ROYAL NORFOLK AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION

Registered charity 289581 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

TO PROMOTE, THROUGH THE ROYAL NORFOLK SHOW AND OTHER EVENTS, THE IMAGE, UNDERSTANDING AND PROSPERITY OF AGRICULTURE AND THE COUNTRYSIDE. TO BRING PEOPLE AND BUSINESSES TOGETHER THROUGH A RANGE OF INSPIRING EVENTS PROMOTING FOOD, FARMING AND THE COUNTRYSIDE.

Objects

(A) TO PROMOTE IMPROVEMENT IN THE BREEDING OF LIVESTOCK AND PLANTS, IN THE INVENTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINES AND IMPLEMENTS, IN THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF SKILLS IN AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, PISCICULTURS, RURAL CRAFTS AND ALLIED SYSTEMS OF HUSBANDRY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF ALL SYSTEMS , TECHNIQUES, METHODS OR PROCESSES CONNECTED THEREWITH;(B)TO ENCOURAGE AND PROMOTE AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE, RESEARCH AND EDUCATION, INCLUDING IN RELATION TO FOOD, FARMING AND THE COUNTRYSIDE; AND (C)TO ADVANCE AND ENCOURAGE THE PROTECTION AND SAFEGUARDING OF THE ENVIRONMENT

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: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · Animals · Environment/conservation/heritage · Other Charitable Purposes · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

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

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity's free reserves of £439,127 fall below the stated policy target of £1,000,000. The group reported a net deficit of £133,279 for the year, influenced by a loss from the new Norfolk Food Hall trading subsidiary. However, the trustees and auditors confirm the charity is a going concern with sufficient funds to continue operations for the next twelve months.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by MA Partners Audit LLP. 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.

• 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
• 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.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 01817702
• Trading subsidiary: NORFOLK SHOWGROUND LIMITED Companies House 02814458
• Trading subsidiary: NORFOLK SHOWGROUND DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED Companies House 08977136

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association UK (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Robert Alston — Chairman (source)
• Mark Nicholas — Chief Executive Officer (source)
• Simon Hickling MVO — Vice Chairman (source)
• Laurie Hill — Finance Director (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).

• The Royal Norfolk Show — “Enabled By Helping to fund the charitable objectives of the RNAA The Royal Norfolk Show” (source page)

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.

• HARROWVEN, Michael Alfred — director, appointed 02/01/2025on trustee list
• NORTON, Emily Marianna — director, appointed 20/04/2023on trustee list
• HILL, Laurie Angus James Paterson — director, appointed 20/04/2023on trustee list
• SPINKS, Andrew James — director, appointed 21/04/2022on trustee list
• CLARKE, Jonathan Howard, Dr — director, appointed 23/09/2021on trustee list
• RICHARDS, Catherine Mary, Dr — director, appointed 23/09/2021on trustee list
• HICKLING, Simon James — director, appointed 24/09/2020on trustee list
• ALSTON, Robert Collison — director, appointed 21/04/2016on trustee list
• BETTS, Jonathan David — secretary, appointed 01/01/2021

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

2 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (2 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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~0.9 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Other trading 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: 41.0% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Robert Collison Alstonchair
• Andrew Spinks
• Christopher Nix · trustee of 1 other charity
• Dr Jonathan Howard Clarke
• Emily Norton
• Jan Feeney
• LAURIE ANGUS JAMES PATERSON HILL
• Michael Alfred Harrowven
• Poul Hovesen
• Simon James Hickling

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

Operates in: Cambridgeshire · Norfolk · Suffolk

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 ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND.

• ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND income £934k
• THE ROYAL CORNWALL AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION income £3.4m
• THE NORTH OF ENGLAND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY income £1.5m
• SUFFOLK AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION income £4.3m
• ASSOCIATION OF SHOW AND AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATIONS income £160k
• NORTH LONSDALE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY income £42k

Side by side with its peers

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