THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOURTH MEETING OF
THE TRUSTEES OF THE NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM
17 SEPTEMBER 2015
IN THE EDWARD HOLL ROOM, No 1 SMITHERY
CHATHAM HISTORIC DOCKYARD
MINUTES
Trustees present:
Sir Charles Dunstone
Linda Hutchinson
Sir Robert Crawford
Eleanor Boddington
Joyce Bridges
Carol Marlow
Jonathan Ofer
Eric Reynolds
Professor Alison Bashford
Jeremy Penn
Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope
Chairman
In attendance:
Kevin Fewster
Andy Bodle
Anupam Ganguli
Mike Sarna
Kate Seeckts
Richard Wilkinson
Christopher Gray
Director
Director, Operations and HR
Director of Finance
Director, Collections and Public Engagement
Director, Development
Director, Enterprises
Museum Secretary
The Trustees and Executive welcomed and were very grateful for Eric Reynold's significant pledge towards the Richard Wright project in the Queen's House.
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2. i
~Strategy Meeting~
Apologies
Received from Professor Chris Lintott, Trustee and Eric Reynolds, Trustee (who was not present for the Governance session).
Declaration of relevant interests related to this meeting
None other than those previously registered.
Chairman and Director's introduction to the morning
The Chairman and Director introduced the first of these annual Strategy
Meetings placing it in context with the Spending Review the Departmental-level result of which will be known in November. Although unfortunate in the immediate sense, this lack of conjunction gives Trustees the opportunity to look beyond the immediate horizon and into the timescale of the next corporate plan.

ii iii
Facts and figures 2008-15: Visitors, www, finance
Trustees noted but had no matters arising on the visitor or web figures.
Regarding the finance figures, Trustees considered that:
 The separate capex grant was a comparatively new innovation but was vulnerable as it could disappear in SR15.
 The proportion of self-generated income needed to be raised via increasing conversion rates and the spend per head.
 The model of externally funded staff (now standing at £400k per annum) was a good one to follow as the posts could be turned on to follow the funding and lessened the call on core funding.
 Trustees discussed endowments (though these were difficult in the current very low interest rates)
 Research sponsors such as the Leverhulme, Wellcome Trust, the European
Research Council etc. were also discussed and Trustees noted that certain of the Museum fellowships were already supported by grants from the Sackler
Foundation.
Trustees concluded that capacity and capability will drive where the potential for growth is.
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
The Director, Development and the Director, Enterprises took Trustees through the Executive's SWOT analysis.
The Directors commented that this was inevitably a snapshot at a particular moment and that many of the Weaknesses would be addressed by the
Endeavour project. Equally some of the strengths were also weaknesses – for example the glories of Greenwich coupled with the perception of the travel required from central London.
There were also opportunities – with 2.5 million visitors every year a small increase in spend per head resulted in significant income. Currently the
Museum is generating a spend per head of £0.82 - which could be much higher.
Absolute numbers is not the goal – it is conversion. Trustees agreed and stated that what matters is how good the experience is and the income derived from those visitors. Increased revenue generation must be possible from the existing, let alone additional, visitors.
The Directors also stated that there was still work to do to ensure the Museum continued to inculcate and grow a culture of raising money and engendering income across all its sites and activities.
The SWOT analysis provoked a good deal of discussion and comment amongst which the following points were made which centred around the opportunities for growth in self-engendered income:
 Trustees considered that there should be an audit of skills undertaken by the organisation to ensure the Museum has the skills for its self-sufficiency drive.
 Some thought that senior staff should be required to raise the funds for their own salaries.
 Trustees reiterated that there is significant further potential for sponsorship in the research area and that this work is vital to the Museum in order to maintain its status as a research organisation.
 Special exhibitions should be an opportunity for gifts etc so an attractive shop is vital to attract people and increase their conversion and the right

iv v vi product lines need to be researched and understood. Pop-up shops around the Museum can be successful and we need more of them.
 The big income lines are admissions (Cutty Sark and ROG) and we need to do significantly more on admissions to the ROG – this should be a priority.
 People need to be able to make a quick decision on where they want to go and what they want to see at entry – and the block at the Stanhope entrance does not help with that.
Trustees then focussed their discussion on the Borough with points as follows:
 Significant public and private investment had been made in Greenwich but it seems not to have garnered the returns that might have been expected – is enough being done to promote Greenwich? The town centre itself lacks quality though the hotels are certainly now of a better standard.
 There was a mixed economy in Greenwich but with a conservative spend per visitor – it was quite possible to come to Greenwich for a good day out and not have to spend at all.
 There were many new residents in the Borough - particularly on the peninsula - that should be persuaded by the Museum's content.
 That there did not seem to be sufficient local political will to deal with the issue of the cycling around the foot tunnel, and Cutty Sark Gardens.
 The Museum needed repeat visitors and the currently poor environs of
Greenwich town centre and its shops/restaurants do not encourage this.
Trustees agreed that they should put new energy into the important subject of
Greenwich as a major destination and instigate a way of bringing local politicians along on this journey.
Strategic risk register
The Director of Finance reported that since the June Board meeting, he had populated the current and future mitigating actions columns with the help of
Executive colleagues. The risks have also been scored on the final page.
Two of the four red and amber risks were specifically reviewed later in the meeting – namely cuts to GIA, and the Endeavour project.
The Board then agreed the new approach to the strategic risk register and its content. The Board was also happy for it to be used going forward from
September 2015 onwards.
What will the Museum look like in 2018?
This paper was taken as read.
Strategic timeline 2015-25
The Director took Trustees through the timeline on a line by line basis. The
Board noted the ambitious and exciting programme agreeing that Kidbrooke and the Endeavour project must proceed and that stasis is not an option for any organisation.
The Director drew specific attention to the 350 th anniversary of the ROG in
2025. Trustees considered that the Executive must move to Phase II planning for the ROG as soon as possible and when the funding market is completed for the Endeavour project it should be opened for the ROG.
Trustees also considered that the Queen's House, with its imbalance between its importance and its visitation, needed renewed and concentrated focus post its
2016 reopening.

Fundraising was discussed at length with the Museum's vital need to ensure its projects or the strands of its work are planned with fundability in mind.
Competition for sponsorship is high but there are still plenty of opportunities for the Museum's subjects to strike the right chords with philanthropists but to assist with this the Museum needs to invest in and support the Development staff and operation.
Trustees considered that more strategic thinking needs to be brought to bear on the collections strategy - where the gaps are; is it too big; why is there so much in store; do we have the right curatorial expertise, and is the documentation programme up to expectations. The Director, Collections and Public
Engagement reported that a draft of a collections stewardship and display paper addressing exactly these issues (stewardship, display, accessibility, digitisation) had been produced and that a later version would be coming to Trustees.
Trustees were pleased with this news as they need to ensure that the governance of the organisation was aligned with these core Museum activities and, most importantly, that they are clearly articulated for everyone.
Returning to the Timeline itself it was noted that it was mainly delineating projects and that more detail on the core functions of the Museum would have been appreciated – particularly more granularity about self-engendered income.
Trustees thought that the management accounts may be developed to provide this information.
The Trustees and the Executive noted that there may also be the need to redesigning the organisation in the very near future and that there should therefore also be a governance line on the timeline.
Trustees endorsed the fact that the library is, although a small section, an internationally renowned centre for research and should receive more visibility when strategies are considered. The same was true of publishing.
Finally in this section of the meeting Trustees were conscious that the prognosis for on-going adequate funding from the centre was poor. Therefore the Board should consider whether a different governance model could be constructed to provide an alternative funding system and the commensurate independence from the centre. Trustees returned to this question in agenda item 12. viii The agenda for the strategy meeting in September 2016
Trustees were grateful for the session which had given the Board a greater understanding of the current and future issues and in turn to enable Trustees to think in depth about the way forward.
The Board agreed that the substantial part of the business of the 22 September
2016 Strategy Meeting should concern itself with the masterplanning of the
Royal Observatory.
~
The Trustees and Executive then met with their hosts for the day in the Commissioner's
House:
Admiral Sir Ian Garnett, KCB, Chairman of the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust;
Admiral Sir Trevor Soar, KCB, OBE, Chairman Elect; Bill Ferris, OBE, Chief Executive of Chatham Historic Dockyard and Richard Holdsworth, MBE, Preservation and
Education Director, Chatham Historic Dockyard

3.
4.
5.
~Governance Session~
Draft Minutes of the previous meeting: 343 of 6 June 2015
The Board agreed the minutes to be a true record of the meeting and the
Chairman certified the minutes accordingly.
Director’s Report for Q1 2015–16
The Director spoke to his report stating that Against Captain's Orders had been a terrific boost for the Museum with great word-of-mouth praise and press and media coverage. With hindsight the show probably ran for too long but the
Museum achieved a shift to a new audience and the value to audience and brand-building was very worthwhile. The Cutty Sark itself could be seen as a giant theatre.
This sentence redacted in accordance with clause 31. (1)(g) of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
The Board were grateful for and noted the Director's Report with no other matters arising.
The Director tabled a paper to Trustees to update the Board on the Richard
Wright project. The Director wished to confirm the Museum's commitment to the project with the artist as soon as possible, given the level of planning that will be required to complete the artwork by the time the Queen’s House reopens in July 2016. Trustees agreed to the Director making that commitment.
Director of Finance Report
5.1 Finance report to June 2015 & Executive expenses
The Director of Finance reported on the management accounts for the Museum for the first quarter of this financial year. The Cutty Sark was not included in this report as it was transferred to the Museum on 1 August 2015.
The actual operating surplus for the first three months was £724k compared to a budgeted deficit of £451k. This is mainly due to delays in expenditure and grants received last year which were deferred until the current year. These are offset by adverse variance against budget on retail performance (in the main
Museum and Exhibitions shops) and memberships.
The Membership budget for the year was optimistic and has been adjusted in the Q1 forecast as has the forecast retail gross profit.
The capital result is a surplus of £588k compared to a budget deficit of £771k after three months. The main reasons for this are: delayed expenditure on fixed assets, acquisitions and the Endeavour project, and two donations for the
Endeavour project received earlier in the year than budgeted.
Trustees noted the management accounts and the Directors' expenses for the quarter.
5.2 NMM and Cutty Sark consolidated budget
The Director of Finance stated that this paper asks the Trustees to formally approve the consolidated budget for NMM and the Cutty Sark. The respective budgets were approved by the respective Audit/Finance Committees of the two

organisations before the start of the financial year. But as the ship was transferred to the Museum on 1 August 2015, the consolidated budged now comprises a 12-month budget for the NMM and an eight-month budget for the
Cutty Sark.
At 31 March 2014, the Cutty Sark had cash reserves of £159k. At 1 August 2015 i.e. sixteen months later, when the ship came to the Museum, the cash reserves are expected to be £799k (subject to audit for the results of the final 16 month period as the financial statements are not ready yet.)
As the Cutty Sark was budgeted to make a deficit in the final eight months of the financial year, the Revenue budget surplus for the consolidated entity is a surplus of £408k. The consolidated capital budget is £974k.
The Board then approved the NMM and Cutty Sark consolidated budget for the remainder of 2015-16.
5.3 NMM and Cutty Sark forecast at Q1
The Director of Finance reported that the Revenue forecast showed a surplus of
£376k against a budgeted surplus of £504k.
The main adverse variances against the original budget were as a result of:
1) An in-year cut of 0.375% in Revenue GIA
2) A reduction in the retail gross margin reflecting the performance of the main and exhibition shops
3) A reduction in membership income to reflect a more realistic outturn
4) A reduction of ticket income from Against Captain’s Orders
5) A net reduction in sponsorship income
At the time the budget was approved, the ticket prices and expected visitor figures for Pepys were not finalised. The budget assumed a headline adult price of £10 and total visitors of 75,000. Based on audience research, the adult price will be £12 and 85,000 visitors are expected. The impact of this is additional income of £109k.
The Capital budget deficit has increased from £906k to £1,198k. The bids for additional monies were detailed in section 1.2 of the report but the largest of these is £130k for unbudgeted asbestos removal works in the Park Row wing.
The Cutty Sark’s revenue deficit for 8 months has increased from £98k to
£132k. The increase is due to the costs of roof and glass repairs and remedial electrical works which were originally scheduled to be carried out before the ship transferred over. These have been offset by £50k of sponsorship which was invoiced after the ship transferred.
The capital budget has increased by £93k. Again, this is a timing issue. These were meant to be done before August 2015 but were delayed.
Trustees then agreed the forecast as at Q1.
5.4 Income update for April-August 2015
The Director of Finance reported that the main points were:
1) The reduction in Retail gross profit margin (which was mentioned in 5.1)
2) Admissions income to the ROG North Site is close to budget but the
Planetarium and the Cutty Sark are ahead of budget.

6.
3) Grants, Donations and revenues from patrons are ahead of budget but membership is down – this has been reflected in the forecast.
4) Ticket income from Against Captain’s orders is significantly below budget but is close to the forecast.
5) Income from learning programmes is £43k above budget.
Trustees noted and were grateful for the income update report.
Endeavour project
6.1 Progress report
The Chair of the Development Board updated Trustees on fundraising prospects for the galleries and that the Museum's team was preparing an application to this sentence redacted in accordance with clause 43.(1)(2) Commercial
interests, of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This will be submitted in time for the deadline and a visit to the Museum by the Foundation’s Trustees is scheduled for 1 October 2015.
The Director reminded Trustees that the Museum had written to HLF to confirm that any shortfall in the fundraising for the galleries would be underwritten by the Museum. A decision on the galleries will need to be made at the middle of 2016 when HLF make the decisions on Phase 2 of the application.
The four elements of the project were then reported upon as follows:
Kidbrooke
The Director of Operations and HR reported that the public consultation had been carried out with positive and interested verbal responses received from members of the public. This meant that the planning application was on track to be submitted in October.
ROG
The larger aspect of masterplanning the ROG had been discussed in the strategy session but for the Phase 1 works as a subset of the Endeavour project Purcell have completed a feasibility study to look at the North side entrance and shop.
The study has been shared with the project team and comments are being collated, ahead of the scheme being costed.
Galleries
The Director and the Director, Collections and Public Engagement reported that the four galleries were now at the detailed concept development stage and with recent value engineering they were now very close to budget.
Accommodation
On the staff accommodation element of the project the Director drew Trustees attention to the unwelcome continuance of the asbestos removal works in the
Park Row Wing. This had taken significantly longer than programmed with some curious and unexpected complexities. As yet, however, the prolongation was not affecting the critical path of this project element. The Director confirmed that staff still working in the ground floor of the Wing were fully aware of the issues but were protected and safe.
The Director reported that opportunities for selling the Brass Foundry continued to be examined. The Royal Borough had been approached and the
Borough's officers thought they could see a possible future use as a school.

7.
8.
It was agreed to delete the word ‘proposed’ from the assurances section as this work was clearly now under way.
Overall Trustees were content with the project's progress though remained alive to the importance of fundraising.
6.2 HLF Activity Plan
Trustees noted that Sir Robert Crawford had commented upon the Plan and that the Museum team was meeting Linda Hutchinson and, separately, the HLF monitor for further discussions and exploration of this most important document about widening audiences and participation – and the Museums internal cultures and mechanisms required to achieve this goal.
Trustees were happy to note and endorse the work on and content of the
Activity Plan to date.
Web project update
The Director, Enterprises took Trustees through the report confirming that it was the report format that went to the Executive on a monthly basis. He explained that due to a key supplier capacity problem the launch date was necessarily moving back 2 weeks.
Trustees heard that the content management system, the engine of the new website, was working well as it moves towards a simpler system which allows more staff to be trained to be able to contribute content.
The current website of some 5,500 pages had been boiled down to some 2,500 pages ready for the re-launch.
Next year's Phase II would bring together ticketing and retail and the website will then have the facility for users to donate online and to add a donation when a purchase is made.
Trustees were pleased to note the progress being made and looked forward to seeing the launch in November.
Ships Clocks and Stars closure report
The Director, Collections and Public Engagement introduced the closure report by noting that this was the latest in a series of reports which the Museum had been running for some three years since the opening of the Special Exhibitions
Gallery in the Sammy Ofer Wing.
Over that period the closure reports had been very useful for staff to both construct and to learn from but that in future Trustees agreed that they need only see the executive summary of each.
Trustees noted that this very successful exhibition was now on tour and that its current location was at Mystic Seaport.
As well as the excellent reputational outcomes for the Museum, the financial results were very good since sponsorship of this amount redacted in accordance with clause 41.(1) Information provided in confidence and
43.(1)(2) Commercial interests, of the Freedom of Information Act 2000,

9. including the touring element, had been achieved and an overall surplus of £97k had been generated.
Trustees noted the £250k expenditure on marketing and again discussed whether its apportionment entirely to the special exhibition was a useful approach considering the wider promotional aspects to the Museum as a whole.
The Director, Collections and Public Engagement made the point that the exhibition's success was also contributory to the enhanced secondary spend in retail and the café over the period.
Cutty Sark - update on integration and performance
The Director added to the report that:
 the cooling issue in the reception areas had now been settled with the designers at a fair cost
 the budget assumed no sponsorship going forward so the outcome of the talks between HSBC and the Director, Development was keenly awaited
 other capital works outstanding were now essentially complete apart from the lighting
 Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope was currently engaged in establishing the Cutty
Sark Advisory Committee which as arranging to have its first meeting before the end of the year.
Trustees were grateful for and noted the update and the outstanding matters.
10. Disposals from the Collection
Trustees considered then agreed the disposal of the Shamrock and the steam turbine motor.
11. Matters arising from information in Volume B of the papers
The Director commended the Annual Collections Management and Library
Report 2014–15 to Trustees.
There were no other matters arising from the information in Volume B of the
Board papers.
12. S.R. 2015
The Director of Finance introduced the paper updating Trustees on the timetable for the spending review and which gave a summary of the discussions the Museum has had with DCMS so far, and the various information requests from the Department. It summarised different scenarios that have been modelled and their impact and the paper that was tabled at the meeting showed what steps might be taken under each of the scenarios to effect the savings required.
Appendix D reproduced the letter sent by the National Museum Directors’
Council to the Chancellor which reiterated the fact that if the government wished to uphold the policy of free admission then funding must be maintained.
In terms of the timetable, Trustees were informed that DCMS will know what the departmental settlement is on the 25 November and ALBs will be informed about their individual settlements probably before Christmas.

The SR settlement period is expected to be for 5 years with a flat cash settlement in the final year and therefore the models that have been worked on cover four years, assuming year 5 will be the same as year 4. For simplicity the scenarios have been modelled on a cash basis.
Trustees noted the financial effect of 15%, 20%, 25% and 40% cuts. While the phasing of the cuts across the four years is not yet known the assumption has been that the cuts will be front loaded. A paper was tabled which outlined the impact upon the Museum's work of the reduced funding scenarios.
Trustees viewed the potential impacts with great concern.
Trustees discussed options for charging (the compensation for free admission given in 2000 has now been essentially withdrawn) and noted that as RMG is a campus site and already charges for the ROG and the Cutty Sark, charging for the NMM galleries and the Queen’s House would be a complicated addition.
Trustees agreed that between now and November the most important thing to do is to make the case for the cut to be as low as possible. Lobbying is vital.
For their next meeting Trustees requested governance models including that of
Historic Royal Palaces to be made available for consideration.
Action: Secretary
13. Next Board Meeting
2:00pm 19 November 2015.
Minutes approved by Sir Charles Dunstone, Chairman Date