BEAMISH MUSEUM

Registered charity 1122366 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as BEAMISH MUSEUM LIMITED

Maintaining and developing the North of England open air museum at Beamish.

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stand at £39.5 million, which is above the trustees' stated policy target of a minimum £1 million. The charity reported a net decrease in funds of £4.0 million for the year, primarily due to the reversal of a previously recognised pension asset, but maintains a strong cash position and positive operating cash flow.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Armstrong Watson Audit Limited. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 05751540
• Trading subsidiary: BEAMISH MUSEUM TRADING LIMITED Companies House 06525165

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Beamish Museum (matched by registered charity number).

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• ALLISON, Karen, Cllr — director, appointed 24/03/2026on trustee list
• SOWERBY, Fletcher — director, appointed 18/03/2025on trustee list
• BALDRY, Ryan — director, appointed 18/03/2025on trustee list
• CHIU, Sze Wai, Dr — director, appointed 18/03/2025on trustee list
• MELVILLE, Louise Averill — director, appointed 18/03/2025on trustee list
• MORLAND, Peter — director, appointed 18/03/2025on trustee list
• LEONARD-CROSS, Elouise Kirstie, Dr — director, appointed 01/03/2023on trustee list
• ARMELLINI, Mayo Mauricio — director, appointed 01/03/2023on trustee list
• JACKSON, Daniel Mark, Dr — director, appointed 01/03/2023on trustee list
• LOUGHRAN, Christopher Jamie Dowson — director, appointed 01/03/2023on trustee list
• MCKINLEY, Conan William Thomas — director, appointed 01/03/2023on trustee list
• WILKINSON, Lisa — secretary, appointed 01/07/2026

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

4 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/01/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~0.5 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (52% 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: 29.3% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 3.8%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (03/12/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Christopher Jamie Dowson Loughranchair
• Cllr Karen Allison · trustee of 2 other charities
• Conan William Thomas McKinley · trustee of 1 other charity
• Dr Daniel Mark Jackson
• Dr Elouise Leonard-Cross
• Dr Sze Wai Chiu
• Fletcher Sowerby
• Louise Averill Melville
• Mayo Mauricio Armellini
• Peter Morland
• Ryan Baldry

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

Operates in: Durham

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

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 DERBY MUSEUMS.

• DERBY MUSEUMS income £4.2m
• North East Museums Development Trust income £551k
• SOUTH YORKSHIRE TRANSPORT MUSEUM LTD income £108k
• BIRMINGHAM MUSEUMS TRUST income £12.6m
• BRISTOL MUSEUMS DEVELOPMENT TRUST income £276k
• YORKSHIRE DALES RAILWAY MUSEUM TRUST (HOLDINGS) LIMITED income £4.2m

Side by side with its peers

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