It has been confirmed that Durham Police are investigating claims of financial concerns at Beamish. The financial concerns were first raised last September with a staff member being suspended at the same time with this reported directly to the Charity Commission for them to make their own investigations into the report.
In a statement the Charity Commission have said: “Beamish Museum submitted a serious incident report, in line with our guidance, to the commission last year in relation to financial concerns at the charity. We have engaged with the trustees to assess their handling of the matter. We are continuing to monitor the charity’s next steps and cannot comment further at this time.”
The exact nature of the financial concerns has not been reported and whilst it is in the hands of the Police neither the Charity Commission or Beamish themselves will be able to make any further comment.
It was also confirmed last month that Richard Evans, Director of Beamish, had resigned from his role and that he had been suspended since last September. There is no evidence that Mr Evans has been accused of any wrong doing in connection to these concerns.
Beamish remains closed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and a spokeswoman from the museum said: “We’d like to reassure people that the matter reported to the police will not impact the day-to-day running of the museum, and we continue to prepare to reopen when deemed appropriate by the Government in line with its Covid-19 guidance. We look forward to welcoming visitors back to Beamish very soon, so that together with our team of brilliant staff and volunteers, we can continue to build on Beamish’s successes to date.”