## Welsh Singers Showcase 

## Trustees’ Annual Report for the Financial Year to 31 July 2022 

Welsh Singers Showcase (WSS) is a charity (no. 1179521) governed by a board of Trustees. Its principal purpose is to promote young Welsh classical singers at the start of their careers. It achieves this by staging a competition at which the Welsh representative in the  BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, the leading operatic competition for young singers, is selected by a distinguished jury. Its operations are relatively modest with a competition which takes place every alternate year. 

Trustees spent the year planning the competition for 2022, including fundraising. 

Auditions were held under the Direction of Rebecca Evans on Sunday 12 June 2022 in London and Sunday 19 June 2022 in Cardiff with a high standard achieved to select five young singers to appear in the final. 

The Final took place after the end of the financial year on 30[th] October 2022 in the Dora Stoutzker Concert Hall at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff in front of a full house, a fuller report on which will be given next year. It was subsequently broadcast on S4C, the Welsh language public service broadcaster and made available on BBC iPlayer , ensuring it was available to music lovers unable to attend the concert. 

Donations  amounting  to  £11,750  were  received  during  the  year.  Total  expenditure  was £1,862.   Important  relationships  have  been  formed  with  RBC  Brewin  Dolphin  and  The Moondance Foundation who committed to support the 2022 competition. The Trustees are keen to widen the appeal of the competition to a broader audience and are actively seeking additional sponsors and supporters through more regular fund-raising activities. This included a garden party at the home of Rebecca Evans, the Director of the Competition. More detail will be available in next year’s report as good financial support was received from supporters and sponsors after 31 July 2022.  The Trustees are very conscious of the prevailing economic climate and the demands being made on funders so we hope that a more expansive and vigorous fund-raising strategy can be rolled out in 2023 and thereafter. 

The activities described above were reported, discussed and approved at meetings of the Trustees. The Trustees would like to record their thanks to Mrs Sue Welch for dealing efficiently with the administration of the competition. 

## Policies 

## Safeguarding Vulnerable Beneficiaries 

The beneficiaries of the Charity are young classical singers. The Trustees take all possible care to ensure the wellbeing of the participants in the showcase, both at the auditions and the main event itself. Special measures were put in place for the postponed 2020 showcase, which took place in March 2021 without the presence of an audience. 

## Conflicts of Interest 

The Trustees are experienced individuals who are aware that any potential conflicts of interest should be disclosed. Inevitably, such conflicts arise from time to time and the Trustees ensure that the conflicted Trustee does not participate in the relevant decision. 

## Paying of Staff 

The Charity does not have any staff. Mrs Sue Welch is paid for administering the Charity, which is disclosed under Administration in our financial accounts. 



## Reserves Policy 

The Charity recognises the need to hold reserves in order to secure the sustainability of the competition. At the end of the last two year cycle of activity, the Charity held reserves of £x, being approximately x% of the cost of the previous competition. 

Signed on behalf of the Board of Trustees 


**Dr Carol Bell, Chair 11 May 2023** 



## **WSS ACCOUNTS 01.08.2021 - 31.07.2022 £** 

|**INCOME**||
|---|---|
|Donations|###|
|Gift Aid|50.00|
|Total|###|
|**EXPENDITURE**||
|Administration & Travel|###|
|**Income less expenditure**|**###**|
|Bank Balance||
|Opening|###|
|Closing|###|
||**###**|