| Exeenditure | Exeenditure | Income | Income | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balance8/F | £ | 60,214.59 | |||||
| 100 Club £ |
600.00 | £ | 1,305.00 | £ | 705.00 | ||
| Admin £ |
95.00 | £ | 1,403.62 | £ | 1,308.62 | ||
| Bursary Fund £ |
500.00 | £ | -£ | 500.00 | |||
| Concerts | £ | 1,629.71 | |||||
| Remembrance£ | 80.00 | £ | 380.62 | £ | 300.62 | ||
| Christmas Carol£ | 595.00 | £ | 923.10 | £ | 328.10 | ||
| Spirit of Christmas (SPCG)£ | 2,098.60 | £ | 3,594.03 | £ | 1,495.43 | ||
| Magic of the Musicals£ | 150.00 | £ | 584.98 | £ | 434.98 | ||
| Summer concert£ | 444.06 | £ | 764.64 | £ | 320.58 | ||
| Christmas Concert St Paul's£ | 1,250.00 | £ | -£ | 1,250.00 | |||
| Donations | £ | 2,669.77 | £ | 2,669.77 | |||
| Engagements | £ | 5,590.94 | |||||
| Russell Heppelwhite£ | £ | 68.75 | £ | 68.75 | |||
| Carmina BuranaRAH£ | 945.00 | £ | 1,085.00 | £ | 140.00 | ||
| Claridges£ | 3,289.43 | £ | 7,651.62 | £ | 4,362.19 | ||
| St James the Less£ | £ | 220.00 | £ | 220.00 | |||
| Langborne Ward£ | £ | 450.00 | £ | 450.00 | |||
| Cafe Royal£ | £ | 300.00 | £ | 300.00 | |||
| Carmina BuranaRFH£ | 700.00 | £ | 750.00 | £ | 50.00 | ||
| Fees - R&R £ |
4,325.04 | -£ | 4,325.04 | ||||
| General | -£ | 6,036.66 | |||||
| Hall hire£ | 2,353.53 | -£ | 2,353.53 | ||||
| music£ | 778.32 | -£ | 778.32 | ||||
| sundries£ | 3,167.59 | £ | 504.73 | -£ | 2,662.86 | ||
| website£ | 241.95 | £ | -£ | 241.95 | |||
| Grants | £ | 1,000.00 | £ | 1,000.00 | |||
| Jack Petchey £ |
837.60 | £ | 2,800.00 | £ | 1,962.40 | ||
| Musicals Week £ |
1,637.03 | £ | 1,483.36 | -£ | 153.67 | ||
| Step Up £ |
1,361.00 | £ | -£ | 1,361.00 | |||
| Theatre trip £ |
953.50 | £ | 1,200.00 | £ | 246.50 | ||
| 0 |
| Tour2025 | £ | 31,045.19 | £ | 29,599.30 | -£ | 1,445.89 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tour funds | £ | 1,150.00 | £ | 300.00 | -£ | 850.00 | |||
| Uniform | £ | 304.00 | |||||||
| Girls | £ | 140.00 | £ | 140.00 | £ | ||||
| Boys | £ | £ | 122.00 | £ | 122.00 |
||||
| Hoodies | £ | £ | 172.00 | £ | 172.00 |
||||
| Pre-loved | £ | £ | 10.00 | £ | 10.00 |
||||
| TOTAL | £ | 58,737.84 | £ | 59,482.52 | £ | 744.68 | |||
| Brought forward | £ | 60,214.59 | |||||||
| BalanceinBank - savings | £ | 59,820.58 | |||||||
| BalanceinBank - current | £ | 1,138.69 | |||||||
| Cash | £ | 20.00 | |||||||
| Total | £ | £ | 60,979.27 | ||||||
| Ringfenced areas | 8/F | 2024-2025 | Balance | ||||||
| Bursary | £ | 8,500.00 | -£ | 500.00 |
£ | 8,000.00 | |||
| Chorus Sirenum | £ | 506.25 | £ | 506.25 | |||||
| JackPetchey | £ | 1,788.36 | £ | 1,962.40 |
£ | 3,750.76 | |||
| TourFunds | £ | 9,713.62 | -£ | 850.00 |
£ | 8,863.62 | |||
| FundsAvailable | £ | 39,858.64 |
Southend Boys’ Choir and Southend Girls’ Choir Trust
Report of the Trustees for the year ending 31 August 2025
Registered Charity Number: 1161752 Principal address: Rosemary Pennington – PO Box 6, Civic Centre, Victoria Avenue, Southend on Sea, Essex SS2 6ER Email: Southendchoirs@gmail.com Website: www.southendchoirs.org.uk Trustees: Jackie Mullan (Chair), Julie Cushion, Emer McNeela, Christine Wallen (Treasurer), Roger Davis, Cllr Anne Jones (Council Rep), James Devor Bankers: CAF Bank, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling ME19 4JQ
What the charity does
Southend Boys’ and Girls’ Choirs are amongst the leading youth choirs in the country, each choir rehearsing and performing in its own right as well as in joint performances.
The formal objectives of the CIO are to:
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a) promote, improve, develop and maintain public appreciation and education of choral music and related activities in all aspects by the presentation, of public concerts, recitals, broadcasts, recordings or at the invitation of promoters and other artistic bodies; and
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b) educate and enhance the skills and enjoyment of all members of the choirs through a range of performances and musical opportunities, in the UK and abroad.
The Choirs recruit from all schools in the borough and beyond. There are no joining or subscription fees for choir membership, so the Choirs draw on a very wide range of backgrounds, as well as a big age range - singers may enter our boys choir at 8 and girls choir at 10, but, although our Little Singers group closed this year, our Step-Up Choir continues to provide an early introduction to the enjoyment of singing from age 6. Members may stay until university and beyond via our offshoot choirs – the Southend Young Men’s Chorus for male voices and the Chorus Sirenum for female voices. We work hard to promote a friendly, inclusive and welcoming culture for members to feel accepted, safe and happy. Additionally, there is no entry requirement to read music or to have had any previous music training. Consequently, the Choirs are open to everyone and our membership is diverse.
Public benefits
The trustees consider the CIO’s activities benefit the public through the provision of high quality, creative musical concerts and opportunities for young people, irrespective of their families’ means, to develop their musical skills and interests positively and to give regular performances for public enjoyment.
Activities during the year
Highlights this year
- We joined the Royal British Legion and the Tilbury Band for a Festival of Remembrance at the London Cruise Terminal in Tilbury in November which was a very moving occasion
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In the run-up to Christmas we took groups of singers to Claridges to sing carols in the tea room. For the first time we also performed at the Café Royal on Christmas Eve before moving on to Claridges for the final time that season. We also arranged our own concert in the Actors Church, Covent Garden on 23[rd] December. Costs were partially met by grants from
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During the summer holidays we repeated the week long Musicals Week but this year we were invited to join the HAF clubs providing Holiday Activities and Food. HAF sponsored free places for children of low-income families and lunch for all attendees. This was prepared by our volunteers and included options for dietary needs. This year we had 45 singers join the activity with a sold out end of week performance. The week was offered at a discount for choir members and opened to other young people in the city.
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We have been able to offer our singers many varied opportunities over the year. Alongside performances in events such as the Holocaust Memorial Service, the Mayor’s Charity Concert and concerts in Southend singers have also taken part in concerts at major London venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall and the Actors Church, St Paul’s in Covent Garden. In addition, 24 singers took part in a seven day tour of France’s Provence region with performances at the Eglise Notre de Prime Coombe and Eglise St Vincent in Collias. As well as the concerts, the singers enjoyed sightseeing in Nimes and Avignon and a visit to Parc Spirou.
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Thanks to The Birn Trust we have also been able to add an additional payment of £250 to the current £500 from the English Speaking Union to support local young musicians who are continuing their musical studies at a recognised institution of higher education. We delayed the award of the fourth annual bursary to better fit in with applicants’ study schedules. Unfortunately, there were no applications this year and we will look to different publicity options next year.
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Financial Review
Each quarter the Trustees receive and consider a detailed statement of the CIO’s current financial position. During the current year, the adequacy of reserves has been regularly monitored. The Trustees consider that the financial position remains satisfactory following the period of recovery from the pandemic when the Choirs’ activities and income had been limited. Trustees are actively looking at ways to enhance the CIO’s fundraising efforts, but remain firmly committed to there being no subscription or other charge for choir membership. To this end we applied for grants from ROSCA, Essex County Council Cultural grants, Richard Cherry Foundation and the Community Investment Fund. All applications were unsuccessful in this instance, but we continue to make applications to appropriate funds. In addition, our Artistic Directors have continued to request that they are paid at a significantly reduced rate.
Volunteers
Our volunteers are definitely ‘key workers’ for the Choirs’ operation, whether they undertake direct roles at choir activities or get involved behind the scenes in areas such as fundraising or publicity. They are DBS checked to ensure safeguarding is at the centre of choir work, with the choirs’ specific policies on safeguarding and child protection regularly reviewed to reflect current guidance and any government policy changes. All volunteers and helpers undertake specific safeguarding training - some volunteers are also Southend Council registered chaperones, ensuring a high degree of regard for the welfare of the choristers when they are with the choirs. The Trust are hugely grateful to the team of volunteers that carry out the considerable work needed to run the Choirs.
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Structure, Governance and Management
The Southend Boys’ and Girls’ Choirs registered with the Charity Commission in 2007 and reconstituted in May 2015 as a Charitable Incorporated Association (‘CIO’). This is a legal form enabling a charity to enter into contracts as a corporate body, rather than, with non-corporate status, trustees bearing individual liability for any contracts they enter into on behalf of the charity.
Trustees are expected to show an active interest in the work and benefits of the choirs, and nominees for appointment are given full briefing about these before being considered. In making successor appointments, Trustees have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience offered towards achieving the effective administration of the CIO.
Trustees held frequent meetings over the current year (4 meetings in addition to the AGM). Following recent recruiting we now have the full compliment of 7 Trustees.
Signed on behalf of Trustees:
....................................... 02.12.2025 Chair of Trustees Date
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