Financial Statements
The trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 July 2007

Trustees' Responsibilities

• Charity law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the surplus or deficit of the charity for that period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees are required to:
• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
• make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
• state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.
• They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Structure, Governance and Management

Principal Activities
The Trust was founded in 1950 and endowed by the late Mr Angus Acworth, CBE.   It operates under a Deed of Settlement, dated 1 February 1963.

Appointment of Trustees
On the retirement of a Trustee, the Trustees decide in which area they need to have additional expertise and recruit a Trustee from that field.   The new Trustee is   identified and appointed by the remaining Trustees. The main areas of expertise are the arts, and particularly music, and the field of conservation, with special interest in historic buildings and churches, together with knowledge   of museums.

Trustee Training
The Trust is a member of the Association of Charitable Foundations which runs courses specifically for Trustees of grant-giving charities. The Trustees are encouraged to attend any of the sessions on offer.

Structure, Governance and Management (continued)

Induction and training of Trustees
The Chair of Trustees is responsible for the induction of any new Trustee which involves awareness of a trustee's responsibility, the governing document, administrative procedures, the history and philosophical approach of the charity. Under the auspices of the Association of Charitable Foundations, the Trustees are able to attend training sessions on various aspects of grant giving.   The new Trustees receive an information pack on the Trust and its grant giving policy, together with a copy of the last annual report and accounts.

Risk Review
In carrying out their risk review the Trustees considered that the respective risks to which the charity was exposed and the systems established to mitigate those risks were as follows:

Financial
The risk of the loss of (or drop in) the charity's capital or income was mitigated by the Trustees having re-entered the investment management of their portfolio of investments, as a result of which CCLA (who are respected in the field) were selected.

The risk of misapplication of grants was mitigated by insisting on receipts and confirmation (in the case of students) from their university that the grant money had been received and forwarded. In the case of projects of an uncertain nature, no money is forwarded until it is certain that the project is able to proceed according to plan. There have been very few instances of fraudulent applications, but checks have enabled these to be detected. The operation of the charity's bank account requires the signature of a Trustee on each movement of funds; the Secretary is only authorised to make transfers between the charity's accounts.

Personnel
The risk of the Secretary administering the charity alone is an acknowledged one. However, access to her computer and the data on it could easily be arranged, and the trustees would be able to take executive action to keep the work of the charity functioning.   There are good records which could be used to recover from any system crash, and the Chairman keeps a copy of all proceedings of the charity, as do the charity's bankers and accountants.

Reputation
All applications for grants are sent to the Secretary. Those requests not suitable for the trust are rejected by her but the list of rejections is given to the Trustees at each meeting and they may query the rejection and ask for the application to be reinstated. Acceptable applications are considered by the Trustees at each meeting and grants are awarded according to favourable consensus so long as funds are available. The Trustees give careful thought on each occasion to whether accepting or as the case may be declining any particular grant application which may damage the reputation of the charity.

Objectives and Activities

Objectives
The trustees aim to distribute the income on the capital each year and plan the amounts of their grants accordingly.   The trustees met on 19th February 2007 to review the guidelines for applicants and agreed to adopt the following wording:

In furtherance of and for the purposes of implementing the charitable objects of The Leche Trust as set out in the Settlement dated 1st February 1963, The Leche Trustees have resolved that the following (which are not in order of precedence but which follow the particular wishes of the Settlor) shall be their non-exclusive guidelines for the purposes of determining whether favourable consideration should be given to applicants for financial assistance from the Trust:

1. the promotion of amity and good relations between Britain and third world countries by financing visits to such countries by teachers or other appropriate persons, or providing financial assistance to students from overseas especially those in financial hardship during the last six months of their postgraduate doctorate study in the UK or those engaged in activities consistent with the charitable objects of the Trust;
   
   
2. assistance to academic, educational or other organisations concerned with music, drama, dance and the arts;
   
   
3. the preservation of buildings and their contents and the repair and conservation of church furniture (including such items as monuments, but excluding structural repairs to the   church fabric); preference is to be given to buildings and objects of the Georgian period;
   
   
4. assistance to conservation in all its aspects, including in particular museums and encouraging good practice in the art of conservation by supporting investigative and diagnostic reports;
   
   
5. the support of charitable bodies or organisations associated with the preservation of the nation's countryside, towns, villages and historic landscapes.

As a matter of present policy the Trustees are in general not minded to make grants for or to:- religious bodies, overseas missions etc., schools or school buildings, social welfare, animals, medicine, expeditions or British students.

Review of Activities
The Trustees met three times during the year to discuss grant applications and approved 59 grants amounting to £303,150 (2006: £200,608). The Students Committee also approved 14 grants to individual overseas students, totalling £11,335. Note 5 to the financial statements shows how the grants were distributed and include grants approved and brought forward from previous years. The total payments amounted to £167,843 (2006: 177,065). Grants approved which were unpaid at the year end amounted to £273,730 (2006: £145,423).

Historic Buildings
The Trustees gave nine grants, representing 15% of the total, towards the restoration of Georgian buildings.   The largest grant of £10,000 went towards the restoration of the Cascade at Hardwick Park in County Durham. The National Trust received a grant of £7,000 for the drawings of the Chippendale cabinet at Stourhead which were being made as part of the current restoration of this fine object.  The Square Chapel in Halifax received a grant of £6,000 towards the reinstatement of the railings surrounding the exterior of the church, as they appeared in an engraving of 1772. Heritage Link was given a grant of £2,000 towards the maintenance of their website,  Heritage Funding Directory, which acts as a guide to funding sources for all heritage projects. The Trustees hoped that their grant would enable the Directory to be kept up to date and that it would be a useful source of information for volunteers engaged on heritage restoration projects.   The Landmark Trust received a grant of £4,000 towards the restoration of Queen Anne's Summerhouse on the Shuttleworth Estate in Bedfordshire which will be turned into holiday accommodation. The Trustees' grant went towards the restoration of the front door.

Churches
The Trustees gave fourteen grants towards the restoration of church furnishings, representing 14% of the total funds available.   The largest grant of £9,000 went towards the restoration of the monument to William Smythe in St Dunstan's Church, Cranford, Middlesex. They also gave a grant of £4,000 towards the restoration of 17th and 18th century vestments in the Church of the Assumption, Upper Froyle in Hampshire. The monument to Sir John Pettus and Sir Augustus Pettus and his wife Abigail, in the church of St Simon and St Jude in Norwich, also received a grant   of £5,000 towards its restoration. The Trustees also gave a grant of £2,000 towards the restoration of a monument to the Bygrave and Stone families, dating from the 1820s, in the churchyard of St Mary's Church, Hickling, Norfolk.   The Trustees also gave a grant of £5,000 towards the restoration of the organ built by George Pike England in St Thomas's Church, Stourbridge in 1809.

Achievements , Performance and Financial Review (continued)

Institutions and Museums
The Trust gave a total of twelve grants towards restoration projects in museums and institutions, reflecting 45% of the total grant sum.     The Trustees agreed to give an exceptional grant of £100,000 towards the next stage in the development of the Sir John Soane Museum.   Following the purchase of No. 14 Lincoln's Inn Fields and its restoration as part of the Soane Museum Masterplan, the Trustees agreed to help with the restoration of the original model room, on the second floor of No. 13 which is currently being used as the Director's office, and which will form part of the restoration and opening to visitors of the whole of that floor, with its original rooms reinstated as in Sir John's time. The work will involve the restoration of the models that are currently preserved in the house and the re-instatement of the room as shown in a watercolour c. 1834. The Trustees also gave a grant of £8,400 towards the restoration of several portraits at the Society of Antiquaries, in preparation for their forthcoming exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts.   The National Portrait Gallery received a grant of £4,000 towards their major investigation into Tudor and Jacobean painting techniques using the latest scientific method. The grant would enable research to be undertaken on one painting. A grant of £4,500 was given to Brighton Museum and Art Gallery towards the restoration of the costume of Sake Deen Mohammed. The Bude-Stratton Museum in Cornwall received a grant of £5,000 towards the restoration of the Georgian fireplaces in the Castle. The John Rylands Museum Library in Manchester received a second grant of £3,000 towards the purchase of specialist storage boxes for their collection.

Education
The Trust gave one grant to an individual in the form of a bursary, representing 1% of the funds.   The Trustees gave the grant of £1,990 to a student who wished to undertake additional training in the field of photography conservation.

Arts
The Trust gave grants to twenty four organisations which totalled 21% of the available funds. The Trustees concentrated most of the grants towards performances of dance and opera. They supported Clonter Opera with a grant of £5,000 for the Clonter Opera Prize which will be awarded in January 2008 for students nominated by the heads of opera at the Music Colleges.   The Trustees gave a grant of £5,000 To London Contemporary Dance School towards the commissioning of short contemporary dance pieces by dancers who were approaching the end of their dancing career. This follows a previous grant which helped choreography commissions by students at the school. The Trustees supported several performances at festivals around the country and also several musical competitions.   The Trustees gave a grant of £4,000 to Aldeburgh Music to support their String Quartet Residences.   The Foundation of Young Musicians was once again supported by a grant of £3,000 towards their forthcoming summer tour. The Trustees gave a grant of £4,000 towards the cost of live music for a production at the Polka Theatre, Wimbledon. The Northumberland Theatre Company was once again supported with a grant of £2,000 towards their current tour to small theatres in the north of England. The Trustees gave a grant of £5,000 towards the commissioning and realisation of new music for a production by the Bonachela Dance Company.

Achievements , Performance and Financial Review (continued)

Overseas Students
The Trustees gave thirteen grants to overseas students who are in the last six months of their PhD courses.   The students came from ten different countries. These grants represent approximately 4% of the total expenditure.     The average grant was approximately £870.   Once again the Trustees noted a marked decrease in the number of applications that were received from eligible students, and were unable to spend all the monies allocated to this type of grant.

See Note 5 to the financial statements for further details of grants awarded.

Outstanding Grants
There are, as always, a small number of outstanding grants which have over-run the 2-year time limit for acceptance, beyond which the trust can decide to withdraw their contribution. The Secretary is closely monitoring the situation.

Grants not taken up

The grant of £5,000 to St. James's Church, Upper Wield, Hampshire for the restoration of the Waloppe Monument was returned to the Trust as the Church had managed to raise the required funding from other sources.

The grant due to From Museum which was reported as totalling £5,000 in the 2006 financial statements actually amounted to £3,000 and the difference has been adjusted through the SOFA in the current year.

• HB = Historic Buildings
• Ch = Churches
• Ed I & M = Institutions and Museums
• Ed (Ind) = Individuals
• OS = Overseas Students
• Arts = Arts, music and drama

Achievements , Performance and Financial Review (continued)

Investment performance
The principal objective of the Trust is to spend its income on grant giving to organisations and individuals as set out in the Trust Deed. To this end, the Trustees are keen to ensure that the income stream is not only maintained but rises year on year to ensure that the level of giving can slowly increase.   The Trustees understand that the value of the capital may fluctuate but they are agreed that the level of income should at least remain constant.   The Trustees are satisfied with the performance of the Charity's investments during the year.

Reserves Policy
The Trustees' policy is that so far as possible the annual income of the Trust should be applied exclusively towards its charity grants and in administration of the Trust. However, it is thought prudent to establish some modest reserves from underspent income so as to ensure that should there be any unexpectedly substantial call upon the resources of the Trust, the Trustees would be in a position to respond.

Plans for Future Periods

Details of the charity's future plans and objectives
The Trustees are committed to continuing to give grants to organisations and individuals   in a similar way to the recent past, continuing the emphasis on the arts and heritage areas of giving but retaining flexibility as to the timing, and scale of grant making..   They will endeavour to ensure that there is a spread of grants across the various areas and that no one area will have priority to the funding.   They also recognise that a considerable number of their grants will constitute matching funding with other grant-giving bodies.

Approved by the Board of Trustees on

Mr Simon Swynfen Jervis
Trustee