Minutes of Annual General Meeting Held at RC Church Friday 14 March 2025
1 Present:
Action
Adrian Powis (Chairman), Noel Williams (Secretary), Marilyn Hill (Treasurer), Alec Brooks (Musical Director).
Rob Cotter, Viv Griffiths, Gareth Lewis, Jon Machin, Mark Smith, Ian Williams.
Roy Bowen, Mike Griffiths, Lawrence Hopkins, John Mathias, Stuart Phillips, John Wright.
Chris Evans, Mike Francis, Stan Hill, Ian Jacka, Roy Jeynes, John Pearman, Lyn Sullivan, Glenn White, Mike Williams.
Eddie Fearnley, Richard Harris, Tony Kavanagh, Haydn Wheeler.
Howard Evans.
Non-voting attendees: Laura Deenik, Matthew Bates, Gerwyn James, Tom Jordan.
2 Apologies:
Chris Davies, Malcolm Evans, Martin Griffiths, Colin Gronow, David Jones, Huw Jones, John Jones, Owain Jones, Brian Raybould, Gwyn Richards, Phil Rowe, Daryl Strong, Phil Tew, Ian Thomas.
3 Adoption of Minutes:
Adoption of Previous Minutes 9 February 2024
Proposed: Jon Machin Seconded: Mark Smith
Adoption of Minutes 14 March 2025
Proposed: Chris Evans Seconded: Mike Francis
4 Matters arising from Minutes:
Chairman: one matter arose from the minutes of the previous AGM and this has been actioned. This related to contacting the Charity Commission to update trustee registrations.
5 Notices of motion:
No notices of motion were submitted.
6 Chairman’s Report:
Copied from prepared script.
Welcome everyone to our AGM.
2024 was certainly a busy and eventful year for our Choir and my first year as Chairman trying to fill the boots of our previous Chairman John Pearman.
I want to begin by thanking everyone for the fantastic support I have had.
I’m very fortunate to have an amazing committee, a good committee always makes a Chairman’s role so much easier. Noel does a fantastic job working tirelessly as Secretary, always on the ball with his minutes and
Registered Charity Number 1195139
Marilyn works extremely hard in her role as Treasurer which isn’t an easy role when you consider our current economic climate. A big shout out to Mark our Concert Secretary for all his hard work and Ian for all he does with our social media and setting up our new web site.
Ian Williams: We have close to 950 followers on Facebook and 37,500 views in the last 28 days.
But every member of the committee contributes and I thank you all for giving up your time to help with the management of the choir.
I would also like to thank a number of our long serving Choir members who have supported me with their experience, in particular Roy, Stuart, Viv, John and Howard amongst others. We currently have 51 members. Last year we sadly lost Fred Draper in January and Kelvin Isaac in May and of course we are currently mourning the loss of another Choir stalwart in Phil Davies. But we continue to grow our ranks with a number of new members joining throughout the year. Gwyn Richards, Huw Jones, Matthew Bates, Steve Gibbins, Gerwyn James, Tom Jordan and Martin Griffiths. Like I said 2024 has been a very busy year and we have had to explore different ways of raising funds while our main concert venue, The Pavilion is still out of action.
We started the year at the end of January having been invited to sing at All Saints Church to celebrate 100 years of the British Legion. On the 10[th] February we were asked to sing at The Seagull prior to the England v Wales six nations game, a fun afternoon out for us all. March 1[st] saw us perform our St David’s Day concert at All Saints which was a real success. We also did our annual performance with the children at Porthcawl Primary School. On Sunday 28[th] April, which as I remember was a beautiful sunny spring day, we sang for a small crowd from the Porthcawl Veterans Hub at the Bowling Green, Griffin Park.
We were asked to perform at Porthcawl Rugby Club’s Sponsors Day and as usual we entertained their guests; we continue to have a fantastic relationship with the rugby club and are extremely grateful of the support they give us and we continue to use their facilities for our committee meetings. On 16[th] May we were invited by The Coastwatch to sing at All Saints Church.
Throughout May, every Wednesday evening, a quiz night and raffle were held at the Jolly Sailor, this proved to be very beneficial financially to us and we are hoping to replicate this again this year. These new types of events really help to boost our funds.
May also saw us moving to our new home at the Catholic Church Hall and whilst we will be eternally grateful to Arlington Road Church circumstances were such, we needed to find a new practice venue to ensure the future of the Choir. We looked at a number of options but agreed on the Catholic Church and I must say they have been absolutely fantastic, giving us our own little area for our equipment and music and space upstairs for uniform storage. I must say we have struck up a great working relationship with them.
We had a very successful social evening at the Grove Golf Club on Saturday 15[th] June but this was tinged with sadness as it was an event that had been originally organised by Kelvin. July was quite a busy month that saw us singing as usual on The Green in Newton for the annual Church Fayre, followed I’m sure with copious amounts of beer in the Jolly Sailor We also sang at Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club
We were also asked to sing at the funeral of Gunter Ehresmann in Chepstow, whilst we try to restrict our performances at funerals to local ones, we agreed and it turned out to be very different from most traditional funerals being more of a celebration of his life. Marcus his son arranged a coach for us and afterwards the celebration of Gunter’s life continued with food and beverages at The Boat Inn. Our Ladies Section arranged a coach trip to Stratford upon Avon, this was a huge success as usual and everyone had really enjoyable day.
I must say how grateful we are for all the ladies support, not only do they support us at all our concerts with raffles and ticket sales etc they do so much more raising money to support us with things like our ties and trousers etc. If any other ladies would like to join our Ladies Section, they would be more thank welcome. In August we were asked to sing at a 85[th] Birthday garden party at Kittiwake Close, Nottage, we were
Registered Charity Number 1195139
so well received and it was a really nice afternoon. It was so warm we decided to buy baseball caps for choristers.
September was again quite a busy month with our Annual Concert again being held at All Saints Church due to the out of action Pavilion. It was an exceptional evening as usual and our guest artist Rhiannon Herridge was really well received, again we performed to a sell-out audience. September also saw the Elvis Festival at the Hi-Tide and although the venue this time wasn’t as suitable for us as previous years an enjoyable afternoon was had by all. In October we sang at Pencoed Rugby Club for the Twinning Society, where we were received very well and gained some contacts In France.
We were also asked to sing for The Welsh Guards Veterans at Cosy Corner. A first for the choir at this new outdoor venue but one that proved very successful and a future venue we may well use again. We also sang at the Civic Service for the new Mayor of Porthcawl, Cllr Jeff Perren at All Saints Church.
November saw us sing as usual at the Annual Remembrance Day service at All Saints Church where a poppy wreath was laid on behalf of the choir by Colin Gronow an ex-para trooper. December saw the year quickly drawing to a close but as usual it was an extremely busy time for the choir. We began with performances at The Prince Wales and The Globe pubs. We also performed at the RNLI Christmas concert. Due to adverse weather our Annual Christmas Concert was cancelled. We also did our usual performance for The Stroke Club at Grove Golf Club. We sang at The Masonic Care Home, another annual Christmas event. This year for the first time we did a Concert in The Catholic Church, Our Lady Star of the Sea for our new friends there. To finish up the Christmas events a number of us did a wet session of carols and Christmas songs at the Jolly Sailor as a thank you for all their support. We have also sang at numerous weddings and funerals throughout the year. All in all, a very busy but successful year. Lots of different types of events, and we continue to try to find enjoyable, unique events such as the event on Paddington station. A big part of our enjoyment as a Choir is touring, unfortunately due to lack of interest we didn’t tour last year. But I’m very grateful to Howard and Chris for all the work they have put in to arrange our up-andcoming tour to Wexford.
We still have some availability if anyone else or friends and family would like to join us. Finally, I would like to give a huge thanks to our Musical Team
I believe Alec has done wonders with us over the last year, even getting us to sing pieces such as Bohemian Rhapsody, which I believe was shelved at one point proving too difficult in the past. We are very fortunate to have extremely talented accompanists in Richard and Laura and of course our stand in MD Paul, to whom we are extremely grateful for being able to take us on the occasions Alec hasn’t been available.
We are very blessed to have such a talented musical team.
A big thank you to the guys who move and set up all of our equipment for events, thank you all for your hard work.
And to Chris for ensuring no one ever gets away without buying a raffle ticket. Can I conclude by just thanking everyone for the friendship, commitment and sense of comradery you bring to the Choir.
Events for 2025 are already gaining momentum with lots of exciting things being organised. I wish you all well and look forward to all we do together over the coming year.
7 Musical Directors Report:
Alec Brooks: It has been a very enjoyable year, the same as the previous year. Choristers make this possible and it has been a pleasure to stand in front of them. Thanks also to the Musical Team, Laura who is here tonight, Richard and Paul. Thanks to the committee for their support and help throughout the year. The friendship of the choir has been very important. All are so friendly and thanks for the year and now looking forward to this year.
8 Treasurers Report:
Registered Charity Number 1195139
Copied from prepared script. Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024 were also distributed.
I’m pleased to present our annual accounts for 2024.
INCOME: 49 paid up members and donations from 2 life members. The patron’s donation was from Eynon with other patrons being in the annual concert figures. The gift aid of £3,006.80 for 2.5 years. Thank you to some of our ladies who did a month’s bucket collection at the Jolly Sailor quiz night which raised £1,170. The large amount for funerals was made up of donations from Fred Drapers widow Sally, Kelvin Isaac’s family, Marcus’s payment included the bus to Chepstow and the Fergie family. Our annual concert income was £5,781.25 even with reduced fees to our advertisers and supporters and reduced ticket prices this was a good outcome. We also did well with our concerts. EXPENDITURE: We are very lucky to have our new home at Our Lady Star of the Sea. Total rent paid £2,940 which included two extra months to Arlington Church before we left. We now as you know have a payment machine and the charges came to £24.20 this being 1.69% of each transaction. The cost of our musical team was £11,415, new equipment included £166.80 for the new card machine. After outgoings our annual concert raised £3,687.07. You all had new trousers and the new members new jumpers. We gave a donation of £500 to Velindre Cancer Centre. A good financial year all round with C/A finishing on £10,132.77. Our Deposit account earned £61.78 in interest and finished on £4,320.63. Our Tour account added £1,845.40 from the raffle and finished at £7,766.15. So, in total we hold £22,219.55 as at 31/12/2024. My thanks to Chris and all those who have collected money through the year. I feel the choir is in a strong financial position to go forward into 2025., and thanks to our wonderful committee for their help and advice.
Thanks, and praise to our Ladies Section who gave us £1,129.50 towards trousers and our new web site. My thoughts and prayers go to Kelvin Isaac who was our auditor, and to Philip Tew who kindly took on the job half way into the year, I am so grateful to him.
For the year ahead I propose subscriptions be increased by £10 from £125 to £135 this is £2.60 per week and I see as excellent value. Also an increase of £5 per practice for our musical director and accompanist. We have a quality team and I feel we need to show our appreciation.
The raffle I propose to keep splitting between the C/A and tour account. This will help build the tour account but help with the C/A if work starts to dry up in the year ahead.
On the notice board are our 2 account details, please use the correct account when transferring money. New members can pay by standing order monthly if they wish, if they are tax payers, please can they sign a gift aid declaration for us to claim back an extra 25%.
And to finish off thank you all for PAYING SELLING BUYING and parting with your cash on time, but most of all putting up with a woman in a male choir. Additional comments made during the presentation:
Treasurer: HMRC now make random requests for charity, to make a corporation tax return. This was completed by Noel Williams.
John Pearman: commented on the good work done to receive gift aid. Viv Griffiths: thanks to Marilyn Hill, one special person.
Treasurer: asked the meeting to vote on the proposed increase to subscriptions and the payments to the musical team. A show of hand indicated unanimous support for the increases.
9 Auditors Report:
Phil Tew, the auditor had given his apologies for not being able to attend the meeting. He had previously spoken to the Chairman and Secretary to express the high standard of work from the Treasurer, Marilyn Hill. He commented on how well the accounts had been maintained and prepared noting everything was in order.
10 Election of Officers:
Registered Charity Number 1195139
With the exception of Social Secretary, a single nomination was received for each position.
| Position | Nominee | Proposer | Seconder | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chairman | Adrian Powis | John Pearman | Phil Tew | |
| Vice Chairman | John Mathias | Roy Bowen | Glenn White | |
| Secretary | Noel Williams | John Pearman | Glenn White | |
| Treasurer | Marilyn Hill | Phil Tew | John Pearman | |
| Concert Secretary | Mark Smith | Rob Cotter | Lyn Sullivan | |
| Social Secretary | ||||
| Public Relations Officer | Ian Williams | Gareth Lewis | Daryl Strong | |
| Librarian | Robert Cotter | Mike Williams | Chris Davies | |
| Section Leaders | ||||
| Top Tenor | Gerwyn James | Viv Griffiths | Howard Evans | |
| Second Tenor | Jon Machin | Glenn White | Mark Smith | |
| Baritone | Chris Davies | John Pearman | Stan Hill | |
| Bass | Gareth Lewis | Stuart Phillips | Mike Griffiths |
Mike Griffiths was prepared to continue as Social Secretary helping for social events but did not wish to be on the committee.
Retiring and new members were respectively thanked and welcomed.
Chairman: we will have a block vote. This duly took place and all were unanimously voted as per the nominations list.
To contact Charity Commission to update trustee registrations.
NW
11 Any Other Business:
No items for discussion.
12 Date of Next Annual General Meeting:
Noel Williams: the Members Handbook states ‘The AGM will normally be held on the third Friday of February each year, or as near to that date as possible.’ The term ‘normally’ does give us the flexibility to change the date. On this basis the AGM is planned for 20 February 2026.
Noel Williams – Secretary
Registered Charity Number 1195139
PORTHCAWL MALE CHOIR STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS- FOR YEAR ENDING 31st DECEMBER 2025 2024 CURRENT ACCOUNT INCOME ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS £6,120.5050 No. @ £135.00 £250.00'Life Members 2 No. Ireland Tour wrong account £250.00 Patrons { Inc in annual concert 2025 } £1,260.58 Raffle £3,006.88 Gift Aid £3.584.00 Social Events 1£1,170.00 Pub Quiz £450.OOWeddings £2,274.00 Funerals £567.70 Uniforms £1,166.00 Calendars 2024 1 2025 CD sales 'Legacy Donations £5,781.25,Annual cOnrt Sept 2025 Carol service conceit R M B 112 years I Concert £925.06 St Davids Day 20241 Porthcawl Swim £800.00 vetrans 200.00 High Sheriff 200.00 £400.00 Cardiff Uni 1300.00 Jolly Sailor 500.00 £250 00 Cancer Concert £100.00 Stroke club 100.00 Elvis concert 167.23 £372.00,Globe xmas concert 350AII Saints 2024 £29 077.97 £6,725.25 £6,725.25 £270.00 £270.00 £3.650.00 £1,271.80 £1.512.85 £3,242.00 £832.00 £1,450.00, £1,139.00 £328.60 £1,520.00 £10.000.00 £756.00 £25,702.25 £6,152.50 £1,294.45 £300.00 £600.00 £400.00 £1,800.00 £2,759.00 £267.23 £341.00 £400.00, £14,314.18,. TOTAL INCOME £47 011.68, EXPENDITURE L. £1,400.00 Our Lady Star of the Sea-Rent £1,540.OOArlinglon Church Rental SUBSCRIPTIONS TO AFFILLIATED BODIES £40.00 W.M.A.C. £313.00 Making Music 1. £132.58 Web Site Fees £155.00 Insurance £24.20 Sum up machine charges (payment machine) MUSICAL DIRÉCTORS £6,160.00 Musical Director £500.OOAccompanisl's Agnes £2:745.OOAccompanist's Mr. Richard Davis £2,400.00 £2,400.00 £40.00, £325.00 £365.00 £432.40 £155.00 £137.19" £724.59, ACCOMPANISTS £6.590.00 £200.OOi £2,980.00
£1,845.00 Accompanist's Mrs Laura D*nick £165.00 Conductor Mr Paul Deenick £2,535.00 £405.00 £12,710.00 2024 CURRENT ACCOUNT Cont'd EXPENDITURE Cont'd 2025 £917.91 Purchase of Sheet Music £262.86 New Equipment £2,831.50 Social Events £1,223.16 Performed ConrtS 2214.18'Annual Concert Sept 2024 £2,017.30 Uniforms £250.00 D. Evans Scholarship Award £453.40 Harris Printers Consumables £28.10,Postage C.D recording Food for recording day Account transfers - Tour account SUNDRIES Donation RNLI £515.94 295.98 £2,966.75 £5,111.00 £2,091.60 £503.40 £250.00 £743.25 £2.150.49 £400 00 £3,650.00 £150.00 £100.00 ChurGh floor repair £500.00 Donation Velindre Cancer Hosprtal £100.00 Donation Fred Funeral £45.00 Flowers £50.OOAudit present £34.00 £19,011.45 £35,211.04 TOTAL EXPENDITURE £26,013.19 £35,211.04 CURRENT ACCOUNT
Balance brought forward 31st December 2024 £10,132.77 ADO Income for 2025 £47 01168 £57.144.45 LESS Expenditure for 2025 £35.211.04 £21,933.41 TO SUMMARY £21,933.41 2024 2025 DEPOSIT ACCOUNT Baance as at 31st Dember 2024 £4,320.63 interest year 2025 £4.368.88 TO SUMMARY £4,368.88 2024TOUR FUND ACCOUNT INCOME £1.845.40 Cnoir Raffle Ireland Tour Quiz Transfer from CIA £1.524.30 £28,977 00 £3 650.00 £34,200.30 £28,980.67 TOTAL INCOME £34,200.30 EXPENDITURE Quiz transfer Ireland Tour £49.00 ,£37,506.00 £37,555.00 £30.354.17 TOTAL EXPÈNDITURE £37,555.00,
TOUR FUND ACCOLINT Balan forward from 31st Dec 2024 ADD Income for 2025 £7,766.15 £34.200 3QI L41,966 45 £37,555.00 £4 411.45 LESS Exper,diture for 2025 TO SUMMARY £4,411.45 SUMMARY CURRENT ACCOUNT DEPOSIT ACCOUNT TOUR FUND ACCOUNT £21,933.41 £4,368.88 £4,411.45 TOTAL FUNDS IN HAND as at 31st DECEMBER 2025 £30,713.74 STAT_EMENT OF ACCOUNTS- FOR YEAR ENDING 31st DECEMBER 2025 Cont'd BANK RECONCILLIATION CURRENT ACCOUNT Bank Slalement as al 31 sl December 2025 Less Unpresented Cheques Chq 03469 Richard Davis £22.133.41 £200.00 £200.00 £21 933.41 DEPOSIT ACCOUNT Bank stalement 31. December 2025 £4.368.88 £4 368.88 TOUR FUND ACCOUNT Bank Statement as at 31st December 2025 £4,411.45 £4 411.45 BANK RECONCILLIATION 31" DECEMBER 2025 £30 713.74 TREASURER Mrs MARILYN Hill Auditor Date 2L. Paae
Minutes of Annual General Meeting Held at RC Church Friday 14 March 2025
1 Present:
Action
Adrian Powis (Chairman), Noel Williams (Secretary), Marilyn Hill (Treasurer), Alec Brooks (Musical Director).
Rob Cotter, Viv Griffiths, Gareth Lewis, Jon Machin, Mark Smith, Ian Williams.
Roy Bowen, Mike Griffiths, Lawrence Hopkins, John Mathias, Stuart Phillips, John Wright.
Chris Evans, Mike Francis, Stan Hill, Ian Jacka, Roy Jeynes, John Pearman, Lyn Sullivan, Glenn White, Mike Williams.
Eddie Fearnley, Richard Harris, Tony Kavanagh, Haydn Wheeler.
Howard Evans.
Non-voting attendees: Laura Deenik, Matthew Bates, Gerwyn James, Tom Jordan.
2 Apologies:
Chris Davies, Malcolm Evans, Martin Griffiths, Colin Gronow, David Jones, Huw Jones, John Jones, Owain Jones, Brian Raybould, Gwyn Richards, Phil Rowe, Daryl Strong, Phil Tew, Ian Thomas.
3 Adoption of Minutes:
Adoption of Previous Minutes 9 February 2024
Proposed: Jon Machin Seconded: Mark Smith
Adoption of Minutes 14 March 2025
Proposed: Chris Evans Seconded: Mike Francis
4 Matters arising from Minutes:
Chairman: one matter arose from the minutes of the previous AGM and this has been actioned. This related to contacting the Charity Commission to update trustee registrations.
5 Notices of motion:
No notices of motion were submitted.
6 Chairman’s Report:
Copied from prepared script.
Welcome everyone to our AGM.
2024 was certainly a busy and eventful year for our Choir and my first year as Chairman trying to fill the boots of our previous Chairman John Pearman.
I want to begin by thanking everyone for the fantastic support I have had.
I’m very fortunate to have an amazing committee, a good committee always makes a Chairman’s role so much easier. Noel does a fantastic job working tirelessly as Secretary, always on the ball with his minutes and
Registered Charity Number 1195139
Marilyn works extremely hard in her role as Treasurer which isn’t an easy role when you consider our current economic climate. A big shout out to Mark our Concert Secretary for all his hard work and Ian for all he does with our social media and setting up our new web site.
Ian Williams: We have close to 950 followers on Facebook and 37,500 views in the last 28 days.
But every member of the committee contributes and I thank you all for giving up your time to help with the management of the choir.
I would also like to thank a number of our long serving Choir members who have supported me with their experience, in particular Roy, Stuart, Viv, John and Howard amongst others. We currently have 51 members. Last year we sadly lost Fred Draper in January and Kelvin Isaac in May and of course we are currently mourning the loss of another Choir stalwart in Phil Davies. But we continue to grow our ranks with a number of new members joining throughout the year. Gwyn Richards, Huw Jones, Matthew Bates, Steve Gibbins, Gerwyn James, Tom Jordan and Martin Griffiths. Like I said 2024 has been a very busy year and we have had to explore different ways of raising funds while our main concert venue, The Pavilion is still out of action.
We started the year at the end of January having been invited to sing at All Saints Church to celebrate 100 years of the British Legion. On the 10[th] February we were asked to sing at The Seagull prior to the England v Wales six nations game, a fun afternoon out for us all. March 1[st] saw us perform our St David’s Day concert at All Saints which was a real success. We also did our annual performance with the children at Porthcawl Primary School. On Sunday 28[th] April, which as I remember was a beautiful sunny spring day, we sang for a small crowd from the Porthcawl Veterans Hub at the Bowling Green, Griffin Park.
We were asked to perform at Porthcawl Rugby Club’s Sponsors Day and as usual we entertained their guests; we continue to have a fantastic relationship with the rugby club and are extremely grateful of the support they give us and we continue to use their facilities for our committee meetings. On 16[th] May we were invited by The Coastwatch to sing at All Saints Church.
Throughout May, every Wednesday evening, a quiz night and raffle were held at the Jolly Sailor, this proved to be very beneficial financially to us and we are hoping to replicate this again this year. These new types of events really help to boost our funds.
May also saw us moving to our new home at the Catholic Church Hall and whilst we will be eternally grateful to Arlington Road Church circumstances were such, we needed to find a new practice venue to ensure the future of the Choir. We looked at a number of options but agreed on the Catholic Church and I must say they have been absolutely fantastic, giving us our own little area for our equipment and music and space upstairs for uniform storage. I must say we have struck up a great working relationship with them.
We had a very successful social evening at the Grove Golf Club on Saturday 15[th] June but this was tinged with sadness as it was an event that had been originally organised by Kelvin. July was quite a busy month that saw us singing as usual on The Green in Newton for the annual Church Fayre, followed I’m sure with copious amounts of beer in the Jolly Sailor We also sang at Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club
We were also asked to sing at the funeral of Gunter Ehresmann in Chepstow, whilst we try to restrict our performances at funerals to local ones, we agreed and it turned out to be very different from most traditional funerals being more of a celebration of his life. Marcus his son arranged a coach for us and afterwards the celebration of Gunter’s life continued with food and beverages at The Boat Inn. Our Ladies Section arranged a coach trip to Stratford upon Avon, this was a huge success as usual and everyone had really enjoyable day.
I must say how grateful we are for all the ladies support, not only do they support us at all our concerts with raffles and ticket sales etc they do so much more raising money to support us with things like our ties and trousers etc. If any other ladies would like to join our Ladies Section, they would be more thank welcome. In August we were asked to sing at a 85[th] Birthday garden party at Kittiwake Close, Nottage, we were
Registered Charity Number 1195139
so well received and it was a really nice afternoon. It was so warm we decided to buy baseball caps for choristers.
September was again quite a busy month with our Annual Concert again being held at All Saints Church due to the out of action Pavilion. It was an exceptional evening as usual and our guest artist Rhiannon Herridge was really well received, again we performed to a sell-out audience. September also saw the Elvis Festival at the Hi-Tide and although the venue this time wasn’t as suitable for us as previous years an enjoyable afternoon was had by all. In October we sang at Pencoed Rugby Club for the Twinning Society, where we were received very well and gained some contacts In France.
We were also asked to sing for The Welsh Guards Veterans at Cosy Corner. A first for the choir at this new outdoor venue but one that proved very successful and a future venue we may well use again. We also sang at the Civic Service for the new Mayor of Porthcawl, Cllr Jeff Perren at All Saints Church.
November saw us sing as usual at the Annual Remembrance Day service at All Saints Church where a poppy wreath was laid on behalf of the choir by Colin Gronow an ex-para trooper. December saw the year quickly drawing to a close but as usual it was an extremely busy time for the choir. We began with performances at The Prince Wales and The Globe pubs. We also performed at the RNLI Christmas concert. Due to adverse weather our Annual Christmas Concert was cancelled. We also did our usual performance for The Stroke Club at Grove Golf Club. We sang at The Masonic Care Home, another annual Christmas event. This year for the first time we did a Concert in The Catholic Church, Our Lady Star of the Sea for our new friends there. To finish up the Christmas events a number of us did a wet session of carols and Christmas songs at the Jolly Sailor as a thank you for all their support. We have also sang at numerous weddings and funerals throughout the year. All in all, a very busy but successful year. Lots of different types of events, and we continue to try to find enjoyable, unique events such as the event on Paddington station. A big part of our enjoyment as a Choir is touring, unfortunately due to lack of interest we didn’t tour last year. But I’m very grateful to Howard and Chris for all the work they have put in to arrange our up-andcoming tour to Wexford.
We still have some availability if anyone else or friends and family would like to join us. Finally, I would like to give a huge thanks to our Musical Team
I believe Alec has done wonders with us over the last year, even getting us to sing pieces such as Bohemian Rhapsody, which I believe was shelved at one point proving too difficult in the past. We are very fortunate to have extremely talented accompanists in Richard and Laura and of course our stand in MD Paul, to whom we are extremely grateful for being able to take us on the occasions Alec hasn’t been available.
We are very blessed to have such a talented musical team.
A big thank you to the guys who move and set up all of our equipment for events, thank you all for your hard work.
And to Chris for ensuring no one ever gets away without buying a raffle ticket. Can I conclude by just thanking everyone for the friendship, commitment and sense of comradery you bring to the Choir.
Events for 2025 are already gaining momentum with lots of exciting things being organised. I wish you all well and look forward to all we do together over the coming year.
7 Musical Directors Report:
Alec Brooks: It has been a very enjoyable year, the same as the previous year. Choristers make this possible and it has been a pleasure to stand in front of them. Thanks also to the Musical Team, Laura who is here tonight, Richard and Paul. Thanks to the committee for their support and help throughout the year. The friendship of the choir has been very important. All are so friendly and thanks for the year and now looking forward to this year.
8 Treasurers Report:
Registered Charity Number 1195139
Copied from prepared script. Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024 were also distributed.
I’m pleased to present our annual accounts for 2024.
INCOME: 49 paid up members and donations from 2 life members. The patron’s donation was from Eynon with other patrons being in the annual concert figures. The gift aid of £3,006.80 for 2.5 years. Thank you to some of our ladies who did a month’s bucket collection at the Jolly Sailor quiz night which raised £1,170. The large amount for funerals was made up of donations from Fred Drapers widow Sally, Kelvin Isaac’s family, Marcus’s payment included the bus to Chepstow and the Fergie family. Our annual concert income was £5,781.25 even with reduced fees to our advertisers and supporters and reduced ticket prices this was a good outcome. We also did well with our concerts. EXPENDITURE: We are very lucky to have our new home at Our Lady Star of the Sea. Total rent paid £2,940 which included two extra months to Arlington Church before we left. We now as you know have a payment machine and the charges came to £24.20 this being 1.69% of each transaction. The cost of our musical team was £11,415, new equipment included £166.80 for the new card machine. After outgoings our annual concert raised £3,687.07. You all had new trousers and the new members new jumpers. We gave a donation of £500 to Velindre Cancer Centre. A good financial year all round with C/A finishing on £10,132.77. Our Deposit account earned £61.78 in interest and finished on £4,320.63. Our Tour account added £1,845.40 from the raffle and finished at £7,766.15. So, in total we hold £22,219.55 as at 31/12/2024. My thanks to Chris and all those who have collected money through the year. I feel the choir is in a strong financial position to go forward into 2025., and thanks to our wonderful committee for their help and advice.
Thanks, and praise to our Ladies Section who gave us £1,129.50 towards trousers and our new web site. My thoughts and prayers go to Kelvin Isaac who was our auditor, and to Philip Tew who kindly took on the job half way into the year, I am so grateful to him.
For the year ahead I propose subscriptions be increased by £10 from £125 to £135 this is £2.60 per week and I see as excellent value. Also an increase of £5 per practice for our musical director and accompanist. We have a quality team and I feel we need to show our appreciation.
The raffle I propose to keep splitting between the C/A and tour account. This will help build the tour account but help with the C/A if work starts to dry up in the year ahead.
On the notice board are our 2 account details, please use the correct account when transferring money. New members can pay by standing order monthly if they wish, if they are tax payers, please can they sign a gift aid declaration for us to claim back an extra 25%.
And to finish off thank you all for PAYING SELLING BUYING and parting with your cash on time, but most of all putting up with a woman in a male choir. Additional comments made during the presentation:
Treasurer: HMRC now make random requests for charity, to make a corporation tax return. This was completed by Noel Williams.
John Pearman: commented on the good work done to receive gift aid. Viv Griffiths: thanks to Marilyn Hill, one special person.
Treasurer: asked the meeting to vote on the proposed increase to subscriptions and the payments to the musical team. A show of hand indicated unanimous support for the increases.
9 Auditors Report:
Phil Tew, the auditor had given his apologies for not being able to attend the meeting. He had previously spoken to the Chairman and Secretary to express the high standard of work from the Treasurer, Marilyn Hill. He commented on how well the accounts had been maintained and prepared noting everything was in order.
10 Election of Officers:
Registered Charity Number 1195139
With the exception of Social Secretary, a single nomination was received for each position.
| Position | Nominee | Proposer | Seconder | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chairman | Adrian Powis | John Pearman | Phil Tew | |
| Vice Chairman | John Mathias | Roy Bowen | Glenn White | |
| Secretary | Noel Williams | John Pearman | Glenn White | |
| Treasurer | Marilyn Hill | Phil Tew | John Pearman | |
| Concert Secretary | Mark Smith | Rob Cotter | Lyn Sullivan | |
| Social Secretary | ||||
| Public Relations Officer | Ian Williams | Gareth Lewis | Daryl Strong | |
| Librarian | Robert Cotter | Mike Williams | Chris Davies | |
| Section Leaders | ||||
| Top Tenor | Gerwyn James | Viv Griffiths | Howard Evans | |
| Second Tenor | Jon Machin | Glenn White | Mark Smith | |
| Baritone | Chris Davies | John Pearman | Stan Hill | |
| Bass | Gareth Lewis | Stuart Phillips | Mike Griffiths |
Mike Griffiths was prepared to continue as Social Secretary helping for social events but did not wish to be on the committee.
Retiring and new members were respectively thanked and welcomed.
Chairman: we will have a block vote. This duly took place and all were unanimously voted as per the nominations list.
To contact Charity Commission to update trustee registrations.
NW
11 Any Other Business:
No items for discussion.
12 Date of Next Annual General Meeting:
Noel Williams: the Members Handbook states ‘The AGM will normally be held on the third Friday of February each year, or as near to that date as possible.’ The term ‘normally’ does give us the flexibility to change the date. On this basis the AGM is planned for 20 February 2026.
Noel Williams – Secretary
Registered Charity Number 1195139