2021-06-30-accounts

LBFS season report 2020 - 2021

Leighton Buzzard Festival Singers Season Report 2020-2021

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LBFS season report 2020 - 2021

Contents	Page
President and Vice-presidents	3
Agenda for the annual general meeting	4
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 2020	5
Trustees’ Reports	9
Treasurer’s report	10

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LBFS season report 2020 - 2021

President

Mr Philip Stopford

Vice-presidents

We are grateful to the following for their continued support as Vice-presidents during the 2020-2021 season

Mr P Dickens

Mr and Mrs J Oxley Mr and Mrs G Smith Dr and Mrs D Wray Mr R Watts

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LBFS season report 2020 - 2021

Annual General Meeting 17[th] January 2022

Agenda

1. To receive apologies for absence

2. To approve the minutes of the 2020 Annual General Meeting held on November 16[th] 2020

3. To consider any matters arising

4. To receive the Annual Reports of the Trustees

5. To approve, subject to receipt of a satisfactory report from the independent examiner, the accounts for the year ending May 31[st] 2021

6. To re-elect Richard Watts and Pauline Lyon as Trustees

7. To consider electing further trustees

8. To confirm the re-election of the President and the Vice-presidents

9. To appoint a responsible person to examine the accounts for 2021-2022

10. Any other business

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LBFS season report 2020 - 2021

Minutes of the annual general meeting held on Zoom

16th November 2020

The meeting started at 8.40pm.

The Chairman called the meeting to order and welcomed those attending the meeting. Philip Stopford (President of LBFS) expressed his pleasure at being able to attend remotely from America and at being still involved with Leighton Buzzard Festival Singers.

1. To receive apologies for absence

No apologies had been received.

2. To approve the minutes of the 2019 Annual General Meeting held on September 9th 2019

The minutes were approved as being accurate.

3. To approve the minutes of the Extraordinary General Meeting held on January 20th 2020

The minutes were approved as being accurate.

4. To consider any matters arising

There were no matters arising.

5. To confirm the appointment of David Emerson as Musical Director, with effect from June 1st 2019 subject to a review at 12 months

Mary Hardy pointed out that this should be from June 1[st] 2020 (not 2019).

With that clarification, there were no objections and this was agreed by all members.

6. To receive the Annual Reports of the Trustees

The season report provides the details of the trustee’s annual report.

Roger Chapman updated the members regarding marking Alan Childs’ time with the choir. The celebratory dinner party was postponed and eventually cancelled, but a collection was taken instead, and 18 bottles of fine wine and a gift token given to Alan. Pauline Lyon reported that he was overwhelmed by the generosity of members.

It was confirmed that the planned concert on Saturday 12[th] December 2020 would be cancelled due to the second lockdown limiting rehearsal time.

The report was accepted by members.

7. To receive a Report on Musical Activities

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LBFS season report 2020 - 2021

Richard Watts summarised the report.

The report was accepted by members.

8. To approve, subject to receipt of a satisfactory report from the independent examiner, the accounts for the year ending May 31st 2020

David Emerson (Treasurer) gave thanks to Mary Hardy as independent examiner for the 2019-20 accounts. It was reported that they were complete apart from a couple of minor changes to the concert accounts (in the order of about £6) in 2019.

Richard Watts commented on the good position that the choir was currently in. Paul Dickens thanked David Emerson (Treasurer), Ros Mennie (previous Treasurer) and Mary Hardy (independent examiner).

Proposed – Pauline Lyon Seconded: Margaret Oliver

All members agreed to pass the accounts as accurate.

9. To consider a recommendation from the Management Committee on subscriptions for the season 2020-2021

David Emerson laid out the recommendation for subscriptions for 2020-21: £50 in January, and an additional £50 subject to there being a concert in May.

David showed the meeting two budgeting scenarios for the 2021 Anniversary concert – one with socially distanced choir and audience, but no orchestra, and one with no concert. Rough estimations were given of the number of rehearsals available in each scenario (based on the financial year JuneMay) – a later start to rehearsals would mean not enough time to prepare for a concert in May.

David Emerson confirmed that the rehearsal venue is planned to be St Barnabas Church.

Paul Dickens suggested that the first payment of £50 will be due on or before 1[st] February, and the second payment of £50 as and when we know about the concert.

Proposed: Richard Watts

Seconded: Janet Miller

Members agreed unanimously to the proposed subscriptions.

10. To confirm Roger Chapman and Richard Watts and re-elect Pauline Lyon as Trustees (Ros Mennie and Dave Coulstock have given notice of their resignation)

This was combined with item 11.

11. To elect as Paul Dickens and Kathryn Emerson as trustees:

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LBFS season report 2020 - 2021

It was noted that now LBFS is an incorporated association, the articles state that officers (Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer) are appointed by the Trustees, and the members appoint the Trustees in the AGM. These articles have applied since LBFS became a limited company by guarantee. This is the second AGM under CIO status.

Proposed: David Emerson

Seconded: Anne Chapman

The Trustee positions (Roger Chapman, Richard Watts, Pauline Lyon, Paul Dickens, Kathryn Emerson) were approved by the members.

The meeting gave their thanks to Ros Mennie and Dave Coulstock for all they have done for LBFS as trustees.

12. To consider electing further trustees

No members put themselves forward to be a trustee.

13. To confirm the re-election of the President and the Vice-presidents

Proposed: Paul Dickens

Seconded: Roger Chapman

Members agreed unanimously the re-election of the President and Vice-presidents.

14. To appoint a responsible person to examine the accounts for 2020-2021

Mary Hardy indicated that she is happy to continue to examine the accounts.

Proposed: Richard Watts

Seconded: Ros Mennie

Members agreed unanimously that Mary Hardy would be asked to examine the accounts for 202021, and gave their thanks to Mary for continuing in that role.

15. Any other business

David Emerson put forward the plan for the rest of term. He proposed that on either Monday 7[th] December (after lockdown ends) or Saturday 12[th] December (the original concert date), the choir should sing through the music we have been practising in rehearsals as a run-through private performance. We cannot hold a public concert, but it is important to recognise what has been achieved in the rehearsals so far. This is subject to restrictions and will be confirmed nearer the time.

Paul Dickens suggested that it would be nice for LBFS to record something at the rehearsal on Monday 7[th] December as a contribution to the Mayor’s Carol Concert on Saturday 12[th] December.

Peter Mundy asked whether the run-through could be an open rehearsal, as a taster session for new members.

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LBFS season report 2020 - 2021

Maurice Crowe passed on the news that his wife Wendy is currently very ill.

Pauline Lyon thanked Paul Dickens, Roger Chapman, and Richard Watts for resurrecting the LBFS at the beginning of the year, David Emerson for taking on Musical Directorship, and Ros Mennie and Kathryn Emerson for their treasurer and secretary roles.

Richard Watts asked David Emerson and Philip Stopford about the plans for the Anniversary concert. It is suggested that we could perform Philip’s Missa Deus Nobiscum. This has previously been performed in Belfast and New York, so this would be an English premiere (although we may not be able to have an orchestra). Philip is also writing a new, shorter piece for us, and David is suggesting Vivaldi’s Gloria as well.

Philip Stopford (President) expressed his expectation that it will be a good year for LBFS, and Paul Dickens (Chairman) hoped that the choir will go from strength to strength, and acknowledged that we were looking forward to meeting again socially and singing together again soon.

The chairman closed the meeting at 9.25pm and thanked the members for attending.

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LBFS season report 2020 - 2021

Trustees’ Annual Report

2020-2021

Trustees holding office during the year

Paul Dickens Roger Chapman Kathryn Emerson Pauline Lyon Richard Watts

Chairman’s report

Activities during the year June 2020 to May 2021 were heavily curtailed by Covid-19. The committee continued to meet regularly to keep things ticking over and to plan for events in case it was possible for them to take place. Social meetings on Zoom continued fortnightly. Although rehearsals recommenced in September 2020, the concert planned for December 2020 had to be cancelled in view of the dramatic rise in cases and new locking-down rules in November. But the choir was recorded at rehearsal singing a movement from Britten’s Ceremony of Carols which was then used in the Mayor’s Carol concert in December 2020. That concert was broadcast live from All Saints using pre-recorded music and it was good that the Festival Singers were able to take part.

Although detailed plans were prepared by the committee for concerts in Spring and Summer 2021, it was not possible for these to take place, because of Covid restrictions. Rehearsals finally resumed in September 2021 for a December concert at St Barnabas. More about that in the next AGM reports; suffice it to say for present purposes that the December concert, the first under our new Musical Director David Emerson, was undoubtedly a resounding success with some excellent singing, popular music and well over 150 people in the audience.

Based on that experience, our 2021 to 2022 year holds much promise for the choir.

Membership secretary’s report

The membership of the Choir is currently around 30. At the time of writing there is some uncertainty around precise numbers related to a number of very welcome guest singers, usually also members of other local choirs, who joined the Festival Singers for the 70[th] Anniversary Concert. Whilst some have confirmed that they intend to continue membership of the choir, the intentions of others are not yet clear.

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LBFS season report 2020 - 2021

What is certain is that recruitment of further members is crucial to the future success, both musical and financial of the choir, especially if we are to perform much of the standard choral repertoire. Notices inviting potential new members have been placed in a number of local churches and in Bee Local, delivered to 19,000 addresses in and around Leighton Buzzard, at concerts of the Leighton Buzzard Music Club and in concert programmes. It has to be said that results have not been outstanding but the Trustees will continue to work to attract new members.

Treasurer’s report for year 2020-2021

Financially this was a peculiar year as there were no concerts. This means that we have still not had a genuine financial year since the choir was saved from potential closure and I cannot make any predictions as to its long-term financial viability. However, we have over £6000 in the bank so are not in any imminent danger.

Apart from a few rehearsals in the autumn and a few subscriptions paid, there were very few transactions. There was not even a payment for music storage as this had gone into the previous year’s accounts. The collection for Alan Childs was put through the accounts as restricted funds (the discrepancy between money received and that given to Alan has since been rectified by giving him a further cheque).

There was a claim of £626 for gift aid for the previous financial year but I will only be able to claim a very small amount for this year. I would like to emphasize the benefit to the choir from gift aid claims and would urge any tax payer who has not filled in a gift aid form to do so. There is a form that can be used in the member’s area of the web site. Also, if you are a user of Amazon and have not registered a charity with Amazon Smile, I would be good if you could nominate the Festival Singers. If you make any purchase linking to Amazon via Smile, it is exactly the same from your point of view as if you made the purchase in the normal way but the choir gets a few pence from Amazon.

Although in past years, the AGM has agreed the subscription, this was not possible this year because of timings. It was therefore set by the management committee as £150 payable in two installments. Please note that the second installment of £75 is now due.

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LEIGHTON BUZZARD FESTIVAL SINGERS INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MAY 2021

			2020-21			2019-20
Note	UnrestricteRestricted			FTotal Funds	UnrestricteRestricted		FTotal Funds
	£		£	£	£	£	£
Incoming Resources
Subscriptions and donations
Members		500	-	500	5422	-	5422
Preside		25	-	25		-
Fundraising Events			-	0	445	-	445
Grants and Gift Aid		626	-	626	889	-	889
Member's Hire of Music		0	-	0	23	-	23
Sale of DVDs to Members		0	-	0	0	-	0
Concert tickets, programmes & othe		0	-	0	2336	-	2336
Bank Interest		0	-	0	0	-	0
Overseas Tour		0	-	0	0	-	0
Workshop		0		0	0		0
Anniversary Meal		0	-	0	0	-	0
Other	3		500	500	124	-	124
Total Incoming Resources		1151	500	1651	9239	0	9239
Resources Expended
Hire of halls & rehearsal facilities		120	-	120	1656	-	1656
Prior Year Hall Hire written back		0	-	0	0	-	0
Music Hire and Purchase		52.5	-	52.5	369	-	369
Music Commission		0	-	0	0	-	0
Member's Hire and Purchase of Mus		0	-	0	0	-	0

Music Storage		0 -		0	1105 -		1105
Advertising & Publicity		0 -		0	0 -		0
Orchestra & Soloists		0 -		0	2476 -		2476
Musical Director		420 -		420	2400 -		2400
Rehearsal Accompanist		300 -		300	625 -		625
Insurance & Subscriptions		275.33 -		275.33	403 -		403
Sundry Concert Expenses		0 -		0	177 -		177
Postage & Printing		0 -		0	108 -		108
Fundraising Events		0 -		0	0 -		0
Overseas Tour - payments to tour	op	0 -		0	0 -		0
Overseas Tour - other expenses		0 -		0	0 -		0
Workshop		0 -		0	0 -		0
Anniversary Meal		0 -		0	0 -		0
Other	2	145.52	482	627.52	97 -		97
Total Resources Expended		1313.35	482	1795.35	9416	0	9416
NET INCOMING RESOURCES		-162.35	18	-144.35	-178	0	-178

Note 1

Accounting Policies

The following accounting policies have been applied consistently in dealing with items which are considered material in relation to the society's financial statements

Basis of accounts: The accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention Note 2

Other receipts: collection for A Childs (restricted)

Other expenditure: depreciation ; collection for Alan Childs(restricted) ; noticeboard bag

LEIGHTON BUZZARD FESTIVAL SINGERS BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MAY 2021

Note		2021			2020
CURRENT ASSETS
Music Stocks valued by officers			796.75			885.28
Sweatshirts/Uniforms			0			0
Debtors & Prepayments			0			0
Cash in hand and at bank			6015.81			6053.36
				6812.56			6938.64
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Creditors & Accrued Income			18.01			0
				-18.01			0
ASSETS				6794.55			6938.64
GENERAL FUND	Unrestricted		Restricted	Total	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total
	£		£		£	£
Balance 1 June 2020		6938.64		6938.64	7116.92		7116.92
Balance of Income ove		-126	-18	-144	-178		-178
Balance 31st May 2021		6812.64	-18	6794.64	6938.92	0	6938.92