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2021-12-31-accounts

SPODE MUSEUM TRUST

Report of the Trustee for the year ended 31[st] December 2021

SMT Trustees Limited (CRN 9784876) in its capacity as the trustee of the Spode Museum Trust (“the Trust”) presents the annual report of the Trust for the year ended 31[st] December 2021 along with the financial accounts for the year.

Structure and Charitable Objects

The Trust was established by Royal Worcester Spode Limited under a Trust Deed (“the Trust Deed”) dated 16[th] November 1987 (as amended on 30[th] March 1999 and 16[th] December 2015) to protect the Spode ceramic collection, artefacts, and paper archive (“the Collection”). in perpetuity. The Collection comprises some 20,000 ceramic items spanning over 200 years of the Spode factory’s production from the late 18[th] century until it closed in 2008, some 25,000 hand engraved copper plates from which transfer prints were made for printed ceramic wares, a collection of antique factory tools, vintage photographs and slides, furniture, moulds and ¼ million Spode and Copeland documents including books containing watercolour paintings of some 70,000 ceramic patterns.

The Trust is registered as a charity under registration number 519597. The Trust Deed defines the Charity’s object as being ‘to advance the education of the public by the exhibition of the Existing Collection together with such other items or artefacts of like character as may from time to time be comprised in the Trust Fund and to preserve the same as a collection’.

Mission Statement

The Trust’s Mission Statement states:

“To protect the Spode Collection that we hold in trust and to put it back to work now and forever:

The Trust also believes that the significance of the Spode Collection is closely bound up with the town of Stoke – its community and its heritage.”

Governance

The sole trustee of the Trust is a company limited by guarantee known as SMT Trustees Limited (CR No.9784876) and whose express purpose upon creation was and is to act as the trustee of the Trust. Constitutionally, therefore, the Trust is an unincorporated charitable trust governed by a sole corporate trustee, namely, SMT Trustees Limited. During the year the membership of the company decreased by one when in November, the Treasurer, John Democratis retired as a member as he could no longer give sufficient time to the role.

Accordingly, there are now the following 8 members of the company:

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Richard Gray, Acting Chair Museum Consultant (ret.) Frederick Beverley Booth, Secretary Solicitor (ret.) Paul William Holdway Former Spode Employee and reference book author Kath Holdway Project manager (ret.) Janis Lynne Rodwell Ceramics expert Elizabeth Anne McBratney College Lecturer (ret.) Cynthia Saddington College Lecturer (ret.) Neil Brownsword Artist and University Professor of Ceramics

The age of the members ranges from 51 to 78 and the average age is just under 70. During the year the Trust has been actively seeking to recruit new members, particularly younger members, who can bring to the Trust the various skills needed for the management of its Collection and its Heritage Centre and to further its charitable purposes and plans into the future. The Trust is currently processing several promising applications and it hopes early in the New Year to make new appointments. Following the recommendations of a governance and operations consultant, who is mentioned later, the Trust has introduced a written Code of Conduct that existing members have signed, and which new appointees will have to sign as a condition of their becoming members.

During the year, because of various reasons including the difficulty that third parties have understanding the Trust’s constitutional framework, members looked at the possibility of adopting either a charitable company limited by guarantee or a charitable incorporated organisation in place of the existing unincorporated charitable trust. Legal advice was taken from a lawyer experienced in the culture/heritage sector and a CIO was favoured but as there was no simple, convenient, and inexpensive way to convert to such a charitable body the issue was left in abeyance until the conclusion of the NLHF funded feasibility study in 2023 and members had a clear idea of all the costs involved.

Objectives

The Spode Museum was originally housed and subsidised by the Spode Company on its factory site at Stoke. However, when the Company ceased trading in 2008, the museum had to close and vacate its premises on the site. Since then, the entire Collection (apart from the items required for the exhibitions and displays in the heritage centre mentioned later in this report) has remained in safe storage in various premises kindly provided rent free by the Stoke-on-Trent City Council. However, the abiding objective of the Trust is to place the entire Collection in a safe and appropriate environment which will ensure that it is kept in conditions that will (i) preserve and protect it and (ii) offer full public and academic research access for use by the entire community. To achieve this, it is the primary wish of the Trust with the continuing support of the City of Stoke on Trent Council, who own the former Spode factory site, to organise the return of the Collection to the community by reestablishing it on the original Georgian Spode site. It is believed that, by placing the Collection back on the site where it was created and within the context of a fine backdrop of listed heritage buildings, it will facilitate a long term and sustainable home for the Collection by creating the best framework within which to achieve maximum public interest, usage and multiple revenue generating opportunities.

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Management

Ten meetings were held via Zoom during the year at which members of the corporate trustee met in general meetings to transact, manage, and control the affairs of the Trust and to ensure that the charitable objects of the Trust were carried out for the benefit of the public.

All members provide their time freely and receive no remuneration or payment of expenses; and all meetings are properly minuted.

The Trust operates from its Heritage Centre (“the Centre”) in buildings which originally formed part of the former Spode factory site at Elenora Street, Stoke. The postal address of the Centre is Spode Museum Trust Heritage Centre, Elenora Street, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 1QQ . The email address for the Centre is contact@spodemuseumtrust.org

The Centre originally opened on 19[th] October 2012 as a two-year exhibition telling the social history of the Spode factory and with some of the Collection returned from store and placed on show to the public. The exhibition was made possible by a £50,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and by the help of the City of Stoke-on-Trent who, as the new owner of the former factory site, renovated the premises and granted to the Trust an initial two-year lease at a peppercorn rent. The Trust has continued to occupy the premises ever since and, thanks to the continuing support of the City Council, has significantly expanded its exhibition space and added a shop.

The Centre is run by a Centre Manager (‘the Manager’), who reports to a Sub-Committee of three Trust Members attended by a volunteer who works in the shop. This year because of the continuing Covid-19 pandemic and resultant closures and restrictions, there has been no face-to-face meeting of the sub-committee, but the Manager, when working, has attended Zoom meetings of the Members and has reported on relevant matters affecting the Centre whether open or closed and its trading operation.

The Manager was placed on furlough leave as from 18[th] March 2020 under the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and remained on it, with the Trust topping up his salary to 100%, until the scheme came to an end on the 30[th ] September 2021. During periods when part-time working was permitted under flexible furlough, the Manager came back to work part-time and during periods when the Centre was closed to the public, the Manager worked behind the scenes with a small body of loyal volunteers to maintain the Centre and to sell from the shop wares online and by other ways to maintain some incoming revenue for the Centre.

There have been no serious incidents or other matters at the Centre or anywhere else that the Trust should have reported to the Charity Commission but did not do so. The Trust, being ever mindful of security, maintains CCTV cameras in the Centre to improve security and for the protection of staff and volunteers. The Centre Manager has an App on his mobile phone so that if an incident occurs when he is not at the Centre e.g., the fire alarm has gone off, he can see what activity, if any, is going on inside the Centre. Also, the Centre has both fire and intruder alarms which are linked up to the City Council’s monitoring station which will react if, during the night, one of the alarms is triggered. The Trust takes very seriously the security of the Centre and the protection of its Centre Manager and its volunteers and the public who visit the Centre.

The Trust runs a website www.spodemuseumtrust.org which sets out details of its function and its Collection. During 2021, this website received 27,569 hits and 20,859 unique visitors. For anyone who wishes to read more about the Centre and its displays, they are referred to the Spode Museum Trust

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Heritage Centre page of the website. The Centre is also promoted through various social media pages but because of the period of closure of the Centre it was considered not worthwhile to produce any leaflets for circulation or to pay for the Centre to be advertised to the public through the membership of tourism promotion organisations, VisitStoke and Destination Staffordshire.

Tenure

In March, the City Council as landlord granted a renewal lease of the Centre for a further two years at a peppercorn rent from the date when the existing lease expired at the end of March 2020.

In January, the City Council had confirmed its support for the grant of a much longer lease of say 20 or 25 years subject to exact terms being negotiated. This would ensure the Trust’s longer-term future/development on the Spode site and its eligibility to bid for capital development grant aid from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (‘NLHF’) when the current lottery funded (£97,500) feasibility project ‘Spode Museum Trust: From Clay to Treasure’ is completed. In March, heads of terms were received from the Council and negotiations will make further progress when various property repair issues at the Centre are resolved.

Trading – SMT Enterprises Limited

The Trust has made it a central objective to develop sustainable income sources so that it can be independent of subsidies from governmental and other bodies for its day-to-day operating costs. To this end, on the 25[th] March 2015, it formed a wholly owned limited liability company known as SMT Enterprises Limited (CR No. 9510002) (“SMTE”) to act as its trading arm. This has had the continuing benefit that trading risk is kept separate from the Trust and the company’s profits can be donated tax-efficiently to the Trust. SMTE’s trading operation, mainly in selling vintage Spode ceramics, prints taken from old hand engraved Spode copper plates, donated books; and products made by local artists in craft studios on the Spode site has expanded considerably and is now an important source of the Trust’s income. Unfortunately, for the trading year ended 31[st] March 2021 trading and profits were seriously affected by the Covid pandemic which had commenced in March 2020 and the resultant lockdowns and local restrictions which meant a big drop in visitors during the year and key volunteers having to shield. However, some sales turnover was possible in the museum shop between lockdowns, and more was achieved by selling shop stock over the internet on eBay. However, for the year ended 31[st] March 2021 compared with the previous year, overall sales fell by 70%, its gross profits fell from £42,874 to £12,217, a drop of 72% and net profit before donation to the Trust fell from £14,720 to £399. Fortunately, SMTE’s much reduced profit donation to the Trust was compensated by the Covid grants that the Trust was able to receive from the Government. Unfortunately, the Covid pandemic and the resultant lockdowns had an adverse effect on SMTE’s operation until the Autumn of 2021.

Financial Accounts

The financial accounts of the Trust on an Income and Expenditure basis for the year ended 31[st] December 2021 accompany this report.

Summary of Main Activities at the Centre

The start of 2021 saw the third national ‘stay at home’ lockdown due to the Covid viral pandemic and so the Centre had to remain closed with the uncertainty as to when it would be able to re-open. Members took the view that irrespective of future easing of restrictions the Centre would only reopen when it was both lawful and financially worthwhile to do so. As a result, the Centre remained

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mostly closed from January to August although during that period, subject to Covid-19 restrictions permitting, online trading continued to take place in the shop to maintain some flow of revenue and the Centre even hosted virtual visits from clients in Japan via video link.

During closure, however, the opportunity was taken to carry out Improvements to the displays in the front of house including installing 2D displays showcasing 6 key people who had played a significant part in the history of the Spode factory. However, regrettably, due to serious penetrating damp, the lower gallery had to be closed and is currently used only as storage until the City Council as landlord can obtain funding to cure the inherent problem in such an old building.

On the 11[th] September, the Centre re-opened to coincide with the start of the British Ceramics Biennial which unfortunately had to be held off the Spode site due to asbestos being found in the buildings where the Biennial had been held in previous years. Nonetheless, the Trust played a full part hosting three exhibitions in its Centre, namely, Paul Scott’s Cumbrian Blues exhibition centred around his bone china Gardens of Lyra tea service produced for Fortnum and Mason through the collaboration of himself and the Trust; an exhibition of the final degree work of MA ceramic students at Staffordshire University; and an exhibition by a BCB funded group of contemporary artists called Haptic Tacit. The undoubted success of these exhibitions was reflected in the visitor numbers of 140 and 1202 for the months of September and October respectively. During the remaining months of the year the Centre hosted an exhibition by the Society of Staffordshire Artists and so by the end of a year, so badly affected by the Covid pandemic, the total visitor numbers to the Centre came to 1,845.

During the year, the Acting Chairman of the Trust attended several meetings of the High Street Heritage Action Zone along with representative from the City Council and Historic England (‘HE’) to decide how HE monies could be spent renovating buildings on the old Spode site including parts of the Centre. For the Trust, these meetings culminated in December in the award by HE of funds for, amongst other things, the renovation of the large derelict space known as the Garrett Room on the first floor of the Centre including the installation of a vitally needed second staircase to comply with fire and building regulations. This renovation, when completed in 2023, will mean the Trust can fulfil its long-held desire to return its ceramic collection, presently stored offsite, to the Centre and, with appropriate facilities and racking, to store it correctly in the Garrett Room and allow its proper access and curation to take place. Fortunately, in March, a successful application had been made to the Headley Trust for a grant of £40k to cover the cost of eventually moving the ceramic collection back to the Centre.

During the year, the Trust also supported the planning application of the owner of the aparthotel on the site to extend into part of a building adjoining the Centre and, if successful, the owner has agreed that, free of charge, disabled persons can use its proposed new lift as a means of access to and from the Trust’s Conference Room and Blue Room on the first floor of the Centre.

‘Spode Museum Trust: From Clay to Treasure’ Project

During the year, with the continuing help of the National Trust External Partnership Team (‘the NT Partnership Team’), Members made further progress with this NLHF funded project.

In March, the three work packages of Curatorial/Conservation, Options Appraisal and Evaluation were sent out to tender and, after good responses, in May appointments were made: Headland Design were appointed to the Curatorial and Conservation package, Counterculture were appointed consultants for the Options Appraisal package and a David Waterfall was appointed to the Evaluation package. The architectural work package was held back because of the uncertainties of what

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buildings the Council would be prepared to lease to the Trust. In July, a meeting was arranged on site so that the three recently appointed consultants could familiarise themselves with the site and buildings.

In September 2021, Sara Hilton, the Governance and Operational Consultant, was appointed to the additional role of mentor to the Trust, the NLHF having agreed that some of the contingency grant monies could be allocated for this purpose.

In October, Counterculture presented its summary of where Phase 1 research had reached and the challenges and opportunities that were facing the Trust and its large collection in deciding its future direction and the different groups and audiences to which it could possibly appeal. After consultations, including with Headland, NT Partnership Team and others, there emerged four broad areas of what the Trust could be in the future, namely, museum, museum within a factory setting, part of a wider leisure and cultural retail offer based around heritage or take the heritage and creativity route and within these broad themes there were many approaches that could be taken. When the options were narrowed down for the Trust, a key consideration would be for members to look at business models for each of the possible routes to see if any offered a financially credible way forward. In December, Counterculture were working on a basic business plan setting what income would be needed to sustain the various routes the Trust might decide to take in the future.

In December, the final version of SH’s report on Governance and Organisational Development was circulated to Members and a working group was to be set up so that the recommendations could be considered, and an action plan drawn up to take forward those recommendations chosen. The Trust had already started to take forward some of the recommendations e.g., a Members’ Code of Conduct.

Also, in December, the Trust received a draft of a final report on the Trust’s Collection from the Conservation and Curatorial consultants Headland Design, the executive summary of which would be added at the end of the feasibility study.

A serious concern for the Trust during the year has been the City Council’s desire to sell off parts of the old factory site and some of the buildings that were originally included in the list of scoped buildings in the NLHF Resilient Heritage grant application albeit that the Council do wish to work out a long term (10 years) mixed use strategy for the site which would include cultural components. However, in August, news was received of an anticipated outline planning application from a firm of property developers known as Nimrod to develop major parts of the historic factory site for residential and other uses, to be financed possibly in part from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund for the regeneration of poor city centre areas. By the end of the year, no such application had been submitted but when it is, the Trust will make representations as it is keen to see that in any proposed development the heritage of the site is respected and preserved.

Vision and Strategy Working Group

This group had been set up by Sara Hilton to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the Trust and its opportunities and threats, and its present and potential partners and stake holders. The first report was issued in February and set out initial findings and thoughts after looking at how museums and organisations of a similar nature here and abroad had developed and transformed themselves by bringing new life to their collections and archives through engaging with wider audiences. The group had a second meeting in March at which marketing consultants Palmer Squared introduced ideas on

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marketing and audience development. In April, Sara Hilton presented a report using other museums and centres as comparators and setting out what the Trust could learn from their experience in developing their raison d’etre. For the rest of the year, the Group worked on taking forward the skills audit, preparing recruitment packs and interviewing potential new members.

Marketing and Website

SMT started the year with funding of £3k from the Stoke and Stafford Growth Hub Kickstarting Tourism Fund plus £3k match funding from the Trust to fund consultants to design website improvements with capacity for e-commerce integration and £20k from the NLHF Culture and Recovery for Heritage Fund to help the Trust recover from the economic impact of Covid-19 by funding marketing/audience development and to complete website/ecommerce development. Consultants Palmer Squared were appointed to the marketing and audience development role and David Edwards of Creative Resolve was appointed to the role of developing a new website for the Trust. In April David Edwards produced a preview of the framework for a digital museum site with interactive models and work was ongoing.

In May, Palmer Squared produced an update on the firms work on marketing and said that work on audience development and areas of particular focus would be finished at the end of June. However, by the end of the year, the new website was still a work in progress and impeded by the lack of a brand identity and the marketing and audience consultants were integrating their marketing strategy with the consultants who were working on curatorial and options appraisal, as yet its work was incomplete without agreement with the Portmeirion Group, the Spode brand owners, on potential intellectual property issues.

Public Benefit

In the activities of the Trust and in the running of the Centre, the Trust has always endeavoured to advance the charitable objects of the Trust but this year it has again been particularly difficult because of the closure period of the Centre, the furloughing of the Manager and the shielding of Members and volunteers alike from the coronavirus. However, as soon as it was possible to reopen the Centre legally, safely, and economically the Trust did so. However, whether the Centre was open or not, in carrying out its charitable purposes the Trust has always, pursuant to Section 17 of the Charities Act 2011, paid due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance was relevant. Despite a difficult year, the Trust has continued to further the charitable objects contained in its Trust Deed by activities including:

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Objectives in 2022

Unfortunately, although in July the final stage of Covid restrictions were lifted in England with the ending of social distancing rules and the wearing of face covering no longer required by law, the 2021 year ended with the threat from the Omicron variant and the mask mandate being extended to cinemas, theatres and similar indoor venues and the Government’s advice that employees should work from home, if possible. Accordingly, subject to the spread of the new variant and the need for any further lockdowns or restrictions, the Trust’s plans for the year ahead will include the following:

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Thank You

The Trust wishes to thank the Stoke-on-Trent City Council, the NLHF, the NT Partnership Team, HE, the Headley Trust, the Friends of the Spode Museum, the American Friends of the Spode Museum, the British Ceramic Biennial, and all those, particularly the Centre Manager Michael Escolme and his small band of loyal volunteers at the Centre, who have given support to the Trust and its Centre during another extraordinarily difficult year.

Approved by the Trustee and signed on its behalf by its acting chairman:

Richard Gray Acting Chair 28[th] October 2022

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Spode Museum Trust

Income and Expenditure Account For The Year Ended 31 December 2021

Income
Donations -Uk
HLF Grant
Beavers Arts Limited Grants
Clay Foundation Grant
Covid Support Grants
Proceeds From Sale of Donated items
Receipts From Furlough Reimbursements
Income From Identifications
Other
Expenditure
Centre Operating Costs
Staff salary Costs
Staff Pension Costs
Payroll Administartion Costs
Site Service And Busines Rates
Marketing
Gas / Electricity / Telecoms / Security
Less Recharges To SMTE
Net Centre Operating Costs
Other Costs
Insurance, Net Of Reclaims
Consultancy
Refurbishments
Legal
Displays
Laptop
Other Costs
Total Expenditure
Net of Receipts / (Payments)		 £
£
£
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
Funds
Funds
Funds
40,274
0
40,274
0
55,000
55,000
0
1,900
1,900
700
0
700
28,572
0
28,572
0
0
0
4,923
0
4,923
902
0
902
87
0
87
75,458
56,900
132,358
22,697
0
22,697
1,208
0
1,208
1,285
0
1,285
2,789
0
2,789
130
0
130
4,531
0
4,531
32,640
0
32,640
0
0
0
32,640
0
32,640
1,021
0
1,021
17,315
53,391
70,706
2,896
0
2,896
90
0
90
65
1,900
1,965
760
0
760
191
0
191
54,978
55,291
110,269
20,480
1,609
22,089
31/12/2021		 31/12/2020
£
Total
Funds
15,827
46,250
0
0
35,000
1,233
10,921
848
0
110,079
23,635
1,266
1,141
1,796
1,014
7,136
35,988
(10,000)
25,988
1,066
4,000
188
13
0
0
397
31,652
78,427

Spode Museum Trust Statement Of Assets And Liabilities For The Year Ended 31 December 2021

Cash Funds
HSBC
Paypal
Total Cash Funds
Other Monetary Assets
Due From SMT Enterprises Limited
Other Debtors
Total Other Monetary Assets
Liabilities
Net Wages
Payroll Deductions
Total Liabilities
Total Assets Less Liabilities
Total Funds Brought Forward
Net of Receipts / (Payments)
Total Funds Carried Forward		 £
£
£
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
Funds
Funds
Funds
40,954
43,859
84,813
152
0
152
41,106
43,859
84,965
29,558
0
29,558
0
0
0
29,558
0
29,558
3,161
0
3,161
0
0
0
(3,161)
0
(3,161)
67,503
43,859
111,362
47,023
42,250
89,273
20,480
1,609
22,089
67,503
43,859
111,362
31/12/2021		 31/12/2020
£
Total
Funds
66,238
6,271
72,509
16,720
1,233
17,953
0
1,189
(1,189)
89,273
10,846
78,427
89,273

Signed ….......................................... Mr R Gray (Trustee)

Date …...........................................26 10 2022

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusts•slmombers of Spode Museum TnJ8t On accounts forthe year •ndod Charfty no (If any) 519597 31° December 2021 Sèt out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accourrt8 of the above chanty (Ihe Trusf) for year ended 31112r2021. Responsibilities and As the charrty trustees of the Twst, you are responsrble for the preparation basls of report of the accounts in accordance wth the requirements of the Charitie8 Act 2011 (Ihe Acr). I report in respect of my examinats'on of the Trust's accounts ¢arried out under section 145 of the 2011A¢t and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions grven by the Charity Commission under section 145{5)Ib) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confimi that no mat8nal matters have come to my attention l in conneclion with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. accounting records V￿re not kept in accordance wth Section 130 of the Ad or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records Independent oxaminerfs statement I have no concems arKI have come across no other matters in connection wrth the examination to which attenknon should be dravm in ord8r to ènable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. . Please delete the words in the brackets rfthey do not apply. Slgnèd: Date: 27110122 Name: Sylvia Burdon (Mrs) Relevant professlonal qualificatlon(s) or body (11 any).. Associats'on of Accounting Technicians IMT) Address: 1 The Fold, Outton. Stone, Staffs ST15 8UF IER October 2018

Section B Disclosure Only complete rf the examiner needs to highlwht matters of concem (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions arKI guKlance for examiners). Glvo hore brfef delails of any Item8 that th oxamlner wlshos to dlsclose. IER October 2018