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.

Objects

(1) TO CONSERVE AND PRESERVE THE SS GREAT BRITAIN IN THE GREAT WESTERN DOCKYARD FOR ALL TIME FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC AS A SHIP OF HISTORIC AND SCIENTIFIC INTEREST AND TO PLACE THE SAME UPON PUBLIC DISPLAY AS A MUSEUM ACCESSIBLE FOR ALL.(2) TO INCREASE THE SUM OF PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE AND TO PROMOTE THE STUDY OF MARITIME & INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING & SCIENCE; MARITIME ARCHAEOLOGY & SOCIAL HISTORY; THE LIFE AND WORKS OF I.K. BRUNEL AND HIS HISTORIC CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE IN THE MODERN WORLD; AND TO COLLECT, CONSERVE, AND MAKE ACCESSIBLE AS A MUSEUM, ARTEFACTS AND SPECIMENS THAT DEMONSTRATE AND REFLECT A TANGIBLE LINK WITH THE PAST AND PRESENT OF THOSE SUBJECT AREAS, FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

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 · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Bristol, City of, South West, England (from the postcode on the register)

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

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.

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
• 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
• Paying staff
• 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.

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 · Financial health read from its filings
• Registered company of the charity Companies House 01000878

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)

Reported reserves equal ~0.1 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 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 (5.3%) (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

Common questions

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 CLASSIC BOAT CENTRE TRUST.

• THE CLASSIC BOAT CENTRE TRUST income £79k
• SAVE BRITAIN'S HERITAGE income £432k
• THE HMS TRINCOMALEE TRUST income £185k
• GREEN BRITAIN FOUNDATION income £285k
• LORD BROCK TRUST income £428k
• THE WELLINGTON TRUST income £364k

Side by side with its peers

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