2025-08-31-accounts

Trustees’ Annual Report for the period

From 1 September 2024 To 31 August 2025

Charity name: Romsey Chamber Music Festival Trust

Charity registration number: 1182043

Objectives and Activities

	SORP reference
Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document	Para 1.17	To promote education and appreciation of music and the arts for the public benefit, particularly by the presentation of the Romsey Chamber Music Festival.
Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts.	Para 1.17 and 1.19s	The principal activities of the Trust are to organise public concerts which are designed to educate the wider public, the elderly, children, and music students in high quality chamber music. The festival also runs workshops in schools, designed to introduce and further educate school children in chamber music and provide access to performances to those who would not normally attend a concert.
Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit	Para 1.18	The Trustees confirm that they are complying with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

	SORP reference
Policy on grant making	Para 1.38	Not applicable
Policy on social investment including program related investment	Para 1.38	Not applicable
Contribution made by volunteers	Para 1.38	The charity benefits enormously from a Friends membership scheme and the assistance of a number of volunteers in such areas as promotion, audience interface and artists'accommodation.
Other

Achievements and Performance

	SORP reference
Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole.	Para 1.20	Romsey Chamber Music Festival continued to expand its programme of artistic activity during the 2024–2025 season. Alongside the annual summer festival, the organisation presented additional events including an autumn fundraising concert and the WinterFest weekend. These activities help sustain artistic activity in Romsey throughout the year while strengthening the Festival’s relationships with audiences, musicians and the local community. The Festival’s autumn fundraising concert explored repertoire for two violins spanning the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. As well as providing an engaging artistic event for local audiences, the concert served as an important fundraising initiative supporting the Festival’s continuing work. WinterFest 2025 took place in January with two concerts and a masterclass in Romsey and a concluding fundraising concert in London. The concerts reflected the Festival’s commitment to presenting living composers alongside established chamber repertoire. A public masterclass formed a central educational element of the weekend, allowing selected young musicians to work with the Festival artists in front of an audience. The 2025 Romsey Chamber Music Festival, titled ‘Coda’ took place from 31 May to 8 June and presented eleven events across several venues including in and around Romsey. The Festival brought together an outstanding international group of performers, many of whom are prize winners at major international competitions and hold leading positions in orchestras and musical institutions across Europe. The theme explored music that speaks to endings, transformation, and the strength of the human spirit. Across the week audiences experienced a wide range of repertoire, from early music to contemporary works. Highlights included Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, Crumb’s Black Angels and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15, Op. 132. The Festival also presented the world premiere of Five Vignettes by Martin Butler and a rare complete performance of Paganini’s 24 Caprices, given by Luke Hsu. Community engagement continued to be central to the Festival’s work,including:

•	public masterclasses, providing
	opportunities for young musicians to
	work directly with visiting artists in front
	of an audience,
•	Side-by-side performances with young
	musicians and amateur players from the
	community joined Festival artists in the
	opening concert of the 2025 Festival, an
	experience that proved both musically
	rewarding and inspiring for participants.
•	Collaboration with a local children’s
	choir through a dedicated workshop in
	which Festival musicians worked with
	the young singers. The choir then
	performed as part of the Festival’s
	family concert, allowing children to take
	part directly in the Festival and
	introducing younger audiences to live
	chamber music.
•	School visits - Festival musicians visited a
	number of local primary schools,
	presenting concerts and workshops
	designed to introduce children to
	classical instruments and chamber
	music. Work with the string players at
	one of the primary school formed part
	of this activity, demonstrating the
	Festival’s ongoing commitment to
	supporting young musicians in the local
	area.
The festival continued to attract a dedicated
local audience while also drawing visitors from
across the UK and Europe, reinforcing RCMF’s
growing international reputation, reflected in
strong press coverage, which praised the
festival’s ambitious programming and
commitment to accessibility.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements	Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements	where relevant about:
Achievements against objectives set	Para 1.41	Both the public performance and educational objectives were met.
Performance of fundraising activities against objectives set	Para 1.41	We are very grateful to have been supported by the Marchus Trust, the Hindrichsen Foundation, the Charlotte Bonham Carter Trust, Scope Arts Trust, the Samuel Gardner Memorial Trust, Test Valley Borough Council, Friends of Music in Winchester, Romsey Chandler's Ford and District Round Table and Romsey and Test Rotary during this period. These grants, together with the memberships and donations from Friends and supporters, made this last Festival possible.
Investment performance against objectives	Para 1.41	Not applicable
Other

Financial Review

Financial Review
Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period	Para 1.21	The charity had an account balance at the bank of £37,605 at the end of the period, with net assets after liabilities of £37,605.
Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held	Para 1.22	The Trustees' reserves policy aims to maintain sufficient funds to pay the costs of the artists' fees and other costs in a timely fashion.
Amount of reserves held	Para 1.22	£37,605
Reasons for holding zero reserves	Para 1.22	Not applicable
Details of fund materially in deficit	Para 1.24	Not applicable
Explanation of any uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern	Para 1.23	Not applicable

Additional information (optional)

Additional information (optional)	Additional information (optional)
You may choose to include further statements		where relevant about:
The charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising)	Para 1.47	The charity receives some grants from local sources and some national organisations. A festival friends and patron’s scheme also contributes financial support, in addition to ticket sales.
Investment policy and objectives including any social investment policy adopted	Para 1.46	Not applicable
A description of the principal risks facing the charity	Para 1.46	The charity relies heavily on the continued support of grant awarding bodies which in current financial circumstances are unpredictable, but the charity continues to raise its profile and demonstrate its value to win support and has been successful in balancing the need to make tickets affordable to encourage as wide an audience as possible while still attracting performers of a very high calibre.
Other

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of charity’s trusts:		Romsey Chamber Music Festival Trust has no subsidiaries
Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter)	Para 1.25	CIO - FOUNDATION Registered 15 Feb 2019
How is the charity constituted? (e.g unincorporated association, CIO)	Para 1.25	Charitable Incorporated Organisation
Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees	Para 1.25	Appointed by the current trustees after consideration of skills, knowledge and experience.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements	Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements	where relevant about:
Policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees	Para 1.51	No new trustees appointed in this period.
The charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works	Para 1.51
Relationship with any related parties	Para 1.51	In this period, performance fees of £2,550, education fees of £600 and an artistic direction fee of £3,000 were paid to Laura Rickard. No other payments were made to Trustees other than expenses.
Other

Reference and Administrative details

Charityname	RomseyChamber Music Festival Trust
Other name the charity uses
Registered charitynumber	1182043
Charity’s principal address	Monkswood, Winchester Road, Ampfield Romsey SO51 9BU

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee(if any)
	Huw Evans	Chairman
	Laura Rickard	Artistic Director
	Kathryn Rickard	Administrator
	Louise Woods
	David Haigh

– Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved

Director name

Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity

Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year

Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others

Description of the assets held in this capacity

Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects

Details of arrangements for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets

Additional information (optional)

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of Name Address adviser

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Exemptions from disclosure

Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details

Other optional information

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Full name(s) Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Date
	Huw Evans
	Chair
	29/4/26
	29/4/26

ROMSEY CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL	TRUST	1182043
Receipts and payments accounts			CC16a
01/09/2024 For the period from	To	31/08/2025

Section A Receipts and payments	Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts	Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 22,991 11,671 2,672 13,000 - - - - 50,334 - - - 50,334 25,104 12,125 1,224 245 - - - - - 38,698 - - - 38,698 11,637 - 25,968 37,605	Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	Endowment funds to the nearest £	Total funds to the nearest £ 22,991 11,671 2,672 13,000 - - - - 50,334 - - - 50,334 25,104 12,125 1,224 245 - - - - - 38,698 - - - 38,698 11,637	Last year to the nearest £
Income from Events	22,991		- - - - - - - - -		18,182
Friends Scheme and Donations	11,671				5,879
Gift Aid	2,672				1,261
Grants	13,000				10,250
	-				-
	-				-
	-				-
	-				-
Sub total(Gross income for AR)	50,334				35,572
A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).
	-		- - -
	-				-
Sub total	-				-
Total receipts A3 Payments
			-		35,572
Artists Costs	25,104		- - - - - - - - - -		23,270
Event Costs	12,125				8,358
MarketingCosts	1,224				553
Administration and Sundry	245				87
	-				-
	-				-
	-				-
	-				-
	-				-
**Sub total **	38,698				32,268
A4 Asset and investment purchases (see table)
,	-		- - -
	-
**Sub total **	-				-
Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end
			-		32,268
	11,637		-		3,305
	-		- -	- 25,968	-
	25,968				22,663
	37,605		-	37,605	25,968

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

29/04/2026

1

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at	the end of the period
Categories Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets	Signature Details Details Bank Current account Details Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details	Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 37,605 - - - - 37,605 - OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - Print Name Huw Evans	Endowment funds to nearest £
			-
			-
			-
			-
			OK
			Endowment funds to nearest £
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			Current value (optional)
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			Current value (optional)
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			When due (optional)
			Date of approval
		Huw Evans	29/04/2026

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)

29/04/2026

2

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Se¢tlon A Independenl Examiner's Report Report to the truste•sl | members of Romsey Chamber Music Festival On accounts IOT the year ended 311W2025 Charity no {rf any) 1182043 Set out on pages IiwpierTth( to ltrè r,aqè fi.￿￿rI - l •>JliortJl sw_ts I report to the trustees on my examination of the a ¢ha.ity (Ihe Trust-) lor the year ended 31 / 0 Responsibilities and As the charity tru,stees ol the Trust. you are responsiblè for the preparab.on basls of report of the accounts in accordance wth the requirer￿ts ol the Charities Act 2011 (Ib.e Acr). unts ol the above I report in resFeCt of my exarp.ination of the Trust's accounts cameé out under section 145 of the 2011 Act ar.d in carrying out my exam.'nalion. I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charty Commission under section 1495);b) of the Act. I have cornpleteQ my examinalion. I confim that no material matte? have come to my attention {other Ihan tha* disclosed Jelow ") in connection with the exarninatson which gives mè cause to bel￿e that in, any material res￿¢.. accounting records were not kepl in accordance vitlh sects'on 130 of the Act or the accounts do not acc(¥d with the accouming record5 Independent examlnerf8 Statement I have no concems and have c<)me atross no other mattets in connection with the exarnina;ion to which attention should be drawn in order to enable prjper understanding of the a¢count$ to be reached. . Please delete the MYLIS in the brnck8ts rf they (kn not apply. Slgned: Date: Name: Carl Dowthwaile Relèvant prolesslonal qualillcation{sl or body {If any)- Address: Mulberry, 1 Ladies Walk Drive, INlmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5GG IER Octob8r 2018

Section B 015closure Onty complete rf the examlner needs to h￿hlIght matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examinats'on of charity accounts. direthons and guidance for examiners). Glve here brfef detalls ol any Items that th• examln•r wlsh•8 to dlsclose. None IER October 2018