**Northern Opera Group** **CC16a** **16750** ## **Receipts and payments accounts** **For the period** 01/04/2021 31/03/2022 **To from** ## **Section A Receipts and payments** |**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**3,000**
**758**
**12,182**
**15,940**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**15,940**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**3,000**
**758**
**12,182**
**15,940**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**15,940**|**Restricted funds**
**to the nearest £**
**51,996**
**65,700**
**128**
**4,953**
**4,000**
**126,777**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**126,777**|**Restricted funds**
**to the nearest £**
**51,996**
**65,700**
**128**
**4,953**
**4,000**
**126,777**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**126,777**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**54,996**
**65,700**
**886**
**4,953**
**4,000**
**1,195**
**10,987**
**142,717**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**142,717**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**54,996**
**65,700**
**886**
**4,953**
**4,000**
**1,195**
**10,987**
**142,717**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**142,717**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |
Government|**3,000**||||||||**20,404**| |Trust and Foundation|||||||||**9,350**| |Donation|**758**||||||||**689**| |Box office|||||||||**1,000**| |Arts@Leeds|||||||||**4,000**| |Commissions|||||||||| |Misc|||||||||| |Theatre Tax Relief|**12,182**||||||||| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|**15,940**||||||||**35,443**| ||||||||||| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||||||| ||**-**||||||||| ||**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Sub total_**|**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**|||||||||| ||||||||||**35,443**| ||||||||||| |
Operacast|**200**||||||**200**||**150**| |Artist fee|**100**||**64,136**||||**64,236**||**20,678**| |Marketing|**306**||**4,747**||||**5,053**||**1,650**| |Accommodation / travel|||**4,116**||||**4,116**||**821**| |Venue hire|||**7,289**||||**7,289**||**475**| |Production|**587**||**10,479**||||**11,066**||**1,670**| |Administration|||**600**||||**600**||**550**| |Overheads|**1,398**||||||**1,398**||**168**| |Equipment|**51**||||||**51**||| |Governance|**288**||||||**288**||**240**| |Volunteer expenses|||**142**||||**142**||| |Training|||||||||| |Vendor fees|||**356**||||**356**||**510**| |Other|**44**||**132**||||**176**||**146**| |**_Sub total_ **|**2,974**||**91,997**||**-**||**94,971**||**27,058**| ||||||||||| |**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**|||||||||| ||**-**||||||||| ||**-**||||||||| |**_Sub total_ **|**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Total payments_**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**|||||||||| ||||||||||**27,058**| ||||||||||| ||**12,966**||||||||**8,385**| ||**- 13,867 **||||||||**-**| ||**1,200**||||||||**10,515**| ||**299**||||||||**18,900**| ## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** |CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
**Categories**
**B1 Cash funds**|1
Current account
Paypal
**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**299**
**-**|**Restricted funds**
**to nearest £**
**66,347**
**-**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||Current account|**299**|**66,347**|**-**| ||1
Paypal|**-**|**-**|16/05/2022
**-**| ||||**-**||||**-**||**-**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**_Total cash funds_**||**299**|||**66,347**|||**-**| ||(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))||OK||OK||||OK| ||||**Unrestricted**||**Restricted funds**||||**Endowment**| ||||**funds**||||||**funds**| ||**Details**||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**||||**to nearest £**| |**B2 Other monetary assets**|Tax reclaimable through Theatre Tax Relief||**12,036**||||**-**||**-**| ||||**-**||||**-**||**-**| ||||**-**||||**-**||**-**| ||||**-**||||**-**||**-**| ||||**-**||||**-**||**-**| ||||**-**||||**-**||**-**| ||**Details**||**Fund to which asset**
**belongs**||**Cost (optional)**||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| |**B3 Investment assets**|||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||**Details**||**Fund to which asset**
**belongs**||**Cost (optional)**||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| |**B4 Assets retained for the**|||||||**-**||**-**| |**charity’s own use**|||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||||||**-**||**-**| ||||**Fund to which**||**Amount due**||||**When due**| ||**Details**||**liability relates**|||**(optional)**|||**(optional)**| |**B5 Liabilities**|WYCAS - Independent Examination||Unrestricted|||**240**|||| ||||||||**-**||| ||||||||**-**||| ||||||||**-**||| ||||||||**-**||| |Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees|Signature||Print|Name|||||Date of approval| ||MarkSkipper||MarkSkipper||||||14.5.22| ||||||||||| CCXX R2 accounts (SS) 16/05/2022 2 ## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period** ## **From 1/4/21 Period start date To 31/3/22 Period end date** ## **Charity name: Northern Opera Group** ## **Charity registration number: 1167501** ## **Objectives and Activities** ||SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Summary of the purposes of
the charity as set out in its
governing document|Para 1.17|FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT OF THE
ADVANCEMENT OF THE ARTS, IN PARTICULAR
THOUGH NOT EXCLUSIVELY BY THE
PRODUCTION OF LIVE OPERA AND THEATRICAL
PERFORMANCES FOR THE ENJOYMENT OF
AUDIENCES AND PARTICIPANTS IN THE UNITED
KINGDOM| |Summary of the main
activities in relation to those
purposes for the public
benefit, in particular, the
activities, projects or
services identified in the
accounts.|Para 1.17 and
1.19|We create a range of musical productions,
suitable for participants of varying ages,
abilities and experiences. We produce works
which are rarely performed, providing artists,
participants and audiences with new and
engaging experiences. We operate in the North
of England, with a national reach.| |Statement confirming
whether the trustees have
had regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity
Commission on public
benefit|Para 1.18|The trustees confirm they have had regard
to the guidance issued by the Charity
Commission on public benefit| ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: SORP reference Para 1.38 Policy on grant making Para 1.38 Policy on social investment including program related investment Para 1.38 Contribution made by volunteers Other ## **Achievements and Performance** ||SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Summary of the main
achievements of the charity,
identifying the difference the
charity’s work has made to
the circumstances of its
beneficiaries and any wider
benefits to society as a
whole.|Para 1.20|2021/22 proved to be a very busy year as we
rebounded from the worst of the pandemic;
presenting two new commissions, the 2021
Leeds Opera Festival, a community Christmas
opera, and prepared for new projects in 2022
and beyond.
With thanks to funding from Arts Council
England, in Spring 2021 we commissioned local
artists Carmel Smickersgill (composer) and
Emma Hill (librettist) to create a new short
opera for online broadcast inspired by
elements of the Leeds Opera Story heritage
project.
They created a short film opera comparing
Ernst Denhof’s seminal 1911 Ring Cycle, and a
modern day producer struggling to cope with
the demands of staging opera during the
pandemic. This piece created an important
artistic response to the heritage, and produced
a new perspective on elements of the story. It
is free to view on our YouTube channel and
featured singers Beth Moxon and Kamil Bien,
and instrumentalists Chloe Hayward and Jenny
Martins.
We delivered our full programme for Leeds
Opera Festival 2021, with 19 events over 8
days, including our Leeds Opera Story heritage
exhibition.
The Festival achieved our aims of reengaging
audiences with live performance right across
Leeds, and extending our reach and knowledge
of the company to audiences, artists and critics
nationally. It was pleasing to see how national
critics are recognising our work more generally,
and our unique role in the UK’s operatic
landscape presenting rare repertoire in
imaginative ways:
"Thriving"(The Guardian)| "Rapidly burgeoning ... energetic and imaginative" (Bachtrack) "Ever enterprising ... with its customary energy and enthusiasm" (Opera Now) "Wonderfully imaginative" (Review's Hub) Our double bill of ‘Savitri’ and ‘At the Boar’s Head’ achieved a very positive response from audiences and critics, and we succeeded in building one of the strongest creative teams we’ve been able to attract to date. “We had never been to an opera before. We loved the whole evening and will be going again! Thank you for a close-up experience” (audience) ‘Savitri’ featured British-Asian soprano Meeta Raval (former Cardiff Singer of the World finalist) in the title role, alongside Julian Close and Kamil Bien. They were joined by a chorus of 8 early career singers, the majority were making their professional performing debut. ‘Boar’s Head’ was one of the few professional productions ever given of the piece described as a “masterly short opera” in our Opera Now review. ‘The Wandering Scholar’ delivered 2 performances at Morley Town Hall alongside our other operas, and toured to 6 other venues across the city. “Excellent evening. The Wandering Scholar was the highlight for me—a fairly average patriarchal piece was transformed into a sassy feminist romp!” (audience feedback) Sarah Sayeed and Jaspreet Kaur’s new piece written in response to Holst’s ‘Savitri’ enabled us to present Savitri’s story from the perspective of South Asian women. It was interesting to present a musical contrast to the Holst pieces we were performing, with the use of electronics and amplification. Audiences enjoyed the contrast and the opportunity to hear something they may not otherwise have chosen to attend. The piece received a 4* review from The Stage. Our Leeds Opera Story heritage exhibition took place at Leeds Corn Exchange, bringing the 300 year history of opera in the city to life. Other events included a Made with Music workshop for under 5’s and families, a live podcast recording, and a free lunchtime concert featuring our ‘Savitri’ chorus singers. ‘Amahl and the Night Visitors’ took place at Morley Town Hall, Leeds, on 5 December 2021, with two performances delivered. This was the first time since December 2019 that we had been able to welcome members of our community back on stage again, following the necessary transition to creating an online opera in December 2020 due to the pandemic. In keeping with our recent community operas, this project featured a professional conductor (Helen Harrison) and director (David Ward), with 5 excellent professional solo singers. On this occasion alongside our community chorus, we also worked with the amateur West Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra. This enabled us to perform with a full orchestra – improving the experience for participants and audiences – as well as enable this group to get back to performing live again (this was their first public engagement since the pandemic). In total 32 members of the community took part in the opera and 213 audiences attended. We were very pleased with this result, especially as the Omicron variant was emerging and many people were concerned about attending live events. We delivered performances in as Covid-secure an environment as possible, which included all staff wearing masks, and socially-distanced seating options available. In line with our commitment to environmental sustainability, 90% of the production materials were either reused or recycled. This both reduced the production’s environmental impact and saved on costs by reusing materials in an inventive way. “This was such a lovely way to spend an afternoon with our young daughter and her friend. We all thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the performance and it provided a fabulous, accessible introduction to opera for children. Thank you all concerned!” (audience) In January 2022 we announced details of a new operatic adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories, created by composer/librettist Lliam Paterson. Designed to tour to small and mid scale venues in the North of England with limited opera provision, we are working towards a ‘work in progress’ performance in Beverley in April 2022 before further developing the piece for touring from 2023 onwards. We have also been working towards the 2022 Leeds Opera Festival. It will be themed around the idea of ‘Power’ and feature a headline production of Handel’s ‘Silla’. ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: |Achievements against
objectives set|Para 1.41|| |---|---|---| |Performance of fundraising
activities against objectives
set|Para 1.41|| |Investment performance
against objectives|Para 1.41|| |Other||| ## **Financial Review** |**Financial Review**||| |---|---|---| |Review of the charity’s
financial position at the end
of the period|Para 1.21|With minimal overheads and liabilities,
Northern Opera Group is in a stable
financial position moving forward with a
healthy reserve level| |Statement explaining the
policy for holding reserves
stating why they are held|Para 1.22|As we have minimal overheads the
company doesn’t have a formal reserves
policy. Management accounts are created
for each Board meeting for Trustees to
monitor| |Amount of reserves held|Para 1.22|£229| |Reasons for holding zero
reserves|Para 1.22|n/a| |Details of fund materially in
deficit|Para 1.24|n/a| |Explanation of any
uncertainties about the
charity continuing as a going
concern|Para 1.23|n/a| ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: |The charity’s principal
sources of funds (including
any fundraising)|Para 1.47|This is the second year of claiming Theatre
Tax Relief (TTR). This is a relatively new
income stream which we expect will play a
greater role in our overall income make-up
over the coming years; especially given the
uplift in TTR from October 2021 for three
years.| |---|---|---| |Investment policy and
objectives including any
social investment policy
adopted|Para 1.46|| |A description of the principal
risks facing the charity|Para 1.46|| |Other||| ## **Structure, Governance and Management** |Description of charity’s
trusts:||| |---|---|---| |Type of governing document
(trust deed, royal charter)|Para 1.25|**Constitution**| |How is the charity
constituted?
(e.g unincorporated
association, CIO)|Para 1.25|**CIO**| |Trustee selection methods
including details of any
constitutional provisions e.g.
election to post or name of
any person or body entitled
to appoint one or more
trustees|Para 1.25|Trustees are selected based on
recommendation and research| ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: Policies and procedures adopted for the induction Para 1.51 and training of trustees The charity’s organisational structure and any wider Para 1.51 network with which the charity works Relationship with any related Para 1.51 parties Other ## **Reference and Administrative details** |Charity name|Northern Opera Group| |---|---| |Other name the charity uses|| |Registered charity number|1167501| |Charity’s principal address|c/o Northern Ballet
2 St Cecilia Street
Quarry Hill
Leeds
LS2 7PA| ||| ## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** |1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year**|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee (if any)**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||Mark Skipper|Chair||| ||SallyStephens|||| ||Sarah Calvert|||| ||Rachel Bamforth|||| ||EmilySimpson|||| ||Charlotte
Armstrong|||| ||Lorna James||1/4/21 – 30/4/21|| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| ## – Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved **Director name** Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity **Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year** ## **Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others** Description of the assets held in this capacity Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects Details of arrangements for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets ## **Additional information (optional)** ## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)** |**Type of**|**Name**|**Address**| |---|---|---| |**adviser**||| **Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)** ## **Exemptions from disclosure** Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details ## **Other optional information** ## **Declarations** **The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.** **Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees** |**Signature(s)**
**Full name(s)**
**Position (eg Secretary,**
**Chair, etc)**
**Date**|Mark Skipper|| |---|---|---| ||Mark Skipper|| ||
Chair|| ||14.5.22|| ||14.5.22|| ## Northern Opera Group ## Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Northern Opera Group I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the CIO for the year ended 31 March 2022. ## **Responsibilities and basis of report** As the charity trustees of the CIO you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act'). I report in respect of my examination of the CIO's accounts as carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act. 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. ## **Independent examiner's statement** 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 CIO as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2 the accounts do not accord with those records. 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. Signed: …………………………………… Name: Claire Welling 16/5/2022 ## **West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO** Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW