Glasgow & South Western Railway Association SC046766
Glasgow & South Western Railway Association
Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2025
Trustees’ Report
The Glasgow & South Western Railway Association (also known as G&SWRA) is a Scottish charity with Scottish Charity Number SC046776
Contact Name and Address
Tan Middleditch, 90 Ardrossan Road, Seamill KA23 9LX
Trustees
The trustees who held office during the period from the start of the year reported on to the date of approval of this report were:
Ian Middleditch Chairman Andrew Swan Vice Chairman Iain Mackenzie Secretary Stewart Clinton Treasurer Stuart Rankin Archivist Kenneth Middleditch Newsletter Editor Arthur Baillie Journal Editor Duncan Elder
All of the trustees held office, except Stuart Rankin who resigned as a trustee 8" March but remains archivist, for the whole of that period and were in post at date of approval of this report.
Governance
The Glasgow & South Western Railway Association (referred to in this Report as “the Association”) is an unincorporated association governed under its Constitution adopted on 12th March 2016. The affairs of the Association are managed by a Committee of Trustees consisting of members of the Association elected at an Annual General Meeting for a period of 2 years. Trustees receive no financial remuneration but are able to claim legitimate expenses incurred in fulfilling their duties.
Glasgow & South Western Railway Association SC046766
Charitable Purposes
Our charitable purposes as set out in our constitution are:
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The advancement of education and heritage by the promotion of study of and research into the Glasgow & South Western Railway its constituent companies and its successors (collectively referred to as “the G&S WR”) and the dissemination of information relative to the G&SWR.
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To encourage, facilitate and co-ordinate research by members and others into the G&SWR and to publish and disseminate the results of such research.
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To make available to members of the Association and to the general public information relating to the G&SWR. * To arrange meetings, lectures, exhibitions, study visits and other activities in relation to the G&SWR.
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To engage in such other lawful activities (including co-operation with, subscribing to, or affiliation with other bodies having purposes in whole or in part similar to those of the Association) as may be conducive or incidental to the attainment of the foregoing Objects.
Activities and Achievements
Over the course of the year, we held 5 open meetings in Paisley Abbey on subjects relevant to our area of interest. Among others, Donald Henderson gave a very interesting and informative account of the railways around Dumfries and the Port road. At another meeting, Andrew Swan outlined the early development of the railway particularly the early arrangements with the Caledonian and access into Carlisle. Graham Todd of the Caledonian Railway Association, gave a presentation on different aspect of the railways viewed from the air using archive photographs.
For members we have held a number of online Zoom meetings which always brings new material to members and helps in their interest and quest for information. This is advantageous to our many members who are unable, through distance or other factors, to attend Paisley meetings. To be successful we need folks to volunteer and make a short starter presentation into which all can contribute.
We participated in a joint stand with fellow Scottish lines societies at the Perth Model Railway show in June. We were able to enlist some new members and fly the flag for the G&SWR in Highland territory.
In September as part of the Railway 200 events we took part in the Lines Societies event at Bo’ Ness in the Scottish Railways Museum. Part of the SRPS Heritage railway and an open day with a Thomas the Tank Engine theme attendance was very disappointing. We did have a small display and sales stand but these were insufficient to cover our expenses. It is thanks to our very few volunteer members that we were able to have a presence at what could have been an excellent weekend.
One of our members have been researching the lettering style and form used on G&SWR rolling stock and that work is bearing fruit. With lots of time spent on very detailed artwork a commercial printer has been found and scale model decals should be available in 2026. These will complement the forthcoming kit for an ‘Austrian Goods’ 403 class, being produced by a designer for us which should also be available soon.
Archive work has been rather low key since the removal to the Ballast Trust but some more of our written records have been digitised. The latest being David Lindsay’s Register of Stations, Routes and Lines which is again available to researchers.
It is gratifying that our membership numbers still hold up, and we are attracting new members, but still volunteers to help forward our aims are rather few.
Glasgow & South Western Railway Association SC046766
Plans for the Future
We will continue to hold open meetings and online ones but getting volunteer speakers is increasingly difficult. We are already planning, along with our Forum of Scottish Lines Societies colleagues, the next Scottish Railway History Conference to be held on October 3rd in Perth.
With the interest generated by the forthcoming model kit and decals we will continue to work with 3 parties to further the availability of G&SWR subjects on the market and ensure their authenticity.
Financial Review
This year we had a surplus of £2187 (2024: £770).
At 31 December 2025 we had 19 unpaid subscriptions. Three members were not fully paid up and 159 were fully paid up -a total of 181. We invite subscriptions from our Autumn Newsletter published around September/October and most of the standing orders are paid around the end of October. A very large acknowledgement to those who swifty contacted their bank to advise of the new details for our bank account. The Bank of Scotland decided to charge charities a monthly fee, and it took some time to set up Co-Operative bank accounts.
Donations are up with a generous bequest from a former members estate. All money donated to the Association is very much appreciated and we give a hearty thank you to all who have rounded up payments to us, or simply donated.
HMRC Gift Aid money is welcome and we are very grateful to those members who sign up for it. A 20% addition to subscriptions and donations helps a great deal.
Sales are dependent on material to sell, and this year stocks of our wagon kit were received and pre ordered met, a few ongoing sales and the remainder went at our Bo’ness show. We do not have any wagon kits at present, and as there were no upcoming shows we decided to wait before ordering more. The Class 403/ Austrian Goods kit is due soon — and some expense has been incurred in anticipation of this. We do now have scans of all Journals from Number One right up to current available on compact discs.
Inevitably postage and printing costs of both the Journal and Newsletter have increased.
Our use of Zoom meetings requires a license but the advantages of this allows members unable to attend and who may be further afield or overseas to join us for chats.
Reserves Policy
The trustees aim to keep a minimum of £2,400 in their current account to ensure that printing and postage bills for the Journal and Newsletter can be met when they are received. The increase in the interest rate however and transfer of savings to the same bank as the current account allowed the committee to agree to transferring money to take advantage of the higher interest rate by electronic transfer when such funds are available. This resulted in the current account balance falling below this amount to £500. Transfer in anticipation of expenditure when known will be made to maximise interest.
As explained in Plans for the Future above, the trustees are planning to conserve and digitise items in the Archive. They are also planning to help fund the publication of Andrew Swan’s new book, and would like to be in the position of being able to support other possible publications. The locomotive kit is due to be available soon and we aim to keep sufficient funds readily available to meet the costs of an initial run of kits. For this reason they are trying to make a surplus each year and built up the reserves. The target is £35,000 and the current level of reserves £34314 (2024: £29360) represents satisfactory progress towards that.
Glasgow & South Western Railway Association SCO46766
Receipts and Payments
Financial Year 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025
| Receipts | Notes | 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscriptions and donations | A | 7225 | 4308 |
| Bank Interest | 253 | 302 | |
| Charitable activities | B | 1846 | 245 |
| Total Receipts | 9324 | 4855 | |
| Payments | C | -7137 | -4085 |
| Charitable costs | |||
| Total Payments | -7137 | -4085 | |
| Surplus/(deficit) | 2187 | 770 |
These accounts and produced on the Receipts and Payments basis
All funds are deemed unrestricted
All stock items are valued on the reducing balance method
Archive — Assoc owns assets — material and digital- the value of said assets is estimated at £10000.
| 2025 | 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| NoteA | |||
| Subscriptions | 3885 | 3278 | |
| Donations | 2550 | 305 | |
| GiftAid | 790 | 725 | |
| Total | 7225 | 4308 | |
| Note B | 2025 | 2024 | |
| Receipts from Charitable income | |||
| Sales ofjournals andCDs | 43 | 174 | |
| Sales —books | |||
| Sales—drawings | 101 | ||
| Sales— kit | 1660 | ||
| Refreshments and meetings | 42 | 7 | |
| Total | 1846 | 245 | |
| NoteC | 2025 | 2024 | |
| Payments | |||
| Journal printing | 1295 | 1260 | |
| Newsletter printing | 1462 | 1068 | |
| Stampsandpostage | 1724 | 499 |
Glasgow & South Western Railway Association SC046766
| Sales items postage | 21 | 30 |
|---|---|---|
| Perth Conference costs | 342 | |
| PaisleyAbbey hire | 470 | 367 |
| Kit costs | 1495 | |
| Archives costs | 23 | 60 |
| Website costs | 240 | 79 |
| bank charges | 25 | 113 |
| ITpurchases | 609 | |
| Exhibition publicity | 40 | 183 |
| Total | FA37 | 4085 |
Statement of Balances Glasgow and South Western Railway Association Financial Year 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025
| current balance current balance |
|---|
| Saving balance saving balance Fall Ll saving balance balance Fl — Rd |
Glasgow & South Western Railway Association SC046766
Fixed Assets
Display stand 2023 for £183 46 92 IT scanner 2023 for £299 75 150 IT projector 2005 for £100 0 IT pe 2005 for 200 0 IT hard drive and stick x4 2024 for £609 200 400 Stamps 2 x 2nd, 121 x large letter 255.8 Heritage assets 10000
a
Approved by the trustees on 31st January 2026 and signed on their behalf
Ian Middleditch Chairman
Glasgow & South Western Railway Association SC046766
Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of the Glasgow & South Western Railway Association
I report on the accounts of the Glasgow & South Western Railway Association (“the charity”) for the year ended 31 December 2025 which are set out above.
Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner
The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the terms of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (“the 2005 Act”) and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) (“the 2006 Regulations”). The charity’s trustees consider that the audit requirement of Regulation 10(1)(d) of the 2006 Regulations does not apply. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts under Section 44(1)(c) of the 2005 Act and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of independent examiner’s statement
My examination is carried out in accordance with Regulation 11 of the 2006 Regulations. 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 seeks explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.
In Independent Examiner’s statement
the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention
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which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:
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to keep accounting records in accordance with section 44(1) (a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations, and
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to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulation 9 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations
have not been met, or
- to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
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Jane Jones Greenock 5" February 2026