## **REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS OF THE OXFORD OPERA TRUST CIO, ITS TRUSTEES AND ADVISERS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024**
## **Oxford Opera Trust CIO trading as Oxford Opera and Oxford Opera Company Charity registered number**
1193079
## **Registered office**
Suite 1, 268 Belsize Road, London, NW6 4BT
## **Trustees**
Dr C Coetzee, Trustee S A Walsh, Trustee and Treasurer R Lee MA MSc, Trustee C A Ryan FCA BFP, Trustee and Chairman S Wagner, Trustee
## **Accountants**
SPX Oxford Ltd is a company registered in England & Wales, Number 8216874. Peace House, Paradise Street, Oxford OX1 1LD
## **Trustees’ Annual Report**
## **Reporting Period: 1st July 2023 – 30th June 2024**
## **1. Introduction**
The Trustees present their annual report together with the financial statements of the Oxford Opera Trust CIO for the period 1st July 2023 to 30th June 2024. This report outlines the charity’s activities, achievements, and future plans, and has been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 2011
## **2. Objectives and Activities**
## **a. Charitable Objectives**
The main objectives of the charity are:
- To promote public operatic performances.
- To foster musical education in young people through youth programmes and outreach.
In setting objectives and planning activities, the Trustees have given due consideration to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, particularly “Public benefit: running a charity (PB2)”.
## **b. Activities Undertaken**
Oxford Opera has pursued its charitable objectives through:
- Public performances of operatic works.
- Expanding our Education and Outreach department, offering creative workshops in schools and public venues.
- Collaborations with local institutions to make opera more accessible.
## **3. Achievements and Performance**
## **a. Review of Activities – Period 1st July 2023 to 30th June 2024**
## **Main Production –** _**La Traviata**_
Our headline production for 2023 was Verdi’s _La Traviata_ , performed at The Olivier Hall (St Edward’s School) on 30th September and 1st October. This was our first performance outside the Oxford Playhouse since 2019. It was directed by Cecilia Stinton, with the Oxford Opera Orchestra under the baton of Music Director John Warner.
A special 60-minute family matinee version featured the professional chorus in cover roles, designed to introduce younger audiences to opera. Despite its artistic success and glowing performances—particularly from our three soloists debuting in their roles—the move away from our usual venue resulted in lower ticket sales than expected, particularly for the family performance.
## **Education & Outreach Department**
Under the leadership of our newly appointed Education Manager, Catie Simpson, the department has flourished:
- **Total reach** : 737 children engaged across Oxfordshire through school and public workshops.
- **Workshops** :
- _Opera in a Day_ : Delivered over the summer, children created their own versions of _Hansel and Gretel_ , _Carmen_ , and _The Magic Flute_ .
- _Introduction to Opera_ : Designed for Reception and KS1 children, piloted in schools including St John Fisher, Littlemore.
- _Tamino’s Adventure_ : A continuing favourite, based on _The Magic Flute_ , now adapted to different school sizes and needs.
- _Residency_ : A 10-week project led by Katie Blackwell with KS3 students at Oxford High School led to the creation and performance of an original opera ( _Geraldine: The Opera_ ), written and performed by students.
All participating children now receive Oxford Opera branded certificates—boosting confidence, celebrating achievement, and building brand recognition.
## **New Collaborations and Partnerships**
- **Museum of Oxford (MOX)** : In February 2024 we co-hosted _How Grim Were the Grimms?_ , a sold-out workshop. MOX has now confirmed multiple follow-up dates and new workshop development for 2024, including _Stories and Songs_ and _Storms_ .
- **CATS (Cotswold Arts Through Schools)** : Their financial sponsorship enabled delivery of free workshops and our new CPD programme for teachers, focused on Creative Practice Development. Future bookings have already resulted from these initiatives.
- **Other outreach** : We’re in active discussions with Cherwell Theatre Company and The Oxford Playhouse about further partnership opportunities.
## **New Facilitators**
The expansion of our facilitator team means we can now offer an even broader range of sessions. Our core team includes specialists from opera, theatre, education, and youth engagement, including Katie Blackwell, Carol Jones, Nia Williams, Tom Bennett, and Guy Brigg MBE.
## **Planned Developments**
- Launch of an **Oxford Opera Youth Company** with regular sessions and performance opportunities.
- Delivery of **CPD courses for teachers** to help improve drama/music teaching and school productions.
## **b. Fundraising Activities**
Funding for Oxford Opera Trust CIO came from:
- Private donations (including a significant gift that secured the charity’s short-tomedium term plans).
- Ticket sales.
- Grants from charitable foundations and Oxford City Council.
The Trustees have prioritised diversification of income streams. Current efforts focus on:
- Developing new supporter relationships.
- Securing new grant funding and corporate partnerships.
- Strengthening engagement with our loyal local audience base.
The Trustees are grateful to all donors and supporters, including those who have contributed significantly this year.
Oxford Opera Trust CIO continues to champion its identity as “a company for the City, with the City at its Heart—producing world-class opera, with accessibility and opportunity for all.”
## **4. Financial Review**
## **a. Going Concern**
The Trustees are pleased to report that, as predicted in the 2022–2023 report, the charity’s financial footing has stabilised. Income exceeded expenditure during this period, designed to facilitate a more stable administrative team for the following year and ambitious planning for future projects, including a mainstage production at the Oxford Playhouse in 2025 and education initiatives needing more funds including the launch of the weekly Youth Company at the Old Fire Station, Oxford.
The Trustees are satisfied that the charity remains a going concern and will continue to adopt this basis for the preparation of financial statements.
Further detail on the financial position is provided in the accompanying accounts.
## **5. The Board**
During the period, one new Trustee was appointed to the Board. No other changes occurred in the composition of the Board.
The Board also agreed that minutes would be taken by the newly appointed Trustee and shared with the Secretary for drafting and approval.
**Approved by the Board of Trustees on** 29 April 2025 **Signed:**
Cliff Ryan, Chair of Trustees
||**Charity Name**
**Oxford Opera Trust CIO**
|**Charity Name**
**Oxford Opera Trust CIO**
|**Charity Name**
**Oxford Opera Trust CIO**
|**Charity Name**
**Oxford Opera Trust CIO**
|**Charity Name**
**Oxford Opera Trust CIO**
|**CC16a**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**For the period**
**from**||Period start date
01/07/2023|**To**
|||
||||||||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||||
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest**
**£**
**-**
**80 485**
**-**
**35 000**
**9 784**
**8 175**
**-**
**-**
**2 981**
**441**
**-**
**136 865**
**-**
**-**
**136 865**||**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|Donations -grant|**-**||**1 300**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1 300**|**-**|**1 300**
**80 485**
**-**
**35 000**
**9 784**
**8 175**
**-**
**-**
**2 981**
**441**
**-**
**138 165**|**400**|
|Donations - individual|**80 485**|||**-**||**98 817**|
|Donations - corporate|**-**|||**-**||**500**|
|Gift Aid|**35 000**|||**-**||**21 227**|
|Box office sales|**9 784**|||**-**||**-**|
|Education and outreach|**8 175**|||**-**||**9 540**|
|Other events|**-**|||**-**||**6 350**|
|Other income|**-**|||**-**||**81**|
|Fundraising|**2 981**|||**-**||**-**|
|Interest|**441**|||**-**||**1**|
||**-**|||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|**136 865**|||**-**||**136 916**|
||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales, (see**
**table).**|||||||
||||**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**||
||**-**|||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**|||**-**||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**|||||**138 165**||
||||**1 300**|**-**||**136 916**|
||||||||
|Project costs|**64 053**||**-**
**-**
**1 300**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1 300**|**-**|**64 053**
**27 088**
**16 719**
**4 425**
**2 689**
**1 370**
**1 200**
**684**
**-**|**675**|
|Admin Team|**27 088**|||**-**||**-**|
|Education/Outreach|**15 419**|||**-**||**13 084**|
|Consultancy/Professional fees|**4 425**|||**-**||**22 060**|
|Office costs|**2 689**|||**-**||**37**|
|MarketingEducation|**1 370**|||**-**||**1 981**|
|Marketing|**1 200**|||**-**||**2 389**|
|Insurance|**684**|||**-**||**577**|
|Magic Flute|**-**|||**-**||**630**|
|Other events|**-**|||**-**|**-**|**4 019**|
|Gala|**-**|||**-**|**-**|**14 428**|
|Office space|**-**|||**-**|**-**|**278**|
|Just Giving costs|**-**|||**-**|**-**|**72**|
|IT website server/emails|**-**|||**-**|**-**|**1 130**|
||||||||
|**_Sub total_ **|**116 928**|||**-**|**118 228**|**61 360**|
||**-**
**-**
**-**
**116 928**
**19 938**
**-**
**76 439**
**96 377**||||||
|**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_**|||||**118 228**||
||||**1 300**|**-**||**61 360**|
||||||||
||**19 938**||**-**|
**-**|**19 938**|**75 556**|
||**-**||**-**
**-**|**-**|**-**
**76 439**|**-**|
||**76 439**|||**-**||**-**|
||**96 377**||**-**|
**-**|**96 377**|**75 556**|
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
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**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B1 Cash funds**|Signature
**Details**
**Details**
Bank account - current
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
Bank account - deposit
**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|
|||**1 833**|**-**|
|||**94 544**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|
|||**96 377**|**-**|
|||OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**||
|||**-**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|
|||**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**||
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
|||**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**||
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
|||**Fund to which**
**liability relates**||
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
|||Cliff Ryan||
|||||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
2
**Independent examiner's report on the accounts**
## **Section A Independent Examiner’s Report**
> **Report to the trustees/ Oxford Opera Trust CIO members of On accounts for the** 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024 **Charity no 1193079 period (if any)**
**Set out on pages** 1-4 of Receipts and Payments accounts
**Respective** The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. **responsibilities of** The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year **trustees and examiner** 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 material matters have come to my **examiner's statement** attention (other than that disclosed below *) which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
- accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act or
- the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which 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:** 30 April 2025
**Signed: Name:** Sheila Parry **Relevant professional** FCCA **qualification(s) or body (if any):**
1
**December 2018**
**IER**
**Address:** Peace House, Paradise Street, Oxford OX1 1LD
## **Section B Disclosure**
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
## **Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose** .
2
**December 2018**
**IER**