Independent Examiner's Report To the trustees/members of The Growler Group On accounts forthe year ended 31 October 2024 Charity number:702237 Responsibilities and basis of report I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (Yhe Trust") f or the year ended 31 October 2024 As the charty truste&s of the Trust. you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("the Act"). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. 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: accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do 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 order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed Date: 21 August 2025 Relevant professional quaLifications or body lif any): None Address 6 New Street, Cwmbran, NP44 1 EE
THE GROWLER GROUP English Electric Type 3 Preservation Society Owners of 37215 & Custodians of D6948 REGISTERED CHARITY NO. 702237 REGISTERED ADDRESS: 8 COLERIDGE ROAD, NEWPORT, SOUTH WALES. NPL9 8HY lettric THE 39TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF STHE GROWLER GROUP, 14eld ai the Tom Mitchell building Winchcombe Saturday 26th April 2025 ApologTies for absenLe. S. Pilkington. G. Parsons, D Fawkes, A. Laws, T. Dumelow, N. Wcllington imon Hale called ihc meeting to order, thanked everyone for attending and opened thL Ineeting at 11.00am. Copies of last year A.G.M. minutes were given out to those present and accepted as a true account of the meeting. These we proposed as a true account of proceedings by P. Salter and secoiided by G, Arnett and passed unanimously. ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE YEAR Chairman's Re ort. Simon Hale Tlic past twelve months have been successful for the group. Since the last AGM the elected committee has reniained unchanged, other than Phil Seymour departing, and l thank Phil for his work at committee ICVLI ince ?014. Bi)th of our locos have been in service for the most part with only a few small minor issues to report. Ih Last AugJust the group organised a very successful 60 Birthday celebration, with both our locos and we were blessed with some fine weather and a good turnout. Our sales team had a very profitable day and raiscd some much-needed funds for the group and also the day itself helped with an increase of OUT mLmbership. Martin and his team at Hellfire TV made an excellent DVD to accompany, but sales of tliis 'ei'e sli&Thtly disappointing. The GWSR and our team of volunteers all did us proud and we have received pleiity of good feedback from members and non-members alike. We further enhanced our profile last year with some exposure in the Railway Press via a couple of niagazines and Gareth (Arlett) did an excellent piece on the group and our locos which was published in Railways Illustrated I,ooking ahead we should have some news on a potential visit to another Railway with one of our locos this yLar, bui I also want to make an appeal for volunteers as we have been offered a trade stand at the Severii Valley four-day event in October. So, we will need to supplement the volunteers who nonnally help out on galas elc. as we will have to cover the four days of the event. I can't emphasise enough that this is a huge opi)orttinity for the group to again raise its profil¢ and also increase our funds which are needed to maintain our locos 'e are currently updating our sales site. and l am hopeful that this will be going live over the coming 'L'oks. riiially, l just want to say a big thanks to everyone on the committee who give up their free tim¢ to hclp wilh the running of the group. I would also like to thank all the members and volunteers behind the scenes wlio help out with maintaining our two locos, without this help the locos wouldn't run. There are also many iiienibers and also non-members who deserve thanks over the last year but a special mention to Slevc Worthington aiid Joanna Wballey for kindly donating the beer for the 60 Birthday event and also to Bob Barloiv and Mark Lawence who also made generous donations to the group on the day.
Treasurer s Re ort Kevin Jarvis Copies of thc Treasurer, s report was handed out to all at the meeting. A copy is also on the end of these minutes enditure The Group's is in a very healthy position with £168,864.33p but as 37215 tyres arc getting Ihin. we have had a quote which come out at approx. £IOO,000 so will take a big chunk out of it A g?ood year with no large outgoings on engineering and supplies, Magazine cost up a bit. 'I'raining cost was to train key figures in how to do safety Critical repairs and there will be more courses in the coming year so as we cannot continue to rely on ex B.R. trained personal. Income The 60 anniversary trains where very profitable and sales where good although we need more cvents to attend Sales via shopping portal slow a new one to go online shortly. E-Bay sales good Sold some surplus spares and our new investment account brought in £2,500 interest Flon Membershi Secretaries re ort. Janet Gou Membership numbers: Membership iiumbers at the end of 2024 stood at 264. (This includes 119 people who are either life Inembers, honorary members or regular donors.) This is 15 up on the previous year. Twenty-seven iiew applications were received. This is 16 more than the year before and included 2 life memberships. Twenty"_five of these were taken out between the start of April and the first week in Auoust Ld correspond with the start of publicity in the period leading up to and including the day of the Gci Iniversary running day. There has been one new membership since. The Membership Secretary has continued to contact members as the renewal date for their membership approaches. At the beginning of 2025 all those who failed to renew in the previous 12 months wcre contactL.d by Ictter, which prompted a response of 3 renewals. In total l O people failed to renew thcir mLnibersliip in the year 2023, compared with 15 in 2023 and 23 in 2022. No one has made contact regardingy their decision not to renew. Hon Publications Officers Re ort Simon Hale As reported in the last magazine, I will be sianding down as editor after 5 years in post. Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed m}, time as editor, l am unable to give the time required to undertake the role. I would ask that you upport the incoming editor as the need for material to include in the magazine is still required as previous. a8 eaLh maga7.,ine does take a lot of content in the way of articles and photographs. The cost of producing the 'hard copy, of the magazine has remained uniforni of late. The run is for around 250 copies at the moment (Some members have a pdf copy) and the charge for the copies at present is £.386. It is the cost of the postage that is ever increasing unfortunately and for the last two editions ihe postag)e charge when you include enveloping etc was £244. So, at the moment it is costing per quarter £630 for each magFazine. I have received good feedback about the magazine during my time as editor, so it still does have a place in the overall membership package offered by the group, but please let's keep it that way by continuing to support it. Lastly, I want to thank everyone who has contributed during my time as editor, there are way loo many people to thank here, but without all the photos and articles provided by members (and non) there would not be the quality of magazine that we can produce so please keep it up.
Hon Sales Officers Re ort Andrew Laws Apologies for not being able to attend this AGM, l am currently away on a family visit. Th¢ Sales income for the Growler Group comes from four main income streams. These are: Having our Sales Stand at the GWSR Galas - Steam Gala, Diesel Gala, Anniversary Running Day and Mixed Traction Gala. Online Sales via our web portal on the GG website (although this is currently offline pending an oITerhaul) sales to Members of GG branded clothing and items via the GG Magazine. We have also sold scale size Lustom Inade BR class 37 nameplates that we will also be advertising in the next Growler magazine eBay Sales - I'hanks to Alan Lea who manages this and posts everything out. 'rhis has made a significant proportion of our sales income. We sell mostly donated books and GG branded items. It is worth noting last year that eBay dropped all of their listing fee% for the tliings that we sell. So, 'e have benefited from this. eBay sales contributed £1495.32p to Growler Group funds. Tliank y ou very much to Members who have donated items ihat we have been able to sell and raise funds tor th¢ GG. This is very much apprecRated. Hon Publiei Officers Re ort Gareth Arlett th 20?4 was a big year for the Group as we celebrated the 60 birthdays of both our locomotives and, in Augusl, we had a very successful running day to celebrate this. In the run-up to announcing the da), I desigFned a couple of new leatlets to use on our sales/events stands - one specifically about the 60 running day but also a more general leaflet to promote what MTe do in a more traditional format. These, coupled with tlie promotion done across our website and social media sites: led to a very successful day. However. with Ilie 'cost ot" liTr ingj crisis, biting they haven't necessarily led to an increase in memberships - althougyh ovLr the past )'ear the activities at Galas and other events have garnered some renewed interest in what we do, if not physical memberships. Also, in the run up to the 60th Anniversary event we were afforded a headline feature in the September edAtion of Railways Illustrated. This edition came out in the shops just before the event and salv then Rl edilor, Andy Coward, head to Toddington for a day and interview myself about the Group and the locos. Feedback on this was very positive from those inside and outside the Group. We also, now, have a photo evcnt booked with Rl in May 2025 where both locos 11 be utilised at Gotherington. However, other publications have not becn so forthcoming. The latter half of the year, and into ?025, has seen my attention drawn elsewhere after the death of niy rathLr and so activity has been fairly minimal while I have dealt with his estate. The website has continued to be updated L8 and when required, and I must thank those who have kept the Facebook site ticking over and, to Richard Drewitt for keeping the 'X' account so active! After a discussion during our recenl DMG meeting I have had a brief email conversation with the GWSR'S new Marketing Director, Jack Boskclt. about how we can increase the general promotion of all things Diesel at the GWSR (which remains very steam-centric on its marketing materials) but also how changes in social media practices are affecting proinotion and visibility. Through this I will be investigating how our social media profile might be expanded further and also be more visible to the youngcr generation of enthusiast. Activity across our social profiles has remained at a constant, healthy level throughout. crewed our first Diesel Driver Experience of the year earlier in the month and managed to distribute a handful of leaflets to the participants and their accompanying passengers. Feedback on these ewents ib always very good so having a small amount of marketing material during our own DE events could be an C¢iSy way of plckiiig up a quick membership - even if this is just the leaflet holder with the leatlets being placed in the buffet coach: or where everyone congregates. In June, a few of us will be heading to Crewe to attend a railway and transport collector's event that we Iiave been invited to have a stand at in 2026 to see if it would be an avcnue of event we look at to atteiid in future - not only to sell but also to promote the group. I have sadly been drawing a blank with tying to get a stand at model railway events - despite th¢ GWSR and other railways seeming to get a presence fairly easily. However, availability of people to staff a stand at such events has proven difficult to identify.. as with Sales Stand, and so may be something that we leave for larger events. We are to look into giN ing free membership to people who do the class 37 driver experience course
Technical Officer)s Re ort 37215 Maiii issue has been straight air brake valves. ThreL changed during thL year. Two of the three have been repaired. SulTeiEd some oil iii the compressed air system follo7ng compressor LI1<e but settling dowii now. Needs to be monitored. ()iic brake cylinder changed. Several no need overhauling. BrakL pull rod bracket repaired and refixed. I"eiiiperattre strips applied to all motors f'ollowing discovery of niotak gre&4¢ in suspension tubes. Nothing out of the ordinary to rep)rt so I-. uel tIltLrs change(Vcleaned. Verba] quole rLgardino new tyres froin Biickfastleigh. Purchase price of 4K per lyre x 12. Fitting charge of £617K pei. axle. Total cost of ,iboiit £90K + V AT. Technical Re Ort 37248 V6 'iOUS is8iies over the )rear w'itli creating a brake at both ends. F.vcntually changcd botli BrakL Feed Cut Off Valves. OK now. On¢ bi.oken gaugFe glass changed. All wipers changed. l. ucl fille chdngedlcleaned. Chan es to the Constitution and of the Trustees P. Smith Peter explained the reasons for changing th¢ constitution and the trustees as set out to members in the last magazine. It was to encourage people who would want to join the committee but did not want to take on the full roles as trustees. The group would have 5 trustee's one belng elected from the membership with ihe other poists going to the Chairnian, Vice Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary, clause 17 and 18 ofthe Group coiistitution would be ameiided to accommodate this. 'I'he Chairman. Treasurer, and Secretary "OUld be elected for 2 years with the Vice Chairnian and membership choice the following year for also 2 years l)eter to amend the required paperwork to be sent to the Charity's commission. All noii-trustee roles on the committee to be appointed by the Trustee's These changes where proposed by S. Hale, seconded by D. Hancox and passed unanimously in accordance with clause 7 of the constitution Election of the Trustees for 2025 Everybody staiiding was asked that their membership was up to date, and they confonned with the Charities Commission rules to stand. Janet Gough was proposed by S. Hale seconded by D. Hancox and passed unanimously to be the 5 Trustee nominated by the membership Chairn]an, Simon Hale, Secretary, Alan Lea, Treasurer, Kevin Jarvis, where proposed for election for 2 years by A. Turner. seLonded by G Arnet and passed unanimously. ViLe Chairn]an Peter Smith and Janet Gough for l year by D Tabor and seconded by P. Salter. And passed unanimously. The rest of the Committee with non-Trustee roles will be appointed at the next meeting of the trustee's
Anv Other Business As we had l O people at the A.G.M. we had a quorum. We are to investigate having the A.G.M. available online next year for any members who cannot get to Winchcombe for it. Wc need to give 14-day notice for an A.G.M. as we could not do it that is why the date was changed. Our constitution is made from a Charity Commission template, so they have no problems with it. No conflict of interest that are not already known about. 37?48 gFoing to S.V.R. gala in October will work a passenger turn the Saturday afterwards on an advertised seniice train at no cost to use, we will get running fees we will ty to have a sale stand, raffle on it. Hire arran<yement to be arrdnged with SVR. D6700 coming to Todd for diesel gala only stayingi 2 weeks to include a freight and photo charter No extra passenger runs when at Todd. Possible triple head at the gala S. Hale then thanked everyone for attending and then closed the A.G.M. at 11.56 a.m. ST THE NEXT A.G.M. WILL BE HELD ON SATURDAY 21 fvlARCH 2026 AT 11.00 a.m. l O members attended with 4 of those non-committee members.
Treasurers Re ort 2024 1st Nov. 2023 - 31st Oct. 2024 Income Exp¢nditure Magazine & Postage 2391.83 Cash @ 1111123 Éi[ 36.99 86575.95 1543.46 62841.39 560.55 4070.00 2267.11 0.00 1681.00 550.00 3543.22 10337.00 1200.00 1495.i2 129.85 284.43 0.00 331.11 254.19 485.93 287.00 154.00 392.50 306.89 2225.45 294.00 519.15 Membership Supplies 128.70 Lloyds Alc @ 1111123 Nat West A/C @ 1111123 Loco Fund @ 1111123 Paypal IVC @1111123 Loco Fund Donations Loco Fund Interest Gift Aid Donations Give As You Earn Membership GWR Running Fees Spares Sale eBay 60th DVD'S On-Line Merchandise Amazon Shopping GWR Steam Gala GIAtR Diesel Gala GWR Mixed Gala 215 Anniversary Day 60th Day Sales Autumn Gala 60th Day Tickets 60th Day Raffle 60th Day Beer 0.00 444.48 466.64 315.77 Loco repairs and engineering Loco Supplies Transport D6948 Running Fees l-raining Website 60th Anniversary Train Merchandise Stock Leaflets Sum Up Machine Card FLes l.oco Fund @ 31110124 Cash (kn 31110124 Lloyds AIC fft 31110124 Nat West Alc @ 31110124 Paypal Balance @ 31110124 5755.86 1440. 00 1?2.32 1500.00 724.75 98.00 94.80 19.01 65108.50 2?2.95 101369.14 1603.46 560.28 TOTAL 182366.49 182366.49 Statement of Assets and Liabilities at the end of the period: Cash Funds £168,864.33 (see analysis above) Assets Retained for the Growler Group's Own Use: Physical Assets held are locomotive 37215 purchascd in 1994 for £8225. The group also holds Sales Stock with an estimated value of £1 000. Shares to the value of £31,430 are held in the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway PLC in exchange for a thirty years lease for the use of space within the diesel locomotive shed located at Toddington on the (i.W.R. Other notes: All funds unrestricted