Docusign Envelope ID: 0E1EBD4E-4BE1-4E86-9069-92196B2B942A
The London Ballet Circle
Trustees’ Report and Examined Accounts for the year ended 31 October 2024
Charity number 1123258
Docusign Envelope ID: 0E1EBD4E-4BE1-4E86-9069-92196B2B942A
THE LONDON BALLET CIRCLE 2023/24
Patron: Sir Peter Wright CBE
President: Dame Monica Mason DBE
Vice Presidents:
Dame Merle Park DBE Wayne Eagling David Nixon OBE Darius James OBE Sir David Bintley CBE Kevin O’Hare CBE Dame Darcey Bussell DBE Carlos Acosta CBE Tamara Rojo CBE Aaron S Watkin
The Trustees and Elected Officers during the reporting year were:
Susan Dalgetty Ezra (Chair) Krissie Poyser (Secretary) Keith White (Treasurer) Alexandra Cross (from 24 September 2024) Fiona Erleigh Ben Etteridge (until 14 October 2024) Candace Kuss Abigail Lilly (from 11 March 2024) Susan Lynas Jill Samuels (from 24 September 2024) Alastair Thomson Sylvia Villa
Registered Charity number: 1123258
Registered Office:
42, The Hyde, Ware, Hertfordshire SG12 0ER
Independent Examiner:
M J Bushell Audit LLP 8 High Street Brentwood Essex CM14 4AB
Bankers:
Unity Trust Bank Four Brindley Place Birmingham, B1 2JB
1
Docusign Envelope ID: 0E1EBD4E-4BE1-4E86-9069-92196B2B942A
ANNUAL REPORT
The London Ballet Circle was established in 1946 by Stanley Hawkins with Ninette de Valois (regarded as the founder of British ballet) as its first president. The LBC is the world’s oldest independent ballet appreciation society. It became a charity in 2008 and its objects were widened in 2019. In summary these are:
-
to promote and support dance and the kindred arts for the public benefit.
-
to enhance public knowledge and appreciation of ballet and associated dance forms
-
to encourage excellence, in particular by awarding bursaries for ballet/dance students
-
to offer other charitable assistance for dance but not restricted to dance organisations.
The LBC sets out to achieve this in a number of ways by
-
offering talks with dancers and leading creatives to members and the wider public
-
arranging visits to ballet schools and company rehearsals
-
giving bursaries and awards to dance and ballet students, and charitable donations to ballet companies and organisations to develop new work or to recognise their role in helping us achieve our objectives.
-
promoting the art form to members through newsletters and to the world at large through the website and social media
The LBC continues to attract membership throughout the UK and worldwide through its events and online talks, where it is possible to arrange speakers from anywhere in the world and minimise the disruption to their busy schedules. Talks are free to members with a small charge for the public. Where live meetings are also screened online as a hybrid event, a charge is made to all members to cover the increasing cost of London venues with again a differential higher charge for others. All bookings are made through the website to eliminate cash handling.
The LBC remains committed to offering a wide range of dance related speakers and both live and online events. Successful live events are important but the LBC also needs to fulfill its charitable duties and not just seek financial viability.
ACHIEVEMENTS 2023-2024
In the year 2023-2024 subscriptions continued a slow but steady increase reaching a membership of just under 600. The LBC held a record 44 events with an attendance of nearly 1700 Members and guests.
Thanks to the generosity of members, one of the highlights of the year was to be able to increase the Choreographic Award, established in 2022, from £7,500 to £10,000 and to make it a biennial event. Our President, Dame Monica Mason, led the panel of judges and was joined by Christopher Marney (choreographer, teacher and Artistic Director of London City Ballet), Deborah Weiss (dance writer and critic) and Elena Glurjidze (director of the Masters of Ballet Academy). Submissions were received from ten schools and companies and the panel made their recommendations to the Trustees to make the following awards:
£3000 to Northern Ballet for their Sketches programme,
£3000 to the English National Ballet School towards their 3[rd] Year students’ dissertations, £2000 to the Birmingham Royal Ballet to support their Young Choreographers programme,
2
Docusign Envelope ID: 0E1EBD4E-4BE1-4E86-9069-92196B2B942A
£1000 to the New English Ballet Theatre towards commissioning a new work by Matthew Ball and £1000 to the children’s company Let’s All Dance to support their new production of Puss in Boots.
Winners of the award invited LBC members to watch rehearsals or performances of these new works not just in London but also in Birmingham and, for the first time, joining the Friends of Northern Ballet in Leeds.
Linda Gainsbury, a lifelong supporter of ballet and vice-chair of the LBC had initiated this award to mark the 75[th] anniversary of the LBC. Following her death in April 2024 it was decided to rename the Choreographic Award the Gainsbury Award in her memory.
Further highlights were two popular hybrid events held at the Royal Ballet Upper School in Floral Street. For the first time the LBC joined with the Ashton Foundation in May to celebrate works performed by the Sarasota Ballet with the company directors Iain Webb and Margaret Barbieri In Conversation with Jane Pritchard, dance curator at the V&A. In October Matthew Ball, principal dancer with the Royal Ballet, entertained guests with stories about his career In Conversation with Deborah Weiss.
The pattern of monthly In Conversation Zoom meetings continued with past and present dancers, choreographers and directors from the Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, London City Ballet, English National Ballet, London Children’s Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada companies. Visits were also made to watch rehearsals and classes with schools and companies such as Acosta Dance Centre, English National Ballet School, New English Ballet Theatre, Central School of Ballet, Northern Ballet, Ballet Black, Masters of Ballet Academy and, for the first time, to the Pett/Clausen-Knight company and to the London Vocational Ballet School.
Members were treated again to visits to tour the Freed’s factory to see how pointe shoes are made, to the RAD headquarters for a reception prior to the Fonteyn Award competition and to the annual visit with the Ballet Association to the Royal Ballet Upper School. Members were also invited to watch a masterclass held by Alina Cojocaru, ‘Dancing with the Stars’ classes sponsored by Dance Forward and to the GradPRO London auditions and final event at Elmhurst Ballet School. The LBC was invited, for the second time, to run a stall at the delightful (if rather wet) Royal Ballet Summer Fair at White Lodge.
The LBC has continued with its proud tradition of awarding bursaries, scholarships and prizes to talented young students. The Stanley Hawkins bursary to attend Ballet Cymru’s summer school was awarded to Carlin Dixon from the USA. The LBC also presented the Ninette de Valois award at the Royal Ballet School graduating ceremony to Rebecca Stewart and Emile Gooding who both subsequently joined the Company under the Aud Jebsen programme, and the Sir Peter Wright award was presented to Marlo KempseyFagg at Elmhurst Ballet School. Leo Godfrey, from the English National Ballet School, was awarded the LBC prize at the third annual GradPRO International Showcase competition. Funding was also granted for three scholarships to the Yorkshire Ballet Seminars and also one to the Masters of Ballet Easter Intensive. At the National Dance Awards ceremony, hosted by Graham Watts, Chair of the Dance Critics’ Circle, the LBC’s prestigious award for Outstanding Male Classical Performance was presented to Brandon Lawrence from the Birmingham Royal Ballet for his role in Liebestod.
3
Docusign Envelope ID: 0E1EBD4E-4BE1-4E86-9069-92196B2B942A
Money raised from ticket sales at events is given back to the host organisations and awards are made possible through generous donations and profits from membership subscriptions to the LBC.
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
The year was again successful financially, despite a (planned) small overall deficit of about £1,900. Funding was set aside to enable the Choreographic Awards to be made during the year and the Fund for this purpose also attracted restricted donations from members.
Together with annual commitments to support dance bursaries and awards and other donations, often following visits, the total charitable donations exceeded £30,000. This amounts to 84% of total expenditure. A full breakdown of LBC donations is appended to the Accounts.
The increasing membership and the extensive events programme were reflected in significant income growth. Most members now make e-commerce transactions and although this incurs some additional costs (card processing and website membership database costs), the handling of cheques can also incur costs. The circulation of a printed newsletter by post has been further reduced to a very small number of long-standing members without email.
The LBC received a gift of £1,000 “for the enjoyment of members” in the will of a former member and together with other donations will enable a social event to be held in early 2025.
RESERVES AND ACCOUNTING
While most of the expenditure is charitable donations, which could be varied according to income to maintain a suitable financial position, in practice the LBC has a number of longstanding student awards which it wishes to sustain to provide certainty to the receiving organisations. Having built up the expectations of a larger and more dispersed membership, the LBC also needs funds to meet those expectations, while still being able to respond to unexpected needs and costs.
In the past the LBC has sought to maintain a minimum reserve of an average one year’s expenditure, excluding those restricted for a particular purpose. With the growth in events and visits which generate income for returning funds to those ballet schools and organisations, a simple relationship to expenditure is no longer appropriate. It suggests reserves at a higher level than required.
The Trustees have therefore decided to seek reserves that provide for one year’s expenditure to keep the charity functioning and for the annual commitments to student awards. Currently this total is around £12,000. The LBC has free reserves (excluding restricted funds) substantially in excess of this and plans over a number of years to expand charitable donations and further choreographic awards on a sustainable basis.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records and preparing financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the financial position in accordance with legal requirements. They are required to select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently; make judgements and estimates that are
4
Docusign Envelope ID: 0E1EBD4E-4BE1-4E86-9069-92196B2B942A
Docusign Envelope ID: 0E1EBD4E-4BE1-4E86-9069-92196B2B942A
THE LONDON BALLET CIRCLE Charity registration number 1123258 Receipts and payments Accounts 1 November 2023 to 31 October 2024
| Note | Unrestricted | Designated | Restricted | Total | 2022/ 23 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RECEIPTS | ||||||
| Memberships | 11570 | 0 | 0 | 11570 | 10835 | |
| Donations | 2807 | 0 | 1370 | 4177 | 2755 | |
| Gift Aid | 1 | 2261 | 0 | 155 | 2416 | 2010 |
| Events (Talks/Visits) | 14775 | 0 | 0 | 14775 | 9505 | |
| Bequests and legacies | 0 | 0 | 1000 | 1000 | 0 | |
| Interest | 700 | 0 | 0 | 700 | 473 | |
| Other | 206 | 0 | 0 | 206 | 356 | |
| TOTAL RECEIPTS | 32319 | 0 | 2525 | 34844 | 25934 | |
| PAYMENTS | ||||||
| Bursaries and donations | ||||||
| Bursaries and Awards to students | 3 | 6020 | 0 | 0 | 6020 | 3950 |
| Donations to ballet organisations | 3 | 14948 | 0 | 0 | 14948 | 8415 |
| LBC Gainsbury Award | 0 | 10000 | 0 | 10000 | 0 | |
| sub total | 20968 | 10000 | 0 | 30968 | 12365 | |
| Administration and Governance | ||||||
| AGM costs | 40 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 162 | |
| Charity insurance | 143 | 0 | 0 | 143 | 143 | |
| Bank and transaction charges | 1093 | 0 | 0 | 1093 | 834 | |
| Computer software | 394 | 0 | 0 | 394 | 338 | |
| Newsletter (Printing and Postage) | 188 | 0 | 0 | 188 | 707 | |
| Website (+ member database) | 1502 | 0 | 0 | 1502 | 1403 | |
| General administration | 2 | 158 | 0 | 0 | 158 | 194 |
| sub total | 3518 | 0 | 0 | 3518 | 3781 | |
Docusign Envelope ID: 0E1EBD4E-4BE1-4E86-9069-92196B2B942A
| Note | Unrestricted | Designated | Restricted | Total | 2022/ 23 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event costs | ||||||
| Talks / visits | 1413 | 0 | 0 | 1413 | 1693 | |
| Zoom licences | 843 | 0 | 0 | 843 | 890 | |
| sub total | 2256 | 0 | 0 | 2256 | 2583 | |
| TOTAL PAYMENTS | 26742 | 10000 | 0 | 36742 | 18729 | |
| NET RECEIPTS (PAYMENTS) | 5577 | -10000 | 2525 | -1898 | 7205 |
Statement of Assets and Liabilities at 31 October 2024
| Note | Unrestricted | Designated | Restricted | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash funds at bank | 19098 | 3475 | 4525 | 27098 | |
| Other monetary assets | |||||
| Gift Aid repayable | 1 | 330 | 0 | 0 | 330 |
| less Liabilities | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| NET ASSETS at 31 October 2024 |
19428 | 3475 | 4525 | 27428 |
Unrestricted funds are freely available for use by the trustees to further the charity’s purposes. Restricted funds are received and used for purposes specified by the donor. Designated funds are allocated by the trustees for a particular purpose (and can be undesignated at their discretion).
Docusign Envelope ID: 0E1EBD4E-4BE1-4E86-9069-92196B2B942A
Statement of funds 2023/24
| Cash funds at 31 October 2023 |
Receipts | Payments | Transfers | Cash funds at 31 October 2024 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted funds | |||||
| General Fund | 22326 | 32319 | -26742 | -8475 | 19428 |
| Designated funds | |||||
| General Fund | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LBC Gainsbury Award | 5000 | 0 | -10000 | 8475 | 3475 |
| Restricted funds | |||||
| General Fund | 2000 | 1000 | 0 | 0 | 3000 |
| LBC Gainsbury Award | 0 | 1525 | 0 | 0 | 1525 |
| Total Funds | 29326 | 34844 | -36742 | 0 | 27428 |
The Choreographic Awards Fund was set up by trustees on 1 September 2023 with the aim of supporting choreographic initiatives in the classical genre within ballet schools and companies. It is intended that awards are made every 2 years with funds transferred from general reserves every year. It was renamed in 2024 in memory of Linda Gainsbury, who initiated the awards when Secretary.
The LBC Gainsbury Award balance at 31 October 2024 was £5,000.
Restricted Funds
The Company of Actuaries made a charitable donation of £2,000 to the London Ballet Circle in 2017 as a contibution towards the move of the LBC Archive to the V&A Museum, which is expected to be completed in 2025.
During 2023/24 a gift in the will of a former member of £1,000 was received “for the enjoyment of members”.
Docusign Envelope ID: 0E1EBD4E-4BE1-4E86-9069-92196B2B942A
NOTES
-
1 - Gift aid claimed covered the period 1 November 2023 to 30 September 2024. The claim for the period 1 October to 31 October 2024 will be made in 2024/25.
-
Gift aid repayable from HMRC is recognised as income at the time of the donation.
2.Trustee expenses
-
There were no trustee expenses. Trustees purchase goods and services on behalf of the charity. Transactions with trustees are as ordinary members.
-
3 - The following bursaries, awards and donations were made in 2023/24:
| TO STUDENTS | Amount £ |
|---|---|
| ANNUAL AWARDS | |
| Ballet Cymru (Stanley Hawkins prize) | 750 |
| Elmhurst Ballet School (Sir Peter Wright award) | 750 |
| Royal Ballet School (Dame Ninette awards) | 1500 |
| Yorkshire Ballet Seminars (3 students) | 2025 |
| OTHER AWARDS | |
| Masters of Ballet Easter Intensive | 420 |
| Yorkshire Ballet Easter Seminar | 575 |
| Total | 6020 |
| CHOREOGRAPHIC AWARDS 2024 | Amount £ |
|---|---|
| Birmingham Royal Ballet | 2000 |
| English National Ballet School | 3000 |
| Let’s All Dance | 1000 |
| New English Ballet | 1000 |
| Northern Ballet | 3000 |
| Total | 10000 |
Docusign Envelope ID: 0E1EBD4E-4BE1-4E86-9069-92196B2B942A
| TO BALLET ORGANISATIONS | Amount £ |
|---|---|
| DONATION FOLLOWING VISITS | |
| Acosta Dance Foundation (2 visits - one donation match funded by Big Give) | 740 |
| Ballet Black | 180 |
| Central School of Ballet (2 visits) | 1125 |
| Dance Forward (4 visits) | 1190 |
| English National Ballet School (3 visits) | 1410 |
| International Dance Teachers Association (Freed’s nominated charity) | 360 |
| Let’s All Dance | 125 |
| London City Ballet | 520 |
| London Vocational Ballet School | 195 |
| Masters of Ballet Academy | 80 |
| New English Ballet Theatre | 270 |
| Northern Ballet (2 visits) | 1520 |
| Pett Clausen-Knight Dance | 270 |
| Royal Ballet School | 1365 |
| OTHER | |
| Dancers Career Development (match funded by Big Give) | 750 |
| Frederick Ashton Foundation (share of surplus from joint event) | 783 |
| GradPro (includes an ROH event) | 1940 |
| London Vocational Ballet School (sponsorship of “Awakening”) | 500 |
| Royal Academy of Dance (Fonteyn competition) | 750 |
| NON CHARITABLE | |
| Dance Awards sponsorship | 600 |
| GradPro - sales of discounted event tickets | 275 |
| Total | 14948 |
Docusign Envelope ID: 0E1EBD4E-4BE1-4E86-9069-92196B2B942A
THE LONDON BALLET CIRCLE
Year ending 31 October 2024
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT
To the Trustees of The London Ballet Circle
I report on the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 October 2024.
Respective responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner
The Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The Trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the Act) and that an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to:
‐ examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act;
‐ follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission
‐ state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of Independent Examiner's Report
My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as Trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair view' and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
Independent Examiner's Statement
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
(1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:
‐ to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Act; and
‐ to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act and with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice : Accounting and Reporting by Charities
have not been met; or
(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
DocuSigned by: 17 February 2025 Signed:………………………………………………………………………Dated: ……………………. [Comms vow929FC8BB5E544CB...Wiclligl.
17 February 2025
M J Bushell Audit LLP 8 High Street Brentwood Essex CM14 4AB
1