Trustees Annual Report for the period 1 Jan 2021 to 31 Dec 2021
A) Reference & Administration details
Charity Name: The West Gallery Music Association
Other names the charity is known by: WGMA, West Gallery Music Association Registered Charity No. 1171664
Charity's principal address: 4 Grove Road, Shawford, Winchester, SO21 2DD Trustees
| Trustee name | Office if any | Dates acted if not whole year |
Name of person or body entitled to appoint trustee, if any |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bailey, Mike | Chairman | Trustees, AGM | |
| Flockton, Heather | Newsletter Editor | Trustees, AGM | |
| John, Pete | Appointed Secretary with effect from 10 June |
Trustees, AGM | |
| Patten, Jacqueline | Data Control Officer | Trustees, AGM | |
| Percival, Richard | Treasurer | Trustees, AGM | |
| Seymour, Jean | Membershipsecretary | Trustees, AGM | |
| Wilson-Smith, Mike | Information Technologist | From 10 June | Trustees, AGM |
B) Structure, Governance & Management
Type of governing document: Constitution (PDF available on www.wgma.org.uk )
How the charity is constituted: Charitable Incorporated Organisation with voting members other than the trustees.
Trustee selection methods (Constitution Section 13): Trustees are appointed by the members or the
trustees. One third stand down each year in rotation.
The Constitution was amended in November 2019, changing the quorum at general meetings from 10% to 5% of the membership.
C) Objectives & Activities
Summary of objectives (extract from Constitution)
The advancement of education and the promotion of the arts in particular by:
-
promoting, sustaining, and increasing individual and collective knowledge and understanding of, the sacred and secular music and song of Britain and its colonies, with particular reference to what has become known as West Gallery music ...
-
advancing the education of the public in the sacred and secular music and song of West Gallery and allied traditions and their social and historical context in Britain and its colonies; and
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Trustees Annual Report for the period 1 Jan 2021 to 31 Dec 2021
- supporting and encouraging a revival of interest in West Gallery music both nationally and internationally.
Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit
The trustees having had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit, members of the WGMA would normally have given live performances, and met for research meetings and educational workshops. There was so much uncertainty about what would be allowed by the government, that some long term plans could not proceed and were cancelled.
Performances were given for the public benefit as often as practicable, although many fewer than in a non-Covid year.
Regular online Zoom events continued, mostly weekly. Attendances grew to around 60-70 people during the year, including members and friends, and declined gradually as quires resumed live activities.
Online events were publicised in the quarterly newsletter, on the WGMA web site, and by email. Reports of events were often included in the newsletter.
A few research reports and other editorial articles were included in the newsletter.
Publications including music CDs, music anthologies and text books are available through the web site.
Legacy Policies in effect, formally adopted 12 Jan 2018
Policy 140723 Grants to assist funding of workshops ( PDF on www.wgma.org.uk )
Policy 120801 Grants to assist attendance at WGMA events ( PDF on www.wgma.org.uk )
140616 Terms of Reference Research subcommittee
120613 WGMA Job Specification – Music Director ( PDF on www.wgma.org.uk )
D) Significant events, Achievements & Performance
The trustees congratulate the many members who contrived to spread the knowledge and enjoyment of West Gallery music.
Live events
About 50 members and friends went to Sidmouth for the celebration of the Folk Festival from July 30[th] to August 6[th] . Performances were timetabled all day under an open-sided marquee on the Ham. As the WGMA, we sang to a large and appreciative audience of families for an hour every afternoon. No WGMA financial support was needed. Collections were for the benefit of the Festival only. We were well supported by volunteer stewards from the Festival.
Some quires were able to perform outdoors, at local events. Changes to rules rendered these opportunities sparse and hard to plan.
Workshop events held in October and November were a small return to normality, and added to the library of recordings.
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Trustees Annual Report for the period 1 Jan 2021 to 31 Dec 2021
Zoom
Weekly Zooms became fortnightly later in the year as live rehearsals took up time.
Feedback was given to the trustees by people living alone or as couples, who value these Zoom sessions not only for the music, but also for the social contact in chat rooms, and the chance to meet friends old and new. This contribution to well-being is acknowledged to be important. Some who don't belong to member quires have asked for Zoom events to continue into 2022.
Lockdown Choir (Virtual Hymns)
Phil Price continued with monthly online projects. He provided sheet music and guide tracks online, and mixed and published the results on YouTube. Singers and players from many countries contributed.
Statistics
Pete John gathered data from quires summarised in the table below. Four quires are not in the table because they did not report activities. We hope they resume when possible.
Most quires resumed regular meetings during the year, usually from autumn onwards. Some had begun to meet earlier, at reduced frequency, for limited practice outdoors. Fewer than half of the quires organised their own on-line practices, but individuals from more groups participated in the virtual meetings organised by [e.g.] Chiltern, LGQ and TMC. “Virtual Hymns” started up, and attracted participants from the majority of quires: although not specifically focussed on WG-period material, during the year 7 of the 10 hymns produced were from the WG canon.
Towards the end of the year it became practicable again to organise performances, some of which had already become regularly-established, but in most cases the events were more limited than heretofore. With the exception of two outdoor performances organised by TMC, all reported performances were held indoors. It was even found possible to organise a few in-person workshoptype outreach events: in addition, two further outreach events were held via Zoom.
| Own on-line practice |
External on-line |
Live outdoor |
Live indoor |
performing | Outreach participative |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amber Valley | x | x | x | |||
| Beaminster | x | |||||
| Bedford GQ | x | x | x | x | 1 | 1 |
| Bristol Harmony |
x | x | x | 2 | 2 [inc. SWQD, with WGQ Crediton] |
|
| CTBS | x | x | 1 | |||
| Chiltern | x | x | x | x | ||
| Gladly Solemn | x | |||||
| Greenwood | x | x | 1 | |||
| Immanuel’s Gr. | x | x | x | 1 | ||
| John Moore | x | x | x | 2 | 1 | |
| Larks of Dean | 1 | |||||
| LGQ | x | x | x | 2 | ||
| TMC | x | x | x | x | 2+2 | 1 [by Zoom] |
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Trustees Annual Report for the period 1 Jan 2021 to 31 Dec 2021
| Marsh Warblers | x | x | 1 [by Zoom] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norfolk | x | |||||
| Purbeck VQ | x | x | x | 3 | ||
| Sussex Harmony |
x | x | x | |||
| Thomas Clark | x | x | ||||
| Village Q | 3 | |||||
| Virtual Hymns | x | |||||
| Washaway | x | 1 | ||||
| WGQ Crediton | x | x | x | 2 | 1 [SWQD, with Bristol Harmony] |
Support
Over the 30 years since the WGMA was formed, sound recordings have been made at workshop events and concerts by many people. Over 3000 tracks are available, of hundreds of distinct pieces. Tracks were shared between quires to help their recorded repertoires.
We thank the many people who applied skills to bring our music to the online audience.
The web site calendar was maintained throughout the year with notices of forthcoming events. We are grateful to Tony Singleton for his voluntary efforts as Webmaster, and smooth hand-over to Mike Wilson-Smith.
The newsletter was published at the equinoxes and solstices, thanks to editor Heather Flockton and all the contributors.
E) Financial Review
No events were run solely by the WGMA.
No funds are in deficit.
Principal income was from members' subscriptions, and from a small volume of sales of music anthologies, books and recordings.
We thank Zuzanna Forster-Fake for services as Financial Scrutineer.
F) Other optional information
It was a difficult year to provide value to members. Membership declined from 428 to 410.
All member quires had a hard time keeping their members in touch and active. Sadly, we have probably lost more quires that will not be able to restart through loss of members or leaders.
We were unable to offer much to those people who found Zoom unsatisfying, which for some quires made Zoom unviable, with too few members engaged.
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Trustees Annual Report for the period l Jan 2021 to J l Dec 2021 G) Declaration The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees, report above. 71/flL I, /¥/Ji l( £ Li ,sJ ,14122 WGMA 18" May 2022 page5of5
The West Gallery Music Assoclation Income Statement Year ended 31 December 2021 Year ended 31 December 2021 Year ended 31 December 2020 Income Subscriptlons 3,488.00 3,383.00 Autumn weekend Incorne Expense Surplus 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Net event income Surplus 0.00 0.00 Merchandise Sales Cost of sales Net merchandise income 422.75 231.68 333.40 293.31 191.07 40.09 Interest on Deposit Accounts 3,00 23.54 Total Income/(net costs) 3,682.07 3,446.63 Expenditure Web Site Newsletter and directory Paypal fee5 Publlc Liability Insurance Meetlng room Cost of meetings Research meetlngs WGMA publlclty & membershlp leaflet 144.00 1,645.50 10.60 80.00 0.00 126.00 2,146.74 12.08 80.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Total expenditure 1,880.10 2,364.82 Surplus for the year 1 801.97 1 081.81
The West Gallery Music Association Balance Sheet 31 December 31 December 2021 2020 Inventory of books 117.11 324.79 Deposits for future events 200.00 200.00 Other debtors Cash balances Current Account Business Saver Account 5,675.03 30,105.12 3,668.38 30,102.12 Less income for future events 0.00 0.00 Total assets 36 097.26 34 295.29 Represented by: Accumulated fund brought forward Surplus/(deficit) for the period Accumulated fund carried forward 34,295.29 1 801.97 36 097.26 33,213.48 1 081.81 34,295.29
Independent examiner's report to the trustees of The West Gallery Music Association I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of The Wesl Gallery Music Association (the Trust) for the year ended 31 December 2021. Responsibilities and basis of report As the charity trustees of the Trust 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 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 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 Trust 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. Zuzanna Fake-Forster Bolsover Derbyshire 9 May 2022