WEALD AND DOWNLAND OPEN AIR MUSEUM LIMITED
Registered charity 306338 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register
The charity's main objects are to stimulate public interest in and to promote the preservation of buildings of architectural or historical interest and to stimulate public interest in ancient crafts, trades and manufactures.
Causes: Education/training · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts
The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £426,001 for the year, driven by a decline in visitor numbers and adverse weather conditions. Unrestricted reserves decreased to £951,131, while the charity maintains a cash balance of £333,674 and no borrowings. The trustees consider the museum to have sufficient resources to continue as a going concern.
Automated summary of the FY2024 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Reserves policy: more than sufficient headroom (held: £951k)
“the Museum does not have a fixed level of reserves which it seeks to maintain at any one time but aims to ensure that it has more than sufficient headroom” — page 7
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Trading subsidiary: Singleton Museum Services Limited
“Singleton Museum Services Limited is a trading subsidiary (company no. 1437695).”
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Sumer Audit. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Weald & Downland Museum (matched by registered charity number).
Property (HM Land Registry)
1 registered title 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 31/12/2024)
Cost of raising funds
£1.1m
Reported reserves equal ~3.0 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 32.6% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).
Register events
- Received assets from another charity (30/04/2015) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Abbi Leigh Lee
- Charles Rix
- Fiona Allen
- James Harvey · trustee of 1 other charity
- Jane Elizabeth Jones-Warner
- Louise Fitton
- Marilyn Scott
- Nicholas Sutherland · trustee of 1 other charity
- Steven Labedz
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: East Sussex · Hampshire · Kent · Surrey · West Sussex
Income and spending
Common questions
Is WEALD AND DOWNLAND OPEN AIR MUSEUM LIMITED financially healthy?
Per its FY2024 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £426,001 for the year, driven by a decline in visitor numbers and adverse weather conditions. Unrestricted reserves decreased to £951,131, while the charity maintains a cash balance of £333,674 and no borrowings. The trustees consider the museum to have sufficient resources to continue as a going concern. Its FY2024 accounts were audited by Sumer Audit.
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 WEALD FOUNDATION.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.