SS GREAT BRITAIN TRUST

Registered charity 262158 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as SS "GREAT BRITAIN" PROJECT LIMITED, SS GREAT BRITAIN PROJECT LIMITED

To preserve the ship, ss Great Britain, and her building dock for all time for the public benefit of all, and to place the same upon public display as a museum for the enhancement of the public understanding and appreciation of her social, commercial and technological context and significance.

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

Latest income

£5.1m

Latest spending

£6.2m

Registered

1971

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the Trust reported a net outgoing resource of £423,521 for the year, driven by visitor numbers that have not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels. While unrestricted reserves stand at £1,988,404, the Board notes that free reserves are only £27,822, which is well short of the stated policy target of three months' running costs (£822,000). The Trustees remain confident in the charity's ability to continue as a going concern for the next 12 months.

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

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: £90,001 - £100,000 — in the top quarter for charities its size (median £70k)

“2 employees earned remuneration in the range £90,000 to £100,000 per annum (2024: no employees).” — page 38

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Employees paid over £60,000: 2

“2 employees earned remuneration in the range £90,000 to £100,000 per annum (2024: no employees).” — page 38

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £28k; policy: three months' running costs)

“The present level of free reserves available to the Trust is therefore £27,822, well short of the newly identified target level.” — page 14

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Forvis Mazars LLP. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

Employees paid over £60,000: 0 (FY2024) → 2 (FY2025).

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

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

SS Great Britain Trust works with Ralph Appelbaum Associates to redevelop visitor experience blooloop.com · 21/07/2026
New Chief Exec and Development Director at SS Great Britain Trust museumsandheritage.com · 20/05/2024
ss Great Britain Trust plans for major new visitor experience – ‘Being Brunel’ heritagefund.org.uk · 02/04/2014

Corporate structure

Trading subsidiary: SS 'GREAT BRITAIN' TRADING LIMITED Companies House 00999528
Registered company of the charity Companies House 01000878

SS 'GREAT BRITAIN' TRADING LIMITED — per its own Companies House accounts

Turnover: £1.5m
Profit before tax: £-2k

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — SS Great Britain Trust (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.

TAGGART, Sean David — director, appointed 18/06/2026on trustee list
POWER, Georgina Verity — director, appointed 27/01/2025on trustee list
MILLINGTON, Emma Elizabeth — director, appointed 18/04/2024on trustee list
PORRITT, Sarah Elizabeth — director, appointed 18/04/2024not on trustee list
MACDONALD, Muir — director, appointed 18/01/2024on trustee list
ROWBERRY, Edward John — director, appointed 18/01/2024on trustee list
JONES, Matthew Stephen — director, appointed 23/10/2023on trustee list
DUCKWORTH, Caroline-Jane — director, appointed 21/01/2021on trustee list
GOLDING, Lois Patricia — director, appointed 19/06/2019on trustee list
MULLINS, Samuel Patrick — director, appointed 14/07/2014not on trustee list
HUSSEY, Emma Jane — secretary, appointed 14/07/2025

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

4 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 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)

Total income

£5.1m

Total spending

£6.2m

Cost of raising funds

£218k

Reserves (reported)

£28k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~0.1 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (42% 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: 4.3% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Matthew Joneschair
Caroline-Jane Duckworth · trustee of 2 other charities
Edward John Rowberry
Emma Elizabeth Millington
Lady Sarah Porritt CBE
Lois Patricia Golding
Muir Macdonald
SAM MULLINS
Sean David Taggart

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

Operates in: Bristol City · Somerset · South Gloucestershire

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/01/2025	£5.1m	£6.2m
31/01/2024	£5.5m	£6.4m
31/01/2023	£3.7m	£4.7m
31/01/2022	£3.7m	£4.4m
31/01/2021	£3.3m	£4.1m

Common questions

Is SS GREAT BRITAIN TRUST financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the Trust reported a net outgoing resource of £423,521 for the year, driven by visitor numbers that have not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels. While unrestricted reserves stand at £1,988,404, the Board notes that free reserves are only £27,822, which is well short of the stated policy target of three months' running costs (£822,000). The Trustees remain confident in the charity's ability to continue as a going concern for the next 12 months. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Forvis Mazars LLP.

What does the highest-paid employee of SS GREAT BRITAIN TRUST earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £90,001 - £100,000 band, and 2 employees earned over £60,000.

Who funds SS GREAT BRITAIN TRUST?

Funders whose own accounts filings name SS GREAT BRITAIN TRUST as a grant recipient include THE ADRIAN SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST, THE NISBET TRUST, EDITH MURPHY FOUNDATION, LLOYD'S REGISTER FOUNDATION.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
THE ADRIAN SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2022	£25k
THE ADRIAN SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2021	£25k
THE NISBET TRUST	FY2023	£11k
THE NISBET TRUST	FY2024	£10k
THE NISBET TRUST	FY2022	£10k
EDITH MURPHY FOUNDATION	FY2024	£10k	Education
LLOYD'S REGISTER FOUNDATION	FY2024	£10k

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	02/04/2025	£246k	"Global Voyages: Reimagining heritage with local communities"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	15/03/2022	£600k	"Albion Dockyard and Brunel Country"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	10/08/2020	£250k	"COVID19: SS Great Britain Trust"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	05/02/2020	£100k	"50 Years Back Home in Bristol"
UK government	01/04/2019	£50k	SS Great Britain environmental monitoring improvements and Conservation in Action display
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	06/05/2015	£21k	"Acquisition and interpretation of 'Jacques and the Stag', the centrepiece painting of Brunel's Shakespeare Room"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	25/03/2014	£5.0m	"Being Brunel - the national Brunel project"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	21/05/2013	£500k	"Brunel's ss Great Britain - Conservation, the Long View"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	20/03/2013	£84k	"Go Aloft!"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	04/02/2009	£50k	"Salvage 2010"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	11/03/2008	£640k	"Brunel Institute Conservation and Learning Centre"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	20/09/2006	£3k	"An Activity Day Especially Designed To Involve Visually Impaired People Will Take Place In The Autumn On The Ss Great Britain Site. Art Work"
The National Lottery Community Fund	20/09/2006	£3k	Smashing Plates
The National Lottery Community Fund	27/07/2005	£450k	ss Great Britain: Recreating Brunel's great engine
The National Lottery Community Fund	18/03/2005	£313k	ss Great Britain: Interactive Brunel engineering exhibit
The National Lottery Community Fund	03/08/2004	£139k	ss Great Britain Trust: Bringing Science and Engineering Alive
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	28/07/2000	£9.2m	"ss Great Britain - Securing the Heritage Core"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	23/07/1996	£68k	"SS Great Britain Project"
UK government	—	£61k	DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund

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
THE HEADLEY TRUST	2	£40k
LONDON TRANSPORT MUSEUM FRIENDS	1	£639k
KUSUMA TRUST UK	1	£130k
THE FOYLE FOUNDATION	1	£119k
THE MICHAEL UREN FOUNDATION	1	£60k
THE PILGRIM TRUST	1	£25k
NATIONAL ART COLLECTIONS FUND	1	£21k
ALTAJIR TRUST	1	£20k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM CORNWALL TRUST.

NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM CORNWALL TRUST income £2.4m
Portsmouth Historic Quarter Trust income £4.6m
BRESSINGHAM STEAM PRESERVATION COMPANY LIMITED income £1.0m
THE CHATHAM HISTORIC DOCKYARD TRUST income £9.8m
LONDON TRANSPORT MUSEUM LIMITED income £19.9m
THE UNDERFALL YARD TRUST income £1.1m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
SS GREAT BRITAIN TRUST	£5.1m	£90,001 - £100,000	2	below	—	no doubt
NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM CORNWALL TRUST FY2025	£2.4m	£80,001 - £90,000	—	unclear	—	no doubt
Portsmouth Historic Quarter Trust FY2025	£4.6m	£90,001 - £100,000	—	above	—	no doubt
BRESSINGHAM STEAM PRESERVATION COMPANY LIMITED FY2025	£1.0m	—	0	above	—	no doubt
THE CHATHAM HISTORIC DOCKYARD TRUST FY2025	£9.8m	—	—	above	—	no doubt
LONDON TRANSPORT MUSEUM LIMITED FY2025	£19.9m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt

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