GREAT WESTERN SOCIETY LIMITED
Charity overview
Activities - how the charity spends its money
1) To preserve, restore and operate as a permanent public exhibition and museum, steam and other railway locomotives, rolling stock and equipment, both for historical and educational purposes, and 2) To make available for public reference the history, equipment and operation all with reference to both the former Great Western Railway and its successors since nationalisation on 1 January 1948
Income and expenditure
Data for financial year ending 31 January 2024
Total income:
£2,232,098
| Donations and legacies | £1.11m | |
| Charitable activities | £685.89k | |
| Other trading activities | £408.25k | |
| Investments | £31.20k | |
| Other | £0 |
Total expenditure:
£1,785,937
| Raising funds | £249.78k | |
| Charitable activities | £1.54m | |
| Other | £0 |
£0 investments gains (losses)
Total income includes £3,069 from 1 government grant(s)
Charitable expenditure
Charitable expenditure with investment gains
Charitable expenditure
Some charities generate all, or a substantial part, of their income from investments which may have been donated to the charity as endowment or set aside by the charity from its own resources in the past. Such investments usually take the form of stocks and shares but may include other assets, such as property, that are capable of generating income and/or capital growth.
In managing their spending and investments charities need to strike a balance between the needs of future and current beneficiaries. They also need to take account of spending commitments that may stretch over a number of future years. To do this, charities will normally adopt an investment strategy designed to generate both income and capital growth. To maximise returns trustees may commit to investment strategies for several years.
Investments can experience large swings in value so trustees may, in a particular year, decide to realise and spend part of their charity’s capital or to invest part of its income.
By clicking the investment gains checkbox the charitable spending bar is adjusted to take account of capital growth as well as income. This shows the balance the charity is striking, between spending on current beneficiaries and retaining resources for future beneficiaries.
| Raising funds and other expenditure | £249.78k | |
| Charitable expenditure | £1.54m | |
| Retained for future use | £446.16k |
People
33 Employee(s)
11 Trustee(s)
200 Volunteer(s)
Employees with total benefits over £60,000
No employees have total benefits over £60k for this charityFundraising
Trading
Trustee payments
What, who, how, where
- Education/training
- Arts/culture/heritage/science
- Environment/conservation/heritage
- The General Public/mankind
- Other Charitable Activities
- Bristol City
- Devon
- Oxfordshire
- Slough
- Somerset
- West Berkshire
- Wiltshire
- Windsor And Maidenhead
Governance
- 01 February 1977: Standard registration
- DIDCOT RAILWAY CENTRE (Working name)
- Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
- Complaints handling
- Complaints policy and procedures
- Conflicting interests
- Financial reserves policy and procedures
- Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
- Internal risk management policy and procedures
- Investing charity funds policy and procedures
- Investment
- Paying staff
- Risk management
- Safeguarding policy and procedures
- Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
- Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
- Social media policy and procedures
- Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
- Trustee expenses policy and procedures
- Volunteer management
Trustees
Trustees are the people responsible for controlling the work, management and administration of the charity on behalf of its beneficiaries. Generally trustees are treasurer, chair, board member etc. The trustees are responsible for keeping this list up to date and can do this by updating their details as they happen through the online service
11 Trustee(s)
| Name | Role | Date of appointment | Other trusteeships | Reporting status of other trusteeships | ||||
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| RICHARD ALAN PRESTON | Chair | 15 September 2018 |
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| John Plant | Trustee | 12 October 2024 |
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| Marita Ann Middleton | Trustee | 12 October 2024 |
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| Leanne Walsham | Trustee | 20 April 2024 |
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| Robert Heron | Trustee | 25 November 2023 |
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| John Bertram Crouch | Trustee | 21 May 2022 |
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| Mokbul Khan | Trustee | 12 February 2021 |
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| Laura Suzanne Donaldson | Trustee | 07 September 2019 |
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| Anthony James Keys | Trustee | 15 September 2018 |
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| Richard John Varley | Trustee | 16 April 2016 |
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| Dr JOHN BERNARD O'HAGAN | Trustee |
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Financial history
Financial period end date
| Income / Expenditure | 31/01/2020 | 31/01/2021 | 31/01/2022 | 31/01/2023 | 31/01/2024 | ||
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Total gross income | £2.74m | £1.32m | £1.47m | £1.70m | £2.23m | |
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Total expenditure | £1.41m | £1.39m | £1.46m | £2.36m | £1.79m | |
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Income from government contracts | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
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Income from government grants | N/A | £62.10k | £144.33k | £10.23k | £3.07k | |
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Income - Donations and legacies | £1.82m | £730.98k | £561.81k | £673.62k | £1.11m | |
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Income - Other trading activities | £376.75k | £201.41k | £331.11k | £414.45k | £408.25k | |
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Income - Charitable activities | £516.54k | £361.84k | £570.31k | £595.08k | £685.89k | |
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Income - Endowments | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Income - Investment | £26.40k | £22.79k | £2.07k | £13.58k | £31.20k | |
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Income - Other | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Income - Legacies | £1.38m | £108.43k | £94.16k | £201.98k | £768.45k | |
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Expenditure - Charitable activities | £1.21m | £1.25m | £1.28m | £2.14m | £1.54m | |
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Expenditure - Raising funds | £196.47k | £140.73k | £170.72k | £214.99k | £249.78k | |
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Expenditure - Governance | £16.33k | £16.85k | £17.84k | £23.75k | £19.03k | |
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Expenditure - Grants institution | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Expenditure - Investment management | £1.28k | £3.26k | £189 | £0 | £0 | |
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Expenditure - Other | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
Assets and liabilities
Definitions for assets and liabilities
These are assets, other than investments, which are held for more than 12 months and used to run and administer the charity such as buildings, offices, exhibits and fixtures and fittings.
Long term InvestmentsInvestments are assets held by the charity with the sole aim of generating income which will be used for their charitable purposes such as deposit accounts, shares, rental property and unit trusts.
Investment assets are re-valued every year and included in the balance sheet at their current market value.
Long term investments are held for more than 12 months.
These are assets held generally for less than 12 months such as cash and bank balances, debtors, investments to be sold within the coming year and trading stock.
Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liabilityThis is a surplus or deficit in any defined benefit pension scheme operated and represents a potential long-term asset or liability.
Total liabilitiesThese are all the amounts owed by the charity at the balance sheet date to third parties such as bills due but not yet paid, bank overdrafts and loans and mortgages.
| Asset / Liability | 31/01/2020 | 31/01/2021 | 31/01/2022 | 31/01/2023 | 31/01/2024 | ||
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Own use assets | £932.40k | £923.74k | £965.67k | £1.02m | £1.83m | |
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Long-term investments | £1.14m | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Other assets | £1.39m | £2.45m | £2.44m | £1.75m | £1.37m | |
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Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liability | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Total liabilities | £190.48k | £219.59k | £244.29k | £270.71k | £248.33k |
Accounts and annual returns
| Title | Reporting year | Date received | Received | Download |
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| Annual return | 31 January 2024 | 02 November 2024 | On time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 January 2024 | 02 November 2024 | On time | |
| Annual return | 31 January 2023 | 04 November 2023 | On time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 January 2023 | 04 November 2023 | On time | |
| Annual return | 31 January 2022 | 21 October 2022 | On time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 January 2022 | 21 October 2022 | On time | |
| Annual return | 31 January 2021 | 18 October 2021 | On time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 January 2021 | 18 October 2021 | On time | |
| Annual return | 31 January 2020 | 14 October 2020 | On time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 January 2020 | 14 October 2020 | On time |