## **Trustees' Annual Report for the period**
|**Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod**|**Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod**|**Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod**|**Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod**|**Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod**|**Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod**|**Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod**|**Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**From**|Period start date|||**To**|Period end date|||
||**01**|**01**|**2022**||**31**|**12**|**2022**|
## Section A Reference and administration details
**Charity name Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any)** 298060
Ashford Borough Museum Society
|||
|---|---|
|
Ashford Borough Museum||
|Church Yard||
|Ashford||
|**Postcode**|**TN23 1QG**|
**Charity's principal address**
**Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity**
|1
2
3
4|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year**|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee(if any)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Christine Drury|Chair of Trustees|||
||Roger Pitt||||
||Karen Saunders||||
||Michael Boulding||||
**Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)**
**Name Dates acted if not for whole year**
## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**
|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|
|---|---|---|
|**Type of adviser**
**Name**
**Address**|||
|**President**|Sir George Jessel Bt||
||||
||||
||||
|**Members of Management Committee**|||
|Richard Yeates (Chair)
Robert Shrubb (Treasurer)
(Secretary) – Vacant
(Curator) – Vacant
Jeffrey Fenner
Terry Flood
Jillian Norris
Ann Thomas
Janet Welch|||
March **2012**
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**Section B Structure, governance and management**
## **Description of the charity’s trusts**
Type of governing document
- (eg. trust deed, constitution)
How the charity is constituted
Constitution
adopted 01/07/1987 amended on 18/04/2013
Unincorporated Association
- (eg. trust, association, company)
Trustee selection methods
Election at Annual General Meeting
(eg. appointed by, elected by)
## **Additional governance issues (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant, about:
- policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
- the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
- relationship with any related parties;
- trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
The guidance documents for trustees are the governance documents of the charity, the policies and procedures endorsed by accreditation, and the charity commission guidance, CC3 and further references within it.
The day to day management of the Charity is delegated to the Management Committee, the members of which are named above. The management committee provides the formal structure renewed and confirmed at each AGM . The chair appointed in 2018 remains very committed to the museum but has been temporarily unavailable for much of the year due to illness. Trustees have asked one of their number to step in as vice chair in addition to his trustee role for a short time. Supported by team work with other volunteers this is provided the necessary resilience through the year. The Management Committee is now also supported by informal but well established “ coffee meetings” which are attended by available volunteers who can thereby participate in the team based approach to curatorial, conservation and stewarding operations.
The museum is volunteer run and has Volunteer procedures and a handbook which is updated.
Ashford Borough Museum is an independent museum but works very closely with Ashford Borough Council (ABC), and occupies a grade 1 listed heritage school building in the council’s ownership and trust. Trustees have an on going dialogue with ABC about alternative larger premises but have taken other initiatives in the meantime.
Trustees and management regularly consider the risks and mitigation needed. These are mainly around space planning, long term cost and finance planning and funding , and recruiting and retaining volunteers., in addition to the core work of curating and caring for the collections and making then available to the public. Activities summarised below address each of these topics.
The Charity is Lead Member of the Wheels of Time network of Kent museums and heritage sites; in this lead role it maintains the assets of the network, which now covers over 50 museums. This maintenance role and capacity is being further developed with a lottery grant.
Trustees’ responsibilities include developing the governance of the Museum to support the accreditation already achieved and renewed. All trustees are familiar with CC3 as a first level governance reference. Trustees are aware of the need to declare and manage any conflicts of interest and any related party connections. There were neither any
March **2012**
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2
conflicts of interest nor related party interests during the year. The charity is unincorporated and although this has been a suitable structure trustees plan to update and governance documents including moving to a CIO structure.
March **2012**
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## **Section C Objectives and activities**
**Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document**
To advance the education of the public by promoting the establishment of a Museum in Ashford and in furtherance thereof: to collect and store artefacts and documents of historic interest connected with the area comprised in the Borough of Ashford in the county of Kent and to display such artefacts.
The Trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the museum plans each year.
The Ashford Borough Museum Society tells the story of Ashford by making the artefacts and records in its care available to the public. An Organisational health check with SEMD confirmed need to focus on rebuilding volunteer recruitment and retention after the Covid impacts and an ACE grant was received to secure heritage consultancy support to achieve this.
**Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)**
Looking after the collections in our trust requires space to undertake the conservation and documentation work. During the year the Museum was able to secure, equip and open a Conservation Annexe in a formerly empty shop on the high street. This provides space to a work; to engage with passing public, hold meetings and events, increase awareness of the museum and be a literal shop window for the museum and to recruit more volunteers . After delays with the lease we were eventually able to reconfigure the space to provide a secure storage area and a flexible open quality work space. This is an interim arrangement while we continue to look for a larger space for the whole museum. The Annexe was formally opened in December.
The development of our conservation work is partly funded by ACE grants : these and the new space have encouraged new volunteers to join the conservation team; we are working towards being able to make a larger grant application as the team approach makes the museum more resilient, and there is a shared sense of direction and level of ambition. We were extremely grateful for a generously large donation during the year.
Visitor numbers are gradually increasing after the covid interruptions. Trustees thank the volunteers who organised the daily stewarding rotas and the many who undertook stewarding duties. The result was museum being was open as usual between April and October. And we had an additional 350 visitors for the Ashford 180 celebration of the 1[st] train coming to Ashford in November 1842.
Governance work during the year was focussed on updating Volunteer processes and documents, and progressing collections care systems
March **2012**
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**Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include further statements, where relevant, about:
- policy on grantmaking;
- policy programme related investment;
- contribution made by volunteers.
## Section D Achievements and performance
The museum opened as planned from April 5[th] to October 29[th] . **Summary of the main** Heads of terms on a premises lease for a new Conservation Annexe **achievements of the charity** was negotiated in January, and the planning applications approved . The **during the year** lease was eventually signed in June. The 2022 launch of Wheels of Time took place in March with over 40 museums participating with the organising lead of Ashford Borough Museum. Also in March the Museum received the final report of the extensive Curatorial review and submitted an evaluation to the Frank Brake Foundation which had generously provided the funding for the work. Works on the Annexe as agreed under the terms and funding of the Empty Premises grant approved in the previous December were undertaken in September and October with conservation use and displays staring in November. Heritage consultant support was received during the year, under ACE grant funding, for volunteer development and collections care. Covid continued to be a concern and to impact of volunteers , visitor numbers and operations especially at the start of opening in April . Covid support funds in reserves enabled trustees to be confident that it was both necessary and possible to open and rebuild the museum’s operational capacity and deliver the public benefit to which the trustees are committed . The additional weekend opening in November for the Ashford 180 brought a very encouraging number of visitors to see the museum’s railway collections. And to close the year there was an enthusiastic attendance of volunteers and members and trustees and council officials to see the Mayor formally open the Annexe in December.
March **2012**
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Section E
Financial review
The Museum seeks to maintain a General Funds reserye equivalent to
t¥vo years exFendrture.
Brief statement ol the
charity's policy on reserves
Details of any funds materially
in deficit
Not applicabl8
Furthgr financial r•vlew delalls {Optional infomiation
There were on-going impacts of the Covid pandemic during the year
seriously affectin income from donations both at the Museum and as a
result of individual donations., however, the Museum has benefitted from
Govemment grants which more than cover the reduction in income. The
surplus from these grants shown in the accounts as designated funds.
You may choose to include
additional infonnation, where
relevant aboLrt'.
the charity's principal
sources of funds (including
any fundraising):
how expenditure has
supported the key objectNe8
of the charity.,
investment policy and
objectives including any
ethical investment policy
adopted.
The Charty maintains funds for the Wheels of Time network of museums
and heritage sites in Kenl. These funds are raised from contributions by
members of the Scheme and various grants specTfically provided for the
Scheme. They are therefor8 shown as a Reslricted Fund in the Charity
accounts.
The Charity has no investments.
Section F
Other optional information
The financial position of the charity is managed by the Treasurer who prepares accounts for trust88
meetings lo infom their discussions and decisions tsken wrth involvement of the Chair of the Managemanl
Committee and the Treasurer.
Section G
Declaration
The trustoes dKlarn that they hove approved the trustees, feport above.
Slgned on behalf of the Charity's truste••
Slgnaturo(s)
Full name(s)
Position (eg Socretary. Chalr.
etcl
IorfA/
Date
'7Th OcrTrQfR
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March 2012
Ashford Borough Museum Society Accounts for Year Ending 31st December 2022
## **Assets**
|**2021**|**Balances**|**2022**|
|---|---|---|
|85,832
£|Barclays Current Account|67,222
£|
|23
£|Cash|48
£|
|85,855
£||**67,270**
**£**|
## **Other Assets**
|698
£|New displaycabinets andguard|523
£|
|---|---|---|
|10,200
£|Old displaycabinets|10,200
£|
|21
£|Laptopcomputer|14
£|
|25
£|Projector|17
£|
|243
£|New laptopcomputer for Museum Office|162
£|
|23
£|Monitor for new computer|15
£|
|5,500
£|Media Unit|3,669
£|
||Office Shelving|106
£|
||Office tables|267
£|
||Annexe Shelving|180
£|
||Annexe Furniture|1,105
£|
|**16,710**
**£**||**15,153**
**£**|
Asset values are estimated market values and will be less than replacement cost
## **Signed**
Chairman
Treasurer Examiner
M. Boulding (Acting Chair)
R. Shrubb D. Burke
1 of 6
Ashford Borough Museum Society Accounts for Year Ending 31st December 2022
## **General Funds Receipts**
|**2021**|**Details**|**2022**||
|---|---|---|---|
|487.50
£|Subs|905.00
£||
|-
£|Donations|366.00
£||
|2,000.00
£|Grants|5,334.00
£||
|304.38
£|Donations Box|736.01
£||
|2.00
£|Sales|116.55
£||
|-
£|Sundry|962.51
£||
|66.14
£|HMRC Gift Aid/GASDS|148.77
£||
|||||
|2,860.02
£|Total Receipts||**8,568.84**
**£**|
## **General Funds Payments**
|**2021**|**Details**|**2022**||
|---|---|---|---|
|806.33
£|Utilities|2,571.93
£||
|782.31
£|Insurance|1,784.35
£||
|98.59
£|Computing|89.00
£||
|112.00
£|Subs|210.00
£||
|-
£|Curatorial|1,366.66
£||
|880.44
£|Facilities|1,783.97
£||
|131.29
£|Sundry|773.42
£||
|2,810.96
£|Total Payments||**8,579.33**
**£**|
|||||
|49.06
£|Net Receipts / Payments||10.49)
(£|
|6,619.19
£|Balance at 31 December 2021||6,668.25
£|
|6,668.25
£|Balance at 31 December 2022||6,657.76
£|
## **Designated[(D)] & Restricted[(R)] Funds Receipts and Payments**
|**2021**|**Details**|**2022**||
|---|---|---|---|
|68,641.72
£|Receipts|27,002.89
£||
|13,981.78
£|Payments|45,577.48
£||
|||||
|54,659.94
£|Net Receipts / Payments||18,574.59)
(£|
|24,527.01
£|Balance at 31 December 2020||79,186.95
£|
|79,186.95
£|Balance at 31 December 2021||60,612.36
£|
|Comprising||||
|||||
|33,000.00
£|Annex Rent(D)||24,719.87
£|
|15,354.85
£|Annex RunningCosts(D)||10,721.71
£|
||Jessell Fund||3,280.46
£|
|4,192.10
£|Wheels of Time(General) (R)||4,568.34
£|
|23,100.00
£|Wheels of Time Time to Change(R)||14,321.98
£|
|3,000.00
£|Brake Fund(R)||-
£|
|540.00
£|SEMD(R)||3,000.00
£|
2 of 6
Ashford Borough Museum Society Accounts for Year Ending 31st December 2022
## **All Funds**
|**2021**|**Details**|**2022**||
|---|---|---|---|
|71,501.74
£|Receipts|35,571.73
£||
|16,792.74
£|Payments|54,156.81
£||
|||||
|54,709.00
£|Net Receipts / Payments||18,585.08)
(£|
|31,146.20
£|Balance at 31 December 2021||85,855.20
£|
|85,855.20
£|Balance at 31 December 2022||67,270.12
£|
## **Bank Reconciliation**
|**Date**|**Details**|||
|---|---|---|---|
|01 Jan 2022|Balance BF|85,832.25
£||
|31 Dec 2022|Bankings|35,452.75
£||
|31 Dec 2022|Cheques||54,062.82
£|
|31 Dec 2022|Balance CF||**67,222.18**
**£**|
|||121,285.00
£|121,285.00
£|
## **Cash Reconciliation**
|01 Jan 2022|Balance BF|22.95
£||
|---|---|---|---|
|31 Dec 2022|Receipts|1,043.04
£||
|31 Dec 2022|Payments||90.05
£|
|31 Dec 2022|Banked||928.00
£|
|31 Dec 2022|Balance CF||**47.94**
**£**|
|||1,065.99
£|1,065.99
£|
## **Total Funds**
|54,709.00
£|Net Receipts / Payments||18,585.08)
(£|
|---|---|---|---|
|31,146.20
£|Balance at 31 December 2020||85,855.20
£|
|85,855.20
£|Balance at 31 December 2021||67,270.12
£|
3 of 6
Accounts for Year Ending 31st December 2022
## Ashford Borough Museum Society
## **Analysis of Cashbook Receipts - Sundry**
||||
|---|---|---|
|Ashford communityLottery|190.50
£|190.50
£|
|Mealpayments|192.00
£|192.00
£|
|Ashford Town PCC Deposit Repayment(from 2021)|100.00
£||
|Ashford Town PCC Deposit Repayment(from 2021)|50.00
£||
|SSE Electricityrefund|227.72
£||
|SSE Electricityrefund|70.54
£|448.26
£|
|Erroneous Payment|126.42
£||
|Repayment of expenses claimed in error|5.33
£|131.75
£|
||||
||962.51
£|**962.51**
**£**|
## **Analysis of Cashbook Payments - Sundry**
|Card fees|3.94
£|3.94
£|
|---|---|---|
|Virtual meetinglicense|102.09
£|102.09
£|
|Printer Ink|81.75
£|81.75
£|
|Web: hosting|140.25
£||
|Web: Domain registration|10.79
£|151.04
£|
|Gift to volunteer|4.00
£||
|Gift to keyholder|3.50
£||
|Volunteer meal|295.35
£|302.85
£|
|Repayment of erroneouspayment|126.42
£||
|Expenses claimed in error|5.33
£|131.75
£|
||||
||773.42
£|**773.42**
**£**|
## **Analysis of Cashbook Payments - Designated**
|Annexe Rent|Deposit & initial rent|5,530.13
£||
|---|---|---|---|
||Rent|2,750.00
£|8,280.13
£|
|Annexe running
costs|Intruder alarm & CCTV|1,289.14
£||
||Change lock|65.00
£||
||Landlord's legal fees|1,080.00
£||
||Legal fees|2,199.00
£|4,633.14
£|
|||||
|||12,913.27
£|**12,913.27**
**£**|
4 of 6
Ashford Borough Museum Society Accounts for Year Ending 31st December 2022
## **Analysis of Cashbook Receipts - Restricted**
|Wheels of Time|Members' Contributions|2,850.00
£||
|---|---|---|---|
||Duplicatepayment|50.00
£||
||SEMD Network Grant|2,000.00
£||
||Roger de Haan CT Grant|3,000.00
£||
||Swale BC Grant|1,000.00
£|8,900.00
£|
|WoT TtC|Online shopsales|42.89
£|42.89
£|
|Annexe Capital|ABC EmptyPremises Grant|10,000.00
£|10,000.00
£|
|Annexe Running
Costs|Jessell Fund|5,000.00
£|5,000.00
£|
|SEMD|Organisational Health Check Grant|2,000.00
£||
||Collections Care Grant finalpayment|60.00
£||
|||1,000.00
£|3,060.00
£|
|||||
|||||
|||27,002.89
£|**27,002.89**
**£**|
5 of 6
Ashford Borough Museum Society Accounts for Year Ending 31st December 2022
## **Analysis of Cashbook Payments - Restricted**
|Brake|Consultancy: Curatorial Review|3,000.00
£|3,000.00
£|
|---|---|---|---|
|Wheels of Time|Lanyards|3,164.40
£||
||Badgeproduction|1,392.48
£||
||Leaflet / BannerDesign|432.00
£||
||Leaflet Print|3,095.00
£||
||Banner Print|145.73
£||
||Social Media Promotion|16.80
£||
||Web site|76.77
£||
||Ebadge webplugin|116.34
£||
||Award Badge Delivery|3.60
£||
||Hire van for supplies|66.24
£||
||Fuel for van|14.40
£|8,523.76
£|
|WoT TtC|DDO Time fees|6,312.50
£||
||DDO Expenses|68.00
£||
||WoT Dorset costs|1,483.60
£||
||Shopify- online shopfees|97.24
£||
||Prodigi - o/l shoptrialpurchase|43.89
£||
||Prodigi -production fees|28.24
£||
||DB web Integration|787.44
£|8,820.91
£|
|Annexe Capital|External Signage|2,496.00
£||
||Partition & flooring|5,610.60
£||
||Electrical alterations|1,100.54
£||
||Intruder alarm & CCTV|792.86
£|10,000.00
£|
|Annexe Running
Costs|Shelvingfor store
|179.99
£||
||Furniture|1,105.25
£||
||Appliances|128.49
£||
||Thermohygrometers|22.09
£||
||Wi-fi router|56.99
£||
||Broadband|136.17
£||
||Water supply|90.56
£|1,719.54
£|
|SEMD|Conservation equipment|300.00
£||
||Collections care training|300.00
£|600.00
£|
|||||
|||32,664.21
£|**32,664.21**
**£**|
6 of 6
## **Independent Examiner’s Report on the Ashford Borough Museum Society’s Accounts for year ended 31[st] December 2022**
1. I report on the accounts of the Ashford Borough Museum Society for the year ended 31[st] December 2022.
2. Scope and nature of examination:
An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the Society and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from the management committee and/or treasurer concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and, consequently, no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
In undertaking this examination, I have used as a reference point the requirements for accounts and examinations as set out in the Charities Act 2011.
## 3. Independent examiner’s statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that, in any material respect:
- the accounting records were not kept soundly _(as would be required in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act)_ ; or
- the accounts did not accord with the accounting records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed:
Examiner: David J Burke, BSc FCA
Date: 19[th] April 2023