Annual Report 2023
Seaham Music Academy is a not-for-profit organisation operating within Seaham but drawing membership from neighbouring towns, too.
Mission Statement: “To promote participation in and enjoyment of music in the local community without barriers to access”.
During the course of 2023 the Academy met on 38 Saturday mornings. One Saturday morning meeting in October was cancelled as Seaview School had no electricity supply due to storm damage.
Committee
The committee comprises:
President: James Bagley Chairman: Gareth Brown Musical Director: Frances Abbott Fundraising Head: Susan Topping Joint Public Relations Managers: Rosie Curtis & Jamie Lowes AGM & Meeting Secretary: Touran Parsee
Annual General Meeting
Our AGM was held on 25[th] April in St. Mary Magdalen’s church hall.
The full list of Trustees is as follows:
Founded 1992 Music Makes Friends
Reg. charity no. 1023382 Please address correspondence to The President, 18,
James Bagley Angela Bromage Joanne Curtis Sue Faulkner Janie Lowes Susan Topping Steve Williams
There was keen discussion regarding many aspects of the Academy’s organisation and performance.
Membership
Over the course of the year we attracted 63 new members. At the end of the year our membership totalled 186.
Staff
The Academy currently enjoys the benefit of thirty tutors.
We are also grateful to our seven volunteer tutors: Peter Lodge, who teaches our senior guitarists; Gareth Brown, a brass tutor; Lynne Dakers, who supplements the work of the paid flute tutors and helps greatly to coordinate and organise their work; Robert Clark who teaches bass guitar; Richard Lilley and Joanne Curtis who help out with violin tuition and Janie Lowes who fills any gaps in keyboard teaching.
This is also an appropriate time to thank the adult volunteers who stock and run our “tuck shop” each Saturday morning for their cheerful hard work. Profits from the tuck shop make a significant contribution to our annual income.
Our 2023 summer concert was very significant as it marked one of the last contributions from two of our outstanding volunteers, Meg and “Battler” Britton. For over 15 years Meg has provided cups of tea and coffee at every Saturday morning Academy meeting. She also sourced and sold sweets to our younger members from the tuck shop. For many of those years Meg also baked gorgeous cakes to sell on Saturday mornings. The ingredients of these cakes were all supplied at Meg’s expense.
Meg’s husband, Milton (“Battler”), served for 25 years as a bandsman in the Cheshire Regiment. He then spent a further 15 years in the Territorial Founded 1992 Music Makes Friends
Reg. charity no. 1023382 Please address correspondence to The President, 18,
Army. The experience and effort of those forty years are evident in “Battler’s” outstanding musicianship. He can play to an exceptionally high standard any woodwind and virtually all brass instruments. In addition to this “Battler” is also the most modest of men.
As a volunteer tutor for over thirty years “Battler” taught saxophone but because of his extraordinary versatility he was also able to cover most emergency staff absences. Irreplaceable is the only word to describe him both as a musician and as a man.
Time, however, has caught up with Meg and “Battler”. All that remains is for Seaham Music Academy to thank them for their truly outstanding dedication and service.
Instruments
It is Academy policy to loan instruments to members who do not possess them. So far it is our experience that we can never have too many instruments.
This year we have added three clarinets, a trombone, a trumpet, a soprano saxophone, a guitar, two violins, a mandolin and a drum kit. All these instruments were donated.
We are also pleased to report a steady increase in the Academy’s library of sheet music and tutor books.
Concerts and Performances
Our first performance of the year came with a visit on January 29[th] by Seaham Academy Singers to entertain the residents of the Village Nursing Home in Murton.
On February 2[nd] the Academy then gave a concert at Seaham Town Hall for the Mayor’s charity fund. This concert lasted until 10 o’clock at night and featured performances from wood wind, string, piano and percussion players. Three of our younger guitar members also gave solo performances while a guest singer sang songs from musicals to the accompaniment of one of our piano tutors. The whole evening was very well received.
Our end-of-term Spring concert was held at Seaview School on the morning of April 1[st] . Our kindermusik children got proceedings underway
Founded 1992 Music Makes Friends
Reg. charity no. 1023382 Please address correspondence to The President, 18,
before our string group and wind band completed the first half. After refreshments we enjoyed the music from sixteen young people who performed solo or in small groups. Brass, flute, violin, piano and clarinet students did themselves proud before the concert was drawn to a close by a saxophone ensemble. The concert raised £310 for Academy funds.
Our summer performances began on Saturday 24[th] June when we held a fundraising concert at Seaham Conservative Club. On a very warm evening highly enjoyable music was provided by pianists, brass and string players. A delicious buffet was also served. Over one hundred people attended the concert. Takings for the evening exceeded £570.
The very next day the Academy was invited to provide performers for the stage at the inaugural Seaham Youth Festival. This was held at Seaham Town Park. Our first trio performed very well but soon after their departure from the stage the afternoon was brought to an unexpectedly sudden end by a very heavy rainstorm!
Usually we hold our Academy concerts on the last day of term. However by the end of the summer term people have begun to drift away on holiday. So this year we elected to have our Summer Concert two weeks before the end of term. This decision seems to have increased the size of the audience as the hall we performed in was full to capacity. The audience alone numbered very nearly 150.
Our larger ensembles did not play at this concert as the aim was to encourage as many young players as possible to let everyone see their progress.
Proceedings began with two songs from our Kindermusik group. Both were delivered with customary panache! There followed a concert which contained performances by fifteen soloists, all of whom are well below the age of 18. All played really well. Instruments featured piano, baritone, violin, cello, flute and clarinet.
There were also contributions from a saxophone group, a violin quartet and the Academy wind band.
Proceeds from the concert exceeded £366. This was a total of admission money, raffle ticket sales and income from the sale of tea, coffee and tuck.
The approach of Christmas heralds a big increase in the demand for concerts and performances. This year our brass players and choir were
Founded 1992 Music Makes Friends
Reg. charity no. 1023382 Please address correspondence to The President, 18,
invited to take part once again in the Mayor of Seaham’s ecumenical Christmas carol service. This was an extremely well-attended service. We had a dozen choir members who gave renditions of two carols while our seven brass players supported the entire service.
Three days later we held our own in-house end-of-term Christmas concert. This was certainly a case of “standing-room only” for the many people who arrived too late to claim a seat. An extremely successful concert featured groups of singers, kindermusik members, flautists, a wind band, a saxophone group, string players and a pop group.
There were also solo performances by clarinettists, pianists, a trombonist, violinists and guitarists.
On Saturday 16[th] December our ceilidh group provided the music at a Christmas dance. This was well-attended and thoroughly enjoyed.
On two successive Sunday afternoons our choir, Seaham Academy Singers, visited homes to try to inject a little joy to the residents’ Christmas. On 10[th] December we visited the residential Harbour Lodge retirement housing complex. Then on 17[th] December we sang at Parklands Care Home. Over the course of two afternoon hours the singers sang many Christmas songs and carols supplemented by musical theatre and other popular songs. Both performances were extremely well received.
Our final performance this year was at our local Asda store on Saturday 23[rd] December. From 10 until noon members of our wind band played Christmas music. Then from 2 until 4 our string players joined with our singers to serenade shoppers. Thanks to the generosity of the shoppers we raised very nearly £675 for Academy funds.
Examinations
On February 25[th] we were delighted to welcome an examiner from Trinity College London. This was the first examiner visit we have had since February 2020 because of the restrictions caused by the Covid pandemic.
We had sixteen candidates on string and woodwind instruments as well as piano. The range was from Grade 1 to Grade 5. We are delighted to report that all of our candidates passed their exams with three earning distinctions and seven gaining merits.
Founded 1992 Music Makes Friends
Reg. charity no. 1023382 Please address correspondence to The President, 18,
Partnerships
We still meet in Seaview Primary (Deneside) School where we enjoy the use of fifteen separate classrooms, a hall for our main ensemble group to use for rehearsals, a hall for use by our kindermusik group and two cupboards to store our instruments and music. We are both very happy with the accommodation and very proud of our long relationship with the school.
Grants
Since one of the Academy’s main aims is to ensure that music-making is accessible to all, we deliberately suppress the membership fees. A consequence of this policy is that we must seek some financial help to guarantee the proper payment of our tutors.
During the first Lockdown we sought further funding and in August 2020 received £3,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation. The Foundation also promised the same amount for the following two years. However, because of the general inactivity during 2021 we agreed that the remaining two instalments of this award should be delayed until 2022 and 2023. November duly saw the payment of the third £3,000 instalment.
In February we received £500 from the Asda Foundation. Then in April we were given £1500 from the Durham County Council Area Action Partnership fund to support our Kindermusik provision.
The Mayor of Seaham’s Charity Fund very generously donated £750 in May.
July saw us receive contributions from two of our long-standing supporters. The 1989 Willan Charitable Trust gave us £7,000 to help meet our core costs.
The Shears Foundation granted us £5,500 and a representative of the Foundation was a very welcome guest at our Christmas concert. The Foundation also introduced us to the Postlethwaite Music Foundation which granted us £1,000 towards our core costs of rent and tuition fees.
The County Durham Community Foundation’s “Community Grants Funding Programme” which has given us great support in the past awarded us £6,250 in November.
Founded 1992 Music Makes Friends
Reg. charity no. 1023382 Please address correspondence to The President, 18,
At the very end of the year for the eighth year in succession the Joseph Strong Frazer Trust granted us £1,000 towards tuition and rent costs.
Our gratitude to our benefactors cannot be overstated.
F inally, to everyone who helped to make 2023 such a worthwhile and productive year – from tutors to parents, from students to helpers and especially our benefactors – thank you very much.
Founded 1992 Music Makes Friends
Reg. charity no. 1023382 Please address correspondence to The President, 18,
Seaham Mus Ac emy Income 2023 Expenditure 2023 Tutors, Fees 38990.00 Books/Sheet Music 387.00 Instrument Accessories 575.53 Tuck 751.51 Instruments 46.98 Insurance 646.85 Caterin 420.00 Premises Hire 3185.00 Hos italit 185.88 Licensing 20.00 Transport 400.00 Postage/Stationer 62.00 Exam Fees 792.74 Subscri 19696.90 Tuck 2081.19 Willan Charitable Trust 7000.00 Weston Foundation Grt. 3000.00 Shears Foundation 5500.00 Co. Durham Comm. Fn. 6250.00 Other Grants 4750.00 Concert Admission 810.00 Raffles 881.60 Exam Fees 741.00 Donations 743.60 Sundr Sales 158.00 tions Sub-total Cash-in-hand Bank 111123 Total 51612.29 111123 4752.55 14833.08 £71197.92 Sub-total 46463.49 31112123 4851.89 CaSh-1n-hand__...._ Bank 31112123 19882.54 Total 71197.92 Dr. Richard Lilley Auditor • Ip(• Ja s Bagley President Founded 1992 Music Makes Friends Reg. charity no. 1023382 Please address correspondence to The President, 18, Northdene Avenue, Seaham, Co. Durham. SR7 7BH Tel; 0191513 0378 e-mail: Seaham.musicacadem ahoo.co.uk www.seahammusic.co.uk
Richard Lillev 10 Frosterley Drive Great Lumley Co Durham 23/03/2024 To Whom it rnay concern Re Audit of Financial Accounts of Seaham Music Academy for 2023 The accounts for the financial year 2023 were prepared by Jim Bagley. As in previous years the accciunts are well organized for the three terms and 5ummarized in a monthly spreadsheet for the year. The income is well documented and all cash on the Academy days is double COLtnted and countersigned by volunteers. Sampling three random months shows all the bank transfers and cash income is entered in the accounts. All expenditure has a numbered receipt or signed tutor receipt and is recorded accurately in the accounts. There were two fund raising events in 2023 when significant cash was collected, for the purposes of unquestionable probity I have suggested this income should be double counted and signed. Summation was randomly checked. The Summary for the year is an acclirate reLord of the Seaham Music Academy accounts. Richard Lilley Volunteer Auditor.