2023-03-31-accounts - The Purcell Singers

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THE PURCELL SINGERS Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2023

Charitable objects

The objects of the choir are:

to advance, improve, develop and maintain public education in and appreciation of the art and science of choral music in all its aspects, by the presentation of public concerts and recitals and, if possible, by the making of recordings;
and other solely charitable objects as defined by The Charities Act 2006, or any subsequent Act as determined from time to time by the Trustees of The Purcell Singers and delivered for the public benefit

The Trustees of The Purcell Singers have the responsibility of working with the Founding Musical Director, Mark Ford, and Conductor, Jonathan Schranz, in promoting the objects of the choir.

Achievements and Performance

The year began well with a concert of Songs of the Baltic Sea in April. This had a small audience, but was well received. A proposed workshop following the model of the previous year was planned but cancelled for June, owing to lack of availability. In October 2022, the choir performed a concert of Jesu Meine Freude pairing Bach and Sandstrom, in St Peter’s Eaton Square. At Christmas the choir returned to St George’s for a concert titled A Spotless Rose. The last engagement of the 2022-2023 financial year was in March, entitled Sacred Choral Classics, and featured Mass settings of Vaughan Williams and Imogen Holst.

In addition to these performances, the choir continued with its annual fundraising engagement for the Railway Children, singing carols in Charing Cross station. A successful round of auditions were held in September.

Financial Review

The choir opened the year with funds of £17,142.28.

The choir spent £12,544.16 on events and an additional £873.82 on general running costs. We recouped £7,204.29 through musical events, received £1,360 in donations, and received an additional 1,437.08 through GiftAid and other means. The choir ended the year with a deficit of £3,259.33.

Funds carried forward at 31 March 2022 were £13,882.95.

Policy on reserves

The Trustees aim to maintain reserves at not less than £10,000.

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that the choir always has sufficient funds to support its roster of routine UK concerts.

Should the choir wish to carry out a large London concert with orchestra (such as at the Queen Elizabeth Hall), reserves would need to be at c. £30,000 and for a single ACT tour of similar scale to Rouen or Amiens (without recourse to a loan facility) then c. £40,000.

Structure, Governance and Management

The Purcell Singers is governed by a “Foundation” model constitution as a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) which was registered on 29 July 2016. The activities of the choir are determined and agreed by the Trustees in consultation with the Conductor and Founding Musical Director.

The Trustees have been using a rolling 3-year Strategic Plan as the touchstone against which to take decisions on behalf of the choir.

The Strategic Plan covers:

Performance and repertoire
Recordings
Profile
Membership
Governance

The Trustees review the Strategic Plan every year: in the 2022-2023 financial year this was on the evening of the 22[nd] of August.

Training for new Trustees consists of invitations to concerts (where they are not already involved with the choir); discussion with the Chair and Founding Musical Director about the role and responsibilities; review with the Treasurer of the last Accounts and Trustees Annual Report; access to minutes of prior Trustee meetings; and invitations to attend one or more Trustee meetings. In 2022-2023 the Trustee Board also attended a Diversity and Inclusion training session on 17 August 2022.

Day-to-day administration of the choir’s activities was carried out in the 20222023 financial year by the Choir’s Administrator and Events Manager, Kim Hawthorn (appointed 7[th] June 2022; succeeding Eleanor Dale, who stepped down 2[nd] April 2022).

Public Benefit Statement

In carrying out their work the Trustees have had regard to the public benefit

offered by the choir.

Membership of the choir is open to new singers, subject to audition and confirmation by the Founding Musical Director and Conductor, whose opinions are final.

Administrative Information

The Purcell Singers is registered with the Charity Commission under number 1168508.

The principal office is at 5 Sterling Gardens SE14 6DU.

Trustees who have served for all or part of the period from 1[st] April 2022 until 31[st] March 2023:

Mary Clayton-Kastenholz (Appointed trustee 06/09/2018; Appointed Chair 14/03/2019) Dominic Tighe – Hon Treasurer (Appointed 12/12/2021) Joanne Kilpatrick – Hon Secretary (Appointed 12/08/2021) Frances Birch (Appointed 12/01/2017) Emily John (Appointed 04/09/2017) Wayne Jones (Appointed 30 March 2020) Bronte Larsen-Disney (Appointed 12/08/2021)

Ex officio members of the Trustee Board during this financial year were:

Mark Ford – Founding Musical Director Jonathan Schranz – Conductor (appointed 23[rd] June 2017) Eleanor Dale – Events and Administration Manager (appointed 24[th] September 2017- stood down 9 April 2022) Kim Hawthorn- Administrator and Events Manager (appointed 7[th] June 2022)

Conclusion

2022-2023 was a fairly busy year of performances, with four own promoted engagements through the year. The year felt a continuation of the rebuilding of performance and audience after Covid, with the activities overall incurring losses. The committee had many discussions around longer term strategy, particularly around enhancing the choir’s diversity and inclusivity, and pursuing new approaches to building its audience and commercial profile.

Acknowledgements

The choir is grateful to Jonathan Schranz, Conductor, for his commitment to the choir and for leading the ensemble in new and interesting directions, and Mark Ford, the Founding Musical Director, for his continued support for the choir. The choir is additionally grateful to the Administrator and Events Manager and all committee members for their hard work and dedication.

Approved by the Trustees on 24 January 2024

Signed on behalf of the trustees by Mary Clayton-Kastenholz, Committee Chair

Mary Clayton-Kastenholz

THE PURCELL SINGERS

Balance Sheet at 31/3/2023

	£	£
Assets
Cash
Current Account	4,304.24
Deposit Accounts	9,161.76
		13,466.00
Prepayments: for Apr/Jun 2023 concerts	695.99
Accrual of income: interest (March 2023)	10.06
Liabilities
Accrual – Deputy March 2023 concert	(250)
Accrual – Music Hire March 2023 concert	(19)
Accrual – Travel March 2023 recording	(20.1)
		__
		13,882.95
Funds b/f 1/4/2022		17,142.28
Deficit from general account		3,259.33
Funds c/f 31/3/2023		13,882.95
o/w restricted for recording		4,800.00
o/w unrestricted		9,082.95
		========

Chair

Mary Clayton-Kastenholz

Mary Clayton-Kastenholz

Treasurer

Dominic Tighe

Date: 15[th] September 2023

– Purcell Singers Income & Expenditure Account (2022/23 FY)

Events Account

		£ 918.61 (2,466.06)
		__ (1,547.45)
== =	=	(293.13) ====== 864.42 (3,229.52)
	=	(2,365.10) ======= 1,530.59

(Gross expenditure) Net income / (expenditure) Railway Children (December 2022) Performance fee 150.00 Income Conductor (125.00) Administration (94.50) (Gross expenditure) Net income / (expenditure) Sacred Choral Classics, St George’s Cathedral (March 2023) Ticket income & programme sales Refreshments 1,039.67 165.00 Income Conductor (1,050.00) Administration Deputies (487.50) (250.00) Music hire & purchase (260.69) Venue Hire (450.00) Programme printing Marketing Refreshments (28.00) (65) (183.79) Expenditure Net income / (expenditure) Recording (March 2023) Performance fee 2,500.00 Income Travel Expenses (29.40) (Gross expenditure) Net income / (expenditure) Auditions (March 2023) Conductor Administration (68.00) (94.25) (Gross expenditure) Net income / (expenditure) Total income on events 7,168.29 Total expenditure on events (12,544.16) Total (deficit) / surplus on events (5,375.87)	(3,369.32)	(3,369.32)
	(1,838.73) ======== 150.00 (219.50) (69.50) ======== 1,204.67 (2,774.98)
	(1,570.31) ======== 2,500.00 (29.40) 2,470.60 ======== (162.25) (162.25) ========
		(162.25) =======

General Account

Income Donations Musical events Gift Aid Income from royalties CD sales Investment income Expenditure Musical events Administration - general Subscription & Insurance Marketing (incl. website) Strategy work Sundries Bank fees (Deficit) / Surplus	2022/23 £ £ 1,360.00 7,168.29 1,325.19 nil 36.00 112.08 10,001.56 (12,544.16) (157.38) (197.00) (210.00) nil (80.35) (72.00) (13,260.89) ___ (3,259.33) ========	Memo item: 2021/22 £ £ 5,200.00 1,649.80 1,080.48 32.35 10.00 3.81 7,976.44 (3,336.23) (142.50) (193.00) (168.07) (218.06) (48.19) (104.00) (4,210.05) __ 3,766.39 ========