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2020-08-31-accounts

Registered charity number: 1121625

South Powys Youth Music

Report of the Trustees

and Financial Statements

for the year ended 31[st] August 2020

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Index to the report and the financial statements

for the year ended August 31[st] 2020

Page
Information about the Charity 3 – 5
Report of the Musical Director 5 - 6
Report of the Chair 7 - 9
Financial Report 10 - 14

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Information about the charity

TRUSTEES:

Nicholas Gedge (Chairman) Trudie Jordan

Martyn King (Treasurer)

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1121625

Report of the Trustees

For the year ended August 31[st] 2020

Structure Governance and Management

Governing Document

South Powys Youth Music is a registered charity governed by Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 21[st] May 2007. It was granted charitable status by the Charity Commissioners in 2007 under registered charity number 1121625.

The charity’s registered address is Ty Mawr, Bwlch, Brecon, Powys, LD3 7SQ. The charity’s bankers are Lloyds TSB, 54 Cross Street, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 5HB.

Trustees

The Trustees who served in the year ending 31[st] August 2020 were:

Nicholas Gedge (Chairman)

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Trudie Jordan

Martyn King (Treasurer)

Management and Organisation

The management consists of a board of trustees and a management committee. They are assisted in the week to week running of the charity by a number of music tutors together with a number of volunteers most of whom are parents of members of South Powys Youth Music. The management committee meets on average once per term – and apart from these meetings, any issues arising are dealt with usually by email communication. The board of trustees meets annually – and more often as and when required if particular issues arise.

The objectives and activities of South Powys Youth Music

The aim of South Powys Youth Music (SPYM) is to provide the children and young people of South Powys with the opportunity to meet on a regular basis to make music together. In the early 1990s Powys disbanded its county music service and South Powys Youth Orchestra was started by a group of parents anxious that the children of the area should not be denied the opportunity to make music together. South Powys Youth Music (SPYM) grew out of this and is now an umbrella organisation for regular youth musical activities in the area. Unfortunately due to the Covid pandemic and subsequent national lockdown SPYM had to suspend operations on 16.03.20 and as the end of this reporting period SPYM unfortunately still remained dormant. In more normal times SPYM meets every Wednesday afternoon in school term times at Brecon High School. South Powys (comprising the old counties of Breconshire and Radnorshire) is a very large and sparsely populated rural area and in an effort to make SPYM accessible to as many children as possible, bus transport is provided (funded by SPYM) for children coming from the Builth Wells and Crickhowell school clusters. SPYM’s groups on Wednesdays are Choir, Percussion Group, Wind Band, and String Machine (for younger and less experienced string players), and South Powys Youth Orchestra. Each of the groups is coached by members of a team of experienced and

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dedicated music teachers. A team of adult volunteers also assists. The work of each term is focussed on an end of term concert. In March or April in recent years SPYM has held very successful Gala days at Theatr Brycheiniog in Brecon.

SPYM has also in past years organised roadshows which visit primary schools in the area to give young children taster sessions on instruments in the hope that many will be encouraged to start learning an instrument. There are also termly sessions for separate groups – Primary Strings and Junior Orchestra– aimed not just at existing SPYM members but also at other young musicians again in the hope that they might be encouraged to join SPYM and its regular activities. In past years there were also very constructive joint projects with SPYM’s counterparts at North Powys Youth Music – this collaboration has unfortunately ceased due to funding issues but it remains a hope that one day it may be possible to resume joint ventures.

Public Benefit

The Trustees have had due regard to the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit.

MUSIC DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Our Chair, Nicholas Gedge, has thoroughly covered the majority of the activities that were possible during the academic year 2019-2020 in his Chair's Report, so rather than going over the same ground, I'd just like to add a few things. On a personal note, I was happy to be able to return to directing SPYO for the Brecon With Bells On and Christmas Farmers Market events in November and December 2019, and to take on our weekly rehearsals again from January 2020. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Adrian Cook and David Lloyd for doing such a great job with the orchestra during my enforced absence.

Primary schools Strings Taster Sessions started up again in January 2020 at Crickhowell, Builth, Llanfaes and Priory schools, providing seven weekly opportunities

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for 120 children across the 4 schools. We had a highly enjoyable and successful concert at Priory School on March 6[th] , at which point the project as a whole was unfortunately shelved due to CV19. Thankfully all of the children involved had already received 6 weeks of the project; it was just a terrible shame that 3 out of the 4 schools didn't ever get to enjoy their end-of-project concert for family members and the rest of the school. I'd like to thank my colleagues Berri Munn and Kathryn Graham, as well as the excellent and enthusiastic RWCMD students who so ably assisted at some of the sessions.

SPYO was invited to take part in a concert mostly given by the Brecknock Sinfonia (conductor Michael Bell MBE), with guest soloist international violinist Rachel Podger, at Brecon Cathedral on March 7[th] , at which they gave an excellent performance of William Mathias's Serenade for Small Orchestra ; my thanks to those members of the Brecknock Sinfonia who joined SPYO for this, providing 'missing' parts for oboe, double bass, and lower brass. Several of our young musicians were also invited to play with the Brecknock Sinfonia for Beethoven's Romanze in F major and Mozart's Symphony No 40 in G minor.

As ever, I'd like to thank our trustees, our management committee for their continued and dedicated support and expertise: Nick Gedge (chair), Sally Morris (administrator), and Martyn King (treasurer). And also my hard-working colleagues: Kath Davies, Clare Walker, Adrian Cook, David Lloyd, Alan Davies, Claire Edwards, and Berri Munn, without whom none of our work would be possible. I would also like to thank our weekly adult / parent-volunteers for their continued support.

We are also thankful to Rachel Podger for continuing to act as patron of the Mozart Music Fund , which aims to enable all children in South Powys to have the opportunity to learn an instrument or to have singing lessons, irrespective of their family's income.

Tim Cronin - May 2021

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REPORT OF THE CHAIR

The 2019 – 2020 SPYM year got off to a difficult start with the news that at the end of August Tim Cronin – our indefatigable musical director – had been involved in a serious cycling accident in Spain. He sustained an extremely nasty fracture injury to his collar bone and after managing to get back home to Wales underwent an operation to put things right. He was in hospital for a while and – inevitably and unfortunately – was out of SPYM action for a considerable time. I can happily now report that he has made a good recovery but it was a very nasty injury indeed and we were all extremely concerned for him and are all very pleased that he has made a full recovery.

That of course left a gap at SPYM and particularly at the helm of South Powys Youth Orchestra and we all owe a great debt to Adrian Cook who so willingly, cheerfully and extremely ably stepped into the breach while Tim was out of action. We were particularly lucky that Adrian was able to do so because the year got off to a rather swift start with SPYO performing in a concert in the Guildhall in Brecon in mid September. The concert was a memorable one which featured the renowned soprano Elin Manahan Thomas. She presented a varied programme of vocal music and SPYO, directed by Adrian Cook, accompanied her in Handel’s wonderful “Lascia che pianga” (from his opera Rinaldo) and “Where’er ye walk” (from Semele). For an orchestra, accompanying a soloist is an entirely different business from playing a purely orchestral piece. Accompanying demands extra levels of concentration and also requires an increased level of collective flexibility to be able to “go with” the soloist if needs be. It is not an easy task for a young orchestra to undertake. SPYO rose to the task impressively and it is hugely to the credit of its young members that it did so. Their achievement was all the more impressive given that the concert was in the second week of term – there had not been much time all for them to prepare. It was an extremely enjoyable and memorable evening and one that I suspect increased awareness of SPYM and its work.

This concert was the first of a series of events in the term of Councillor Ann Mathias as Mayor of Brecon. Ann of course was a SPYM mother with her (and Glyn’s) daughter Hannah being a cellist and a long time member of SPYM until recently. In her term as Mayor, Ann was kind enough to nominate SPYM as one of her chosen charities to benefit from a series of events to be held over her year in office. We are extremely

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grateful to Ann for this very kind gesture. It helped not only raise funds for SPYM but also ensured a good deal of public exposure for SPYM and its work.

The usual post school Wednesday sessions at Brecon High School were again the core of SPYM’s work with the term aiming towards various events later in the term. The next of these was SPYO’s by now annual participation in Brecon Baroque Festival in late October. As in previous years the older and more experienced members of SPYO played alongside more experienced players, students and professional players as part of the Brecon Baroque Festival Orchestra – a valuable experience for them all. SPYO also had a slot in the Monday night concert in which – conducted by Adrian Cook - they acquitted themselves very well in performances of the overture from Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito and in some highly evocative and entertaining music by Biber. Brecon Baroque Festival again kindly held a collection for SPYM after the concert which extraordinarily raised just short of £1700. Also in the wake of the Festival SPYM received an extremely generous donation of £5,000 from Meryl Aldridge in memory of her late husband and also of William Howard Jones. And staying on the subject of donations SPYM is also very grateful for financial assistance from The Gibbs Trust and also – as indicated above – the assistance that was forthcoming due to the support and kindness of Councillor Ann Mathias. All at SPYM are hugely grateful to all for their great generosity.

The term continued with SPYO’s now annual appearances at Brecon With Bells On and also – joined by an excellent number of enthusiastic younger SPYM members – at the Christmas Farmers Market. Both events were very enjoyable and also were events that I think helped raise SPYM’s profile in the community. The high point of the term was the Christmas concert in which Stringtastic (directed by Clare Edwards), String Machine (directed by Berri Munn), choir and percussion group (directed by Kath and Alan Davies), Wind Band (directed by Clare Walker) and SPYO (again directed by Adrian Cook) showcased the results of all their hard work over the course of the term.

The New Year got off to a promising start with all groups working towards the annual Gala Day at Theatr Brycheiniog. SPYO were working hard on their chosen concert pieces with Josh Eyre, in particular, doing sterling work preparing to perform Haydn’s cello concerto in C. Unfortunately all this hard work came to an abrupt end as a result

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of the outbreak of the Covid pandemic. The Prime Minister’s announcement on March 16[th] made it immediately and obviously clear that SPYM was going to have to suspend operations with immediate effect and the lockdown announcement on March 23[rd] made it obvious that SPYM would not be resuming for some time to come. Over the succeeding weeks it became clearer still that there was no prospect of SPYM starting to function again in a normal way until the autumn at the very earliest. We are grateful to Kath and Alan Davies for arranging some online choir sessions and these at least enabled some of SPYM’s younger members to remain in some sort of musical touch over difficult and very unusual times.

All of this happened too at a time when concerns were growing regarding the decrease in numbers of SPYM members – in particular with the numbers filtering through to SPYO. At the time of writing this it is still far from clear when SPYM might be able to resume operations and I fear it is likely that restarting SPYM will present challenges – possibly very significant ones – given the length of time it will, in effect, have been dormant. One silver lining in this is knowing that we are, at least at the moment, on a sound financial footing and are in position to carry on our work when we are able to, but challenges certainly lie ahead.

As ever I would like to thank our excellent and dedicated team of music tutors, our musical director Tim and also Adrian Cook for so valiantly stepping into the breach when Tim was out of action. I would also like to thank Sally our wonderful administrator and Martin our treasurer who does so much behind the scenes to keep all on an even keel. In amongst all the bad news about such a difficult year is the very good news that Josh Eyre – a SPYM member for as long as I can remember – has been awarded a place to study at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. It is news that in these difficult and uncertain times is very heartening indeed.

NICK GEDGE

CHAIR OF SPYM

SEPTEMBER 2020

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FINANCIAL REPORT

SPYM Treasurers Report 2019/2020

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Summary of Income

As reported last year, SPYM received a generous donation during the year 2018/19 of £30k which was for restricted funding of our outreach programs to be used over a number of years. This has again been excluded from the below percentage calculations due to its restricted nature, however, has been shown in the P&L and the restricted fund usage has been itemised separately in expenditure.

Summary of Core Income

Welsh Government funding (received via Powys CC) accounted for 5% of total income for our 2019/20 financial year, down from 10% received directly from Powys CC the previous year.

Other main sources of income were:

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Income Breakdown

Summary of Restricted Income

c.£26.5k balance remained available entering financial year 2019/20 of the £30k of income received from a private estate donation in financial year 2018/19.

Summary of Expenditure

Expenditure, as with income, is being reported separately as a result of the income for restricted outreach activities as previously described.

Summary of Main Core Expenditure

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Expenditure Breakdown

Summary of Restricted Expenditure

As reported above, c.£26.5k remained available from the fund entering 2019/20. The expenditure split for 2019/20 of the £2,561 spent :

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Observations

Contribution from the Powys CC Music Grant dropped off completely and was partly replaced by a Welsh Government Grant (delivered via Powys CC) of £2,168 for 2019/20. This compared to £5,000 for 2018/19 which came from Powys CC directly.

For the year 2019/20, significant support through generous donations and Friends of SPYM, as well as continued engagement from institutions, fundraisers for grants, etc., has helped to maintain a heathy financial position. With the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak in March 2020, we saw a sudden curtailing of SPYM activities which resulted in subscriptions and other activity based income disappearing. Consequently, however, the costs associated with tutors, transport, venue hire and administration also reduced dramatically, effectively mothballing the charity whilst the country was in lockdown.

The balance of the £30k legacy that SPYM had been extremely fortunate to receive, allowed us to engage in outreach activities prior to the pandemic, and the remainder of this fund will continue to allow outreach activities to be offered in future for a number of years once current restrictions are lifted.

We closed the year to August 31st 2020 with a very healthy £72,835.79 in the accounts, which includes the balance of the £30k legacy money (i.e. £23,975.55 ).

We do not anticipate, nor have we received, any confirmation to date of any income from Powys CC in our 2020/21 financial year, however the cash reserves built up will help support activities once they resume, with income expected to start coming in again from subs, instrument hire, concert revenue, donations and future fund raising activity.

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582 Darwen Road Egerton Bolton BL7 9RY 15th February 2021 Dear Martyn, South Powys Youth Music (SPYM) Accounts for the year to 31si August Z020 I have reviewed the book-keeping for South Powys Youth Music (SPYM) for the year ending 31st August 2020. I confirm that the accounts appear in good order, with all balances cross casting and all iteTll5 included within the'Profit & Loss. and'Balance Sheev. The bank reconciliations are accurate. balanced and have been used exactly. I confirni that l am independent of South Powys Youth Music and any of its activities. Yours sincerely, lac ie Peacock