The South Wessex Organ Society
The trustees present their annual report together with the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2020.
President: David Halls
Patron: AndrewNicholson
Bankers:LloydsBank of Crewkerne HonoraryExaminer:AJWallaceFCMI
Trustees: Richard Godfrey(chair); Brian Ridley (hon treasurer) Revd Ian Luckraft; Jane Winlow; Olivia Daly (elected November 2020)
Constitution and objects
The South Wessex Organ Society (the “society” or the “charity”) is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) registered with the Charity Commission on 13 July 2017. Its registered number is 1173820. The charity is a membership organisation and at 31 December 2020 there were 56 members.
The object of the charity is to advance education in the art of organ music in all its forms for the benefit of the public. This includes the education and training of organists; concerts and recitals; competitions; lectures; and advice and assistance, with a view to advancing the public’s education in, and appreciation of, such music. Its area of operation is the south west of England.
Activity in 2020.
The society ran another very well subscribed three-day winter course in February 2020, just before the first coronavirus lockdown. The course focused on German Romantic organ music, and included a mix of talks, demonstrations, masterclasses and recitals.
Two excellent talks included piano as well as organ examples to show how the composers Liszt and Mendelssohn developed their compositions in different ways. For these talks the speakers were Peter King and Andrew Millington, and the pianist was Duncan Honeybourne.
Unfortunately we were forced to cancel all other events in 2020, but in 2021 we intend to make up for lost time. Already we have arranged a masterclass, a celebrity organ recital, and 5 concerts to be given by young professional organists on Sunday afternoon in August. We are also actively considering providing on-line seminars on specialized areas in which our artistic panel have expertise. Our artistic director, Peter Lea-Cox, continues to provide a first class leadership and ideas.
Organisation and management of the charity
The trustees of the charity who served during the year are listed above.
The trustees delegate the day-to-day running of the society to a management committee whose members serve at the invitation of the trustees. The chair of the management committee is the chair of trustees and all trustees are members of the committee. The committee meets six times a year and plans and administers the society’s programme. During the period (although not necessarily for all of it), in addition to the trustees, the following have been members of the management committee: Olivia Daly, Alex Davies, Jane Godfrey, Matt Kingston, Peter Lea-Cox, Peter Parshall and Jane Winlow.
In accordance with the constitution, one third of the trustees retire in rotation each year. As there are five trustees, two (Philip Sturrock and Brian Ridley) retired at a virtual AGM held in October 2020. Brain Ridley was willing to stand again and Olivia
Daly was elected to join the board. A trustee who has served for three consecutive terms may not be re-elected for a fourth term until an interval of at least three years has passed.
The financial results-
The financial results of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2020 show that the society had income of £6818 and expenditure of £7011 resulting in a deficit of £192. However, the 2019 income included £2500 relating to the winter course in 2020. The costs included £226 relating to the 2020 course were also included in the 2019 accounts. Making these amendments produces an adjusted surplus of £2081 although this was mainly due to a donation of £2000. The trustees regarded this result as satisfactory. The society ended the year with a positive bank balance of £8377.
Acknowledgements and thanks
The society is grateful to the many organisations and individuals who have supported it, particularly the incumbents and churchwardens of the churches in which we have had recitals and concerts. The church of St Michael the Archangel, Lyme Regis, which has the fine Skrabl organ that was the society’s inspiration, has been a steadfast supporter of the charity.
The future
The trustees exercise a responsibility to ensure that they are able to continue to fulfil the objects of the charity. To this end they set an objective to build up reserves to support the society should membership and ticket sales deteriorate significantly. The trustees previously identified a figure of £2000 as the appropriate level of reserves and this was raised to £3000 in July 2019.
Risk management
The management and mitigation of risk is delegated to the
management committee, whose activities are monitored by the trustees. The trustees have identified threats to the income of the charity, either through falling ticket sales or a drop in membership, as a key risk. To mitigate this, the management committee pays particular regard to ticket marketing and every opportunity to recruit new members and to sustain membership renewals is followed up. As the society is involved in education and training, and frequently with young people, the trustees take the issue of safeguarding very seriously and take all necessary steps to comply with the law and best practice. They have been assisted in this by the safeguarding officer at the Salisbury Diocese administration. Jane Winlow is the trustee nominated as having special responsibility in this area.
Trustees’ responsibilities in relation to the financial statements applicable to charities law in England and Wales requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year that give a true and fair view of the charity’s financial activities during the year and of its financial position at the end of the year. In preparing financial statements the trustees should follow best practice, and select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any disclosure; and prepare the accounts on the going-concern basis unless inappropriate.The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the association and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011 and the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention of fraud and other irregularities.
Richard Godfrey Chainnan of the Trustees
South Wessex Or Receipts & Payments 2020 an Societ 2020 2019 Bud et 2020 INCOME Membership Gift Aid Winter Course 2020 Winter Course 2019 Festival Income Baroque Spectacular/Organ In Concert Bach Cantatas Lyme Organ/Concerts Celbrity Recital-Millington/Nardone Donations Presidents Evening Play it Cool/Alex & Ali Skrabl Event Total receipts 715.00 £ 227.40 £ 2,440.00 705. 00 £ 123.75 £ 2, 500. 00 £ 7,741.95 629. 83 £ 649.60 700.00 120.00 5,795.00 500. 00 564.61 1 481.50 800. 00 £ 35.00 375.00 £ 658.22 700. 00 £ 2,010.001 £ 300. 00 861.37 ' £ 6,818.38 8,699.85 £ 8,115.00 Expenditure Winter Course 2019 Winter Course 2020 Printing & Stationery Skrabl Event Baroque Spectacular/Organ in Concert Bach Cantatas Play it Cool /Alex & Ali Festival Expenses Celebrity Recital-Millington/Nardone Lyme Organ/Concerts Presidents Evening Promotion& Misc & Insurance Total payments 4,241.59 226.00 £ 79.35 £ 4,474.85 291.56 i £ 1,055.94 1 £ 5,000. 00 250.00 900.45 206.00 £ 256.61 1,336.00 £ 501.46 £ 533. 50 446.39 £ 485.02 £ 9,212.37 £ 689.00 | £ 500. 00 1,000.00 400.00 250. 00 500. 00 7,900.00 492.98 £ 7,011.33 Net receipts 192.951-£ 512.52 Cash & Bank Balances z £ 8,570.13 Cash & Bank Balances 8,377.18 £ 8,570.13 Cash Bank Accounts- Current 8,377.18 £ 8,377.18 8,570.13 8,570.13 FC Confidential 2010112021 Page 1