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03
Jan
Paranormal income boosts Ripon attractions
The charity that runs three museums in Ripon generated almost £15,000 last year from paranormal income, its latest annual accounts reveal.
Ripon Museum Trust, which operates the Workhouse, Prison & Police and Courthouse musuems, published its accounts for the year ending 31 March 2024.
They reveal the trust received grants of £142,576 from Arts Council England and £43,458 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
But fundraising income fell and the trust had to dip into its reserves due to the spiralling costs of its inspiration for a fairer future project, which aims to attract more diverse audiences and repair the roof of the Workhouse Museum.
Overall income fell from £573,228 in 2022/23 to £457,889 in 2023/24. However, the accounts for 2022/23 were for a 15-month period whereas the 2023/24 figures were for the 12 months to 31 March, 2024.
The trustees’ report and financial statement accompanying the accounts highlighted one particular area of income performing well. They say:
A resilient source of income for us has been our paranormal income. Hiring out the museum in the evening to paranormal groups has brought in £14,696 this financial year.
The number of visitors to each museum in the last two years.
Visitor numbers up 12.6%
Alexa Vernon was appointed permanent director in September 2023, the report says. The number of full-time equivalent staff fell from nine to eight and all staff received a 5% pay rise.
Visitor numbers rose by 12.6% between April 2023 and March 2024 to their best ever level but utility costs increased from £21,762 to £39,059 and retaining volunteers ‘remains a challenge’.
The charity’s inspiration for a fairer future project is also proving a challenge.
The charity received a £99,396 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2021 to develop the project, but the report says the organisation has “needed to invest significantly from reserves to deliver this phase of the project”.
It adds:
Ripon Museum Trust worked with a cohort of consultants to develop the project including specialists in project management, evaluation, activity planning, interpretation, fundraising and capital works. Due to challenges in the development phase bid, and cost increases in the capital works the overall project increased from £2.17 million to £3.3 million meaning that the fundraising requirements to meet the match requirement also increased.
In March 2024, Ripon Museum Trust received the welcome news that the UK Shared Prosperity Fund awarded the project £261,000 of funding with other significant applications to trusts and fundraising pending.
The report adds this year's £151,891 deficit “reflects the planned investment to the Fairer Future project”.
It means the level of free reserves has fallen from £323,587 to £236,830.
The charity has created a separate risk register for the project, but the report says the board is confident that dipping into its reserves “will maximise the chances of a successful delivery phase application to the Heritage Fund in May 2025”.
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