THE SHIRE HORSE SOCIETY

Registered charity 210619 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The Society's principle charitable objective is the improvement and promotion of English cart horses, more particularly the Shire horse and, to this end, maintaining a Stud Book in which are entered the names of all registered Shire horses complying with the conditions for the time being applied by the Society.

Causes: Education/training · Animals · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£595k

Latest spending

£537k

Registered

1964

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that net funds increased by £28,699 to a total of £1,495,313, with unrestricted reserves standing at £1,344,802. The Trustees maintain a prudent level of reserves in short-term cash deposits to protect against market volatility and irregular income fluctuations. The Society reports it is well placed to continue its charitable activities despite increasingly challenging prospects.

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

What the accounts disclose

Largest income source: Legacies (77% of income)

“The Society received legacy income totalling £228,263 (2024: £182,017). This source of revenue remains important to the Society in improving the capital base and investment income.”

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: prudent level of reserves (held: £1.3m)

“The Society maintains a prudent level of reserves to generate income to help fund the activities that further the Society’s charitable aims and objectives. This income is intended to counter large fluctuations in irregular income such as legacies and help fund the National Show.”

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — The Shire Horse Society (matched by registered charity number).

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/09/2025)

Total income

£595k

Total spending

£537k

Cost of raising funds

£47k

Reserves (reported)

£1.3m

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~30.0 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 7.9% of total income — above the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Received assets from another charity (02/03/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

Anna Soroko
David Clarke
Helen Maureen Thomas
James Hick · trustee of 1 other charity
John Robinson
Mary Foster · trustee of 1 other charity
Simon Livesey

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

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
30/09/2025	£595k	£537k
30/09/2024	£539k	£494k
30/09/2023	£673k	£434k
30/09/2022	£732k	£354k
30/09/2021	£238k	£219k

Common questions

Is THE SHIRE HORSE SOCIETY financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that net funds increased by £28,699 to a total of £1,495,313, with unrestricted reserves standing at £1,344,802. The Trustees maintain a prudent level of reserves in short-term cash deposits to protect against market volatility and irregular income fluctuations. The Society reports it is well placed to continue its charitable activities despite increasingly challenging prospects. Its FY2025 accounts were independently examined.

Who funds THE SHIRE HORSE SOCIETY?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE SHIRE HORSE SOCIETY as a grant recipient include COLONEL W H WHITBREAD CHARITABLE TRUST, The Trevor Hemmings Foundation, AUDREY EARLE CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
COLONEL W H WHITBREAD CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2024	£25k	Grants, Support amateur sport
The Trevor Hemmings Foundation	FY2023	£25k	Other grants
AUDREY EARLE CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2023	£5k
COLONEL W H WHITBREAD CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2023	£5k	Grants, Support amateur sport
The Trevor Hemmings Foundation	FY2022	£5k
AUDREY EARLE CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2022	£3k

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
MRS D M FRANCE-HAYHURST FOUNDATION	3	£239k
THE THOMPSON FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£564k
SIR PETER O'SULLEVAN CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£46k
PETPLAN CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£10k
THE SERTH AND GATES CHARITY	1	£258k
RETRAINING OF RACE HORSES	1	£177k
THE HDH WILLS 1965 CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£132k
THE CHARLOTTE HEBER-PERCY CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£125k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE BRITISH HORSE SOCIETY.

THE BRITISH HORSE SOCIETY income £16.0m
THE SUFFOLK HORSE SOCIETY income £196k
THE NATIONAL PONY SOCIETY income £669k
THE SHETLAND PONY WELFARE TRUST income £109k
THE HORSE TRUST income £2.7m
NEW BEGINNINGS HORSES income £414k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE SHIRE HORSE SOCIETY	£595k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE BRITISH HORSE SOCIETY FY2024	£16.0m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE SUFFOLK HORSE SOCIETY FY2025	£196k	£7,000	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE NATIONAL PONY SOCIETY FY2025	£669k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE SHETLAND PONY WELFARE TRUST FY2025	£109k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE HORSE TRUST FY2024	£2.7m	£120,001 - £130,000	—	unclear	—	no doubt

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