2024-04-05-accounts

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date 6[th] April 2023 5th April 2024 From To

Section A Reference and administration details ~~ee~~

Charity name

Deep Roots Tall Trees

Other names charity is known by DRTT

Registered charity number (if any) 1169357 ~~Pp~~ Charity's principal address 53 High Street Corby

Postcode NN17 1UU

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Dates acted if not for whole Name of person (or body) entitled Trustee name Office (if any) ~~ee~~ year to appoint trustee (if any) 1[Mrs Bridget Margaret ] Watts ~~a ee~~ 2 Eddie Arthey ~~GC~~ 3 John Mellor ~~eG~~ 4 Diane Goldsmith Chair ~~GC~~ 5 ~~ee~~ 6 ~~eo~~ 7 ~~Ge~~ 8 ~~GC~~ 9 ~~eG~~ 10 ~~GG~~ 11 ~~eG~~ 12 ~~Re~~ 13 ~~eG~~ 14 ~~ee~~ 15 ~~eG~~ 16 ~~Rees~~ 17 ~~eG~~ 18 ~~seGe~~ 19 ~~eG~~ 20 ~~sD~~

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Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole year

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser Name Address

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Neil Paris – Artistic Director

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Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document Constitution

• (eg. trust deed, constitution)

How the charity is constituted Charitable Incorporate Organisation (Foundation) (eg. trust, association, company)

Trustee selection methods Appointed by Charity Trustees (eg. appointed by, elected by)

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

• policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;

• the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;

• relationship with any related parties;

• trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

DRTT is governed by a board of trustees. Prospective trustees are identified on a rolling basis by the Board and matched against the findings of an annual Board skills audit. They are initially approached by the Chair, a trustee or The Artistic Director who discusses with them the work and aims of the trust and requests that they join a board meeting as an observer. Following a satisfactory outcome, the prospective trustee is formally approached in writing by the Chair. The new trustee is then given an induction pack which includes information on the role and responsibilities of trustees, terms of appointment of trustees, a copy of the latest annual report and accounts, a copy of the current artistic plan, as well as policies including equal opportunities, child protection and vulnerable adult protection and health and safety policies. All trustees are offered places on relevant training courses as and when appropriate.

The trustees have a risk management strategy which comprises:

• an annual review of the risks the organisation may face;

• the establishment of systems and procedures to mitigate those risks identified in the plan;

• the implementation of procedures designed to minimise any potential impact on the organisation should those risks materialise.

The work has identified several risks related to ongoing changes in the prevailing funding environment in particular regarding the acquisition of funding through local grant schemes, National Lottery funded schemes, and charitable trusts and foundations. A key element in the management of financial risk is the setting of a reserves policy and its regular review by trustees.

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Section C Objectives and activities

The objects of DRTT are as follows:

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

• To advance the arts, culture and heritage for the benefit of the public, particularly but not exclusively, by promoting and facilitating access to and performances of music and other art forms; and

• To provide for the recreation of people of all ages in Northamptonshire and elsewhere for the benefit of the public by providing facilities and services to them in the interests of social welfare with the object of improving their conditions of life; and

• To advance education within the framework of music and arts for the benefit of the public of Northamptonshire and elsewhere.

The Trustees of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on Public Benefit published by the Charity Commission in exercising their powers and duties.

The activities undertaken to further DRTT’s purpose for the Public Benefit consist of arts and arts education projects, performances and events, providing opportunities for our beneficiaries to collaborate with professional musicians and artists of the highest calibre.

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

Our regular core activity is a community choir and a dancetheatre group whose membership consists of people living in the local area and beyond. The choir focuses on writing, arranging, rehearsing and performing songs alongside local amateur and professional musicians under the direction of our Music Director. The song repertoire comprises almost entirely original songs and we support our beneficiaries in taking an active part in the songwriting process. The dancetheatre group similarly works with our Artistic Director to create new bespoke pieces of work.

We run workshops and events based around singing and songwriting, dance and movement and related activities. These are offered out to the people in the choir and dancetheatre groups, the general public, and other organisations including local community groups and clubs and schools and colleges.

We also organise special music and arts projects that are larger in scale than our core activity. These include further opportunities for beneficiaries to collaborate with professional musicians and artists as well as offering:

• music and arts education workshops for the local community

• performances and arts events incorporating the work of other artists working across a range of different genres and forms in collaboration with the choir, our Artistic Director and Music Director;

• performance events open to the general public.

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Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

• policy on grantmaking;

• policy programme related investment;

Beneficiaries involved in our core activities (e.g. choir and dancetheatre groups) are also active as volunteers throughout the year supporting the operation of DRTT both in our regular activity as well as public events.

The management and running of the choir along with other activities is supported by Working Groups. These are voluntary groups open to all our beneficiaries. They also play an important role in helping to formulate the artistic planning of the organisation.

• contribution made by volunteers.

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Section D Achievements and performance

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year

Deep Roots Tall Trees provides accessible arts and cultural activities for the people of Corby and surrounding areas. We empower participants to explore their creativity as a means through which to express themselves, develop new skills, and raise aspirations.

Based in the town of Corby, Northamptonshire, the organisation was set up in 2012 (first as an unincorporated association and then in 2016 as a charitable incorporated organisation) as a response to the significant postindustrial social and economic changes the town was undergoing.

Working alongside professional artists, our singers, musicians and dancers create and perform their own songs and choreographies. Over the past 12 years, they have worked with professional orchestras (e.g. the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Viva etc.), performed for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, sung in Gaelic, Polish and Latvian, in a football stadium, a theatre, an art gallery, in Corby’s urban woodlands and on film.

By enriching people’s lives through arts and culture, our work impacts on personal and social health and well-being, creates stronger communities, and builds a brighter and more fulfilling future for our beneficiaries.

Our vision for Deep Roots Tall Trees is to expand its offering of arts and cultural activities to all sectors of the local community as well as further afield, empowering individuals and partner organisations to achieve personal growth and societal change. In response to the many difficulties local people face, in addition to special one-off projects, we offer a regular programme of aspirational arts activities:

• Deep Roots Tall Trees Choir and Deep Roots Tall Trees Dancetheatre - inclusive, open-access groups for adults that enable individuals to express themselves and their ideas through song, music, and dance.

• Ring of Fire - a song-writing collective which writes songs and music drawing on the stories and life experiences of people in Corby for the choir to sing and perform.

• Corby Future Voices - a singing and music production project for young people living on the Kingswood Estate, one of the most deprived and economically depressed wards of the town.

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Section D Achievements and performance

During 2020-2021, the organisation was run by:

• Neil Paris - Artistic Director and Dancetheatre Director

• Simon Steptoe - General Manager

• Gareth Fuller – Music Director

ACTIVITIES AND PROJECTS

A) CORE ACTIVITIES

Throughout the period both choir and dancetheatre continued their regular weekly sessions, gaining new skills, creating new work and rehearsing repertoire.

Performances

DRTT Choir gave performances at Kettering Arts Centre and were special guests of the Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire at the Northamptonshire County Service at the church of St Peter and St Paul in Kettering. These performances are the result of a new creative partnership with Kettering Arts Centre and a policy of extending the reach of our work beyond Corby. The choir also performed at Weldon Village Hall and at the EARTHEART culmination event at The Core at Corby Cube.

DRTT Dancetheatre premiered EARTH in The Lab at The Core at Corby Cube. This was a 40-minute piece which resulted from a collaboration between dancers and musicians in response to the question: ‘What does the word Earth mean to you?’. It was performed to an original soundtrack played live on the night and directed by Artistic Director Neil Paris. The work was performed again at the EARTHEART culmination event and an earlier work-in-progress version was performed to an invited audience at Brigstock Village Hall.

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Section D Achievements and performance

Workshops

Dancetheatre Director Neil Paris gave a swing-dance workshop at Priors Hall Park Community Association’s summer festival day. Members of the DRTT choir, songwriting group and musicians shared music, songs and food with members of Kettering’s Ukrainian refugee community at Central Methodist Church in Kettering.

Sunday Singalongs

We ran nine Sunday Singalong events which are a new initiative to share our activities more widely and meet with more members of our communities. These were relatively informal occasions held in community centres and village halls where people could come together to have a cup of tea and join in singing some well-known popular songs.

B) PROJECTS

EARTHEART

Activity on this Arts Council England funded project began in October 2022 and concluded in February 2024. The following took Eartheart place during this reporting period:

Northamptonshire interdisciplinary artist Jo Blake ran dance and storytelling workshops as part of the development of EARTH, a brand new dancetheatre work created by DRTT dancetheatre.

‘Shifting Sounds’ were a series of live workshops between musicians and dancers entitled explored the relationship between sound, movement and

improvisation and was the foundation for the creation of EARTH. This also included an all-day event which concluded with a performance of work-inprogress to an invited audience.

‘Good Vibrations’

was a similar initiative exploring the possibilities of sound, music, voice and technology.

DRTT collaborated with Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust’s Corby Music Centre, Orchestras Live and Sinfonia Viva to work with young musicians in Corby to create a new song and an instrumental improvisation. The process involved in-school taster sessions at four local primary schools, choir and orchestral players making visits to the Corby Music Centre to work with young musicians and all-day creation and rehearsal sessions led by Sinfonia Viva.

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Section D Achievements and performance

The project finale brought the DRTT Choir (adults), young musicians from Corby Music Centre and professional musicians from Sinfonia Viva together to perform as part of the EARTHEART culmination event.

DRTT songwriting group, The Ring of Fire, collaborated with local songwriters to create new repertoire for the choir. The songs drew on participants' responses to the question: ‘What does the word earth mean to you?’. The songs were arranged for choir by Music Director Gareth Fuller and were premiered at The Core at Corby Cube as part of the EARTHEART culmination event.

Strawberry Words, a training and education company that focuses on antiracism, led two Diversity, Equality and Inclusion training sessions. These were attended by the DRTT Board of Trustees, DRTT artistic staff and members of DRTT Choir and Dancetheatre.

The EARTHEART project culminated with an evening concert at The Core at Corby Cube. It featured a brand new dancetheatre piece, performances from the young musicians from Corby Music Centre alongside the DRTT Choir and orchestral musicians from Sinfonia Viva and concluded with a performance

from the DRTT Choir. The event was well attended, bringing new people into the venue for the first time and giving several of the young people involved their first experience of performing in a professional venue.

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Section D Achievements and performance

Future Voices

As a strand of our music initiative for young people on the Hazel Leys and Kingswood estates, local artists from Enabler Promotions and 1979 Films piloted the ‘Good Vibes Music and Film Club’. A development from previous grass-roots work in Kingswood Youth Club and Hazel Leys Happening Youth Hub, ‘Good Vibes Music and Film Club' was a safe space where an invited

group of young people came together to explore music and filmmaking. They produced a new song, and a film which documented the process, gained confidence and made new friendships.

Common Ground

Funded by the National Lottery Community Fund this project initiated a new partnership between DRTT and Kettering Arts Centre and engaged with two

marginalised communities in Northamptonshire: the Ukrainian refugee community in Kettering; and Deaf young people who attend a youth club run by Deafconnect in Northampton.

Work began at Deafconnect in Northampton with music sessions led by professional Deaf flautist and music leader Ruth Montgomery of Audiovisibility.

Engagement with the Ukrainian refugee community began with sharing songs, music and food at Central Methodist Church in Kettering. This was followed by a Christmas party event held at Kettering Arts Centre which brought together ay ba eye members of the Ukrainian refugee community, DRTT community and Kettering Arts Centre community. They shared festive food, customs and gifts, sang festive songs and enjoyed ‘ -_ LS — ~< fun dance activities.

Following the success of the Christmas event the Ukrainian community decided they would like more dance activities to boost their physical and mental health and well-being and DRTT Dancetheatre continue to lead further dance workshops with them in Kettering.

Generations

Work began on a new intergenerational project. Funded by the Heritage Fund, the project aims to bring older and younger generations together to share and preserve stories and experiences that relate to their lives in and around Corby. A central element of the project is the recording of oral histories and the project began with a visit from the East Midlands Oral History Archive to train participants in the protocols and techniques used when interviewing and recording people for an oral history archive.

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Section D Achievements and performance

Corby Music Awards 2023 Deep Roots Tall Trees Choir was awarded the ‘Community Project of The Year’ at the inaugural Corby Music Awards.

GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

The Board of Trustees for the year ending 5th April 2023 were:

Chair: Diane Goldsmith Trustee: Eddie Arthey Trustee: John Mellor Trustee: Bridget Watts

Quarterly board meetings were held in person during the period.

Day-to-day and overall project management was undertaken by the Artistic Director and the General Manager.

PARTICIPATION AND AUDIENCE

During this period, across all activities, DRTT worked with approximately 110 participants and reached a combined audience of over 20,000. This figure includes live performances, views online via social media platforms and website visits.

FINANCE AND FUNDRAISING

During the period, DRTT received the following awards and grants to support EARTHEART:

• A second instalment of our Arts Council England grant for Eartheart of £39,200

• £480 from North Northamptonshire Council

• £9,700 from the Community Fund for the “Common Ground” project

• £9,900 from the Heritage Fund towards “Eartheart: Generations”

• £5,000 from The Kenneth Fund towards “The Hybrid Band” and as match-funding towards an application to Arts Council England for a project of the same name submitted in August 2024.

Our regular groups continued to draw in subscriptions from members, this year totalling just under £6,000 with donations from private sources reaching £103. Earned income from project delivery and occasional performances was much improved this year at over £6,900.

INVOLVEMENT IN THE WIDER ARTS NETWORK

Throughout the year the Artistic Director has maintained relationships with strategic local partners and continued to develop his own artistic practice, running and attending in-person and online workshops in the UK and Europe and developing performances for other organisations.

The General Manager continued his work as Musical Inclusion Partnership and Programme Manager for Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust. Music Director, Gareth Fuller continued to lead other choirs across the country and direct Northants Sings Out, a massed choir event in Northampton.

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Section E Financial review

Brief statement of the

charity’s policy on reserves

The trustees have reviewed the organisation's needs to generate free reserves in accordance with the Charity Commission’s guidance.

In the Trustees’ view, DRTT needs free reserves in order to:

• Ensure that funds are available to safeguard the organisation for the benefit of the local people accessing our services (i.e. our beneficiaries);

• Ensure there is sufficient cash during the high spending periods of the projects enabling DRTT to meet its short-term financial liabilities as they fall due;

• Provide the financial resources to enable investment in resources (e.g. premises, facilities, staff, equipment, documentation etc.) to enhance the range of services DRTT provides to its beneficiaries;

• Maintain sufficient funds to enable operational activities to be maintained, taking account of potential financial risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may arise from time to time.

In light of the above, the trustees aim to maintain a target level of free reserves equal to three months of administrative and management costs. In 2023/24 this would have equated to £9,000.

The level of free reserves at the end of 2023/24 is £7,846

The strategy to continue to increase reserves towards the level designated above (i.e. £9000) will continue over the coming year.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

N/A

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

• the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);

• how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;

A) Funding Sources:

DRTT’s principal sources are:

i) Subscriptions from our beneficiaries attending our regular core activities. This currently includes both the choir and the dancetheatre group. Trustees reserve the right to waive such fees for those individuals on benefits or who can demonstrate low levels of income or other forms of economic disadvantage.

ii) Grants from a range of sources including:

• investment policy and • National Lottery funded sources; objectives including any ethical investment policy • Locally managed grants schemes through bodies such as adopted. Northamptonshire Community Foundation and local government departments;

• Charitable trusts and foundations.

In 2023/24, we received renewed grant support from Arts Council England for Eartheart and secured further support from Northamptonshire Community Foundations, The Kenneth Fund, North Northamptonshire Council, Corby Lottery and the Co-op Local Community Fund.

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iii) Donations from inrfNiduals B) Fund Accounting: General funds are unrestricted funds which are availabte for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtheran￿ of the general objectives of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation and which have r￿1 been designated for other purposes. Designatgj funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside ty the Trustees for pathular Purposes. DRTh does nol currentty hold any designated funds. Reslricted funds are funds wluch are to be used in ￿}rda￿e with $￿ifiC restrictions imposed by (k)nors or which h&rfe been raised by the CIO for particular purposes. As at 5th April 2024, DR￿ held the foll0v￿ng restricted funds: Common Ground: £8,743 Generations: £9,212 The Hybrid Band: £5.000 At the time of writirKJ this ￿port. we have r￿eNed ne￿ that our next application to Arts Council England for°The Hybrid Band. project has been succe5sfiJl. This is a 2-year project supporting the organisalion through to the end of 2026. C) Going Concem Issues At the time of writing. the Twstees are confident that DR￿ remains a going concem until March 2026. Section F Other optional information Section G Declaration The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees, ￿port above. Signed on behalf of the charity's trustees Signatsre(s) Full narr(s) Position (e.g. Secretary9 Chair, etc) Ti(J£ Date 2f il- IOLF TAR 13

	Charity Name						No (if any)	No (if any)
	Deep Roots Tall Trees						1169357
	06/04/2023 05/04/2024 Receipts and payments accounts Period start date Period end date To For the period from ~~ee~~ ~~ee ee~~									CC16a
Section A Receipts and payments
	Unrestricted funds			Restricted funds		Endowment funds		Total funds		Last year
	to the nearest £		to the nearest £			to the nearest £		to the nearest £		to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Charitable activities	-		75	75,713		-		75,713		79,435
Donations and Gift Aid	-		103	103		-		103		104
Bank Interest	54		-	-		-		54		11
Earned Income	-		6	6,920		-		6,920		550
	-					-		-		-
	-		-	-		-		-		-
	-		-	-		-		-		-
	-		-	-		-		-		-
Sub total(Gross income for AR)	(Gross income for AR) 54		82,736	82,736		-		82,790		80,100
A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). - - - - - - - - - Sub total - - - - - Total receipts 54 82,736 - 82,790 80,100 ~~a————~~
A3 Payments
Cost of Charitable Activities	420		75	75,983		-		76,403		87,468
Cost of Fundraising	-		7	7,200		-		7,200		7,000
	-					-		-		-
	-		-	-		-		-		-
	-		-	-		-		-		-
	-		-	-		-		-		-
	-		-	-		-		-		-
	-		-	-		-		-		-
	-		-	-		-		-		-
**Sub total **	420		83,183	83,183		-		83,603		94,468
A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) - - - - - - - - Sub total - - - - - Total payments 420 83,183 - 83,603 94,468 ~~——————~~
Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end	- 366 - 447 - - 813 - 14,368 - - - - - 8,212 32,055 - 40,267 54,635 7,846 31,608 - 39,454 40,267 ~~===>>~~

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrestr￿190 fvnds to ￿arestE Restricted funds to neJTrsi£ Endowment funds to nearnst £ Catsgorles Detsll8 B1 Cash funds 7.792 5NT6 Total cash funds 31,608 ofi Unmtrfcted nds t• ￿arESt£ Restricted funds to nearest£ Endowment funds Det3D5 to nearp8t £ 82 (Xher monetary assets Fund tOTwhich Detslis Cost (Opti￿a￿ CurTeDtvalue Fund to which asset t Cuffentvaluo Detail Cost charitys own use A￿) Equiwrats F¥ndlo whlch Amowrtdue Vthen d ona Detar B5 Liabilities Si9￿d ty ore or iwo Intst*s on bthir Prirt Name Date of roval Tw 2F_ IL_Lt 1fd1212024

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of Deep Roots Tall Trees On accounts for the year ended 05104124 Charity no (if any) 1169357 Sot out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity ('the Trust") for Ihe year ended Responsibilities and basis of report As the charity's trustees. you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 {'Ihe Act.). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act 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 Acl. Independent I have completed my examination. I confim that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention in connection with the examination (other than that disclosed below ') which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: the accounting records were not kept in accordan￿ wtth section 130 of the Charrties Act; or the accounts did not accord with the accounting records., or the accounts did not comply wtth the applicable requirements conceming the fo￿￿ and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a 'true and fair. view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other matter3 in Gonnection 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. asp delete th words in the brackets rf they do not apply. Signed". Date: 0411212024 Name". Ja icks Relevant professional qualificationls) or body (if any): The WapNick Partnership Address: Unit 18, Enterprise Cenlre, Michael Way, Warth Park, Raunds, NN9 6GR Oct 2018 IER

Section B Disclosure Only complete rf the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief detsils of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. We understand that there is an award of a grant of £98,000 over the next two years. We have seen eviden￿ in the fomi of an offer letter and subject to this and as set out in the offer letter we do nol believe there are any matters we should bring to your attention. IER Oct 2018