The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2023.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the The Charity's Articles of Association, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2016)
The objectives of the charity are the advancement of literary arts and education through the promotion of the works of James Boswell and the advancement of heritage through the restoration and preservation of the James Boswell family aisle and mausoleum in Auchinleck churchyard.
The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the The Charity should undertake.
Volunteers
The charity benefits from the work of volunteers in many areas.
Charitable Activities
Boswell Book Festival
With our fourteenth festival, our aim, as ever, was to deliver an event of artistic excellence and originality in a rural location, exploring biography and memoir for all ages to both a live and an online audience. Feedback suggests that we were successful in this aim, and visitor numbers confirm this. We remain the only festival dedicated to this theme, allowing us to inhabit a unique identity in the world of book festivals as well as being a festival that local people have taken ownership of. Over our short weekend we ran 58 events.
We were very conscious of the hard times many people have been going through after the pandemic and closely followed by the current cost-of-living crisis, and in addition to keeping our ticket prices low we looked for feelgood speakers talking about their lives such as Andrew Cotter and Mary and Giles of Gogglebox whose popular appeal brought in first time festival visitors.
The programme highlighted the lives of the lesser-known authors as well as the celebrities, addressing issues such as race, class, gender, refugees, art and spirituality with speakers such as young stone mason Beatrice Searle with her debut memoir commencing in Orkney, actor Paterson Joseph on the first black man to vote in Britain, Glasgow’s Carrie Marshall on her trans journey, Ukrainian refugees now living and working in Ayr. Artist Lachlan Goudie was on stage with respected Edinburgh Art Historian Duncan Macmillan to show how Scottish artists’ ideas were adopted in 19th century France. Audience sizes varied enormously for these talks, but they fulfil our vision of offering stories across a wide spectrum of life experience and bring in different audiences. With many talks tracing back in some way to Ayrshire, we were successful in staging events that relate to the Scottish experience or support Scottish authors and publishers.
Our social media coverage allowed audiences to engage with each other before and after events, with the festival photographer providing images that were shared widely.
Business returned to pre-Covid levels for Waterstones and the on-site cafes.
After the success of the online festival talks in 2022, we once again live-streamed two thirds of the events which allowed us to reach those who couldn’t physically make it to the festival and those who now follow us from further afield both nationally and internationally. It also allowed us to stream some speakers into events.
We continue to build on partnerships with overseas foundations or festivals, this year benefitting from links with Holland, Canada and the USA.
Children's Festival
Our Children’s Festival took place in the Engineering Centre and the Outdoor Classroom, apart from the family event with Michael Morpurgo which took place in our main festival venue with an audience of over 300. The Children’s Festival content was specifically designed to engage with young families. The authors included David MacPhail, Yasemin Gava (Festival Illustrator in Residence), Theresa Breslin and Poet/Scriever Simon Lamb. These sessions allowed the audience to explore their own emotions, experiences and histories through books, crafts, drawing, music and movement.
With 8 events inside the Engineering Classroom and a further 12 designed to make use of the beautiful outdoor classroom space as well as the extensive grounds of Dumfries House Estate, the outdoor activities such as Macastory and the Happiness Collectors made the programming very ‘visible’ and understandable to those families who may not have felt a book festival was something their children would enjoy.
We kept ticket prices to a minimum or free, including using the funds allocated to ‘pay what you can afford’, in order to make events as accessible as possible. There was a £2 ticket for the children’s festival for those within the local Auchinleck postcode.
Schools' Day
Record numbers, of around 460 school pupils attended our free Schools’ Day on the opening day with a curated ‘package’ of events and activities comprising: a session with performer Victoria Beesley on building resilience; a guided tour of Dumfries House to learn about its history and place in Scotland’s wider history; a workshop that encouraged students to explore their aspirations for their future; and an opportunity to meet James Boswell as portrayed by actor and writer Kenny Boyle.
We also streamed one of Victoria’s sessions making it accessible to schools who could not attend in person. The day addresses what has been described as a ‘poverty of aspiration’ in some local communities which are amongst the most deprived in Scotland.
We also offered access to our extensive library of online events featuring leading children’s authors and illustrators. These events were made available until the end of June, but without new material added we found take-up was small.
Future Plans
The Boswell Book Festival will be held at Dumfries House in 2024 from 10-12 May. Once again, we are planning a stimulating and entertaining programme which will be launched in March 2024. This will include a Schools’ Programme, and Family Festival. We remain committed to providing an online alternative so a selected number of events will be available to watch and enjoy on-line.
Reserves Policy
The charity operates both a general and restricted fund.
The General fund is available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the trust. At the year end, there was £101,137 (2022: £55,908 ) in the general reserves. At the year end, all restricted funds were utilised.
Each year the charity aims to raise funds to meet the costs of their activities during the year and also enough to meet contingencies in the coming year and to provide an element of own resources for matched funding. The Trustees aim to maintain reserves of around 40-50% of annual book festival income. The Trustees believe that the amount in reserves at the year end is appropriate in the circumstances.
Principal funding sources
Our main source of income for the period comprised donations from charitable foundations, individuals and business of £110,785 (2022: £35,254) and grants from Creative Scotland £29,714 (2022: £37,500), East Ayrshire Council £15,000 (2022: £7,000). Ticket sales from the Boswell Book Festival increased to £48,785 (2022: £37,132) and other income, including commission on book sales, friends, patrons, contributions towards admin and advertising income contributed to a further £6,424 (2022: £6,105).
The Trustees would like to thank His Majesty The King for making a substantial donation to support the Boswell Book Festival through his charitable fund, the PWCF.
The principal item of expenditure was the Boswell Book Festival, which cost £142,757 (2022: £129,507) and the Children's Book Festival which cost £15,463 (2022: £13,543)
The trustee's have assessed the major risks to which The Charity is exposed, and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to major risks.
The charity is controlled by its governing document, its memorandum and articles of association, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006.
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
The trustees look to appoint new trustees who are committed to the aims of the Trust, and ideally have an association with James Boswell, Auchinleck and its surrounding area or Scotland more generally. The charity aims to have a balance of skills and experience amongst individual trustees.
The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
I report on the financial statements of the The Charity for the year ended 30 September 2023, which are set out on pages 7 to 17.
The Charity’s trustees, who are also the directors of The Boswell Trust for the purposes of company law, are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the terms of the Charities and Trustee Investments (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. The trustees consider that the audit requirement of Regulation 10(1)(a) to (c) of the 2006 Accounts Regulations does not apply. It is my responsibility to examine the financial statements as required under section 44(1)(c) of the Act and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
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 financial statements presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the financial statements, 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 financial statements.
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
to keep accounting records in accordance with section 44(1) (a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations; and
to prepare financial statements which accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulation 8 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations;
to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.
Designated
Designated
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.
All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
The charity is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee as defined by Companies Act 2006 (Registered Number SC380815 (Scotland)). The charity is a registered charity number SC041655. The charity is registered with OSCR the Scottish Charity Regulator. The charity's registered office is Auchendrane, By Ayr, Ayrshire, KA7 4TW.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the The Charity's Articles of Association, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2016). The The Charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The The Charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities applying FRS 102 Update Bulletin 1 not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the The Charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Income is recognised when the The Charity is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably, and it is probable that income will be received. Income is the amount derived from grants, donations, book sale commission and Book Festival ticket sales.
Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
Taxation
The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.
Designated
Designated
Grants
Charitable Income
Charitable Income
Ticket sales
Commission on book sales
Friends
Patrons
Contribution towards admin
Administrator's fee and other staff costs
Facility and venue costs
Speaker travel
Speaker fees and expenses
Design, production and publicity
Architect and landscaping fees
Advertising
Commission on ticket sales
Postage and stationery
Bank charges
Speaker hospitality and accommodation
Insurance
Sundries
Caroline Knox received a payment of £20,000 (2022: £20,000) in the period for services to the Trust as an administrator. There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the period ended 30 September 2023 nor for the year ended 30 September 2022.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxationof Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.
These are unrestricted funds which are material to the charity's activities made up as follows:
Incoming resources
Resources expended
Transfers
During the year, a number of transfers took place between Unrestricted, Designated and Restricted Funds.
Unrestricted funds
Designated funds
Restricted funds
There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2022 - none).