The total income for the year was £376,484 (2020: £162,093) of which £3,050 (2020: £12,260) was from restricted sources. The expenditure for the year amounted to £172,142 (2020: £172,525). There was a £285,426 surplus (2020:  £34,413).

The total net assets of the FNRM amounted to £943,320 (2020: £657,894). These were split as to restricted funds of £119,929 (2020:  £121,477) and unrestricted (including designated) funds £823,391 (2020: £536,417).

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COVID 19

The real impact of Covid 19 to the Charity’s operations was its impact upon the National Railway Museum, with enforced closure from March 2020 and limited/ no access since then. Whilst enforcing a ‘working from home’ environment for our small team of staff and volunteers with consequent disruption to essential office functions, the real impact was on loss of ‘incidental’ income from Collection sites within the Museum and more importantly the complete closure of Outreach opportunities for a sustained period (e.g., Flying Scotsman activities). This resulted in the Trading Subsidiary reporting for the second year, a small loss on operations, absorbed by the Trust, which in turn has been protected financially by positive returns from its Invested Funds and legacy receipts.

The Charity finances have also been sustained by Government grants in support of employee costs (Furlough) but the Charity has not sought other sources of Government financial relief.

The Charity’s operating position in 2022 is not without concern given that regular outgoings exceed current levels of member subscriptions. This concern will be ameliorated now that lockdown positions are relaxed and Outreach activities can re-create a flow of supportive funds towards these basic activities of the Charitable Trust. That said, The Trustees have full confidence that the Charity remains a Going Concern and will continue so for at least the next twelve months from the date of this report.

Further detail of the Covid impact is afforded within the Chairman’s Report.

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The impact of a second year of the Covid 19 pandemic has already been referred to, but it needs re-emphasising that, as a result, not only were the two museums closed for long periods, but inevitably much of the Friends’ activity was also curtailed or severely restricted. For the first half of the the year the Friends’ office in York remained closed, and, although it was again possible to maintain most basic functions and services, and to gradually re-introduce others, in no way could this be called a normal year.

 

Most notably, our popular quarterly magazine Review not only appeared on time, but continued to be in ‘bumper’ format thus providing additional reading material during those long lockdown nights. This

reflects great credit on the editorial team led by Russ Rollings and John Cowles, and also the many

contributors who submitted articles and photographs. Similarly, Helen Ashby has continued to single-handedly produce the young person’s Half Fare newsletter. Thank you to all of you.

 

From September it became possible to restart the programme of evening talks at the NRM in York. The first two were only available on-line via the inevitable ZOOM, but subsequent meetings were held on a ‘hybrid’ basis allowing those who wished to attend in person, while others could still participate on-line. As a result, attendances have begun to creep up towards the levels seen before the pandemic. This hybrid approach looks to be the way forward, although the technology to display presentations on both a physical screen in a room and at home is not as simple as it might first seem. So, I am particularly grateful to meeting organiser and trustee David Thomas for mastering this, with the invaluable assistance of Andrew Frodsham and May Willsher from the office.

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For a second year trading activity through FNRM Enterprises was significantly affected, although the gradual post Covid opening up, including the return of main line steam specials, is leading to an improving situation as we move into 2022. Sales directly through FNRM, including second-hand books, via Review and on-line, also showed an encouraging recovery with income up by a third. Chris Bush, who had been leading this work for some years, decided to retire, and this useful income stream is now being led by Mike Webb. Grateful thanks are due to both for their hard work during difficult circumstances.

 

The FNRM website continued to be developed to improve its functionality and value, including, under the ‘Did You Know?’ banner, a page recording personal reflections about a diverse range of railway matters. Members Mike Peart and John Swanwick have been particularly diligent in submitting stories to this fascinating and expanding series of anecdotes.

 

The project to catalogue and index the contents of back numbers of the Review magazine got well into its stride in 2021. As a reminder, this aims to deliver a comprehensive record of articles, photographs and other material, accessible on-line for future research work. By the end of 2021, over 25% of issues had been completed – a remarkable achievement, especially given the complexity of the process.

The work continued to be led by trustee Mel Draper with a dedicated band of volunteers, to all of whom I extend my grateful thanks.

 

Our archival research project, ‘Britain’s Railways All Change’ (BRAC), extended in 2021, drew towards a close by the year end completing a comprehensive record of the late twentieth century rail privatisation process. Run jointly with the Retired Railway Officers Society, the project has relied heavily on support from a team of interviewers. Thanks are due to them, and of course those who agreed to be interviewed, together with the project leader, President Frank Paterson, ably assisted by John Jouques. All told 185 interviews were recorded representing 280 hours of unique personal recollections that are now available for public access through the NRM website. Plans are well advanced for the publication by FNRM of a book under the authorship of Mike Peart based on the interviews. Without Frank’s drive and determination for over five years the project would never have got off the ground, let alone to have achieved all that it has.

 

As explained last year, the Covid pandemic continued to have an impact on further filming of signal boxes and signalling operations under the ‘The Film Archive of Railway Signalling and People’ (FARSAP) project. However, with the easing of restrictions, it is hoped that more progress can be made in 2022 with the few remaining locations still to be recorded. Meanwhile the scope of the project has been extended to include Electrical Control Rooms, a seldom considered yet vital aspect for the operation of electric railways – which it is worth remembering have been around since the early 1900s. Meanwhile further films of particular signal boxes have been made available on the Signalling Record Society’s (SRS) website and it is still hoped that in due course these will also be available directly on the NRM website. Thanks are due once again to Richard Pulleyn and his team for their continued commitment, John Lacy of SRS, and to Network Rail for providing filming facilities.

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It should also be recorded that the second of three payments of £100,000 towards the re-development of York Station Hall was made by FNRM to the Museum during this year. This project continues to make good progress, despite the need to also address major roof repairs to the hall outside the project. Finally, in terms of museum support, discussions were well under way by the year end on a major funding commitment by the Friends to support further work associated with the V2025 programme and beyond over the coming five years.

 

There were signs that the decline in membership numbers may be easing, possibly due to re-opening of the two museums. At the year-end there were 1563 memberships, almost unchanged from the previous year. However, membership remains an area of concern, and I remain grateful to trustee Graham Miller for his continued work leading a working group examining the problem, the group’s remit now having been extended to include marketing of the Friends. A number of initiatives remain on the starting block for the right time when normal museum life has been fully resumed.

 

Relationships with the Museum Director, Judith McNicol, Head Curator Andrew McLean and their teams remain excellent, and we were pleased to welcome Katherine Rolland, NRM Philanthropy Manager, as our main point of contact and liaison. Katherine has already been active for us helping to resolve a number of issues.

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Our two office staff, Heather Jones and May Willsher, have given excellent support throughout the year, for which I am most grateful. Last, but most certainly not least, once again I wish to thank all my fellow Trustees and officers for the support and help they have given me through the year. Special thanks are due to Russ Rollings, Honorary Secretary, and David Naylor our Honorary Treasurer, to both of whom fall many of the day-to-day tasks required to keep the charity functioning properly.

 

 

P M Benham

Chairman

 

Dated:  5.5.22