## **Kensington Symphony Orchestra: Annual Review 2024/5** 

As we approach the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the orchestra, we are conscious of the need to ensure its continuation in as good fettle as it has been  throughout  its  long  career.  One  of  the  key  aspects  of  this  aim  is  to encourage young musicians to join the orchestra. This has been achieved, with a strong  presence  of  younger  players  in  all  departments.  Our  regular  flautists commonly include college students, and the violin section, in particular, has a wide age range. But we continue to welcome the original (or perhaps ‘second generation’) members whose great experience and long service are beneficial to the orchestra, and are a reminder of what we exist to achieve. 

The  future  of  amateur  music  cannot  be  allowed  to  look  after  itself,  and accordingly the orchestra introduced an idea called ‘KSO Scholars’, in which a state school in the South London area was offered places for its students to sit with  the  orchestra  in  the  final  rehearsal  of  our  Fairfield  Hall  concert,  to experience  the  excitement  of  playing  Holst’s _Planets_ .  The  Wilson  School benefitted from this process, and we received the following message from their Head of Music: “It was hugely enjoyable and such a privilege for the pupils to be involved.” 

We hope that this encourages the young people to consider amateur classical music in the future. We also continued our long-standing relationship with Pimlico Academy (‘Music Tracks’) by providing a small orchestra for their July school concert. 

As a general rule we also offer our guest conductor slot to younger conductors or those whose conducting career is in early stages. This year we had the pleasure of  being  conducted  by  one  of  the  world's  leading  solo  cellists,  Leonard Elschenbroich, who now splits his time between playing and conducting. 

Ambitious repertoire has continued to be a feature of the orchestra’s strategy, and the most notable example in the year was performing Lindberg’s _Clarinet Concerto_ in Queen Elizabeth Hall with the world-renowned soloist, Julian Bliss. That the orchestra was able to do justice to this 21[st] century piece alongside the famously difficult _La Valse_ by Ravel shows the dedication and skill the players bring to the task. KSO has a fine track record in performing the pieces of living composers, and this was a notable example. In our view, music is an everevolving  and  living  art  form  and  amateurs  can  play  a  role  in  supporting contemporary creativity. 

We again thank Cuthbert Horn Trust for its generous financial support for this work. Otherwise, our income is derived from regular donations from players and our Friends, and from ticket revenues. We also benefit from the government schemes of Orchestra Tax Relief and Gift Aid. 

Graham P Elliott 

Secretary 



June2026


# Kensington Symphony Orchestra Treasury report Charity 1069620 

2024-2025 – Jeremy Lambert, treasurer 




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Financial health at beginning and end of season<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>



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Concert Profits and Losses over the season<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>



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Comparative seasonal totals Sept 2024 - Aug 2025<br>2024/25 2024/25 2023/24 2022/23 2021/22 2020/21<br>ACTUALS BUDGET ACTUALS ACTUALS ACTUALS ACTUALS<br>Concert costs<br>Venue hire incl. commission 34.0 28.4 22.86 28.15 21.16<br>Rehearsal hall hire 14.6 14.5 11.79 14.26 12.56 6.0<br>Music & instrument hire 16.5 15.8 12.91 13.75 10.47 0.8<br>Conductors 13.1 13.1 10.67 10.73 9.83 1.5<br>Soloists and other musicians 14.1 15.7 15.43 16.56 12.20 1.2<br>Other 3.2 1.8 0.73 6.21 1.07 0.2<br>Total concert costs 95.5 89.4 74.38 89.66 67.28 9.6<br>Concert income<br>Ticket & programme sales 40.6 24.2 18.24 39.99 31.74 0.2<br>Subs & reclaimed tax 35.6 37.6 32.32 36.34 34.2 3 9.1<br>Sponsorship 0.9 1.1 0.98 2.99 0.46<br>OTR 17.4 17.4 15.00 15.60 13.69<br>Total concert income 94.5 80.3 66.5 94.9 80.1 9.2<br>Profit/loss on concerts -1.0 -9.1 -7.8 5.3 12.8 -0.3<br>Profits from other activities 9.4 9.4 12.84 12.60 1.8 7 6.1<br>Additional expenditure -0.2 -0.2 -7.8 -3.8 -2. 7 -4.5<br>Profit/loss total 8.2 0.3 -2.8 14.1 12.1 1.3<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>



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Financial health 2024 - 2025<br>Year start (1st Sep)<br>KSO current account £      326.75<br>KSO savings account £      140.23<br>KSO ET account £    8,111.44<br>KSO Productions Ltd account £  20,425.95<br>Total £  29,004.37<br>Year end (31st Aug)<br>KSO current account £  12,600.42<br>KSO savings account £    8,437.71<br>KSO Productions Ltd account £  22,749.24<br>Total £  43,787.37<br>Endowment Trust<br>Year start £    8,111.44<br>Income £      182.70<br>Income (entered wrong account) £   (8,294.14)<br>Expenditure £            -<br>Year end £            -<br>ET closed down £            -<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>




|KSO actuals sheet for|KSO actuals sheet for|2024/2025 - updated on 2025.10.14|2024/2025 - updated on 2025.10.14|2024/2025 - updated on 2025.10.14|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Value**|||Concert<br>|Budget/Actual<br>|||||||
|Credit/Debit|Category|Description|01 October - SJSS<br>Actual|02 November - SJSS<br>Actual|03 January-QEH<br>Actual|04 March - FFH<br>Actual|05 May- SJSS<br>Actual|06 June - CH<br>Actual|07 Feb repday<br>Actual|Total général|
|Debit|Concert venue|Concert Hall Hire|3,378.00<br>-£|3,414.00<br>-£|6,741.60<br>-£|5,005.80<br>-£|3,897.00<br>-£|7,050.00<br>-£||29,486.40<br>-£|
|||Ticket commission|540.00<br>-£|906.48<br>-£|287.33<br>-£||733.68<br>-£|294.88<br>-£||2,762.36<br>-£|
||Friends|Friends Catering|246.00<br>-£|226.80<br>-£|668.80<br>-£|265.86<br>-£||345.00<br>-£||1,752.46<br>-£|
||Instrument hire|Other instrument hire from<br>hall||||145.00<br>-£||||145.00<br>-£|
|||Percussion hire|980.00<br>-£|790.00<br>-£|1,899.60<br>-£|1,525.00<br>-£|410.00<br>-£|940.00<br>-£|435.00<br>-£|6,979.60<br>-£|
||Marketing|Programme commission|||188.40<br>-£||11.88<br>-£|34.02<br>-£||234.30<br>-£|
|||Programmeprinting|108.58<br>-£|126.15<br>-£|202.76<br>-£|176.00<br>-£|150.00<br>-£|171.00<br>-£||934.49<br>-£|
|||Marketing- website|96.00<br>-£|96.00<br>-£||||||192.00<br>-£|
||Misc|Misc - flowers|20.00<br>-£|16.00<br>-£|45.50<br>-£|||||81.50<br>-£|
|||Misc -general|294.25<br>-£|294.25<br>-£|294.25<br>-£|294.25<br>-£|294.25<br>-£|294.25<br>-£||1,765.50<br>-£|
||Music Director fee|Conductor|2,000.00<br>-£|2,000.00<br>-£|2,000.00<br>-£|2,000.00<br>-£|1,400.00<br>-£|2,000.00<br>-£||11,400.00<br>-£|
||Music Hire/purchase|Music Hire/purchase|1,180.88<br>-£|1,164.64<br>-£|1,213.88<br>-£|1,492.28<br>-£|617.00<br>-£|1,186.53<br>-£|267.50<br>-£|7,122.71<br>-£|
|||Performingrights|190.58<br>-£|392.81<br>-£|773.96<br>-£|342.55<br>-£||532.42<br>-£||2,232.32<br>-£|
|||Postage|||7.56<br>-£||7.90<br>-£||26.20<br>-£|41.66<br>-£|
||Musician fees|Chorus||||1,200.00<br>-£||||1,200.00<br>-£|
|||Harp player|578.00<br>-£|303.00<br>-£|744.00<br>-£|714.00<br>-£||273.00<br>-£||2,612.00<br>-£|
|||Leader|790.00<br>-£|707.00<br>-£|707.00<br>-£|707.00<br>-£|624.00<br>-£|707.00<br>-£|166.00<br>-£|4,408.00<br>-£|
|||Pianist|||274.00<br>-£|389.00<br>-£||153.00<br>-£||816.00<br>-£|
|||Prin. cellist|647.00<br>-£|579.00<br>-£|579.00<br>-£|579.00<br>-£||648.00<br>-£|150.00<br>-£|3,182.00<br>-£|
|||Soloist||600.00<br>-£|1,000.00<br>-£|||300.00<br>-£||1,900.00<br>-£|
||Rehearsal costs|Rehearsal Hall Hire|2,141.82<br>-£|2,283.41<br>-£|2,469.00<br>-£|1,618.80<br>-£|2,323.50<br>-£|2,532.90<br>-£|1,263.60<br>-£|14,633.03<br>-£|
||Sectional conductor|Wind Sectional Coach||150.00<br>-£|125.00<br>-£|125.00<br>-£|125.00<br>-£|125.00<br>-£||650.00<br>-£|
|||Brass sectional coach|125.00<br>-£||||125.00<br>-£|||250.00<br>-£|
|||Stringsectional Coach||250.00<br>-£||250.00<br>-£|250.00<br>-£|||750.00<br>-£|
||**Total Debit**||**13,316.11**<br>**-£**|**14,299.54**<br>**-£**|**20,221.64**<br>**-£**|**16,829.54**<br>**-£**|**10,969.21**<br>**-£**|**17,586.99**<br>**-£**|**2,308.30**<br>**-£**|**95,531.34**<br>**-£**|
|Credit|Friends|Friends subs|752.33<br>£|752.33<br>£|752.33<br>£|752.33<br>£|752.33<br>£|752.33<br>£||4,514.00<br>£|
|||Friends tickets|422.00<br>£|457.00<br>£|1,530.00<br>£|1,040.00<br>£|550.00<br>£|996.00<br>£||4,995.00<br>£|
||Gift Aid tax refund|Gift aid tax|950.00<br>£|950.00<br>£|950.00<br>£|950.00<br>£|950.00<br>£|950.00<br>£|500.00<br>£|6,200.00<br>£|
||OTR|OTR|3,000.00<br>£|3,000.00<br>£|3,000.00<br>£|3,000.00<br>£|2,700.00<br>£|2,700.00<br>£||17,400.00<br>£|
||Programme sales<br>|Programmes<br>|145.10<br>£|212.60<br>£|340.70<br>£<br><br>|256.80<br>£|162.20<br>£|251.10<br>£||1,368.50<br>£<br><br>|
||Sponsorship<br>Subs|Sponsorship<br>Subs - Allocation|2,032.29<br>£|2,032.29<br>£|500.00<br>£<br>2,032.29<br>£|2,032.29<br>£|2,032.29<br>£|2,032.29<br>£|400.00<br>£|900.00<br>£<br>12,193.71<br>£|
|||Subs-concert|1,800.00<br>£|1,882.50<br>£|1,945.00<br>£|2,005.00<br>£|2,080.00<br>£|1,690.00<br>£||11,402.50<br>£|
|||Subs - Repertoire Day|||||||1,290.00<br>£|1,290.00<br>£|
||Tickets|Tickets|2,260.00<br>£|3,636.00<br>£|11,907.20<br>£|5,270.00<br>£|3,012.00<br>£|8,191.00<br>£||34,276.20<br>£|
||**Total Credit**||**11,361.72**<br>**£**|**12,922.72**<br>**£**|**22,957.52**<br>**£**|**15,306.42**<br>**£**|**12,238.82**<br>**£**|**17,562.72**<br>**£**|**2,190.00**<br>**£**|**94,539.91**<br>**£**|
||**Totalgénéral**||**1,954.39**<br>**-£**|**1,376.82**<br>**-£**|**2,735.88**<br>**£**|**1,523.12**<br>**-£**|**1,269.61**<br>**£**|**24.27**<br>**-£**|**118.30**<br>**-£**|**991.42**<br>**-£**|





## Other profits 


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Sum of Amount Concert Budget/Actual<br>Other<br>Category Description Credit/Debit Actual<br>Donation Donation Credit £         9,425.89<br>Total Donation £         9,425.89<br>Total général £         9,425.89<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>



**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
Additional expenditure<br>Sum of Amount Concert Budget/Actual<br>Other<br>Category Description Credit/Debit Actual<br>Music Hire/purchase Postage Debit -£                6.65<br>Music Hire/purchase Debit -£              35.51<br>Total Music Hire/purchase -£              42.16<br>Musician fees Musician fees Debit -£            170.00<br>Total Musician fees -£            170.00<br>Total général -£            212.16<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>




CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examiner's report on the
accounts
Section A
Independent Examinerfs Report
Report to the trustees
Kensington Symphony Orchestra
On accounts for the year
ended
31 August 2025
Charity no
(if any)
1069620
Set out on pages
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above
charily (Yhe Trust ) for the year ended 3110812025.
As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the
accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011
Ilhe Act").
I report in respect of my examination of the Tnjst's accounts carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying oul my examinalion, I
have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission
under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Responsibilities and
basis ol report
Independent I have completed my examination. I confim that no tnaterial matters have
examiner's statement come to my attention in Gonnection wrth the examination which gives me
ause to believe that in. any matenal respect.
the accounting records were not kept in a¢wrdance with section 130
of the Charities Act., or
the accounts did not accord with the accounting records.. or
the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements
COn￿rning the fomi and content of accounts Sel out in the Charities
(Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement
that the a￿OuntS give a 'true and fair. view which is not a matter
considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection
with the examination to which attenlion should be diawn in this report in
order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed:
Date:
23.oL .202
Name:
ne Eliza
th Spencer-Davis
Relevant professional
qualification{sl or body
{if any):
BA FCCA CTA
Address:
85B Headstone Road
Harrow HAI 1PG
IER
Oct 2018