Trustees' Annual Report for the period
Period start date Period end date From 1[st] Sept 2024 To 31[st] Aug 2025
Section A Reference and administration details
Charity name ReSound Community Choir
Other names charity is known by ReSound
Registered charity number (if any) 1138352 Charity's principal address 42 Mill Dam Lane Burscou h g Ormskirk, Lancashire Postcode L40 7TQ
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 |
Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted if not for whole year |
Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee(if any) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarah Monteith | Chair | Whole Year | ||
| Helen Thompson | Treasurer | Whole Year | ||
| Liz McBride | Whole Year | |||
| Polly Brown | Whole Year | |||
| _Vicky Murtagh _ | Whole Year | |||
Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)
| Type of adviser | Name Address |
Name Address |
|---|---|---|
| Bank | The Co-operative Bank | P.O. Box 101, 1 Balloon Street, Manchester, M60 4EP |
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Section B Structure, governance and management
Description of the charity’s trusts
Type of governing document Constitution, adopted 9[th] March, 2010. (eg. trust deed, constitution) Amended 7[th] March, 2016. How the charity is constituted Association with seventy- eight adult members and one (eg. trust, association, company) young voice member Trustee selection methods A third of the Trustees are to be elected by the membership (eg. appointed by, elected by) each year at the AGM in September. Each will stand for three years.
Additional governance issues (Optional information)
You may choose to include There is a safeguarding policy in place. All trustees and additional information, where volunteers who have direct contact with or responsibility for relevant, about: any young voice members are required to be DBS checked. • policies and procedures The choir are members of Making Music, an association adopted for the induction and training of trustees; which works directly with not for profit music organisations, • the charity’s organisational providing advice and guidance. They also broker public liability insurance from RSA for our events. structure and any wider network with which the charity works; ReSound are also members of West Lancashire Council for • relationship with any related relationship with any related Voluntary Service, who are an excellent source of advice and parties; community liaison.
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relationship with any related relationship with any related parties;
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trustees’ consideration of All trustees are volunteers who give their time without
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major risks and the system and procedures to manage financial or other recompense for this work. them.
Section C Objectives and activities
To advance, improve, develop and maintain public Summary of the objects of the education in, and appreciation of, the art and science of charity set out in its music in all its aspects by any means the trustees see fit, governing document including through the presentation of public concerts and recitals;
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In planning our activities for the year, we kept in mind the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit at our trustees meeting. The focus of our activities remains the weekly meeting of our members to sing together. This provides not only opportunity to learn new skills and improve on musical ability, but is vital in the building of community amongst the members.
Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)
Membership is open to anyone in the community, and is not restricted in any way. The choir members go out of their way to ensure that everyone feels involved, including collecting people from their homes and providing resources in a variety of accessible media. This approach has definitely benefited all in the choir members who are gaining valuable life experience through mixing with a broad cross section of people.
The public performances that have resulted from this activity have been available to a broad cross section of the community. In the past, the choir have endeavoured to take part in a variety of activities, from specific fundraisers to free, large scale public events and private performances at local nursing homes. This ensures that as many people as possible can benefit from the experience of hearing live choral music.
Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)
Unlike many community choirs, ReSound has a live band, and we are extremely grateful to our musicians who give freely of their time and expertise.
You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:
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policy on grantmaking;
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policy programme related investment;
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contribution made by volunteers.
The choir themselves also give their time and energy in supporting events and ensuring that things run smoothly.
The choir have continued to use their fundraising to provide free, accessible events for local care homes, and to hold affordable concerts for the community. Our ticket income allows us to keep the amount we charge to a minimum, providing uniform etc for new members as needed. The Trust are continuing to review the financial direction the choir takes in order to adapt to needs as they arise.
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Section D Achievements and performance
Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year
The thing about the September concert is it’s a funny old event. It’s not really summer, it’s not really autumn… it’s not really the choir but it’s not NOT the choir….. it’s not even really an audience sometimes, just people we know… and us… being the audience. The usual mix of choir and groups made this September concert a particularly special one. We started with a small group of spirituals, Down in the River, with Robes and Crowns all over the shop, and moved on to our lovely Cesar’s gorgeous Heaven is Singing for Joy. Water is Wide had brilliant last minute solos by Jan and Cheryl (remind me to never give them more than half an hour’s notice for anything) and we finished with Rutter’s Heavenly Aeroplane. Then the choir became the audience, as Linda and David sang of a better life in If I Want To, and ReMix dedicated Morningtown Ride to Sarah’s Mum and Sweet Baby James to Sarah’s Dad! Austin and Sarah went next with the emotional Sometimes When We Touch, and then the band took over with Chasing Cars, wonderfully sung by Tim, and a very funky Call Me Al complete with sax backing, Liz on whistle and Baz on the fiendishly difficult bass line! Shaun kicked off the second half with Boys of Summer, then a slight set change as we had to drop the Waitress song A Soft Place to Land due to our lovely Lotte and Alice not being well enough to come back to join us. Paul finished off the band section with the funky People are Strange, with brilliant organ solo by Austin. Gradually we started to invite people back, with the Ukulele group singing Come Up and See Me, ably led by Jason, then Reflect singing the beautiful Til There Was You. ReMix rejoined us for a gorgeous arrangement of Blackbird, then it was time for the return of the choir, clad in Lei, Sailor’s Hats, and shower caps to head back for a quartet of melodies from South Pacific. Nothing Like a Dame saw the men in fine voice, btu the girls were having none of it as they Washed That Man Right Out of their Hair. They joined forces for the cheerful Happy Talk, then finished with the glorious Some Enchanted Evening. Everyone had a wonderful night, and it was a really joyful celebration of both the community and the choir. Our AGM this year was at Scarisbrick Village Hall, and we’d invited Gav and Caz to come back to cater for us again so we were all really looking forward to the food, and it didn’t disappoint! Shaun provided the entertainment, and most of the choir were able to attend the meeting, reviewing the previous year and looking forward to the next. This also meant the kick off of the Christmas set!! On Monday 9[th] December we were delighted to have been asked back to sing at the beautiful Queenscourt Hospice Lights of Love service at the Civic Hall. It is such a moving and peaceful evening, and a perfect fit for the choir in so many ways, combining the chance to sing gorgeous Christmas music with an event that really lifts the community. In a way, it fills a hole left by Henshaw’s since Covidbut in a unique and lovely way.
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Section D Achievements and performance
This also lead us beautifully in to our main Christmas eventCelebrate! Even Sarah losing her voice the week of the concert couldn’t dampen the Christmassy feel of a gloriously decorated St Pauls in Skelmersdale, the new venue for this year’s concert. Concerns about whether we’d all fit across the front were soon allayed by the fantastic staging Sam our Sound Engineer has put in, and we were all very excited to share the songs we’d been working on for the last few months.
We opened the evening with the wonderful Joy to the World, lifting our voices alongside our audience to celebrate this best of times. See Amid the Winter’s Snow followed a warm welcome and opening prayer from Chris, then the ladies sung us the beautiful and haunting Breath of Heaven, followed by a reading by Liz. Bob Chilcott’s The Sleeping Child was lead by Katie, backed by ReMix, followed by another Chilcott- For Him All Stars, this time with guest teenagers in the shape of Millie, Harriet, Georgia and Erin joining our own Erin! David read to us next, leading us into the powerful Bethlehem by Schonberg, and the congregation joined us for O Little Town of Bethlehem. The cheerful Ragtime Carol provided us with an overview of the whole Christmas story, with wonderful playing by Shaun, and Rutter’s I Wish You Christmas covered the more secular aspects, leading us to the final of the first half, Keeping the Dream Alive. After the obligatory mince pies and Christmassy drink, the choir kicked off the second half in style with It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, following that with I Saw Three Ships as the audience joined in. Paul lead us in the Shaky classic Merry Christmas, Everyone, before Austin’s most recent gorgeous composition- I Am Christmas. Reflect sung The Christmas Song, well three of them did and Sarah gravelled her way through, then Sarah’s poem took us to the closing sequence, darkness, candle light, falling snow and Darke’s glorious In The Bleak Midwinter.
The rousing trumpets of Hark the Herald broke the spell and lifted us back into the moment, and after Chris’ closing prayer and blessing, the Coldplay classic Christmas Lights lead us to a final chorus of Auld Lang Syne, as we spilled out in to the frosty December evening. A beautiful night, and for most the first proper event of Christmas. O’Brien’s were unable to host our traditional Wednesday January social this year, due to an increasing number of Masons, but the choir voted overwhelmingly to stick with O’Brien’s and move it to Friday! We had a wonderful night, and enjoyed having a lie in the next morning even if it did really confuse everyone about what day it was!!
Our first big event of 2025 was our training day in March. After a morning looking at harmony and how it works, culminating in a very strange version of Every Breath You Take, the rest of the choir arrived to have a picnic lunch and get ready for an afternoon of singing. This year our guest was Jeff Stewart from the intriguingly named They Shall Laugh and Sing. We’d sent him a list of our set, and he took us on an amazing journey of visualisation, vocalisation
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Section D Achievements and performance
and, to be frank, just pure joy! We were taken out of ourselves and all really pushed to be the best singers we could be, and to fulfil our own potential. It was a wonderful afternoon. In the evening we were treated to delicious food from Gav and Caz, and ReSound’s very own band performed an entire set for our dancing pleasure! We finished the evening as we’d spent most of the day, dancing and singing together. It was a brilliant day. As we had a July trip planned, our May Concert was scaled down to an afternoon only. Once again Vicky did sterling work getting guests from our lovely local care homes, and we gave them all tea and biscuits as we sang through most of our set. Many of the guests joined in the songs, especially when we got to to Edelweiss, and a wonderful afternoon was had by all! Once we’d said goodbye to the last of the guests, we set about making recordings to use as backing tracks for our trip to Austria. We once again sang through most of the set and held our breath at the end until we got the thumbs up from Sam! We were proud to manage most in one take, and very relieved when we’d got through them all! Our Summer social took place the following Wednesday at the scenic Ring O’Bells in Lathom. An evening of delicious food and friendly company rounded off our season, as we had a break then for May half term. We finished the summer term rehearsing the set and a couple of extras ready for September, then the choir narrowed to the smaller Austria group as we had our final rehearsal ready for the trip. We set off on an early morning from Ormskirk, heading to Birmingham Airport where we had a smooth journey to Munich. Our coach was waiting for us at the other end, and we set off on the two hour journey to beautiful Salzburg, arriving with plenty of time to unpack before tea! Our first night was at the amazing Die Weisse, a courtyard packed with benches and fortunately covered with tents, where we enjoyed a lovely meal and the first of the beers! Our first full day was our boat trip to St Wolfgang. Despite the terrible weather, we enjoyed the dramatic scenery and the trip across the lake. Some of the group got off early and went on the Schaftbergbahn, a cog railway to the top of the mountain. The views were spectacular until about half way up when they disappeared into cloud, btu the atmosphere at the top was amazing, peaceful and calm, and spirits were lifted by the discovery of a restaurant and the first of the strudels! The rest of the group landed in the centre of the glorious St Wolfgang, and headed indoors for lunch until the rain stopped! The sun came out and it was a chance to explore the lovely shops, church and lake. Ice creams all round, and a coach waiting for us at the end. Our evening was in a very dramatic basement of L’Osteria, where were enjoyed pizza, pasta and a dramatic retrieval of a missing phone! Friday was concert day, and we woke to sunshine! By the time we got to the Mirabelle Gardens the humidity was off the chart, and the
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Section D Achievements and performance
writing was on the wall. Our singing was spot was virtually on a path, a small clearing providing space for us to stand. This meant we were effectively in the round, with access on all sides, and no delineation for where choir started and audience ended, which was a new experience for us! The first couple of songs were fine, then the rain began, and despite a gallant audience member holding an umbrella for us, we realised we need to move and headed underneath the sheltering trees. Fortunately our lovely audience came with us and sheltered under the opposite trees, so whilst we didn’t have the numbers we had at the beginning, we had a really lovely group singing along with us and cheering us on for the rest of the concert. As we reached the end, the trees reached saturation point and we literally legged it for taxis and to get back to the hotel, absolutely drowned but absolutely elated! The hotel had put drinks on for us so we celebrated together for a little while before dressing more appropriately and heading out to explore glorious Salzburg, Castle, Cathedral and of course, Christmas shops! We split for tea with some heading to the scenic Imlau Skybar, and some to Sternbrau for more beer and strudel! Our final day was our Sound of Music tour. We were on a high after the day before, and delighted to discover our tour guide was Baron Peter Von Wertheim,***CHECK who was a direct descendant of the Captain’s first wife, and so related to the children! We pottered around Salzburg looking at various locations, headed out to the house on the lake, and then set off for Mondsee, singing the sound track all the way! Arriving at Mondsee our time was very limited, so we set off straight away for the cathedral, where after a quick check with the lady in the gift shop, the choir dumped their bags, positioned themselves on the very steps where the captain and Maria are united on their wedding day, and sang Morning Hymn. The cathedral acoustics were spectacular, and the length of the reverb meant we could really take our time and enjoy the beautiful chords, finishing the alleluia with a glorious Amen. It was a beautiful, emotional and really special moment, and we were all so happy to have been able to do it. Not to neglect our lovely tenor and basses, when we got outside we also sang Edelweiss. It was the perfect end to a brilliant tour. We were dropped off a the Mirabelle gardens where we grabbed a few more photos and a quick sing of Do Re Mi round the fountain, then we headed off for more exploring and final purchases. Our final evening meal was at the very posh Meissl und Schadn where we saw Schnitzel and Strudel done to their absolute best, and even another huge thundery downpour couldn’t dampen our spirits as we enjoyed each other’s company on our last evening together. The journey home was tedious (but nowhere near as stressful as Paris!) and we arrived home earlier than planned which was great! It was a fantastic trip, and each member of the group is to be thanked and commended for the part they played in that. No-one was left out, new friendships were formed, old friendships strengthened, and everyone had an amazing time.
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Section E Financial review The Trust’s Reserve Policy is set to ensure that six to Brief statement of the nine months fixed costs can be met even if our income in the charity’s policy on reserves year is substantially reduced. These policy reserve levels are set at not less than £5,400 and not more than £8,500 and the Trustees propose that these remain unchanged. Due to our strong continued membership and close management of finances, we are comfortably within this policy range. Details of any funds materially in deficit Not applicable Further financial review details (Optional information)
• The charity’s principle source of funding this year has been from membership fees and ticket sales at three of our concerts.
Section F Other optional information
So now for what’s next- we’ve got our September concert when we will FINALLY get to perform all our Sound of Music songs for our friends and families even though we’re all thoroughly sick of them!! Then Christmas! Hurrah!
In 2026 we’ve got our usual three concerts plus a trip to Llandudno to look forward to!
Section G Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
| Signature(s) Full name(s) Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Date |
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|---|---|---|
Sarah Monteith |
Helen Thompson | |
Chair of Trust |
Treasurer | |
| 24thSeptember, 2025 | 24thSeptember, 2025 |
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrestricted nd• Re8tri¢tod fund• Endowmttnt fund• ieg4)rwJ B1 Ca•h fun fund• fvnd• D•tal Cwr•rfv•lu• B3 Inv••trn•nt •••• B4 Auets r•tsln¢d for th• charlty'• own Afflwntd Whw Dètll B6 Ll•bllbtS•• 811 th•ttMt S¥notu Pnnt Nome Dai• of rtrvthl dlQ912025
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examlnerfs report on the accounts Section A Iiidependent Examiner s Report R•p¢)rt to the trustwsl m•mb8rn of Rescthd CommrtY clir On ac¢ounts for th• y•ar •nded August 2025 Charlty no (rf any) 1138352 Sat out on pages I report to the trustees my exwnknatk)n of the a(xounts of thg abov• arity {Ihe TNsn for thg ar erKled 31N)812025. Responslbllltl•s and As tha trustaas of thè TnA( Y are responsible for tho preparation basls of rnport of the acc¢)unts in acc(xts the Nulrnts of the CharIt9 Act 2011 (Ihe Acn. I rwrt in respect of my exwninalth of TNsYs accounts earried Qui urthr section 145 of the 2011 Act and in LzrryiTrJ out my examination, I have foll¢Md the appli¢able DirecticTh given by the Chanty Commission undor sectim 145(5){b) of tho Acl. I have cc¥npleted my examinakn. I filM that no material mattars ha come to my alkntim (other than that di$ck>sod bolow ') in eonnéction with the exanination whith gves me Cau b l)elieve that in, any material respect: acCOtI roc¢xds nol kopl li 8ccordan( ith sectlM 130 01 tho Act or 8 8co)IKIts do fK)t accord wlth th8 ac0)ting r•cord8 Indendent oxamlnorf• •tatom•nt I have no concems arKI have c(¥ne across no othèr matters in cMnocti¢)n ith the exannalion to wtmch attention should be drawn in ordèr to enabl8 a proper underSLqndW of the a¢¢4)unts to b9 rg8(*)ed. . Roase d9181e lh8 words in Ihe brackets nDI apply, Slgn•d: Dat•: 11112i)25 Nam•: Mrs LyNla Jon6s GMCA R•l•vant professlonal quallllcatlon(s) or body CIMA Addross: 3 DawA Drive MoTet(Yi INfral CH46 OPH IER October 2018
Sectioii B Disclosuro Only Lmplete if examner needs to fythlight matters of concam (soo CC32, Indepe8nt examination of (tsity xc¢xwrts: dirnction$ and guidance for exwniners). NothNw to n(e Give here brief d113 of any it•ms that tho •xamlner wlshes to dlsclose. IER October 2018