Redland Green Choir - Annual Report 2023-24
Once again, it is nice to report that the Redland Green Choir has completed a further successful year under the direction of Huw Morgan. Huw is a very engaged conductor and we all appreciate the trouble he takes to feedback weekly on our rehearsals and coming to our committee meetings!
The choir continues to be well supported, numbering approximately 70 and attendance holds up well, although not everyone can attend every week. All sections of the choir are well represented.
Concerts
We had our Christmas concert in St Matthew’s Church, Cotham on December 2nd, and it was very well received. We sang the Faure Requiem , and a selection of flower related songs by Finzi, Britten, Petty, Vulpius Tchaikovsky, and Daffodils , one of Huw’s own compositions. Huw conducted, and Andrew Kirk played the organ for us.
We set up a new tradition of providing an informal concert In May for family and friends of choir members as part of our general rehearsal. This fills the long gap between the Christmas concert and the summer event, and also gives us a chance to sing for an audience, and for the Chamber Choir to sing some of their current repertoire. It has proved very successful and enjoyed by performers and audience alike. We try to organise it so that it coincides with our regular monthly ‘pub night’ after our Monday rehearsal as rehearsing in the school does not allow us the time (or facilities!) to provide refreshments at the actual event.
Our main concert was held on Saturday July 6[th] – this time in St Alban’s Church, Bayswater Avenue, where we sang the Dvorak Mass in D Major – which was a big sing! We were privileged to have the first class soloists Liz Britton (soprano), Jenna Brown (alto), Rob Felstead (tenor) and Harrison Robb (Bass), who all wanted to sing for us again. We joined up with the Long Ashton Orchestra, which we had done previously when our then conductor, Nick Bromilow, had also been Long Ashton’s musical director. The concert was divided into two parts, with the Long Ashton Orchestra playing the first half including the second movement of Tchaikovsky’s 5[th] symphony, and the choir joining the second half for the Dvorak Mass . It was challenging for all of us and a bit of an organisational marathon. Many thanks must go to committee members who were very supportive, especially Lesley Benson who organised all the volunteer support and initiated a system for paying for drinks before the performance. Again, thanks for all who helped out on the day – we could not do it without you! We are looking at ways of making this even better for next year including organising a pool of potential volunteers, so watch this space!
Chamber choir
The Chamber choir, now numbering 17, has had a good year and all those participating enjoy the opportunity to sing together. We sing a great selection of music which keeps us all
on our toes! We performed a concert in October at Frenchay Parish Church, which is a beautiful venue with lovely acoustics, where we sang a varied selection, including some Philip Glass, and Huw also performed on the organ. We enjoyed delicious refreshments provided by the Frenchay Church congregation and we raised some funds for Brace, the dementia charity. We have found that we can rehearse approximately three times per term on different evenings in rooms belonging to Westbury Park Methodist Church, which is comfortable and convenient. The next concert is on October 12[th] 2024, again in Frenchay Parish Church.
We are very grateful to Lesley Benson who has taken on the role of organiser for the Chamber choir.
General points
Once again we had two choir workshops during the year, one in March with Emily Elias, and a second in June with Huw. These workshops are really valuable, enabling us more time than our usual rehearsals, are enjoyable and generally improve the quality of our singing.
We usually have an ‘end of season’ party, but this time we were thwarted by the dreaded Covid attacking the host’s family, resulting in a last-minute cancellation; it didn’t seem sensible to possibly infect the choir at the start of the summer holidays! However, we were very grateful to Kathy Feest for the offer of her lovely garden. Hopefully we can re-visit this next summer.
The choir continues to go from strength to strength and we have had a number of new recruits this September. Our committee is very loyal, but we are on the lookout for some new members – in particular a new treasurer and music librarian. These roles are not too arduous, so please think about joining us!! We meet at least twice per term. (refreshments are provided!) Special thanks should go to Kate Hughes for her secretarial and organisational labours. Carew Reynell, who has been a brilliant treasurer, is preparing to step down as treasurer in 2024, and we will be looking for someone to help us keep on the financial straight and narrow. We are also grateful to Sue Fox for the challenge of organising the music and who is also planning to step down. Thanks also to John Atkinson for managing the website issues. But all members provide great support and enable the choir to run efficiently. An important mention must go to Jonny Saunders for providing excellent accompanying during rehearsals and concerts. Jonny’s work in accompanying has been greatly assisted the choir’s purchase of a new electronic keyboard which has really helped all of us!
And finally, we continue to enjoy the wit and wisdom of our Musical Director Huw Morgan. We particularly appreciate that he endeavours to attend our committee meetings, which helps a great deal in furthering good communications. His regular email updates to the choir after rehearsals, which help us know that we are going in the right direction, are very much appreciated.
We look forward to a further successful year, and to further expanding our repertoire. Pat Turton (Chairperson) October 2024.
| Revenue account | 23/24 | 22/23 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Choir | Rehearsals | 7638 | 6952 |
| Music | -334 | -174 | |
| Subscriptions/Gift Aid | -10987 | -10804 | |
| Workshops | 1720 | 2220 | |
| Concerts | December | -697 | -37 |
| Summer | 1137 | 297 | |
| Chamber Choir | -56 | 61 | |
| Overheads | 976 | 214 | |
| Surplus for the year | -603 | -1270 |
| Balance sheet | 23/24 | 22/23 |
|---|---|---|
| Opening balance | 10480 | 9210 |
| Surplus for the year | 603 | 1270 |
| Closing balance | 11083 | 10480 |
| Represented by: | ||
| Cash - current account | 3155 | 5586 |
| Cash - deposit | 8120 | 5030 |
| Debtors/creditors | -192 | -136 |
| Rehearsals/workshops | 23/24 | 22/23 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Music Director | 3500 | 3040 |
| Rehearsals/workshops | 23/24 | 22/23 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accompanist | 2448 | 2297 | |
| School hall | 1690 | 1615 | |
| Music | 821 | 1053 | |
| Subscriptions | -9247 | -8998 | |
| Gift Aid | -1740 | -1806 | |
| Music subs | -1155 | -1227 | |
| -3683 | -4026 |
| Concerts | December | Dvorak |
|---|---|---|
| Music Director | 300 | 400 |
| Accompanist | 250 | 250 |
| Singers | 50 | 1115 |
| Orchestra | - | 260 |
| Hall | 270 | 470 |
| Publicity/programme | 161 | 150 |
| PRS/license | 74 | 44 |
| Other | 41 | 92 |
| Ticket sales | -1744 | -1594 |
| Refreshments (net) | -99 | -50 |
| -697 | 1137 |
| Overheads | 23/24 | 22/23 |
|---|---|---|
| Making Music/insurance | 354 | 289 |
| New keyboard | 694 | |
| Other | 67 | 35 |
| Prior year adjustment | -49 | -80 |
| Interest | -90 | -30 |
| 976 | 214 |