**Registered Charity Number 1164179**
## **Manchester Digital Music Archive Trust**
!
## **Financial Statements for the year ended 31[st] October 2025**
The Board of Trustees presents its report and unaudited financial statements for the year ended 31[st] October 2025
## **Reference and Administrative Information**
## **Charity name**
Manchester Digital Music Archive Trust
**Charity Registration Number** 1164179
## **Registered Office**
Stun Office Z-Arts 335 Stretford Road Manchester. M15 5ZA
## **Trustees**
Michael Barnes-Wynters Karen Gabay Darren Jones Estelle Neuman
Chair
## **Principal staff**
Alison Surtees
## **Volunteers**
Markus Heithier Catherine Mullen Matthew Norman
Heather Roberts James Zeiter Dave Rofe
Richard Rowlinson Cathy Brooks
## **Bankers**
Triodos Bank Deanery Road Bristol BS1 5AS
1
## **Manchester Digital Music Archive Trust**
## **Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31[st] October 2025**
## **Objectives**
The Manchester Digital Music Archive Trust (MDMArchive) is a small charity which was established with the objectives of:
- Advancing the knowledge of and raising artistic capabilities in music and related cultural endeavours in the Greater Manchester area through the provision of digital archives and accessible documentation, and by holding lectures, creative workshops, performances, exhibitions etc.
- Providing, or assisting in the provision of, facilities for recreation and other leisuretime activities for the general public which support the promotion of their educational well-being.
## **Purposes and Aims**
Manchester Digital Music Archive is an online community archive that celebrates Greater Manchester music and its social history. It was established in 2003 and became a registered charity in October 2016.
Our mission statement is to celebrate Greater Manchester music, protect its heritage and promote awareness of its cultural importance.
Our crowd-sourced archive and website is a place for people all over the world to share Manchester music ephemera and memories, be they fans, musicians or involved with the music industry itself.
We are passionate about celebrating the hidden chapters and under-represented communities within Greater Manchester music. We believe that through crowd-sourcing artefacts we can democratise heritage and provide a platform for multiple versions of history to be shared. There is no hierarchy of 'merit' within our archive. The general public decides what is important and what is 'heritage'.
Our core values are:
- We will provide a platform for multiple Greater Manchester music histories to be shared
- We will be the trusted of the collective memory
- We will democratise the preservation of music heritage and make it accessible for everyone
- We will be a flexible and responsive organisation that listens to community opinion
Our specific aims are to:
- celebrate Greater Manchester music
- raise awareness of the influence of Greater Manchester music and highlight unsung eras in its history
- digitise vulnerable collections pertaining to Greater Manchester music
- record and document the memories of fans, artists and industry alike
2
## **Manchester Digital Music Archive Trust**
## **Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31[st] October 2025 (continued)**
- facilitate exhibitions and events about Greater Manchester music that target as broad an audience as possible
- develop a not-for-profit self-sustaining organisation to achieve the above prevent the disappearance of artefacts by uncovering vulnerable collections and
- approach (and encourage approaches from) people wishing to share their experiences of Greater Manchester music
- document these oral histories in a variety of media
- raise public awareness of such collections by organising events and exhibitions in a -to-
- exhibition spaces
- provide an online archive that will map the evolution of Greater Manchester music and its social history
## **Ensuring Our Work Delivers Our Aims**
## MDMArchive
they have brought to those people that the charity aims to help. This enables MDMArchive to ensure that its aims, objectives and activities remain focused on its stated purposes. We have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning our future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set.
## **How Our Activities Deliver Public Benefit**
. Our activities are based on the provision
of education and advancement of culture for the public benefit.
## **Who Used and Benefited From Our Services?**
area. In the year covered by this report benefits were provided to:
- the many members of the public who used the MDMArchive website in Manchester and all over the world and attended events and exhibitions that we either hosted or contributed to
- volunteers and students who gained new skills assisting in building our online archive and curating exhibitions
## **Achievements and performance**
## **Piccadilly Radio Project Digitisation and Volunteer Engagement**
In partnership with North West Sound Archive and Central Library, the Archive undertook the support of 20 volunteers to produce personal stories and virtual exhibitions of their memories of Piccadilly Radio. The core project activity centered on digitised tapes from Piccadilly Radio - the MDMArchive website provided a central resource for online access of this material. The programme is set to complete in December 2025, and so far, there have been two online training programmes and two in person events to support access and training. The programme is also working with volunteers on an ongoing basis to extend the collection of material, either recordings or images.
3
## **Manchester Digital Music Archive Trust**
## **Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31[st] October 2025 (continued)**
## **Volunteers**
We have been working with volunteers across our programmes, notably in the development of new tools online to bring to life the stories of spaces old and new in various locations across Greater Manchester. This is an ongoing project, and we hope to engage some profile artists in the coming year to create their own music maps of favourite places.
In addition, volunteers from the Piccadilly Radio Project have been sub-clipping digitised recordings and creating virtual exhibitions and content for the site related to the project.
## **Louder Than Words (LTW) Festival**
MDMArchive ran two panels at the Louder than Words festival event in November 2024 - Black Female Voices extended These events were both well attended with lots of interaction with the audience. The feedback from the weekend was fantastic, with many saying they did not know the history of the involvement of Manchester artists and the work they produced. As a result of this work, we are working with LTW again for 2025 l.
## **Conference**
Alison Surtees and Karen Gabay presented a panel as part of a conference titled _Neither Factory R ecords nor M adchester: R ethinking M anchester's M usical and Sub cultural Histories_ The panel _T he O ther Side of Strawb erry Studios and Yellow 2 Studios_ - featured guests Debra Burn, Basil Clarke and Yvonne Ellis who highlighted stories outside of those who dominate the heritage of the time.
## **Blue Plaques Project**
Our ongoing recognition of Black Artists in Manchester brought a further Blue Plaque to the city in remembrance and recognition of Diane Charlemagne.
Diane was a singer, songwriter and producer covering a wide genre of music. Her debut with 52[nd] Street saw Diane achieving chart success in the USA. She was the lead vocalist on _T he Key, T he Secret_ s _Inner C ity Life_ by Goldie, and travelled the world with the artist Moby.
The plaque was unveiled in a ceremony on 25[th] June 2025 and was attended by her daughter and many of the artists she worked with. This is an important part of the work we do, and is aimed at widening the perspectives of music heritage in Greater Manchester to include all those who work and have worked tirelessly as part of it. This recognition is vital, and means that the narratives are more representative of the diverse talent that exists in Manchester, to give a more rounded view of the development of the industry and the roles that everyone plays.
This work continues for MDMArchive and we are currently working on a third plaque for Sister Rosetta Tharpe. This will become a key area for us as we move into the coming years.
4
## **Manchester Digital Music Archive Trust Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31[st] October 2025 (continued)**
## **Manchester Mooch Dig Media**
We continued our support of the Manchester Mooch app, developed by Dig Media as an ongoing project from Salford Music Map. The app launched in summer 2025.
## **Digital Player Development**
In line with our aim for future curated content, we have started sharing content from other creators on our site, including mcrscenestories, and will look to increase this activity as well as the maps of places currently being developed by volunteers.
## **Financial Review**
## **Principal Funding Sources**
s of income in the year were from Manchester City Council for the delivery of the Piccadilly Radio project (£2,775) and donations from members of the public for the Diane Charlemagne Blue Pla que (£1,130). We also received ongoing contributions from regular donors (£180) a nd dona tions from users of our a rchive m a teria l (£50).
## **Reserves policy and designated funds**
MDMArchive is committed to maintaining unrestricted reserves at a level that covers three has no premises or employees, nor any ongoing contractual commitments, so ongoing operating costs are minimal (less than £300 a yea r).
The charity had unrestricted reserves at 31[st] October 2025 of £10,377 (2024 - £12,328). The trustees ha ve designa ted £10,000 of this to future growth and development including:
- development and maintenance of the MDMArchive website, a crucial component of the activities
- participation in relevant events e.g. the Louder than Words Festival
- engaging freelance staff to submit grant applications
The MDMArchive Board regularly reviews sufficient unrestricted funds are available to support planned activities. In doing this Trustees take account of the risks facing the charity and consider whether any adjustment to the level of reserves or designated funds is appropriate.
The charity will continue to manage its resources prudently, seeking cost-effective ways to deliver its charitable objectives and working to diversify income streams whilst ensuring that core objectives are met.
5
**Manchester Digital Music Archive Trust Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31[st] October 2025 (continued)**
## **Plans for Future Periods**
- Securing new Trustees and volunteers and widening our reach
- Ongoing work on our Blue Plaques initiative our 3[rd] Plaque will be live August 26
- Exploring more curated content, increasing external content on our site and building on the work we have done on our maps.
- New project work with partners, including developing the Piccadilly Radio Project with Manchester Central Library
- Funding application to NHLF to develop programme of engagement
## **Structure, Governance and Management**
## **Recruitment and Appointment of Trustees**
Trustees are appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a meeting of the charity trustees. Individuals are selected for appointment as trustees with regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the charity and are sought through the networks of existing Board members. Skills represented amongst the trustee body include digital technologies, music and cultural history, arts administration and finance management. Trustees who retire can be reappointed or up to three consecutive terms but may only be reappointed for a fourth term after an interval of one year.
## **Governing Document**
The charity was established as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) whose only establishes the objects and aims of the charity and how it is governed. In the event of the charity being wound up, the members are liable to contribute no more tha n £1 for the payment of the debts and liabilities of the CIO.
## **Induction and Training of Trustees**
Prospective new trustees are introduced to the work of MDMArchive by attending meetings with the Chair of the trustees and other board members. These briefings also cover the legal obligations and responsibilities of trustees.
New trustees are referred to the Charity Commission's "The Essential Trustee: What you need to know" resource, the Charity's constitution and the latest published accounts.
## **Risk Management**
The Board of Trustees has conducted a review of the major risks to which the charity is exposed. Where appropriate, systems or procedures have been established to mitigate the risks the charity faces. Procedures are in place to ensure compliance with health and safety of volunteers, young people, other service users and visitors. Internal financial risks are minimised by the implementation of procedures for the authorisation of all transactions, and systems are in place to ensure compliance with health and safety legislation.
6
## **Manchester Digital Music Archive Trust Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31[st] October 2025 (continued)**
## **Organisational Structure**
The only members of MDMArchive are its charity trustees. The trustee body meets as required to agree the charity's programme of activity. The general day-to-day administration and management of finances are undertaken by board members and volunteers. Other project activities are und -founders working in
a voluntary capacity, other volunteers, and freelance staff.
## **Statement of Board of Trustees responsibilities**
The Board of Trustees is responsible for preparing the Report of the Board of Trustees and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.
Charity law requires the Board of Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under Charity law the Board of 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 charity and the income and expenditure of the charity for that period.
T he cha rity ha s a gross incom e of less tha n £250,000 a nd ha s prepa red receipts a nd payments accounts using the Charity Commission charity accounting template CC16a.
The Board of Trustees is responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are financial position of the charity and to enable it to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf by:
Estelle Neuman Chair
7
## **Independent Examiners Report**
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Manchester Digital Music Archive Trust (the Trust) for the year ended 31 October 2025.
## **Responsibilities and basis of report**
As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities
and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or
2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or
3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any
an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Paul Cowham FCA DChA Withington Works Withington Baths 30 Burton Road Manchester, M20 3EB
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|**Manchester Digital Music Archive Trust**|**Manchester Digital Music Archive Trust**|**Manchester Digital Music Archive Trust**|**Manchester Digital Music Archive Trust**|**Manchester Digital Music Archive Trust**|||**1164179**|**1164179**|**CC16a**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Receipts and payments accounts**
**For the period**
**from**
01-Nov-24||||||||||
||**For the period**
**from**||01-Nov-24||**To**||31-Oct-25|||
|||||||||||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||||
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest**
**£**||**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|Fundraisingevents|||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|Donations|**180**||**1,130**||**-**||**1,310**||**299**|
|Heritage EmergencyFund|||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|Bank interest|**58**||||**-**||**58**||**44**|
|Project income|**2,825**||||**-**||**2,825**||**18,750**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|
**3,063**||**1,130**||**-**||**4,193**||**19,093**|
|||||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**||||||||||
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|||||||||||
|**_Total receipts_ **|**3,063**||**1,130**||**-**||**4,193**||**19,093**|
|**A3 Payments**||||||||||
|Staff costs|**3,375**||||**-**||**3,375**||**-**|
|Travel/subsistence|**105**||||**-**||**105**||**-**|
|Trustee expenses|||||**-**||**-**||**127**|
|Trustee meetings|||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|Volunteer expenses|||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|Website|**817**||||**-**||**817**||**5,667**|
|Bank charges|**47**||||**-**||**47**||**14**|
|Events inc exhibitions & workshops|**504**||**2,363**||**-**||**2,867**||**4,213**|
|Archive films|||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|Advertising&promotion|||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|Equipment|||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|Evaluation|||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|Accountancy|**200**||||**-**||**200**||**200**|
|Stationery/post|**6**||||**-**||**6**||**-**|
|Sundry|||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**5,054**||**2,363**||**-**||**7,417**||**10,221**|
|||||||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**||||||||||
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|||||||||||
|**_Total payments_ **|**5,054**||**2,363**||**-**||**7,417**||**10,221**|
|||||||||||
|**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**|**- 1,991**||**- 1,233**||**-**||**- 3,224**||**8,872**|
|**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**|||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**12,328**||**1,233**||**-**||**13,561**||**4,689**|
|**_Cash funds this year end_**|**10,337**||**0**||**-**||**10,337**||**13,561**|
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## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**
|**Categories**
**B1 Cash funds**|**Details**|**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||Triodos Bank||**10,097**||**-**||**-**|
|**Trustee remuneration**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B5 Liabilities**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B2 Other monetary assets**|PayPal||**240**||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
**Details**||**10,337**||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||**-**||**-**|
||**Details**||**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**||**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||Large screen iPad/wall mount||Heritage Lottery
Fund||898|||
||Rugged hard-drive||Unrestricted||330|||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
||**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
Unrestricted
200
Onetrustee (Karen Gabay) received remuneration of £3,375 for work on the RNCM 'Throwing
Doors'podcast series (2023: £350). Remuneration of trustees is permitted in the constitution
circumstances and when considered necessary is authorised by the other trustees.
Signature
Print Name
**Details**
Independent Examination of 2024/25
accounts||||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
||||||||31 August 2026|
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
||||||||Date of
approval
Open the Concert
in certain|
||||Estelle Neuman|||||
|||||||||
10