OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2025-03-31-accounts

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

Company registration number: 07874922 Charity registration number: 1163725

The Paraorchestra and Friends

(A company limited by guarantee)

Annual Report and Financial Statements

for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Contents

Reference and Administrative Details 1
Trustees' Report 2 to 16
Independent Auditor's Report 17 to 20
Statement of Financial Activities 21
Balance Sheet 22
Statement of Cash Flows 23
Notes to the Financial Statements 24 to 32

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Reference and Administrative Details

Chairman Giles Gibbons
Trustees Clarence Adoo, MBE
Dr Kate Marsh
James Robert Mackenzie-Blackman (appointed 18 September 2024)
Jenny Naomi Grey
Kevin Satizabal
Rylan Gleave (resigned 31 July 2025)
Zivi Sainsbury (appointed 10 June 2024)
Executive team Charles Hazlewood, Artistic Director
Hannah Williams Walton, Programming Director (Deputy CEO)
Jonathan Harper, Chief Executive
Laura Evans, Head of Communications
Lauren Scholey, Funding and Transformation Consultant *
Management staff Ailie De Bonnaire, Producer
Ben Horton, Marketing Manager
Dean Sudron, Production Manager
Esther Poole, General Manager
Helen Edwards, Senior Producer (Artist Development)
Roberta Pia, Marketing Manager
Sarah Dennehy, Senior Producer (Projects)
Support services FD Works, Finance & Accounting
Narrow Quay HR, HR Support
GoTo IT, IT Support
Charity Registration Number 1163725
Company Registration Number 07874922
Registered Office The Courts
Bridewell Street
Bristol
BS1 2AG
Auditor Corrigan Accountants Limited
1st Floor
25 King Street
Bristol
BS1 4PB

*denotes Freelance staff member

Page 1

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Trustees' Report

The trustees, who are directors for the purposes of company law, present the annual report together with the financial statements and auditors' report of the charitable company for the year ended 31 March 2025.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2024-2025

Following on from our exceptional year of transition, expansion and acceleration last year, 2024-25 saw a year of bold, innovative music.

Paraorchestra continues to innovate the artform and provide exceptional highly emotive audience experiences. In recognition of our extraordinary and ground-breaking work, we were thrilled to be awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Best Ensemble 2025. This critical acclaim is testament to the artistry of our incredible ensemble of disabled and non-disabled musicians, and to the extraordinary vision of our Artistic Director, Charles Hazlewood.

“Paraorchestra should be the Pride of Britain. They are inspirational in their care and creativity putting disabled musicians centre-stage. Those musicians are pioneering how orchestras and audiences interact. They are invigorating concert halls with thrilling experiences. Here’s to Paraorchestra and its disabled musicians, showing us all a way forward.”

Clarinettist and broadcaster Jess Gillam, presenting Paraorchestra with the RPS Award

We achieved a number of other firsts, notably the premiere of our most inventive immersive show to date, The Virtuous Circle, for our first ever appearance at BBC Proms, and releasing our first major label album, Death Songbook. In both cases we delivered these projects on our own terms, with a degree of artistic ambition and risk other orchestras are rarely able to do.

We began our new relationship with the city of Bradford, starting with a successful presentation of our outdoor project SMOOSH! This was followed by ongoing trips to the city to develop The Bradford Progress, a huge multi-layered place-based artistic endeavour that will form a signature moment during the 2025 City of Culture, bringing over 400 musicians and musical styles together across the district.

Modulate, our artist development programme, has flourished in its first full year, offering 48 disabled musicians and artists a wide range of opportunities to develop skills, peer network, receive mentoring and explore their own creative practice.

Within the organisation we have seen the launch of our new brand and website, providing us with an identity that embodies our artistic achievements and the boundless talents of our musicians.

We are acutely aware of the continued financial constraints of the cultural industry, particular for building based institutions that present our work. This year we successfully trialled smaller, less production heavy projects, that were still musically vivid but with a reduced fee structure that enabled venues new to us to book Paraorchestra.

In 2024-25 the team utilised the wider profile of the organisation to connect with others at events in the UK and across the globe, sharing our successes and methodology in order to build new partnerships. A vital part of our next phase of organisational sustainability will be the collecting, reviewing and analysing of data through our new Impact Measurement project, in order to measure the impact we are having on audiences, artists and the wider cultural sector, and supporting us to tell the story of our impact to date.

In 2025, we enter the tenth year of the charity. We are proud to be creating a new ecology for the cultural sector where the inclusion of D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists is as important as the creation of great art. We know that this new world will take time to flourish but we remain clear that our growth requires us to be as ambitious in our own artistic creation as we are in our support of disabled musicians through Modulate.

Page 2

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Trustees' Report

ARTISTIC PROGRAMME AND AUDIENCES 2024-25

• Trip The Light Fantastic, Southbank Centre, April 2025

A rapturous reception and standing ovation from a near sold-out audience greeted the show on its second outing since its premiere for the re-opening of Bristol Beacon last year. The large-scale cinematic projection mapping featured in the original premiere was replaced by a spectacular choreographed light show by New Zealand designer Joel Stanners, who first worked with us on Drone Refractions in January 2024.

• Death Songbook, album release and live shows

Death Songbook, our lockdown project first created in January 2021, was released on record in April 2024, followed by two live dates - at Roundhouse in London and the new Aviva Studios in Manchester.

We undertook a hugely collaborative approach working with Roundhouse and Factory International (who manage Aviva Studios) and record company BMG to cross-promote both album launch and live dates across all four organisations platforms. This created an extraordinary response and all live dates sold out.

The live shows featured the main collaborators, Brett Anderson, Gwenno and (in London only), Nadine Shah and the passion of Anderson, the Suede frontman, and the ensemble made the shows more akin to rock’n’roll than anything found in the classical world! It was the first time we have visited either venue and both are now interested in future collaborative projects with Paraorchestra.

★★★★★ “a concert about death bursting with life” The Telegraph (link)

★★★★“ tilting at the ineffable… underlining the importance of making a joyful noise while there’s still time.” The Observer (link)

Album sales and streaming are to date more than double the final sales/streams for our last record, The Unfolding. So far, Death Songbook has sold over 5,000 physical albums in the UK and internationally. On Spotify, it has had over 600,000 streams.

We were thrilled that Death Songbook was also selected for the longlist in the Classical Music category for The Sky Arts Awards.

• The Virtuous Circle

The Virtuous Circle, our largest and most ambitious artistic work to date, had its world premiere at the Bristol leg of BBC Proms, on Saturday 24th August, performed twice in the evening - to a sell-out audience both times.

The five-minute-long standing ovation was just reward for the immense performance given by the company of musicians and dancers, as well as dedication and hard work put in by everyone across the organisation. The creative team of Charles, co-director Kyla Goodey and choreographer Tom Jackson-Greaves truly re-invented the orchestral form by presenting a tapestry of emotions unfolding in front of the audience, with Oliver Vibrans’ new commission and Mozart’s 40th Symphony making for exceptional musical partners. The first concert of the evening was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

"a performance to remember for many reasons which will undoubtedly set the bar for future orchestral shows." Bristol 24/7 review

“I have been to hundreds of Prom concerts over 50 years, but this will remain the most impressive and memorable.” Audience feedback

Page 3

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Trustees' Report

•

SMOOSH!

As part of the build-up to our large-scale commission in 2025, we were helped in understanding more about the Bradford art and community networks by the presentation of SMOOSH! in the last week of July 2024. The show formed part of a city council festival, BD Fest, and two performances were delivered on the same day (with rehearsals and workshops in the week leading up to it), enjoyed by audiences of over 1,500.

• R&D for Bradford City of Culture 2025

This new commission from the Bradford 2025 Year of Culture was confirmed at the very end of 2023-24. Although not due to be presented until May 2025, this large-scale site-specific project has required a year of engagement with groups in Bradford, as it shifts from creative idea to a reality, and has formed the focus of a large part of the producing team throughout the year.

The music being performed and the individuals and groups performing it will speak to the vast diversity of Bradford District, incorporating 400 local performers - folk songs, brass bands, South Asian music traditions, electronic music and much more. The musicians of the Paraorchestra ensemble will function as a kind of glue between this plethora of different styles and sounds.

Three R&D periods across the year took place in Bradford to develop the creative ideas and local musical involvement. Further information is contained in the Looking Ahead section.

•

Calum Perrin - Anatomies

Sound designer and Paraorchestra composer, Calum Perrin, was commissioned to create a compositional response to Anatomy of the Orchestra. Titled, Anatomies, this was broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction.

• Symphony of Sorrowful Songs

One of our artistic objectives this year was to develop projects that can form part and parcel of concert hall event programmes that have expressed interest in our work but don’t have the financial bandwidth to afford the signature projects we have developed. We want to retain the excellence in performance, presentation and inclusivity we are known for, but using existing rather than new repertoire, shorter rehearsal periods and lower production overheads.

Our first offer was our interpretation of Gorecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (with Soprano Victoria Oruwari) with, as a prelude, Mahler's full string-orchestra realisation of Schubert's Death and the Maiden.

Emphasising the flexibility we can offer in this format, the project took in three different formats and helped us unlock bookings between September and November at two new venues (Dublin Royal Concert Hall and Manchester’s Royal College of Music) as well as at a current partner, Southbank Centre.

Conducted by Charles, all the concerts were delivered with a short rehearsal run and high impact performances. At Southbank Centre, we were part of their opening weekend of the classical season, with two sold out performances (attendance 1,100) presented immersively within the Clore Ballroom. In Manchester a small ensemble performed to a rapturous reception from 400 people in the main concert hall, and in Dublin a larger 33 musician ensemble performed to 650.

Musicians, dressed in white, were positioned on low platforms all around. We were invited to sit or stand anywhere. Perched at the feet of a violinist, in semi-darkness, surrounded by a forest of legs, I had no idea how many musicians were playing, or the nature of their disabilities or non-disabilities. Only the music mattered. It was salutary and uplifting.”

The Observer on the performance at Southbank Centre

Page 4

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Trustees' Report

• Dance Like Nobody’s Watching

In March we premiered Dance Like Nobody’s Watching in The Lantern, Bristol Beacon’s smaller concert venue to a sold-out audience of 300 people; the second iteration of our new, smaller concert projects strand.

The concert format, with conducting and creative direction from Charles, invites audiences into our version of Schönberg’s underground utopia. Charles, mezzo-soprano Bethan Langford, along with a Paraorchestra ensemble, created a thrilling atmosphere through the combination of music and prescient projections by visual artist and filmmaker John Minton.

★★★★★ A delicious pairing of challenging Schönburg and familiar Strauss waltz music with a backdrop of helpful social and political documentary photographic stills and dreamy colour-infused, dance-inspired fantasies. Steered by one of our most interesting and accessible conductors - we love to hear him speak as well as see him conduct - and played by the unmatchable Paraorchestra. Great fun.

★★★★★ Perfect programme exquisitely composed. Magnificent playing. The Schönberg a convincing and triumphant revelation.

ARTIST DEVELOPMENT

Modulate - our artist development programme for D/deaf, disabled and neurodiverse musicians and composers offers a multi-layered programme of interventions, opportunities and support for artists at all levels of their career development. It includes talks, networking, short courses and year-long residencies as well as small pots of funding for bespoke support and development needs.

2024-25 was the first full year of the programme, and a packed programme of activity has taken place, resulting in significant impacts. We were thrilled to undertake for the first time at the end of it, our Modulate Annual Survey, as part of our Impact Measurement work and some of the headline findings from this survey are below.

• Musician in Residence scheme

Isaac Shieh and Calum Perrin are our two Musicians-In-Residence for 2024/25. This cornerstone scheme is now in its fourth year and offers a unique paid residency for those within the ensemble to consider their work as artists and to develop their own ideas of what live music can be for a 21st-century music creator.

Isaac Shieh is a musician and researcher, who joined Paraorchestra in 2021 and specialises in the natural horn. His work takes him around the globe: exploring repertoire and instruments from the early 18th Century through to the present day. Isaac is currently pursuing a PhD at Royal Academy of Music in which he aims to extend the hand horn playing tradition by commissioning twelve new works by twelve composers that reflect the capabilities and aesthetics of our time.

Page 5

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Trustees' Report

“In my residency, I want to fully explore my musical voice as a collaborator, and how my physical and gestural approaches to music can reflect through composing for dance and movement. I am particularly interested in exploring the impact disability has on people, and how their lived experiences of disability can be reflected through the synergy of music and dance.” Isaac Shieh

Calum Perrin is an artist, composer, and performance maker drawing on music, performance, installation and documentary-making traditions to create projects which explore the intersections between subject and sound; fact and fiction; concrete and abstract. Calum has led on sound design a number of BBC Radio 3 projects: Chromophonia, Unread, and Northumberland’s Electric Coast, and Bells That Still Can Ring and Radio Waves on BBC Radio 4 as well as numerous stage works including Risk Lab (Theater Rampe Stuttgart, Deutsches Theater Berlin), It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure (Soho Theatre, Underbelly), Dugsi Dayz (Royal Court Theatre) and Ten Days in a Madhouse (Jack Studio Theatre).

“I’m interested in exploring the intersection between music and contemporary art, focusing on the ways that musical processes, compositional strategies and temporality can be applied to the visual arts, as well as researching the visual art and interdisciplinary practices of modern and contemporary composers.” Calum Perrin

• Alumni Fund

In a new development for this year, we created two new £10,000 commissions for an alumni of the Musician in Residence scheme, to create a new live work. Part-funded by the PRS Foundation, we awarded the commissions to Rylan Gleave and Jonny Leitch. The Alumni Fund Commissions are a critical new development this year for disabled artists. Having spent a year exploring their practice via the Musician in Residence scheme, they are primed to take the next step in creating full work for live audiences, supported by Paraorchestra to make connections to venue and collaborators who can support their long-term careers.

Jonny Leitch is in the process of creating a cross artform music/circus show aimed at family audiences. Seed funding from Paraorchestra has been the catalyst for further commissioning support by outdoor arts producers, Without Walls.

“This funding has given me support to make braver artistic choices and take supported risks because we have more time to workshop new ideas as we create the show” Jonny Leitch Rylan Gleave has recorded an album under the moniker, All Men Unto Me. The alumni fund and additional fundraising support from Paraorchestra has led to this project securing live showcases at the acclaimed New Music Biennial in Bradford and London, supported by Bradford 2025 and PRS Foundation.

• Sony Hackathon

In September Paraorchestra worked in partnership with Sony Japan, Drake Music and Watershed to run a “Hackathon”, a collaborative exercise that aimed to use technology to improve upon or build new hardware and software.

With six Paraorchestra musicians at the heart of the project, over three days they were supported by almost 35 technologists to explore ways of improving their music performance. The six musicians involved were Liza Bec (robo-recorder), Siobhan Clough (violin), Steve Varden (electronics), Takashi Kikuchi (violin) and Patrick Philips (double bass). Jonny Leitch (percussion) was due to attend but unfortunately tested positive for Covid. His project team instead collaborated on his chosen idea with assistive instrument musician John Kelly.

The impact film of the Hackathon can be viewed on our website. It was an immensely rewarding experience for all involved, with outcomes way beyond what any of the partners expected. For example, Takashi, who is visually impaired, worked with his team to create a responsive foot pedal rehearsal tool which allows him to pause, rewind and alter the pace of audio files he is learning. He had previously been using (with some difficulty) a rudimentary cassette tape player to do the same task. Our hope is that this technology could be refined over the next year with the support of the Sony EU team.

Page 6

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Trustees' Report

In January 2025, we held our first Play with Paraorchestra weekend, our first creative development opportunity for young disabled musicians. We welcomed five young musicians and their guardians from all over the UK for two days of rehearsals and performances with Paraorchestra musicians, with Associate Music Director Lloyd Coleman leading the project.

The success of the project is testament to how young people can flourish creatively with the right support in place and a film that captures the spirit of the weekend can be seen here.

The next Play with Paraorchestra weekend will take place in July 2025 and is targeted at 18-25 year olds.

• Making Tracks workshop

During Modulate’s early musician consultations, recording and sound engineering workshops were a recurring thread in discussions about possible skills development opportunities.

Led by recent Grammy-award winner Katie May, Head Engineer at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, seven Paraorchestra musicians were treated to exceptional insight and tailored skills development. Dedicated planning time between Katie, our team and each musician ahead of the in-person workshops in March ensured a bespoke approach in a world-class setting to learning practical techniques.

• In Collaboration with: Evelyn Glennie

In late March 2025, six Paraorchestra musicians spent three days in Bristol with Dame Evelyn Glennie, exploring a range of her extraordinary instruments, participating in deep listening exercises, and improvising together. Our very own Lloyd Coleman composed three new works for this R&D, inspired by Pauline Oliveros poems.

The workshop element was particularly successful as it provided an insight into a high-profile creative’s practice. With this in mind, we are looking to reframe this stand going forward as a workshop programme which will focus more on sharing insights into the artist's career, a Q&A followed by a practical workshop in the afternoon.

• Talks Programme, Software Fund, Go See Fund

A programme of regular Artist Talks and skills development workshops, Go See Trips and small grants from our Software Fund were dispersed throughout the year.

Page 7

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Trustees' Report

FINANCE AND FUNDING 2024-25

Finance

Paraorchestra income rose year-on-year again, from £1.81 million in 2023/24 to just over £2 million in 2024/25. This is thanks to a combination of successful grant funding support, increased revenue from fees and, as our artistic programme expanded from HMRC Orchestra Tax Relief on eligible production costs.

At the core of our grant income model is the continued support of Arts Council England. Paraorchestra is part of the National Portfolio it funds, with an annual agreement in place until March 2028. In 2024/25 we received £998,500.

Our other vital grant income derives from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The Mark Leonard Trust, The Linbury Trust, John Ellerman Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation and Bristol Council. These are all multi-year grant agreements.

Despite a tough financial environment for all touring artists, in 2024/25 we saw a year-on-year increase in fee income thanks to our work to widen the number of partners where we present concerts. For example, by working with partners such as the BBC Proms, to present large-scale landmark projects such as The Virtuous Circle, we have seen fees for the year increase to £265k (23/24 £236k). In addition, Orchestra Tax Relief is forecast at £355k. This creative industries tax credit is a vital part of our business model and we are grateful to HM Treasury for their continuation of the scheme.

It is to the great credit of our management team that expenditure is carefully managed, with contingency built into the areas which have the largest risk to the business - for example, staffing budgets and artistic production costs.

The total spend on Artistic projects and on the Modulate programme was £856k (23/24 £725k), with £190k of this invested directly into the artist development careers of our musicians and composers.

Staffing for the year of £721k (23/24 £707k) represented a full year of the expanded team, including in 24/25 an investment in marketing and communications staff to match the wider needs of the organisation.

In 2024/25 we recalculated our reserves target to £450k, providing the appropriate level of unrestricted reserves for the step change in business size. Our aim was to achieve this by the end of March 2026. We have achieved a surplus this year of £74k to add to reserves. This means that we have unrestricted reserves of £462k, achieving our target one year early. Trustees have noted that excess reserves will be utilised strategically in future years to underwrite the delivery of new artistic work.

Page 8

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Trustees' Report

Funding

We are very fortunate to be in receipt of multi-year support from a number of major trusts and foundations, and these awards are testament to the alignment of Paraorchestra’s mission to bring about change in the cultural sector for D/deaf, disabled and neurodiverse musicians, and the will of major funders to support this work.

We continued to receive funding through our multi-year agreements with The Mark Leonard Trust, The Linbury Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, John Ellerman Foundation and Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, and thank the Trustees and staff teams of these funders for their significant support.

We were thrilled to be newly funded by PRS Foundation to extend the work of our Modulate programme, in what we hope will be a three-year partnership. We were also delighted to receive an additional £12,000 from the Trustees of the Mark Leonard Trust in support of further work to develop accessibility features of our new website and to support the development of a content strategy - more info in Operational section.

However, we are not immune to the pressures of the sector, and recognise the highly competitive nature of funding schemes for cultural activity, even where there is strong alignment of values and mission. We will continue to work hard to measure and evaluate our impact in order to be able to give ourselves the best possible chance of securing ongoing and much needed financial support, so that we can continue to deliver our goals in support of securing change for disabled musicians.

We thank Bristol City Council for its strong commitment to cultural funding in 2024-25 and onwards into 2025-25, given the financial pressure facing local authorities at the current time. Our role in the cultural life of Bristol is valuable and we will continue to work hard to deliver outstanding activity for the people who live and work here.

The Arts Council England NPO programme launch for 2027-2030 planned for March 2025, did not go ahead, and ACE has recommended to the Government that the current National Portfolio extends to 31 March 2028, not 2027 as previously stated. Whilst we do not believe that there is a long-term risk to our NPO status we await further news once the outcome of the government's independent review of the Arts Council, led by Baroness Margaret Hodge, is complete in early 2026.

Page 9

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Trustees' Report

OPERATIONAL AND STAFFING 2024-25

2024-25 saw the delivery of two major new infrastructure projects for this team.

At the end of November 2024, following over a year of work, the new brand and website was launched. Credit goes to the Communications team for their careful and considered management of these projects, which involved re-writing all our copy in the new brand tone and completely re-working how Paraorchestra presents itself to the world - prioritising the following key stakeholders: our audience; potential venue programmers; Paraorchestra musicians; funders.

The new brand provides an identity that embodies our achievements artistically and the boundless talents of our musicians. The website finally brings us up-to-date with a clean, modern design incorporating exemplar accessibility and sustainability. It encourages audiences and potential partners to connect with us, and will provide funders with a clear sense of our successes and impact. We will start to quantitatively measure successes over the coming months once the google analytic reports begin to come through. Anecdotally we have already heard that the new website has been instrumental in international promoters having a clear understanding of our live work.

Thanks to an additional support grant from The Mark Leonard Trust we were able to upweight the disabled audience user testing prior to launch. Testers with different access needs and software considerations, some using assisted technology, took part. Tasks covered key user interactions, including finding information, exploring performances, and accessing resources and content. Testing led to several recommendations which were implemented before launching the website to the public.

• Impact Measurement project

In April 2024 we began a project to build an impact measurement framework to enable us to capture the most relevant quantitative and qualitative data available across the organisation. This project reflected that we are at the stage in the organisation’s life where being able to evidence the progress we are making will help towards:

The process of reviewing the evidence also creates a formal process for the Executive Team to analyse the different activities of the organisation, providing an understanding of where future planning may need to respond in order that we continue to achieve at the highest level.

Working with music industry consultants Sound Connections this project involved a significant programme of work over 12 months that involved all members of the team. We now have a working Theory of Change (ToC) and Impact Measurement Framework.

The ToC sets out that Paraorchestra’s Overall Impact Goal is to:

The long-term Outcomes that we seek are:

Page 10

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Trustees' Report

From April 2025 onwards all departments will be collecting quantitative and qualitative data in support of 26 indicators which collectively evidence our progress towards these outcomes.

Our annual staff survey was completed by the full team in September 2024. This piece of work connects the dots between our People Strategy and how the team are feeling about their work at Paraorchestra. Results inform training plans, help set future overarching training objectives, and allow Trustees and Exec to understand how our values are being experienced by the team.

All permanent and fixed term contract staff completed this year’s survey. For the second year running, we learnt that we have a healthy and happy organisation; staff at Paraorchestra feel as though they can do their best work 82% of time. We rarely scored less than 4 or 5 out of a maximum of 5 across all areas, with comments evidencing pride in the creative ambition of Paraorchestra and a sense of an organisation that cares for its people.

Whilst 2024-25 did not see the same levels of capacity growth of the previous year, there was nonetheless the as-expected workforce management as members of the team took health or maternity leave, and others moved onto new roles in other organisations. This level of ongoing low-level change and adaptation was well managed by the administrative team.

Page 11

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Trustees' Report

FUTURE PLANS

UPDATES FOR THE 2025/26 YEAR

Artistic Projects

• The Bradford Progress

Across the weekend of Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 May 2025, Paraorchestra, Charles Hazlewood, and Jeremy Deller joined together with hundreds of musicians from across Bradford District for a very special undertaking: The Bradford Progress. Beginning with a dawn performance by Paraorchestra of Handel's Eternal Source of Light Divine at the Cow and Calf Rocks on Ilkley Moor, The Bradford Progress charted a musical journey through Bradford District, with an unbroken 36-hour sonic procession carried by musicians of all genres - performed in familiar and unfamiliar locations - outdoors and indoors.

There was an overwhelmingly positive and, dare we say it, magical response to events over the weekend. The Bradford Progress was an exemplar in representing both the creative thinking and audience diversity that Paraorchestra aspires to achieve.

"Probably the best thing that I have ever seen in Bradford. I've never seen so many people with smiles on their faces"

"Brilliant. A vibrant and slightly crazy celebration of music, culture, Bradford and being alive!"

"Very moving, the singing of the people, the orchestra, the dawn chorus of the birds. Magical!" Audience feedback

This project has been two years in the making and the success is testament to the strength of the entire team at Paraorchestra (and to our partners at Bradford 2025).

Paraorchestra itself played an important role in the event, appearing in different configurations throughout the weekend: the dawn performance at Cow and Calf, an Octet welcoming everyone who had travelled across the Moors, a brass and percussion sextet descending through canal locks and a magnificent 66-strong ensemble performing Anatomy of the Orchestra (Steve Reich’s The Four Sections) in the midst of a packed Broadway Shopping Centre.

In addition, artists who form part of the Paraorchestra, performed their own work. For example, Lizzie Bec and Steve Varden were a central part of the canal boat leg.

From Ukrainian voice choirs bursting into song on train carriages, to klezmer bands aboard narrowboats, to samplers and santoor resonating Undercliffe Cemetery at sunset, and to the final finale moment where the joyful noise of over 500 musicians ended in harmony on a shared C note: this was a true celebration of the brilliant, eclectic tapestry of musical traditions and cultures that exist across Bradford District.

In all, over 70 Paraorchestra musicians and 445 musicians from Bradford took part.

“I had an incredibly experience, meeting so many wonderful new friends along the way. The event's finale was deeply moving, and being part of it was truly an honour. A huge thank you to everyone who helped bring this together - you made it unforgettable.” Bingley Ukulele Group

Early estimates indicate that at least 10,000 people experienced the project at some point in its journey, including 750 at the crack of dawn for the Cow and Calf sunrise!

Whilst in the city Paraorchestra performed in front of The King and Queen on Thursday 15th May, prior to their majesties’ officially opening the new music venue, Bradford Live. This appearance formed part of the content on The Royal Family Instagram account (15 million followers) and in BBC Look North’s TV footage. CEO Jonathan Harper was inside the venue as part of the formal line-up that spoke with The King.

Page 12

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Trustees' Report

• International touring

Having focussed on developing international partners in 2024, we are excited to see the fruits of this investment with Paraorchestra confirmed as part of the acclaimed Holland Festival in June 2025, performing Anatomy of the Orchestra, Drone Refractions at Amsterdam’s famous Concertgebouw.

In early 2026, we will travel to Hong Kong to perform The Nature of Why as part of Hong Kong Festival’s No Limits programme.

• The Virtuous Circle, Southbank Centre

The revival of The Virtuous Circle for its London premiere will take place at Southbank Centre in June 2025, as part of their final weekend of the classical season. Two performances of this unique, immersive production will take place in a site specific black box theatre, sited within the Clore Ballroom.

• The Breath x Paraorchestra for the BBC Proms - Symbiosis

A powerfully poetic new project with duo The Breath. Ríoghnach Connolly and Stuart McCallum, are known for their deeply emotional and understated take on folk and psychedelia. The project will expand on their unique sound world for an exhilarating musical adventure. Oliver Vibrans, who composed the responding piece within The Virtuous Circle, returns to work up orchestrations for a 36-piece ensemble.

An R&D for the project will take place in April with the premiere presented at Bristol Beacon on Friday 22nd August 2025 and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

Artist Development

• Musician in Residence programme – Year 5

Following an application and interview process, we have confirmed that Paraorchestra musicians Simone Seales and Jason Yarde will be our 25-26 Musicians-In-Residence. The programme, now in its fifth year, offers recipients paid time, staffing and mentoring support and a suitable production budget to have the freedom to develop their creative practice over one year.

• Playing with Paraorchestra

Play with Paraorchestra focuses on bringing young people into the world of Paraorchestra - to understand its creative process and the standards required to work in a professional ensemble. In July, we will run this residential but have been recruiting from an older age bracket than our first workshops.

Following a nationwide recruitment process, six musicians ages 18 to 25 will join July’s Play with Paraorchestra, from a range of places including Exeter, Manchester, Kent, Hertfordshire and Lincoln. The standard of applications was very high and we are excited by the calibre and creative verve of the young musicians who will be attending.

We will be using the same repertoire as our previous session (Rylan Gleave’s Straylight & Liam Taylor-West’s Looking Back) but will bring together a different line-up of Paraorchestra musicians for the young musicians to work with, selected in response to the instrumentation of the group.

Page 13

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Trustees' Report

Advocacy

Within the industry our profile has never been higher and in 2024-25 the team connected with others at events in the UK and across the globe, sharing our successes and methodology in order that we build new partnerships.

However, in 2025 we will reach new stakeholders and a wider pool of supporters and influencers from outside of the sector through our advocacy work. We want to develop new allies and champions that we can maintain a working relationship with in the coming years.

To this end, we are planning a large advocacy event for June 2025, which will combine a celebration of our 10-year anniversary of becoming a charity, along with the cultivation of new friends, allies and advocates. We will combine the event with rehearsals for The Virtuous Circle in London, offering a unique insight into the rehearsal room and a chance to experience our immersive work in a very intimate setting.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing document

Paraorchestra and Friends (known as Paraorchestra) is a company limited by guarantee (company number: 07874922) governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association. It is registered as a charity at the Charity Commission (charity number: 1163725).

Trustees

Our current trustees can be viewed here 'https://paraorchestra.com/about-us/staff-and-trustees'.

Management

Day to day management of the charity is delegated to the Chief Executive Officer and the Exec Committee, and through them, the full staff team.

Objects of the Charity

Our charitable objects, as listed in our governing documents are:

“For the public benefit, to: 3.1.1 Advance, improve, develop and maintain public education in and appreciation of the art and science of music in all its aspects, including, but not exclusively, by the promotion encouragement and presentation of public performances, broadcasts, concerts, recordings, recitals and exploitation in other media; and 3.2.1 promote social inclusion among people who are socially excluded from society, or parts of society by: a) providing education projects, training, materials, facilities and opportunities to enable those persons to participate in music and b) raising public awareness of the skills and capabilities of those persons and encouraging and facilitating inclusive participation in music; 3.1.3 relieve the need of people with physical, sensory and mental disabilities by encouraging and facilitating their participation in music and assisting in the provision of training, facilities and equipment for that purpose; for this purpose “socially excluded” means being excluded from full participation in society or parts of society as a result of a physical, sensory or mental impairment.”

The achievement of our aims as listed on pages 2-11 above enable us to fulfil our charitable objectives and therefore our legal purpose.

Page 14

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Trustees' Report

Public Benefit

The Trustees refer to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when shaping and reviewing the Charity’s aims, objectives and future strategies.

As outlined in this report, this is addressed through maintaining a wide range of activities that support our charitable objects. In particular, by ensuring that our artistic programme is presented such that it is accessible to all, and that careful consideration is given to a wide range of opportunities.

Risk

The Trustees consider and review risk at every Trustee meeting. A full Risk Register is available.

Reserves policy

The Trustees are committed to ensuring free reserves are available within unrestricted funds of a minimum of three months core costs and committed project costs. This is judged to be an appropriate buffer to mitigate against potential fluctuations in income generation and accurately reflect potential company wind-down costs.

Our target is by the close of 2026/27 was to realise a reserve of at least £450k. At the beginning of the financial year 2025-26 we have free unrestricted reserves of £462k. Trustees have noted that excess reserves will be utilised strategically in future years to underwrite the delivery of new artistic work.

Statement of trustees' responsibilities

The trustees (who are also the directors of The Paraorchestra and Friends for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees' report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice), including FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland".

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that can disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Page 15

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Trustees' Report

Disclosure of information to auditor

Each trustee has taken steps that they ought to have taken as a trustee in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charity's auditor is aware of that information. The trustees confirm that there is no relevant information that they know of and of which they know the auditor is unaware.

17/12/25

The annual report was approved by the trustees of the charity on .................... and signed on its behalf by:

......................................... Giles Gibbons Chairman

Page 16

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of The Paraorchestra and Friends

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The Paraorchestra and Friends (the 'charity') for the year ended 31 March 2025, which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flows, and Notes to the Financial Statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is United Kingdom Accounting Standards, comprising Charities SORP - FRS 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and applicable law (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the auditor responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the original financial statements were authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Page 17

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of The Paraorchestra and Friends

Opinion on other matter prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of our knowledge and understanding of the charity and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees' Report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of trustees' responsibilities (set out on page 15), the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charity's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

Page 18

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of The Paraorchestra and Friends

• We identified areas of laws and regulations that could reasonably be expected to have a material effect on the financial statements from our general commercial and sector experience and through discussion with the trustees and other management. We communicated identified laws and regulations throughout our team and remained alert to any indications on non-compliance throughout the audit.

• The charitable company is subject to laws and regulations that govern the preparation of the financial statements, including financial reporting legislation, and other charitable and companies legislation. The charitable company is also subject to other laws and regulations where the consequences of non-compliance could have a material impact on the amounts or disclosures within the financial statements, including employment, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering and certain aspects of companies legislation.

• Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. In any audit, there remains a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations. As part of an audit in accordance with ISAs (UK), we exercise professional judgement and maintain professional scepticism throughout the audit, we also:

• Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis of opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.

• Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the internal control.

• Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by the trustees.

• Concluded on the appropriateness of the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our Auditor’s Report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our Auditor’s Report. However, future events or conditions may cause the charitable company to cease to continue as a going concern.

• Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

Page 19

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of The Paraorchestra and Friends

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company's trustees, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity's trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and its trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

----- Start of picture text -----
......................................
----- End of picture text -----

...................................... David Wright BSc FCA (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of Corrigan Accountants Limited, Statutory Auditor

1st Floor 25 King Street Bristol BS1 4PB

18-Dec-25 Date:.............................

Page 20

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 March 2025 (Including Income and Expenditure Account and Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses)

Note
Income and Endowments from:
Donations and Legacies
Charitable activities
Grants
Trusts and Foundations
HMRC Orchestra tax relief
Other income
Total income
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
3
Other expenditure
4
Total expenditure
Net income
Transfers between funds
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward
Total funds carried forward
14		 Unrestricted
funds
£
960
265,024
1,028,582
334,093
355,000
5,739
1,989,398
(873,173)
(1,041,967)
(1,915,140)
74,258
20,000
94,258
387,572
481,830		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
-
12,000
-
-
12,000
-
(12,000)
(12,000)
-
(20,000)
(20,000)
22,917
2,917		 Total
2025
£
960
265,024
1,028,582
346,093
355,000
5,739
2,001,398
(873,173)
(1,053,967)
(1,927,140)
74,258
-
74,258
410,489
484,747		 Total
2024
£
642
236,339
998,582
342,000
229,563
5,103
1,812,229
(685,743)
(939,924)
(1,625,667)
186,562
-
186,562
223,927
410,489

All of the charity's activities derive from continuing operations during the above two periods. Comparative statement of financial activities for 2024 is shown in note 17.

The funds breakdown for 2024 is shown in note 14.

The notes on pages 24 to 32 form an integral part of these financial statements. Page 21

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

(Registration number: 07874922) Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2025

Note
Fixed assets
Tangible assets
9
Current assets
Debtors
10
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year
11
Net current assets
Net assets
Funds of the charity:
Restricted income funds
Restricted funds
Unrestricted income funds
Unrestricted funds
Total funds
14		 2025
£
8,318
627,182
242,734
869,916
(393,487)
476,429
484,747
2,917
481,830
484,747		 2024
£
12,657
295,870
308,006
603,876
(206,044)
397,832
410,489
22,917
387,572
410,489

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions relating to companies subject to the small companies regime within Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006.

The financial statements on pages 21 to 32 were approved by the trustees, and authorised for issue on 17/12/25.................... and signed on their behalf by:

......................................... Giles Gibbons Chairman

The notes on pages 24 to 32 form an integral part of these financial statements. Page 22

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Statement of Cash Flows for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

Note
Cash flows from operating activities
Net cash income
Adjustments to cash flows from non-cash items
Depreciation
4
Working capital adjustments
Increase in debtors
10
Increase in creditors
11
Net cash flows from operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
9
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents at 1 April
Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March		 2025
£
74,258
5,355
79,613
(331,312)
187,443
(64,256)
(1,016)
(65,272)
308,006
242,734		 2024
£
186,562
4,756
191,318
(70,053)
41,261
162,526
(11,316)
151,210
156,796
308,006

Charity law prohibits the use of net cash inflows on any endowed or other restricted fund to offset net cash outflows on any fund outside its own objects, except on special authority. In practice, this restriction has not had any effect on cash flows for the year.

All of the cash flows are derived from continuing operations during the above two periods.

The notes on pages 24 to 32 form an integral part of these financial statements. Page 23

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

1 Charity status

The charity is limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales, and consequently does not have share capital.

The address of its registered office is: The Courts Bridewell Street Bristol BS1 2AG

The charity, through grant money and performance income, stages performances for an ensemble of professional disabled and non-disabled musicians.

2 Accounting policies

Summary of significant accounting policies and key accounting estimates

The principal accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all the years presented, unless otherwise stated.

Statement of compliance

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)) (issued in October 2019) - (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Basis of preparation

The Paraorchestra and Friends meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy notes.

Going concern

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue as a going concern nor any significant areas of uncertainty that affect the carrying value of assets held by the charity.

Income and endowments

Donations are credited on a receivable basis unless related to a specific period, in which case theyare deferred until that period.

All other income (including Orchestra Tax Relief) is recognised once the charity has entitlement to theresources, it is probable the resources will be received and the monetary value of the incoming resources can be measured with sufficient reliability.

Page 24

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

Expenditure

Liabilities are recognised as resources expended as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to the expenditure. All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis, including irrecoverable VAT, and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category.

Governance costs include those incurred with constitutional and statutory requirements.

Governance costs

Governance costs include those incurred with constitutional and statutory requirements.

Tangible fixed assets

Individual fixed assets costing £0.00 or more are initially recorded at cost, less any subsequent accumulated depreciation and subsequent accumulated impairment losses.

Depreciation and amortisation

Depreciation is provided on tangible fixed assets so as to write off the cost or valuation, less any estimated residual value, over their expected useful economic life as follows:

Asset class

Office equipment

Depreciation method and rate 33% straight line per annum

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash on hand and call deposits, and other short-term highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to a known amount of cash and are subject to an insignificant risk of change in value.

Fund structure

Unrestricted funds comprise those funds which the Trustees are free to use for any purpose in furtherance of the charitable objects.

Restricted funds comprise those funds where the funds are to be used for specified purposes s laid down by the funder. Musician and performers fees and other direct costs relating to those purposes are to be identified and included in the fund.

Financial instruments

Classification

The company has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ andSection 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

Financial instruments are recognised in the company's statement of financial position when the company becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.

Page 25

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

Basic financial assets

Basic financial assets, which includes other debtors, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest.

Basic financial liabilities

Basic financial liabilities, including trade creditors, are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised. Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. Accounts payable are classified as 'creditors: amounts falling due within one year' if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as 'creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year'. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Page 26

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

3 Expenditure on charitable activities

Musician and performer fees
Technicians and support fees
Equipment hire
Travel and subsistence costs
Other direct costs
Musicians support fund		 Unrestricted
funds
General
£
291,447
59,932
71,853
254,077
178,891
16,973
873,173		 Total
2025
£
291,447
59,932
71,853
254,077
178,891
16,973
873,173		 Total
2024
£
298,306
70,460
52,980
107,551
145,333
11,113
685,743

4 Other expenditure

Note
Staff costs
7
Governance costs
5
Depreciation, amortisation and
other similar costs
Other administration costs
Rent
Insurance
IT costs
Bank charges
Sundry expenses
Subscriptions
Marketing, digital and PR
Travel and subsistence
Freelance costs		 Unrestricted
funds
£
720,963
32,544
5,355
17,036
46,405
4,919
8,821
1,592
5,004
1,924
81,565
39,322
76,517
1,041,967		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
12,000
-
-
12,000		 Total
2025
£
720,963
32,544
5,355
17,036
46,405
4,919
8,821
1,592
5,004
1,924
93,565
39,322
76,517
1,053,967		 Total
2024
£
756,488
28,536
4,757
14,482
25,061
3,788
13,974
872
3,345
1,457
67,370
19,794
-
939,924

Page 27

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

5 Analysis of support costs

Governance costs

Bookkeeping
Legal and professional fees
Auditors' remuneration for statutory audit services		 Unrestricted
funds
£
20,434
4,800
7,310
32,544		 Total
2025
£
20,434
4,800
7,310
32,544		 Total
2024
£
16,685
4,851
7,000
28,536

6 Trustees remuneration and expenses

During the year the charity made the following transactions with trustees:

£1,360 (2024: £Nil) of travel expenses were reimbursed to during the year to two Trustees (2024: None). No trustees, nor any persons connected with them, have received any remuneration from the charity during the year.

7 Staff costs

The aggregate payroll costs were as follows:

Staff costs during the year were:
Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Pension costs
Other staff costs		 2025
£
642,229
41,835
21,373
15,526
720,963		 2024
£
631,732
47,231
35,930
41,595
756,488

The monthly average number of persons (including senior management / leadership team) employed by the charity during the year, based on headcount, was as follows:

Employee numbers 2025
No
18		 2024
No
13

The number of employees whose emoluments (excluding employer pension costs) fell within the following bands was:

£60,001 - £70,000
£70,001 - £80,000
£80,001 - £90,000		 2025
No
-
1
1		 2024
No
1
-
1

Page 28

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were £233,183 (2024 - £226,100).

8 Taxation

None of the income received by the charity is subject to UK Corporation Tax. As such, there is no tax arising on the movement in funds during the year.

9 Tangible fixed assets

Cost
At 1 April 2024
Additions
At 31 March 2025
Depreciation
At 1 April 2024
Charge for the year
At 31 March 2025
Net book value
At 31 March 2025
At 31 March 2024
10 Debtors
Trade debtors
Prepayments
Accrued income
VAT recoverable
Other debtors		 2025
£
-
57,709
8,000
6,473
555,000
627,182		 Office and IT
equipment
£
30,855
1,016
31,871
18,198
5,355
23,553
8,318
12,657
2024
£
11,929
52,510
13,203
18,141
200,087
295,870

Page 29

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

11 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

11 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Trade creditors
Other taxation and social security
Other creditors
Accruals
Deferred income		 2025
£
64,595
20,910
15,006
48,409
244,567
393,487		 2024
£
26,016
18,511
6,356
60,161
95,000
206,044

12 Obligations under leases and hire purchase contracts

Operating lease commitments

The operating lease payments represent contract hire agreements for assets. At the reporting period end date the charity had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, which fall due as follows:

Other
Within one year
Between one and five years		 2025
£
33,600
50,400
84,000		 2024
£
17,091
-
17,091

The rental payments recognised as as expense in the year were £16,800

13 Pension schemes

Defined contribution pension scheme

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for eligible staff. The pension cost charge for the year represents contributions payable by the charity to the scheme and amounted to £48,090 (2024: £35,930).

Contributions totalling £4,875 (2024: £4,080) were payable to the scheme at the year end and are included in creditors.

Page 30

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

14 Funds
Balance at Balance at
1 April Incoming Resources 31 March
2024 resources expended Transfers 2025
£ £ £ £ £
Unrestricted funds
General 387,572 1,989,398 (1,915,140) 20,000 481,830
Restricted funds 22,917 12,000 (12,000) (20,000) 2,917
Total funds 410,489 2,001,398 (1,927,140) - 484,747
Balance at 1 Incoming
Resources		 Balance at 31
**April ** 2023 resources
expended		 March 2024
£ £ £ £
Unrestricted funds
General 201,010 1,785,229 (1,598,667) 387,572
Restricted funds 22,917 27,000 (27,000) 22,917
Total funds 223,927 1,812,229 (1,625,667) 410,489
15 Analysis of net assets between funds
Unrestricted Total funds
funds
Restricted		 at 31 March
General funds 2025
£ £ £
Tangible fixed assets 8,318 - 8,318
Current assets 846,999 22,917 869,916
Current liabilities (373,487) (20,000) (393,487)
Total net assets 481,830 2,917 484,747
Unrestricted Total funds
funds
Restricted		 at 31 March
General funds 2024
£ £ £
Tangible fixed assets 12,657 - 12,657
Current assets 530,959 72,917 603,876
Current liabilities (156,044) (50,000) (206,044)
Total net assets 387,572 22,917 410,489

16 Related party transactions

During the year payments totalling £13,690 (2024: £12,460) were made to Clarence Adoo and Rylan Gleave, both Trustees of the charity, for services provided on projects. There were no balances outstanding at year end (2024: nil).

Page 31

Docusign Envelope ID: 92B91A24-C4E4-4D4B-9AB6-EE1690E97664

The Paraorchestra and Friends

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

17 Statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2024

Note
Income and Endowments from:
Donations and legacies
Grants
Charitable activities
Trusts and Foundations
Orchestra tax relief
Other income
Total income
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
3
Other expenditure
4
Total expenditure
Net income
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward
Total funds carried forward
14		 Unrestricted
funds
£
642
998,582
236,339
315,000
229,563
5,103
1,785,229
(685,743)
(912,924)
(1,598,667)
186,562
186,562
201,010
387,572		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
-
27,000
-
-
27,000
-
(27,000)
(27,000)
-
-
22,917
22,917		 Total
2024
£
642
998,582
236,339
342,000
229,563
5,103
1,812,229
(685,743)
(939,924)
(1,625,667)
186,562
186,562
223,927
410,489

Page 32