Finance Score: -3

Governance Score: 0

Support Score: 5

Volatile income: -3
No PartB

Narrow trustee age band: -2
Dynamic board: +3
Mainly male board: -1

Grant maker support: +5

Overall GiG Score: 2

WEST SOMERSET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION

Our Association is established to promote education in the heritage of the railway from Taunton to Minehead by restoring, preserving and displaying railway locomotives, carriages, wagons and other artefacts (including documents, drawings, photographs, recordings and films) of historical interest and the buildings connected therewith.

Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

The charity has received backing from multiple prominent grant makers recently
There have been no material income shortfalls in recent years
The Board appears to be dynamic in terms of composition

Regulatory & Governance issues to consider:

The Board is predominantly male
The Board has little diversity in terms of age
Over half the Board have joined recently

Financial issues to consider:

A PartB annual return has not been required and so detailed financial information is not available from the online data
Income has been volatile recently

Established: 29 years

wsra.org.uk

manager@wsra.org.uk

01823433856

Charity Commission for England and Wales

Tweets

Financial Data ?

Income & Spending ?

Sources of Income ?

Y/E		Income £k	Spending £k	Surplus/ Deficit	Fundraising Cost £k	Total Funds £k	Unrestricted Funds £k	Mths Rsrvs	Staff	Volun- teers
31/03/23		£376	£354	£22	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	30
31/03/22		£633	£274	£359	£1	£2,195	£1,934	84.7	2	30
31/03/21		£373	£313	£59	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	24
31/03/20?		£1,017	£989	£28	£430	£1,775	£1,642	19.9	8	60
31/12/18		£635	£680	£-45	£475	£1,748	£1,660	29.3	9	60
31/12/17		£687	£715	£-28	£495	£1,793	£1,754	29.4	12	0
31/12/16		£844	£908	£-64	£643	£1,821	£1,806	23.9	13	0
31/12/15		£796	£1,041	£-245	£549	£1,946	£1,925	22.2	14	0
31/12/14		£941	£807	£134	£553	£2,190	£1,532	22.8	11	0
31/12/13		£757	£709	£48	£467	£2,058	£1,386	23.5	15	0
31/12/12		£739	£696	£42	£405	£2,010	£1,324	22.8	12	0
31/12/11	*	£907	£815	£92	£555	£1,968	£1,242	18.3	11	0
31/12/10		£832	£730	£101	£517	£1,889	£1,158	19	11	0
31/12/09		£991	£822	£168	£726	£1,788	£1,039	15.2	11	0
31/12/08		£1,101	£647	£455	£523	£1,620	£931	17.3	13	0
31/12/07		£854	£511	£343	£333	£1,285	£757	17.8	1	0
31/12/06		£209	£240	£-31	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0
31/12/05		£334	£182	£153	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0
31/12/04		£255	£197	£58	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0

Show more rows -->

Show financials table -->

Download accounts

Highest pay bracket: less than £60,000

What it does

Education/Training
Environment/Conservation/Heritage

Who works here?

30 volunteers

Who it helps

Other Defined Groups
The General Public/Mankind

How it operates

Acts as an umbrella or resource body
Makes Grants to Organisations
Provides buildings/facilities/open space
Provides human resources
Provides services

Where it operates

Somerset,

Who's supporting them? ?

Donations from Grant Makers ?

We have details on the following significant donations. Multi-year donations are allocated to the years for which they are earmarked.

Major supporters in last 5 years

Garfield Weston Foundation	£20,000
The Foyle Foundation	£20,000
The Pilgrim Trust	£15,000
National Lottery Community Fund	£10,000
Co-Operative Group	£4,559

Specific Donations

Amount	When Months	To be used for
Co-Operative Group - Grant to West Somerset Railway Association
£2,156	21/10/2023	We would like to support our volunteers who preserve heritage items at our stations. This can be anything from sourcing vintage signs, posters and costumes, to planting flowers and painting fences.
Co-Operative Group - Grant to West Somerset Railway Association
£2,403	23/10/2021	We would like to purchase plants, shrubs and tools to enhance the gardens and make improvements to our 10 heritage stations along the railway. All work will be undertaken by our team of volunteers.
National Lottery Community Fund - Toilets for Volunteers
£10,000	22/01/2021 2	The organisation will use the funding to purchase a toilet block for their volunteers which will allow older people to better access the facilities.
Somerset Community Foundation - COVID19 Virtual social club to reduce isolation among older volunteers
£250	16/04/2020	Producing videos for and engaging with older people during the coronavirus
Garfield Weston Foundation - Main Grants award
£20,000	10/07/2019	Full Steam Ahead
The Pilgrim Trust - Grant to West Somerset Railway Association
£15,000	29/05/2019 24	Full Steam Ahead; Conservation and repair of a 1924 Great Western Small Prairie steam train number 4561
The Foyle Foundation - Learning (MGS)
£20,000	25/04/2019	as a general donation to support planned works and activities in 2021
Somerset Community Foundation - Community Engagement Officer
£95,700	23/08/2018 23	Funding a Community Engagement Manager to develop outreach work, create a volunteer programme, and encourage the community to utilise the Railway and its resources.

Show more rows

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How is it governed?

Trustees (8)

Current Trustees appointed

Gender Split

Age Range of Trustees: 58-73

ANDREW DAVID HORNER Appointed: 2024, Occupation: Semi-Retired

DENISE PARKER Appointed: 2021, Occupation: Catering Supervisor

EDWARD ALAN CHARLES MARTIN Appointed: 2022, Occupation: Business Person And Bus Driver

GEOFF GARFIELD Appointed: 2017, Occupation: Retired

JEFFERY CHARLES PRICE Appointed: 2020, Occupation: Engineer

JOHN STANLEY DAVID GLOVER Appointed: 2023, Occupation: Railwayman

MICHAEL ROBERT SHERWOOD Appointed: 2023, Occupation: Retired

WILLIAM ARTHUR FOSTER Appointed: 2023, Occupation: Retired

Legal constitution

Charitable company registered in England & Wales on 04/11/1994, number: 1041901
Registered at Companies House on 15/09/1994, number: 02968284

Gift Aid

Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid

Policies in force

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
Paying staff
Risk management
Safeguarding policy and procedures
Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
Trustee expenses policy and procedures
Volunteer management

Filing Record

19 returns made; AR11: 6 days late,

Main office

BISHOPS LYDEARD STATION
STATION ROAD
BISHOPS LYDEARD
TAUNTON
TA4 3BX

Objectives

The objects of the Association are to promote education in the heritage of the railway from Taunton to Minehead by:1. Restoring, preserving and displaying railway locomotives, carriages, wagons and other artefacts (including documents, drawings, photographs, recordings and films) of historical interest and the buildings connected therewith.2. Promoting the cultural, environmental and social heritage of the railway, and delivering related events and activities for the public benefit.3. Encouraging recreation, well-being or other leisure-time occupation connected with the railway, including voluntary work on the restoration and maintenance of the railway from Taunton to Minehead and enabling opportunities for social cohesion and inclusion 4. Promoting individual learning and training in the skills required to maintain the heritage of the railway from Taunton to Minehead.

Defined Area of Benefit:

IN PRACTICE - THE SOUTH WEST OF ENGLAND

Data Sources