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2023-12-31-accounts

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City of Plymouth Festival Association

Trustees’ Report and Accounts For the year ended , 31 December 2023

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Charity Number 1040360

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The City of Plymouth Festival Association

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Contents

Page Trustees Report 2 Independent Examiners Report 7 Receipts and Payment Accounts 8 Statement of Assets and Liabilities 9

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The City of Plymouth Festival Association

The City of Plymouth Festival Annual Report of the Trustees for the Year Ending 315t December 2023

Reference and Administrative Information

The City of Plymouth Festival Association is a registered charity No: 1040360. The principal address of the Charity is: 2 Forth Gardens, Deer Park, PL3 6SH , Trustees The Trustees who served during the year were: Mr. Alan Barwell Vice Chairman Resigned May 2023 Mrs. Ann Barwell Resigned May 2023 Mrs. Amy Clarke Mrs. Sue Cook General Secretary and Dance secretary Mrs Linda Curtain Mr. Kevin Cunningham Chairman Mrs. Carolyne Cunningham Resigned May 2023 Mrs. Cheryl Pyner General Secretary Resigned May 2023 Miss Anne Rescorl Music Secretary Resigned 2022 Mrs. Jill Straw Treasurer and Speech and Drama Ms Zoe Marie Vigus Miss Simara Winter .

Trustees

The Trustees who served during the year were:

Structure, Governance and Management

The City of Plymouth Festival Association is a charity constituted to promote the performing arts, principally in the South West region, and in particular, in the Plymouth area. It is affiliated to the British and International Federation of Festivals of Music, Dance, Speech and Drama.

The constitution was reviewed and amended prior the 2016 AGM, and was adopted by the festival members at the AGM held on 24th April 2016.

The Trustees confirm that they have identified the major risks to which the charity is exposed and have systems established to mitigate any risks.

The recruitment and appointment of new trustees is by application and recommendation from existing committee members.

Public Benefit

The Trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in applying our future activities. .

Objectives and Activities

The Charity operates in Plymouth and draws support principally from Devon and Cornwall, holding three festivals annually.

The objective of the charity is to promote artistic and literacy appreciation and the education of the public in the Arts. In particular the performing arts of Music, Dance, Speech and Drama.

The main activity of the Charity is to hold three annual competitive festivals that enable amateur performers of all ages to demonstrate their talents in the performing Arts of Music, Dance, Speech and Drama.

Each festival promotes a positive experience where every participant is given constructive verbal and written feedback from a professional adjudicator. We believe the competitors lie at the heart of our festival. We aim to ensure every participant enjoys a happy festival, has a memorable experience, learn from their performance and can't wait to return to perform next year.

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| The City of Plymouth Festival Association Annual Report of the Trustees for the Year Ending 31%t December 2023

Chair’s Report 2023

The Year of the return of all three Plymouth Festivals

Back in 2014 the then chairperson Liz Bailey announced that due to a shortage of volunteers and issues on the committee that the festival was going to close. Fortunately a small number of people led by Cheryl Pyner and Jill Straw decided to take on the challenge of keeping the festival alive.

Cheryl bought the festival into the 21st century using computers, a revamped website and the introduction of online entries and online payment. A far cry from the days where we had postal entries with their accompanying cheques. Whilst this was a massive improvement on what had gone before, the technology of 2015 may not be what is needed in today’s world, and we are currently looking at other software for running festivals, including uploading music online rather than bringing CD's to the festival. We may even have a Whatsapp group for trophy winners or a more interactive chat available to all those interested in festivals, who knows what the future may hold. ;

This year the festival was in a similar position to that in 2014 with Cheryl standing down due to ill health and the lack of volunteers. Luckily Sue Cook with the help of Jill Straw took on the mantle and organised this year’s festival. Following a shout for help, we had a number of volunteers come forward and some have now been coopted onto the committee. | just hope they have the staying power to become full elected members of the committee at next year’s AGM. But being a committee member isn’t all about this one week of the year. There is a lot of preparation and organisation that takes part in the background. Also, the Dance festival is only one of 4 festivals that the committee put on through the year, with 3 festival being held in November, being Speech and Drama, Musical instrumental and Vocal. These also needa lot of organising, mainly by Jill but we also need volunteers for those festivals to run.

Although the spaces on the committee have been filled temporarily, we are always looking for new volunteers. You do not need dance or speech experience, like myself, who has none, but also those who can provide a steadying influence or a voice of reason on the committee when the dance or speech experts get carried away.

We have had a number of resignations this last year, who | would like to mention. Ann and Alan Barwell, who due to ill health they have reluctantly resigned from the committee, they were the face of the festival having sold tickets at the door for over 27 years. Carolyne Cunningham who has collected, cleaned and organised the cups for all four festivals for the past 8 years. And of course Cheryl Pyner, who has stepped down after the same amount of time, and who without there would be no festival today.

Now | would like to say thank you to Sue Cook and Jill Straw who have at short notice taken on organising this year’s festival. Carolyn Chamberlain and Michelle Beer who have taken over responsibility for the trophies, medals plaques and rosettes etc, Adam for doing the music, Angela for the announcing, Simara in the holding room, and Rachel and her team for all the help and support at Lipson.

All the volunteers who have helped man all the posts, on the door, the board and in the office. A thanks to all the parents who have bought their children along and supported them. The children who have performed all week to a very high standard, how many of those will go on to have a career in dance, and become a household name like Wayne Sleep or Darcy Bussell. And of course to our Adjudicator Gemma Summerscales-Heard, who has throughout the week provided a lot of good advice to all our competitors.

This is also my last time here as | too and stepping down from the chairmanship and the committee after 9 years at our next AGM in April next year. | would like to wish the new Chairperson all the best in leading the Festivals into a new phase of its history, and the committee as it continues to modernise and remain current and relevant in today's world.

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The City of Plymouth Festival Association

Annual Report of the Trustees for the Year Ending 31%t December 2023

Festivals in the year to 31 December 2023

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City of Plymouth Speech and Drama Festival November 2023

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In 2023 we welcomed Vivienne Redford as our adjudicator. Numbers were well over 600 entrants a big increase in numbers so we needed 6 well packed days. The Festival took place at the Future Inn where we were well looked after.

The Festival was well attended and Vivienne’s adjudications were very encouraging to the participants, teachers and parents also commented on how good her adjudications were. Vivienne commented on the fact that Plymouth had a very high standard of teaching and also what a friendly festival it was.

| would like to thank Participants, Teachers and parents for their support in 2023.

Jill Straw Plymouth Festival Speech and Drama Secretary

The City of Plymouth Music Festival 2023

Instrumental Section 10th and 11th November and Vocal Section 17th and 18th November 2023

The Instrumental and vocal festival took place at Sherwell Church

At short notice our booked adjudicator Jonathan Rea cancelled due to family problems so there was a mad scramble to find another adjudicator. Nancy Litten our adjudicator from last year agreed to come to Plymouth _ again. Numbers were up slightly in the Instrumental section. There were lots of positive comments from Teachers and parents saying what a lovely venue we were using and again how friendly it was for participants.

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The vocal entries were about the same as last year and our adjudicator was Christopher Field who enjoyed his time with us again and made the same comments about the venue and festival friendliness.

Again | would like to thank teachers, parents and participants in 2023 for all their support.

Jill Straw Plymouth Music Festival Secretary

City of Plymouth Dance Festival 2023

This got off to a very shaky start. Our dance secretary stood down 3 weeks before the festival, unfortunately, there was no handover and she did not seem to know the passwords for RunMyFestival and the PayPal account.

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She had booked an adjudicator but had done nothing else in preparation for the festival. We also were about to find out that many promises had been made regarding performance days which was to make things extremely tricky devising a program.

However the festival was extremely successful our adjudicator, Gemma Summerscales-Heard, was a breath of fresh air. She understood the situation we had been put in and was very flexible. We had over 1500 entries. We have to thank our volunteers and committee members who all worked tirelessly to ensure the festival ran smoothly as possible.

The 9 days culminated with the championships which was extremely well attended.

There were a few things we learned were not fit for purpose. RunMyFestival was extremely unpopular with the entrants and unnecessarily complicated for us. Our website was muddled and is in need of updating. We also felt the syllabus could be more stream lined. All in hand for the coming year.

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The City of Plymouth Festival Association

Annual Report of the Trustees for the Year Ending 315* December 2023

The City of Plymouth Festival Cups and Trophies 2023

Cup Report 2023

2023 saw the resignation of our long standing cup secretary Carolyne Cunningham after 8 years we will miss her but thank her for all her work over the last 8 years. We were very lucky in securing 2 new Cup secretaries.

Dance: - Carolyn Chamberlain

Music, Vocal, Speech and Drama: - Michelle Beer

Both Secretaries worked hard in getting cups back, as usual this was a very arduous task on top of preparing them ready for the Festivals.

_ Festival Aims for 2024

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Financial Report

At the 2022 AGM treasurer Jill Straw was pleased to announce that the accounts show a small surplus of £2,090. This year the trustees are disappointed to show that a deficit of £4,259 for the current financial year. This has been largely due to the significant increase in costs in renting the venues and a decision by the trustees to not pass the entire increase onto the participators.

The trustees have established a policy maintaining a contingency fund to cover the costs of running the charity for a medium period to assist the viability of future Plymouth festivals. The trustees consider a funds of £20,000 would be sufficient. At the end of the year the fund stands at £20,000 (2022: £20,000)

During the period directly affected by Covid-19 the trustees also established a fund to help with costs associated with the pandemic, with these direct impacts now having ceased, the trustees consider this as no longer required and have moved all these funds to the general funds. At the end of the year the fund stands at £0 (2022: £4,824)

Jill Straw City of Plymouth Festival Treasurer

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. The City of Plymouth Festival Association

Annual Report of the Trustees for the Year Ending 31%t December 2023

Trustees’ thanks

The trustees remain grateful to their volunteers for their continued support to the Festival.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP 2015).

The Trustees have paid due regard to the guidance of the Charity Commission on Public Benefit.

H | AY Chairman

For and on behalf of the Management Group.

Treasurers Report 2023

Jill Straw Treasurer reported that the combined bank balances in the current and savings accounts at the 31 December 2023 is £5,552.02

2023 saw the first increase in entrance fees and door fees for about 10 years. We had to make this decision in light of all the venues increasing their costs and also using an extra day for the Speech festival. We did also made a decision to draw down some cash from our savings account. Due to using a sum-up online machine our door entry takings went up. Our entrance fees also showed an increase.

Finally, she reported that the accounts have been independently examined and passed.

She thanked Wills Accounts and proposed we use them as our Accountants for 2024

Jill Straw proposed that we formally adopt the accounts as independently examined by Wills Accountants Limited, Kevin Cunningham seconded the motion

Jill Straw proposed that we approve the continued appointment of Wills Accountants Limited the Independent Examiner of the accounts, Carolyne Cunningham seconded the motion

The motion was carried

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The City of Plymouth Festival Association

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Independent Examiners’ Report to the Trustees of the City of Plymouth Festival Association

| report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2023, which are set out on pages 2 to 8.

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Respective responsibilities of the Trustees and the Examiner:

As the charity’s trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’). ;

| report in respect of my examination of the charity's accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination | have followed all the applicable directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Basis of the Independent Examiners’ Report:

___._... Our examination was carried out in accordance with the general directions. given by. the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a “true and fair view” and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

|Independent Examiners’ Statement:

| have completed my examination. | confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records[; or 3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view’ which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

| have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Mr. L A Rowsell ATT

Wills Accountants Ltd Chartered Certified Accountants independent Examiner 2 Endeavour House Parkway Court Longbridge Road Plymouth, PL6 8LR

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RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT: GENERAL FUND

For the period ended 31 December 2023 .
. 2023 2022
Unrestricted Unrestricted
£ £
INCOME RECEIPTS
Entrance fees:
Dancing 22,713 12,263
Speech/Drama/Music 7,413 6,463
Photographs Sold - -
Door receipts & programme sales - -
Donations & subscriptions - -
Advertising - -
Sundry Income ; - -
Interest on savings: ;
COIF 483 144
Savings account 17 -
TOTAL RECEIPTS 30,626 18,870
EXPENDITURE PAYMENTS
Accompanist 83 182
Accountancy
Accommodation
Adjudicators		 426
18,627
6,656		 402
946
7,813
Bursaries 700 300
Dance Expense - -
Dance and Music Equipment - -
Insurance - 250
Printing 2,048 1,716
Storage 1,635 1,564
Subscriptions to British international Federation of Festivals
(BIFF)		 768 491
Sundry expenses 721 992
Trophies and cups 1,265 844
Venue Hire 230 1,280
Computer cost 1,726 -
TOTAL PAYMENTS 34,885 16,780
NET (DEFICIT)
/ SURPLUS FORTHE YEAR		 (4,259) 2,090
Balances brought forward 24,824 22,734
TOTAL 20,565 24,824
REPRESENTED BY:
General Fund 565 -
Designated Fund 20,000 24,824
CASHANDBANKBALANCES ASAT31December2022 20,565 24,824

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The City of Plymouth Festival Association

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STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

As at 31 December 2023

° 2023 2022
Unrestricted Unrestricted
£ €
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MONETARY ASSETS
Bank and cash balances:
Bank currentaccount a 5,152 4,089 ~
--Savings account ; Bo _ 400 . 132 ;
COIF Charities Deposit Fund 10,394 14,910
‘Cash and postage stamps in hand , 28 28
15,974 «9,159
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OTHER CURRENT ASSETS
Stock ofmedals and T-shirts 4,591 5,665
20,565 24,824

Mr K Cunningham Chairman

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‘Date: — ”,

For and on behalf of the Management Group.

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