The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2024.
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
Over the weekend of 10th – 12th May 2024 we ran 57 events, including writing workshops and a children’s festival. Additionally tours of Dumfries House were run regularly throughout the weekend, furthering the cultural benefit of the festival, and adding clear benefit to the local community.
Once again, we looked for entertaining and feelgood speakers who cut across our audience profile, such as Doon Mackichan, star of Two Door Down, the UK’s number 1 best-selling poet Donna Ashworth and master storyteller Alexander McCall Smith, all of whom brought big audiences through their popular appeal.
The programme catered for a rich range of lives from those of first-time memoirists such as former nun Catherine Coldstream; Suzanne Heywood with her quest to become educated; and journalist Jen Stout’s eye-witness accounts of the Ukrainian conflict; to those who have been working on their biographical subjects for a number of years such as Adam Sisman on John le Carre, podcaster and author Tom Holland on the Pax Romana, and William Dalrymple on the final book in his Company Quartet, focusing on the role of the East India Company. The variety contained in these talks brought in a very diverse audience.
One of our most successful examples of programming this year took advantage of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of D-Day with the presence of veteran Patricia Owtram on stage followed by Olga Henderson, survivor of a Japanese Prisoner of War camp. Each of these talks had sell-out audiences showing the appetite for first hand witness accounts of people’s lives in history.
Once again, we were successful in staging events that relate to the Scottish experience or support Scottish authors and publishers with a number of talks tracing back in some way to Ayrshire, highlighting the creativity inspired locally, such as Louise Baillie with footballer Rose Reilly, novelist John Niven on the suicide of his brother and co-chair of the Future Textiles Training Programme at Dumfries House, Patrick Grant, on his book on sustainable clothing.
Still in Ayrshire, Billy Kay spoke about his Scots language memoir of growing up in Galston, and introducing another form of memoir was poet Len Pennie, also writing predominantly in the Scots language, on her debut frank collection. We are committed to giving the stage to emergent Scottish voices and joining Len Pennie were Jen Stout and new memoirist Kirsty Logan on queer motherhood, with the attendant benefit to them all of appearing on a programme alongside high-profile literary names.
Our event in partnership with The Cumnock Tryst allowed us to introduce famous composer and singer/songwriter Errollyn Wallen, more frequently to be heard in international concert halls, to our audience.
Creative non-fiction writing provided the opportunity to engage with various themes relating to lived experience fulfilling our diversity aims.
All of the above events helped bring in a local audience including first time festival attendees.
After the success of the online festival talks in 2022 and 2023, this year we were able to live-stream all main festival events allowing us to reach those who couldn’t physically make it to the festival as well as our growing audience who now follow us from further afield both nationally and internationally. It also allowed us to stream two pre-recorded interviews, one due to health issues and the other due to author availability. The very well attended Rory Stewart event with Allan Little had both an online and a live audience.
A Rover Pass giving access to all talks was made available for £35 which was much appreciated by people unable to attend for reasons of cost, distance, or poor health. Despite the increase in popularity of the streamed events there was no evidence that these sales took from the live festival with reports from people who had both attended the festival and bought online tickets to access talks they had missed over the weekend. Online sales continued until we took them down at the end of May.
Schools Day and Children’s Festival
The Boswell Schools & Children’s Festival kicked off with author Vivian French and illustrator Kate Leiper (Festival Illustrator in Residence) undertaking a project mapping the local neighbourhood in Auchinleck and Ochiltree primary schools. The resulting artwork was on show at the Children’s Festival and then in the local library. The project successfully raised awareness in the local communities of the forthcoming festival and directly led to children attending who would not otherwise have been there.
A total of 18 schools attended the free Schools’ Day on Friday 10 May with a curated ‘package’ of events and activities comprising: a session with ecology writer Ben Martynoga on making the future truly wild; a guided tour of Dumfries House to learn about its history and place in Scotland’s wider history; a workshop that encouraged students to think about the natural environment; and an opportunity to meet James Boswell as portrayed by actor and writer Kenny Boyle
The Children’s Festival took place in the Engineering Centre and the Outdoor Classroom over the weekend and offered a comprehensive series of talks from leading children’s authors, designed to engage with young families, and this year included Chae Strathie, Ben Martynoga and Jill Calder with a crossover event with footballer Rose Reilly in our main festival venue on Friday afternoon. Outside the venues, exciting interactive events, and free activities such as the treasure hunt combined to make a rich and stimulating programme. Amongst the most popular were the Scribble and Scrawl Crawls led by Jill Calder and Justin Davies. Good pre-event sales and more people travelling specifically for the festival this year were noted.
Future Plans
The Boswell Book Festival will be held at Dumfries House in 2025 from 9th to 11th May. Once again, we are planning a stimulating and entertaining programme which will be launched in March 2025. 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 £82,175 (2023: £101,135) 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 30-35% 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 £57,500 (2023: £110,785) and grants from Creative Scotland £19,000 (2023: £29,714), East Ayrshire Council £25,000 (2023: £15,000). Ticket sales from the Boswell Book Festival increased to £50,196 (2023: £48,785) and other income, including gift aid, commission on book sales, friends, patrons, contributions towards admin and advertising income contributed to a further £8,662 (2023: £6,424).
The principal item of expenditure was the Boswell Book Festival, which cost £149,763 (2023: £142,757) and the Children's Book Festival which cost £22,297 (2023: £15,463)
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 2024, which are set out on pages 6 to 15.
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 and 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 (2023: £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 2024 nor for the year ended 30 September 2023.
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.
A transfer from restricted funds to designated funds was made to compensate for charitable spending in excess of designated fund availability.
These are unrestricted funds which are material to the charity's activities made up as follows:
Incoming resources
Resources expended
Transfers
There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2023 - none).