RAVENGLASS RAILWAY MUSEUM TRUST
TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT 2023
GOVERNANCE
The Ravenglass Railway Museum Trust is a charity (No. 505295) established by a Trust Deed in 1976 and amended in 2016. Trustees are appointed by the Trustees. The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Company Ltd and the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Preservation Society each have the right to nominate two trustees.
The Trust’s principal address is: Maudlands, Maude Street, Kendal, LA9 4QD.
TRUSTEES
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||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|The|Trustees|were:|
|Peter|Hensman|Chair|
|Georgina Townsend|
|Tom|Wright|
|Dave|Simpson|
|David|Rounce|
|Matthew|Ellis|
|Trevor Stockton|nominee|of Ravenglass|&|Eskdale|Railway Company|Ltd.|
|Peter van|Zeller|nominee|of|Ravenglass &|Eskdale|Railway|Company|Ltd.|
|Bob Tebb|nominee|of|Ravenglass|&|Eskdale|Railway|Preservation|Society|
|Stuart|Harrison|nominee|of Ravenglass|&|Eskdale|Railway|Preservation|Society|
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All Trustees served for the full year with the exception of David Rounce and Matthew Ellis who were appointed on 28 November 2023 and Tom Wright who resigned on 3 February 2023.
OBJECTIVES
The purposes of the Trust, set out in the Trust Deed are:
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e The foundation and maintenance of a Railway Museum at Ravenglass.
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e The restoration of the Muncaster Mill, Ravenglass to its original form as a fully working water powered mill on a site used for a mill for centuries and the continued preservation
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: and display of the restored mill and equipment.
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e The conservation and control of flora and fauna in Ravenglass and Eskdale and their neighbourhood.
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e To promote the study of and research into the use of water as a means of producing energy
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e The advancement of education
ACTIVITIES AND PUBLIC BENEFIT
The Museum protects and interprets a collection of artefacts relating to the history of the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway and the Eskdale valley. By giving free public access to the Museum exhibitions and stored collections, the Trust makes a significant contribution to the furthering of knowledge and enjoyment of the area and its history. It has made available on-line its archive and research sources which has helped the Trust to transcend physical access barriers and reach worldwide audiences.
The Museum also has a programme of engaging with the local community through taking promotional stands at local shows, providing talks and private events for local residents and businesses and providing educational packages for schools although these have still not recovered from the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic. However, the Museum has continued to run its on-line Archive Talks. The Community Exhibition Gallery hosts a programme of rotating displays curated by the museum team, local schools and community groups.
The Trustees confirm that they have had regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit. They consider that, by carrying out the above activities, they comply with this guidance.
STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS
The Museum is managed by Stuart Ross with the help of Claire Winter-Moore, the Collections Assistant. Peter van Zeller is the volunteer curator and Mary Ann Lancaster acts as Museum Mentor.
The Museum is very dependent on the assistance given by volunteers. During 2023, 22 volunteers gave their time. 1497 hours were spent in the Museum on tasks including general maintenance, cataloguing of the archive, restoration projects and visitor interaction. Volunteers also spent 37 days manning the old mainline signal box and demonstrating it to visitors.
The Trustees are very grateful to staff and volunteers for their dedication and for all that they do to maintain and develop the Museum.
ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE
Collection
The Museum continued to receive gifts of archive and other material throughout the year. Of particular note was a working model of the 3 ft railway at the old Boot Station donated by Peter Kazer and one of the last Heywood Brake vans donated by James Waterfield. The latter will need considerable restoration work. The Trustees are very grateful to all who have donated material to the Museum during the year. ;
Opening
:
- The Museum was open to visitors during the February half-term, from 16 March -30 October, on some weekends in November and December and over the Christmas holiday. Visitor numbers, at 30700, werea little lower than the previous year. The Old Signal Box was also open at busy periods and was visited by 1800 people.
Events
10 of the popular Archive Talks were given online through the year. Audiences, averaging some 40 people, came from the UK and overseas. A talk was also given to the Cumbria industrial History Society.
The Museum co- hosted 2 days of a Young Engineers event and took a stand at Gosforth Show.
Synolda, with its new tender, participated in a gala at Kirklees Light Railway.
Exhibitions
Two exhibitions were held in the temporary exhibition gallery and both proved popular. The first on the history of railways in Cumbria was arranged by the Cumbrian Railways Association. The second celebrated the centenary of River Esk.
Archives
Archiving work continued throughout the year. Good progress was made with reducing the amount of material still to be catalogued.
Funding and projects
Restoration of Museum locomotive “Synolda”.
The new tender with braking capacity which will allow the locomotive to run safely was completed during the year. Sadly, the cost came in considerably in excess of expectation and the sums raised for the project were inadequate; the Museum had to use some of its general funds to cover the overspend. The decision was, therefore, taken to leave the new tender unpainted until sufficient ; funds could be raised to pay for this final part of the project. At the end of the year a generous supporter made a donation of the necessary sum and the tender was painted in early 2024.
Restoration of Museum locomotive “Quarryman”
The Just-Giving crowd-funding appeal to return Quarryman to a condition that would allow it to be run occasionally on the Railway continued but in a low key because of the need to raise money to complete Synolda. A further £533 was raised during the year taking the total raised to £1971 towards the target of £5000. With Synolda complete, more focus will be given to the Quarryman appeal in 2024.
Donations and Scrap Metal Scheme
The successful scrap metal donation scheme continued for a fourth year, raising £5200. Supporters donated scrap into a skip onsite which was then traded for cash for the Museum. People also » rescued items from the skip, giving a donation to the Museum. The Trustees are extremely grateful to those who voluntarily run this scheme which has raised considerable funds for the Museum.
Other funding
The £3000 AIM Conservation Care Grant, awarded in 2022, was used to purchase additional document storage facilities.
Enquiries
The Museum continued to deal with research enquiries with 16 being recorded during the year.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
Donations received amounted to £15,674, well down on the to the £21,790 received in 2022. However, net income from the Pullman camping coaches improved thanks to lower maintenance costs. As a result the Museum had an operating surplus of £8059. Unfortunately, and as explained above there was a deficit on the Synolda Repair Fund of £12,055 which had to be met from unrestricted funds, leading to a deficit of £3995 for the year. As a result unrestricted reserves at 31 December 2023 amounted to £34,756 and, of those, free reserves were only £13,643.
The Trustees have agreed that the Trust needs to hold unrestricted free reserves of at least one year’s operating costs which amount to approximately £30,000 and efforts will be made to improve fund-raising to compensate for the Synolda overspend.
Signed on behalf of the Trustees
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CME Ueno.
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Peter R W Hensman
Chair Date: 3o a 4 £ ZaZt
RAVENGLASS RAILWAY MUSEUM TRUST
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|2023|2023|2023|2023|2022|
|Unrestricted|Designated|Restricted|Total|Total|
|Note|£|E|£|£|
|Incoming|resources|
|Donations|and|legacies|oa|*|16,878|a|856|17,734|30,183|
|Income from|Pullman|Coaches|a|Ff|13,541|-|-|13,541|8,840|
|Charitable|activities|oF|489|an|1,500|1,989|-|
|Total|30,908|-|2,356|33,264|39,023|
|Resources expended|
|Expenditure|on:|
|Raising funds|3|167|-|216|383|411|
|Charitable|activities|3|©|25,412|-”|39,587|64,999|59,979|
|Other|3|270|-|-|270|300|
|Total|25,849|-|39,803|65,652|60,690|
|Net|income/(expenditure)|5,059|-|(87,447)|(32,388)|(21,667)|
|Transfers|between funds|“|(9,055)|-"|9,055|-|-|
|Net movement in funds|(3,995)|-|(28,392)|(32,388)|(21,667)|
|Reconciliation|of funds:|
|Total funds|brought forward|38,751"|10,000”|476,869|525,620|_547,288|
|Total funds|carried forward|34,756|10,000|448,477|493,233|525,620|
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ee
.
RAVENGLASS RAILWAY MUSEUM TRUST
BALANCE SHEET AT 31 DECEMBER 2023
| BALANCE SHEET AT 31 DECEMBER 2023 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2023 | 2023 | 2023 | 2022 | ||
| Unrestricted Designated |
Restricted | Total | Total | |||
| Note | £ | £ | = | £ | £ | |
| Fixed assets | ||||||
| Tangible assets | 5 | 28,700 | - | 446,505 | 475,205 | 500,392 |
| Heritage assets | 6 | - | - | . | = | = |
| Totalfixedassets | 28,700 | - | 446,505 | 475,205 | 500,392 | |
| Current assets | ||||||
| Debtors Cashand cash equivalents |
7 | "43,567 . 76” |
7 10,000 |
. 1,971. |
13,567 12,047 |
9,314 24,990 |
| Totalcurrentassets | 13,643 | 40,000 | 1,971 | 25,614 | 34,304 | |
| Creditors: amounts falling due | ||||||
| within oneyear | 8 | (7,587) | - | - | (7,587) | (9,076) |
| Netcurrentassets/(liabilities) | 6,056 | 10,000 | 1,971 | 18,027 | 25,228 | |
| Totalassets less currentliabilities | 34,756 | 10,000 | 448,477 | 493,233 | 525,620 | |
| Creditors: amountsfalling due | ||||||
| afterone year | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Totalnetassets | 34,756 | 10,000 | 448,477 | 493,233 | 525,620 | |
| Funds ofthe Charity | ||||||
| Restricted income funds | 9 | - | - | 448,477 | 448,477 | 476,869 |
| Designatedfunds | 9 | - "40,000 |
“ | 10,000 | 10,000 | |
| Unrestricted funds | 9 | "34,756 | g | m | 34,756 | 38,751 |
| Totalfunds | 34,756 | 10,000 | 448,477 | 493,233 | 525,620 | |
| SignedbyPRWHensmanonbehalfofall the trustees |
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RAVENGLASS RAILWAY MUSEUM TRUST NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS - 31 DECEMBER 2023
1. Accounting policies
Statement of compliance
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011 and UK Generally Accepted Practice.
Basis of preparation
The Trust 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
The Trust holds unrestricted funds of £38,751. With this considerable buffer, the Trustees are of the view that the Trust remains a going concern and the accounts have been prepared on this basis.
.
Fund accounting policy
Unrestricted income funds are general funds that are available for use at the Trustees' discretion in furtherance of the objectives of the Trust. Designated funds are general funds which the Trustees have earmarked for a specific purpose. Restricted funds are those donated for use in a particular area or for specific purposes, the use of which is restricted to that area or purpose.
Further details of each fund are disclosed in note 9.
Income and endowments
Voluntary income, including donations, gifts and grants that provide core funding or are of a general nature is recognised where there is entitlement, certainty of receipt and the amount can be measured with sufficient reliability.
Incoming resources from tax reclaims are included in the statement of financial activities when they are received.
.
Donated goods, services and facilities
The value of donated goods, services and facilities are not included in income or expenditure. Such items are currently incidental to the operation of the Trust and the Trustees do not believe that the work needed to record them will be justified by the benefit provided to a user of the accounts.
Volunteer help
The value of any voluntary help received is not included in the accounts but is described in the Trustees’ Annual Report.
Expenditure
Liabilities are recognised as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the Trust to the expenditure. All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the Trust in the delivery of its activities. It includes both costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them.
Heritage assets
The Trust has heritage assets - that is non-monetary assets with historic and technological qualities that are held and maintained principally for their contribution to knowledge and culture. Further details of heritage assets and their treatment in these accounts are given in Note 6.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash on hand and call deposits, and other short-term highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to a known amount of cash and are subject to an insignificant risk of change in value.
Pensions
The Trust operates a defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions are charged in the statement of financial activities as they become payable in accordance with the rules of the scheme.
2. ANALYSIS OF INCOMING RESOURCES
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2023 2023 2023 2022
Note Unrestricted Restricted Total Toial
£ £ £ £
Donations and legacies
Donations and gifts n 14,818 ” 856" 15,674 21,790
Income from Pullman Coaches ” 13,541 "43,541 8,840
Gift Aid r 2,060 = 2,060 2,039
General Grants i
provided by Government
/other charities - - - 2,667
30,419 856 31,215 35,336
Charitable Activities
Events and hires ad 489 md 489 g
Specific grants provided 4 “
by Government/other - 1,500 1,500 3,687
Other - i - -
489 1,500 1,989 3,687
Total Income z 30,908 ” 2,356" 33,264” 39,023
Analysis of Government Grants
2023 2022
Ee
Local Authority Covid Grants - 2,667
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All income in 2023 was unrestricted except for donations and grants of £2,356.
3. ANALYSIS OF RESOURCES EXPENDED
;
| 2023 | 2023 | 2023 | 2022 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Note | Unrestricted | Restricted | Total | Total | ||
| Expenditure on raising funds | ||||||
| Incurred seeking donations | ©” | 167 " | 216 * | 383 | 411 | |
| Incurred seeking legacies | - | oe | - | - | ||
| Advertising, marketing | ||||||
| and publicity | - - - - Se ae ee a 167 216 383 411 |
|||||
| Expenditure on charitable activities | ||||||
| Rent and rates | a | 3,628 | -” | 3,628 | 3,680 | |
| Maintenance Environmentmanagement Depreciation |
wi ” ° |
642 . -" |
a -€ 25,187" |
642 _ 25,187 |
1,110 = 25,187 |
|
| Staffcosts andtraining | 4 | 14,190 | - | 14,190 | 14,117 | |
| Equipment and materials | 465 | - | 465 | 5,054 | ||
| Repairand conservation | 3,588 | 14,400 | 17,988 | 6,959 | ||
| Subscriptions | a | z | Y | 544 | ||
| Publicity and website | 340 | i | 340 | 291 | ||
| Insurance | 1,663 | - | 1,663 | 1,438 | ||
| Temporary Exhibition | ||||||
| costs | 896 | - | 896 | 1,375 | ||
| Collection acquisition | as | = | ws | 226 | ||
| 25,412 | 39,587 | 64,999 | 59,979 | |||
| Other expenditure | ||||||
| Independent examiner's fees | 270 | ~ | 270 | 300 | ||
| Total expenditure | 25,849 | 39,803 | 65,652 | 60,690 | ||
| 4. EMPLOYEESAND PENSIONS | ||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||
| £ | £ | |||||
| Salaries andwages | 13,167 | 12,570 | ||||
| Social security costs | “ | “ | ||||
| Pension contributions | 1,023 | 872 | ||||
| 14,190 | 13,442 |
The average headcount for the year was 1 person working on.-charitable activities.
The Trust pays pension contributions for one employee into a defined contribution scheme. They form part of the employment costs for the charitable activity of running the Ravenglass Railway Museum. ‘
5. TANGIBLE ASSETS
| Leasehold | Fixtures, | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| land & | fittings and | Total | |
| buildings | equipment | ||
| COST | 5 | £ | 7s |
| At 1 January 2023 | 552,273 | 128,986 | 681,259 |
| Additions | - | - | - |
| Disposals | - | - | - |
| At 31 December2023 | 552,273 | 128,986 | 681,259 |
| DEPRECIATION | |||
| At 1 January 2023 | 98,497 | 82,370 | 180,867 |
| Charge forthe year | 12,288 | 12,899 | 25,187 |
| At 31 December 2023 | 110,785 | 95,269 | 206,054 |
| NETBOOK VALUE | |||
| At 1 January 2023 | 453,776 | 46,616 | 500,392 |
| At31December2023 | 441,488 | 33,117 | 475,205 |
The Trust leases the Museum site from the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Company. The lease is for 50 years commencing 14 October 2010.
,
Leasehold land and buildings are being written off over the period of the lease. Fixtures, fittings and equipment are depreciated at 10% per annum.
6. HERITAGE ASSETS
The Trust owns a collection of heritage railway artefacts relating to the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway, the Furness Railway and local railway history. These have been acquired since the Museum was established in 1976 and are still being added to, mainly through donations. The Trust's policy on the acquisition, preservation, management and disposal of heritage assets is set out in the Trust's Collections Development Policy which is available on request. Sound curatorial reasons must be established before consideration is given to any acquisition to the collection or any disposal from the collection.
The collection has been built up over 40 years mainly by donation supplemented by the occasional small purchase. No value has ever been placed on the donations and any acquisitions have not been of a material value and have been written off in the year of purchase. The Trust has no intention to sell the collection nor could it ever be replaced. The Trustees do not therefore consider that there is any justifiable purpose in trying to place a value on the collection or incurring the cost of a professional valuation.
7. DEBTORS AND PREPAYMENTS
| 2023 | 2022 | 2022 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | ||||||
| Trade debtors | - | - | |||||
| Prepayments and accrued income | 13,567 | 9,314 | |||||
| 13,567 | 9,314 | ||||||
| 8. CREDITORSANDACCRUALS | |||||||
| Loans and overdrafts | 7,500 | 7,500 | |||||
| Trade creditors | - | - | |||||
| Other creditors | 87 | 1,576 | |||||
| 7,587 | 9,076 | ||||||
| 9. DETAILS OF FUNDS | |||||||
| Fund | Fund | ||||||
| Fund | balances brought |
Income | Expenditure | Transfers | balances carried |
||
| forward | forward | ||||||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | |||
| r | r | ||||||
| Development ProjectFund | Restricted | 471,692 | (25,187) | - | 446,505 | ||
| Synolda RepairFund | Restricted | 2,130 | 323 | (14,508) | 12,055 | 0 | |
| Quarryman RepairFund | Restricted | 1,547 | 533 | (108) | - | 1,971 | |
| Restricted Grants | Restricted | 1,500 | 1,500 | - | (3,000) | - | |
| r | ‘ | ¥ | |||||
| Camping Coach Maintenance Fund | Designated | 10,000 | - | - | - | 10,000 | |
| Unrestricted | Unrested | "38,751 | 30,908” | (25,849) | (9,055) | 34,756 | |
| TotalFunds | 525,620 | 33,264 | (65,652) | - | 493,233 |
8. CREDITORS AND ACCRUALS
9. DETAILS OF FUNDS
-
e The Development Fund was established to fund the refurbishment and extension of the Museum and a programme of activities. This project was completed in 2017.
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e The Synolda Repair Fund is crowdfunded through JustGiving. It was established in 2019 to pay for the refurbishment of the locomotive Synolda to enable it to continue to operate occasionally. The Fund was fully spent in 2023 when the work on Synolda, with the exception of the painting of the new tender, was completed.
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e The Quarryman Repair Fund is crowdfunded through JustGiving. It was established in 2022 to pay for refurbishment of the locomotive Quarryman to enable it to operate occasionally.
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e Restricted grants — the Trust received an AIM Conservation Care Grant in two instalments
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‘ towards additional document storage facilities. The facilities were acquired during 2023 and the grant spent.
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e@ The Camping Coach Maintenance Fund has been designated by the Trustees to retain funds to enable the Trust to contribute towards future major maintenance work on the Camping Coaches.
10. TRANSACTIONS WITH TRUSTEES AND RELATED PARTIES
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a. None of the Trustees have received any remuneration, benefit or expenses from the Trust in 2023 (2022: nil).
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b. The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Co. Ltd (‘the Company’) and the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Preservation Society and Trust are related parties. In 2023 one trustee, T Stockton, was employed by the Company and two trustees, P Hensman and G Townsend were directors of the Company. In addition, two trustees, S Harrison and P van Zeller were members of the Preservation Society Council.
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c. The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Company owns the freehold of the land on which the Museum stands and part of the building. The Trust pays a rent of £3500 pa to the Company.
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d. The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Company made an unsecured and interest free loan to the Trust in 2017 to enable it to complete the extension and refurbishment of the Museum. The loan is being paid off as funds become available. No repayments were made during 2023 and the outstanding balance at 31 December 2023 was £7500.
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e. The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Company and the Trust have worked together ona project to restore two historic Pullman Camping Coaches situated at Ravenglass. The Trust obtained a grant of £250,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund as its financial contribution to the project. It receives 62.5% of the surplus made in the letting of the coaches as holiday accommodation.
eee— —E—EEeEEEEEE
Independent Examiner’s report on the accounts of the Ravenglass Railway Museum Trust
| report on the accounts of the Ravenglass Railway Museum Trust for the year ended 31 December 2023, which are set out over 14 pages including the Trustees Report.
Respective responsibilities of trustee and examiner
The charity's trustee is responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustee considers that an audit is not required under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.
It is our responsibility to:
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e Examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act; e To follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act, and
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e To state whether particular matters have come to our attention.
Basis of independent examiner’s statement
My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity 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 trustee concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the next statement.
Independent examiner’s statement
~ In connection with our examination, no matter has come to our attention:
-
(1) Which gives us reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:
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e to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and e to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act other than the need to apply the Charities SORP (FRSSE).
have not been met; or
- (2) to which, in our opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Redhead Accountancy Ltd Signed on behalf of Redhead Accountancy Ltd Chartered Accountants BankBroughton-in-FurnessHouse, Griffin Street . ST)— we Cumbria LA20 6HH 7 June 2024