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Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum - Chair of Trustees Recruitment Pack

Thank you for your interest in the role of Chair of Trustees at Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum. The following application pack details the responsibilities of the role, as well as the skills and experience we are looking for.

If you have any questions about the role, please contact the interim Chair, Guy Woodcock, on guy.woodcock@montintegrated.com

About Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum

Brief History

The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum is located within the historic docks in the city of Gloucester. The museum tells the story of two regiments of the British Army, the former Gloucestershire Regiment (the Glosters; now part of 1 Rifles), including its antecedents the 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot and the 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot, and the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars (RGH; now part of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry).

The Glosters’ museum collection was begun in 1926, when it was housed at Victoria Dock in Bristol, and has been at its current location since June 1990, when it was formally opened by The Duke of Gloucester. The Museum is jointly run between the Glosters (77.5%) and the RGH (22.5%) and was further refurbished in 2014 following a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

With the restructuring of the modern army and the reserve army, and with the merging of the RGH into the Royal Wessex Yeomanry and the eventual merging of the Glosters into what is now 1st Battalion The Rifles, the museum maintains active relationships with the modern army through its 1 Rifles links and the Reserve army through its Royal Wessex Yeomanry links.

The Collection

SOGM does not own any historic items but instead it manages the collections on behalf of two Trusts: the Gloucestershire Regiment Museum Trust and the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Trust. These collections are deposited with the museum under long-term loan agreements with the museum overseeing their care and conservation.

The items on display have been accumulated over the last 300 years and exhibits include life size dioramas, sound effects, archive film and many fixed displays reflecting campaigns in the Napoleonic Wars, the First Anglo-Sikh War, the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the Indian Mutiny, the Second Boer War, the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, and peace-keeping duties in Cyprus, Bosnia, Kosovo and Northern Ireland. It also explores more recent campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Current Visitors and Activities

The museum is open throughout the year between Wednesday and Sunday, 10am to 4pm. We have a brief period of closure over Christmas. We received 6755 visitors in the past twelve months. We charge a small entry fee and encourage Gift Aid donations.

Throughout the year, we host a number of events, including a programme during school holidays. There are several annual events taking place in and around the Museum within the historic docklands complex, including Armed Forces Day, Gloster Day, Gloucester Goes Retro, and Tall Ships (bi-annual).

Brief Overview of Finances

We are a small charity with trading account revenue of about £50,000 (fluctuating) per annum, augmented annually by one-off grants and donations.

Previously, we have been supported by the Ministry of Defence both financially and with a long-term lease of the Customs House building. In recent years, we have become a fully financially independent organisation and now own our building, purchased through a benefactor connected via family with the Gloucestershire Regiment. We have reasonable reserves which we seek to build up substantially as part of a major development plan for renewing and upgrading the museum over the next five years.

Our major income streams include admissions, gift shop and café income, donations and memberships, and grant funding. Our expenditure includes staff salaries, utilities, insurance, and building maintenance.

Korean Links

The museum has a unique relationship with South Korea. In April 1951, the Gloucestershire Regiment sacrificed themselves to protect retreating UN forces in Korea at the Battle of Imjin River. Many were captured by the Chinese and suffered a horrendous ordeal as prisoners of war. The Korean people have never forgotten this sacrifice and so we maintain a partnership relation with a museum in Busan and have frequent visits and congress with the Government in Paju (a city that sits on the Imjin River). We are also key operators in the British Korean Society that aims to foster friendship between UK and Republic of Korea.

Leadership & Management

The SOGM has a full time Museum Director who is the principal executive officer running the museum’s operations on a day-to-day basis, working and reporting to the Board, supported by a small part-time paid staff.  The day to day running of the Museum is supported by a small and active group of volunteers. The Museum Director and volunteers are supported by a volunteer Board of Trustees.

The Museum Director and Trustees of the Museum maintain close relations and reporting processes with the Gloucestershire Regimental Museum Trust and the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Trust respectively who run the collections.

The Opportunity

The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum is currently seeking a new Chair of the Board of Trustees, to provide non-executive leadership to our organisation in a time of exciting development.  We are looking for an experienced individual, ideally with experience in the cultural or charity sector, to act as a key representative and advocate for our proud independent regional military museum.

Over the next five years, Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum will be taking ambitious steps to develop our audience, deliver capital projects which will improve our visitor offer, and secure long-term financial sustainability. As a small, volunteer led museum with minimal paid staff, the Chair will primarily support the Director in designing and implementing a new strategic plan which seeks to place the Museum at the heart of the Gloucestershire county and its communities. The Chair will lead the Board of Trustees through this period, providing good governance and leadership practices and develop a constructive and positive working environment across the organisation. They will ensure high standards of organisational and financial management and maintain a supportive working relationship with the Director.

Responsibilities

Working with the Museum Director, team of volunteers and fellow trustees, we would expect the Chair of Trustees to:

  • Act as a key representative and advocate of the Museum both internally and externally, to a range of stakeholders across the museum sector, military sector, and the county.
  • Chair meetings of the Board of Trustees, ensuring effective management of the agenda, discussion, and reporting.
  • Support the Museum Executive Director in carrying out their duties, acting as a point of contact for any guidance or queries as required.
  • Provide strategic leadership to the Museum and the Board of Trustees with regards to museum development, financial sustainability, and community engagement.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

We are looking for an excellent individual to lead the Board of Trustees through a period of great change and growth. We anticipate that you will have the following skills, knowledge, and experience:

  • You will have had experience of Chairing committees to enable inclusive, constructive debate leading to properly reasoned, minuted and deliverable decisions.
  • You will have experience of working with a wide range of stakeholders and with volunteers, ensuring the maintenance of an inclusive and collaborative culture
  • Although not a prerequisite, you may have knowledge and experience of working in the cultural or charity sector, including knowledge of relevant funding bodies and professional organisations such as Arts Council England
  • Although not a prerequisite, you may have a knowledge of and interest in the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum, military history, and the county of Gloucestershire

The Commitment

The full Board of Trustees meets three times a year, which the Chair is expected to attend in person. There are also several other committees and working groups which meet once a month, and the Chair will be expected to provide a supportive working relationship with the Museum Executive Director.

Overall, we anticipate the time commitment for this role to be three or four days a month.

The Museum is a registered company limited by guarantee and a registered charity. The Board comprises one ex officio Trustee being the appointed Colonel for the Glosters for Gloucestershire, 12 Ordinary members and 4 Nominated by the RGH trustees. Ordinary members are appointed for an initial term of four years and can be re-elected indefinitely. However, due to the desired requirements of this role in developing and implementing a new strategic plan, we envisage that a Chair will be appointed for an initial term of five years.  All the members of the Board are also members of the company and in addition there are three members of the company who can vote at an AGM. There is a small wholly owned subsidiary which is the charity’s trading company.

Further Information

A copy of “The Essential Trustee: What you need to know” can be read or downloaded at the following address:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-essential-trustee-what-you-need-to-know-cc3

Further detail about the responsibilities of Directors may be found at the following websites:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/charity-trustee-whats-involved

Further information about the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum can be found at: https://soldiersofglos.com/

How to Apply

To make an informal enquiry about the role of Chair prior to submitting an application, please contact Deputy Chair Guy Woodcock at guy.woodcock@montintegrated.com.

To apply you will need to submit a CV, together with a supporting statement explaining how you believe you match the requirements of the role, directly addressing the skills, knowledge and experience sections of the role description. Please send your CV and supporting statement to Board Secretary, Ellie King, at ellie.king.1@warwick.ac.uk.

Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis.