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← Londinium

2024-08-31-accounts

londinium

TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31 AUGUST 2024

Trustees

Sophia Anderton (re-elected May 2024) Michael Bolton (re-elected May 2024) Sonia Johnson (re-elected May 2024) Christopher Lemar (re-elected May 2024) Chau-Yee Lo (re-elected May 2024) Hazel Mehta (co-opted May 2024) Helen Statham (re-elected May 2024) Maurice Wren (re-elected May 2024)

Charity’s principal address: Tully's Head House, Farnham Lane, Haslemere, Surrey GU27 1HD Registered Charity Number: 1135786 Bankers: CAF Bank Ltd

Structure, governance and management

Londinium is a registered charity governed by a constitution adopted on 29th September 2009, as amended 23 April 2016 and 4 April 2022.

The Charity is managed by its Trustees, who are elected or re-elected annually at the Annual General Meeting, or appointed by the Trustee body during the course of the year. During the year ended 31st August 2024 Andrew Griffiths was the Musical Director of Londinium.

The Trustees give their time voluntarily, and do not receive remuneration or other benefits. The Musical Director is appointed by the Trustees and receives fees from Londinium in his/her professional capacity from Londinium, as do any other professional musicians engaged in the course of the Charity’s activities.

Singers wishing to join Londinium are auditioned, and are usually asked to sing with the choir on a trial basis before membership is confirmed. As at 31st August 2024 Londinium had 82 members, including several members who no longer sing with the choir. During the year around 47 members sang regularly in concerts and other projects.

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Members do not pay an annual subscription, but are asked to pay a subscription for each concert or other project in which they participate. This covers the cost of music and contributes towards general rehearsal costs.

Objectives and Activities

Londinium’s objectives are:

  1. to promote, improve, develop and maintain education in the appreciation and knowledge of the art and science of music by the presentation of public concerts and by such other activities as the Trustees shall think fit;

  2. to encourage and support for the public benefit all art forms, particularly but not exclusively those involving music, including other cultural and educational activities in order to make these more accessible to the public at large.

The choir primarily achieves these objectives by promoting, organising and/or giving choral performances. In planning activities the Trustees have regard to The Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.

In our 2023-24 season we were delighted by continuing excellent reviews for our album of choral music by Kenneth Leighton, Every Living Creature, which had been released by SOMM recordings in May 2023. It was a Gramophone Critics’ Choice for 2023 and a MusicWeb International Recording of the Year, received a 4 star review from BBC Music Magazine (September), and was described by the Finzi Friends Journal as ‘a really fine disc with fantastic singing’ (December) and by Fanfare as ’a triumph for all involved’ (February 2024).

The concert season opened In October 2023 with ‘Endless Time’, exploring themes of loss and rebirth through powerfully affirmative music. The centrepiece was Gabriel Jackson’s radiant Requiem , combining word by poets such as Whitman and Tagore with the Latin text, and we were thrilled that the composer was able to join us for the performance.

The sumptuous Missa Vox clamantis , by the Portuguese Renaissance composer Duarte Lobo, formed the spine of ‘Brightest Star’, our Christmas programme. Amid fine recent and classic works for Christmas we included Cecilia McDowall’s powerful Brightest Star and Jamie W. Hall's beautiful O Nata Lux , performed as part of #ChoirsAgainstCancer in aid of Macmillan Cancer Care. We were very pleased that Jamie was with us to hear it.

Our February 2024 concert, ‘Abendlied’ was a gorgeous selection of German music exploring themes of twilight, sleep and peacefulness, including music to mark the anniversaries of Bruckner, Cornelius, Reger and Reinecke. Our programme was completed by Clytus Gottwald's ingenious sixteen-voice arrangement of Berg's glorious Die Nachtigall , and Schoenberg's thrilling, visceral cry for peace, Friede auf Erden .

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‘Heart’s Music’, in March, celebrated the centenaries of CV Standford, and his student, Gustav Holst. We performed spectacular double-choir works by Stanford - his Milton setting On Time , and his virtuosic Latin Magnificat - and Holst's visionary The Evening Watch , alongside a varied sequence of works by students of both composers, earlier composers they admired and contemporary re-imaginings of some of Stanford's most beloved works by Judith Bingham and Janet Wheeler.

A thrillingly eclectic concert celebrated the power of love in May’s ‘Arise my love’. The programme included Kerensa Briggs' recent Ubi caritas , and large-scale works by Bernard Hughes, whose I Sing of Love brings together biblical texts with verses by Rumi, and Francis Pott, whose Amore Langueo clothed a medieval text in heady layers of musical ecstasy. We were delighted that Francis Pott, Bernard Hughes and Kerensa Briggs were all able to attend the concert, and it was a pleasure to work with Kerensa on her piece in rehearsal.

The season concluded with a well-received and highly enjoyable tour to Slovenia in July, where we performed in St Nicholas' Cathedral in Ljubljana and Festivalna Dvorana in Bled. In a programme entitled ‘Fairest Isle’ Londinium presented a feast of British music, and also performed music by the Slovenian composers Jakob Handl (Gallus) and Lojze Lebič.

Accounts for the year ended 31st August 2024 and Financial Commentary

Londinium’s financial results are set out on the attached sheets. They comprise three pages of financial information: a schedule of general income and expenditure, an income and expenditure sheet showing the surplus or loss for each separate musical event and a balance sheet.

The income and expenditure account shows a surplus of £4,068 in the year to 31 August 2024 (2023 - a surplus of £887).

There was a surplus on Musical Events of £2,221. Of the six events, all but one made a surplus. The best result was for the Abendleid concert in February 2024 with a surplus of £1,027. Our best result in 2023 was also in February so that seems a popular month with our audience.

Our Gift Aid reclaim amounted to £2,343 (2023 £2,232). Thank you to all those who have signed Gift Aid forms. The recovery of Gift Aid makes a major contribution to our overheads.

We require a reasonable overall surplus on our Musical Events and Sundry Income to cover the choir’s general running costs. These include insurance, the Musical Director’s annual retainer, auditioning costs and website costs. In total, our general expenditure amounted to £1,706 (2023 - £4,220). The higher 2023 figure was mainly due to the inclusion of production and engineering costs for the Leighton CD which was launched in May 2023.

As at 31 August 2024, Londinium had reserves of £17,213 (2023 - £13,144). The Trustees consider that we need to maintain reserves of between £2,000 and £3,000 as working

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capital to fund ongoing concert and running costs. This means that as at 31 August 2024 we had about £14,000 of reserves available towards the cost of future ventures, for example the Joubert CD project in 2026. The current season is progressing very well financially. We made a small loss in the first concert but the second and third have produced good surpluses. These results reflect the generally higher ticket income we have achieved both through increases in audience numbers and higher ticket prices. The outcome is particularly pleasing given the higher rates that we are now having to pay for venues and has allowed us to increase our music budget, which gives Andrew Griffiths greater scope when planning programmes. On behalf of the Trustees Helen Statham Trustee and Chair 22 March 2025

Charity Name No (if any) Londinium 1135786 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period Period start date Period end date To from 1-Sep-23 31-Aug-24

Section A Receipts and payments

Unrestricted
funds		 Restricted
funds		 Restricted
funds		 Endowme
nt funds		 Total funds Last year
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the
nearest £		 to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Income from musical events 12,387 - - - 12,387 9,973
Fees and donations 162 - 162 1,974
Subscriptions 13,410 - - - 13,410 13,479
Other income 3,553 - - - 3,553 4,292
- - - - - -
- - - - - -
- - - - - -
- - - - - -
Sub total(Gross income for AR) 29,512 - - - 29,512 29,718
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Sub total -
-
-
-
-
Total receipts 29,512
-
-
29,512
29,718
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
~~——————~~
A3 Payments
Musical events 23,059 - 23,059 25,557
Other expenditure 1,511 - - - 1,511 4,594
- - - - - -
- - - - - -
- - - - - -
- - - - - -
- - - - - -
- - - - - -
- - - - - -

Sub total 24,570 - - 24,570 30,151 A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) - - - - - - - - - - Sub total - - - - - Total payments 24,570 - - 24,570 30,151 ~~———=——~~ Net of receipts/(payments) 4,942 - - 4,942 - 433 A5 Transfers between funds - - A6 Cash funds last year end 11,764 - 11,764 12,198 Cash funds this year end 16,706 - - 16,706 11,765 ~~===>=>~~

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Categories
B1 Cash funds
B2 Other monetary assets
B3 Investment assets
B5 Liabilities
B4 Assets retained for the
charity’s own use		 Details
CAF Bank Current Account
CAF Bank Deposit Account
Details
Details
Details
Details
Total cash funds
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))		 to nearest £
1,232
15,474
-
16,706
OK
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
Unrestrict
ed funds
Unrestrict
ed funds
Fund to
which asset
belongs
Fund to
which asset
belongs
Fund to
which
liability
relates		 to nearest £
-
-
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-
OK
to nearest £
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Cost (optional)
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Cost (optional)
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Restricted
funds
Restricted
funds
Amount due
(optional)		 to nearest £
Endowment
funds
-
-
-
-
OK
to nearest £
Endowment
funds
-
-
-
-
-
-
Current value
(optional)
-
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Current value
(optional)
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When due
(optional)
-
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-
-
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Signature

Date of Print Name approval

Christopher Lemar

Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees LONDINIUM
On accounts for the year 31 August 2024 Charity no 1135786
ended (if any)
Set out on pages 1-2
(remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets) (remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above
charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/08/2024
Responsibilities and As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the
basis of report accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011
(“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Signed: Date:17.03.25
~~fF~~		 Date:17.03.25
~~fF~~
Name: Eleanor Cranmer
Relevant professional
qualification(s) or body FCA (ICAEW)
(if any):
Address: 127 Dora Road London SW19 7JT

Oct 2018

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IER

Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

NONE

Oct 2018

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IER