## **Westonzoyland Engine Trust Annual Report** ## **2025** Annual General Meeting held on 22 March 2026 at 2.00pm At Westonzoyland Pumping Station, Hoopers Lane, Westonzoyland Near Bridgwater, TA7 0LS, Somerset 1 ## **The President’s Opening Statement (Iain Miles).** Firstly, I want to welcome you all and thank you for your continued support. It doesn’t seem like 12 months ago that I was stood here speaking to you all last March. Again a lot has happened in that time, the Cafe here is a case in point and I would like to thank everyone, especially Jason and Nigel for what they have achieved since New Year’s Day. We have, over the last year, had a number of new volunteers join us and I would especially like to welcome some of them here today. This has enabled several new projects to be progressed and the railway is being extended. We are also hopeful that the Crossley will soon be working again. I will leave the details to the individuals concerned for them to report. Jason has once again been very busy and a significant item is that we are on the verge of becoming a CIO. No doubt he will clarify the situation. The problems with the damage caused by the EA now look to be coming to a head. Again grateful thanks to Jason, he will be filling us in on that one! Also the others of you that do things quietly behind the scenes. Nigel, John and Ian for keeping the boiler up and running, Chris for cutting grass and looking after the car parking. Also, those who help behind the scenes with our major fund-raiser, Steam On The Levels and our other smaller, but no less labour-intensive events like the railway days that bring in much needed funds but a slightly different clientele. I must also again mention the ladies who work Front of House in here, a very necessary part of our museum, Dawn, Elaine, Ruth, Jo and Mary, without whom we would lose a most important part of our income. Also, Barbara Curtis who, although not a member, arranges the visits by the teams of Paranormal investigators. I would like to finish by briefly mentioning our relationship with SIAS and the shared Archive. This seems to be working well at present with a number of enquiries, so far having been dealt with. Let us look forward to another successful year. Thank-you. ## **1. Apologies for absence** Apologies were received from: Alan Davies Ian Lang Steve Miles Ray West Total in attendance at the meeting was 14. The meeting was chaired by Andy Carter. 2 ## **2. The minutes of the 2024 AGM** Accepted. Proposer: Harold Mead; Seconder: John Ditchfield. ## **3. Matters Arising** Items were to be covered later. ## **4. Chairman’s Report (Andy Carter)** Over the past year the station has seemed to be in a constant state of flux, with things going on (and off) all the time. First and foremost, there has been a lot of work around the site to improve both the appearance and the visitor experience: outdoor displays have been tidied and improved with additional planting and information boards around the place, Chris has been beavering away keeping the jungle at bay and you may also have noticed that the cafe looks somewhat different (and a lot better) following its refurbishment thanks to Nigel and the folks from Nuclear Restoration Services who helped paint it out. Elsewhere, the work in the pump room continues with most of the pumps now mounted and piped up and in the main hall Jock has been busy getting the Lister compressor set working to start the Crossley, which has been out of action since the failure of the power converter. The entrance to the car park has also been moved to provide a safer entry, something highlighted by the railway inspector a few years ago and with it the extension of the railway toward the entrance has begun. On the subject of the railway, we continued with our successful railway days in August culminating with the railway gala on August bank holiday, which featured no fewer than seven locos including our canopied Lister now back on the rails and Jason's Clayton battery loco. The past several months have seen Pete fabricating the new disabled coach in the welding shop, with it now up to rolling chassis stage. Back in September the knife board coach received a major fettling before it and Jason's Planet loco went off for a visit to the Lynton & Barnstaple railway gala where it was quite popular giving rides up and down the headshunt. This was also the first outing for our new gazebo and display publicity stand, all of which has raised the profile of the museum. Once again we have had another successful year for our steaming events, including New Years Day and Halloween to name a couple, and our major fundraiser Steam On The Levels was smiled upon by the weather gods again. Finally, the biggest change to the trust in years -which I'm sure has passed unnoticed by our visitors and probably most of our members as well- is the change to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. This -mainly administrative move- simplifies a lot of things, the main one being how we manage our assets (land, buildings etc.) while still keeping the charitable function and aims of the trust. Report accepted. Proposer: Nigel Webber. Seconder: Ian Gilliam. 3 ## **5** . **Treasurer’s Report (Jason Keswick)** ## **Income** 2025 has been a successful year for the Trust. With increasing income from entrance fees, entrance donations and the café! We have also had a record year in income from other revenues with continuing bookings of Paranormal Investigations and also other bookings fro users such as the dog training company. I have therefore decided to recategorize these bookings from Private Visits to Site Hire. This means that Private Visits is very much income from Museum-based visits either non-steam or in-steam. For 2024-25 we had two steam based bookings for £500 each. The first was for a couple who wanted to get hands-on and the other for a return of the Low Ham Steam Rally Road Run where they were also charged a further £150 for the additional parking secured in the adjacent field. The shop has also done surprisingly well this year, that in part is thanks to Iain Miles and the production of his fantastic book “Narrow Gauge in Somerset, Devon and Dorset” which has been very popular including many sales through our online shop. We are also extremely grateful to both Museum Development South West and Nuclear Restoration Services for their grant funding. MDSW finding has been covering the majority of our professional fee costs to become a CIO and also helped develop this board for the future. NRS supported the purchase of a brand new display marquee just in time for our visit to the Lynton & Barnstaple and all the marketing items that went with it. We have a fairly large refunds from suppliers tab this year and this is down to mispayment to a wrong account for the toilet hire for SOTL and a refund of professional valuation by a surveyor where we felt the work carried out fell massively short of the standards the RICS expect and as such we requested a full refund of costs already paid. ## **Expenditure** Café Expenses have risen, this will be caused by increased sales but also the general increase in food and supply costs. We have reviewed our costs this winter and have revised our Café prices for the 2026 year. Site, General, Engineering and Exhibit expenses all down on the previous years as we had been concentrating our efforts in other areas. Insurance has also fallen with more competitive rates and adjustments with brokers we were able to keep this to a minimum. Project Fund expenses were up with the final works to the Archive and the start of the funded MDSW work on CIO creation and land transfers. Promotion has fallen back to below our usual £1,000 budget for this year. We have learnt that the best promotion for us is low-cost paid social media adverts. We will be taking some targeted traditional promotion in 2026 but this will be limited and again 4 will stick to our £1,000 budget. Paper leaflets are still being produced, new ones are available for distribution in the Mess Room. Site services are up considerably. One element of this is electricity, with an increase of site activity including use of welders, grinders, etc., we are seeing a trend of electricity bills of around £175-£200 a month. It’s worth noting we have also come out of a long-term fixed contract that was at extremely low rates. The Trust will need to consider if grant funding could facilitate a Solar & Battery install as this would help reduce background loads and bring these costs down. We had spent a large amount of money investing in the railway. This included the purchase of rail, sleepers, turnouts and other sundries. This is to allow the extension of the railway, the evidence of which can be seen on site. Our aim is to have the railway completed to its terminus and all tidied up, new platform, etc., for official opening at this years Railway Gala, but we will start running trains on it as soon as it is ready. The railway is a significant draw and is enabling us to hold additional non-steam openings which help increase that Café income. ## **Balance Sheet** The year concluded with a surplus of just under £13,000, however this was significantly bolstered by Grant Funding which is restricted to specific spending in the following year. We need to continue to build on our income in 2026 and try and increase other sources of revenue, especially through site hire. Our steaming days on the new calendar have been very well attended where often we have run out of parking. This means we are therefore limited to the amount of income we can create through this method. Cash at the Bank was just under £50,000 of which we have built up a specific boiler fund of £16,000+. The Marshall boiler is not due a 10 year overhaul until 2030 but the Robey will be in need of a re-tube after the end of 2026. Full details covered elsewhere. Harold Mead asked about the drop in membership. Jason said that membership now ends at different times for each member – on the anniversary of their joining rather than a set date in the year. Report accepted. Proposer: Harold Mead. Seconder: Iain Miles. ## **6. Secretary’s Report (Mary Miles)** None. 5 ## **7. Chief Engineer’s Report (Ian Gilliam)** The pump room was coming on, thanks to Geoff Harding, Ian Lang and Phil Lambert. The Robey was now in storage. It would need a new set of tubes.. The Marshall requires some welding, which Bob Garnett is organising. He thanked Jock for his work on the new compressor. Report accepted. Proposer: John Ditchfield. Seconder: Iain Miles. ## **8 Promotions Report (Jason Keswick)** None. ## **9. Membership Secretary (Jason Keswick)** This had been covered above, and was largely self-managing. ## **10. Steam on the Levels (Jason Keswick)** This last year had been brilliant. The total income was a record, despite the entrance charge being the same as for a normal steaming (rather than £2 extra). We had been blessed with good weather. Unusually, Saturday had been the busiest day, probably due to other events locally. Tim Gray was thanked for the bar. For the coming event, Laura had already agreed for use of the field and a licence from the EA applied for. ## **11. Steam Dates for 2025** These had been sent out already as the AGM had moved to March. There would be one less due to an early Easter and the BESST course. It had been agreed to miss out the first Wednesday Railway Day due to proximity of other events. ## **12. Shop Sales (Jason Keswick)** This had already been covered above. 6 ## **13. Accommodation (Jason Keswick)** The workshop roof would be worked on. A builder had said he would help, but the recent weather had stopped any work. It was hoped now it was drier that he would be able to do it. It was expected to take only a couple of days. On the rest of the buildings, the broken tile replacement seemed to have worked in stopping ingress of water. There would need to be work in a bigger building project, costing thought to be £20,000 plus and would include fascia, guttering etc. It was hoped to get MEND funding for this. Possibly solar panels would be fitted on the newer roof. ## **Summary – Correspondence regarding EA Claim** ## **Key Points** ## **1. EA Position** - The EA has stated that they do not accept a valid claim exists, and if one does it is out of time. - A formal letter and email were issued by the EA outlining this position. ## **2. Legal and Statutory Review** - Alan Davies reviewed the Water Resources Act 1991, particularly Schedule 21, and found no requirement to cite Schedule 21 when submitting such a claim. - He also notes no requirement to define the injury under Schedule 2q, aside from the general need to identify harm suffered. - He has not yet reviewed the timeliness aspect in detail but believes the Trust is not time-barred under common law. ## **3. Actions Requested** - Jason is asked to request that Bruton Knowles seek clarification from the EA on the source of the alleged requirement to reference Schedule 21. - It is noted that Ian Hayes of the EA has resumed handling the case, as he did when the claim was first initiated. - William Fair (Bruton Knowles) recommends issuing a strongly worded letter from a solicitor experienced in such matters, though this would incur additional costs to the Trust. - He requests a Teams meeting next week to discuss the situation and introduce managing partner Russell Davies. ## **4. Trust concerns and Proposed strategy** - Jason expressed significant disappointment and frustration, stating that the EA has effectively delayed and obstructed progress. - Concerns were raised about the financial burden of legal escalation. - Jason intends to discuss the matter with Historic England and suggests they may be able to discuss with the EA at a higher level to get the impasse cleared. Also we may consider going public, including 7 approaching the MP (Sir Ashley Fox) who offered any help and potentially engaging the media. Iain Miles thanked Jason for all the work he had put into this, over a long period of time. He had the full support of the membership. Report accepted. Proposer: Iain Miles. Seconder: Andy Carter **.** ## **14 Accreditation (Jason Keswick** ) Nothing to report. . ## **15 Collections Group Report/items on loan (Jason Keswick)** Nothing had changed in the last year. ## **16 CIO** This had been approved and was already in existence. The old Trust was still running. We were waiting for the landholding trustees to be updated by Land Registry, then the landholding could be transferred to the new CIO. On that date everything would transfer from the old Trust to the new CIO. We would need an AGM or EGM to dissolve the old, though we would keep the old bank account open for a year to ensure any stray payments were made to the new CIO bank account ## **17 Election of Officers** The present committee had all indicated that they were willing to stand again, Charlie Talbot was no longer on the Committee. Harold Mead proposed and Iain Miles seconded that all the present committee be re-elected. This was carried nem con. Officers are:Chairman: Andy Carter Treasurer: Jason Keswick Secretary: Mary Miles Promotions: vacant Chief Engineer: Ian Gilliam Committee Member: Geoff Harding Committee Member: Alan Davies The meeting ended at 3.10pm, with thanks to all those attending for their interest. 8 ACCOUNTS - 30/09/2025 ## **WESTONZOYLAND ENGINE TRUST** ## **Year Ended 30th September 2025** |**RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS**|2025|2024| |---|---|---| |**Income from Sales**
Entrance
Entrance Donations
Membership
Private Visits
Talks & Outside Exhibitions
Experience Days
The Thyer Cafe
Site Hire
Card Payment
**Other Income**
Donations
Grant Aid
Interest earned
Other Income
WZLR Donations
Gift Aid
Sale of Scrap/Plant/Other
Refunds from Suppliers
**From Shop Sales Account**
**Payments**
Membership Costs
The Thyer Cafe Expenses
Site & General Expenses
Building Repairs & Improvements
Engineering & Exhibits Expenses
General Admin
Insurance
Project Fund Expenses
Promotion
Site Services
Steam on the Levels
Westonzoyland Light Railway
Steam Fuel
Listed Building Project
WZLR Railway Building
Experience Day Costs
Professional Memberships
Donations (to other charities)
Uncategorised Expenses
**Surplus / Deficit for year**
**BALANCE SHEET AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2025**
Field|£ p
17,168.26
805.56
750.50
1,150.00
175.00
-
9,557.68
3,640.00
(209.49)
1,223.99
7,703.00
156.25
64.00
10.00
-
-
1,129.20
**1,253.75**
**44,577.70**
125.45
2,903.14
2,531.60
-
848.20
518.54
5,298.59
4,439.67
874.50
3,588.16
1,613.19
8,466.46
-
-
109.52
-
388.60
-
-
**31,705.62**
**12,872.08**
£ p
1,000.00|£ p
16,792.83
789.75
1,673.73
3,105.00
50.00
-
8,037.31
-
(196.45)
2,209.72
-
161.30
115.50
-
-
-
-
**828.37**| |||**33,567.06**| |||250.17
1,992.73
8,559.03
1,841.04
2,654.32
613.14
6,226.15
3,563.66
2,208.07
2,711.04
1,514.86
2,652.89
5,549.75
3,015.60
15.96
-
261.40
-
-| |||**43,629.81**| |||| |||**-10,062.75**| |||£ p
1,000.00| |Shop stock holding at cost price
Cash at Bank
Float
**Assets**
Field fund
General funds
Allermoor Engine Fund
Project Fund
Boiler Fund
Paypal
Sales account
**Funds**|485.73|514.46| ||49,406.60
200.00
**51,092.33**
1,000.00
10,469.05
894.05
6,339.92
16,349.28
125.92
15,914.11
**51,092.33**|36,505.79
200.00| |||**38,220.25**| |||1,000.00
8,134.14
886.13
0.04
13,213.83
811.48
14,174.63| |||**38,220.25**| ## **Notes** The Trust owns the Pumping Station, which is a non-saleable exhibit and restricted to charitable use on purchase from the Environment Agency. March 2026 Jason Keswick - Treasurer Westonzoyland Engine Trust ACCOUNTS - 30/09/2025 ## **WESTONZOYLAND ENGINE TRUST - SALES ACCOUNT Year Ended 30th September 2025** |**SHOP SALES**||2025||2024|| |---|---|---|---|---|---| ||£ p|£ p|£ p|£ p|| |**Shop Income**||1,504.47||1,338.72|| |Stock 1st October|514.46||552.83||| |_Add:_|||||| |Purchases|221.99||471.98||| |_Less:_|||||| |Stock 30th Sep|485.73||514.46||| |Total Cost Price of new stock sold||250.72||510.35|| |**Net Profit (to RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS)**||**1,253.75**||**828.37**|| ## **WESTONZOYLAND ENGINE TRUST - STEAM ON THE LEVELS 17th & 18th May 2025** |**SHOP SALES**
2025
2024
£ p
£ p
£ p
£ p
**Shop Income**
1,504.47
1,338.72|**SHOP SALES**
2025
2024
£ p
£ p
£ p
£ p
**Shop Income**
1,504.47
1,338.72|**SHOP SALES**
2025
2024
£ p
£ p
£ p
£ p
**Shop Income**
1,504.47
1,338.72|**SHOP SALES**
2025
2024
£ p
£ p
£ p
£ p
**Shop Income**
1,504.47
1,338.72| |---|---|---|---| |£ p
£ p
£ p
£ p
**Shop Income**
1,504.47
1,338.72|||| |Stock 1st October
514.46
552.83
_Add:_
Purchases
221.99
471.98
_Less:_
Stock 30th Sep
485.73
514.46
Total Cost Price of new stock sold
250.72
510.35
**Net Profit (to RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS)**
**1,253.75**
**828.37**|||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||250.72
**1,253.75**|510.35|| |||**828.37**|| |**WESTONZOYLAND ENGINE TRUST - STEAM ON THE LEVELS**
**17th & 18th May 2025**|||| |**INCOME**
**Saturday**
Entrance Fees
Tea Room
Shop Sales
Donations
WZLR Donations
Pizzas [Evening]
**Sunday (Combined)**
Entrance Fees
Tea Room
Shop Sales
Donations
WZLR Donations
**General**
Stall Holders
Westonzoyland Carnival Club
Parrett Real Ale & Cider Bar
5" Gauge Miniature Railway
Other
Exhibitor Entry Fees
Pre-Paid Entry - PayPal
**Total Income**
**EXPENSES**
Promotion
Toilets
Other
Merged Costs
Hire of Field & Legal - EA
**Total Expediture**
**NET PROFIT**|2025
£ p
6,667.50
1,381.00
65.40
29.05
-
-
3,253.00
1,352.50
127.22
204.27
-
-
200.00
975.00
-
-
-
1,166.00
**15,420.94**
-
391.20
-
746.99
475.00
**1,613.19**
**13,807.75**|2024
£ p
2,665.00
832.00
74.50
9.20
-
359.50
4,610.00
1,413.50
146.30
16.70
-
50.00
250.00
796.04
-
140.00
-
340.00
**11,702.74**|| |||162.42
391.20
21.00
176.25
400.00
**1,150.87**|| ||||| |||**10,551.87**|| |(excluding sales costs)|||| March 2026 Jason Keswick - Treasurer Westonzoyland Engine Trust