2025-07-31-accounts - St Briavels Music Society

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Trustees’ Annual Report for the period

From 01 August 2024 Period start date To 31 July 2025 Period end date

Charity name: St Briavels Music Society

Charity registration number: 1092645

Objectives and Activities

	SORP reference
Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document	Para 1.17	 To promote and encourage interest in music for the enjoyment and education of the public;  To arrange concerts and lectures on music, such events to be exclusively charitable;  To provide opportunities for musicians, particularly young musicians, to perform in public;  To provide community engagement programmes bringing music to local schools, care homes and other groups that would benefit
Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts.	Para 1.17 and 1.19	In the year under review, the Society presented ten concerts to the general public, brought professional musicians to 18 local schools and provided two programmes every month to people living with dementia in the Lower Wye Valley (both at an open-access community venue and in a local care home). The Society’s aim of providing opportunities for young musicians was fulfilled by:  including two concerts performed by students and alumni from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD);  by pursuing its Young Musicians’ Training Programme to help young musicians develop workshops for primary schoolchildren;  by employing young musicians to work with people living with dementia.
Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit	Para 1.18	The Society has had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit:  All of its concerts are open to the general public;  The chamber music it presents is of a

quality rarely otherwise heard in this area, featuring nationally and internationally recognised performers;  Its concerts are extensively promoted to the public via press, websites, social media, email contact lists, posters and flyers;  Students pay only nominal admission; young persons (under 25) pay £2.00 and children (under 15) can attend free of charge.  Local Ukrainian refugees are admitted free of charge.

Additional information (optional)

You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

	SORP reference
Policy on grant making	Para 1.38	The Society does not make grants.
Policy on social investment including program related investment	Para 1.38	The Society continues actively to seek sponsorship in order to continue to invest in quality programming and maintaining its Community Engagement programmes
Contribution made by volunteers	Para 1.38	The operation of the society relies entirely on volunteers.
Other
Achievements and Performance
	SORP reference
Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole.	Para 1.20	The high quality of the Society’s concerts was maintained, with established nationally- and internationally-recognised performers featured strongly in the programme, alongside newer emerging artists. Receipts from ticket sales increased from £14,037 in 2023/24 to £15,590. (NB the Society’s ticket prices were increased by £3 per ticket). Membership stood at 132 members (130 paying members plus 2 honorary members) at the time of the Society's AGM on 12 October 2025, bringing in an income of £3.430. This is a decrease on last year's figures reflecting a senior membership base.

Both the Society’s Community Engagement programmes continued their outreach work in the local area with two particular highlights:  “Wye Valley Music in Schools” organised two workshops for secondary school students, including a cello masterclass run in conjunction with Gloucestershire Music Hub;  “Wye Valley Music in Mind” organised two new projects: A music therapy project, working with individual residents who are too frail to attend meetings and a project working with a young female composer to create minimusical biographies of individual attendees as part of her PhD thesis, contributing to knowledge exchange with academic research in the arts and - community music making.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

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Achievements against Para 1.41
objectives set
Performance of fundraising
activities against objectives Para 1.41
set
Investment performance Para 1.41
against objectives
Other
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Financial Review

Financial Review
Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period	Para 1.21	The total income for 2024/25 across all three areas of activity (WVM, WVMiS, WVMiM) was £33,881, with an expenditure of £29,621, ending with a surplus of £4,260. The total cash held on 31 July 2025 was £36,329.
Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held	Para 1.22	Income from concerts is variable. Some are loss-making. Others bring in a surplus. Surplus funds are used to even out fluctuations in income, including subsidising concerts by younger musicians who might attract smaller audiences. The Society holds reserves to protect against overall losses and maintain cash-flow.
Amount of reserves held	Para 1.22	The charity has £5,447on reserve in a deposit account held with COIF.
Reasons for holding zero reserves	Para 1.22	N/A
Details of fund materially in deficit	Para 1.24	N/A
Explanation of any uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern	Para 1.23	There are no current uncertainties. Concerts are popular and the Society is financially solvent. The outlook for our 60th anniversary in 2027) is excellent.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:	Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:	Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
The charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising)	Para 1.47	The Society’s principal sources of funding are membership subscriptions, concert ticket sales, donations and adverts in concert programmes.
Investment policy and objectives including any social investment policy adopted	Para 1.46	In addition, the Society has two Community Engagement programmes that are financially self-sufficient and not reliant on any funding from the Society:  “Wye Valley Music in Schools”, which brings live music in local primary schools;  “Wye Valley Music in Mind”, which brings music to people living with dementia and their carers. Funding for both programmes is donation- and grant-based, the latter coming via applications to small grant-making charities.
A description of the principal risks facing the charity	Para 1.46

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of charity’s trusts:
Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter)	Para 1.25	Constitution
How is the charity constituted? (e.g unincorporated association, CIO)	Para 1.25	Association
Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees	Para 1.25	Committee members elected at the AGM serve as Trustees. Members may also be co-opted by the Committee.

Additional information (optional)

You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

Policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees	Para 1.51
The charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works	Para 1.51
Relationship with any related parties	Para 1.51
Other

Reference and Administrative details

Charity name	St Briavels Music Society
Other name the charity uses	Wye Valley Music
Registered charity number	1092645
Charity’s principal address	Wye Valley Music, c/o The Pantry, 1 East Street, St Briavels, Lydney Gloucestershire GL15 6TG

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year
Ian Lewis	Chair	Elected at AGM, 20 October 2024
Annette Hecht	Secretary	Elected at AGM, 20 October 2024
David Rees	Treasurer
Michael Haines	Programme Director
Martin Fenn-Smith		Stood down at AGM, 12 October 2025
Michael Bradley		Stood down at AGM, 12 October 2025
Corinna Arnold
Alice Hogge
Andrew Baker

Corporate trustees – names of the directors at the date the report was approved

Director name

Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity

Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year

Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others

Description of the assets held in this capacity

Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects

Details of arrangements for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets

Additional information (optional)

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser	Name Address	Name Address
Independent Examiner	David Shoubridge	Yew Tree House, East St., St Briavels, Gloucestershire, GL15 6TQ

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Exemptions from disclosure

Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details

Other optional information

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Annette Hecht Full name(s) Ian Lewis Position (eg Secretary, Chair Secretary Chair, etc) Date 18 May 2026

Income and Expenditure 2024 - Wye Valley Music 2025

Income	2024 – 2025	2023– 2024	2022 – 2023
WVM
Membership Subscriptions	2581	3349	2456
TicketSales	15590	14037	15855
Donations	1535	1394	1222
Programme cover advertising	180	0	200
Sponsorship	2500
Interest(Deposit Account)	251	206	70
Gift Aidrecovered	0	0	0
WVM Total Income	22637	18986	19803

WVM in Mind
Sponsorship (Lark Trust)	3500	3000	6500
Sponsorship (Other)	2500
Donations	957	4070	3272
Other		457
WVM in Mind Total income	6957	7527	9772

WVM in Schools
Sponsorship (Lark Trust)	3500	2500	3500
Sponsorship (Other)	500	0	2000
Donations	287	277	280
WVM in Schools Total Income	4287	2777	5780

TOTAL INCOME	33881	29290	35355



EXPENDITURE
WVM
Musicians	13905	12300	10710
Venue hire	1147	1304	1060
Page turning	100	0	30
Piano tuning	340	1009	400
Programme design	1232	1168	874
MakingMusic	313	392	200
Communications and website	421	436	420
Marketingandpublicity	168	140	382
Concert related extras	81	293	20
Insurance	155	151	99
Administration	162	21	0
Graphic design	0	0	318
Equipmentpurchases	95	24	0
Advertising	110	0	279
Printingand stationary	360	360	264
PRS	834	44	197
WVM Expenditure Total	19423	17642	15253
WVM Income - Expenditure	3214	1344	4550

WVM in Mind
Musicians	5099	5831	5175
Venue Hire	644	675	652
Administration	36	113	55
Other	19	0	41
WVMiM Expenditure Total	5798	6619	5923
WVMiM Income - Expenditure	1159	908	3849

WVM in Schools
Musicians	4250	4667	5120
Other	150	1026	292
WVMiS Expenditure Total	4400	5693	5412
WVMiS Income - Expenditure	-113	-2916	368

TOTAL EXPENDITURE	29621	29954	26588


TOTAL INCOME - EXPENDITURE	4260	-664	8767

Cash held at 31st July 2022
WVM	15996	11,733
WVMiM	10418	10,758
WVMiS	4468	4381
Current account Total	£30,882	£26,872	£29,941
Deposit account	£5,447	£5,196	£2,790
Total	£36,329	£32,068	£32,731



Physical Assets Piano (insured value £38000) £14,500 Piano stool £545 Four lamps £260 Lighting stands with lamps £197 Dehumidifer £105 Piano Cover £288 Piano wheels £338 Card reader £95 Electronic piano £200 Total £16,433

Wye Valley Music – Charity Number 1092645 – Review of Accounts – year ending 31 July 2025

Summary

The Accounts provided are an accurate statement of the finances of the Wye Valley Music Society. All checks were ok, and the Accounts were consistent with the documentation supplied.

Details of the checks are given below, together with a few notes and observations.

Information supplied:

Bank paying-in book
List of Concerts
Ticket and Donation details
Copies of invoices
Bank statements for Lloyds and CCLA accounts
System prints of all Income and Expense transactions.
Income and Expenditure Summary
Asset list

Checks: Moneydance system vs Lloyds bank statements

The accounts were recorded on the Moneydance system, which is closely integrated to the Lloyds bank account. Two sample months of bank transactions were checked against the Moneydance prints. All checked out ok. Subsequent checks were done against Moneydance reports.

Checks: Paying in Slips

All slips were recorded correctly.

Checks: Tickets and Donations

Ticket payments and donations from the TicketSource system were correctly entered and allocated to the accounts.

Checks: Checks: Receipts

All ticket payments and most donations were input via the TicketSource system. All TicketSource transactions cross-checked ok to the bank and to the accounts.
Almost all membership payments are made direct through the bank.
No Membership file was provided, so it was not possible to reconcile membership with payments.
It was not possible to check that every cash or cheque donation and membership payment had been paid in, or that they had been entered correctly.
All income transactions were correctly allocated to the appropriate account.
Deposit account interest was checked against deposit account statements – checked ok

Checks: Payments

All payments were checked against invoices.
There was supporting documentation for almost every payment.
All payments were correctly allocated to the appropriate account.

Checks: Account Summary

The Account Summary was checked against the totals on the detail lists of receipts and payments – all checked out ok.
Subtotals and Overall totals all checked out ok.

9[th] October 2025

David Shoubridge

Checks: Cash Held

The opening and closing bank balances for the current and deposit accounts were checked against the Bank statements – all checked out ok.
The Lloyds opening bank balance plus Receipts less Payments reconciled with the closing bank balance.

Checks: Physical Assets

No checks were done on the existence or value of the Physical Assets.

David Shoubridge 9[th] October 2025

9[th] October 2025

David Shoubridge

Notes and Observations

Payments

Most invoices were available at the start of the audit. As with last year, several invoices were missing at the start, but all bar a few were subsequently found. Finding and checking invoices against the accounts was extremely laborious

Moneydance transactions report and Bank account

Both the Moneydance transactions report and the Bank account report were supplied as spreadsheets, which made checking easier than last year.

Gift Aid

Like the last two years no Gift Aid was recovered this year. There will be a substantial amount waiting to be re-claimed.

Cash Held

During the year the Lloyds bank balance never fell below £22k and was almost £31k at the end of the year – there is an opportunity to transfer further funds, say £15k, to the CCLA COIF investment account. At the current interest rate this would generate around £700 per year.

Physical Assets

Assets been valued at their cost. While this is normal with cash accounting, the current value may be substantially different. This is particularly important with the piano, and insurance cover should be kept in line with the replacement cost.

Charity

The name on the Charity Register is still St. Briavels Music Society. This should be changed to reflect the current name.
The Accounts on the Charity Register are up to date.

Next Year

Several things could be done to make the audit quicker and easier next year:

Provide a Membership Subs file that covers all members.
Ensure that every transaction, Income and Expenses, has accompanying documentation, before handing over for audit.
Store all expense invoices in folders, either by supplier or category.

9[th] October 2025

David Shoubridge