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MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL
QUEEN'S OWN ROYAL WEST KENT REGIMENT MUSEUM TRUST COMMITTEE
Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 29 July 2019
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Present: |
Councillor Harper (Chairman), and Councillors Cuming, Mrs Robertson, Round and Vizzard |
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6. Apologies for Absence
It was noted that apologies had been received from Councillor Cox.
7. Notification of Substitute Members
It was noted that Councillor Vizzard was substituting for Councillor Cox.
8. Notification of Visiting Members
There were no Visiting Members.
9. Disclosures by Members and Officers
There were no disclosures by Members and Officers.
10. Disclosures of Lobbying
There were no disclosures of lobbying.
11. Exempt Items
RESOLVED: That all items be taken in public as proposed.
12. Minutes of the Meeting held on 6 March 2019
RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2019 be approved as a correct record and signed.
13. Minutes of the Meeting held on 21 May 2019
RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 21 May 2019 be approved as a correct record and signed subject to:-
Agenda Item 3 – Election of Chairman – Councillor Harper be inserted instead of Councillor Round.
14. Presentation of Petitions
There were no petitions.
15. Questions and answer session for members of the public
There were no questions from members of the public.
16. Accounts 2018/19
The Senior Finance Manager (Client) presented a report which set out the financial position of the Trust as at 31st March 2019 and also provided an update on the performance of the investments.
The Committee noted that:-
·
The Trust’s overall assets were £22,874
·
The value of the Trust’s investment was £22,821
·
The Service Level Agreement would not now be drawn up in view of
the Committee’s decision to dissolve the collection
In response to questions from Members, the Senior Finance
Manager advised that the difference between the income from voluntary sources
during the last 2 years had been due to a significant one-off donation received
last year.
The Committee gave a vote of thanks to the Senior Finance Manager and his officers for all their hard work over the years managing the accounts of the Trust.
RESOLVED: That
1) The accounts for the
year ending 31st March 2019 be approved.
2) The annual update on investment performance be noted.
Voting: For: unanimous
17. Future governance of the Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment Trust
The Museum Director presented a report on the future governance arrangements of the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment Trust.
The Committee were reminded that at its meeting on 6th March 2019 a decision had been made in principle to dissolve the collection and donate it to the Maidstone Museum and had asked that officers drew up a clear set of reasons for the dissolution of the charity that could be submitted to the Charity Commission.
The Committee was advised that one of the conditions of dissolution was that the Charity’s endowment should be spent on furthering the objectives of the Trust and the Museum’s Director suggested that the following projects were pursued:-
·
Conservation of 3 Sikh Colours at a cost of between £5,600-£6,300
plus VAT.
·
Conservation of French Tricolour at a cost of between £7,500-£8,420
plus VAT.
·
Digital presentation of Kohima and Malaya Oral Histories on
website and/or digital kiosks already in the gallery at a cost of approximately
£6,000.
·
Any left-over funds would be used to purchase conservation and
storage materials for the on-going care of and access to the collection.
In response to questions from the Committee, the Officers advised that:-
·
Officers had been unable to identify a representative from the
Regiment
·
In 2009 a project was undertaken to provide oral history cases
from the last surviving members of the Regiment and it was hoped that this
would come to fruition as part of the Museum’s transformation plans
·
The estimates for the colours were for conservation purposes, not
display purposes. If the artefacts were to be displayed then there would be an
additional cost.
·
That the Council was already planning to put in a display of
Maidstone as part of its transformation plan
RESOLVED:
1) That the collections
of the QOWKR Museum Trust be transferred in their entirety into the ownership
of Maidstone Museum.
2) That
it approves the reasons for dissolution which are:-
a) that the regiment no longer exists
b) that the
collection is managed and maintained by the Maidstone
Museum staff
c) that the original purpose of the trust – to
preserve and
publicly exhibit the collection – is redundant, as the work is now
carried out by the Maidstone Museum
d) that the Council has committed to maintain, make
publically
accessible and exhibit items of the collection
3) That, prior to the dissolution of the trust, officers
request permission
of the Charity Commission to spend the permanent endowment of the
trust.
4) That the Chairman of the Committee signs the memorandum of
amendment required by the Scheme to spend the endowment, as set
out in Appendix A to the report.
5) That, subject to permission being granted and following
the
expenditure of the endowment, the trust is dissolved.
6) That delegated authority be given to the Museum’s
Director to take
all necessary steps to spend the endowment and dissolve the trust in
accordance with the Trust Scheme dated 12 March 2007 and the
Charity Commission’s requirements.
7) That a further report be brought to the next meeting of
the Committee
detailing the action taken to spend the permanent endowment and
dissolve the trust.
Voting: For: unanimous
18. Duration of Meeting
11 a.m. to 12 noon.