the buckinghamshire county museum trust business plan 2014

The Buckinghamshire County Museum Trust

Business Plan 2014 -2017

Contents

1 Introduction 1 2 Background 3 2.1 The Museum 3 2.2 The collections 4 2.3 Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery 5 2.4 Displays and temporary exhibitions 5 2.5 Activities 6 3 Asset ownership, governance and management 8 3.1 Asset ownership and management 8 3.2 Governance and operation 9 3.3 Project documents and agreements 9 3.4 Relationship between the Trust and the Local Authority 9 4 Mission, objectives and future development 11 4.1 The purpose of the Trust 11 4.2 Business Continuation 4.3 Development and growth 12 4.4 The renewal of the Museum Resource Centre, Halton 13 4.5 Planned objectives 15 5 Audiences and market 15 5.1 The current audience for the Museum 15 5.2 Audience and market intelligence 16 5.3 What audiences currently say about the Museum 18 5.4 The wider potential audience 20 5.5 Market opportunities and development 22 6 Finance and operational planning 25 6.1 Status of financial planning 25 6.2 Assumptions 28 6.3 Conclusion 30

Buckinghamshire County Museum Trust Business plan 2014/17 September 14 Page 1

The Buckinghamshire County Museum Trust

Business Plan 2014-2017

1 Introduction

Buckinghamshire County Museum is a local museum with a regional role and a

collection of national significance. It is at heart a traditional county museum, displaying

and celebrating the history and heritage of Buckinghamshire, and providing a valuable

amenity to the local population and visitors alike. It also has a national reach and

provides expert services for other organisations and museums.

The Museum operates across two sites. The County Museum and Art Gallery and the

Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery in Aylesbury provide a range of public services including

showcasing the County’s heritage, changing exhibitions, learning events and schools’

workshops, a shop and cafe. The Museum Resource Centre in Halton provides limited

public access to the collections.

Entrance to the Museum and Art Gallery is free, other than for organised parties;

entrance to the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery is also charged. Visits to the MRC at

Halton are by appointment and charged for parties of four or more.

The Museum's wide-ranging collection, of some 130,000 items, provides unique insight

into the people of the County and their surroundings from earliest beginnings to the

present day. The collection is owned in large part by the Bucks Archaeological Society

and Buckinghamshire County Council and is in the long term care of the County

Council. The County also cares for the collections of others on a range of agreements.

The Museum collections have been built up over 150 years and the site of the main

Museum in Aylesbury was first turned to museum use by the Bucks Archaeological

Society in the early years of the twentieth century. Since the later part of the twentieth

century Buckinghamshire County Council has operated the Museum.

Over recent years, however, the County Council had to consider whether, with its

financial resources under severe pressure, the Museum's future would be more secure

if it were to be operated by a Trust, building on the long and very successful history of

voluntary support for the Museum from its Friends and Patrons organisations.

A careful consideration of the advantages of this way forward, and extensive

consultation with Friends, Patrons and partners, culminated in an options appraisal in

2011 and a decision to move to Trust operation of the Museum and management of the


collections. The Buckinghamshire County Museum Trust (BCMT) was registered with

the Charity Commission on 29 November 2012 and on August 1st 2014 the Trust

Chairman signed a number of formal documents to enable it to assume management

of the museum buildings and collections. The transfer documents were prepared under

the leadership of Dr Bob Sutcliffe who was elected as Chairman by the holding Trustee

on 23rd May 2014.The Trust now operates the museum with the benefit of a negotiated

management fee guaranteed until 2017 and subject to renegotiation at that date. A new

board of 5 trustees was elected on August 4th 2014.

This document, is the first business plan developed by the Trust to set out its likely

approach to its duties and will be fully revised during 2014 to reflect the financial

outcomes achieved and priorities defined by the Trustees.

BCMT is a charity and a registered company. Its objects are as follows:

To advance the education of the public at large by the establishment and/or

maintenance of a museum and/or art gallery and associated collections; and/or

Without prejudice to the generality of the above, to advance the education of the

public by the management, operation and development of the Buckinghamshire

County Museum and the preservation, conservation and interpretation of the

County Museum Collections; and/or

To provide or assist in the provision of facilities and resources for the training of

persons for employment in the museum sector, including, but not limited to,

curators;

Pursue such other charitable purposes consistent with the above as the trustees in

their absolute discretion shall determine

The Memorandum and Articles of Association for the new organisation provide that the

Trustee Board shall consist of not more than 10 individuals, one of whom will be

nominated by Buckinghamshire County Council.


2 Background

2.1 The Museum

The Museum is housed in 2* listed buildings in the Old Town conservation area of

Aylesbury. It comprises 5 principal linked buildings arranged around a part walled

garden of approximately 0.5 hectares providing outdoor space for activity and

refreshment. The Museum Resource Centre at Halton near Wendover houses the

collections and curatorial team and is the subject of a current £2.8m bid to the HLF.

The Museum provides the people of Buckinghamshire and visitors to the County with

unique opportunities for learning, inspiration and enjoyment. It achieves this by

acquiring, preserving, displaying, interpreting and making accessible museum

collections and associated material that represent the County's natural and cultural

heritage. The Museum contributes to the quality of life in Bucks by safeguarding and

presenting the Museum collections and information resources. It promotes the

economic wellbeing of the County as one of its leading visitor attractions and it has an

important lifelong learning role for people from all sections of the community.

For the Museum, the heritage it cares for and celebrates and the people who come to

enjoy and learn about it and who participate in activities are inseparably linked.

This link has a long history – activities on the Aylesbury museum site, the development

of the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery and the enjoyment of the collections by local

people and communities exploring the histories of their place or families are all well

established.

However, the Museum also recognises that Buckinghamshire is changing fast. Although

it remains a County very much aware of its heritage, where people have family and

community roots stretching back a long way, it is also developing in a variety of ways.

Many people come to live in Buckinghamshire now and many more will do so over the

coming years as the pace of new housing development quickens. Some of these

people have historic family links to explore, but many more are new to this history -

moving from London or from beyond the UK. The Museum will actively reach out to

these diverse communities through our collections and engage them through activity -

meeting the needs of these newcomers, as well as of long term resident communities,

to learn about their place and to understand their community.

The Museum will do this through its collections, to which a major development project

for the Museum Resource Centre site at Halton near Wendover will give greater

access, and through its displays, exhibitions and activities.


2.2 The collections

The Museum's collections, of some 130,000 items, provide unique insight into the

people of the County and their surroundings from earliest beginnings to the present

day. While the collections are mainly of local and regional significance, some are of

national or international importance, including studio ceramics, geological collections,

and fine art.

The collection is owned in large part by the Bucks Archaeological Society (BAS) and

Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC). In addition to the BAS and the BCC

collections, the Museum manages collections owned by Hambledon Museum, a private

collection on loan to County Council under an agreement dated 1993, and

Buckinghamshire Military Museum Trust, on loan to the Museum under an agreement

dated 1990 with no end term specified. The Museum also cares for collections of, and

provides heritage advice and support for, Milton Keynes District Council under a

Service Level Agreement.

The subject areas represented in the collection include: agriculture (c900 objects);

archaeology (c32,000 objects); arms and armour (c350 objects); biology (c22,000

objects); costume and textiles (c10,000 objects); decorative art (c400 objects);

ethnography (c300 objects); fine art (c4,000 objects); geology (c4,000 objects);

numismatics (c4,000 objects); photography (c30,000 objects); science and industry

(c2,300 objects); social history (c11,000 objects); and transport (c500 objects).

The Museum Resource Centre at Halton houses the stored County collections of art,

archaeology, social history, wildlife, geology and photographs, the specialist collections

team (who also form exhibition and event project teams), technical support services,

conservation lab and an exhibition installation woodworking workshop. The bulk of the

archaeology collection is stored at Great Missenden.

The collections are in generally excellent condition. Collections in store at the MRC at

Halton are stored by material type in relatively small rooms, which allows environmental

conditions to be matched to collections. Although the stores are approaching capacity,

collections are carefully managed to ensure their protection.

Conditions for collections in the stores are maintained to Government Indemnity

standards, although this is mainly achieved by manual and non-fixed systems and

continuous staff diligence, as the Halton buildings are not purpose built and have not

been the subject of significant investment. BCC, with the support of BCMT, has made a

Heritage Lottery Fund application to secure funding for the comprehensive


redevelopment of the Halton site. While the BCMT manages the site and has a lease on

it the County Council retains residual powers to manage the redevelopment of the

buildings in collaboration with the Trust and the second round application to HLF will be

a joint one.

2.3 Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery

The Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery provides “hands-on fun and Roald Dahl magic”

where children can “imagine, discover, explore and dream”. The Gallery is a much

loved and visited activity centre for both schools in term time and families in the school

holidays. The Gallery, in its own stand-alone building, is a hands-on interactive

experience, with discovery and imagination galleries designed to engage and educate

children as well as to entertain them. Staff provide activities and self-guided activity

materials to support visits by both school children and members of the public.

2.4 Displays and temporary exhibitions

Displays from the collections include:

Archaeology - all the prehistoric, Roman and medieval finds from

Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes

Wildlife - plants and animals, birds and insects

Fossils, rocks and minerals

Clothing from the Georgian period to the 21st century

Textiles - lace, needlework, patchwork and quilts

Buckinghamshire social history

Contemporary studio pottery

Pictures - paintings, drawings and prints

The Museum runs a programme of special exhibitions of an impressive quality, some

curated by the Museum, others significant touring exhibitions. These exhibitions bring

together objects and stories from our own collections with precious and fascinating

material from the collections of our partners, supported by wide-ranging activity and

interpretation to bring these stories alive for visitors and participants. As an example,

the 2013 exhibition “Splendid Stitches” was an exhibition of embroideries and textiles

selected from rarely seen treasures within the Embroiderers’ Guild collection and the

Museum’s own collections. In 2014 a constrasting exhibition “Friars – the local music

club that rocked the world” attracted almost 10,000 visitors from a different

demographic. In this way the Museum engages local groups and people from the

outset– engagement which then continued through our exhibitions by way of talks and

hands on activities.


Often, the Museum is able to enrich people’s experience with themed aspects of the

work. During “Splendid Stitches” the Museum organised the 9th in the Muir Trust artist-

in-residence scheme, working with an experienced textile and embroidery artist, Naomi

Ryder, who engaged with visitors demonstrating creative practices and techniques. A

separate residency exhibition explored this artistic process from initial conception to the

finished work. A further residency is to be advertised in October for 2015 when a

sculptor or painter will be sought to respond to a major natural history exhibition.

An example of a self-curated show was ‘Buckinghamshire in the Civil War’, which

brought together for the first time splendid paintings, medals, coins, textiles, maps and

documents to tell the story of the County between 1625 and 1660. The museum is well

connected with major national and other regional museums and institutions, including

the British Museum. These relationships enable us to supplement our own collections

with nationally held treasures that have relevance to the County.

2.5 Activities

The Museum already organises many activities for people of all ages and the Trustees

have evidenced their commitment to education and other public activities through the

decision at the first meeting of the reinforced board of 6 on August 14th to appoint

1.6FTE staff to assist with activity programmes.

These range across public events, the extensive schools programme and the many

occasions when Museum staff put on events or access sessions for groups with a

special interest such as U3A or NADFAS, local history groups, ecology and wildlife

groups and many others.

Activities range across the collection, the general Museum displays and the temporary

exhibition programme, which is carefully developed to reach a diverse audience.

Public events alongside exhibitions, as part of family workshops in school holidays and

in our series of lunchtime, twilight and other talks and tours, reach people of all ages.

Alongside these public activities, the Museum runs an extensive programme of learning

activity for schools. Mainly aimed at primary school children at the moment, these

programmes offer a wide range of different types of activity and themes in full and half

day packages:

The wonderful world of Roald Dahl

Hands on History (with options on Romans, Tudors, Victorians, Toys or

Archaeology)


Discovering Dahl and Brilliant Buckinghamshire

County Museum Detectives

Rock Around Aylesbury

As an example, the Rock Around Aylesbury workshop shows how the Museum learning

team plan activities to engage and entertain young people, focusing on curriculum

areas, but also helping them to understand how collections and museums work so that

they develop an enthusiasm for exploring them further.

All activities have a major element of hands on creativity and participation – so in the

schools programmes, children get to learn through enjoying their own use of heritage

craft skills.

The learning offer for schools extends into more detailed and intensive whole day

sessions developed to support teachers in delivering the history curriculum in the most

exciting way. Whole day workshops explore key curriculum areas, but they do so in the

context of Buckinghamshire’s heritage and the Museum’s own collections.

Almost all these activities happen at the moment at the Aylesbury site. This places a

significant barrier to access to the wider collection. Although Museum staff bring

collection objects back and forth to the Museum for activities, and continually refresh

displays to show as much of the 130,000 object collection as practicable, inevitably only

a fraction of the collection can be enjoyed by visitors in these ways. The proposed

redevelopment project for the Halton Museum Resource Centre site will enable the

Museum to significantly expand learning, skills and volunteering activities in the future.

New volunteer programmes are planned to develop a Research Strategy and to

prepare materials using our MODES Complete database that will enable direct on line

access to collections through photographs, maps, and complementary website

materials from the galleries at the main museum.


3 Asset ownership, governance and management

3.1 Asset ownership and management

Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society (BAS) owns most of the Grade 2* museum

buildings in Aylesbury and the collections dating from before 1st April 1957; the

buildings in Aylesbury are mostly leased to BCC by BAS for a peppercorn rent and the

collections loaned to BCC for 120 years in exchange for:

The operation of a public museum service to agreed standards;

The maintenance of the buildings;

The management and accessibility of the BAS collections with the BCC

collections (those collected from 1957 onwards).

BCC owns the Museum Resource Centre at Halton, the museum store at Great

Missenden, parts of the Aylesbury site and the collections acquired since 1957.

The partnership between BCC and BAS dates back to the 1950s when BAS first leased

the buildings in Aylesbury to BCC and BCC undertook to manage the collections and

resource the Museum Service. But by the late 1980s the museum buildings, collections

and Museum Service were seriously under-resourced and a major renewal project, led

by the County Museums Officer, resulted in a £3.8m redevelopment of the Museum,

which reopened in 1995.

Further capital investment has followed. In the mid 1990s an appeal successfully raised

funds, from a combination of private donations and Trusts and Foundations, to develop

an art gallery in the Aylesbury Museum buildings, which opened in 1995. In 1996 the

Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery opened, a new build on the same site, financed by HLF,

the Dahl family, private donations and trust grants. The Museum won the National

Museum of the Year Award in 1996.

The Friends & Patrons, a registered charity, was formalised in the same year. There are

now around 350 Friends and 100 Patrons. Both the Friends and the Patrons support

collections acquisition and conservation and volunteer across both museum sites,

providing over 2000 hours of volunteer time a year.

3.2 Governance and operation

As outlined above, the County Council has operated the Museum since 1957 and has a

strong record of financial support. However, the County Council concluded in 2012 that

the Museum's future would be more secure if it were to be operated by a Trust. The


transfer of operations to the new Buckinghamshire Museum Trust took place on August

1st 2014 and new Trustees were elected in following prior public advertisement on

August 4th.

On advice from consultant solicitors, Winckworth Sherwood, the Trust was been

established as a company limited by guarantee with exclusively charitable objects: this

model provides a fit for purpose, tax efficient and flexible structure suited to expansion,

diversification and collaboration. A wholly owned subsidiary trading company has also

been registered at Companies House to ensure proper regard to the charitable objects

of the Trust.

3.3 Project documents and agreements

The following agreements have been made and signed in order to facilitate the transfer

of collections, buildings, staff and operational management ; a Funding and

Management agreement and Support Services agreement secures a viable financial

basis for the plan period. The documents comprise:

Funding and Management Agreement

Support Services Agreement

Collections Agreement

Business Transfer Agreement

LGPS Admission Agreement

Underlease for 7-9 Church St from BCC to the Trust

Leases from BCC to the Trust for property at Great Missenden and Halton and

in Pebble Lane, Aylesbury

3.4 Relationship between the Trust and the Local Authority

This is a key strategic partnership for the Trust. The business basis of the relationship

will be set out in the agreements referred to above.

The Buckinghamshire County Museum Trust is, however, an independent charity

(Charity Number 1153245, Company Number 8313398 and registered for VAT)

established for exclusively charitable purposes and will retain its independence

notwithstanding this close relationship.

The Trust will demonstrate its independence in particular in its negotiations with the

Local Authority about ongoing financial assistance. The Trustees of the

Buckinghamshire County Museum Trust will pay close regard to the Charity

Commission’s guidance set out in note RR7; the Trust will possess all of the


characteristics of an independent charity negotiating for government funding, as set out

in the guidance. The Trustees will therefore:

Have a choice about whether or not to accept funding on the terms proposed by

the Local Authority

Take independent legal and financial advice

Draw up their own policies and business plans

Conduct arm’s length negotiations with the Local Authority

Ensure that a Trustee who is subject to a conflict of interest does not participate

in such negotiations

Ensure the funding arrangements preserve their fundamental discretion as to

the selection of beneficiaries and the provision of services

Not commit themselves simply to giving effect to the policies and wishes of the

local authority or other arm of government

Not agree to conditions that undermine the confidentiality of their discussions

Remain free to make their own decision on matters outside the scope of the

funding arrangements.

The Trustees also recognise the need for ongoing independence and the importance of

managing conflicts of interest and dealing with confidentiality issues that can arise from

time to time and they will at all times have in place policies to manage these issues.


4 Mission, objectives and future development

4.1 The purpose of the Trust

The Trust’s starting point is the mission statement currently adopted by the Museum:

“The County Museum provides the people of Buckinghamshire and visitors to the

County unique opportunities for learning, inspiration and enjoyment. It achieves

this by acquiring, preserving, displaying, interpreting and making accessible

museum collections and associated material which represents the County's

natural and cultural heritage.

The museum contributes to the quality of life in Buckinghamshire by safeguarding

and presenting the museum collections and information resources. It promotes

the economic wellbeing of the County as one of its leading visitor attractions and

it has an important lifelong learning role for people from all sections of the

community.”

The Trust’s principal purpose is to enable the Buckinghamshire County Museum to

realise this mission – to inform, to educate and to entertain, on a secure and

sustainable basis. Our vision is for a museum that is

1. Independent, yet working closely with key stakeholders;

2. Financially secure;

3. Actively managed, seeking out and exploiting valuable opportunities;

4. Committed to the stimulating, secure and imaginative display of its collections,

seeking out new forms of public access;

5. Committed to reaching out to its local community and visitors from further afield.

4.2 Business Continuation

The Trust is mindful that it will be responsible for a continuing museum service of

quality and popularity, with many commitments, projects and developments already

underway.

The introduction of new approaches and techniques will be carefully managed so as not

to put at risk any of the features of the Museum, or important relationships, that

contribute to its current success. In particular, the Trust seeks renewal or enhancement

of the Museum’s Provisional Accreditation and the document is committed to policies

that support that application, including:


Collection development policy

Environmental policy statement

Documentation policy statement

Conservation policy statement

Care and conservation plan

Access policy statement

as well as the various forward plans and objectives that support the application.

The Trust intends that these commitments and policies should be fully implemented

throughout the transfer period.

4.3 Development and growth

The Trustees will during 2014-5 take an early opportunity to review how the Museum

will continue to evolve in response to changes in the world around it, in museum

practice and in response to new realities of subsidy and income generation.

While the Trust continues to manage the service in line with all existing agreements and

standards it will begin to consult about and plan for change.

Over the eighteen months from taking on the service, the Trust will be looking to work

with the Director appointed in April 2014 to consider the detail of future direction and to

plan, instigate and manage change. Some of the principal issues for that change might

include:

Creating a focus for the service (Focus): Setting out a new vision for the Museum, communicating it widely and vividly and capitalising on it to drive new visitor attention (and income) and new commitments from project partners, grant givers, trusts and foundations and/or donors.

Effective delivery of income streams (Income): Effecting change in trading

activity including the fuller exploitation for income generation of the historic

environment at the Museum and a more effective approach to visitor secondary

spend – from shop and café.

Developing popular new projects and exhibitions that have the potential to drive

new income from charged admission or from increased trading.

Developing the Trusts’ staff and heritage resources - including collections - appropriately for the roles they are to perform (Resources):


to develop the Trust as a ‘centre of excellence’ to which others turn for services

and inputs. This will mean developing contracts such as the MK collection

contract to be offered to others, properly priced and clearly returning value to

invest in Buckinghamshire’s collections and activities. The Halton development

will be centrally important to this work.

Increasing participation and enjoyment of the heritage (Participation):

A renewal of the approach to collections use to move from a largely subject-

specialist approach towards a focus on collections projects which can increase

access, encourage learning and participation and drive income from projects

and partnerships around the collections.

An even greater emphasis on learning and participation – both as a worthy end

in itself and as a business income generator. Adult learning, self-directed

learning, weekend courses, skills training, apprenticeships, commissioning

contracts from other public and voluntary sector agencies are all rising rapidly in

importance in museums. Over time, moving towards a more effective and far-

reaching engagement of volunteers across the organisation.

The Trust intends that this process of exploration and discussion will be an opportunity

for an open dialogue about what an excellent ‘regional’ or ‘county’ museum will look like

over the years to come, in which it can engage visitors and participants; patrons, friends

and supporters; staff and volunteers; stakeholders such as BCC and ACE and other

museum services in the region.

At its conclusion the Trust intends that the service will have preserved and reconfirmed

many important values and areas of current work, but that it will also have identified

plans and support for change, renewal and growth.

4.4 The renewal of the Museum Resource Centre, Halton

At the same time, the County Council, with the support of the Trust, will seek to realise

the plans for the renewal of the Halton site. The site, originally a temporary store when

the Museum moved the collections there in 1989, is deteriorating as the building is past

the end of its useful life and has no facilities for public access. Some collection items

are kept in external 'sheds' and the workshops are in urgent need of modernisation. The

site has high running costs in terms of energy consumption. Without urgent action both

potential short-term crisis and continued medium term dilapidation will place the

collections at significant risk.

The Council has been addressing these risks for some time, carrying out planning and


options appraisal and consulting widely with audiences, participants, partners such as

neighbouring museums services and with staff and volunteer teams.

As a result it has developed a vision for a new Collections and Learning Centre for

Buckinghamshire and the region, which will integrate with the museum site in Aylesbury

by transforming access to and enjoyment of the collections, supporting people to enjoy

and learn about their heritage.

The Centre and activities will open the collection to more, and more diverse, people and

communities; engage many young people and adults through learning activities, skills

training and apprenticeships and extend opportunities for volunteers and participants to

research and care for the collections.

The project will mitigate significant risks to the collections in the old school where they

are housed and bring together substantial archaeological collections currently housed

remotely at an unmanned site near Great Missenden. The Centre will make significant

improvements to environmental impact/costs and to long-term sustainability – through

savings and new incomes.

Initial plans have been developed through options appraisal and a Round 1 application

has been made to Heritage Lottery Fund, with the Council committing significant

funding of its own and committing to raising the remaining funds required to develop the

project.

4.5. Planned objectives

During the first plan year and into 2015/16 the Trustees will assimilate evidence and

define specific targets reflecting the overall direction of policy. The main areas for

review will revolve around those set out in section 4.3:

1. Creating a focus for the service (Focus):

2. Effective delivery of income streams (Income):

3. Developing the Trusts’ staff and heritage resources - including collections -

appropriately for the roles they are to perform (Resources):

4. Increasing participation and enjoyment of the heritage (Participation):


Broad plan objectives will help to identify priorities (arising from Trustee review)

which will drive forward policy and in turn generate targets with specific

measures

During the initial 18 month review period the focus of Trustees will be on the direction of

policy and on planning within projected budgets. The wide objectives set out in the next

section will be delivered through the adoption of particular level 2 priorities as shown in

the following table.

Initial performance indicator targets (dates or numbers) are indicated in Table 2

(showing progress and reflecting areas of accountability aligned where possible to the

County Council Outcome measures).

Table 1

Objective

Level 2 priorities

1. To protect the county’s

special environment

and ensure that it

continues to be

recognised nationally

as one of the best

places to live and work

a. Contribute actively to the development of tourism in

Bucks

b. Act as an approved repository for Bucks heritage

collections including excavated archaeology and

natural science heritage which may be the result of

HS2 funded excavations

c. Develop displays that stimulate and excite

communicating messages about the value of the

environment and its protection

d. Promote museum services to local residents

enhancing quality and life and participation

2. To support the

a. Capitalise on the strengths of the museum as a

Objectives

Priorities

Measures


development of a

thriving local economy

that is creating jobs.

means of stimulating sustainability and economic

growth.

b. Ensure the organisation has the systems and

technology necessary to deliver high-quality, value for

money services.

3. To encourage people

and communities to be

actively involved in their

local area and services

a. Develop programmes to involve volunteers in

collecting and interpreting collections

b. Distribute collections through the internet and

physical display to communities unable or unwilling

to reach the museum

c. Partner specialist science and heritage and social

societies in joint initiatives to involve their

memberships

4. To help our children

and young people

reach their full potential

a. Offer a direct teaching service to KS1-2 children

visiting the museum and (subject to HLF grant) the

Resource Centre

b. Update technology in the RDCG to maintain interest

and learning opportunities

c. Enable KS 3-4 pupils to participate in museum

programmes through project work, placements and

displays

d. On the new Trust website provide a comprehensive

introduction to the Education service with

downloadable materials

e. Provide a new range of activities targeted at young

children during term time

f. Introduce advance planning for new activities and

informal events integrated with exhibition themes and

calendar feasts/anniversaries to reach young families

during school holidays

g. Seek partners willing to work to deliver learning

experiences at the museum

5. To provide excellent

value for money

a. Continue to drive efficiencies in the running of the

Museum

b. Ensure the new Trust arrangements are embedded

and are fit for purpose


Table 2

Measures for the priorities Level 3 Targets

2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

1a Contribute actively to the development of tourism in Bucks and beyond

Introduce evaluation surveys showing postcodes of visitors

February Continues Continues

Widen and implement promotional area and develop new tools to reach it


Develop a promotional strategy and implement for potential visiting tourists

including joint activity with partner organisations


Increase visitor numbers - +2% +2%

Attract visitors from communities identified for special targeting (relates to 1d and 3c)

- Prepare baseline

TBC

1b Act as an approved repository for Bucks heritage collections including excavated

archaeology and natural science heritage including the result of HS2 funded

excavations

Prepare / submit / implement round 2 application for HLF funding for Halton

Resource Centre redevelopment with BCC or initiate Plan B

- August

2015

Continues

Seek and achieve full Accreditation status Dec 2014 - -

Negotiate effective partnership contracts with collection depositors to replace income

shortfall at end of MK SLA

Continues Continues

Increase capacity to accept deposits and increase collections

- - +15%

1c Develop displays that stimulate and excite, communicating messages about the

value of the environment and heritage and its protection

Plan to incorporate new technology into revised galleries at the County Museum

- From April

2015

Continues

Plan to substantially extend display areas in the County Museum

- - From April 2016

Create new introductory displays at the Halton Resource Centre providing a new way of visiting the collections (subject to

HLF grant)

- From April

2015

Continues

Engage with subjective and personal stories about the environment to create a

- From April

2015

Continues



2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

‘real feel’ to displays and programmes

More visitors reporting changed values and attitudes to environment in monitoring

surveys

- Prepare

baseline

-

1d Promote museum services to local residents enhancing quality and life and

participation

More visitors reporting enjoyment and creativity in surveys

- Prepare

baseline

-

Prepare and implement an ‘access strategy’ to ensure all local audiences are

offered engagement

March 2015 Continues Continues

2a Capitalise on the strengths of the museum as a means of stimulating sustainability

and economic growth.

Review and introduce income generation streams to maximise income.

March 2015 +10%

income

+10%

Explore potential for external partnerships in franchise and other joint ventures

Catering

Partner

1 New

partner

1 New

partner

More users reporting enhanced skills levels in surveys

- Prepare

baseline

-

Training needs analysed and more staff improving skills levels in surveys

TNA by

March 2015

Prepare

baseline

-

Review opportunities to use Learning Zone and Attics for income generation

February

2015 +

Continues -

Define and implement a sustainable model for employment of long term staff

March 2015 Continues Continues

2b Ensure the organisation has the systems and technology necessary to deliver high-quality, value for money services.

Introduce and implement in-house SAGE financial management

By April

2015

Continues Continues

Prepare Financial Standing orders, investment, Staff Handbook, HR policies

and contracts

By

December

- -

Prepare data migration and exit from BCC ICT systems

- - By August

2016



2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

3a Develop programmes to involve volunteers and apprentices in collecting and

interpreting collections

Prepare a volunteers/apprentice development plan with target numbers of

work days for specified roles

Mar 2015 200 400

Initiate sampling and monitor satisfaction rates

- May 2015 85%

Satisied/v

Satf’d

Develop induction programmes and monitor more Volunteers / Apprentices reporting

enhanced skills levels in surveys

Volunteer

induction

formalised

Prepare

baseline

TBC

Present participants work in public including internet /talks or completed research

summaries

- 2 projects 4 projects

3b Distribute collections through the internet and physical display to communities

unable or unwilling to access the museum

Specialist talks at local venues distributed across Bucks

15 times 40 times 40 times

Maintain delivery of a programme of activity in Milton Keynes as part of the continuing

SLA

X days X days X days

Plan and commence use of ICT in gallery and virtual classroom applications. (relates also to objectives 4 and 5)

Proposals

Mar 2015

X days

delivered

X days

delivered

Initiate and monitor use of the Trust website to provide on line access to collections

March 2015 2000 site entries

3000 site entries

3c Partner specialist subject and social constituencies in joint initiatives to involve their

memberships

Involve societies in displays, events or activities at the museum and elsewhere

X3 pa X3 pa X3 pa

Initiate proposals and implement to deliver programmes to reach ‘hard to reach’

constituencies (relates also to 3b)

March 2015 X days

delivered

X days

delivered

4. To help children and young people reach their full potential

More Pupils and Teachers reporting - Prepare 85%



2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

enhanced Generic Learning Outcome improvements in surveys

baseline Satisied/v

Satf’d in

each

Offer a direct teaching service to KS1-2 children visiting the museum and (subject

to HLF grant) the Resource Centre

X Pupils pa +5% +5%

Plan and update technology in the RDCG to maintain interest and learning

opportunities

From Jan

2014

By Dec

2014

Enable KS 3-4 pupils to participate in museum programmes through project work,

placements and displays

X Pupils pa +5% +5%

On the new Trust website provide a comprehensive introduction to the

Education service with downloadable materials

Provide a new range of activities targeted at young children during term time

Introduce advance planning for new activities and informal events integrated

with exhibition themes and calendar feasts/anniversaries to reach young

families during school holidays

Seek partners willing to work to deliver learning experiences at the museum

Make special provision for those with learning difficulties and for those with

English as a second language

5a Continue to drive efficiencies in running the museum

Reduce paid front of house hours By 0.5FTE + 0.75FTE Continues

Review energy costs and implement findings

January -10% Continues

Introduce and phase in in-house SAGE financial management

By April

2015

Continues Continues

Prepare data migration and exit from BCC ICT systems

- - By August

2016

Prepare Financial Standing orders, investment, Staff Handbook, HR policies

and contracts

By

December

- -



2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

5b Ensure the new Trust arrangements are embedded and are fit for purpose

All transfer documentation to Trust reviewed and signed

Oct - -

New Trustees receive and complete documentation

Sept Continues Continues

New Trustees receive induction & annual awayday

Dec Continues Continues

Financial, payroll, and legal reporting systems agreed county council monitoring

procedures in place

Sept - -

5 Audiences and market

5.1 The current audience for the Museum

The Museum has traditionally appealed to a range of groups, as well the general visitor:

The Challenges

According to ACORN statistics at May 2013 the Greater Aylesbury Area containing

76,000 people has 31% of the county’s black and ethnic school pupils and 29% of all

households have an income under £20k; 19% of households fall in the ACORN

classification of ‘Hard Pressed’.

Attracting ‘hard to reach’ groups has been a continual challenge over the years and

although the museum has been energetic in developing its schools programme little has

been done so far to discriminate positively in favour of deprived or vulnerable groups or

those with special language or physical needs.

There are changes taking place in the national curriculum which require the preparation

of new materials. The Trustees has appointed three part time staff from September

2014 to address the time deficit and enable the Team leader more development time.

The main Museum Galleries are now ageing and the RDCG is 18 years old and

showing signs of tiring. To address this refurbishment work introducing new technology


to RDCG and the preparation of a major redisplay of the museum are necessary. The

logistics of completing two major developments simultaneously mean that we will have

the phase work of the main museum to follow on the Halton redevelopment project.

New opportunities

New technology has yet to be embraced fully and although there is generous

space allocated for teaching it has potential for further improvement and to be

more intensively used and for a wider range of activities reaching secondary and

mature students and adult learners.

New grant revenue streams offer opportunities to realise academic research

potential of the collections and an early initiative to develop a Research Strategy

for the museum will help drive acquisitions, research tasks, research materials,

web based support and public programmes for the future.

A major capital bid has been submitted by BCC in collaboration with the Trust to

develop new storage and visitor facilities at Halton Museum Resource Centre. A

programme of funded activities is being devised should the bid succeed.

Families

The Museum offers a unique environment for families to learn and discover things

together whilst at the same time having an enjoyable and fun experience. The family

programme includes special family-friendly exhibitions, activities and workshops during

the school holidays and special events, such as a Roald Dahl Festival and the Big

Draw. These are particularly supported and valued by local residents, as well as being

attended by audiences from further afield. More connections need to be made with local

audiences to encourage repeat visits and to raise awareness and encourage non-users.

Schools

According to the report, “Museum Related Learning in the South East of England 2002-

2012” by Shaun Romain, March 2012, Arts Council England and Artswork. Use of any

Museum services by Buckinghamshire schools is only 61%, noticeably lower than the

South-East regional average of 70% (p11). According to the report this is directly

attributed to not having any “...Hub Museums and the limited capacity of existing

Museums” in Buckinghamshire. Certainly the County Museum has sometimes been


obliged to turn away school bookings from Aylesbury but the addition of new facilities

for example at Halton Resource Centre would create very different opportunities for

study that will suit secondary users.

The Museum in Aylesbury has a successful model of engagement with schools,

particularly at primary school level. Pupil visits in 2012/13 numbered over 6,000 to the

Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery and over 7,000 to the main Museum, from over 200

schools, generating nearly £60,000 of income. Trials of mail shots have resulted in a

number of new schools joining the programmes, which can encompass either the Roald

Dahl Children’s Gallery or the County Collections or both. Activity days (half or full days

as discussed above) prove popular with school children generally and teachers who

repeat book.

Schools are a good source of income for the Museum and there are several ways that

the links could be built on. Examples include offering season tickets to the Museum and

promoting more contacts via activity days. There are constraints of marketing resource

and staffing and the Trust will be focused on finding ways of addressing these

constraints to build on the success of the schools service.

Adult Learners

The Museum organises a programme of events, talks and workshops for adults linked

to the collections, exhibitions and subjects of local interest. Targeted marketing to

specific interest groups has proved successful and has increased uptake of ticket sales,

for example, three recent events on the Kop Hill Climb, Friars Music Club and an

archaeological pottery workshop all sold out due to specific groups being contacted.

Activities organised around an exhibition help to add value, raise awareness and attract

new audiences, such as demonstrations and workshops organised around the Splendid

Stitches exhibition.

Increased space and improved design will enable the use of the Resource Centre for a

range of subject based fairs and conferences that will allow use of the on-site

collections, e.g. local wildlife fair, rock and fossil fair, local history network conference.

Other areas for activity include greater engagement with organised groups and

societies who already value and use the museum, such as U3A, NADFAS, local Art


Fund membership and other arts-orientated groups as well as the Bucks Archaeological

Society and the Friends and Patrons of the Museum. The recent commission in 2014 of

a review of Arts Partnership opportunities has identified connections which the museum

is currently taking up and which will inform our approach to exhibition and events in

future.

Overall the Trust sees significant potential in the leisure learning market, and will seek

ways to expand significantly in this area in the future.

Visitors to Aylesbury and tourists

For national and international tourists the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery and special

events around Roald Dahl are a particular attraction. The Trust’s intention to commit

greater priority to brand and website below are particularly pertinent to this aspect of the

market.

The current Museum team have reached a conclusion based on current experience that

footfall is not naturally generated given the Museum’s location and there is a need to

create a specific “pull” on a regular basis. Further, Aylesbury is not a natural tourist

destination (as say Oxford) so the Museum needs to promote itself as an attraction and

destination and also needs to raise its profile through modern communications and

contact with local businesses, such as hotels and B&Bs. The Trust agrees and will

prioritise the issue of the visibility of the Museum and the potential for partnerships to

improve visibility and awareness as it begins to develop the marketing strategy for the

project.

5.2 Audience and market intelligence

Our wider potential audience - We know quite a bit about the potential audience for

our work. We have commissioned and analysed the TGI Acorn data the Arts Council

maintains in respect of the demographics of our catchments and the propensity of

people who live around us to participate in the heritage. The following is based on the

data from two Arts Council Area Reports, covering the 30 and 60 minute drive times

from Buckinghamshire County Museum. The total populations in the two drive times

(unfortunately still based on the 2001 census) are:

a. 30 minutes 315,198 of which 253,181 are adults (over 15)


b. 60 minutes 2,790,896 of which 2,244,477 are adults

The 30 minute drive time takes in Thame, Amersham, Haselmere, Chesham, Hemel

Hempstead, Abbots Langley, Leighton Buzzard and Bicester: From Museum data and

our research, a good deal is known about current audiences.

The 60 minute drive time takes in substantial towns and cities like Milton Keynes,

Bedford, Luton, Hertford, Northampton, High Wycombe, Banbury and Oxford and towns

on the edge of London like Enfield and Slough as well as significant parts of outer North

West London: Whilst the hard to reach categories are under-represented in both drive

times, these people who are much less likely to have participated in culture and the

heritage do represent 20% of people in 30 minute drive time and 23% in the 60 minute

drive time.

The following table shows the summary of visits for 2013/14 with comparators for

2012/13:

Overall just under 92,000 visits and participations were made. Of these:

1. 12,816 were paying visits to the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery

County Museum Visitor Figures 2013 2014

Including comparisons with 2012 2013

Month Dahl

ticket

school

child

2014

2015

Dahl

ticket

total

2014

2015

Dahl

ticket

total

2013

2014

Museum

visits

general

2014 2015

Museum

school child

2014 2015

Museum

Visits & uses

total 2014

2015

Museum & RDCG

visits & uses total

2014 2015

Museum &

RDCG visits

& uses total

2013 2014

Museum &

RDCG visits

& uses total

YTD 2013

2014

April 485 1627 2561 6534 486 7131 8758 10076 10076

May 709 1740 1899 6503 620 7342 9082 9002 19078

June 929 1116 1307 5174 999 6275 7391 6949 26027

July 613 1459 1663 5743 703 6503 7962 9493 35520

August 0 1978 0 0 0 8876 44396

September 0 683 0 0 0 5892 50288

October 0 1445 0 0 0 7789 58077

November 0 1319 0 0 0 7684 65761

December 0 585 0 0 0 3758 69519

January 0 1156 0 0 0 5716 75235

February 0 2182 0 0 0 8765 84000

March 0 1399 0 0 0 7088 91088

2736 5942 18177 23954 2808 27251 33193 91088 91088


2. 6,846 were school visits to the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery

3. 63,964 were public visits to the Museum/participants in Museum activities

4. 7,442 were school visits to the Museum

5. Under 1,000 were visits to the Collections Centre at Halton

In addition, Museum staff carried out 56 outreach sessions beyond the Museum, in

schools and community venues – engaging a further estimated audience of more than

1,000 people.

Our Audiences are younger than the average for the population of the area and both

among school visits and ordinary museum and activity visitors/participants, children are

a very significant part of the audience. This can be seen in exhibition visitors over the

last year – more than 40% of all visitors surveyed were children:

56% of all visitors are female – the majority in all age groups:

5.3 What audiences currently say about the Museum

4%

39%

4% 26%

18%

9%

Exhibition attenders by age group

Under 3

4-14

15-19

20-44

45-65

Over 65

44%

56%

Gender of exhibition visitors

male

female


Periodically, the Museum also carries out more in depth surveys, particularly with

people who participate in activities. The results of 57 in depth surveys completed across

three days in half term 2012 recorded the motivation and origin of visitors to activities in

particular.

The following data show how, though many people come to the Museum (BCM) and

then become involved in activities, the majority of participants are specifically attending

to engage in the activities themselves:

While there was a substantial local audience, the majority of participants came from

outside Aylesbury and were distributed widely across and beyond the County.

Aylesbury was however the principal individual source for visitors and the wide

distribution from other places suggests a fairly hit and miss approach to our promotions

outside Aylesbury heavily reliant on our regular direct mailing list through Patronmail.

Audiences emphasised that the activities were good value:


Above all, participants said how much they enjoyed the activities, with all of those taking

part rating the activity 4 or more where 5 was the most enjoyable:

5.3 Market opportunities and development

Overall the Trust wants to develop fresh thinking around the introduction of different

audiences to the collections resource and the following are some of the ways we expect

to do it.

Our Collections Resource Centre

Our activity participant survey in 2012 sought to test potential demand for the renewed

Halton site and wider collection access, it asked participants whether they would be

interested in visiting and taking part in more activities at the Museum Resource Centre

if facilities and activities were developed – more than 70% were enthusiastic about

these potential activities and all but 1 person said they would possibly or definitely want

to participate:

Finally, many of those surveyed offered additional comments about museum activities.

There is a recurring theme of enthusiastic interest in more activity and opportunities to

engage with the Museum and collections which underpins confidence for the museum

service as a whole and the Halton redevelopment particular:

“We would love to see the rest of the museum's collection. Family activities are great,

great staff, great activities and for a great price. Thank you!”

To assess public attitudes more generally to the Trusts principal capital project for the


plan period (the proposed Collections and Learning Centre development at Halton) 500

hard copy questionnaires were circulated during May 2014. The survey was also loaded

on surveymonkey accessible from the County Council website and as a hyperlink in the

emailed letter to 35 partners engaged in earlier consultations. Care was taken to restrict

the number of hard copies sent to traditional heritage locations such at the County

Museum and the Centre for Bucks Studies and the majority were targeted at distribution

through 10 libraries in the Greater Aylesbury area in order to reflect a broader

demographic. Two days of shopping centre consultation were also conducted in the

centre of Aylesbury led by our ‘Roman Soldier’ in full regalia. 104 responses were

received.

Those completing the survey were overwhelmingly white and 78% over 41 years old;

51% in full time work of some sort and 26% seem to have been retired; among the 21%

younger respondents under 40 years 20% were non white and 70% were in full time

work.

The principal conclusions were:

1. Younger respondents under 40 had fairly equal interest in three thematic areas

(Chiltern Landscape and Sustainability; HS2 - the world beneath and Fine stitchery

and costume) and viewed them as the focus for a family visit while older

respondents were more interested in research study:

78% regarded national or local arts and crafts as of particular interest to them;

45% saw early archaeology as most important and 42% natural history.

Younger participants between 20 and 40 ranked arts and crafts at 72% ; natural

history at 67% and archaeology at just 39%

Asked about thematic display hooks to introduce the collections 51% rated

Chiltern Landscape and sustainability as most useful ; 38% HS2- the world

beneath and 26% Fine stitchery and costume

Younger participants rated stitchery at 37% and the other two themes at 31%

showing a marked contrast with older contributors

68% of total and 43% of younger respondents nominated private research/fact

finding as motivating their interest with 49% and 71%n respectively seeking an

interesting family visit.

2. Older respondents: seem to have been more focussed on study facilities and

particularly in local and national arts and crafts; younger people had a parallel focus

on doing something else – probably in conjunction with a visit to the Centre:

Top rated facilities required were Activity programmes, a study area and catering

of some sort Younger respondents chose Activity programmes, information

about other local attractions and catering as their top facilities


Activities at the Museum Resource Centre

The Trust is working with BCC to transform facilities at the Halton Resource Centre and

a first round bid to the HLF was submitted in June.

The Trust has identified potential to focus activity strongly on the development of

materials for teaching that will breakdown cultural differences and create simple

methods for dissemination through library and community centre connections and

for apprentice programmes.

New space at Halton will provide for one room capable of accommodating full

school classes or a lecture style set up for 65 participants. Equipment will include

suitable fixtures and fittings for practical sessions including access to water and a

range of study equipment (e.g. handling specimen trays, microscopes).

Smaller study spaces at Halton for quiet study and the development of new

research themes which will feed into the development of on line themed

studies/tours and maps using volunteer study

Also at Halton collections work spaces will enable further volunteer involvement in

cataloguing, collections sorting and preparation.

The presence of the RAF Halton training camp within 100 yards of the Resource

Centre and the proximity of the Chiltern AONB together with the open site and

extensive parking all offer good potential to develop an activity programme capable

of easier access including for disabled people and delivering vocational training,

young peoples volunteering.

The project budget at this stage, included the following additional resources to exploit

the potential for larger audiences and closer engagement:

1. New posts of Learning and outreach project coordinator and apprentice project

trainer to lead the practical delivery of learning activity and apprentice training

respectively. Budget £168,000

2. Training budgets for staff and volunteers so that they have the extended skills to run

the project and support users and participants. Budget £14,493

3. Learning and training materials. Budget £43,477

4. Consultation and activity costs in addition to existing museum budgets. Budget

£115,940


Working with Artists, Colleges and Universities

In relation to education project work in May 2014 we received an ACE funded review of

how the museum could work more effectively with partners in Universities, colleges .

artists and with the artistic community to extend the range of audiences with which we

can engage. We intended to follow through the recommendations using the interest

expressed by artists in working with us and using course leaders to assist in developing

programmes of study and exposure to object collections.

Young People 10 -19 yrs

(12% of the Greater Aylesbury population make up) Consultation will be carried out

with local youth groups particularly in relation to developing more opportunities for

young people to become engaged in ‘fit for work ‘projects. Our apprenticeship

proposals offer good opportunities in this area and we see potential for the Museum to

work with local societies and in its own programmes to facilitate this. Offering skills

based courses and taster days to support those not in education, employment or

training may be an option to investigate

People from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities

(19% of the Greater Aylesbury population make up; 31% of school pupils). The existing

museum visit profile has negligible reach into these communities of Caribbean/African,

Asian and Polish origin. These groups will be especially targeted in the activities

developed at Halton and in the programmes created there for use at the Aylesbury

Museum. Through outreach work and consultation we will develop a targeted

programme to meet these groups’ needs.

Current displays and museum collection are not representative of the diverse local

community or not perceived as relevant. Displays and activities need to reflect this

audience but need to be authentic reflections of experience, beliefs and cultural

practices rather than tokenism e.g the Pakistani and Pashto communities could help

curate part of the outreach resource and contribute to collecting policy development so

that they are represented in the first person – making the messages stronger and more

relevant.

Families from Rural Areas

Currently families with children and older people from rural communities are under-

represented at the museum. Transport availability, costs and lack of knowledge about


the Museum and activities on offer are potential barriers to participation. These barriers

could be overcome in part by taking the museum ‘out’ to the village communities using

heritage loan boxes for outreach sessions and developing links with existing community

groups that meet in the rural areas e.g. Brownie and Cub groups and day care centres

for the elderly An outreach programme initiated at Halton will give this potential

audience the opportunity to engage in learning about the heritage of the area in which

they live, raise the profile of the Centre and help to develop materials of relevance and

interest to other groups.

Pre-School Learning Activities

Additional volunteer helpers have been recruited as part of a volunteer development

push during August/Sept 2014 providing support for learning assistant staff during the

busy half term holiday period. Activities for young children are routinely held at the main

museum and have been trialled in the past at Halton. At the latter they offer good

growth potential – partly because of the young local area population make up and the

lack of comparable facilities nearby. Storytelling, craft activities and explorer sessions

would create what one questionnaire respondent has described as the ‘quite magical’

feeling of being in an ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ of intriguing objects

Schools Learning Initiatives

The range of activities currently delivered at the main museum is constricted by the

need for fresh preparation of properly structured teaching materials targeted at

audience groups. We don’t underestimate the extent to which a radical transformation

of the service is necessary to provide the necessary engagement with schools. Aspects

of the work we anticipate as necessary in activity planning for the new Centre include

the development of the following:

• New curriculum support for the early history periods required under the current

curriculum operating from 2014

• Self-led visits to the Museum, supported by educational materials available on arrival

• A wider range of Hands-on taught sessions from Early Years through to Key Stage 2

• Staff visits to schools

• Combined visits with for example with the wildlife trust, the Chiltern society, local

archaeologists or other environment focussed partners

• Loan boxes


• School assemblies

• Teacher INSET days

First steps are being taken to work more directly with schools through the creation of a

Teacher Advisory Panel and an explicit focus on devising displays and events with

special Asian content. Additional volunteers were recruited in August 2014 to assist

with the preparation of school loans materials and adaptation for use with the new

curriculum.

There are already pilot plans to expand into secondary schools, for example using

Halton for “behind the scenes” visits.

People with disabilities and special educational needs

A dialogue has been opened with the Stoke Mandeville Paralympic Heritage project

which intends to use the museum as a venue and to provide curatorial support and

accommodation for collections it assembles. The opportunity this brings for

partnerships to workshops and special exhibitions and collections relating to disability

will be central to our programmes for audiences with a physical challenge.

In addition we want to work with children and young people outside mainstream

education eg home schoolers and excluded children paying due regard to the particular

challenges each pose and using partnerships within the local authority where possible.

Tourist Markets

There are two groups of potential tourist visitors:

1. those that come from outside the area specifically to visit the centre or other nearby

heritage or arts facilities:

We have investigated public interest in focussing the initial orientation for visits on a

particular theme or hook that will serve as an introduction and a way in to the lower

parts of the collections ‘iceberg’. The natural focus in this location and with the rich

range of collections at our disposal is Chiltern Landscape and issues of

sustainability and this attracted 83% approval against 66% for HS2: the world

beneath’ and 45% for fine stitchery and costume. The breadth of these themes


offers potential synergy with regional tourism and needs to be tested with potential

partners and tourism office data.

2. people visiting the area for other reasons, who could be encouraged to extend their

visit to include the museum. e.g. visitors with family connections to the area.

In developing ideas for new displays at the Museum Resource Centre There are

opportunities to build links with other local environment sites including Aylesbury

itself, National Trust landscape areas, historic market towns at Wendover, Tring and

Ivinghoe, and with managed ancient woodland sites to attract audiences to the area

and to encourage cross-visiting. Clear information, targeted areas on our new

website, signposting and cross-referencing in interpretation materials produced will

raise awareness of links with local heritage as well as improved museum facilities

and the Museum Resource Centre location.

Adult Learners and volunteering

a. The distribution of events around the county is skewed towards the Aylesbury area

and Milton Keynes where we operate to an SLA with the authority. Closer

management of our events and talks programme should allow a more equitable

distribution and greater presence in all areas.

b. New store building planned for Halton will be designed to allow access for more

people than at present with collections housed in secure but accessible storage

units. Each store will have dedicated collections access facilities and space, as

relevant to its collection. This will include, where appropriate, facilities like lockable

glass top drawers, UV protected costume hanging racks, and large textile rollers.

c. Re-use and redesign of spaces currently occupied by collections at Halton will allow

the delivery of collection-based workshops to be improved in a number of ways.

The current, single, collections access room is used for many purposes, including

research, collections access visits, curatorial volunteers, and workshops/training

sessions. A greater number of flexibly equipped rooms will allow more than one

activity to take place at a time, enabling far greater access to the collections. Use of

larger rooms than the one currently available will allow far greater numbers to


attend. The current maximum of 16 creates an immediate barrier to larger groups,

including school parties, who could be major users of the site.

d. Volunteering provides excellent opportunities for adult learners to develop news

skills and attitudes. Increasing the number and flexibility of work spaces will allow

more volunteers to work on and make use of the collections while improving the

overall volunteer experience. Volunteer projects often require differing working

environments and levels of guidance and supervision and this currently limits the

number of volunteers we can have at any one time while causing some volunteers

to work in less than ideal conditions. There is a possible opportunity to recruit a

volunteer coordinator role and this will be a target in the plan period.

e. The museum is underused for community events and the Learning zone space in

particular has excellent facilities which cry out for further exploitation during ‘out of

hours’. Through new marketing initiatives we will seek to generate new business in

this space and look for partnerships that will use it more effectively. The Halton

Resource Centre is used almost exclusively during office hours. Increased space

and redesign there will take into account the potential for hiring facilities for a range

of uses by the local community in Halton and nearby Wendover. Part of the

redesign will incorporate facilities for hire that are separately alarmed, and so

available for community use out of hours, possibly opening up the collections

resource for a large number of groups currently excluded.

f. The additional space at Halton and access to outdoor space there provides the

possibility of developing an imaginative programme of outdoor workshops that will

link directly with the collections in store. This will offer a unique visitor experience

where users learn through up-close, hands-on access to the rich County collections,

guided by members of the specialist collections team and then be given the

opportunity to apply new knowledge and skills in a practical way through outdoor

activity. Examples of specific activities could include:

g. A traditional crafts workshop involving a morning session studying and handling

traditional craft tools and artefacts in the Museum collection – such as chair

making tools and country chairs, or prehistoric flint knapping – complimented by

a specialist talk given by a member of the collections team to help set artefacts


in their historical context. An afternoon session would then build on this

experience with a practical craft session, led by an external tutor in chair

making, or flint knapping.

A range of natural history workshops (bug hunts, pond dipping, identification

sessions, understanding ecology) would combine close-up access to named

specimens from the collection in purpose designed study rooms (class rooms)

with practical outdoor sessions.

h. The proposed project at Halton aims to integrate the ‘undigested’ reserve collection

with the public galleries by creating linkage between the two. In doing so it will

deepen the resource available for access from Aylesbury while expanding and

refining the communication techniques we cultivate at Halton. We anticipate that

the Resource Centre will become the driver for programmes of hands on activity in

‘shelf to user’ projects engaging with adult learners to enable the County Museum

Galleries will steadily develop increased depth and relevance. Adult learners will

bring their own interests and preferences to the task creating materials that are

topical and relevant to real lives. Initial techniques developed in a joint study with

Richard Light (for MUA) and Wycombe Museum in 2013 show that the use of

MODES Complete software provides a versatile tool for capturing, mapping and

presenting research findings across large collections without the need for extensive

new data capture. However significant special subject expertise and the

development of larger, more regular task and finish research groups are needed to

deliver this.

These research tasks link overall to enable close integration of Halton with the County

Museum to inform a phase of delivery in gallery presentations.

Specialist Audiences

A particular instance of activity programming with strong local affiliation will be

Professional talks and events. At Halton - this will be a flagship offer which, if grant is

approved, will utilise HLF money to subsidise visits from national experts on

collections specific subjects relevant to the heritage and culture of Bucks, for example

early settlement, artists and poets of the area, , woodland, engineering, Stoke

Mandeville and the World Wars etc. These will represent the kernel for long-term self-

funded programmes, building the Centre into the cultural framework of the area and


providing material that will prompt wider participation in and exploration of the

collections resource.

As well as visits from individuals with a special interest related to the collection, there is

potential to build up the existing audience with specialist group tours, study days

research and design links with university students and courses (Bucks New University)

and visits from local heritage groups.

Visitors motivated to study at the Centre although potentially a minority of total visitors

responded strongly to the consultation questionnaire issued this spring (104

completions). 68% were motivated to visit for private research and fact finding and 69%

rated study facilities as one of their top three priorities. There availability of on line

interactivity with other heritage resource also attracted 69% approval in the top three

desiderata.

5.4 Marketing the Museum

A programme of work will significantly increase the priority given to audience

development and marketing and to the attraction of visitors:

A higher priority will be given to audience research and dialogue across the

museum service so that it plans and operates on the basis of data and

evidence.

Specific work will be undertaken on the brand and positioning of the Museum.

This will involve not only naming, corporate identity and design but will involve

Visitor Welcome training and website development.

The Trust will ensure the development of an Access Policy that identifies who it

aims to attract, for which parts of the offer, and how, across the museum

service, it will go about prioritising this work.

This will be supported by a Promotional Plan with detailed actions and a

timetable for implementation including the targeting of calendar events, specific

audiences, different media and a range of activity at different scales and

intensities .

A major part of this focus will be on the Museum’s use of social media, and the

Trust has already begun to consider how new web and social media presence

will be developed ready for launch as part of the general plan for the transition

period.

As part of these exercises the Trust will develop targets for audience

development across the early years of its management of the Museum, so as to


be able to direct resources to specific objectives and to monitor and report

successes and any areas of frustration.

A significant area of potential development is the presence of the museum and its

connection with potential audiences through the digital. Museum are increasingly

realising the potential to harness digital technologies in a range of ways:

Developing new digital display and interpretation approaches

Using digital technology and on site/off site digital access via the web to create

personalised learning/engagement experiences for users and visitors

Developing new approaches to hand held guides and mobile device apps – for

instance using learning apps on suites of tablets with school visitors

Many aspects of digital access to collections, including new standards of

digitisation, commercially viable licensing of collections for download and linking

of our collections to those of other institutions in ‘virtual loan’ projects

Using mobile device communication to communicate directly with visitors during

and after their visit, e.g. to survey visitors for feedback and develop the

customer relationship

Blogging, using twitter, facebook and other social media to develop a community

of interest around the museum and to mobilise support and engagement in that

network

Driving sustainability through integration of website and a finance application

developed through the digital strategy, enabling online enquiry, booking,

payment and sales.

The Trust will seek immediate progress in this area, starting with the commission of a

new website which maximises access to the collection online, improves visitor

information and reaches out to new audiences through the web and social media.


The Buckinghamshire County Museum

Draft Business Plan 2013-2016

6 Finance and operational planning

6.1 Status of financial planning

As discussed in section 4, the Trust is at the beginning of a period in which it will

balance the continuity and importance of existing services and methods of doing things,

with the imperative to start to plan changes to the service.

These changes will generate savings in costs through more efficient operation, new

income from supporters of the renewed vision for the Museum and income from trading

and services.

In the meantime, and while these longer term plans are developed in detail and agreed

with BCC and other stakeholders, the Trust has developed a financial plan that broadly

honours current commitments and structures for the first eighteen months of operation

but also shows the broad shape of income and expenditure across the first four years of

trust operation.

Over that period change will be planned and will begin to happen, with new incomes

beginning to be secured. Changes implemented will also take time to build up to have

their full effect. The full planning, implementation and effect of the changes we make

will not be fully realised until 2017/18 – which is likely to be the first full year of the

realisation of the long term goals of the Trust’s financial planning.

6.2 Budget Plan

The resulting income and expenditure forecast is on the following page.


EXPENDITURE 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18

Employee costs £468,460 £448,541 £436,727 £436,727

Salary uplift £8,226 £10,968 £10,968 £10,968

Training £732 £732 £732 £732

Subsistence £162 £162 £162 £162

Buildings Gardens Maintenance £3,650 £3,650 £3,650 £3,650

Cleaning £2,267 £2,267 £2,267 £2,267

Security Eq £4,830 £4,830 £4,830 £4,830

Safety Equipment £2,300 £2,300 £2,300 £2,300 Water £3,053 £3,053 £3,053 £3,053

Gas £15,404 £15,404 £15,404 £15,404

Electricity £28,834 £28,834 £28,834 £28,834

Oil £12,577 £12,577 £12,577 £12,577

Refuse £3,511 £3,511 £3,511 £3,511

Rates £20,214 £2,951 £2,951 £2,951

Transport petrol £450 £450 £450 £450

purchase/lease/insurance £4,500 £1,000 £1,000 £1,000

mileage £1,227 £1,227 £1,227 £1,227

travel £1,039 £1,039 £1,039 £1,039

Supplies Curatorial £1,293 £1,293 £1,293 £1,293

Administrative Equipment £1,000 £1,000 £1,000 £1,000

Postage £3,669 £3,669 £3,669 £3,669

Workshop materials/equipment £271 £271 £271 £271

Education Supplies £6,313 £6,313 £6,313 £6,313

Activities Programme £3,256 £3,256 £3,256 £3,256

Subscriptions £500 £500 £500 £500

Retail Purchase of shop items for resale £10,900 £10,900 £10,900 £10,900

Streamline Fees £909 £909 £909 £909

Purchase of food for resale £4,136 £0 £0 £0

Exhibition and Displays Temporary Exhibitions £2,341 £2,341 £2,341 £2,341

Display materials and equipment £920 £920 £920 £920

Publicity Printing and Marketing £5,678 £5,678 £5,678 £5,678

ICT £29,195 £29,195 £29,195 £29,195

ICT service support £0 £0 £2,000 £2,000

HR support £0 £0 £5,395 £5,395

Telephones £3,744 £3,744 £3,744 £3,744

Insurances £4,730 £4,730 £4,730 £4,730

Purchase Fund £11,500 £11,500 £11,500 £11,500

Art Sales Expenditure £13,407 £13,407 £13,407 £13,407

£685,198 £643,322 £638,704 £638,704

Capital development project

£20,000

Audit costs £4,500 £4,500 £4,500 £4,500

Payroll £1,400 £1,200 £1,200 £1,200

Additional financial support £8,500 £8,500 £8,500 £8,500

£14,400 £34,200 £14,200 £14,200

£699,598 £677,522 £652,903 £652,903


Revenue Income 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18

MK SLA 46,900 46,900 46,900 15,000

Shop Sales 28,337 29,187 30,063 30,965

Café Sales 9,705 0 7,000 7,000

Lettings 5,335 5,335 10,335 10,335

Chroma/repro/photocopy 1,488 1,488 1,488 1,488

RDCG public ticket sales 53,870 57,718 57,718 57,718

School party Income 70,809 70,809 70,809 70,809

Activities Income 7,929 7,929 7,929 7,929

Donations 22,500 17,000 17,000 17,000

General Income 6,300 6,300 6,300 6,300

Art Sales Income 14,860 14,860 14,860 14,860

Development income (loans/grants) 0 20,000 20,000 20,000

Total revenue income 268,033 277,526 290,402 259,404

BCC Management Fee 435,000 420,000 400,000 400,000

Salary Uplift 8,226 10,968 10,968 10,968

Transition Support 26,000 10,000

HR Support fee 0 0 5,395 5,395

ICT Support fee 0 0 35,674 35,674

Finance Support fee 0 0 2,368 2,368

737,259 718,494 701,370 670,372

£699,598 £677,522 £652,903 £652,903

£37,661 £40,972 £48,467 £17,469

Development fund £0 £37,661 £86,128 £103,597


Summary of known changes in 2014/15 (Year 1) budget:

1. 2013/4 director post vacant for 6 months

2. 2014/15 Add director additional 6 months’ salary cost margin, less part

year saving on catering assistant, part year pension savings and director

advertisement and training (except £500)

3. 2015/16 Subtracts full year catering salary and NI/Pensions lower rate

4. 2016/17 Phased into of 25% reduction in of FOH staffing costs to reflect use

of volunteers after initial years recruitment and training

5. 2014/15 Assumes trust from 1st July

6. 2015/16 Assumes BCM Trust pays only remaining 20% Business rate liable

for Halton and Gt M stores (none on Church St)

7. 2014/15 Save £5665 van lease; add in £4500 purchase and insurance cost

8. 2014/15 £2341 grant from Muir trust omitted

9. 2014/15 add new profile for brochure production and distribution (£5478);

£787 post collection service and £215 as 5% cut in postage

10. 2014/15 less Museums Ass subscription, £332 off exceptional object

purchases

11. 2014/15 5 months expenditure on café purchases

12. 2014/15 5% abatement in schools workshop materials

13. 2015/16Development project to invest in LZ areas

14. 2015/16 Includes Gift aid of 25% on £46174 of admissions

15. 2016/17 Additional £5000 lettings - one third of Saturdays in year (one third

are hired currently)

16. 2014/15 Includes additional deposit Northampton archives

17. 2014/15 onwards no major grants free of cost implications shown.

18. 2014/15 5 months café trading sales

19. 2015/16 Franchise at nil yield for 12 months to test turnover recovery - the

service has been loss making and post redeployed to reduce casual MA

costs

20. 2016/17 After initial free franchise year assumption following is for of £7k

notional fee. Actual will however be negotiated on a profit share basis

6.2 Assumptions

In summary the model of the Trust’s forecast business as set out here makes the

following assumptions:

Staffing


1. Employer’s costs have been allowed at 16% following actuarial advice on the

profile of staff for transfer under TUPE regulations. New staff terms will be reviewed

by the new Trustees and rates may be lower and a NEST (or similar) workplace

pension scheme will be put in place.

2. The post of Director (vacant for 6 months of the 2013/14 base year) has been

developed in light of detailed discussions about this key leadership role. Other

detailed staffing structures and posts will be reviewed in the second half of 2014/15

with the new Board of Trustees. Further substantial changes are not envisaged

before April 2015 at the earliest.

3. Following discussions with the appointed Director and with the County’s Finance

Department financial support from the County Council will remain in place during

2014/15. Allowance of £8500 to appoint to a financial support role. In order to

achieve the reduction in the forecast level of BCC contract over the period, the

Trust will move over time to a fuller engagement of volunteers, so as to enable a

gradual reduction in staffing costs in some areas.

4. Catering staff have been moved onto general Museum Assistant duties prior to

TUPE to enable the transfer of café operations to franchise with minimal

implications. This will also achieve a significant saving on casual staffing costs.

5. The figures assume that the Council will indemnify the Trust for any termination

costs incurred during the first 2 years from transfer.

Non-staff costs

1. An allowance is made under the heading Transition Costs for costs arising from

new operational systems including buy out of the transport contract, the creation of

an independent website and an EPOS till system as these will make a significant

impact on the sustainability of transferred operations.

2. The figures assume that the District Council will extend NNDR relief it gives the

trust to 100% for the main museum and that 80% relief on reserve collection stores

will be achieved.

3. At present income from grants and donations is shown at the level committed for

2014/15 and no assumptions are made about income for special exhibitions and

other projects in the Council’s forecasting.

4. The forward forecasts show programme and marketing costs (currently charged

against specific projects). The programme budget including education materials

and equipment is in part balanced by income targets under the headings ‘Trusts,

Foundations and donations’ and ‘Grants and commissioning contracts’.

5. In 2014/15 only some set up support is allowed in costs – the Trust will need this

resource as it takes over, to set up accounting systems, payroll systems, etc.

6. It is assumed that BCC will continue to provide some central services to the Trust

for a defined period without net cash charge. Maintenance obligations will be


covered by the leases but, for other services, BCC will provide the Trust with a

schedule of central services supplied now and its proposal for continuation so that

the Trust can decide which to retain.

Income

1. The Milton Keynes Service Level Agreement up to 2016 as confirmed by BCC has

been built into the forecast. MK has indicated that it is likely to purchase continuing

services for archaeological curation and events and exhibitions programming after

this date and a modest interim assumption of £15k is shown in the plan.

Consultation with other partners indicates likely income from 2016 for some shared

services and accommodation which have no extra cost implications

2. The Trust has limited its assumptions about donations and grants to reflect current

sustainable grant levels for core support. There is huge potential to increase this

revenue stream but ahead of transfer to Trust these have not been assumed.

3. Shop income – the plan forecasts 3% steady improvement in shop turnover and

especially in the profit margin in each, which currently seems to be low. All parties

understand that to deliver better performance as reflected in these figures, some

capital investment may be needed. The Trust will work as plans are developed and

the EPOS till funded from Transition costs will assist in maintaining accurate stock

control, higher margin management and more accurate accounting.

4. Café: After an initial free franchise year (see 5 under ‘staffing’ above) an

assumption is made of a £7k notional fee for the café franchise. Actual will however

be negotiated on a profit share basis

5. RDCG after transfer to trust recovery of gift aid on £46174 of admissions income is

assumed

6.3 Conclusion

These assumptions deliver the financial (and museum service) objectives of the Council

but additional opportunities are open to contribute significantly to service improvement

using the additional fundraising influence of the Trust and new business capital. The

initial years of the budget plan show only steady increments in several of the business

areas which could be achieved more ambitiously – notably in relation to the cafe, to the

contribution to overheads for exhibition and project grant funding and in the shop

The Trust does not feel that it can speculate on further specific savings or incomes in

light of present uncertainties, but is prepared, with the Council contributing the

transitional sums shown, to accept the challenge of delivering further cost


reductions/income increases over the base plan as shown so as to enable the project to

move forward.

In this situation, the starting financial position of the Trust will rely on the agreement of

the Council to making available to the Trust such funds and reserves as might be in

existence.

Finally, there are a number of external events in relation to which an assumption has

been made. It is understood that if reality proves to differ from the assumption in a way

that damages the trust's finances, the Trust will be entitled to start discussions with

BCC.

the buckinghamshire county museum trust business plan 2014

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