THE BOUNDSTONE CHORUS: SEASON 2024-25
Concerts:
The 2024-25 Season began at St Michael and All Angels Church with a massed celebration marking the centenary of the church. We joined the Worthing Salvation Army Band for a rousing evening of hymns and contributed our own items of the Hallelujah Chorus and Sing! which is a choral setting of Widor’s Toccata. The evening was compered by BBC Songs of Praise presenter Pam Rhodes.
Our first concert of the season was Alexander L’Estrange’s Wassail! Carols of Comfort and Joy on Saturday 30 November. We were joined by Alexander and his Call Me Al Quintet, St Andrew’s CE High School Choir and Sompting Village Primary School Choir and performed to a packed audience. Each choir performed their own items in the first half accompanied by Alexander.
We were invited to take part in the KSS Air Ambulance Carol Service at Lancing College Chapel on Wednesday 18 December together with members of Worthing Choral Society. We led the congregational carols and contributed our own items to this event which was raising money for the continued work of the Air Ambulance.
Our next performance was on Saturday 21 December with the annual “Christmas Celebration”. Well-known Christmas favourites in which the audience participated were sung alongside items from the choir alone, including O Holy Night by Adolphe Adam and The Christmas Blessing by Philip Stopford. The retiring collection was in aid of the NSPCC and raised £682.
On Saturday 29 March we performed Joanna Forbes L’Estrange’s A Season to Sing . In 2023 we had taken up the opportunity to co-commission this work which is a choral reimagining of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons . This gave us exclusive performance rights and ours was only the fourth performance ever and the second since the London premiere. In this piece Joanna uses the music from The Four Seasons set to words on the theme of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. In the first half of the concert we performed Aedan Kerney’s Song of the Seasons which complemented Joanna’s piece well. It is a great privilege to be involved in creating and performing new music and although the music in A Season to Sing isn’t new, it is a wholly new arrangement and The Boundstone Chorus’ name is proudly included in the vocal score alongside the fifty other choirs from around the world who all contributed to the costs of producing this great work. Later in the year five members of the Chorus joined Joanna and the Choir of St Dunstan’s, Mayfield to make the official recording of the piece.
Our final concert of the year on Saturday 14 June. “A Heart Made Full” celebrated the 80[th] birthdays of Sir John Rutter and our own Aedan Kerney MBE. The first half was made up of music composed by Aedan including his Lord’s Prayer , Celtic Blessing and A Heart Made Full setting of two poems by John Clare, plus some other favourites. The second half was all music by John Rutter and included the opening movement of his Gloria , plus Look at the World , The Lord bless you and keep you , and A Gaelic Blessing .
The accompanist for the Christmas, March and June concerts was Philip White-Jones, Lancing College organist.
The two musical directors and chorus administrator met to discuss plans for the 2025-26 season and beyond with ambitious plans including a joint concert with Worthing Choral Society of Brahms Requiem in 2026. They also made plans to continue recruitment into the choir, encouraging younger singers and the launch of a new Instagram page.
We have continued to embrace a wide range of music to reinforce the eclectic programming of the choir which has been a feature throughout its 40-year history. Commissioning new music and working with living composers doesn’t come cheap but reflects our commitment to the best in community music-making and giving our singers the best opportunities for memorable performance experiences.
Musical Leadership:
Aedan Kerney and Mattea Leow have continued as Musical Director and Associate Musical Director. They both bring different skills to the conducting podium but share the same positive and enthusiastic outlook for the levels of performance that the Chorus can achieve. We are truly blessed to have both of them.
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES The Boundstone Chorus 1173539 Recei ts and ments accounts CC16a For the perlod from Period sli3rl date 0110912024 Period end date 3110812025 To Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds to tho noarost Restricted funds Endowment funds Totsl funds Last year to the nearest £ to the noar¢st É to the nearest £ to thè n•arest£ A1 Recel ts Voluntary reIpts Charitable activitie5 AGtivities for generating funds Interest 4,894 6,122 20 287 4.894 6.122 20 287 4.661 2,088 129 313 ross income or AR) 11,323 11.323 7,191 sset an see table . nvestment Sa es, 11,323 11,323 7,191 A3 Pa ments Costs of charitable acbvits.es Fundraising costs Governan costs 11,248 11.248 7.996 Sub total 11,248 11.248 7.996 A4 Asset and Investment Sub total 11.248 11,248 7,996 Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds thls year end 75 75 805 23.406 23.481 23.406 23.481 23.406
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrestrlcted Restrlcted funds funds to nearest £ to nearest £ Endowment funds to nearest £ Categories Details B1 Cash funds Bank account 23,481 Total cash funds 23,481 18gree b8ian¢e$wrth ree*ipts paymen1$ accounllsll OK Unrestrlcted funds to nearest £ OK OK Endowment funds to naarest £ Restrlcted funds to noarest £ Details B2 Other monetary assets Fund to whlch asset belon Currènt valu• tlonal Details Cost loptSonall Fund to which asset belon Current value tional Details Cost lopllonall B4 Assets retained for the charity's own use Fund to whl¢h rèlates Arnountdue lonal When duo Details B5 Liabilities Signed by one or tsvo trustees on beh81f of all the trustee$ Signature Prlnt Name Date of roval C G CLINCH 1710912025 l£L I TOUT 1710912025