DINGWALL MUSEUM SCIO
Scottish Charity Number SCIO SC053119
Annual Report and Financial Statements
For The Year Ended 31st March 2025

DINGWALL MUSEUM SCIO
Contents
Trustee's Annual Report
Pagesl-7
Financial Review
Page8-9
Independent Examlners Report
Page 10
Receipts & Payments
Page 11
Statement of Balances
Page 12
Notes to the Accounts
Page 13

Dingwall Museum SCIO
Trustees. Annual Report
For the Year ended 31st March 2025
The trustees have pleasure in presenting their report together with the financlal
Statements for the year ended 31st March 2025.
Reference and Adminlstrative Infomiatlon
Charity Name
Dingwall Museum
Charity Number
SC053119
Address
65 High Street. Dingwall IV15 9RY
Current Trustees
Page I

Dingwall Museum SCIO
Trustees, Annual Report
For the Year ended 31st March 2025(cont)
Strurture, Governance and Management
Constitution
The Charity is a Scottish Charitable Organlsatlon (a SCIO). It was registered
in its current legal form on 13th February 2024. The Charity was previously an
unlncorporated association but changed its legal form to a SCIO.
The business of the museum moved from Trust to SCIO on that date
(when the SCIO started), the assets and collection moved across
on 19th November 2024. It has a single tier structure and as such the trustees
are the members of the Charity.
Appolntment of trustees
There have been no changes in the Trustees in the year.
Objertlves and Actlvltles
Charitable purposes
The Trust has three main objectives
l The advancement of educatlon
The museum will provide educational opportunities- meetings, study groups,
and access to archive material, in the local community.
2 The advancement of community development
The museum is committed to provlding a resource - the building and its artefacts
that will enhance the local sense of place and heritage.
3 The advancement of the arts and heritage
The museum aims to advance the local community understanding of heritage
through its educational activities. its permanent displays, and occasional
exhibitions
Page 2

Trustees. Annual Report
For the Year ended 31st March 20251contl
Actlvltles
Dingwall Museum started the year (1st April 2024) as Dingwall Museum Trust, that has
been in existence since 1971. In order to transfer the management of the museum to a
more modern organisational structure, we applied to the Office of Scottish Charity
Regulators to become a SCIO. This was granted on 13th February 2024. Since that date the
museum has been run by these two organisations, workin8 in parallel. All the museum's
goods, furniture, and equipment, together with the entire collection, was transferred to the
SCIO by approval of the Trust's Trustees on 19th November 2014. Since that date, the Trust
ha5 continued with only its Trustees, its TSB bank account containing only a nominal sum,
and a lease with Highland Council's Common Good Fund. The rest of the business of the
museum has been rnanaged by the SCIO.
The museum Trustees have held regular bimonthly meetings in 2024/2025, starting in May.
July saw the inaugural meeting of the SCIO at which the Officers were approved
as Chair,
s Treasurer. That
meant that
tood down from being Treasurer of the museum, after many
years of highly-valued control of our finan￿$, leaving them in a good state for the future.
He was thanked for his many years of Service.
Further meetings of the SCIO were held in September and November 2024, and January
and March 2025. The SCIO Trustees have remained the Same all year.
Periodically during the year. we attempted to negotiate with the Highland Council (THC) for
a new lease. The old lease between the Trust and THC'S Common Good Fund was due to
expire on the 21st May 2025. we need a new lease, this time to be negotiated for the SCIO
as the completion of their acceptance of our modernising the Trust to a SCIO.
During the year we completed our spend of the Museums Galleries Scotland grant of
~£13k, includin8 reporting on it to them. The major benefits from It were the upgrading of
the collections database system {an online Axielll from the thirty-year-old Adlib version,
and also the weekly presen￿ of￿$ Collections Officer who oversaw that
upgrade and trained a cadre of volunteers in its Use. She has also overseen conservation
work and trained volunteers in best practice.
Page 3

Trustees. Annual Report
For the Year ended 31st March 20251cont)
Activities
The volunteers meet each week and are gradually workin8 towards completion of
reorganlsation and recordlng of our huge collection of artefacts and image5. Working with
nd the collections team, work continued to ensure
unaccessioned items were evaluated and only accessioned if they fell within our collection
policy. Those that didn't were offered to more appropriate museums. After that, we stlll
had a large number of items which were sold at the Auction Room, garnering value1£2040)
for future spend on the Collectlon. Some space was made available when many boxes of
Dingwall Burgh Council records were transferred to the Highland Archive in January, after
being in the museum's care for the nearly half-century since the Museum was formed.
We also welcomed a grant of £1600 from Glenwyvis Distillerrfs Local Community Fund
which has enabled us to purchase additional IT equipment. We received a 8rant from Nick
Hide for a generous donation of £2(X)O that enabled improvements to our shop and staff
facilities.
th
The 18 -century building started the year sufferin8 major roof leaks that ruined paintwork
and endangered wall-hanging items, but THC work on overhauling the entire Town Hall
complex roofing and windows finally eliminated this problem. just before we opened to the
public in May. In April a small piece of stonework fell from the Eagle House roof on to the
street below. THC moved quickly to make it safe.
All of the Collection items held at various external stores have now been moved to the
Museum premises and are available for future displays, the largest item being the 19
Century Fire Cart. New welcoming signage has been added to the front doors and Eagle
Court.
During the latter half of the year when the Museum was not open to the public, we
changed some of the traditional displays to make them brighter and better. With the
addition of a Timeline display {organised by
children's activities (or8anised by
and movement of some items, we now have a brighter and more obviou51v
welcoming shop entrance, and a rough progression from our earliest history of carvings and
archaeological finds to more modern times in the other rooms. Law and Order has been
gathered in the main foyer, with a display on the shops of the town, including updateable
notes on many of them to enable future-proofing.
Page 4

Trustees, Annual Report
For the Year ended 31st March 2025{cont)
Activitles
We continued our monthly meetings of the Dingwall History reading group (organised by
Roland Spencer-jones) in the Community LIbrary.￿haS now added another
monthly meeting there, of the Picture Detectives who discuss old photos from our
collection.
ontinue Museum outreach visits to care homes
and social
s in the area with handling boxes to get memories and discussions going.
ran a D-Day Commemoration event within the museum. A changing
exhlbltion at the entrance of Dingwall Community Library of our favourite items engenders
more talk. In addition, we have had regular visits to land from) the Prlmary schools and
groups such as the Young Archaeologists Club. As 2025 is the 50 anniversary year of the
museum, we have initiated a variety of events and activities within the museum. The first of
these was a roadshow evening to Contin, to encourage a wider appreciation of what the
Museum has to offer. Further visits to other local villages will follow in the next year.
rou
As well as being involved in the Highland Heritage Day that Eathered up to a hundred
th
museum and history groups in Dingwall Academy on March 15 , we also had a presence in
the regular public events of the Dingwall Gala (July), Fell Maree (September), the Highland
Archaeology Festival (October) and the Dingwall Academy Christmas Fair (De￿Mber). We
now have a light gazebo for such outdoor events and a standing 'featherf flag to draw
attention.
Our social media presence has been in the hands of collections office
volunteers
They have been responsible for regular
weekly postings on interesting museum-related subjects. resulting in usually more than
5000 viewings each time. A short film produced by•n the time that the Beatles
played in Dingwall induced over 10,000 vlews.
All this has led to an increase in footfall in the Museum itself to 2666 people, continuing the
annual increase since the empty pandemic year. This figure includes nearly 200 attenders to
special workshops and exhibitions and talks. Added to these were over 900 attenders of the
monthly library and outreach meetings.
Page 5

Trustees, Annual Report
For the Year ended 31st March 2025(cont)
Activities
We initiated a simple visitor suniey form at the start of the season, asking a few simple
questions about how people came to know about the museum, what they thought of it,
what was the welcome like. etc. Of the 326 forms completed the results Included:
The majority of visitors {who completed a form) had entered the museum by simply
coming across it whilst walking down the street.
• The majority were from Scotland, a large number from England, and the remainder came
from a wide scattering of international addresses
Almost all visitors scored their welcome and what they thought of the museum at the
highest figure. It seems as though we are making visitors, experience a good one!
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initiated work towards a 5-Year Plan at the end of 2014, with major
contributions from final report was presented to the
SCIO Trustees at their March Trustee meetin& and accepted with thanks.
Lastly, I recognise the work of so many people who have contributed to the work of the
museum this year- the Trustees. the members, all the volunteers, and many local
tradesmen who gave their time for free or a reduced rate. In addition, we gratefully
acknowledge the grants we have received from Highland Council, Museums Galleries
Scotland,
and Glenwyvis Fund. Without them, none of this could have happened.
Page 6

Trustees. Annual Report
For the Year ended 31st March 2025(cont)
FUTURE PLANS
The external Riverside store was emptied over the year and the lease with
lack Isle Renewables let 80. con￿qUentIY the 19th century fire engine that had
been in store is now displayed in Eagle Court.
We also plan a remodelling of the shop design and content to free up space for
more dlsplay cabinets. This will allow us to provide more books and merchandising
to increase sales, and therefore income.
A big opportunity is to take a lease on Eagle House. At present we occupy one
room on the ground floor, whereas there are two more unused floors above that.
However the buildlng is in a poor state of repair. with Highland Council committed
to making it safe and water-tight during the winter of 25126.
Page 7

Dingwall Museum SCIO
Flnanclal Review
Our main source of regular funding is a grant of £6272 from Hi8hland Council, which has
remained unchanged for many years, and yet for which we are immensely grateful. This
has been supplemented by donations from our visitors. shop purchases, sale of
unaccessioned and unwanted items from the museum, Gift Aid, and grants that we have
applied for.
Our grant application to MGS in the previous financial year provided some money in
advance, but most of the money in arrears, hence the negative balance at year end. Other
grants have included Glen Wyvis Distillery, and Nick Hide
Other rnain fundlng streams are
£2998 in donations from our visitors (there is no entrance fee)
£1637 from sale of items in the shop area.
£1337 from Gift Aid
£2040 from sale of unwanted items
Charlws pollcy on reserves
The annual costs of charitable activities are carefully monitored to ensure that the
available funds cover approximately two years of average expense5.
Our flnancial future
Dingwall Museum, like many museums in the Highlands, is run entirely by volunteers with
no employees. However, this yearfs grant applications have allowed us to contract with a
self-employed Collections Officer. That relationship can only continue into future years if
we raise more money from other grants, which is a continuous pressure on us to seek
funds.
Our regular assured income- Highland Council grant, donations and shop sales- is
approximately £10,000. Our regular outgoings have been reviewed in the past year and
savings made on changing insurers, letting 80 the rental on an expensive credit card
machine, etc. With a closing balance of >£17,(M)O the finances of the museum seem
secure.
Nature and purpose of funds
Unrestricted funds are those that may be used at the discretion of the trustees in
furtherance of the objects of the charity. The trustees maintaSn a single unrestricted fund
for the day-to-day running of the club.
Restricted funds May only be used for specific purposes. Restrictions arise
when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for specific purposes.
During the year the charity received two payments representing funds
restricted for specific purposes: Museum Galleries Scotland £3231, Nick Hide
£20￿. Restricted funds are tabulated as part of the Statement of Balances on
p12
Page 8

Flnancial Revlew{cont)
Related party transartlons
The Club's insurance policy includes Trustee Indemnity Insurance for all its trustees. No
other remuneration was paid to the trustees or any connected persons during the year
Page 9

Din8wall Museum SCIO
Independent Examlners Report to the Trustees of Dlngwall Museum
I report on the accounts of the charity forthe year ended 31st March 2025 which are set
out on pages 11 to 13
Respertlve Responsibilltles of trustees and examiner
The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance
with the terms of the Charitie5 and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2CK)5 and the
Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2CNJ6 {as amended). The charity trustees
consider that the audit requirement of Regulation 10{11(d) of the 2(K16 Accounts
Regulations does not apply. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts as required
under section 44{1)(c} of th Act and to state whether particular matters have come to my
attention.
Basls of Independent examiner's statement
My examination is carried out in accordance with Regulation 11 of the 2006 Accounts
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 include5
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.
Independent examlner's ststement
In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention
l. Which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the
requirements:
to keep accountin8 records in accordance with Section 44(1){a) of the 2005 Act and
Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounting Regulations
to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply wlth
ulation 9 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations
Page 10

Dingwall Museum SCIO
Statement of Receipt5 and Payments for the year ended 31st March 2025
Total
Funds
Total
Funds
Note
2025
2024
Receipts
Grants
Donations
16219
3010
1638
1790
250
1337
25
11503
1184
Shop Sales
Sale of Artefacts
Sale of Furniture
Gwft Aid
Bank Interest
2125
Total Recelpts
24269
148
Unrestricted
Restricted
12634
11635
9581
5231
24269
14812
Payments
Costs of Charitable Activities
Shop Purchases
Purchase of Equipment
20589
1434
4483
6875
1557
4891
Total Payments
26506
13323
Unrestricted
Restrlcted
10727
15779
13323
26506
13323
Surplus/(Deficlt} for the year
-2237
Unrestrlcted
Restrlcted
1907
-4144
-3742
5231
-2Z37
Page 11

Dingwall Museum SCIO
Statement of Balances - As at 31st March 2025
Totsl
2025
Restricted Unrestricted
Opening cash at Bank
5231
14468
19699
Deficit/Surplus for the year
4144
1907
-2237
Closlng cash at Bank
1087
16375
17462
Statement of Balances - As at 31st March 2024
Total
2024
Openlng cash at bank
18210
18210
Surplus/Deficit for the year
5231
-3742
1489
Closing cash at Bank
5231
14468
19699
Restricted Funds
AsAt
3110312024
Income
Expenditure
AsAt
3110312025
MGS Museums Galleries Scotland
Nick Hide
Glen Wyvis Fund
Sale of Collection Items
3231
2000
6995
iooo
1600
2040
12924
1255
1600
-2698
1745
2040
5231
11635
15779
1087
Page 12

Dingwall Museum SCIO
Notes to the accounts - for the year ended 31st March 2025
l - Basls of accounting
These accounts have been prepared on the Receipts and Payments basis in accordance
with the Charities & Trustee Investment Iscotland) Act 2005 and The Charities Accounts
(Scotland) Regulations 21X)6las amended).
2 - Nature and purpose of funds
Unrestricted Funds are those that may be used at the di5cretionof the Trustees furtherance
of the objects of the charity. The Trustees maintain a single unrestricted fund for the
day to day running of the Charity.
Restricted funds may only be used for specific purposes. Restrictions arise when specified
by the donor or when funds are raised for specific purposes.
3- Related party transactlons
The Club's insurance policy includes Trustee Indemnity Insurance for all its trustees.
No other remuneration was paid to the trustees or any other connected persons during
the year.12024 Nil)-
4- Grants re¢eived
2025
2024
Highland Council
Museums Galleries Scotland
N Hide
Glen Wyvis
Others
6272
6995
iooo
6272
3231
2000
1600
352
16219
11503
5 - Cost of charltable artivitles
2025
2024
Insurance
Printing & Stationery
Telephone
Store Rental
Computer/lT
Subscriptions
Repairs
Security
Misc admin costs
Collections OfFicer
Expenses wrt Collection
1392
525
783
567
1060
4684
1105
726
924
7877
946
2022
485
848
972
555
249
191
1036
517
20589
6875
6- Equlpment Purchased
System
Mobile Phone
Sum Up
Medals etc
4483
4758
30
95
4483
4891
Page 13