‘Sing Your Heart Out’ Annual Report 2022 - 2023
Charity Number 1185038
## **‘Sing Your Heart Out’ (SYHO) Charity Number 1185038**
**Annual Report 2022 - 2023**
**Period covered by this report: 1 April 2022 - 31 March 2023** _**(end date of reporting year)**_
## **Governance**
‘Sing Your Heart Out’ is a Foundation Model Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). Its only members are the Trustees. The Charity is managed by a Central Organising Group (COG) which at the end of this reporting period comprised 10 trustees. The trustees and officers of ’Sing Your Heart Out’ on 31 March 2023 were:
Julia Rumsby (Chair); Ruth Emerson (Joint Treasurer); Jenny Ford (Secretary); Carolyn Bain; Penny Holden (Systems Manager); Sylvie Taylor; Maggie Wheeler; Neil White (Joint Treasurer); Lyn Forde; Tessa Payne.
Two of our trustees stepped down in early 2023 - Kate Platt and Angela Mason. We are grateful to them both for their years of hard work and support for SYHO, particularly in providing a valuable link between the Trustees and their local SYHO group. Kate and Angela will continue to be part of their local groups in Great Yarmouth and Sheringham respectively. We were very pleased to appoint Tessa Payne (Great Yarmouth group) and Lyn Forde (Sheringham group) as Trustees to replace them.
We were also delighted to appoint Neil White as a Trustee in August 2022. Neil’s background and extensive experience in finance and management have helped us to strengthen these aspects of our Charity.
During 2022-2023 we held 6 full trustee meetings, all of which took place online. A pattern of meeting via Zoom every 2 months has become a well-established way of managing our Charity efficiently and in an eco-friendly way. Sub-groups also met mostly online, including the finance group.
In exercising their duties, and when making decisions or determining policies, the trustees take account of SYHO’s charitable purposes. We have due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on furthering these for the public benefit. For example, SYHO’s workshops are inclusive and free of charge - participants are only invited to voluntarily donate what they can afford.
Registered address: 3 The Street; Sparham; Norwich; Norfolk; NR9 5AQ
Page 1 of 4
‘Sing Your Heart Out’ Annual Report 2022 - 2023
Charity Number 1185038
## **SYHO’s aims and purposes**
Sing Your Heart out promotes good mental health and wellbeing through singing workshops which enable participants to reap the known benefits of group singing in harmony. The sessions are carefully designed to encourage people who might normally feel unable to join more formal choir settings (often through mental ill health) can participate in the group singing without experiencing discrimination, and can benefit from engaging in a social activity without the stigma associated with mental ill health.
Sing Your Heart Out’s regular singing workshops are held in 5 locations across Norfolk so that people can access workshops in their local area. The 5 SYHO groups are located in Norwich (SYHO Central), Kings Lynn (SYHO West), Hingham (SYHO South), Great Yarmouth (SYHO East) and Sheringham (SYHO North). We use venues with the broadest range of accessibility, including wheelchair access.
## **SYHO’s challenges and achievements of 2022-23**
For the first time in 3 years we were able to run a full programme of in-person workshops without any interruptions or restrictions because of Covid. However, we continued to be vigilant and decided not to return to providing refreshments during the mid-session break. Instead, participants were invited to bring their own flasks or bottles of drinks which they were happy to do, whilst still having the opportunity to chat to others and socialise if they wanted to. We ran a total of 155 workshops across the year - 31 in each of the 5 locations. The total number of participants in any given week was approximately 100, a little lower than before the pandemic but including a pleasing number of new singers.
On a rather more sad note, we were very sorry to lose SYHO singer Helen Bensihem, who played a key part in setting up our Kings Lynn group in 2009. Helen was incredibly welcoming and a great champion of applying for funds for the running of SYHO West’s workshops. In January 2023 Helen sadly passed away. We are grateful for the love she had for Sing Your Heart Out - she is greatly missed.
-------------------------
Our wonderful teaching team of four tutors continued to lead the workshops with energy, sensitivity and skill, ensuring that everyone had fun and that individuals could participate at a level that felt comfortable for them. The tutors work well together under the guidance and management of Musical Director Natasha, and meet regularly to share songs and ideas. This year the Trustees took the opportunity to review and update the role and remuneration of the Musical Director.
-------------------------
Technology continues to play an important role in the administration and management of our charity, as well as in informing the wider community about SYHO. A new SYHO website was launched in Spring 2022 and has gradually been added to during the year, although keeping it updated is an on-going task.
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When opportunities to do so arise, Sing Your Heart Out contributes to research into the benefits of group singing and promotes, educates and informs people about how such activity can improve mental health and wellbeing. This year we have given presentations to a Cancer Survivors Support Group and at a local Mental Health Trust’s online webinar, participated in awareness-raising events arranged by other organisations including ‘Care for Carers’ and a North Norfolk Dementia Support Group, and were represented at a Creative Wellness Event at the Forum in Norwich.
Registered address: 3 The Street; Sparham; Norwich; Norfolk; NR9 5AQ
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‘Sing Your Heart Out’ Annual Report 2022 - 2023
Charity Number 1185038
## **SYHO’s Finances**
As SYHO receives no public funding and relies heavily on grants and donations, we are always working hard to raise additional funds. Local SYHO groups regularly make the most of the workshops by organising table-top sales and raffles, and by sharing home-grown produce in return for donations. In May one of our Kings Lynn volunteers organised and hosted a garden fete with music, stalls, and refreshments which raised a magnificent £936. And in November a local village pub supported SYHO South by hosting a coffee morning which raised £190.
Our overall income in 2022-23 was £31751, including £12008 in donations. We received a total of £16115 from grants from the Love Norfolk Fund (£5000), North Norfolk District Council Arts & Culture Fund (£3480), South Norfolk District Council Saracens Fund (£2635) and West Norfolk Lives Fund (£5000). We are grateful to the Norfolk Community Fund (NCF) for all their work in creating, highlighting and administering so many grants across the county.
The rest of the income (£3628) came from bank interest ,fees/reimbursements and fundraising activities.
Our overall expenditure in 2022-23 was £33250, the main costs being to cover the teaching team’s fees and travel (£26755), and the hiring of venues (£5480). The diagram below shows how our funds were spent in 2022-23.
The incredible amount of time that volunteers and trustees give to SYHO, together with their generosity in other areas such as printing, means that we are able to keep our administrative costs very low. We are extremely appreciative of all their support and commitment.
At the end of the 2022-23 financial year SYHO’s cash funds stood at £46578 compared to £48076 the previous year.
Registered address: 3 The Street; Sparham; Norwich; Norfolk; NR9 5AQ
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‘Sing Your Heart Out’ Annual Report 2022 - 2023
Charity Number 1185038
Ideally, at any one time we would like to maintain a balance of funds sufficient to cover a year of SYHO’s running costs ie - around £45K. However, our reserves policy aims at a minimum of £10K, in order to cover potential situations such as contingency, commitments, cashflow and closure.
## **Looking ahead to 2023-24**
As we enter the next year we aim to:
recruit new trustees or volunteers with IT skills;
run a full programme of workshops in all 5 of our locations;
make plans to celebrate SYHO’s 20[th] anniversary which falls in 2024, including a Big Sing to bring together the tutors and singers from across all 5 groups;
continue to publicise SYHO wherever we can within communities, and encourage new singers to give us a try.
## **The trustees declare that they approved the trustees’ report above on 4 September 2023**
## **Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:**
**Signature(s):** Julia Rumsby **and** Ruth Emerson **Full name(s):** Julia Christine Rumsby Ruth Elizabeth Emerson **Position (eg Chair, Secretary etc):** Chair Treasurer
## **Date: 24 November 2023**
Registered address: 3 The Street; Sparham; Norwich; Norfolk; NR9 5AQ
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||**Sing Your Heart Out**
**Charity Name**|**Sing Your Heart Out**
**Charity Name**|**Sing Your Heart Out**
**Charity Name**|**Sing Your Heart Out**
**Charity Name**|**Sing Your Heart Out**
**Charity Name**|**1185038**
**No (if any)**|**1185038**
**No (if any)**|**1185038**
**No (if any)**|**CC16a**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**For the period**
**from**||1st April 2022
Period start date||**To**||Period end date
31st March 2023|||
|||||||||||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||||
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**3,306**
**8,462**
**1,199**
**2,391**
**-**
**38**
**15,396**
**15,396**
**558**
**56**
**212**
**-**
**20**
**-**
**2,326**
**17,302**
**1,728**
**22,202**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**22,202**||**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**240**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**16,115**
**-**
**16,355**
**16,355**
**-**
**16**
**55**
**-**
**-**
**3,154**
**7,076**
**747**
**11,048**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**11,048**||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**||**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**3,546**
**8,462**
**1,199**
**2,391**
**16,115**7
**38**
**31,751**
**31,751**
**558**
**72**
**267**
**-**
**20**
**-**
**5,480**
**24,378**
**2,475**
**33,250**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**33,250**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|B/F 2020-2021|||||||||**36,626**|
|Donations & Legacies|**3,306**||||||||**6,700**|
|Donations Cash Boxes|**8,462**||||||||**4,453**|
|Fees & Reimbursements|**1,199**||||||||**300**|
|Fundraising|**2,391**||||||||**907**|
|Grants|**-**||||||||**18,127**|
|Bank Interest|**38**||||||||**-**|
|Gift aid|||||||||**1,155**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|
**15,396**||||||||**31,642**|
|||||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**_Sub total_**||||||||||
|**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**||||||||||
||||||||||**31,642**|
|||||||||||
|Administration Costs & Website|**558**||||||||**1,132**|
|Bank Charges|**56**||||||||**96**|
|Publicity|**212**||||||||**217**|
|Refreshments|**-**||||||||**-**|
|Subscriptions & Memberships|**20**||||||||**45**|
|Training& Development|**-**||||||||**195**|
|Venue Charges|**2,326**||||||||**1,310**|
|SingingTutor Fees|**17,302**||||||||**15,966**|
|SingingTutor & Volunteer Travel|**1,728**||||||||**1,231**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**22,202**||||||||**20,192**|
|||||||||||
|**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_**||||||||||
||||||||||**20,192**|
|||||||||||
||**- 6,806**||**5,307**||**-**||**- 1,499**||**11,450**|
||**- 4,646**|
|**4,646**|
||||||
||**45,493**||**2,584**||||**48,077**||**36,627**|
||**34,041**||**12,537**||||**46,578**||**48,077**|
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
23/11/2023
1
## **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
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**|**Details**
Signature
**Details**
Total unrestricted funds and restricted funds
~~total £46,577 which was carried forward to~~
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**34,041**
**12,537**
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
RUTH EMERSON|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
||||Date of
approval|
|||RUTH EMERSON|23.11.23|
|||||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
23/11/2023
2
**Independent examiner's report on the accounts**
## **Section A Independent Examiner’s Report**
**Sing Your Heart Out** Charity Name Sing Your Heart Out **On accounts for the year** 31 March 2023 **Charity no** 1185038 **ended (if any) Set out on pages** 1 - 3
**Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner**
The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Charities Act”) and that an independent examination is needed.
## It is my responsibility to:
- examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act,
- to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act, and
- to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
- **Basis of independent** My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given **examiner’s statement** by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
**Independent** In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention **examiner's statement** (other than that disclosed below *)
1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements:
- to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; and
- to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act
- have not been met; or
2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
- _Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply._
**Date:** 23/11/2023 **Signed: Name:** Nicola Fowler, NJF Accounts Ltd
**IER**
1
Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation
**Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any):**
**Address:**
21 Springfields Poringland, Norwich NR14 7RG
## **Section B Disclosure**
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material problems.(E.g. accounting records have not been kept in accordance with s132 of the Charities’ Act 2011 and those accounts do not comply with the requirements of the 2008 Regulations setting out the form and content of charity accounts; any material expenditure or action which appears not to be in accordance with the trusts of the charity; any failure to be provided with information and explanations by any past or present trustee, officer or employee; and any material consistency between the accounts and the trustees’ annual report.)
**IER**
2
**Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose** .
**IER**
3