THE BOUNDSTONE CHORUS: SEASON 2023-24
This was the Choir’s Forty-first Year
Concerts:
The 2023-24 Season began at St Michael and All Angels Church with “Remembrance” on Saturday 4 November. This was a performance of uplifting and reflective music and included excerpts from Eternal Life – a Requiem by Howard Goodall, a Ukrainian Prayer by John Rutter and a setting of Lawrence Binyon’s poem For the Fallen by Mark Blatchly. The second half of the concert was taken from the community musical To Harvest the Dream which tells the story of Lancing between the two world wars. We were joined for this performance by staff and students from Sir Robert Woodard Academy.
Our next performance was on Saturday 16 December with the annual “Christmas Celebration”. Well-known Christmas favourites in which the audience participated were sung alongside items from the choir alone, including The Holly and the Ivy by Ola Gjeilo and a setting of The First Nowell by Bob Chilcott which had been commissioned by the Church of England for performing by choirs at Christmas 2023. The retiring collection was in aid of the homeless charity Turning Tides and the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
On Saturday 23 March we joined together with Worthing Choral Society and Worthing Philharmonic Orchestra to celebrate the Orchestra’s 75[th] anniversary with a performance of William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast conducted by Dominic Grier in the Worthing Assembly Hall. The concert also included a setting of To Spring by pianist and composer Alisa Firsova who is the Orchestra’s President. Both works were challenging but there was a great sense of accomplishment from everyone who took part and good camaraderie between the two choirs.
On Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 April we took part in three performance of Beware the Mackerel Sky a new folk opera by Christopher Hussey about smuggling in the early 19[th] century on the Sussex coast around Shoreham and Lancing. This has been adapted from the original piece we had commissioned in 2017 and performed in 2019. The performance in Lancing College Chapel was coordinated by Bernardi Music Group, in collaboration with the Yehudi Menuhin School and Lancing College and we were part of 400 performers including children from a number of schools in Sussex, a full string orchestra and professional singers. Logistics for the performances were made more complex by the Highways Department closing the section of the A27 immediately below the College for the whole weekend for road works until special permission was arranged for the performers and audience to access the College.
Our final concert of the year on Saturday 15 June, “Curtain Up” was a celebration of Broadway and West End musicals. It included medleys from Guys and Dolls, Oliver! and Les Miserables , together with individual songs from Phantom of the Opera, Blood Brothers and Rent . The concert concluded with a 20-minute ABBA megamix. The music was accompanied by a four-piece band.
The span of music performed in this season reinforced the eclectic programming of the choir which has been a feature throughout its 40-year history. The choir have taken on big challenges this year and performed in great venues with a range of other musicians. It has been community music-making at its best.
Musical Leadership:
Mattea Leow joined The Boundstone Chorus as Associate Music Director at the beginning of the 2023/24 season and has had a huge impact bringing youthful vitality, great musicality, rigour and huge enthusiasm for what the choir and its members can achieve.
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND ANO WALES The Boundstone Chorus 1173539 Recei ts and ments accounts CC16a For the period from To 0110912023 3110812024 Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds Restricted fund$ Endowfflent funds Total funds Last year to the nearest to the nea$t £ to the nearest £ to the nearest e to the nearest £ A1 Reeei ts Voluntary receipts Chanlable aciivities Activities for generating funds Intest 4,661 2,088 129 313 4.661 2.088 129 313 4,041 3.652 192 tota ross income or AR) 7.191 7.191 7,885 sset an see table Investment sa es, tota Total receipts 7,191 7,191 7,885 A3Pa ments C0515 of charitable activities Fundraising costs Governance costs 7.996 7,996 6,582 130 Sub total 7,996 7,996 É.712 A4 Asset and investment Sub total Total payments 7,996 7,996 6.712 Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end 805 805 1,173 24,211 23.406 24,211 23,406 23,038 24.211 2910512025
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrestricted funds to nÈ8rest £ Restricted funds to neare51 £ Endowtnent funds to nearest £ Categories Details B1 Cash funds Bank account 23,406 Total cash funds 23,406 laoree balances swlh rep1S and paymenis ni{$)I Unrestricted funds to nearest £ Restricted funds to nearest £ Endowrnent funds to nearest £ Details -">### Fund to which a55et belon Current Value o tional Details Cost loptionall Fund to whlch 35set belon Detai15 Cost loptlonall Current value tiot)al B4 Assets retained for the charity's own use Fund to which relat Amount due lonal When duè o tlonal Delai15 B5 Liabilities Signed by one or two Iruslees on behalf ol all the Iruslees Signature Print Name Date of roval C G CLINCH 2910512025 I TOUT 2910512025