THE UNDERFALL YARD TRUST

Registered charity 1041863 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as UNDERFALL RESTORATION TRUST

The Trust manages the Underfall Yard site, including the Patent Slipway, and is responsible for the restoration and maintenance of buildings and machinery. The majority of buildings are let out to Maritime Businesses to nurture maritime skills in Bristol. The Trust improves public access and understanding through the Visitor Centre, opportunities for learning and operation of historic machinery.

Objects

TO PRESERVE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE TOWNSPEOPLE OF THE CITY OF BRISTOL IN THE COUNTY OF AVON AND OF THE NATION AT LARGE, THE UNDERFALL YARD WHICH IS OF PARTICULAR HISTORICAL, ARCHITECTURAL AND CONSTRUCTIONAL INTEREST. IN PARTICULAR, BUT WITHOUT DEROGATING FROM THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING TO:-1) RAISE SUFFICIENT FUNDS FROM, INTERALIA, THE CITY COUNCIL OF BRISTOL, ENGLISH HERITAGE AND OTHER SOURCES FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE UNDERFALL YARD RESTORATION PROJECT. 2) OBTAIN A LONG TERM LEASE OF THE UNDERFALL YARD FROM THE CITY OF BRISTOL. 3)TO PROCURE THAT THE CITY COUNCIL OF BRISTOL WILL TAKE WHATEVER ACTION IS NECESSARY TO ENSURE THAT THE UNDERFALL YARD WILL BE USED AS AN HISTORIC WORKING BOATYARD AND A MUSEUM FOR A PERIOD OF AT LEAST 20 YEARS PROVIDED THAT ALL OBJECTS OF THE TRUST SHALL BE OF A CHARITABLE NATURE.

Area of benefit: COUNTY OF AVON

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Environment/conservation/heritage · Economic/community Development/employment · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported an operational deficit of £20,974 for the year ended 31 March 2025, driven by significant charitable activity costs and the impact of a 2023 fire. However, unrestricted reserves increased to £408,927, and the trustees confirmed adequate resources to continue as a going concern despite projecting future operational deficits until the rebuild is complete.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by ML Audit LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — The Underfall Yard Trust (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• James Durie — Chair of Trustees (source)
• Sarah Murray — Director (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Property (HM Land Registry)

2 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~4.4 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (59% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 29.4% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• JAMES ROBERT DURIEchair
• Alison Hope
• Christopher Duncan White Mr
• Jessica Jones
• John Potter
• Nicola Helen Watt
• Peter Alard Insole · trustee of 1 other charity
• Richard Michael Peter Holden

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Bristol City · Gloucestershire · Somerset

Income and spending

Common questions

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with Portsmouth Historic Quarter Trust.

• Portsmouth Historic Quarter Trust income £4.6m
• SS GREAT BRITAIN TRUST income £5.1m
• THE CHATHAM HISTORIC DOCKYARD TRUST income £9.8m
• BRYMBO HERITAGE TRUST income £4.7m
• GREAT YARMOUTH PRESERVATION TRUST income £486k
• YORK ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST FOR EXCAVATION AND RESEARCH LIMITED income £13.1m

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.