LAKELAND ARTS

Registered charity 1153001 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Lakeland Arts operates Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Blackwell Arts & Crafts House and the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry in the Lake District, Windermere Jetty Museum ,

Objects

1. The advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science and for the conservation of the environment and heritage of Cumbria, including by: the establishment and maintenance of public art galleries and museums for the benefit of the public to include the care, management and display of the permanent collections of the trust at the Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Blackwell Arts and Crafts House, the Lakeland Museum and Windermere Jetty Museum, established by declaration of trust dated 9th August 1957 and subsequently amended by multiple deeds of variation and now known as ‘The Lakeland Arts Trust’ (‘the Original Trust’) and any other collections, groupings, displays or individual items from any other body;2. The advancement of the education of the public by the aid, establishment, funding, or sponsorship of bursaries, scholarships or grants to any person or persons, institution, association or corporate body for the purpose of furthering the Objects of the Company;3. Such other public charitable purposes tending to advance artistic, historical or intellectual interests in the said area which can conveniently be promoted in combination with the purpose aforesaid; and4. Such other charitable objects as the company shall from time to time determine.

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

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Environment/conservation/heritage · Economic/community Development/employment · Recreation · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Westmorland and Furness, North West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net expenditure deficit of £338k for the year, an improvement from the previous year's £558k deficit, driven by improved trading performance and cost controls. While the unrestricted funds position remains in deficit at £509k, the trustees confirm that the group has adequate resources to continue operating for the foreseeable future, supported by extended Arts Council England funding and a pension scheme surplus.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Crossley & Davis. 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
• Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• 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

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.

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

Corporate structure

• Trading subsidiary: LAKELAND ARTS ENTERPRISES LIMITED Companies House 03015175 · Financial health read from its filings
• Registered company of the charity Companies House 08162578

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Lakeland Arts (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.

• MUNRO, Sarah Elizabeth — director, appointed 31/07/2026not on trustee list
• ALEXANDER, James Gordon — director, appointed 31/07/2026not on trustee list
• ANTHONISZ, Angela Jean — director, appointed 31/07/2026not on trustee list
• ARCHER, Sally Jennifer Sarah — director, appointed 31/07/2026not on trustee list
• BLACK, Andrew — director, appointed 01/03/2024on trustee list
• KNIGHT, Katharine Jane Slinn — director, appointed 24/11/2023on trustee list
• LEACH, Timothy Andrew — director, appointed 07/10/2023on trustee list
• KARWA, Akash — director, appointed 27/05/2022on trustee list
• RYCROFT, Gary Francis — director, appointed 22/07/2021on trustee list
• HOWARTH, Kerry Marie — director, appointed 22/07/2021on trustee list
• SCOTT, Emma Jane, Lady — director, appointed 27/05/2021on trustee list
• REID, Diane Elizabeth — director, appointed 27/05/2021on trustee list
• BENJAMIN, Maria Zeb — director, appointed 05/03/2021on trustee list
• KARWA, Akash — secretary, appointed 30/01/2024

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

6 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.

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

Reported reserves equal ~0.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 42.1% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Diane Reidchair
• Akash Karwa · trustee of 1 other charity
• Andrew Black
• Angela Jean Anthonisz
• Emma Scott
• GARY FRANCIS RYCROFT · trustee of 4 other charities
• James Gordon Alexander
• Katharine Jane Slinn Knight
• Kerry Marie Howarth
• Maria Benjamin
• Sarah Elizabeth Munro
• Timothy Leach

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

Operates in: Cumbria · Lancashire

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

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

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

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 THE LAKELAND ARTS TRUST.

• THE LAKELAND ARTS TRUST income £55k
• LAKELAND ARTS SUPPORT TRUST income £40k
• PALLANT HOUSE GALLERY income £3.0m
• THE HEPWORTH WAKEFIELD income £4.2m
• ZABLUDOWICZ ART PROJECTS income £302k
• LEYBURN ARTS CENTRE LIMITED income £145k

Side by side with its peers

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