Chairperson’s Report. Milnthorpe Steel Band. 2023-2024. AGM February 2025.
Welcome everyone to the AGM, its nice to see you all here. It seems like only yesterday that we were having our last AGM. This past year has been a busy one with more new members and more new experiences for us all. Band membership is at an all-time high and we are very close to our upper limit of 25 members. This year we have made changes to our practice times to enable our Musical Director, Steven, to attend more sessions. His job often demands he remains at work later than usual and he was rushing to get to us in time for the earlier practices or missing them altogether. We have also slightly lengthened the duration. We now have more time to concentrate on our ever growing repertoire of more complicated tunes, as well as keeping our hand in with the older
ones. I think this change has been effective for all. Steven is able to attend more often and we can all find time to eat before the sessions. Thank you Steven for your patience and commitment. I know from the feedback we receive that all your hard work has not gone unnoticed. It is always extremely favourable. Added to that we are all enjoying the challenges of learning new tunes after so many years of having nothing different to get our teeth into! Our calendar of gigs started in February and, although we had no weddings or unscheduled snowbound overnight stays, it has been quite comprehensive throughout the year. We have played for a wild Caribbean Evening in Silverdale, at Country Fairs and Shows, a May Day parade, two Classic Car shows, a Golf Club party, Coniston fun day, a return visit to the Waterhead pub by the lake in Ambleside, a firework event at Hayes Garden Centre, busking at Lakeland Motor Museum, Kendal Torchlight Street Party, and a concert on an actual stage
in Grange-over Sands. We were slightly concerned that there were more Band members playing than the number of tickets sold, however the audience swelled to a reasonable number who showed their appreciation by shouting for two encores. We played again at one of our favourite gigs - Hawkshead’s Christmas street market, a rather wet and windy event this year for a change. Maybe next year there will be blue skies and winter sunshine. Finally we travelled to Chorley for a Christmas event in a beautiful building where Wendy goes to unwind.
A highlight this year was a performance on the back of a lorry at Knott End and Preesall Carnival, a new experience for many of the band members and one which the older members, and I don’t necessarily mean age wise, have been waiting patiently to resume after a good few years without any happening.
Fran has worked incredibly hard to get us a grant of £2,000 towards a new set of bass pans, as well as being an ace secretary and minute keeper. We have also been lucky to be given a drum kit from the University of Cumbria, liaison also by Fran. Thank you Fran for all your behind the scenes endeavours and compilation of playlists! It really is much appreciated by everyone.
Charlotte has once again gone over and above to find gigs, confirm our calendar and organise and drive the vans to get our equipment to where it is needed and back safely. Thank you Charlotte it’s an arduous task and you really do us proud!
Christine C has, as ever, been diligent in her role as Treasurer and finder of the best priced and most suitable insurances, which I know has not been an easy task, and we thank you for that. She has now stepped back from this role so that she can spend more time playing and enjoying her band participation without the
responsibility of dealing with the cash flow situation. Thank you Christine for all you have done for us over the last few years.
Kathy has kindly agreed to take over where Christine has left off, subject to agreement by the band. Kathy is fully conversant with the ways of the banking system and has worked alongside Christine recently to change our account to a new bank. Thanks Kathy and Good Luck, it is one of the most involved roles on the Committee.
Lynn has stepped into her role as Vice Chair with enthusiasm and gusto so thank you Lynn. You have many more years of this ahead! One definition of the word Committee says that…
“A committee is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative ” . assembly or other form of organization I think in our case the word “committee” also stands for “committed” and we are fully
committed to give you all the best experience possible within our band and achieve our aims in the most suitable manner.
The present Committee have been very hard at work during the year rejigging the previously complicated and very wordy Constitution into a more user friendly one. This is now available for all to see.
We would also like to welcome three well respected and very popular people as Trustees to our Band Family, Andrew Wilson, Graeme Armstrong and Chris Whiteside. Thank you very much for agreeing to join us. Having all known the Band in one way or another for some time now I think you’ve already got the measure of us, and vice versa, and we look forward to working with you.
During the next year we are hoping to purchase some new pans and hopefully get the ones we already have tuned to improve our sound and this will be one of our priorities.
This year saw the purchase of two branded gazebos. A most welcome and long awaited addition to our equipment. They have already paid for themselves in Band comfort in all weather conditions, (maybe a bit hairy in extreme wind,) and which enhance both the appearance and sound of the Band.
We are still on the lookout for a second drummer and percussionist to play alongside Anthony and enable him to share responsibility of that section. At the moment the onus is on Anthony alone to be at most of the gigs. We do have emergency contingencies but the addition of another regular drummer would, as with all other sections, allow a bit more flexibility. We did have, for a while at least, a regular second bass player in Ethan. He was only with us a short time but was very committed and talented and we were all very sorry when the family had to move away. Let’s hope he finds another outlet for his musical ability and we find another playmate for Fran.
Our Christmas meal was a lovely chance to get together for the evening to socialise and spend time with each other and celebrate our successful year. Thanks to Christine and Lynn for taking this on board and doing the organising. It really did help to finish the year off in style.
We already have plenty of gigs lined up for 2025, and more no doubt in the offing. The band continues to go from strength to strength so thank you all for your dedication and support. Without you there would be no Band. As ever we couldn’t do all this without the fantastic support of Mike Leyland who enables our very existence by generously providing space for us to practice and store our equipment and allows his drivers to borrow and drive the lorries for any Carnivals. Thanks must also go to Marshalls van hire, who we have used for many years now, and who are often quite lenient with some of the costs and timings of our bookings.
Onwards and upwards folks. We are in for another great year!
Lindy Brough
Chairperson
Milnthorpe Steel Band
Milnthorpe Steel Band
Income and Expenditure for Year 5th February 2024 to 4[th] February 2025
| INCOME | EXPENDITURE | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Total payments from 13 Gigs at £350.00 |
£4,550.00 | Van Hire for 16 Gigs (No van needed for Knott End Carnival) |
£1,335.00 |
| Additional payment from Ambleside |
£150.00 | Fuel for 16 Gigs | £318.21 |
| Additional payment from Brinscall | £40.00 |
Extra Fuel Charges for 6 Gigs | £30.60 |
| Collection at Brimscall | £107.76 | Ink Cartridges | £45.79 |
| Collection at Silverdale Art Trail | £112.58 | Drum Mat | £25.99 |
| Collection at Hawkshead | £102.24 | Facebook Advertising | £3.23 |
| Cancelled gig payment | £175.00 | Website maintenanceEquiphase | £66.00 |
| Refund from Vista Print | £30.38 | Uniform Order | £229.93 |
| Payment from The Hadfield Trust | £2,000.00 | Vista Print -Fliers and Business Cards |
£105.97 |
| Uniform payments | £245.19 | Lunch for Stand in Drummer | £14.20 |
| Fuel to pick up drum kit | £20.01 | ||
| Gazebos | £3,022.50 | ||
| Insurance and Public Liability | £785.40 | ||
| TOTAL INCOME | £7,513.15 | TOTAL EXPENDITURE | £6,002.83 |
Balance in Bank on 4[th] February 2024 was £8,036.16
Plus Income of £7,513.15 = £15,549.31
Minus Expenditure of £6,002.83 = £9,546.48 Balance in Bank on 4th February 2025 is £9,546.48
Milnthorpe Steel Band
Petty Cash for the Year 5[th] February 2024 to 4[th] February 2025
Balance from 4[th] February 2024 is £131.94
| INCOME | EXPENDITURE | |
|---|---|---|
| Donation at CountryFest | £5.00 | |
| Donation at Penrith Show | £10.00 | |
| Donation at Hayes Firework Display | £5.00 | |
| Victoria Hall CD sales | £24.00 | |
| Collection at The Motor Museum | £96.06 | |
| CD sales at Motor Museum | £26.00 | |
| Payment for Pre loved band uniform | £10.00 | |
| Flowers and card to band members | £25.45 | |
| Payment to truck driver at Preesall Carnival | £50.00 | |
| Drumsticks | £26.95 | |
| Payment to Drummer at Torchlight for travel | £20.00 | |
| Kitchen roll payment to dry Pans | £5.00 | |
| Gifts for Mike Leyland and Warehouse Staff | £33.00 | |
| Further Thank You Gifts | £53.00 | |
| Total | £176.06 | £213.40 |
Balance of Petty Cash on 4[th] February 2024 was £131.94
Plus Income of £176.06 = £308.00
Minus Expenditure of £213.40 = £94.60 (Balance in Feb 2025)
TOTAL AMOUNT OF BAND ASSETS ON 4[th] FEBRUARY 2025 :-
£9,546.48 + £94.60 = £9,641.08 PLUS
Material Assets:-pans, stands, cases, drum kit, percussion, gazebos and miscellaneous items totalling approximately £43,523