Annual review 2016

A year in Wordsworth Country

Annual Review 2016

CONTENTS

Above: Dorothy Wordsworth’s journal entry for 15 April 1802, in which she recorded seeing the daffodils on the lake shore at Ullswater.

Front and back cover: The Lake District comes to London. Comedian Arthur Smith and children from the Stagecoach Performing Arts network launch the ‘Love Wordsworth Country’ campaign with a mass recital of ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ at Euston Station, August.

Opposite: William Gray (1815–1885), Gordale Scar, watercolour, c.1840. The gift of the W.W. Spooner Charitable Trust (see page 8).

When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side, we fancied that the lake had floated the seed ashore and that the little colony had so sprung up – But as we went along there were more and yet more and at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road. I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the Lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever changing. This wind blew directly over the lake to them. There was here and there a little knot and a few stragglers a few yards higher up but they were so few as not to disturb the simplicity and unity and life of that one busy highway – We rested again and again. The Bays were stormy and we heard the waves at different distances and in the middle of the water like the Sea. Dorothy Wordsworth, The Grasmere Journal Thursday, 15 April 1802

2

OUR YEAR AT A GLANCE

4

CONSERVATION AND ACQUISITIONS

8

OBJECTIVES & ACTIVITIES

10

ACHIEVEMENTS & PERFORMANCE

11

OUR PUBLIC BENEFIT IN NUMBERS

12

FUTURE PLANS

18

REIMAGINING WORDSWORTH

19

FINANCIAL REVIEW

20

SUMMARY GROUP ACCOUNTS

22

SUMMARY CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

23

SUPPORTERS: Royal Patron/President/Fellows

24

GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

27

3

OUR YEAR AT A GLANCE 2016 was another busy year. Here are just a few of the highlights in pictures and in the words of the children, teachers and community groups with whom we worked.

‘Thank you so much for yesterday.

The introduction to Romanticism and that kind of tactile engagement with the texts through the first editions fed many a sixth-form soul (and many a teacher’s) and was hugely valuable and important in all those holistic ways that modern education ignores because it can’t find a way to measure. It was exactly what we all needed.’

Teacher with visiting school group, October.

Students working with manuscripts in the Jerwood Centre’s Reading Room.

Above: Newman University, Birmingham, April.

Opposite: Basel University, August.

4

5

‘I didn’t believe people could write collectively – especially not such strong-minded, highly individual people as there are amongst the Parkhill Poets – but they can and they do, and they have done so for years with a great body of work to show for it. It’s extraordinary and so are they.’

Susan Allen, Community Outreach Officer.

Under the caring arms of the sycamore tree, I snuggle and hide from real life.

Here with Nature I can be who I want to be, Under the branch of the sycamore tree.

Where we lumber and break the hearts of trees, We role-play and hide, be who we want to be, Under the sycamore tree.

Charlotte Parry, Year 7, Cockermouth School, May.

Top left: Newman University students create a temporary exhibition of their work in the community gallery.

Top centre and bottom left: Shakespeare Week, March, with Roose Community Primary School, Barrowin-Furness. The activity was planned with Lakeland Arts (one of our partners in the Cumbria Museum Consortium) and took place at Blackwell, Dove Cottage and Roose School.

Top right: The Parkhill Poets, Maryport, and their written work with Susan Allen, Community Outreach Officer.

Bottom right: Culture Camp, July: a one-week programme for families, organised with our partners in the Cumbria Museum Consortium. Approximately 50 children enjoyed creative activities outdoors and indoors, at Dove Cottage and other parts of Cumbria.

6

7

CONSERVATION & ACQUISITIONS The year was remarkable for the continuing generosity of the W.W. Spooner Charitable Trust 39 drawings and prints from the Trust, including fine examples by artists such as Thomas Sunderland, Harriet Green, Thomas Miles Richardson and Paul Sandby Munn.

Outstanding amongst them are watercolour drawings by Peter De Wint, George Fennel Robson and William Green. We also received two very generous bequests: a collection of seventeenth-century religious texts from the Wordsworth scholar, Professor Alan G. Hill, and a collection of eighteenth-century guide books and maps from local architect and artist, E.M. Bottomley.

Conservation work was done to letters and verse manuscripts as a major programme of treatment and repairs neared completion.

Opposite page: General Peter Carey (1774–1852), View of Lodore Waterfall, watercolour, 1822.

The gift of the W.W. Spooner Charitable Trust.

Top right: Victoria Stevens, conservator, labelling a new fascicule. Storing manuscripts in fascicules means they can be handled with less risk. The new fascicules replace mounting materials used in the 1970s that are now known to be unsuitable.

Right: Before (above) and after (below) conservation: a loose collection of verse manuscripts dated 1795 and 1808 in the hands of William and Dorothy Wordsworth, including the first attempt at a fair copy of ‘Peter Bell’.

Tears and splits were repaired using Japanese paper and wheatstarch paste, and the manuscript was stabilised so that it could be handled whilst maintaining its original sewing structure and character. The conservator was Victoria Stevens and the work was funded by the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust.

8

9

OBJECTIVES & ACTIVITIES

ACHIEVEMENTS & PERFORMANCE

The Wordsworth Trust was founded in 1891 to secure Dove Cottage, in the words of its first trustees, ‘for the eternal possession of those who love English poetry all over the world’. Since then, it has acquired many of the other historic buildings that make up the hamlet of Town End, secured the great majority of Wordsworth’s manuscripts, opened the Wordsworth Museum, and established an archive, library and fine art collection that celebrate Romanticism and the cultural history of the Lake District. In 2005 it created the Jerwood Centre, providing the conservation and research facilities needed for these holdings to remain at Dove Cottage, one of the world’s most important literary sites.

1. Overview

Wordsworth sought through his poetry “to console the afflicted, to add sunshine to daylight by making the happy happier, to teach the young and the gracious of every age, to see, to think and feel”.

All of our activities are inspired by this vision: of a world in which anyone, anywhere can enrich their life through Wordsworth’s ideas and philosophy, regardless of means or background. In undertaking them, we have therefore taken due regard of the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance.

Our activities, and the criteria that we use to measure their success, are reported in detail in the ‘Achievements and Performance’ section. We use digital technology, publishing and venues in numerous locations to ensure that access is not restricted by geography. While certain activities are aimed at specific beneficiary groups, most are open to anyone. They take place all year round, and some are free of charge.

We will look back on 2016 as a milestone year. We celebrated the 125th anniversary of the first Dove Cottage tour, and focused our energies on our long term strategic development. Thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund’s generous development grant, we have welcomed new staff to our team, and appointed the interpretation designers, architects, activity planners, market researchers and other professional advisers who will help us plan our Reimagining Wordsworth project in detail.

By Reimagining Wordsworth, we will provide exciting new ways for more people to enjoy poetry, and we will transform perceptions of one of our greatest poets.

There were negatives of course, not least the damage inflicted by Storm Desmond at the end of 2015, which severed the Lake District’s major road link for the first twenty weeks, with inevitable consequences for our visitors and earned income.

However, we were sustained by the growing momentum of our strategy and its associated fundraising campaign, and by the prospect of exciting changes ahead.

2. Public benefit

The Wordsworth Trust’s purposes are set out in its Memorandum and Articles of Association, and can be summarised as: to provide a living memorial to William Wordsworth and his contemporaries by looking after Dove Cottage and its environs, and by preserving and developing a permanent collection; and

We monitor the benefit of our activities by beneficiary group, as shown in the table on the following page. We have altered our presentation this year, to show more clearly how our presence increasingly extends beyond Dove Cottage, through schools visits, community outreach and the use of digital media.

to advance public knowledge and enjoyment of the works of Wordsworth and the literature and culture of the Romantic period (c.1750– 1850) through a wide range of public activities.

As well as the quantitative analysis shown here, we use various qualitative evaluation methods to understand how our activities contribute to the wellbeing and aspirations of our beneficiaries.

The Wordsworth Trust’s aims are the same in their intent as these purposes. They provide public benefit through the advancement of education, heritage, culture and the arts. They therefore meet the definition of ‘charitable purposes’ provided by the 2011 Charities Act.

10

Left: Partying like it’s 1891. Hazel Clarke, Senior Guide, and Charlotte Davies, Trainee, welcome visitors to Dove Cottage on the 125th anniversary of its opening, July.

Right: Visitors and primary school children in Dove Cottage garden.

I feel like I’ve been to a gold mine!

And I have come back with so much, it will take me days if not weeks to go through it and assimilate it. Thanks again for a most enriching and fruitful visit in every way.

Visiting researcher, April

11

OUR PUBLIC BENEFIT IN NUMBERS Visits to Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum ii

Onsite

Participation in activities for young people in formal education (student-days) 3,024 Secondary, primary and pre-school 1,816 Higher education short courses 409 Higher education – other 799 Participation in activities for families Events Other activities iii Participation in community activities Activities specifically for elderly / vulnerable adults Activities for general audiences

882 122 760

2016

2015

Variance

38,872

44,823

-13%

Offsite

Onsite

5,118

8,142

4,845

6,661

1,733

-

409

446

273

1,072

1,083 1,965 - 122 1,083 1,843

Offsite

2,367

5,623

45%

2,363

4,096

63%

-

446

-8%

1,077

4

1,081

-1%

1,172 245 927

1,001 - 1,001

2,173 245 1,928

-10% -50% -4%

3,256

399

2,449

2,848

725

3,229

3,954

-28%

36 363

702 1,747

738 2,110

110 615

1,134 2,095

1,244 2,710

-41% -22%

1,414

471

1,885

1,171

1,304

45%

295,321 52,502 64,166 140,186 16,201 22,266

156,243 27,718 20,039 93,667 1,016 13,803

89% 89& 220% 50% 1496% 61%

123

190

-35%

5,856

-10%

Participants in vocational training iv 17

13

31%

Volunteers

11

0%

Attendances at talks, poetry readings and other events (excluding family events)

Interactions via new media Website (unique views of blog posts) Website (unique views of education pages) Website (unique page views) – all Views of video material (Youtube, Vimeo, Facebook) Social media followers (31 December 16) Research visits (research-days) Sales of Wordsworth Trust publications

v

11

5,255

133

i This table reflects activities delivered solely or mainly by the Wordsworth Trust. They do not include third-party activities to which we were a contributor. Third-party activities in 2016 included the ‘Manuscript, Print and the Organisation of Knowledge’ conference organised by Cambridge, Edinburgh and Brigham Young Universities and held in the Jerwood Centre, and Walking Poets: Wordsworth and Bashō, an exhibition at the Kakamori Bunko museum in Itami, Japan: this was an extension of the eponymous exhibition curated in partnership with Sunderland University and shown at Dove Cottage in 2013, and manuscripts from our collection were a major exhibit.

The exhibition attracted 2,940 visitors. ii Includes 167 people given a public tour of the Jerwood Centre. iii On-site activities comprise discovery trails and other self-guided activities. The figure of 760 in 2016 (927 in 2015) is therefore also included within general visitors to Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum. iv Excludes work experience placements. v People who did volunteer work on a regular basis and / or for sustained periods of time.

12

a) Visitors to Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum Maintaining Dove Cottage as a ‘living memorial’ was the purpose for which the Wordsworth Trust was founded, and in 2016 we continued to give guided tours of the Cottage and provide access to the works on display in the Wordsworth Museum. As a fee-charging attraction, we recognise that there are barriers to access, and in 2016 we simplified our ticket prices, introducing free entry to all under-17s.

This followed our move towards 12-month passes, which we introduced in 2015 in place of singleentry tickets. Within the constraints of our business model, of which admissions income is an essential part, we continue to try to make Dove Cottage and the Museum as accessible as possible.

We also introduced new ways of improving the quality of our visitors’ experience. In 2015 we introduced a Chinese language audio tour of Dove Cottage, and this year we added Japanese and Korean translations. We improved access to the garden that the Wordsworths so cherished by introducing regular ‘Meet the Gardener’ events throughout the summer, and we devised two free walking trails around Grasmere and Rydal, enabling visitors to explore the connections between the manuscripts and paintings in our collection with the landscape in which Wordsworth found his inspiration. Branded ‘Trails of the Unexpected’, the trails were developed jointly with our partners in the Cumbria Museum Consortium, so that participants were also offered heritage experiences in Carlisle, Bowness-on-Windermere and Kendal.

They are an excellent example of the economic and promotional benefits of consortium working.

We also explored the theme of Wordsworth and the Lake District landscape by creating a new exhibition in the Wordsworth Museum. Wordsworth Country: Lakes, Mountains and Waterfalls gave visitors an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of nineteenth-century Lake District tourists as they made their pilgrimage around ‘Wordsworth Country’ or Wordsworthshire’. Exhibits included contemporary travel journals, guide books stereoscopic photographs, drawings and watercolours. The exhibition provided a wonderful showcase for the Johnson family’s 1844 manuscript

journal that we acquired in 2014 and published in 2015 as Excursion to Wordsworthshire.

Wordsworth Country was animated by a series of changing displays, with related webpages, in which guest curators expanded on the exhibition’s themes. The displays comprised a presentation of our watercolours entitled ‘Dorothy Wordsworthshire’, curated by Carol Allred during an internship sponsored by Brigham Young University, a study of Wordsworth’s influence on the Pacific North West curated by Professor Margaret Linley of Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, and ‘Photographing Wordsworth Country’, in which Professor Tom Mole, Director of the Centre of the History of the Book at the University of Edinburgh, explored Wordsworth’s influence on early Lake District photography.

As ‘one of the region’s premier attractions’ (in the words of The Independent), we also contribute at a strategic level to the Lake District’s efforts to remain a vibrant, attractive visitor destination.

Wordsworth Country was launched with a flash mob publicity stunt at Euston Station in London in May, in which comedian Arthur Smith led a mass recital of ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’, Wordsworth’s most famous poem. The 125th anniversary of the first Dove Cottage tour on 23 July was another big publicity opportunity: the Victorian costumes and reintroduction of the original sixpence entry fee were featured widely by local media; it was also the perfect occasion to publicise new research into Dove Cottage’s fascinating history by Adam Menuge of the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Architecture and History of Art. We continued to support the Lakes Culture partnership, Cumbria’s Living Heritage and the Lake District’s bid for World Heritage Site status, including by hosting a visit from UNESCO representatives in October, and we played a lead role in facilitating the joint working that helped businesses in Grasmere and Keswick weather the aftermath of Storm Desmond. We were also pleased to help Cumbria County Council and the Lake District National Park Authority in their work to improve the stretch of the A591 that runs adjacent to our site. Pedestrians can now enjoy lines of Wordsworth’s poetry as they pass through Town End.

13

Opposite: Education Development Manager Zoë McLain introduces the ‘Rucksack of Rhymes’, Penrith Library, April.

In terms of our visitor numbers, 2016 was another disappointing year. The drop of 13% against 2015 reflects the inevitable consequences of the road closure at Thirlmere. The decline in the first few months was even more pronounced, and we were able to make up some of the initial loss after the road reopened – two weeks ahead of schedule – in May. Unfortunately, the impact on our groups market was longer-lasting, as tour operators were forced to remove the central Lake District from their itineraries for the whole of 2016. Enticing them back is an important objective for 2017.

However, we must also acknowledge that the weather is just one of a complex range of factors that influence our visitor numbers, and that in 2015 we also received fewer visitors than we would like.

Wordsworth’s life at Dove Cottage, the poetry that he wrote there, and its lasting legacy are all compelling stories, and our capacity to attract more visitors by changing the way that we tell these stories has been well demonstrated by our market research. Our primary focus in 2017 is planning in detail the changes that we would like to make, again in consultation with our visitors, our potential visitors and our other beneficiary groups.

b) Formal education If the drop in our visitor numbers in 2016 showed the need for our strategy, the increases that we saw in our other activities showed the opportunity. Engagements with young people in formal education increased by 40%, continuing their upward trend: they are now 150% higher than before the Wordsworth Trust became a Major Partner Museum in 2012. The increase is attributable in large part to a growth in visits to schools, achieved throughout the year including in the initial months when there was no direct road access from Grasmere to much of the county. It marks a heroic effort on the part of our education team. We will identify additional ways of meeting the evident demand as we devise our Activity Plan in 2017.

As always, our schools activities were directed at all ages: we maintained our popular ‘Rucksack of Rhymes’ activities for Foundation Stage children, continued our reading groups and after-

14

school clubs for our most local primary schools, introduced new workshops on ‘Exploring the Gothic’ and ‘Famous Cumbrians’, organised a highly successful summer ‘Culture Camp’ with our Cumbria Museum Consortium partners, and worked with hundreds of primary school children in Cockermouth, Wordsworth’s birthplace, during the town’s ‘Daffodil Day’ celebrations in the spring.

The Dove Cottage Young Poets, made up of sixthform students from schools in Kendal, continued to go from strength to strength: their participation in the inaugural Kendal Poetry Festival alongside high-profile and other established poets gave a wonderful recognition to them and to our capacity to nurture emerging talent. Poetry and photography workshops led by a professional poet and linked to the Wordsworth Country exhibition helped us increase the number of people achieving the various levels of the Arts Award – a national initiative, and another means by which we help young people to develop skills and discover their creativity.

Engagements with higher education students through our short courses showed a modest drop of 8%. This reflects a 20% decrease in average group size rather than the number of courses provided, which increased by 12%. Encouragingly, we have already received many bookings for 2017 from both new and returning HE institutions, partly in response to the Curator’s participation in the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism’s conference in California in July, and we remain confident about this relatively new addition to our activities.

c) Families Families are reported as a distinct beneficiary group here for the first time. Contacts with families reduced by 10%, the overall reduction in visitor numbers inevitably affecting take-up of our onsite discovery trails, family events and other holiday activities. This was offset slightly by the increasing popularity of our 55 off-site family activities, in 14 different towns and villages in Cumbria and north Lancashire. We added activities linked to the Wordsworth Country exhibition to our established ‘Rucksack of Rhymes’ and ‘Tales for Tots’ sessions, and launched a new programme in the National Park Visitor Centre at Brockhole.

15

d) Outreach and Community The 28% drop in our work with community groups results from a reduction in our numbers of outreach officers, from two to one. The second outreach officer’s departure marked the end of a time-limited opportunity for both her and the Wordsworth Trust rather than any deliberate restructuring of our programme, and we are delighted with the continued success of this, another relatively new aspect of our work. We were active in care homes, day centres, hospitals, village halls, libraries and other venues in 33 towns and villages in Cumbria, from Longtown to Barrow in Furness; our activities ranged from one-off talks on Wordsworth and Romanticism to sustained programmes such as ‘In the Moment’, for people living with dementia and their carers in Penrith and the Eden Valley. Our statistics also reflect activities in Yorkshire and the Humber, South East England, Northern Ireland, Illinois, California and Japan.

Our partners included Age UK, the Alzheimer’s Society, Amy’s Care, Copeland Occupational & Social Care, Cumbria Library Service, the Eden Project, the Northern Bridge partnership of universities, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Solway Arts, South Lakes Youth Council, the Stroke Association and Theatre by the Lake. We were especially pleased to continue to support the Grasmere History Group, and to see our work with the Parkhill Poets in Maryport lead to the publication of a new poetry collection and a travelling exhibition.

e) Events Attendances at our event increased by 45%, and guided walks in Grasmere, Hawkshead and Ullswater organised jointly with the Lake District National Park Authority gave our offsite events a particular boost. The Grasmere Book Weekend, organised with the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association, was another new addition to our regular programme of literature classes, talks in the Jerwood Centre, winter fireside talks in Dove Cottage and contributions to nationwide initiatives such as Black History Month, National Poetry Day and Museums at Night. Professor Michael Rossington gave the eighth annual Wordsworth

16

Lecture in November, held in association with the Institute of English Studies, University of London, and we were pleased to continue our association with the Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets. The launch in October of Professor Jim Engell’s new edition of The Prelude, illustrated with many of our own Lake District watercolours, was a notable occasion.

f) Digital engagement Our digital presence continues to grow, and we report it here in more detail than previous years.

The numbers are not always a meaningful measure of depth of engagement, but what is beyond doubt is the ongoing popularity of the ‘Wordsworth & Romanticism’ blog, which now features over a hundred insightful articles on Romantic writers, artists and themes, often featuring original research. Its related Twitter feed was also the major factor in the overall growth in our social media followers.

Many of our staff received digital media training this year, in another joint initiative with our Cumbria Museum Consortium partners. We can expect our digital impact to grow as we continue to develop a major digital project with Cambridge University and Newcastle University, and as we begin our own project to digitise the Iain Bain Collection of Thomas Bewick papers, acquired in 2013.

g) Other performance measures We continued to provide a free Reading Room service to visiting researchers, from local enthusiasts to international academics. The number of researchdays varies from year to year, but we are happy with the level at which our research facilities are used. We also continued to promote our research facilities through the ‘Romanticism: Life, Literature & Landscape’ digital catalogue and by improving our own online catalogue search engine.

Publication sales dropped by 10%, which is acceptable given the disruption to our visitor numbers and passing trade in the year. Sales of our two 2015 publications (Wordsworth, War & Waterloo and Excursion to Wordsworthshire) were boosted by their inclusion in the Lakeland Book of

the Year shortlist, and our pocket and illustrated poetry anthologies and guidebooks also continued to sell well.

We continued to provide professional training through a mix of one-year paid traineeships and shorter-term paid internships for students sponsored by their host universities, most significantly Brigham Young University in Utah and Principia College in Illinois.

There was no change in our overall numbers of volunteers, but we are very grateful for their increased contribution, to 3,627 hours (2015: 1,342 hours). We expect to expand our volunteering opportunities as our plans for ‘Reimagining Wordsworth’ take shape.

We also provided opportunities to emerging poets, through a series of Clarissa Luard Award residencies. Harry Mann completed his residency in December; Holly Corfield Carr and David Tait will join us in 2017.

3. Acknowledgements As always, we thank the many generous institutions and individuals who share our vision, of a world in which anyone, anywhere can enrich their life through Wordsworth’s poetry, ideas and philosophy.

We especially thank Arts Council England, South Lakeland District Council and Lancaster University, our major funding partners, for their support for all our activities, the Heritage Lottery Fund for having confidence in our strategy, and our Patrons, Friends and other donors, who generously give us both a reliable income so that we can plan effectively, and the flexibility to apply their donations where they are most needed.

We also thank the following for funding specific aspects of our work during the year: the University of Sunderland for making it possible for us to raise awareness of Wordsworth in Japan and facilitating our first major international loan exhibition for 25 years; the Sir John Fisher Foundation for funding the work of the Assistant Curator (Collection); the Michael Marks Charitable Trust for enabling us to help promote excellence in contemporary literature; Cumbria County Council and the Cumbria Business

Growth Hub for enabling us to respond quickly and practically to the challenges of the floods; the John S. Cohen Foundation for helping us to reach schools in disadvantaged parts of Cumbria; the John Ellerman Foundation for supporting the Cumbria Museum Consortium’s ‘Leading Cumbria to Curatorial Excellence’ project; the Book Trust and Arts Council England for animating our work through the Clarissa Luard poets in residence; the Friends of the National Libraries for making it possible to digitise the Thomas Bewick papers in 2017; the W.W. Spooner Charitable Trust, the University of Edinburgh and Tony Reavell for helping us with the costs of events, exhibitions and publications; Virgin Trains, Lakeland Radio and Lakes Distillery for supporting our PR activity in the year; and the Band Trust, the Swire Charitable Trust, Patricia Grodd and Michael Stone, David Lloyd George, Ed Baker, Jayne Wrightsman, Lord Windsor, Lewis Golden, David McKitterick, Georgiana Wordsworth and others for their generous gifts and pledges towards ‘Reimagining Wordsworth’.

The combination of a historic site and a collection is what makes the Wordsworth Trust such a distinctive and active organisation. We are grateful to Professor Paul Betz, Hunter Davies, Margaret Hill, Nicholas & Cecilia Powell, Jonathan Wordsworth and many others for the generous gifts that enabled our collection, and consequently our work, to grow, and we especially thank the W.W. Spooner Charitable Trust for its continued and generous commitment to developing our fine art collection.

Finally, we gratefully acknowledge the generous legacies that we received during the year, from Richard Delbridge, Henrietta Richardson Perkins and Millicent Monck-Mason. Their bequests have been applied to ‘Reimagining Wordsworth’, so that future generations can continue to take enjoyment from our activities, just as they did during their lifetimes.

Michael McGregor The Robert Woof Director

17

FUTURE PLANS 2017 is an important year in the longterm strategic development of the Wordsworth Trust.

We will plan our Reimagining Wordsworth project in detail (see page 19), seek planning permission from the Lake District National Park Authority, and submit our second-round application to the Heritage Lottery Fund. The application will be supported by detailed designs and costs, an Interpretation Plan, an Activity Plan, a Conservation Plan and a Business Plan. It will also be just one of many funding applications that we make during the course of the year as we seek the £1 million match funding still required to make our plans a reality.

b) Formal education

Our year also began with the submission of the Cumbria Museum Consortium’s application to Arts Council England’s 2018–2022 National Portfolio.

Continued funding will enable the Consortium to build on its successes to date, enriching people’s lives at our own venues and across Cumbria and beyond. We have exciting plans, which will now be the basis of a new Arts Council funding agreement.

c) Outreach and community

Our specific objectives for 2017 include:

a) Visitors - -

-

-

18

establishing benchmark visitor satisfaction levels to inform our development plans. creating new manuscripts displays and interactive installations in the Wordsworth Museum, to help us trial our emerging ideas for ‘Reimagining Wordsworth’. incorporating a new display in the Wordsworth Country exhibition cocurated by residents of the Duddon Valley, Lancaster University students and a guest artist. presenting a new exhibition titled British Romantic Writing and Environmental Catastrophe and related education activities, in partnership with Leeds University.

- -

-

-

hosting a post-graduate Fellow, in partnership with the British Association of Romantic Studies. developing meaningful partnerships with universities in China and Japan, through our existing network of UK university contacts. improving literacy and creative writing skills through sustained work with two schools in an economically disadvantaged part of west Cumbria.

subject to funding, devising a touring drama production aimed at excluded over75s in Cumbria, as part of the Cumbria Museum Consortium and in partnership with Prism Arts.

d) Events -

incorporating new events on the themes of mindfulness and contemplation into our events programme.

e) Digital engagement -

digitising the Iain Bain Collection of Thomas Bewick manuscripts.

f) Other performance measures - -

completing a major programme of manuscript conservation, ongoing since 2011. completing the publication of a collection of essays by the great 19th-century Wordsworth scholar, Professor William Knight.

But to bring Wordsworth’s story into the 21st century, we need your help.

Wordsworth’s spirit remains alive at Dove Cottage, yet so much more of his story could be told. We now have an opportunity to celebrate his life and times, his genius and his relevance in fresh and exciting ways.

HOME

THE PERSON

THE PLACE

Find out more www.reimaginingwordsworth.org.uk

THE PROJECT

What we have learned so far Since we received a development grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, we have been talking to people: those who know us well and those who haven’t come across the Wordsworth Trust before.

Make it personal…

‘it’s about getting up close and personal with the author.’

‘It’s the human stories that inspire us most.

I want to know about the family.’

… and social

‘It’s something that isn’t just a museum or a cultural establishment but a place to make friends and enjoy an interest with other people.’

Bring the setting into the story

‘The house, the surrounding village and the wider countryside is a combination that needs to be appreciated as a whole.’

‘It is for anyone who is willing to learn more about not just Wordsworth, but about the Lake District in general.

‘To be able to go on a walk as Dorothy, William & Coleridge did, then end up back at Dove Cottage can really help a visitor to be in a contemplative frame of mind.’

GET INVOLVED

DONATE

Keep it authentic

‘It needs to be like a slice of history, and not some huge tourist attraction!’

‘The magic of Dove Cottage is the space for the visitor’s imagination and feeling you are walking into a house that retains its character.’

‘On my visits I would want to do the same things I always do. To see texts and to learn more about Wordsworth and his peers.’

‘The Wordsworth Trust … must never lose sight of what it is there for and the ideals of the people it celebrates.’

It’s a place to relax…

‘I would like to feel intrigued by the surroundings ... I would very much like not to feel rushed.’

‘When arriving somewhere I like to feel completely relaxed and not bombarded with interaction.’

… and to be inspired

‘I can’t see myself writing a poem, but I would definitely like to try writing with a quill.’

‘When visiting I would want to feel relaxed certainly, but also intrigued - a few unanswered questions posed, interesting information not widely known previously’

19

FINANCIAL REVIEW 1. Summary The net income for the year, including investment gains and losses, was £325,000 (2015: £514,000 net income).

The Catalyst Endowment campaign, supported by Arts Council England, resulted in a large increase in donations and legacies in 2015 which have fallen away again in 2016 to £691,000 during the year (2015: £1,112,000).

Once again, falling visitor numbers have had an adverse impact on our admissions and trading income. This was exacerbated by the closure of the main road through the Lake District from the beginning of 2016 until mid-May. Investment income rose in the year but other income fell slightly.

Expenditure increased by 3.7% in the year to £1,480,000 (2015: £1,427,000). The main increase has been in relation to Custodianship activities which were £358,000 in the year (2015: £325,000) and which reflects increases in spending on the Reimagining Wordsworth development phase.

This has also had an impact on salary costs, which increased in the year to £773,000 (2015: £752,000). However, with the continued support of the Major Partner Museum grant, we were able to continue to employ six trainees during the year.

Restricted funds fell by £118,000; expenditure within restricted funds includes £108,000 of depreciation on fixed assets that have been funded by donations received in prior years. The donations received in prior years and in the current year which are in relation to Reimagining Wordsworth are split between designated and restricted funds depending on the source. In 2016, we received £51,000 in grant support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and this is allocated as restricted funds.

2. Investments The Wordsworth Trust owns several properties in Town End, Grasmere. These are in the vicinity of Dove Cottage and held as investment assets.

The properties are let to a mix of staff and third parties, and rents are assessed against market rates. One property is a guest house and is let on a

20

commercial lease. Rental income decreased slightly to £107,000 (2015: £113,000). The investment properties were not formally revalued at the end of the year; however, using property indices, an unrealised gain of £58,000 was recognised.

We have four discrete funds, managed by Cazenove Capital Management (the wealth management arm of Schroder plc): the Development Fund, the RS Woof Memorial Fund, which permanently endows the post of the RS Woof Director, the Catalyst Endowment Fund and the Reserve Fund, which is held in the balance sheet as a current asset investment. There are no ethical restrictions on any of the funds under management.

The Development Fund comprises both a permanent endowment and a designated element. Due to the restrictions placed upon the entire Development Fund by the donor of the endowment element, both components of the fund must be treated as permanent endowment. The fund overall is invested on a total return basis and the managers have investment discretion to meet a target total return of CPI + 2%.

The Trustees plan to allocate at least £50,000 per year on a regular basis from the entire fund to income in order to aid planning within the organisation. In 2016 they decided to allocate £65,000. In making this allocation, the Trustees have sought the opinion of the investment manager and considered the impact on both current and future beneficiaries. At the end of 2016 the unapplied total return amounted to £296,000 (2015: £145,000) in the Endowment Development Fund and £186,000 (2015: £101,000) in the designated element of the Fund. This has increased in the year owing to an increase in market values.

By the end of the year the FTSE 100 Total Return Index had risen 4.62%. The Development Fund generated a total return of +13.8% against a target of 29% (CPI + 2%) and a benchmark of 12.5%.

The purpose of the RS Woof Memorial Fund is to endow the position of the Robert Woof Director.

To this end the objective of the fund is to maximise income while maintaining the capital value.

The funds available to the Catalyst Endowment increased considerably during 2015 as the fundraising campaign reached its pinnacle but this did not continue in to 2016. The fund is invested with a prudent approach to risk to maximise income consistent with maintaining the real value of the capital. It has a higher requirement for income than the development fund being set at 3.5%.

The smaller RS Woof Memorial Fund, which has a more defensive mandate, saw a 4.8% capital appreciation while generating a yield of 4.9% and the Catalyst Endowment, which grew in size by £74,000 generated a yield of 3.5% over the year.

All our fixed asset investments are managed for the longer term and the Trustees remain confident that the long-term outlook remains favourable.

The Reserve Fund investments are held as current assets which are available to support the operating cash flow should a short-term need arise. Rather than use low-return bank deposits, the Trustees have decided to invest this surplus cash in a readily tradeable bond fund.

This fund generated a yield of 5.1% during the year. During 2016, £25,000 was taken from the fund to support the cash flow for Reimagining Wordsworth.

The results of our trading subsidiary, Dove Cottage Promotions Limited, are summarised in note 5 of the accounts. The company runs a book and gift shop, and with reduced visitor numbers, turnover fell. Expenses were comparable to 2015 but margins increased partly as a result of the sale of some donated stock. The company made a gift aid payment of the taxable profit of £5,000 to the Trust (2015: £9,000).

Where the money came from

9%

Investments, including the Catalyst endowment fund

20%

Charitable trusts, individuals, legacies, businesses, clubs and societies

7%

Property rents

11%

Shop and other trading

24%

Admissions, events and courses

26%

Public sector and lottery distributors

3%

University partnerships

How it was spent

28%

Cost of generating funds

24%

Custonianship

3. Reserves We maintain reserves to enable us to fulfil our charitable remit by providing for business continuity, security to the collection, and the maintenance of properties in circumstances where our revenue requirements may not be covered by short-term income. The reserves are managed to offer the best return, while remaining relatively liquid to meet our needs.

48%

Access and learning

21

SUMMARY GROUP ACCOUNTS

Unrestricted funds

Restricted funds

Endowment & development funds

SUMMARY CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

Total funds

2015 for comparison

Income

Heritage assets

Donations and legacies

219

470

2

691

1,112

Investment income

125

-

109

234

223

505

-

-

505

577

Admission fees and other income

Total income

849

470

111

1,430

Other tangible assets Investments

872

588

20

1,480

1,427

(23)

(118)

91

(50)

485

Gains/(losses) on investment assets

62

-

313

375

29

Net income/(expenditure)

39

(118)

404

325

514

Transfers between funds

93

-

(93)

-

-

Net movement in funds

132

(118)

311

325

514

Figures are expressed as thousands and relate to the year ended 31 December 2016.

22

Restricted, endowment & development funds

Total funds

2015 for comparison

3,184

-

3,184

3,138

967

2,084

3,051

3,162

5,249

3,492

8,741

8,355

9,400

5,576

14,976

14,655

418

143

561

558

(1,002)

-

(1,002)

(1,003)

8,816

5,719

14,535

14,210

1,912 Net current assets

Total expenditure

Unrestricted funds

Creditors falling due after more than one year

Total net assets

These summarised financial statements are a summary of information extracted from our statutory Annual Report and Accounts. They may not contain sufficient information to allow for a full understanding of the Wordsworth Trust’s financial affairs. For further information, the full accounts, the auditor’s report on those accounts and the Trustees’ Annual Report should be consulted. Copies can be obtained from the Company Secretary at our registered address.

The annual accounts were approved on 6 May 2017 and they have been delivered to the Charity Commission and the Registrar of Companies. They have been audited by a qualified auditor, KPMG LLP, who gave an audit opinion that was unqualified and who had nothing to report under section 498 of the Companies Act 2006.

23

SUPPORTERS With grateful thanks to all of the organisations and individuals listed below, and to all of our Friends and other supporters, for making everything that we do possible.

Funding partners

Other major funders and donors in 2016*

Institutions and individuals The W.W. Spooner Charitable Trust The University of Sunderland The Sir John Fisher Foundation The Michael Marks Charitable Trust Cumbria County Council The Swire Charitable Trust The John Ellerman Foundation Patricia Grodd and Michael Stone The John S. Cohen Foundation The Hon. Robert & Mrs Donna Lloyd George Mrs Margaret Hill Mr Ed Baker Mrs Jayne Wrightsman Sir Peter and Lady Lampl Mrs Georgiana Wordsworth Dr Cecilia and Mr Nicholas Powell Mr and Mrs John Forsyth The University of Edinburgh Mr Tony Reavell Mr Lewis Golden OBE Professor David McKitterick The Binks Trust The late Mrs Pamela Middleton Murray Janet Booth Mr and Mrs John Barker Dr and Mrs Adam Naylor

24

The Rt Hon Lord Smith of Finsbury PC Mrs Sheila Edwards Mr and Mrs Trevor Smale Mr David Heal Mrs Diana Matthews Mr Tim Robertson Mrs Mary Chuck Dr Deborah Pfuntner Dr Gordon Bottomley Dr David Wilson Sir Henry Brooke Mr and Mrs Nicholas Coulson Sir John and Lady Boyd Mr John Nicoll Mr Lee Hall and the Baroness Kidron OBE Dr John Martin Robinson DPhil DLitt FSA Mr Charles Sebag-Montefiore FSA Mr Harry Williamson FCSI Professor Lucy Newlyn Mrs Diana Delbridge Lord and Lady Egremont Mrs Linda Kelly FRSL Mr and Mrs Peter Jubb Professor Peter and Dr Jackie Bettess Mrs Susan Axford Miss Veronica Finch The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry KBE Mr and Mrs John Collier Dr Vivienne Painting The Rt Hon the Lord Brooke CH PC Mr and Mrs Quintin Price Grasmere Village Society Mr Robert Cornish Mrs Jenny Dainty Mr and Mrs Tony Vaughan Dr Heidi Snow Charlene Townsend Mrs Margaret Thomas Mr and Mrs Peter Whyte Boom Cymru Mrs Eira Leach Professor Angus Easson Mrs Diana Grant Mr Richard Arnold Professor Michael Heller Professor John Kerrigan Mr Tim Sturgis Mrs Maggie Plouviez Mr and Mrs Gerald Wiltshire Sheafe Satterthwaite Mr and Mrs Stewart Douglas-Mann Professor Mark Reed

Mrs Constance Parrish Mr Mike Woodhouse CVO James Brockbank and Louise Ronane Mr and Mrs Peter Hensman Mr and Mrs Timothy Harding Professor Kenji Nakamura Mr and Mrs Ross Baxter Three anonymous donors * This list reflects grants and donations exceeding ÂŁ100 received in the year 2016. Donations received since 1 January 2017 will be published at a future date.

Patrons of the Wordsworth Trust (since 1 January 2016)

Mrs Susan Axford Mr Ed Baker Mr & Mrs John Barker Professor Peter & Dr Jackie Bettess Professor Paul Betz & Carol Rosen Lady Bindman Janet Booth Dr Gordon Bottomley Sir John & Lady Boyd James Brockbank and Louise Ronane The Rt Hon the Lord Brooke CH PC Sir Henry Brooke The Duke of Buccleuch & Queensberry KBE Mrs Mary Chuck Mr & Mrs John Collier Mr & Mrs Nicholas Coulson Rachael Davenhill Mrs Diana Delbridge Mrs Sheila Edwards Lord & Lady Egremont Sir Gerald & Lady Elliot Miss Veronica Finch Mr & Mrs John Forsyth Mr Lewis Golden OBE JP FCA Patricia Grodd Mr Lee Hall & the Baroness Kidron OBE Mr David Heal Mr & Mrs Piet de Jong Mr & Mrs Peter Jubb Mrs Linda Kelly FRSL Mrs Diana Matthews Dr & Mrs Adam Naylor Professor Lucy Newlyn Mr John Nicoll Ms Deborah Pfuntner

Dr Cecilia & Mr Nicholas Powell Dr John Martin Robinson DPhil DLitt FSA Mr Charles Sebag-Montefiore FSA Mrs Harriette Smale The Rt Hon Lord Smith of Finsbury PC Mr and Mrs John Spedding Mr Harry Williamson FCSI Dr David Wilson Mrs Corinna Wiltshire Mr & Mrs Charles Woodhouse

Legacies With grateful thanks to those generous individuals from whom we received bequests in 2016.

The The The The The The

late late late late late late

Mr Richard Delbridge Miss Henrietta Richardson Perkins Miss Millicent Monck-Mason Mrs Pamela Middleton Murray Mr E.M. Bottomley Dr Carol Landon

We try hard to keep our lists up to date. Please contact Mark Bains, Development Manager, if you find any inaccuracies.

Thousands of people benefit from the financial support that we receive. Please contact us to discuss how you or your grant-making trust could make a difference.

Mark Bains, Development Manager: 015394 63515; m.bains@wordsworth.org.uk.

25

GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT Royal Patron

Trustees

HRH the Prince of Wales

The Rt Hon Lord Smith of Finsbury PC (Chairman) Mr John Collier FCA (Treasurer) Mrs Mary Chuck Ms Judith Cooke Mr David Heal Mrs Diana Matthews DL, JP Dr Lucy Peltz Professor Seamus Perry Professor Nicholas Roe FEA FRSE Mr Charles Sebag-Montefiore FSA Dr Lynn Shepherd Ms Jenny Uglow OBE

President Mrs Pamela Woof FRSL

Fellows The title of ‘Fellow’ is used to recognise individuals who have made a significant contribution to the Wordsworth Trust, for example as trustees, longstanding supporters or advocates. Fellows are not involved in our governance, but they are important and valuable ambassadors for our work.

Mrs Eileen Ainscough Sir Eric Anderson FRSE Mr Iain Bain FSA Sir Geoffrey Bindman QC Sir John Boyd KCMG The Rt Hon the Lord Bragg The Rt Hon Sir Henry Brooke CMG The Rt Hon the Lord Brooke CH PC Mr Michael Broughton Dr David Cohen CBE Mr Stewart Douglas-Mann Professor Stephen Gill Mr Lewis Golden OBE JP FCA The Rt Hon the Earl of Gowrie PC Mr Tony Harrison Mr Laurence Harwood OBE, FRICS Mr Peter Jubb Mrs Linda Kelly FRSL Professor John Kerrigan Professor Grevel Lindop Sir Ian McKellen CH CBE Professor David McKitterick FBA, D LITT Dr Lucasta Miller Mr John Murdoch Mr John Murray Mrs Virginia Murray The Lady Rupert Nevill Mr Charles Nugent Dr Cecilia Powell FSA Professor Fiona Sampson FRSL Mr John Spedding CBE DL Mr Tim Sturgis Ms Claire Tomalin FRSL Dr David Wilson FCIS FSA

26

Staff Director’s Office The Robert Woof Director* Michael McGregor FRSA

Visitor Experience Manager Jane Affleck Deputy Visitor Experience Manager John Coombe Assistant Curator (Access) Melissa Mitchell Assistant Curator (Collection) (maternity cover) Anna Szilagyi Assistant Curator (Collection) (maternity leave) Rebecca Turner Education Officer Catherine Kay

Senior Project Administrator Marie Batty

Community Outreach Officer Susan Allen

PA to the Director Catherine Harland

Events Officer Alice Carthy

Dove Cottage & Estate Senior Guide Hazel Clarke

HRH the Prince of Wales with Michael McGregor, the Robert Woof Director, March.

Education Development Manager (job share) Bernadette Calvey, Zoë McLain

Guides Sylvia Bradley, Peter Coward, Sue Coward, Ruth Eastwood, Philip Hartley, Marian Veevers, Alexander Verey, Janice Wilson Dove Cottage Garden Sally Hall Estate Manager Stephen Sharp Estate Worker Peter Foster Curatorial & Learning Curator and Head of Learning* Jeff Cowton MBE

Engagement Officer Tom Langridge Assistant to the Curator Jaclyn Bradley Visitor Experience Assistants (seasonal) Emily Cock, Ruth Eastwood, Phil Hilborne, Marlien Mielczarek

Finance Finance & Operations Director* Amanda Pickup Finance & Administration Officer Sarah Knight Marketing & Communications Marketing Co-ordinator Emily Burnham Bookings Assistant (seasonal) Emily Cock Fundraising Development Manager* Mark Bains Development Officer (Donations) Hannah Stratton Trainees Poppy Garrett Rebecca Hearfield Lynda Newell Katherine Robson Sally Toon Sophie Verbeke Regular volunteers Barbara Crossley Anne-Marie Holmes Jane Lee Jessica Sneddon

*Member of the Senior Management Team Current as of May 2017

Shop Commercial Manager Alison Magrath Retail Operations Manager Michael Mitchell Retail Supervisors Lee Baker, Dean Hines Retail Assistant (seasonal) Gavin Hawkton

27

Wordsworth Trust

Dove Cottage, Grasmere, Cumbria, LA22 9SH 015394 35544 email: enquiries@wordsworth.org.uk A charity registered in England and Wales: 1066184.

A registered company: 3442086.

www.wordsworth.org.uk