2023-07-31-accounts - Wiltshire Young Musicians

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

Musical Directors Report

WYM AGM – Tuesday 7[th] November 2023

This year was another one filled with exceptional music making from all of our young musicians. The quality of the music they produce is always amazing and a lot of the credit for this must go to our fantastic team of tutors. Their expertise and enthusiasm is outstanding and I would like to say a huge thank you to them for all their hard work.

We have enjoyed another year with a full programme of concerts this year including:

2 formal concerts for our Christmas Festival as well as a series of informal performances for our junior groups
LOVE TO PLAY! Strings and LOVE TO PLAY! Wind & Brass days
Senior Concert
All groups performing across 3 concerts in our Summer Festival

All concerts were all well attended and the average attendance was up on the previous year.

Our first performance opportunity of the year was our Christmas Festival. We were able to extend our festive music making this year by doing some busking. We did two sessions in ASDA in Trowbridge over the weekend of 17[th] & 18[th] December. We used flexi-band arrangements with parts suitable for a range of abilities so we could open up participation to all members. Turn out was good on both days and we managed to raise nearly £400.

Our LOVE TO PLAY! Days this year were a great success. The String day had a theme of ‘Magical Classical’, a new theme for this year which included arrangements of music from classical greats such Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Jenkins. The Wind & Brass day theme was ‘Pop Music Party’ featuring music by Jackson 5, Rolling Stones, Beatles and even the Macarena! We had around 40 new members join us for the ‘learn on the day’ portion of the day across the two days which turned into 7 new paying members. We decided not to use backing tracks for the String day this year and instead had a string quartet formed from members of West Wiltshire Youth Orchestra, who came along to provide the accompaniment instead. Steel Pans also took part in the Wind & Brass day as part of a marketing push to help boost the low numbers, which working wonderfully as we now have a full steel pan group.

We took this year’s Senior Concert to St Andrew’s Church in Chippenham for the first time since 2018. Our two senior groups produced a wonderful concert of music with the theme “Beyond The Stars” which included music from movies such as E.T and Apollo 13, Mars and Jupiter from Holst’s Planet Suite, and even David Bowie’s Life On Mars. This was well received as always. We also trialled the use of a digital programme at this event which was the start of a learning curve which we will continue to work on.

We finished the year with all our groups taking part in the Summer Festival which capped off another really successful year from a musical point of view.

Matthew Thorpe – Musical Director

Executive Director report 2023

The Wiltshire Young Musicians 2022-23 financial year was a strong one, with final figures showing a surplus of £4,792 compared to the budget which expected a deficit of £12,942. Whilst some of this swing was due to an outstanding payment from our main funder Wiltshire Music Connect, we also made significant gains in other areas. Notable successes came from our concert figures, fundraising, gift aid and an arts council grant to fund our Pick up and play groups. Whilst subscription figures were down on the budget, they were still the strongest since 2016-17 with which they were comparable. This is less due to a rise in members but more an improved efficiency of systems. With this year’s subscription rise, we expect this figure to increase further but there is still work to do around raising the membership numbers.

There are now 4 groups running at a surplus and therefore considered viable, compared to last year’s 1 group. Clearly this is an improvement but further growth will be needed. An additional 60 members are needed to run all groups across the organisation at ‘viable’ status. This may seem a lot but given that we now have 20 groups, it is only an additional 3 members per ensemble. Achievable if we all work together.

With new ensembles having been created this year, we welcome new tutors to our team, namely Annabel Elkington, Kirsten Mulcahy and Sophia Leveridge. We said a fond farewell to Theresa Cole in the summer and thank her for he many years of service to the Wiltshire Young Musicians, both as a member and as a tutor. Recruiting new tutors to the organisation remains a challenge and there are currently several vacancies we are looking to fill. Leaders for Pick up and play woodwind and brass groups, plus a vacancy for a vocal coach for our Mini singers and Warminster young singers will all be available from January 2024.

Whilst new initiatives and additional fundraising are starting to bear fruits, we have just entered a critical year for the Wiltshire young musicians. Government led initiatives will result in a big shake up of the music hub meaning our funding situation for 2024-25 is currently unknown. Whilst I have been assured by several parties that a complete cut in funding is an unlikely scenario, there is significant evidence that our government funding will reduce. With this in mind contingency plans are being put in place to secure Wiltshire Young Musicians’ place in the community for the next decade and we will be updating all members on any significant changes as they become apparent. Thanks to the publicity of our ensembles, new and established, school’s awareness of Wiltshire young musicians is growing and an initial sign up of 6 schools to our first ever school’s event in Trowbridge, planned for the spring is a positive sign that relations are bedding in.

We have had a significant revelation at the start of this year, that we are exempt from VAT for rehearsal venues. Whilst this cannot be back dated, it will save us in the region of £3,000 each year in VAT across our Wiltshire venues.

We made significant progress with our EDI plans in 2022/23 and have worked these into the longer term business plan, so that equality and inclusion become ingrained in the organisations operations and is not simply an aside which gets left at the initial discussion stage. Our EDI network with other local groups still exists and meetings are ongoing to ensure a Wiltshire wide approach. I thank our Administrator, Musical Director, committee and board of the trust for their continued hard work behind the scenes and of course our fabulous Tutors for making Wiltshire Young Musicians such an important part of so many youngsters lives.

Chris Turner Executive Director Wiltshire Young Musicians.

Wiltshire Young Musicians Treasurers’ Report August 2022 to September 2023

Since November 2021, the role of Treasurer for Wiltshire Young Musicians is shared by Committee Members, Marion Grout and John Malone.

Our move to on-line banking in 2022 has meant that payments of subscriptions, instrument hire charges and other payments can be made electronically to the WYM bank account. We also continue to have PayPal as a payment option. Payment of tutors, for venue hire and other expenses is now done directly from the bank account. This saves on administration time.

We are using Quickbooks on-line to record and help manage WYMs finances.

We use Goodings Accountant (Westbury Office) to prepare the annual Report on Accounts, which will be submitted after the AGM to Companies House and the Charity Commission.

The key points to note from the Financial Activities August 22 to July 23 report and Balance Sheet at 31 July 23 are as follows:

Income and Expenditure

In the FY 22/23, Subscriptions brought in £27,687, compared with around £24,000 in FY 21/22. Gift Aid on these Subscriptions contributed a further £8,793. This includes an amount of ‘catch-up’ Gift Aid, not claimed in the previous year. Instrument Hire brought in an additional £2,445, slightly lower than the previous year.

Income received through ticket and programme sales for Concerts amounted to £12,638. In the previous year, this was £3,439.

Wiltshire Music Connect provides an essential income with their grant to WYM, amounting to £26,587 in the Financial Year. Thank you for this on-going support.

Our total income for the FY 22/23 was £87,714, compared with £47,542 in the previous Financial Year.

Our significant expenses are payment of Tutors fees at £28,890, and fees to Executive Director, Musical Director and Administrator, an outgoing of £26,850. The hire of Rehearsal Rooms amounts to £17,774 compared with £16,666 in the previous year.

Our total Outgoings for the year were £83,504, (£66,151 in FY 21/22) leading to an overall Surplus for FY 22/23 of £4,792.

This is a significant improvement of the previous year in which WYM had registered a loss.

Balance Sheet

The Balance Sheet shows we had £65,832 in the bank at the end of 22/23.

With Tangible Assets, the instruments, standing at £146,093, our Total Net Assets are £212,276.

Although this is a positive outcome, we know that funding from Wiltshire Music Connect will reduce over the coming years and, as we are all aware, costs are continuing to rise.

Our Executive Director, Chris Turner, joined us just over a year and has been working hard to look at how we can ensure that Income continues to exceeds Expenditure in the challenging times ahead and how we can work together to secure the future of WYM.

Chris will comment on plans for the future.

Tooding CCOUNTS EMPOWERING YOUR FUTURE ww.goodingaccounts.¢o.uk Report to th¢ eMberS of: WAltshir¢ Young Mu5Acians On accounts fot the year ended: 31 Ju]y 2023 Respective responsibilitie8 of The Treasurcr, a$ appointed by Wiltshire Young Musicians, trustee8 and examiner is responsibk Eor the pteparation of the accounts. The c.harity consider that a fi]ll in depth audit is not requited for this year 2nd that a thorough independent examination is needed. It 15 my responsibib'ry to: examine the 2ccounts. confjmi that the figures Present a twe and fair view of the Position. to state whether particulat matters have come to my aitentiotL Basis of Andependent examinevs My examinauon was cattied out in accordance ryth Eeneral 8tatement Directions given by the Wlltshirc Young Musicians and Accountancy budies. An examinauon includes I review 0£ the accounting tecotds kept by the Chariry and compartson of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration OE any unusual items ot disclostjres in the accounts and seeking txplanations Irom the Treasuterconcerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audii, and consequendy no opinion As given as towhether the account8 present a'ttue and Eaif view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the st2temcnt below. P8rtneu'. GvodiTrs Karycldi1l¥ &SrFtA Cvrnp3ryNo' IIIfft*7431) fle8tered in Enantsnd Wales 4 Crf)Dthii¥ Accoutt Ltd Re&15tered cifficp ?4 W¥niiiDsferllo4d. Wesibury. Wiltthire. IIAIJ JPE ICAEW CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Independent examiner'6 In connecuon with my examination. no matter has come to statement my attention which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect. the tequirements.. to keep accounting tecord$ in accordance with rear Accounting ptwedures. to prepare 4ccounts which accord with the accounting tecords and comply with the necessary accounting tequiremeiits of ihe Wdtbhire Young Musicians. have not been met. or 2. to which. iti my opinion. #ttention Should be drawn in otder to enable a proper undeEStan&ng Of the accounts to be reached. which would give rise to any concern in relation the 6Jll disdosure of All financial matrers in relation to the Wiltshire Young Musicians. Sigtsed: Date: LOLS. Name: Katy Gooding Relevanl ptofessional qualification(8) or body: ICAEW Addtes8: Gooding Accounts Ltd 24 Wam)inster Road, Wesibury Wiltshire BA13 3PF.