THE SOMERSET AND DORSET RAILWAY TRUST LTD.

Registered charity 1158865 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The Trust aims to keep alive the history and importance of the Somerset & Dorset Railway and its predecessor companies, through the preservation, custodianship, display and interpretation of material evidence. Furthermore to promote and facilitate public understanding of the significance of the Somerset & Dorset Railway as a major cross country rail route.

Objects

1) TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC ABOUT THE HISTORY AND SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE SOMERSET & DORSET RAILWAY, ITS ANTECEDENTS AND ITS SUCCESSORS, ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES, IN THE CONTEXT OF BRITAIN?S RAILWAY HERITAGE.2) TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN A MUSEUM FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC RELATING TO THE SOMERSET & DORSET RAILWAY AND RAILWAY HERITAGE GENERALLY, AND TO PRESERVE OR RESTORE HISTORIC RAILWAY ITEMS FOR PUBLIC DISPLAY AND DEMONSTRATION.3) TO PROVIDE OR ASSIST IN THE PROVISION OF FACILITIES IN THE INTERESTS OF SOCIAL WELFARE FOR RECREATION OR OTHER LEISURE TIME OCCUPATION OF ALL INDIVIDUALS, INCLUDING THOSE WHO HAVE NEED OF SUCH FACILITIES BY REASON OF THEIR YOUTH, AGE, INFIRMITY OR DISABILITY, FINANCIAL HARDSHIP OR SOCIAL CIRCUMSTANCES, WITH THE OBJECT OF IMPROVING THEIR CONDITIONS OF LIFE.

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

Causes: Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity held unrestricted reserves of £666,897, which comfortably exceeded the trustees' stated policy target of four months of unrestricted general expenditure. The charity reported a net incoming resource of £268,788 for the year, driven principally by a £251,889 legacy, resulting in a strong cash position.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). 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.

• 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
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Risk management
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (04/03/2015) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Anthony Nigel Davies
• Melvyn Stuart Marshman
• ROGER HARDINGHAM
• Robert Bentley
• Roderick David William Ormston

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

Operates in: Bath And North East Somerset · Bournemouth · Dorset · Hampshire · North Somerset · Poole · 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 SOMERSET AND DORSET RAILWAY HERITAGE TRUST.

• SOMERSET AND DORSET RAILWAY HERITAGE TRUST income £666k
• WEST SOMERSET RAILWAY HERITAGE TRUST LTD income £88k
• WEST SOMERSET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION income £1.4m
• SOMERSET NHS FOUNDATION TRUST CHARITABLE FUNDS income £1.5m
• BODMIN RAILWAY HERITAGE TRUST income £105k
• SOMERSET HOUSE TRUST income £25.3m

Side by side with its peers

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