## **BENSON CHORAL SOCIETY** **ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[st] AUGUST 2023** Registered Charity No: 1001958 1 ## **BENSON CHORAL SOCIETY** ## **INDEX TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[st] AUGUST 2023** Trustee’s Report 3 Independent Examiner’s Report 6 Income & Expenditure Account 7 Balance Sheet 8 Concert Accounts 9 Notes 10 2 ## **BENSON CHORAL SOCIETY** ## **TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[st] AUGUST 2023** ## **Reference and Administration** Benson Choral Society is a Registered Charity (number 1001958, registered on 19[th] February 1991). Principal address of the Charity: Witta’s Ham Cottage High Street Long Wittenham Abingdon, OX14 4QH Bankers: Lloyds Bank, Newmarket Branch The Charity is administered by a Management Committee listed below, who are all Trustees, recruited from and elected by the Membership. There are no other Trustees. There are no employees of the Charity. Kevin Lawson Chairman Charlotte Kerr Secretary Martin Mellor Treasurer Celia Barnshaw Sara Boorman Beatrice Earland Claire Speirs Philip Smyly Anthony Winters There were 119 Members as at 31[st] August 2023 ## **Aims and Objectives** The objects of the Charity shall be to advance, improve develop, and maintain public education in, and appreciation of, the art and science of music, in all its aspects by any means the Trustees see fit, including through the presentation of public concerts and recitals. ## **Review of the Year’s Activities** The members attended rehearsals for each of three Concerts for two hours on Tuesday evenings throughout September to June. The concerts staged were: 12[th] November 2022 Performance of works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ─ - Vesperae Solennes De Confessore K339 - Requiem K 626 3 ## !8[th] March 2023 Performance of Elijah Oratorio Op 70 by Felix Mendelssohn ## 17[th] June 2023 Performance of - Works by George Shearing: - Songs and Sonnets from Shakespeare - Jazz Standards to include _Lullaby in Birdland_ - Music to Hear ─ A Choral Suite for Mixed Voices, words by William Shakespeare - Works by John Rutter: - Down by the Riverside - Birthday Madrigals ─ A Choral Suite for Mixed Choir with Double Bass and Piano - Works by George Gershwin - Three Preludes ─ for Piano The three very well-attended concerts were very successful in fulfilling our aims in terms of musical appreciation and education. In particular, the combination of wellknown and less familiar Mozart works in the winter concert attracted a sell-out audience, bringing appreciation of these masterpieces to a wider group of people. Noteworthy too in this regard was our excursion into choral jazz suites in the summer concert which was widely appreciated by an audience many of which would not have encountered this uplifting repertoire previously. Our spring concert, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, was supported by a choral workshop to which we invited singers from other choral societies, thus increasing the number of people who could benefit from our excellent musical director’s training. We note that our combination of musical leadership and chosen repertoire is now attracting an increasing number of active members and larger audiences for our concerts. We are pleased that recovery from the COVID era is now essentially complete. ## **Financial Review** Our Accumulated Fund at 31[st] August amounted to £17,117, having recovered from a low of £12,396 at the end of last year largely resulting from the effects of the COVID pandemic. All funds are unrestricted. There are no fixed assets. The funds are required to satisfy our cash flow needs and to cover the risk of a loss of income, whether through a drop in membership or a poorly attended concert, and to meet any unforeseen expenditure that may occur. A main source of funds is from the sale of tickets for our concerts. Including ancillary concert income, concerts are usually in deficit after applying direct costs in staging them. The deficits are for the most part funded by other main sources of income ─ Membership Fees and the related Gift Aid claimed from HMRC. 4 5 ## ## **BENSON CHORAL SOCIETY** ## **INCOME & EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[st ] AUGUST 2023** |£
£
10,938
798
187
11,948
25
188
422
2
68
12,628
3,036
3,392
8,468
2,040
1,511
193
11
387
2,377
4,598
10,862
3,887
21,432
(8,804)
**2022**|**Note**
INCOME
Subscriptions
Gift Aid
Donations
Friends
Rehearsal Refreshments
Staging Hire & Scores Loan
Profit/(Loss) on Sale of Scores
4(a)
Profit on Parties
4(b)
Profit on Workshop
4(c)
EXPENDITURE
**General**
Musical Director's Fees
Accompanist's Fees
Guest Conductor
Guest Accompanist
Hire of Rehearsal Venues
Subscriptions & Insurance
Printing, Stationery & Postage
Website & IT Expenses
New MD Selection Costs
Advertising
Sundry Expenses
**Concerts**
(page 9)
Loss on Winter Concert
Loss on Spring Concert
(Profit)/Loss on Summer Concert
Surplus / (Deficit) for the year|£
£
15,013.50
2,557.57
270.23
679.02
18,520.32
226.27
480.00
32.38
469.78
952.57
20,681.32
2,850.00
3,383.00
1,730.70
98.00
8,061.70
1,687.70
401.25
18.74
386.88
408.00
20.00
205.55
1,559.75
4,369.45
(1,158.11)
4,771.09
15,960.91
4,720.41
**2023**| |---|---|---| 7 ## **BENSON CHORAL SOCIETY** ||**BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31st AUGUST**|**BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31st AUGUST**|**2023**|| |---|---|---|---|---| |**2022**||||**2023**| |**£**|||**£**|**£**| |||**ASSETS**||| |225||Cash in hand||-| |||Balance at Bank||| ||11,957|Current Account|14,587.21|| |12,037|80|Subscriptions Account|-|14,587.21| |||Concert Wine Stock||38.43| |230||Debtors and Payments in Advance||3,026.74| |12,492||||17,652.38| |96||Less Creditors||535.00| |12,396||||17,117.38| |||**REPRESENTED BY:**||| |||**Accumulated Fund**||| |21,200||Balance at 1st September 2022||12,396.97| |(8,804)||Surplus / (Deficit) for the year||4,720.41| |12,396||||17,117.38| 8 ## **BENSON CHORAL SOCIETY** ## **CONCERT ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31[st] AUGUST 2023** **----- Start of picture text -----**
RECEIPTS PAYMENTS
2022 2023 2022 2023
£ £p £ £p
Winter Concert
Note
2,510 Ticket Receipts 5,264.47 Orchestra 3,376.00
Profit on Music Hire 5(a)(i) 132.00 1,026 Conductor's Fee 780.00
16 Profit on Programmes 5(a)(ii) 13.17 2,300 Soloists 1,800.00
169 Profit on Interval Drinks 5(a)(iii) 432.86 Orchestral Scores 40.00
936 Venue & Facilities Hire 720.00
495 Instrument Hire 425.50
30 Printing & Advertising 36.80
180 Gifts 124.95
105 Staging 99.00
2,695 Total Receipts 5,842.50 5,072 Total Payments 7,402.25
2,377 Loss on Concert 1,559.75
5,072 7,402.25 5,072 7,402.25
Spring Concert
2,521 Ticket Receipts 4,436.93 3,300 Orchestra 4,774.00
46 Loss on Music Hire 5(b)(i) (6) 635 Conductor's Fee 700.00
7 Profit on Programmes 5(b)(ii) 23.51 1,800 Soloists 2,000.00
219 Profit on Interval Drinks 5(b)(iii) 229.92 606 Orchestral Scores 301.86
772 Venue & Facilities Hire 909.00
99 Staging 132.00
30 Printing & Advertising 37.00
149 Gifts 99.95
Sundry Expenses 100.00
2,793 Total Receipts 4,684.36 7,391 Total Payments 9,053.81
4,598 Loss on Concert 4,369.45
7,391 9,053.81 7,391 9,053.81
Summer Concert
2,119 Ticket Receipts 3,450.72 2,717 Orchestra -
Profit on Score Sales/Hire 5(c)(i) 253.77 700 Conductor's Fee 700.00
21 Profit on Programmes 5(c)(ii) 42.19 950 Soloists 800.00
164 Profit on Interval Drinks 5(c)(iii) 289.87 582 Orchestral Scores -
904 Venue & Facilities Hire 1,007.50
105 Hire of Piano 51.50
30 Printing & Advertising 35.00
104 Gifts 85.44
99 Staging 99.00
Sundry Expenses 100.00
2,304 Total Receipts 4,036.55 6,191 Total Payments 2,878.44
3,887 Loss on Concert Profit on Concert 1,158.11
6,191 4,036.55 6,191 4,036.55
**----- End of picture text -----**
9 ## **BENSON CHORAL SOCIETY** ## **NOTES ON THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[st] AUGUST 2023** ## 1. **Committee Responsibilities** - (a) The Committee is required to prepare accounts for each financial year which gives a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charity and the results for that period. - (b) The Committee confirms that appropriate accounting policies have been used and applied consistently, and reasonable and prudent judgements and estimates have been made in preparation of these accounts. - (c) The Committee also confirms that the applicable accounting bases set out in note 2(a) have been followed. - (d) The Committee is responsible for maintaining adequate accounting records, for safeguarding the assets of the Charity, and for taking steps to prevent and detect fraud and other regularities. ## 2. **Accounting Policies** ## **(a) Accounting Bases** The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Charities SORP. - **(b) Income** Income is accounted for in the year to which it relates. - **(c) Expenditure** is accounted for on an accrual basis in the year to which relates. - **(d) Restricted Funds** There were no restricted funds. all funds being unrestricted. ## 3. **Payments to Trustees** The only payments to Trustees were to reimburse them for expenses incurred on behalf of the Charity. 10 ## **4. Income and Expenditure Account** |**Description**
a) Profit on Sale of Scores
Sales
Purchases
b) Profit on Parties
Summer Party
Tickets
Raffle
Hire of Hall
Wine
Food
Christmas Party
Tickets
Wine
Food
c)
Profit on Workshop
Fees
Hire of Hall
Musical Director
Accompanist
Piano Tuning
Food
**5.**
**Concerts**
a) Winter Concert
(i)
Profit on Music Hire
Sales
Hire charge
(ii)
Profit on Programmes
Sales
Printing|**Income**
**Expenditure**
**Profit (Loss)**
£
£
£
442.80
410.42
442.80
410.42
32.38
737.02
240.00
95.00
65.88
405.37
977.02
566.25
410.77
195.00
98.39
37.60
195.00
135.99
59.01
1,172.02
702.24
469.78
1,919.81
171.50
375.00
250.00
65.00
65.74
1,879.81
927.24
952.57
406.00
132.00
274.00
406.00
274.00
132.00
323.17
310.00
323.17
310.00
13.17| |---|---| 11 **Description Income Expenditure Profit (Loss)** ||(iii)|Profit on Interval Drinks|| |---|---|---|---| |||Sales|568.00| |||Purchaes|135.14| ||||568.00
135.14
432.86| |b)|Spring Concert||| ||(i)|Profit on Music Hire
Sales
Hire charge|112.00
118.00| ||||112.00
118.00
(6.00)| ||(ii)|Profit on Programmes
Sales
Printing|270.19
228.00| ||||270.19
228.00
42.19| ||(iii)|Profit on Interval Drinks
Sales
Purchaes|314.58
84.66| ||||314.58
84.66
229.92| |c)|Summer Concert||| ||(i)|Profit on Music Hire
Sales
Hire charge|936.04
682.27| ||||936.04
682.27
253.77| ||(ii)|Profit on Programmes
Sales
Printing|270.19
228.00| ||||270.19
228.00
42.19| ||(iii)|Profit on Interval Drinks
Sales
Purchaes|438.70
148.83| ||||438.70
148.83
289.87| 12