-|497,080|
||───────|───────|───────|───────|
|**Total**|**5,001,581**|**2,496,070**|**(2,038,410)**|**5,459,241**|
||═══════|═══════|═══════|═══════|



www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**41** 



**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **15. Unrestricted funds** 

|**5. Unrestricted funds**||||
|---|---|---|---|
||||**Total**|
||**Undesignated**|**Designated**|**unrestricted**|
|**Group**|**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|
|Income|7,322,171|-|**7,322,171**|
|Expenditure|(7,547,819)|-|**(7,547,819)**|
|Transfers|131,000|(131,000)|**-**|
||**─────────────────────**||**──────**|
|Deficit for the year|(94,648)|(131,000)|**(225,648)**|
|Balance at 1 April 2024|1,433,403|628,080|**2,061,483**|
||**─────────────────────**||**──────**|
|Balance at 31 March 2025|1,338,755|497,080|**1,835,835**|
||═════════════════════||**══════**|



In the previous year group undesignated funds had total income of £6,270,602, total expenditure of £6,245,631, transfers of £12,000. There was a £12,000 transfer from the designated fund and a total surplus for the year of £24,971. 

||||**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|
||**Undesignated**|**Designated**|**unrestricted**|
|**Charity**|**funds**|**Funds**|**funds**|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|
|Income|6,414,643|-|**6,414,643**|
|Expenditure|(6,612,984)|-|**(6,612,984)**|
|Transfers|131,000|(131,000)|**-**|
||────────────────────||**───────**|
|Deficit for the year|(67,341)|(131,000)|**(198,341)**|
|Balance at 1 April 2024|992,001|628,080|**1,620,081**|
||────────────────────||──**─────**|
|Balance at 31 March 2025|924,660|497,080|**1,421,740**|
||════════════════════||**═══════**|



In the previous year, charity undesignated funds had total income of £5,550,479, total expenditure of £5,657,853, transfers of £12,000. There was a £12,000 transfer from the designated fund and a total deficit of £107,374. 

See reserves and financial policies notes in the directors’ report for details. 

Designated funds consist of the following distinct balances: 

||**Artistic Risk**|||
|---|---|---|---|
||**Reserve**|**Risk Reserve**|**Total**|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|
|Balance at 1 April 2024|184,693|443,387|**628,080**|
|Transferred in (out)|(131,000)|-|**(131,000)**|
||────────────────────||**───────**|
|Balance at 31 March 2025|53,693|443,387|**497,080**|
||════════════════════||══**═════**|



In reviewing the Reserves Policy, the trustees have determined an approach to designated funds is required in order to support the organisation mitigating the risks identified in continuing to deliver the charity’s objects to the highest level. As such, funds are designated as a general risk and an artistic reserve. These funds will help to underwrite in ever-increasing risk of operations and the high up-front outlay of ambitious, high-quality work on our stages, respectively. The former anticipates the ongoing cost of maintaining a, now ageing, building and the latter the need to deliver work, on occasion, for which prior experience does not provide an accurate indication of return on investment.   During the year the board agreed to release £131,000 from the Artistic Risk Reserve to the general reserve to cover losses they had underwritten. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**42** 



**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **16. Restricted funds** 

## **Total restricted funds (Group and Charity)** 

The following restricted funds are held: 

|||**Other**||
|---|---|---|---|
||**Development**|**Restricted**||
||**Project**|**Funds**|**Total**|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|
|Balance at 1 April 2024|4,163,661|18,293|**4,181,954**|
|Income|-|77,962|**77,962**|
|Expenditure|(168,228)|(54,187)|**(222,415)**|
||──────|──────|**───────**|
|Balance at 31 March 2025|3,995,433|42,068|**4,037,501**|
||══════|══════|**═══════**|



This year group and charity restricted funds had total income of £30,587, total expenditure of £168,228 and a deficit of £137,641. 

## **Capital Development Project** 

In 2014 the trust received development funds from Arts Council England, Borough of Poole (now BCP Council) and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra of £56,000, £55,000, and £25,000 respectively. In 2014 Lighthouse directly committed £47,000 of its own reserves to the development stage of the project. This was funded by the prudent accumulation of the designated maintenance fund in preceding years. 

In 2015 the trust received development funds from Arts Council England, Clive and Sally Sherling, Garfield Weston Charitable Trust and Equity Charitable Trust of £62,059, £100,000, £100,000, and £6,000 respectively. 

The initial receipt of an Arts Council England Stage One capital funding signalled a high degree of confidence in the organisation’s capital development plans. Borough of Poole (now BCP Council) then confirmed further funding of up to £595,000. Final confirmation from Arts Council England that our Stage 2 Capital Grant application for just under £3.9m was accepted just after the finalisation of 2015 accounts. Further donations were received from private donors to complete the project. 

## **Other Restricted Funds** 

- Grant received from Bourne Free (Bournemouth Pride) to support the inaugural Poole Pride 2024. 

- Grant from NFU Mutual, as part of a three-year grant for the continued delivery of dementia friendly screenings. 

- Gifts from private individuals to support ongoing Creative Engagement work. 

- Granted award by the National Theatre to support the 2024/25 NT Connections Programme. 

## **17. Contingent liabilities** 

The directors recognise that under the terms of the lease, the Trust has an obligation in respect of the building and to this end the building is maintained to a high standard.  BCP Council has required that no allowance be made for replacement of the council’s assets in the grant that the Trust receives from the council.  The amount of any contingent liability regarding this obligation cannot be quantified at the present time.  If the directors are unable to raise alternative sources of finance to meet any such liability that may arise, the council has indicated that it would consider each request for replacement of the council’s assets on its merits at the time. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**43** 



**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **18. Pension commitments** 

The Trust has a pension scheme for all eligible employees.  The Trust operates a group personal pension plan and there are, therefore, no possible unforeseen liabilities. 

|ossible unforeseen liabilities.||||
|---|---|---|---|
|||**2025**|**2024**|
|||**£**|**£**|
|Trust premiums paid to this scheme||49,694|42,465|
|||══════|═════|
|ontributions totalling £4,743 (2024: £4,535) were payable to the scheme at the year||end and are included in creditors.||
|**9. Net cash inflow / (outflow) from operating activities**||||
|||**2025**|**2024**|
|||**£**|**£**|
|Reconciliation of operating surplus to net cash||||
|inflow / (outflow) from operating activities:||||
|Net unrestricted incoming/(outgoing)resources for the year||(225,648)|24,971|
|Net restricted incoming/(outgoing) resources for the year||(144,453)|(198,255)|
|||──────|──────|
|Net incoming/(outgoing) resources for the year||(370,101)|(173,284)|
|Interest receivable||(47,180)|(23,221)|
|Depreciation on fixed assets||221,601|346,647|
|Loss on disposal of fixed assets||1,903|4,785|
|(Increase)/decrease in stock||(2,581)|(10,396)|
|(Increase)/decrease in debtors||(144,003)|(169,553)|
|Increase / (decrease) in creditors||(355,632)|480,186|
|||──────|──────|
|Net cash inflow / (outflow) from operating activities||(695,993)|455,164|
|||══════|══════|
|**0. Analysis of changes in net funds**||||
||**2024**|**Cash flow**|**2025**|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Net cash**||||
|Cash at bank and in hand|2,201,129|(1,067,972)|1,133,157|
|**Liquid resources**||||
|Current asset investment|287,149|218,368|505,517|
||──────|──────|──────|
||2,488,278|(849,604)|1,638,674|
||══════|══════|══════|



Contributions totalling £4,743 (2024: £4,535) were payable to the scheme at the year end and are included in creditors. 

## **19. Net cash inflow / (outflow) from operating activities** 

## **20. Analysis of changes in net funds** 

## **21. Ultimate control** 

The ultimate controlling party is the Board of Directors. 

In respect of the provisions of the Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, the directors do not consider that any one person or legal entity (or combination thereof) aside from the Board itself, has significant influence over the company. 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk 

**44**