Trustees’ annual report
January to December 2025
Charity name: Chorleywood Music
Charity registration number: Charity No. 1177244.
Objectives and activities
Chorleywood Music’s charitable purpose is to advance, improve, develop, and maintain public education in, and appreciation of, the art and science of music in all its aspects by any means the trustees see fit, including through the presentation of public concerts and recitals.
The trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit and provides the following summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes.
Concerts
Chorleywood Orchestra performed Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ at Merchant Taylors’ School on 9[th] February 2025. The concert also included Verdi’s ‘The Force of Destiny’ Overture and Chopin’s 2[nd] Piano Concerto with Thomas Kelly as our soloist.
Our 6[th] April ‘Harp and Harmony’ concert at Rickmansworth School featured the young harpist Jamaal Kashim, winner of Rickmansworth Young Musician of the Year 2024. The concert opened with Rossini’s ‘Semiramide’ Overture and concluded with Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.
The 6[th] July Summer Concert opened with Mendelssohn’s ‘Hebrides’ Overture. Nicola Tait-Baxter was our cello soloist in Tchaikovsky’s ‘Rococo’ Variations, and the concert concluded with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 ‘Eroica’.
On 27[th] September Chorleywood Orchestra collaborated with singers drawn from local choral societies to perform the Vivaldi ‘Gloria’ in a concert which included Wagner’s ‘Siegfried Idyll’, and which featured Rickmansworth Young Musician of the Year 2025 runner-up Iván Cherednichenko Carillo in Saint Saens’ Cello Concerto No. 1.
Our final orchestral concert of the year took place on 16[th] November with a programme of Mozart’s Overture to ‘The Magic Flute’, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with soloist Robby Cassels, winner of the 2025 Rickmansworth Young Musician
Competition, and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2. This concert was conducted by our Associate Conductor Ryan Bunce, all other concerts this year were conducted by our Principal Conductor Daniel Hogan. Both Daniel and Ryan Daniel fully support our society’s aims of bringing live music to the local community and developing wide participation in musical activities. Groups of our members were once again very active in bringing live music to local care homes and performing at community events throughout the year.
Rickmansworth Young Musician of the Year
The 2025 competition was held on Sunday 23[rd] March at Richard Lawson Pianos, Amersham. The event was supported by Richard Lawson Pianos who provided the venue grand piano, Kawai Pianos UK and Hertfordshire County Council.
The preliminary video round was adjudicated by judges Margot Rusmanis and Howard Arman. We received 16 applications from a broad range of schools and colleges including the Purcell School, the Royal College of Music, Chetham’s School of Music, Royal Academy of Music, Yehudi Menuhin School, Beaconsfield High School, Dr Challenoner’s High School and Haberdasher’s School.
Six competitors were chosen for the final concert, the standard of which made the job of our professional judging panel, headed by our Music Director Daniel Hogan alongside pianist Elena Kiseleva, extremely difficult. Our winner, Robby Cassels, an exceptional pianist studying at The Yehudi Menuhin School, gave a stunning performance of ‘Third Ballade’, Chopin, and ‘Isle Joyeuse’, Debussy. Robby was closely contested by Ivan Cherednichenko Carrillo, cello, who was awarded second place and so impressed our judges that he was awarded a performance opportunity with Chorleywood Orchestra in addition to our winner. Eliza de Silva on violin was awarded third place.
Achievements and performance
Our concerts have been increasingly well-supported and appreciated by the local community. We have continued to extend our range of venues in which we perform to make our performances more accessible and to bring the joy of music making and appreciation to a wider audience. Our repertoire choices have continued to stretch and develop the orchestra and bring our audiences rich and exciting concert experiences.
Our smaller ensembles performing in the community have been warmly welcomed by local care homes providing enjoyment and engagement with residents and their families. Our work has extended to adding further value though the provision of live music to community events. We have been able to tailor our musical content to suit each occasion to maximise the benefit to the organisers and those attending.
This year we have also increased our activities – introducing a very popular series of String Ensemble Workshops, for string players of all levels with the aim of exploring enjoyable repertoire in an informal and supportive environment.
Chorleywood Music relies on the support of our members and players - and their friends and families. We have enjoyed the support of our members in the smooth running of the charity and our activities over the course of the year including:
-
Providing cakes for sale at concerts and events,
-
Assisting in setting up and clearing venues for rehearsals, concerts, and events,
-
Manning the refreshments, ticket desk, tombola, and raffles etc. at concerts and events.
Financial review
Finances
The charity’s accounts (attached) show income of £17,701 for the year, and expenditure of £15,751.
Chorleywood Music Productions Ltd. (CWMP Ltd) handles rehearsal and concert production costs, to take advantage of the government’s Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR) scheme. The accounts show a payment of £12,000 to CWMP Ltd during the year. This was utilised by the production company to cover rehearsal venue costs, conductor and leader rehearsal fees. OTR generated in the production company’s accounting year of October 2024 to September 2025 amounted to £4,498. CWMP Ltd. makes no profit; this tax relief is used to fund the ongoing production costs of Chorleywood Music’s events. Making Music (formerly the National Federation of Music Societies) prepares the production company’s annual accounts and submits the OTR claim to HMRC.
The Trustees continue to review levels of fees, manage the level of reserves, apply appropriate depreciation of assets, and maintain an asset register and mandates policy.
Structure, governance and management
Chorleywood Music is a charitable incorporated organisation operating under the legal framework of the Charities Act 2011 and registered with the Charity Commission. We have a Board of Trustees who are responsible for the effective governance of the charity, a management committee who support all operational and delivery aspects of our activities and a voting membership of individuals approved by the trustees. We operate under a constitution which sets out our charitable purpose and how we operate to comply with the requirements of the law and good practice.
Trustees are elected by the membership at our annual general meeting. Our Trustees are:
Andrew McFarlane (Chair) Helen Heneker Fiona McFarlane Joanne Porter Roger Stafford
We have the following officers:
Chair Andrew McFarlane Treasurer Alan Baskeyfield Secretary Ruth Colin
Music Director’s Report
2025 was a hugely successful year for the orchestra, which begun by tackling one of their most ambitious pieces to date - Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. This fantastic performance embodied the can-do spirit of the orchestra, and brought in several new players, including enthusiastic young brass players! We have performed a range of standard symphonic repertoire including Beethoven’s Eroica and Brahms’ 1st Symphony, alongside more unusual choices such as Gliere’s Harp Concerto. The latter piece was performed by Jamaal Kashim, an exceptional young harpist, the winner of our Rickmansworth Young Musician Prize, demonstrating the orchestra’s admirable dedication to supporting young soloists, as also shown by talented young cellist Ivan Carrillo performing the Saint-Saens 1st Concerto with us in September. We also had the treat of working with internationally renowned pianist Thomas Kelly for the first time, and returning local favourite, cello Nicola Tait Baxter. We also continued our local collaborations, staging a concert with members of Chorleywood Choral Society in September in a performance of Vivaldi’s Gloria.
Membership
Our active playing membership remains steady at 41.
Reference and administrative details
| Charityname | ChorleywoodMusic |
|---|---|
| Registered charitynumber | CharityNo. 1177244. |
| Charity’s principal address | Meadowsteep, Berry Lane, Chorleywood, Herts WD3 5EY |
| Trustees | Andrew McFarlane (Chair) Helen Heneker Fiona McFarlane Joanne Porter RogerStaford |
Declarations
The company has taken advantage of the small companies exemption in preparing the report above. The Trustees declare they have approved the trustee’s report above.
Signed on behalf of the trustees:
Signature (s)
Full Name (s) Andrew Robin McFarlane
Position (s) Chair
Date: 17 April 2026