‘Sing Your Heart Out’ Annual Report 2023 - 2024
Charity Number 1185038
‘Sing Your Heart Out’ (SYHO)
Charity Number 1185038
Annual Report 2023 - 2024
Period covered by this report: 1 April 2023 - 31 March 2024 (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 9 trustees. The trustees and officers of ’Sing Your Heart Out’ on 31 March 2024 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.
One of our trustees, Tessa Payne, stepped down in July 2023. Tessa provided a valuable link between the Trustees and the Gt Yarmouth group, and still supports them when she can. We have been unable to find a replacement representative Trustee but the Local Organising Group (LOG) in Gt Yarmouth is well-organised and liaises effectively with COG.
During 2023-2024 we held 7 full trustee meetings, all of which took place online. Sub-groups also met mostly online, including the Big Sing planning group.
We are aware of the need to recruit new people to succeed some of our current trustees who are ready to step down for reasons including age and health challenges.
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 singing workshops are inclusive and free of charge - participants are only invited to voluntarily donate what they can afford.
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. They can participate in the group singing without experiencing discrimination, and 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.
Registered address: 3 The Street; Sparham; Norwich; Norfolk; NR9 5AQ
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‘Sing Your Heart Out’ Annual Report 2023 - 2024
Charity Number 1185038
SYHO’s challenges and achievements of 2023-24
Between 1[st] April 2023 and 31[st] March 2024 we ran a full programme of 150 workshops - 30 in each of the 5 locations. After Covid, our attendance numbers fell but we are encouraged to see these rising steadily again. In the second half of the year (ie 1[st] September 2023 - 31[st] March 2024) the weekly average number of singers across all 5 groups totalled 131. We have also seen more people coming along to give SYHO a try, many of whom now sing with us regularly.
2024 is SYHO’s 20[th] Anniversary so we wanted to make it a special year for everyone involved. This included producing some special badges to celebrate the occasion.
And as well as leading our workshops throughout the year, our wonderful teaching team of four tutors treated us to a special fundraising concert tour in March. Kim arranged and organised five amazing evening concerts of vocal, acoustic, harmony songs - one in each of our SYHO venues. Audiences were wowed and ‘Tutors on Tour’ raised almost £4500 for SYHO. Huge thanks go to all those involved and to everyone who supported us.
SYHO singing tutors - Joey, Kim, Natasha and Linds
The tutors are a strong team, working well together under the guidance and management of Musical Director, Natasha. They meet regularly to share songs and ideas and if the need arises they cover for each other - often at the last minute - whenever they can. Occasionally this has not been possible so further backup arrangements are now in place: Natasha produced some guidance for the local groups on how to run a ‘self-led’ session, and we have recruited Tessa, a new ‘stand-by’ tutor who can be called upon at short notice to cover some groups.
Although the SYHO Songbook with its wide range and variety of songs serves us well throughout the year, in December we produced a supplementary 8-page booklet of Christmas and Winter songs which we used over the festive season.
Registered address: 3 The Street; Sparham; Norwich; Norfolk; NR9 5AQ
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‘Sing Your Heart Out’ Annual Report 2023 - 2024
Charity Number 1185038
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. One of our on-going challenges is to find volunteers with the skills to help us to maintain these systems and our website.
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.
We were therefore delighted to be recognised as ‘Community Champions’ and invited to be part of a special tribute and parade at the annual Norfolk Show in June 2023.
As a partner of the Mental Health Trust, we were involved in the Recovery College’s 10[th] Anniversary celebrations in November, making useful contacts and sharing information about SYHO with other partners.
Our outreach activity this year also included participating in Norfolk’s Creativity and Wellbeing Week in May, and running a singing workshop in June at Norwich Grapes Hill Community Garden. This was part of Refugee Week, and a celebration of International Culture.
In February 2024 a double-page spread about Sing Your Heart Out featured in the national magazine ‘My Weekly’.
Also in February volunteers from our Sheringham group were part of the ‘Sheringham Helps’ Community Fair (see photo below).
During the spring of 2024 Kings Lynn trustee, Sylvie, visited several local groups, including The Heacham Friendship Group, the Reffley Friends and Neighbours Group, and 2 Dementia groups: The Friendship Cafe and the Dementia Carers Group. She told them about SYHO and how singing can support mental health and wellbeing.
SYHO’s Finances
As SYHO receives no public funding and relies heavily on grants and donations, we are always working hard to raise 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. Sometimes other people organise events and raise funds for Sing Your Heart Out. For example, in May 2023 a local musical performance group, ‘3Score’ donated the profits from one of their concerts to SYHO.
Registered address: 3 The Street; Sparham; Norwich; Norfolk; NR9 5AQ
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‘Sing Your Heart Out’ Annual Report 2023 - 2024
Charity Number 1185038
Our overall income in 2023-24 was £26292, including £12824 in donations. We received a total of £10000 from grants - from the Norfolk Community Foundation (NCF) Connecting Older People Fund (£7000) and the Brief Fund (£3000). We are grateful to the NCF for all their work in creating, highlighting and administering so many grants across the county.
The rest of the income (£3468) came from bank interest, gift aid, reimbursements and fundraising activities.
Our overall expenditure in 2023-24 was £32158, the main costs being to cover the teaching team’s fees and travel (£25307), and the hiring of venues (£5129). The remaining £1722 covered our administration costs (eg bank charges, external account examination, insurance, website, subscriptions), publicity and Training & Development.
Volunteers and trustees continue to give generously of their time and, along with their help in areas such as printing, this means that SYHO’s administrative costs can be kept low. We are extremely grateful for all their support and commitment.
At the end of the 2023-24 financial year SYHO’s cash funds stood at £40712 compared to £46578 the previous year.
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 2024-25
As we enter a new SYHO year we aim to:
meet the challenges of succession planning by appointing new trustees with skills that SYHO needs in order to remain sustainable;
continue trying to find volunteers with skills and expertise in Information Technology;
run a full programme of workshops in all 5 of our locations;
further celebrate SYHO’s 20[th] anniversary during 2024, including a Big Sing on 10 June. This event will bring together the tutors and singers from across all 5 groups, as well as those who have been part of SYHO’s journey and development over the years.
continue to publicise SYHO wherever we can within communities, and encourage new singers to join us.
The trustees declare that they approved the trustees’ report above on 8 July 2024
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 15 July 2024
Registered address: 3 The Street; Sparham; Norwich; Norfolk; NR9 5AQ
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----- Start of picture text -----
Charity Name No (if any)
Sing Your Heart Out
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period Period start date Period end date
To
from 01.04.2023 31.03.2024
----- End of picture text -----
| For the period from |
For the period from |
Period start date 01.04.2023 |
To | To | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Section A Receipts and payments | ||||||
| Unrestricted funds A1 Receipts to the nearest £ - Donations &Legacies 2,919 Donations Cash Boxes 8,702 Fees & Reimbursements 60 Fundraising 1,501 Grants - Bank Interest 730 Gift Aid 1,177 |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ - 1,204 - - - 10,000 - - |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - |
Total funds to the nearest £ - 4,122 8,702 60 1,501 10,000 730 1,177 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
||
| - | 3,546 8,462 1,199 2,391 16,115 38 - |
|||||
| Donations &Legacies | 2,919 | |||||
| Donations Cash Boxes | 8,702 | |||||
| Fees & Reimbursements | 60 | |||||
| Fundraising | 1,501 | |||||
| Grants | - | |||||
| Bank Interest | 730 | |||||
| Gift Aid | 1,177 | |||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
15,089 | 11,204 | - | 26,292 | 31,751 | |
| - - |
- - |
- - |
- - |
|||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
||||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | ||||||
| Sub total | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
15,089 949 60 239 - 20 - 2,061 11,089 767 |
11,204 304 - - - - 150 3,068 11,486 1,965 |
- - - - - - - - - - |
1,253 60 239 - 20 150 5,129 22,575 2,732 26,292 |
31,751 | |
| Administration Costs & Website | 949 | 558 72 267 - 20 - 5,480 24,378 2,475 |
||||
| Bank Charges | 60 | |||||
| Publicity | 239 | |||||
| Refreshments | - | |||||
| Subscriptions & Memberships | 20 | |||||
| Training& Development | - | |||||
| Venue Charges | 2,061 | |||||
| SingingTutor Fees | 11,089 | |||||
| SingingTutor & Volunteer Travel | 767 | |||||
| Sub total | 15,185 | 16,973 | - | 32,158 | 33,250 | |
| - - |
- - |
- - |
- - |
|||
| 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 |
15,185 - 96 - 34,041 |
16,973 - 5,770 - 12,537 |
32,158 - 5,866 - 46,578 |
33,250 | ||
| - | ||||||
| - - - |
||||||
| - 96 |
- 1,499 |
|||||
| - | - 48,077 |
|||||
| 34,041 | ||||||
| 33,945 | 6,767 | - | 40,712 | 46,578 |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
02/07/2024
1
| Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the | period | period | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B5 Liabilities Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details Details Details Details Signature Ruth Emerson |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - - - |
Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
||
| - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | ||||
| 33,945 | 6,767 | - | ||||
| Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Cost (optional) Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) Print Name Ruth Emerson OK OK - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
OK | |||||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| When due (optional) |
||||||
| Date of approval |
||||||
| 08/07/24 |
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
02/07/2024
2
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
Charity Name Sing Your Heart Out
Sing Your Heart Out Charity Name Sing Your Heart Out On accounts for the year 31 March 2024 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:
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examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act,
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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
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to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
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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 *)
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which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements:
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to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; and
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to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act
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have not been met; or
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to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
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Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.
Date: 02/07/2024 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