ANNUAL REPORT
by the Trustees of Rutland Sinfonia for the year ended 31st August 2022 (2021-2022)
Presented to the Members of the Rutland Sinfonia at the AGM on
3rd March 2023
Rutland Sinfonia is a Registered Charity in England and Wales no. 11970959, and is a member of Making Music, itself a Registered Charity, which supports and champions voluntary and amateur music groups.
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ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR FROM 1[st] SEPTEMBER 2021 TO 31[st] AUGUST 2022
1. This is the Report of the Trustees of Rutland Sinfonia (the “Managing Committee”) for the Financial year ended 31[st] August 2022.
More information about the Rutland Sinfonia, (the “Sinfonia”), and details of the Programme for our 44th Season 2021/2022, how to become a member of the Sinfonia, and/or become a “Friend” or sponsor can be found on our website www.rutlandsinfonia.org.uk
Our orchestra email address for correspondence is rutlandsinfonia@gmail.com
NB This season is reported as our 44th season due to a gap caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic, although the orchestra was in fact 46 years old during 2022.
2. Constitutional Matters and how Rutland Sinfonia is run.
The trustees who were elected at the last Annual General Meeting on 12th November 2021 were as follows
| Rachel Rayner | Chair | Kristi Newton | PR |
| Sarah Ayre | Secretary | Nick Brown | Librarian |
| Katherine Hammond | Treasurer | Anne McCrae | Orchestral Manager |
| Vacant | Budget/Oundle Concert Manager |
Vacant | Oakham Concert Manager |
These trustees were appointed as the Trustees of the Sinfonia and are required to retire / stand down by rotation - although are permitted to put themselves forward for re-election.
The Sinfonia operates in accordance with its Constitution, as approved by the Charity Commission. Under the Constitution the Sinfonia is managed by a Committee of Trustees (the “Managing Committee”). The Trustees are elected at each Annual General Meeting as described above. The Committee thanks John Round for his long standing contribution to the orchestra. John stood down but continues to support us with liaison with Oundle St Peter’s Church. There remain vacancies on the Committee which we would be delighted if someone would consider to support the work that the committee already do. These roles would be most suited to non-playing friends or family members and primarily involve arranging Front of House and dealing with our audience needs on concert day, with some tasks requiring action in advance.
The Sinfonia continues to use a production company, Rutland Sinfonia Productions (RSP) Limited, to produce its concerts, and the Directors of that company are Sarah Ayre and Katherine Hammond. This is to enable Rutland Sinfonia to claim Orchestral Tax Relief. For our financial year ended August 2022, we stand to receive £2136.59 in tax relief (less accountancy fees). This money contributes to the charity’s healthy financial position.
Paul Hilliam, Music Director and Principal Conductor, and David Calow Associate Conductor, attend the Committee meetings by invitation and as always we wish to record our sincerest thanks to them both for the work that they do. This report also acknowledges our thanks to Katherine Collison as our appointed leader.
3. Objects, activities, achievements and the public benefit
The Sinfonia’s objects as set out in the Constitution are:-
- To advance, improve, develop and maintain public education in appreciation of the art and science of orchestral music by any means the Committee sees fit, including the presentation of public orchestral concerts, and recitals
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To encourage, educate and involve young people, wherever possible, in these activities
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To further such charitable purpose or purposes as the Committee may from time to time decide, including through the making of grants and donations
The Sinfonia’s charitable objects and the way they are carried out are for the public benefit. Public benefit is achieved through the 4 public concerts given by the Sinfonia in the year covered by this Report.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic which affected so many live performances, we have returned to being able to perform 4 public concerts in our usual venues - we thank those venues for their continuing support.
We have seen in the 2021-2022 season a decline in overall audience numbers of around 20% on pre Covid figures, with an average audience attendance of 150 at each concert. This has had an impact on our finances, which can be seen in the financial statements, however, we continue to work hard to bring our audience back, but need the help of all our members to do this. The decline in audience numbers appears to have continued as we have begun our 2022-2023 season, which we need to collectively address, both through advertising and through programming, however, we are optimistic of a return to better numbers over the forthcoming 12-18 months.
4. Finances and Accounts.
Our finances heading out of the pandemic were in a solid position, as always supported by our Friends, and from the recovery of Gift Aid on our subs. If any of our members are able to assist in building our Friends numbers, that support would be greatly appreciated. We changed the style of our programmes in our 2021-2022 season, which have been received well, and ask for a voluntary contribution to their cost from our audience, which has worked well and we will continue to do. We will also from time to time offer a small amount of advertising space to boost the income and recover some of the printing costs.
The financial statement from the Treasurer circulated separately shows the position at the end of the financial year (31[st] August 2022), and shows a surplus of £942.43. We expect costs to to continue to rise as our rehearsal and performance venues raise their fees, however, our strong reserves allow us to ‘ride this storm’ for a period of time.
We are very grateful to Sarah Ayre our Secretary and Katherine Hammond our Treasurer for all their work for the Sinfonia. As is good practice, the Charity accounts have been independently audited, and the Treasurer reports to the AGM.
The accounts for RSP Limited are also attached. Due to an increase in the rate for OTR we stand to receive £2136 in tax relief this year, less accountancy fees.
In Conclusion.
This last season has been a challenge to us from an audience point of view, but the heart and soul of the orchestra, the strength and depth of our players, and the hard work of our conductors mean that we have returned to a very high standard of performance, and I am confident that this will continue.
I have now been chair of the orchestra for eight consecutive seasons, and despite some hard times and difficult conversations, those seasons have mostly been fun, inspiring and ultimately rewarding.
My personal thanks must of course go once more to the Committee, and also to Paul Hilliam, our Music Director and Principal Conductor and David Calow our Associate Conductor, for their enthusiasm and variety with programming and without whom, often we would not have all the players we need to perform some of the works we take on. Our success means that we receive requests to join on a regular basis, and we try to give those who contact us an opportunity to come and play, space in our venues makes this tricky and there is ultimately a limit on how many players we can fit, but I am delighted that our reputation precedes us.
As we try to rebuild our audiences, our focus goes into planning our 2023-2024, and trying to find the right balance of music which challenges our players but also are real audience favourites.
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Thank you once again to everyone involved in making the Sinfonia a success
Signed: Rachel Rayner Chair on behalf of the Managing Committee Dated: February 2023
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Rutland Sinfonia
Receipts & Payments Accounts for the Year Ended 31st August 2022
| Concert Receipts Oakham Sept Oundle Nov Oakham Mar Oundle May Less Concert Commissioning Fees Deficit on Concerts Subscriptions Received Friends Donations Play Day Donations Sundry Receipts Waitrose Collection Easy Fundraising HMRC Gift Aid Interest Received Other Receipts Total Income Less Expenditure Website Costs Making Music Subscription Bank Charges Sundry Expenses Surplus (Deficit) for the Year Opening Balance Closing Balance Represented by: HSBC Current Account HSBC Savings Account Unity Trust Current Account Unity Trust Savings Account Rutland Sinfonia Productions Ltd Loan Cash in Hand to be banked Received in Advance for next Year |
£ £ £ £ £ £ 1,408.55 0.00 1,081.75 1,687.91 0.00 2,754.28 1,327.71 0.00 2,607.75 1,881.58 0.00 176.25 6,305.75 0.00 6,620.03 9,469.65 1,574.11 8,482.49 -(3163.90) -(1574.11) -(1862.46) 2,240.00 0.00 2,170.00 1,665.00 675.00 2,125.00 0.00 290.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 220.00 0.00 15.81 77.12 0.00 688.41 0.00 0.04 0.13 9.60 273.29 135.00 101.47 273.33 839.35 408.19 1,014.43 230.24 2,840.73 0.00 0.00 476.59 0.00 301.94 231.00 72.00 54.00 0.00 0.00 17.48 42.17 72.00 373.42 749.76 942.43 -(143.18) 2,090.97 17,110.48 17,253.66 15,162.69 £ 18,052.91 £ 17,110.48 £ 17,253.66 0.00 0.00 9,956.09 0.00 0.00 6,190.59 13,718.65 15,967.58 0.00 0.04 0.00 0.00 4,829.22 1,032.87 1,106.98 0.00 110.03 0.00 -(495.00) 0.00 0.00 £ 18,052.91 £ 17,110.48 £ 17,253.66 2020 2021 2022 |
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I have checked these accounts, without carrying out an audit, to the books, records and information provided to me, and have found them to be in agreement thereto.
David Webb Chartered Accountant
14th February 2023
Date