OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

← The Burford Singers

2025-08-31-accounts

President: Bob Chilcott Director of Music: Will Dawes Principal Guest Director: Oliver Parker

From: Elizabeth Bennett :: The Chair, Burford Singers

Annual report 2024/25

This report covers the financial year when the choir performed its usual number of concerts in autumn, spring and summer.

The Committee met formally on five occasions during the year (which includes the October 2025 AGM).

Concerts this year

  1. November concert - Vivaldi ‘Gloria’/Albinoni ‘Adagio’/Rutter ‘Magnificat’

  2. April concert - Highlights from the Romantics

  3. Brahms ‘Schicksalslied’/Mendessohn ‘Hebrides Overture’/Hensel

  4. ‘Hiob’/Haydn ‘Harmoniemesse’

  5. June concert - Rossini ‘Petite Messe Solennelle’

Will Dawes, Director of Music is going to provide a more detailed report for all the music which will be circulated to members.

Membership

By the beginning of September 2025 - 8 members did not renew their membership (this number includes 5 previous members who did not respond at all to emails and reminders or who haven’t made their minds up what they’re doing this year). The other members who left cited the following reasons:

On the waiting list we have 4 sopranos, 1 alto, 1 tenor and 1 bass.

This brings us to a total of 66 total membership for this year - with a possible 5 previous members if they come back to us and renew (see above).

For the concerts we are expecting the following line up:

Autumn Sops 30 Altos 18 Tenors 7 Basses 7 Total 62
Spring Sops 30 Altos 20 Tenors 8 Basses 8 Total 66
Summer Sops 27 Altos 17 Tenors 7 Basses 8 Total 59

New Principal Guest Director - Oliver Parker

I emailed Oliver Parker in the summer to formally ask whether he would like to take on the role of ‘Principal Guest Director’ which he accepted.

The rehearsal dates which Will Dawes won’t be able to make for 2025/2026 year and which Oliver Parker has already agreed to take:

Oliver Parker has sent over a brief biography which Peter Moran has updated on our website.

Finance

Sally Jones Treasurer has provided to you all a detailed summary of our finances.

Please read her report which should have been circulated in time for the AGM on 9 October 2025.

Sally Jones will be stepping down as Treasurer. It is a challenging committee role and I can’t thank her enough for all her hard work. She will be missed and we wish her all the best in the future.

Outlook for 2025/26

After asking members about the possibility of moving the concert times earlier, it has been decided to keep the concert start time as 1930. . Interestingly though, it wasn’t as clear cut as one would have thought. The vox pop showed that it was pretty much straight down the line bar a couple of votes.

As explained when we gathered your comments it was merely a fact finding exercise and not a scientific vote

Concert Programme

We have some exciting concerts planned and I’m looking forward to them. We close the Burford Festival in the summer with a fitting programme to mark some important dates in 2026:

New ticketing set up

Thanks to all of those involved in the new digital ticket set up. Let’s hope it works. If you didn’t get my email explaining everything please do let me know and I can forward it to you again.

Sponsorship

We are going to contact the Friends’ of the Burford Singers to see if they would welcome the opportunity to sponsor different items for each concert. There would be small incentives and a mention in the programme.

For example:

Soloists - Josephine Baker Trust

At Will Dawes’ suggestion we are going to get involved with the ‘Josephine Baker Trust’ which is a charity that supports the developing careers of young professional singers who are studying at any of the renowned music conservatoires in this country.

As an approved ‘Partner Organisation’ we can apply for grants in support of engagements offered to singers on the current Josephine Baker Trust list. This helps undergraduates (and post graduates) get the experience needed to launch their singing careers.

Website

Please keep up to date in the members section of our website.

Safeguarding policy

Our Safeguarding Policy is published on our web site. Full Members and Associates should make sure that they take time to update their understanding of the policy – see our members’ web page www.burfordsingers.org.uk/member.

Rehearsal aids

Members who wish to use rehearsal aids are encouraged to use the .pdf that has been updated. You can find this .pdf using the link on the members’ web page www.burfordsingers.org.uk/member.

Thanks from the Chair

I would like to thank Robin Baggs for his hard work with the choir over the last year. Bravo!!

Sadly, Hilary decided it was time to leave. However, the generosity from the choir enabled me to buy some fabulous flowers and give her a very generous Burford Garden Centre voucher . Hilary was utterly thrilled with the kindness of the choir. You truly made her day with the kind gifts.

I would also like to thank everyone involved in planning and delivering our events. Planning and executing the rearrangements in a busy working church with Sunday morning services in time for a Sunday evening concert is not a trivial exercise.

In addition to the Sunday volunteers, I would like to say thank you to those who help put the staging up in time for the Thursday rehearsal and for those who pitch up on the Monday to perform the most amazing feat of lifesize Jenga to get the staging dismantled and packed away with unbelievable precision (and a laminated sheet to aid with van packing).

Special thanks to David and Alison Willatts who truly are our unsung heroes. David sadly won’t be renewing his membership this year but his job as orchestra fixer has been fabulous and we hope that his health improves to come back to the choir soon. Susie Moore has stepped into the orchestra fixer role and we are truly grateful.

Alison Willatts with her wealth of knowledge (about all these things) and fantastic black book of contacts, manages to secure our scores from all over the place. We couldn’t do it without you - so thank you both!

Thanks also to the:

My thanks to the Vicar and Parochial Church Council for helping to achieve this.

Special thanks also to the fellow committee members who do so much behind the scenes Sally Newman who gets all the papers organised, as well as minute taking, and especially those who are standing down from the committee at this year’s AGM:

T H A N K you all

New choir members

Our membership is declining, especially in the tenor and bass sections. Whilst we have a few auditions lined up, numbers are too low. This year we are66 members and we have space for 100 singers.

The committee has tried to reach younger audiences, including Burford School and local groups, but with little success. Our priority is to recruit new members, ideally people who have recently moved to the area (tenors and basses in particular!!).

If you have ideas or can help with recruitment, please get involved. We need your support. You don’t need to be committee members to help with this recruitment drive.

New committee members

We urgently need more committee members. There are still three vacant roles from last year, and this year we are losing another three - Robin (Vice-Chair), Sally Jones (Treasurer) and Sian Snelling (Friends’ secretary).

Robin will continue to help with staging during concert weeks, for which we are very grateful. Sian has also agreed to continue her work as Friends’ secretary for the time being.

Finding a new treasurer is our top priority

Without more volunteers, it will be extremely difficult to keep the choir running.

We need members to step up, either by:

If we cannot get more support, we may face the closure of the choir and charity at next year’s AGM.

The future of Burford Singers is in your hands.

Thanks all.

Elizabeth Bennett

Chair of the Burford Singers

BURFORD SINGERS TREASURER’S ANNUAL REPORT 2024-25

I have been largely absent from the choir as a result of personal circumstances and taking on a full-time job as a carer earlier this year has made it harder to keep the Treasurer role going. It has been mostly very rewarding contributing to the choir over the past four years, especially during the handover years between Brian to Will and I have enjoyed being part of the team saying goodbye to Brian and welcoming Will. I have put off holding up my hands and saying I can’t cope any more but I am afraid over the summer I had to have finally admit defeat. I have spent the past few weeks doing the year end accounts and have brought most things up to date. The one job I need to do before handing over to Julia is to do a final Gift Aid claim which will happen very soon. Thank you so much Julia for stepping forward!

Looking at the past year’s accounts I have the following notes to make:

1) We have received another £1855 in membership subs in September 2025 post the financial year end compared to £555 the previous September so the choir members have paid up more slowly this year. This is part of the differences in income from last year. 2) Another difference is that Gift Aid has not yet been claimed. It will be done before I hand over. I would expect it to be about £3.5k to add to the cashflow.

3) The current bank balances on the Gold account are £32,325 and we now need to have a balance on the cash account which is currently £178

4) At this time last year the Gold bank account balance was £45,510 so if you add in the projected gift aid claim we are currently £10k below the same time last year

5) We have had £2.2k less ticket income, about £2.5k less membership subs (if you include the £1855 just mentioned) and concert expenses last year cost £4k more than they did the previous year.

6) If you take the £13.2k negative movement in funds during 24-25 this can be represented by:

by:
£k
Unclaimed Gif Aid 3.5
Ticket income drop 2.2
Membershipdrop 2.5
Late members 1.3
Increased concert exp 4
Total 13.5

Problems with the bank

CAF bank has been a nightmare this year for all their customers. They launched a new portal that initially wasn’t fit for purpose. I don’t have the energy to list all their problems but at one point I spent a total of five hours over my two days off simply waiting in a telephone queue to resolve problems. It took several months for it to settle down.

Where once we had a simple two accounts, one for payments and one for receipts that would clear out the payments one each night, we now need to hold a balance in the payments one. Initially that was being cleared out each night to zero but they have stopped doing that which makes life a lot easier!

As a result, we have had a couple of payments that have not been debited; I haven't always been able to even see if payments have gone through, for a while I was so exasperated thanks to incorrect statements that did not even showing transactions in date order. The

situation is better now and I hope it continues to be. The new payment portal still isn't very user friendly on a mobile phone but it is ok on a laptop.

In the Concert Balance sheet I have added a post year end column to show a couple of ticket cheques banked after the year end for the June concert, and also a payment to the Harmonium player which I absolutely know I did at the beginning of July but didn't go out of the account (and sufficient funds were in the account). I have emailed an apology to him and he was very nice about it.

Many of our costs have stayed the same, however scores continue to be expensive especially if sourced from Germany, which has been unavoidable. I must give my heartfelt thanks to Alison Willatts for doing such a difficult job and putting up with me.

Burford church are putting their prices up again by 4% as they always do after Christmas, as follows:

'This adjustment is due to rising operational costs, and it will help us continue to maintain the high standards and service you’ve come to expect from us. The New Hall will £28.80 an hour, The Old Hall will be £19.20 an hour. The Greening room £13.20 and The Gauntlett room £8.80 an hour.'

Our other costs should remain the same, most are controllable and predictable.

We still need to promote and sell tickets and maximise our income that way, and of course make sure as many people as possible benefit from our music therapy, so keep talking and promoting the choir, word of mouth is still the strongest advert, but please use all methods of promotion so that every seat possible is filled. Extra support from sponsorship is definitely a good idea, I hope that the choir can in time return to full strength of its membership. The Friends are wonderful, a great many donate far more than we ask for, and the majority of which are Gift Aid claimable which at 25% extra is a significant help.

I must thank Jo Tuffill who I am constantly indebted to for an accounting set up that works so well and who has again audited the accounts and signed them off. I always remind you all to check the payment reference before you make an online payment as it saves so much time checking what things are when we have had payments coming in for different items, eg Friends renewal and tickets. Separate payments don’t cost any of us extra and makes it all easier for if they are split out and referenced correctly. However the fact that we will now be running choir members’ ticket requests through Ticket Source means that instead of 160 separate individual payments over last year for tickets, this year will there will be, based on this coming concert, about 60 over the year.

I would like to thank Juliette Dessain who has been a superb membership secretary and has worked quietly away being very efficient and who I hope everyone will thank for her contribution to the choir. Sian and Katie our Friends rep and Ticket Manager have also put up with my less than usual prompt payment reports and I thank them for their patience.

The entire committee, ably led Lizzie, should be applauded for their dedication to the choir, thank you to them all, I am only sorry that I did not last the fifth year. I hope I can come back to singing in the future; I know I shall miss you all but I look forward to being in the audience in November.

Sally Jones Treasurer October 2025

| |

‘

VO8 LNS SHIM uopsune, puepjpng NOD sIYysUM/aa4M 9 queyunossy paiayeuD Vov (SuoH) 9S4¢ [14NL auUeOs

*‘payoeas aq 0} sjunoj2e

ay} Jo Suipueysuapun Jadoud e ajqeua 0} Jap.o ul Wodad S14} Ul UMeJp aq Pjnoys Oude YIYM 0] UONeUIUeXa UY} YIM UONIBUUOD U! SJBYEW J9YZO OU SSOJDB BWOD BABY PU SUJBIUOD OU BARY | ‘spsoda4 SuUuNosse ay} Yyd}ewW JOU Op SyUNOIIe Buy} Z Be) PV aU} JO O€T UO!IDas Aq pasinbas se Aqeyd ay} jo Padsad UI 3day JOU asaM Sps0da4 BulWUNOIIe T

spadsau jelajew Aue ul Jey) aAaljaq 0} asned aw BUIAIS UOIJEUIWeXd 94} YUM UO}IBUUOD ul UonUAa}e Aw 0} aWOD aAeY Ssd}eW [ea}eW OU JEU} WIUOD | “UOHNEUIWEXS Aw pajajdwod aaey |

quawiayzers SsJaUIWeX] JUapUadapU|

“py au 40 (q)(S)SP~T UONDaS JapUN UOIss!WWOD AjJeYD ayy Aq uaald suonsasig ajqeaydde au} ||e pamoljoy aaey | UOWeUlWweXa Aw 4no SuiAuje9 ul pue 13y a4} JO SPT UOIIaS JapUN JNO pated sjuNOIIe S,AjJeYD ay} JO UOPeUIWeXS Aw jo padsas ul yoda, | ‘(PV ay2,) TTOZ Pv SaneYD ay} Jo SjuawasiNba|s ayy yum aouepsorre ul sjunogze ay} Jo UOIevedaud ay} 104 ajqisuodsa aie noA saaqsni} s,AWseYd ay SV

uodai jo siseq pue saniiqisuodsay

“yoda Siu} JO € pue Z SaBed uo yNO Jas aie YDIYM ‘S707 ysn3any TE papua Jead ay} 104 Ayseyd BY} JO SyUNOIIE ay} JO UOHeU!WUeXa Aw uo saaysnay Ayieys ay} 0} Hoda: | SUJONIS GUOIUNE FHL JO SAILSNYL IHL OL LYOdaY S,MINIWVXA LNIGN3AdIONI

1YOd34 G3IISIIVNONN S.YANIINVX3

Zz

.

----- Start of picture text -----
PseMjo7 payee) puny yse>
TT2‘Ev SOT‘br p2emio4 48nosg puny ysep
Spun sO MOURNE / MOIjU] EN
TL6‘Stb SI6Ev SadsNOSdy SUIOTING [eIOL
SLL'T 888
vL0'T S8S aBes0ys Buiseys
Saaq |EUOISSIJOJg
6¢T 6IT duly aNUaA Bulsayy eayIWWOD
0 Aduequnossy 3 upny
T8¢ v8 syuawAed ‘ost
€9 €9 saSsey> yueg
TE gE auoydaya} ‘Auauoneys ‘Buiuid ‘adeysog
ToneNnsiurupy
€6l'by 620‘Eb
TT Tr poddns J |
OOT 600 $]$09 H90U0} ainjn4
0 ajesas 10} paseyoind sIsnuwi 9g spooD
0 0 $]SOD LBdDU09 JedA jeINUeUY SNOIATIg
758'b uonouny 19q090
SoZ 0 Aepauis
0 os $}$0} unary
0 $994/20UdI1] SYYBIY BulwOped
0 saseyoing je1ude>
€8Z 682 aouesnsu}
0 sjuawAeg 813815 XZ
c6E Tlv (isnyy Busyeyy) uoNdiuosqns
O6L‘LE 6S8'Tr ainyipuadxy YIIU0>
SAMUPUSAKT sjqeweys Dod
S3DUNOSIY SNIOSINOG
S76'9v 8t9‘0E S8dINOSaY Tuiworu| jeyo}.
88T (8) $ydia291 ‘OSI
0 0 S2109s JO BSeYDINd saquay
268°T uonouny 49q020
€93°2 0 sdoysxiom
0€ SZ SPO0d jo aes
8T 0 Buisiey puny
£88 LT8 ysasaquy yueg
S7l'y tLe’ SPuay,, 9 suoHeUog ‘sjueID
ote OLE diyssosuods Jay30
pLy‘sT vly'ZT
De Lert
T69‘bE ple? Sales YI
€8Z 0 DINING - SBjeS JILL
Cel ‘TZ 06¢‘ZT
L62'¥ 0 (Ply 415) paseaoday xey aU0IU]
SbB‘OT 06r'ZT suonduosqns diyssaquayy
3 3 3 3 SIDUNOSIY SNINOINI
S207 SHINY ISTE Popuy J€9, - SILIALDV IVIONVNIS 4O INSWALVIS
TEPOS60T-ONAQ) SUFIONIS GUOIUNG FHL
----- End of picture text -----

| | |

|

| | | |

| ew = | ~N spppagesteeteaenscerascnezenecsmmagneensssa ges eventos yD ones A euag sau UO au3is pue D1 HAN FNS ERO ES q 14d 1194 UO pauals p | S20 aah IGM], uO pjay BuNaaw je ssaquiayy ay) Aq paaosdde aiam syuaWaye}s jelnueUY aUL

| |

----- Start of picture text -----
9 Oe
vSs‘8s Svs‘er
6S‘ seb"
vS6 /
66T‘6S vSS‘8S
vSs‘ss Svs‘tr
0 0
SS‘8S Svs‘ev
SOT ‘vy S68‘0€
6S9‘T
SOT by 9E7‘6Z
68E'vT 0S6‘ZT
ves'T 0S9'T
€€S'T 6LE'T
7Z0'TT 0266
----- End of picture text -----

aouejeg ONISO 19 pun Jassy ul JuaWanoW puny yse> ul JUSWUSAOW aouejeg Suiluado SGNN3

SLaSSV LSN SalLinavi

sjessy |e}01 qunos2y ysez yueg quno22y pjoy yueg sjassy Juauin>

Japesy oueld jesueauay Suigeys a2u0) sassy JUauIND UON

SL3SSV

Sz0z 3shidnhy ISTE 3€ SY _135HS JONV IVE (EVO960T“ON AW3e45) SUFONIS GUOIUNG JHL