COMBINED MILITARY SERVICES MUSEUM

Registered charity 1058595 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q5150875 · Wikipedia

Museum of British military history for the education of the general public.

Objects

TO FORM A COMBINED MILITARY SERVICES MUSEUM AND DISPLAY THE COLLECTION FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

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

Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Maldon, East of England, England (from the postcode on the register)

Latest income

£81k

Latest spending

£75k

Registered

1996

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stood at £1,944,329 against a trustee policy target of six months of expenditure. The charity reported a small surplus of £4,368 for the year, with total funds increasing slightly to £2,176,437. The trustees consider the financial performance satisfactory and confirm adequate resources for going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: Under £60,000

“There were no employees whose annual remuneration was more than £60,000.” — page 16

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: six months of the charity's expenditure (reserves figure: £1.9m)

“The trustees have examined the charity's requirements for reserves and have established a policy that unrestricted reserves should be sufficient to cover at least six months of the charity's expenditure.” — page 5

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Donation from trustee

“During the year, the charity received donations of £19,000 (2024 - £17,500) from one of its trustees, Mr R Wooldridge. There were no conditions attached to these donations.” — page 20

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 6 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
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
Trustee expenses policy and procedures
Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/08/2025

Volunteers: 15

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/08/2024

Volunteers: 15

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/08/2023

Volunteers: 10

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Trustees · trustee networks

DR RICHARD WOOLDRIDGE · trustee of 3 other charities
David Lawrence Nower
Dr Victoria Emily Yvonne Ashworth te Velde Phd
Mark Anstey
Murray Dedman · trustee of 1 other charity

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

Operates in: Essex

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/08/2025	£81k	£75k
31/08/2024	£90k	£80k
31/08/2023	£83k	£94k
31/08/2022	£136k	£139k
31/08/2021	£151k	£119k

Common questions

Is COMBINED MILITARY SERVICES MUSEUM financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stood at £1,944,329 against a trustee policy target of six months of expenditure. The charity reported a small surplus of £4,368 for the year, with total funds increasing slightly to £2,176,437. The trustees consider the financial performance satisfactory and confirm adequate resources for going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were independently examined.

What does the highest-paid employee of COMBINED MILITARY SERVICES MUSEUM earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the Under £60,000 band.

Government & lottery funding

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

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
UK government	22/10/2021	£43k	Culture Recovery Fund: Continuity Support
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	04/05/2020	£20k	"COVID19 Combined Military Services Museum"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	15/03/2007	£477k	"Donnington and Biglands Conservation and Education Project"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	21/12/2004	£50k	"Education Development Project"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	20/03/2003	£2k	"Two Laptop Pcs And Printer To Give Database Access Via Cd To Museum Users And Enable Staff To Maintain The Museum Website And Make Presentat"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	10/03/2003	£65k	"Combined Military Services Museum Building Renovation"

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.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
THE ROYAL MILITARY POLICE CENTRAL BENEVOLENT FUND	1	£132k
THE ADJUTANT GENERAL'S CORPS ASSOCIATION	1	£57k
THE ROYAL CORPS OF ARMY MUSIC TRUST	1	£25k
ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT MUSEUMS	1	£11k
THE PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF DEVONSHIRE BENEVOLENT FUND	1	£1k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE MUSEUM OF MILITARY MEDICINE TRUST.

THE MUSEUM OF MILITARY MEDICINE TRUST income £460k
THE ROYAL MILITARY POLICE MUSEUM TRUST income £95k
MUSEUM OF ARMY MUSIC income £57k
TOPSHAM MUSEUM income £58k
PM MUSEUM LTD income £239k
THE MILITARY HISTORICAL SOCIETY income £26k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
COMBINED MILITARY SERVICES MUSEUM	£81k	Under £60,000	unclear	—	no doubt
THE MUSEUM OF MILITARY MEDICINE TRUST FY2025	£460k	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE ROYAL MILITARY POLICE MUSEUM TRUST FY2025	£95k	—	unclear	—	no doubt
MUSEUM OF ARMY MUSIC FY2025	£57k	—	above	—	no doubt
TOPSHAM MUSEUM FY2025	£58k	—	unclear	—	noted
PM MUSEUM LTD FY2026	£239k	—	unclear	—	no doubt

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