## Gentlemen Songsters Male Voice Choir
## Treasurers Report for 2023
2023 was a year of trying to get back to where we were financially before Covid. We all understood that it was not going to right itself in 12 months and the past year has proved that.
Our income (again) has not quite covered our expenditure as we have fallen short by £1,075 once the initial deposits for the Bristol concert are put to one side.
We have had successes but also disappointments as far as the Concerts go. There seems to be a difference in what audiences are prepared to come out of their houses to see now, compared to 3 years ago. People have become used to watching TV and being entertained “for free” at home. It is not just small fry like ourselves who are struggling either. I have gone to the Panto at the Hippodrome every year since 2012 and this is the first year that I have seen empty seats there, so it isn’t just us.
This, I believe, confirms we were correct in increasing the annual subscription up to £150 last year. If we had not done so we would have been a further £4,000 (approx.) worse off. I would like to thank the members for their co-operation in accepting (and paying) this increase with grace and honesty.
The decision to ask for members to purchase their own “blues” was not taken lightly and please accept that we did factor in the financial ability of many of our members to pay for both uniforms and subs. Having retired myself this year I am very aware that it comes as a shock when you deduct these unscheduled outgoings from your pension payments. As before, I would again like to thank members for their prompt settlement of this cost.
Whilst it is a reasonable step in the right direction, my aim is to get us back to the same comfortable levels that we were at in 2018 & 2019. I do remember being questioned in 2021/2022 as to why we needed such a surplus. Hopefully you will all now be aware of what global pandemics can do and can see the positives of “having money in the bank”. We are still £5,000 shy of available funds from the 2019 total.
The issued spreadsheet shows a relatively healthy balance between income and expenditure for the concerts but the cost of the music team needs to be added to the comparisons. This is in the sum of £1,470.00.
We made a valiant effort with our main concert, in October. I believe that all who attended, and all who participated in, the concert enjoyed it immensely. We all made a sterling effort to make this a financial success but (as discussed above) ticket sales
were disappointing. The overall loss including deposits paid last year plus music team costs lead to a £1,500 loss for the single concert. The BC showcase this year actually led to a £1,900 profit but perhaps the BH Civic “experience” let itself down.
I would once again like to thank the Choir members for their efforts in selling tickets for concerts over the last year and can only ask for a concerted (excuse the pun – so good I’ve used it twice in 2 years) effort this coming concert season.
We have already booked 3 venues for next year and paid deposits totalling £1,034 for 4 concerts in 2024.
We have given £2,000 this year in Donations to The Brierley Hill Baby Bank (£500), Solving Kids Cancer (£500), Access in Dudley and Wolverhampton (£1,000). Further donations will be made in the new year following the Christmas period. The pub concerts raised a sum of £696 in buckets and the Concert at Dudley College raised a further £200 for Charities which will be donated on.
The Choir has also received £1,865 in donations from a number of sources including a Wedding, funerals (unfortunately), minor concerts and £195 “Christmas card” internal donation from the Choir.
The 700 Club principles changed over the last 12 months with winners being drawn monthly and all participants having a chance of winning 50% of the balance of the monies collected. Please form an orderly queue behind me to see which numbers JS choses for the lottery.
I would like (again) to thank you all for trying to make my life easier and paying by either BACS payments or Stripe. I will still accept cheques, notes and coins however – at a push!
The final account has been agreed and signed by our auditors so I will make the balance sheet and income/expenditure summary available to any member that would like a copy. I will be free to answer any questions, on a one to one basis, after the AGM.
Onward and upward!!!
Stephen Hale (Treasurer) January 2024
## **GENTLEMEN SONGSTERS MALE VOICE CHOIR INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023**
|**EXPENDITURE**|**£**|**£**
**_2023_**|**_2022_ **|**INCOME**|**£**|**£**
**_2023_**|**_2022_**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||||
|**CONCERTS**||||**CONCERTS**||||
|Christmas 2022|393.77
£|||Christmas 2022|20.00
£|||
|Springvale|85.00
£|||Christmaspubs 2022|407.00
£|||
|Kidderminster Valentines|480.00
£|||Catenians|325.00
£|||
|Songfor Joel|443.02
£|||Wedding (TB)|400.00
£|||
|Beverley|11,492.98
£|||Songfor Joel|1,151.34
£|||
|BC Showcase|1,266.00
£|||Kidderminster Valentines|348.00
£|||
|Autumn Concert - excludes
deposit of £1,200paid in 2022|7,153.23
£|||BC Showcase incl raffle|3,389.77
£|||
|Remembrance|1,415.00
£|||Autumn Concert|7,133.75
£|||
|Christmas|1,208.82
£|||Remembrance|1,545.28
£|||
|**Deposits for 2024**||||Christmas concert|1,766.00
£|||
|Springvale|94.00
£|||Christmas buckets|557.22
£|||
|Cornbow|165.00
£|||Christmaspubs fees|1,000.00
£|||
|DTH July|350.00
£|||Christmaspub buckets|696.25
£|||
|DTH October|425.00
£|||Beverley (Excludes £3,475
collected in 2022)|7,534.00
£|||
|||||Bristol trip (2024)|2,890.00
£|||
|||||||||
|||24,971.82
£|_2,821.82_
_£_|||||
|||||||29,163.61
£|_11,773.52_
_£_|
|||||**REGULAR INCOME**||||
|||||||||
|||||Subscriptions|7,237.00
£|||
|||||||||
|||||||7,237.00
£|_3,898.01_
_£_|
|**DONATIONS**||||**DONATIONS RECEIVED**||||
|BrierleyHill BabyBank|500.00
£|||D Arnold family|1,010.00
£|||
|SolvingKids Cancer|500.00
£|||Amblecote CO|60.00
£|||
|Access in Dudley& W'ton|1,000.00
£|||S Waltho combined funding|1,650.00
£|||
|S Waltho combined funding|1,650.00
£|||DudleyMens Fellowship|50.00
£|||
|||||O'Shea family|300.00
£|||
|||||AJB|150.00
£|||
|||||Youngat Heart|50.00
£|||
|||||GSMVC CharityXmas Card|195.00
£|||
|||3,650.00
£|_2,450.00_
_£_|Lime Grove Resi Association|50.00
£|||
|||||||3,515.00
£|_60.00_
_£_|
|||||||||
|**MISC/RUNNING/OTHER**
**COSTS**||||**OTHER INCOME**||||
|Bank charges|109.91
£|||Misc|102.90
£|||
|General admin expenses|1,476.51
£|||Uniformpayments|3,731.00
£|||
|Web domain|189.00
£|||Social fund(700 club)|1,317.00
£|||
|Insurance|209.85
£|||||||
|New uniforms|3,511.92
£|||||||
|National Association of Choirs|-
£|||||||
|Honoraria(incl Concerts)|6,165.00
£|||||||
|Room hire|1,860.00
£|||||5,150.90
£|_3,475.00_
_£_|
|Music|671.76
£|||||||
|700 club(250 topay)|436.00
£|||||||
|||14,629.95
£|_9,523.91_
_£_|||||
|||||||||
|**Transfers**||-
£|_-_
_£_|**Transfers**||-
£|_-_
_£_|
|||||||||
|||**43,251.77**
**£**|**_14,795.73_**
**_£_**|||**45,066.51**
**£**|**_19,206.53_**
**_£_**|
|||||||||
|Surplus||1,814.74
£||||||
|**_Surplus includes £2,890_**
**_temporary deposits for_**
**_Bristol trip, so true total is_**
**_loss of = £1,075.26_**||||||||
|||||||||
|||**_45,066.51_**
**_£_**|**_14,795.73_**
**_£_**|||**45,066.51**
**£**|**_19,206.53_**
**_£_**|
|||||||||
|**Known expenditure 2023**||||**Known income 2023**||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
BALANCE SHEET
AS AT 31 December 2023
Issued for distribution to Choir Members prior to the AGM.
CASH RESERVES
Treasurers account
Balance 12/22
£ 6,478.99
Balance (29th) December 2023
£ 8,284.51 *
includes £2,890 short term income for Bristol Concert
Treasurers account
£ 1,805.52
Contingency account
Balance 12/22
Balance (29th) December 2023
Contingency account
£ 10,960.18
£ 11,128.36 Incl interest
168.18
Futures account
Balance 12/22
Balance (29th) December 2023
Futures account
£ 7,253.56
£ 7,377.13 Incl interest
123.57
Cash in hand
£ 26,790.00
£ 2,097.27
Appointed by the Choir Management Committee, we hereby certify for the accounts
to be correct for the year ending 31/12/23
Signed
Date:
Roger Shuttleworth
Signed
Date:
.--fifTrd Molyneux
Cash reserves - historical
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
£ 11,628.06
£ 24,677.14
£ 20,561.18
£ 25,813.45
£ 26,353.44
£ 24,200.08
£ 25,499.89
£ 27,551.43
£ 17,672.80
£ 16,346.10
£ 14,435.26
£ 21,566.17
£ 31,980.71
£ 23,387.56
£ 29,336.89
£ 27,193.43
£ 17,507.50
£ 24,636.24
£ 28,148.37
£ 31,668.20
£ 26,549.11
£ 20,256.85
£ 24,692.73
£ 26,790.00
Surplus
Deficit
Surplus
Surplus
Deficit
Surplus
Surplus
Deficit
Deficit
Deficit
Surplus
Surplus
Deficit
Surplus
Deficit
Deficit
Surplus
Surplus
Surplus
Deficit
Deficit
Surplus
Surplus
£13,049.08
(£4,115.96)
£5,252.27
£539.99
(£2,153.36)
£1,299.81
£2,051.54
(£9,878.63)
(£1,326.70)
(£1,910.84)
£7,130.91
£10,414.54
(£8,593.15)
£5,949.33
(£2,143.46)
(£9,685.93)
£7,128.74
£3,512.13
£3,519.83
£ (5,119.09)
£ (6,292.26)
£ 4,435.54
£ 2,097.27
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023