The Community and Youth Music Library
Hornsey Library, Haringey Park, London N8 9JA Tel: 020 3602 5214 Email: cymlibrary@gmail.com Website: www.cymlibrary.org.uk
Trustees’ Report for the year ended 30 April 2024
Community and Youth Music Library
Company Information
Registered office and operational address: Hornsey Library, Haringey Park, London N8 9JA
Registered charity number 1138705
Company number 6565945 Company registered by guarantee in England & Wales Trustees: Mr Michael Ashcroft Mr Max Barley (Appointed 13.10.2023) Mrs Ruth Hellen Mr Jeremy Jackman Mr Jonathan Rathbone
Staff:
Mrs Ceri Mann (part-time Music Librarian) plus 5 volunteers
Banker: CAF Bank Limited 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ
Report of the trustees
The Trustees present this report for the charity for the year ended 30th April 2024.
Structure, governance and management
The Trustees, appointed within the terms of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, form the management committee, and are also directors of the company. An application to convert to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation was made in March 2024.
The day to day management of the library is undertaken by the Music Librarian working with experienced volunteers, following policies and procedures agreed by the Trustees.
Cont…
Registered as a charitable incorporated organisation in England and Wales. Registered charity No. 1138705 Patrons: Diana Burrell, Jonathan Dove, Sir Mark Elder CBE, Howard Goodall CBE, Cecilia McDowall Directors: Michael Ashcroft, Michael Haslam, Ruth Hellen, Jeremy Jackman, Jonathan Rathbone Music Librarian : Ceri Mann
Objectives and activities
The Charity's principal object is the promotion, improvement, development and maintenance of public education in, and appreciation of, the art and science of music through the provision of a lending library of musical scores. In its current form, the library was formed by a group of patrons and directors who took over full management in 2010. CYML is a member of Making Music and of the International Association of Music Libraries (UK & Ireland Branch). CYML has a dedicated website which includes the full catalogue of printed music available. The catalogue is also included in Encore21, the IAML (UK & Irl) online national catalogue of performance sets.
The COVID pandemic and subsequent lockdowns had a serious effect on the library’s operation and income as music groups were not able to meet. Since then, however, the demand for the library's service has continued to grow, as musical activities have returned to normal and the music lending resources of public libraries are reduced. A large proportion of our loans is made directly to groups who either visit the library or receive scores by post. Our clients range from professional, amateur and community groups to those based in schools and universities. Other loans are made in the form of inter-library loans via public library authorities throughout the UK.
Thanks to the commitment of the Music Librarian and a small number of volunteers, the quality of the overall service provided has been maintained in spite of the difficulty of finding additional regular volunteers. Obtaining funding to maintain operations has become more difficult as funding bodies have fewer resources. Many funders require either project-based bids or match funding, which we are unable to provide. During the year we made two applications; one was unsuccessful and the outcome of the other was not due until summer 2024.
The library is staffed two days a week and emails are monitored all week. We acknowledge with grateful thanks the support we receive from our small team of highly experienced volunteers, who help ensure this full, and specialised, service is maintained.
Risk management
The Trustees regularly review the major risks to which the charity is exposed, particularly financial control and funding implications, and take action to minimise any potential impact.
Public benefit
It is widely accepted that participation in music-making contributes to the improvement of physical and mental health. As a service used almost entirely by community music-making groups, choirs and orchestras, as well as schools and colleges, the Trustees take seriously the need to provide a public benefit by ensuring our charges are reasonable, offering cost-effective solutions for those requiring sets of printed music. Co-operation with other libraries, particularly public libraries, is crucial to ensuring that music groups around the country have access to the music they need.
Financial review
The library has maintained financial stability in spite of decreased income during the Covid lockdowns. Our income from hires in 2023-24 was approximately 20% greater than 2018-19, the last full year before lockdown. We would have achieved a higher figure in 2023-24 but for the British Library cyber-attack, which meant that libraries, including CYML, were unable to claim income from music loaned via that system. Owing to Covid and staff changes, Haringey Council did not invoice the library for rent for a period, but funds were kept available and the situation is soon to be regularised.
Future plans
We continue to seek funds to secure our professional librarian post; we are looking at ways of modernising our loan administration linked to our catalogue; we will also be seeking funds to buy new music and ensure our existing stocks are maintained at sensible levels.
This Report and the Annual Accounts were approved by the Trustees on February 7 2025.
Jeremy Jackman Chair
The Community and Youth Music Library
Accounts for the year 1 May 2023 to 30 April 2024
Receipts and payments
| Total funds (unrestricted) |
Last year | |
|---|---|---|
| to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | |
| Receipts | ||
| Donations / grants | 494 | 1,748 |
| Hire & postal charges via British Library | 4,413 | 2,723 |
| Hire & postal charges - direct loans | 13,454 | 11,891 |
| Deposits for loans | 2,642 | 2,000 |
| Replacement for lost copies | - | 20 |
| Interest on current account | 12 | 18 |
| Interest on deposit account | 427 | 48 |
| Total receipts | 21,442 | 18,448 |
| Payments | ||
| Staffing costs | 9,975 | 9,406 |
| Rent | - | 5,000 |
| Telephone, broadband, website | 405 | 268 |
| Fees, subscriptions, insurance | 331 | 396 |
| Postage /Parcelforce | 1,685 | 1,610 |
| Stationery | 366 | 515 |
| Refunds | - | 90 |
| Return of deposits | 1,500 | 800 |
| Bank fees | 64 | 87 |
| Stock purchases | 1,255 | 672 |
| IT costs | 125 | 299 |
| Staff training | 120 | |
| Miscellaneous | - | 156 |
| Total payments | 15,826 | 19,299 |
| Net of receipts/(payments) | 5,616 | - 851 |
| Cash funds last year end | 20,331 | 21,182 |
| Cash funds this year end | 25,947 | 20,331 |
Cont…
Statement of assets and liabilities
| Categories | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| to nearest £ | |||
| Cash funds | Current account |
2,829 | |
| Deposit account |
23,118 | ||
| Total | 25,947 | ||
| Assets retained for the charity’s own use | Music scores for hire | ||
| Computers and related | |||
| equipment | |||
| Office furniture | |||
| to nearest £ | |||
| Liabilities | Unclaimed rent (1) |
15,000 |
Signed on behalf of all the trustees
Jeremy Jackman Date of approval 7 February 2025 Chairman of Trustees
(1) Unclaimed rent: funds kept available and payments to be regularised in subsequent years