THE MERCHANT SEAMEN'S WAR MEMORIAL SOCIETY (INCORPORATED)

Registered charity 207500 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as CARE ASHORE

To support seafarers in need with provision of sheltered housing, support, holidays and financial aid.

Objects

THE OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY ARE, FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT, TO PROVIDE EXCLUSIVELY CHARITABLE SUPPORT, SERVICES AND GRANTS TO: (A) THOSE MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE OR HAVE BEEN SEAFARERS, AND THEIR DEPENDANTS, WHO ARE IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE BY THE PROVISION OF ACCOMMODATION, FINANCIAL ALLOWANCES OR GRANTS AND IN SUCH OTHER WAYS AS THE BOARD THINK FIT; AND(B) THOSE MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE OR HAVE BEEN SEAFARERS AND WHO ARE SICK, DISABLED, AGED OR INFIRM OR WHO REQUIRE REST OR CONVALESCENCE BY THE PROVISION AND MAINTENANCE OF A CONVALESCENT HOME OR REST HOME OR IN SUCH OTHER WAYS AS THE BOARD THINK FIT;AND TO OTHERWISE EXTEND ITS SERVICES TO THOSE PERSONS HAVING AN APPROPRIATE CONNECTION WITH THE SEA AS THE BOARD THINKS FIT.4.2 NOTHING IN THESE ARTICLES SHALL AUTHORISE AN APPLICATION OF THE PROPERTY OF THE CHARITY FOR PURPOSES WHICH ARE NOT CHARITABLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 7 OF THE CHARITIES AND TRUSTEE INVESTMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT 2005 AND/OR SECTION 2 OF THE CHARITIES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 2008.

Area of benefit: NATIONAL

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 · Accommodation/housing · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Waverley, South East, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a surplus of £164,009 for the year ended 31 March 2025, driven by a significant increase in the value of investment properties. The charity holds free reserves of £2,874,644, which the trustees consider sufficient to support capital projects and six months of continued operations. The auditor confirmed that the financial statements give a true and fair view and identified no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Xeinadin Audit Limited. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Employees paid over £60,000: 1 (FY2024) → 0 (FY2025).

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.

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
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• 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
• 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.

Annual return filing dates (Charity Commission record)

Of its last 5 annual returns with a recorded received date, 2 were received after the due date: year ending 31/03/2023 (received 03/04/2024, 63 days after the 31/01/2024 due date); year ending 31/03/2021 (received 21/02/2022, 21 days after the 31/01/2022 due date).

Due and received dates as recorded in the Commission’s annual-return data; the data does not say whether an extension was agreed. Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Joe Nicholson — Chief Executive (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.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• South Africa — “The Springbok Estate was purchased in 1946 with funds from South Africa as a living memorial to those who served during the Second World War…” (source page)

Property (HM Land Registry)

4 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (4 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 · linkedin

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

Reported reserves equal ~92.0 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (49% 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: 11.5% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (14/10/2022) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (16/10/2020) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Kenneth Usherchair · trustee of 1 other charity
• Adrian Montague Long
• Alistair Mackenzie · trustee of 1 other charity
• Amelia Goodwin
• Andrew Charles Speirs
• Colin Stracey
• Gareth Elwood James Jameson
• Gary Hosie · trustee of 1 other charity
• NIGEL CHRISTOPHER WATERSON

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

Operates in: Surrey

Income and spending

Common questions

Shared trustees with funders

Register facts shown side by side: a person serves as trustee of both this charity and a funder whose accounts record grants to it. Shared trusteeship is lawful and common; well-run charities manage it through declared-interest procedures.

• Kenneth Usher — trustee here and at MERCHANT NAVY WELFARE BOARD

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 THE MERSEY MISSION TO SEAFARERS.

• THE MERSEY MISSION TO SEAFARERS income £166k
• SEAFARERS HOSPITAL SOCIETY income £544k
• WHITBY MERCHANT SEAMEN'S HOSPITAL HOUSES income £98k
• THE MARINE SOCIETY AND SEA CADETS income £23.6m
• INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN MARITIME ASSOCIATION income £231k
• THE MERCHANT VENTURERS CHARITY income £420k

Side by side with its peers

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