Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ended 31
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Annual Report and Financial Statements For year ended 31 December 2014 For Compton Verney House Trust Registered charity number 1032478 Compton Verney House Trust Contents of the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2014 Contents Page Reference and administrative details 3 Report of the Governors 4 Independent auditor’s report 22 Statement of financial activities 24 (Incorporating an income and expenditure account) Balance sheet 25 Notes to the financial statements 26 Page 2 of 36 Compton Verney House Trust Reference and administrative details For the year ended 31 December 2014 Registered Charity number 1032478 Registered office and operational address Compton Verney, Warwickshire, CV35 9HZ Governors First appointed Sir Peter Moores CBE DL Founder 1 April 2011 Kirsten Suenson-Taylor Chair 1 October 2010 Dame Prof Jessica Rawson Vice Chair 1 January 2014 Janet Bell Smith 1 January 2013 Chris Carter 1 September 2012 Irving David 1 July 2010 Victoria Dickie 1 November 2013 Sir Mark Jones 1 April 2011 Ludo Keston 1 November 2010 Paul Lindsell 1 January 2006 John Martyn 1 September 2012 Rita McLean 1 September 2012 Richard Shore 29 July 1998 Janatha Stubbs MBE MOM 1 January 2006 Lady Celia Goodhart Hon Governor Principal Bankers Solicitors Barclays Bank plc Bates Wells & Braithwaite 48B & 50 Lord Street Scandinavian House Liverpool 2 – 6 Cannon Street Merseyside London L2 1TD EC4M 6YH Auditors Director Sayer Vincent LLP Dr Steven Parissien Chartered Accountants & Registered Auditors Invicta House 108 – 114 Golden Lane London EC1Y 0TL Page 3 of 36 Compton Verney House Trust Report of the Governors For the year ended 31 December 2014 The Governors present their report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2014. The financial statements have been prepared on the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the charity's trust deed, applicable law and the requirements of the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP 2005). The organisation is an unincorporated charity, constituted under a trust deed dated 27 August 1993and registered as a charity on 1 February 1994. Who we are Compton Verney is a national art gallery and ‘Capability’ Brown landscape located nine miles from Stratford-upon-Avon. It is an unincorporated charity with the aim of providing an inspiring and entertaining cultural day out for visitors of all ages and backgrounds – whether they have come to see our highly-acclaimed art exhibitions, to take part in our wide-ranging programme of activities, or to enjoy the diverse features of our extensive historic landscape. Everything we do supports our mission: to share our passion for art and landscape with as many people as possible. Compton Verney is: a unique cultural attraction that is inclusive and relaxed yet, at the same time, innovative and bold; a must-see, engaging, family-friendly destination; ‘the national gallery on your doorstep’ – a nationally-accredited and internationally- recognised art gallery which stages some of the most important art exhibitions in the area, connecting our region to the world by working closely with the UK’s large, state-funded national museums and small independent galleries alike; one of the most distinctive and user-friendly hire venues in the region; an exemplar for environmental sustainability. Our history The house and landscape at Compton Verney were owned by the Verney family – later created Lords Willoughby de Broke – from the mid-fifteenth century to 1921, when the 19th Baron sold the estate. (The Verneys had rebuilt the mansion after 1711, and had employed Robert Adam and Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown to remodel both house and grounds after 1761.) In 1993 the Peter Moores Foundation (PMF) bought the site, including the near-derelict mansion, and, following a £20 million building project to restore the Georgian mansion and add a modern wing to house exhibition spaces and visitor facilities, Compton Verney was fully opened to the public as a major, nationally-accredited art gallery in 2004. Page 4 of 36 Compton Verney House Trust Report of the Governors For the year ended 31 December 2014 Our audience Of our 70,200 visitors (including 4,600 school visits) during 2014, the majority visited us from within a 60-minute drive time from Compton Verney – a catchment area that includes Birmingham, Oxford, Coventry, Leamington Spa and the Cotswolds. Visitor numbers were 10,000 higher than in 2013, giving us our third most successful year to date. Our achievements in 2013 Exhibitions Exhibitions play a crucial role at Compton Verney in strengthening and increasing audiences and in making a significant contribution to the cultural landscape, both regionally and nationally. During 2014 we staged two major special exhibitions, demonstrating our continued commitment to excellence in quality of content and presentation: Moore Rodin (15th February - 31 August), a ground-breaking international exhibition, organised in collaboration with the Musée Rodin and the Henry Moore Foundation, which compared the works of two giants of modern sculpture. Of the 160 works, 11 were large scale pieces in the grounds – including one of Rodin’s most famous works, Monument to the Burghers of Calais (usually on display outside the Houses of Parliament) and Moore’s magnificent, monumental Three Piece Sculpture: Vertebrae. British Folk Art (27 September - 14 December), organised in association with Tate Britain, was the first major exhibition of its kind in the UK to celebrate the energy, variety and inventiveness of Britain’s unsung, often self-taught and anonymous folk artists. It comprised 180 remarkable and spectacularly displayed objects in a huge variety of media from collections across the UK (including our own), and incorporated ships’ carvings, quirky trade signs, toby jugs, pin cushions and bone objects made by soldiers, as well as reproductions of famous art works by embroiderer Mary Linwood and paintings by Alfred Wallis. Collections The six permanent collections are at the heart of Compton Verney. It is our responsibility to care for them on behalf of the Compton Verney Collection Settlement (CVCS) and to improve access to them on behalf of our audiences, the public and future generations. Major areas activity in 2014 included: The development of plans for the major re-display of the Chinese collection, funded by the DCMS/Wolfson Foundation and Arts Council England through the Designation Development Fund. The special display Art from Ammunition: Trench Art from the First World War (15 July-14 December), which demonstrated the remarkable creativity of soldiers, prisoners of war, civilian internees and refugees, many of whom created extraordinary objects from the everyday by-products of the First World War. Drawn from a local private collection, the objects originated from over 25 of the countries directly involved in the war. Page 5 of 36 Compton Verney House Trust Report of the Governors For the year ended 31 December 2014 Processing bequests to the Marx-Lambert collection by Eleanor Breuning, Enid Marx’s executor, including a number of Marx-designed neckties donated by Katia Marsh (whose uncle was Marx’s brother). A number of the items are now incorporated into the existing display. Outgoing loans to the Fondazione Roma-Arte-Musei, Rome, the Niedersachasiches Landesmuseum, Hanover and Tate Britain. The successful de-accession by CVCS of a major work by Bernardo Strozzi, through a process carefully guided and monitored by The Museums Association and Arts Council England. Both bodies subsequently applauded the manner in which the disposal was conducted, and are now promoting the de-accession nationally as an exemplar of good practice. Learning Learning is central to our mission. Our learning and public programmes take our collections, exhibitions and landscape as their point of inspiration for newcomers, regular visitors and seasoned experts alike. Main areas of activity in 2014 included: 4,600 students taking part in Learning programmes, including a record number of secondary school visits. Continued expansion and growth in popularity of Forest School sessions, including the introduction of a new Early Years programme. Major additions to the events programme, including an enormously successful 10th Birthday Party in May, which attracted over 1,300 people, and Viva Italia!, a month of talks, music and other activities in September. Over 10,265 families and visitors participating in our activities and events programme, 2,000 more than in 2013. This figure, however, does not include the many thousands more who enjoyed the trails, backpacks, and other programmes devised devised to enhance the experience of our exhibitions, collections and park. The Park One of our key goals in 2014 was to continue to exploit the historic parkland at Compton Verney as a way of building new audiences. To this end, many parkland projects were undertaken during 2014, including: Additional planting to embellish areas close to the Chapel, throughout the Ice House Coppice and in the East Park. Seeding areas of the coppice with wild flowers to increase bio-diversity and interest. Page 6 of 36 Compton Verney House Trust Report of the Governors For the year ended 31 December 2014 Planting the Dan Pearson/William Morris meadow, to be ready for summer 2015. Conducting HLF-funded wildlife surveys, some in collaboration with the British Trust for Ornithology (which recorded more