## **Trustees' Annual Report for the period** Period start date Period end date 6[th] April 2024 5th April 2025 an **From To** Section A Reference and administration details ~~eeeee~~ **Charity name** Deep Roots Tall Trees **Other names charity is known by** DRTT **Registered charity number (if any)** 1169357 ~~|~~ **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) year to appoint trustee (if any)** ~~a ee ee~~ 1[Mrs Bridget Margaret ] Watts ~~a ee~~ 2 Eddie Arthey ~~a~~ 3 John Mellor ~~a~~ 4 Diane Goldsmith Chair Resigned 21st July 2025 ~~a~~ 5 Helen Willmott Chair Appointed 21[st] July 2025 ~~a~~ 6 Christopher Newton Appointed 16[th] June 2025 ~~a~~ 7 ~~a~~ 8 ~~a~~ 9 ~~a~~ 10 ~~a~~ 11 ~~ee~~ 12 ~~a~~ 13 ~~eC~~ 14 ~~a~~ 15 ~~eC~~ 16 ~~a~~ 17 ~~eC~~ 18 ~~a~~ 19 ~~ee~~ 20 ~~De~~ **TAR** 1 Section A Reference and administration details ~~eeeee~~ **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 **TAR** 2 ## **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. **TAR** 3 ## **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. **TAR** 4 ## **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. **TAR** 5 ## 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. During 2020-2021, the organisation was run by: - Neil Paris - Artistic Director and Dancetheatre Director - Simon Steptoe - General Manager - Gareth Fuller – Music Director **TAR** 6 Section D Achievements and performance ## **ACTIVITIES AND PROJECTS** ## **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 eight public performances: - May 2024, Warkton Church, Kettering. Reprising their song cycle ‘Songs of Remembrance and Rebirth’ which they premiered there in 2015. - June 2024, Weldon village. D-Day celebration event - August 2024, Corby Town Centre. ‘Bring on The Bells’ celebrating the re-commissioning of the town clock - September 2024, Kettering Arts Centre - November 2024, Royal and Derngate Theatre, Northampton. Northamptonshire Community Foundation Awards - December 2024, Corby Library and Kettering Spa Hotel - January 2025, The Core at Corby Cube, Charity fundraising concert. - March 2024, Ennerdale Community Centre, Corby. Generations project culmination event. DRTT Dancetheatre gave a studio performance of their latest work ‘EARTH’ at South East Dance in Brighton. The young people in The Good Vibes Music and Film Club gave their first public performance at Hazel Leys Happening Youth Hub, Corby ## **Workshops** ## **- Sunday Singalongs** DRTT ran 6 Sunday Singalong events which were a new initiative begun in the previous year 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. We developed the initiative this year, running a ‘Summer Social’ event in a local village hall, a ‘Big Singalong’ at The Core Theatre and taking the activity into a local care home. ## **- Open Choir and Dancetheatre Sessions** New sessions were trialled where people were invited to come and tryout our choir and dancetheatre activities. The sessions were free and content was tailored to suit. **TAR** 7 Section D Achievements and performance ## **- Music and Art Club** A new initiative using a cross-arts approach to engage young people on The Kingswood Estate in Corby in creative activities. These were led by music and theatre artist Kate Stilitz and DRTT Artistic Director Neil Paris and took place at Kingswood Youth Club where we have an established relationship. ## **PROJECTS** ## **Future Voices** We continued ‘The Good Vibes Music and Film Club’, a strand of our music initiative for young people on the Hazel Leys and Kingswood estates. Facilitated by local artists from Enabler Promotions and 1979 Films the youth club provides a safe space where young people can come together to socialise and explore music and film making. During this period they continued creating their own music, gave their first public performance to a group of their peers and worked with a visiting music leader to create new music. They prepared and rehearsed two songs to be recorded in a professional studio. During this time the two local project leaders continued to grow in confidence and learned new skills from the visiting music leader. This, alongside their increasing ownership of the project is growing the capacity for sustained engagement in the local area. ## **Common Ground** Funded by the National Lottery Community Fund this project began in 2023 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 continued at Deafconnect in Northampton with further music sessions led by deaf music leader and musician Ruth Montgomery of Audiovisibility and leading professional D/deaf artist Fletch@ who led SignSong sessions for the D/deaf young people, their families and adults learning British Sign Language. Engagement with the Ukrainian refugee community continued with dance sessions led by DRTT Artistic and Dancetheatre Director Neil Paris. The project also supported a Ukrainian Christmas celebration event and attendance at the Ukrainian Independence Day Event at North Northamptonshire Council Kettering offices. . **TAR** 8 Section D Achievements and performance ## **Generations** Work concluded on thisintergenerational project. Funded by the Heritage Fund, the project brought older and younger generations together to share and preserve stories and experiences that relate to their lives in and around Corby. The young people involved worked with professional music theatre artist Kate Stilitz and Gareth Fuller DRTT Music Director, to create, rehearse and a perform their own songs, music and choreographies. Kate Stilitz also led music and singing workshops in local primary schools which were successful in recruiting young people to the project. The outputs of the project included interviews with local residents as well as songs and chants written in response to this oral history. The project culminated in a public a” | performance at Ennerdale Community Centre, Corby. It brought together the young people, community musicians and DRTT adult choir to perform to a large crowd of friends, family and local al i residents. ## **The Hybrid Band** In January 2024 we began a new 2-year project, ‘The Hybrid Band’. Funded by Arts Council England, the project aims to unite people through music, dance, and creativity, inviting people to come together and collaborate with exceptional professional artists to co-create original works of art. We believe everyone has something to contribute. That’s why The Hybrid Band is open to everyone, regardless of artistic background, age, or ability. Through being part of this unique creative journey, through sharing ideas, learning new skills and making new friendships, people will grow in confidence, improve their well-being, and build lasting connections with others in their community. Activities in this period included our regular core activities; DRTT Choir, DRTT Dancetheatre and Future voices, performances at the Core@Corby Cube and South East Dance in Brighton and choreographic exchanges with external choreographers. ## **Digital Uploads** Four EP’s; Together Again, Sweet Things, Carried By Ravens and Coming to Corby were released for sale to the public through online platforms Spotify and Apple Music. They contained a total of 16 songs recorded live at the DRTT 10th Anniversary Concert at The Core at Corby Cube in October 2022. **TAR** 9 Section D Achievements and performance ## **GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT** The Board of Trustees for the year ending 5th April 2025 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 970 participants and reached a combined audience of over 865. 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 our activities: - £6,000 from Northamptonshire Community Foundation’s Sheriff’s Fund and Proceeds of Crime Fund to support “Future Voices” - £9,800 from Arts Council England for “Eartheart” - £5000 from BBC Children in Need (“Future Voices”) - £49,000 from Arts Council England for “The Hybrid Band” - £25,000 from The Postcode Lottery - £3,000 from The D’Oyly Carte Foundation - £500 from Co-op Local Community Fund Our regular groups continued to draw in subscriptions from members, this year totalling £7400 with donations from private sources reaching £103. Earned income from project delivery and occasional performances was much improved this year at £615. ## **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. **TAR** 10 ## **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 2024/25 this would have equated to approximately £9,000. The level of free reserves at the end of 2024/25 is £2,757. 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 2024/25, we received grant support from Arts Council England for bothy “Eartheart” and “The Hybrid Band” and secured further support from Northamptonshire Community Foundation, The D’Oyly Carte Foundation, Corby Lottery, Co-op Local Community Fund, and BBC Children In Need. **TAR** 11 iii) Donations from individuals B) Fund Accounting: General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation and which have not been designated for other purposes. Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the Trustees for particular purposes. DRTT does not currently hold any designated funds. Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the CIO for particular purposes. As at 5th April 2025, DRTT held the following restricted funds: Common Ground: £5,341 The Hybrid Band: £51,696 Future Voices: £5,737 C) Going Concern Issues At the time of writing, the Trustees are confident that DRTT remains a going concern until March 2027. ## **Section F Other optional information** ## **Section G Declaration** **The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.** **Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees** Signed on behalf of the charity’s ~~trustees~~ **Signature(s)** Signature(s) ~~Bes sia~~ **Full name(s) Position (e.g. Secretary, Chair, etc)** Position (e.g. Secretary, Chair, tc)[ **Date** ~~CHAIR~~ Date ~~\7/\2/202S~~ **TAR** 12 |||**Charity Name**|||||**No (if any)**|**No (if any)**|||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |||**Deep Roots Tall Trees**|||||**1169357**||||| ||Period end date
06/04/2024
05/04/2025
**Receipts andpayments accounts**
**For the period**
**from**
Period start date
**To**
~~a~~|||||||||**CC16a**|| |**Section A Receipts and payments**|**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 £**||**to the nearest £**|| |**A1 Receipts**|||||||||||| |Charitable activities||**17,566**||**88,315**||**-**||**105,881**||**75,713**|| |Donations and Gift Aid||**69**||**34**||**-**||**103**||**103**|| |Bank Interest||**57**||**-**||**-**||**57**||**54**|| |Earned Income||**315**||**300**||**-**||**615**||**6,920**|| |||**-**||||**-**||**-**||**-**|| |||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|| |||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|| |||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_||_(Gross income for_
_AR)_
**18,007**||**88,649**||**-**||**106,657**||**82,790**|| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**_Total receipts_**
**18,007**
**88,649**
**-**
**106,657**
**82,790**
~~S555~~|||||||||||| |**A3 Payments**|||||||||||| |Cost of Charitable Activities||**28,324**||**48,787**||**-**||**77,111**||**76,403**|| |Cost of Fundraising||**3,000**||**3,500**||**-**||**6,500**||**7,200**|| |||**-**||||**-**||**-**||**-**|| |||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|| |||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|| |||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|| |||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|| |||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|| |||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|| ||**_Sub total_ **|**31,324**||**52,287**||**-**||**83,611**||**83,603**|| |**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**_Total payments_**
**31,324**
**52,287**
**-**
**83,611**
**83,603**
~~S555~~|||||||||||| |**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**||**- 13,317**
**36,362**
**-**
**23,045**
**- 813**
**8,228**
**- 8,228**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**7,846**
**31,608**
**-**
**39,454**
**40,267**
**2,757**
**59,743**
**- 62,499**
**39,454**
~~=====~~|||||||||**- 813**
**-**
**40,267**
**39,454**| CCXX R1 accounts (SS) 03/11/2025 1 Section B Statement of assets and Ilabllltles at th• •nd ol the p•riod Uiiwv&tiKlod R&StrKl￿d lunds Endowment lunds l• £ 81 Cash lund• 55.414 2.151 Z.4)1 Tothl C￿fv lunds 2.157 54.743 fund• lunds Doibil* Fwjd •• f•t*h Iktails Detsffs zo•a 11 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGL4ND ANO WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A .Indepe xanl:iDer's,Report ', Report to the trusteesl members of Deep Roots Tall Trees On accounts for the year ended 05104125 Charity no (if any) 1169357 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examinalion of the accounts of the above charity ('Yhe Trust.) for the year ended 0510412025 Responsibilities and basis of report As the chariws trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Chartties Act 2011 ("the Act.). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have tollovjed all the a propLr understandip.g of the accounts to be reached. Pleao etttew in the brackets rf they do not apply. Signed: Date: 2711012025 Name: JANE HICi