Trustees Annual Report 2023.
SW15 Music.
Charity registration number: 1197468
Date of registration: 12th January 2022
Address: The Community Clubroom. Toland Square Roehampton London SW15 5PA
Website: www. sw15music.org
Names of trustees.
Rowshara Zaman (chair)
Roger Stanislaus Sarah Laue Paul Vincent
Aims and objectives.
The primary aim of the project is to provide young people with access to musical instrument tuition and learning to play in a band all completely free of charge. This is to ensure there are no financial barriers to participation.
The project works with young people aged between 6-18 years some of whom facing specific challenges. Over the years participants have been referred for a range of complex issues including risk of anti-social behaviour and exploitation, eating disorders, autism, gender dysphoria, agoraphobia, ADHD and depression. Participants have formed bands and been assisted to play at UK venues and festivals, also providing music workshops at these events for other young people.
The primary ethos of SW15 Music is to teach young people to play guitar, bass guitar, drums, piano and ukulele free of charge. Once young people have learned to play, they are given a guitar or ukulele if their family are not in a position to provide an instrument. These are guitars that have been donated, or bought cheaply, and repaired to a good standard. The project has also, in the past, been able to give two drum kits to young learners.
Apart from teaching young people how to play an instrument of their choice the objectives include building the confidence of the young people by encouraging them to form a band and preform at local venues. They are also required to help teach the ukulele to other young people at the ukulele workshops SW15 Music hold in local schools and at music festivals. This further
encourages the building of their confidence through the process of teaching and of helping others.
Activities, achievements and performance.
In our second year as a charity, we have been able to maintain the number of young people that have joined the sessions we run each week. These are young people from within the London Borough of Wandsworth and also our neighbouring boroughs of Merton and Richmond. We have also had two young people from the estate where the charity meets join the project. We have been pleased to welcome young people that are in Local Authority Care or engaged with Children’s Services and a couple of young people who have needed to flee their war-torn home countries have remained with the project. Over the year we have had around twelve young people attending weekly and another six who have attended infrequently.
The project facilitated a ukulele workshop in Roehampton Library and a band performance for approximately twenty participants.
SW15 music facilitated a ukulele workshop and band performance at the Borough of Merton’s ‘Children looked After’ fun day and a ukulele workshop in a local primary school. We believe the above provides a community benefit.
At the Weyfest Music Festival young people from SW15 Music performed as a band, over the three-day event, in addition to facilitating the ukulele workshops. They also performed for young people at Barnfest in Isleworth, a festival for young people with learning and physical disabilities.
They also played at the Half Moon venue in Putney, as part of a youth talent day, and at the Wimbledon Common Open Day.
SW15 Music welcomed large numbers of young people into the festival tent at Weyfest for the twice daily ukulele workshops and jam sessions. These sessions were facilitated by the young people from SW15 Music and overseen and supervised by the adult volunteers. Each session had an average attendance of approximately 25 participants. Over the three day event we taught about 120 children and young people. We also had some of the parents join in.
When not facilitating workshops or performing our young people were on hand to support any young people that wanted to have a go at playing one of our instruments or singing with our band backing them.
SW15 Music welcomed large numbers of young people into the festival tent at Weyfest for the twice daily ukulele workshops and jam sessions. These sessions were facilitated by the young people from SW15 Music and overseen and supervised by the adult volunteers. Each session had an average attendance of approximately 25 participants.
SW15 music were able to take two of the project participants to the Glastonbury Festival. This was for a five-day period where the young people, assisted by a team of adult music professionals, facilitated drum and guitar workshops. They also played the backing tracks for young people who wanted to record songs in the mobile recording studio that was in the Kidz Field area at the festival.
The project donated ten guitars to the Katherine Low Project in Battersea to enable them to provide music classes for their attendees and we also donated four guitars and one keyboard to young people who attended our project whose carers were not in a position to purchase instruments.
Similar to last year we look forward to welcoming more young people from countries such as Ukraine and Afghanistan over the next year. Whilst initially we have had language communication issues, the power of learning to play a instrument and becoming part of a group has overcome this, with participants returning week after week.
Our patrons have maintained an interest in the project and we have maintained regular contact with them.
We have remained fortunate to have a number of people who have donated guitars, keyboards and drums. We have gifted some of these instruments to young people who attend the project and have not in a position to purchase a instrument.
Young people from SW15music have continued to form duo’s, trio’s and bands to perform in public, assisting other charities to raise funds, for example, The Basement Door in Richmond.
One young person that moved on to study at university has maintained contact with the project and has come back to help out when free.
Two of the young people have chosen to remain with SW15 music after their eighteenth birthday as volunteer/ mentors.
SW15 Music has been faced with the worry about the future of the Community Clubroom where we rent a room to facilitate our weekly group. Wandsworth Borough housing plan is to demolish the clubroom and build 22 social housing flats. This was announced in March 2022 and has been a concern to us, from that initial announcement, with regard to us finding alternative facilities in Roehampton. Fortunately, we have been given assurances by the Local Authority, that a new clubroom will be provided with specific facilities to enable our project to continue. We have met with the people commissioning the new clubroom and agreed on the design of the space being provided for the project. One area of uncertainty remains and that is the cost to the project of future charges for the use of the new clubroom.
Going forward the plan remain to try and recruit more young people from the immediate area now we have had some reassurance that we will be provided with a room to hold our weekly sessions. The project coordinator has had contact with several local schools who would like the project to provide ukulele workshops. Local gigs and festival attendances are also planned to continue.
Structure.
The SW15 weekly sessions have remained structured in a manner to give everyone space and an opportunity to achieve their full potential. Early afternoons are where music sessions for six year olds and junior school children take place. As the afternoon progresses the age of the
young people attending rises, with teenagers up to the age of eighteen playing and rehearsing until 20.30hrs.
All parents and guardians are consulted regarding their children to assess for allergies or any special needs each individual might have.
The day trips and weekend activities such as festivals, are risk assessed separately and addressed accordingly.
Volunteers.
The work of the charity has been primarily facilitated volunteers. One currently the project manager, one acting as treasurer, one parent volunteer and four others helping with music tuition and other general duties. We are pleased that one of the volunteers is an ex user of the project. Two new volunteers joined SW15 music this year. Les Evans Hill, a Senior Data Manager at Butterfly Conservation, who teaches guitar and Emily Buckley Bunn, a Durham University Graduate, who teaches piano. Without the volunteers, and especially the project manager who started the charity, the project would not be viable.
Finances.
Running costs are met by donations, the sale of surplus equipment and payment to the project for performances of the band and facilitating ukulele workshops. The project has run on the goodwill of volunteers and the outgoings are relatively low.
SW15 Music has continued to receive donations of instruments from friends of the project. Also a local artist has donated a percentage of her sales of pictures to the project. PB Leisurewear continued to support the project by providing T shirts for the young people and volunteer team free of charge.
Like most small charities fundraising remains a challenge. We started the year with a balance of £3,816. Over the course of the year the SW15 Music sold surplus musical instruments and raised approximately £800. £500 was paid to the project for performances during the year and a further £700 was received from the PayPal Giving Fund. The total income over the course of the year was £2,338 some £3,400 less than the previous year.
The main expenditure has been the purchase of equipment, musical and IT (approximately £1,650), the cost of hiring minibuses for transport to various gigs (£200) and the rent for the use of the room at Toland Square (£500). The total expenditure for the year was £3,619. This has resulted in a balance of £2,535 some £1,300 less than the previous year. This is explained by the purchase of much needed equipment which will not need to be repeated in subsequent years. The day to day running costs of the project remain low and the overall financial position is secure.
All expenditure was agreed/reported to the trustees.
We have not formulated any plan for the yearly surplus other than it must remain above the cost of renting the room for the next financial year (currently £1000). There are plans to apply for small grants from various grant awarding bodies in order to generate some income and to continue to play at gigs for a fee. Given our low running costs, and the current balance, there is no immediate risk to the charity maintaining its current activities.
Management.
The day-to-day management of the project has been undertaken by the project coordinator Mr. William Marney. He has maintained regular contact with the trustees to keep us informed of events, progress, challenges, expenditure, and future plans. There is now a trustees WhatsApp group where information has been regularly shared and views sought as necessary. This has been a significant improvement for our trustees to keep up to date with the project. Mr Marney has been excellent at keeping us informed via WhatsApp.
There has been two trustees meetings during the course of the year. We meet to discuss the running of the charity. We met on the 6th January 2023 and the 16[th] October 2023. During these meetings we seek general updates about the running of the organisation, events attended and future booked events. We discuss fundraising opportunities and patronage. We received updates from the project coordinator and the finance officer.
The trustees have attended various events throughout the year where SW15 Music have been performing as well as the weekly sessions. One of the trustees (Sarah) also volunteered to help at the Weyfest Festival this year.
Rowshara Zaman
Chair
29[th] October 2024
| SW15 Music accounts for year ending 31/12/2023 | SW15 Music accounts for year ending 31/12/2023 | Statement Date: | Statement Date: | 28/10/2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c/o M.Comins | Date Due: | 31/10/2024 | |||||
| 100 Ribblesdale Road, London, SW16 6SR | Accounts ending: | 31/12/2023 | |||||
| SW15 Music | |||||||
| Community Club Room | |||||||
| Toland Square, London, SW15 5PF | |||||||
| DATE | Column1 | CHARGES CREDITS |
ACCOUNT |
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| ~~BALANCE~~ | |||||||
| Date | Descrip2on | Money out | Money in | Balance | |||
| (£) | (£) | (£) | |||||
| 01/01/2023 | Balance brought forward from 2022 | 3,816.49 | |||||
| 03/01/2023 | Guitar holder rack stand | £ 27.99 |
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| 09/01/2023 | Deposit | £ 25.00 |
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| 19/01/2023 | Boss pedal board | £ 44.95 |
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| 20/01/2023 | Boss pedal case | £ 19.58 |
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| 22/01/2023 | Keyboard sale | £ 100.00 |
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| 25/01/2023 | AC power adaptor | £ 4.99 |
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| 16/02/2023 | Cash withdrawal-payment for performance to Teddy, Maddy and Olivia. | £ 150.00 |
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| 20/02/2023 | Parking at Kensington Town Hall for gig. | £ 15.00 |
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| 28/02/2023 | guitar tuner | £ 4.99 |
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| 04/03/2023 | Cash withdrawal-Ibanez electro-acous2c purchase-J.Lewis | £ 80.00 |
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| 10/03/2023 | Guitar strings | £ 5.86 |
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| 21/03/2023 | Franco Signs | £ 18.00 |
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| 25/03/2023 | Paypal inward payment | £ 0.01 |
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| 27/03/2023 | Posi2ve Grid-guitar amps | £ 511.20 |
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| 05/04/2023 | Guitar capo’s | £ 14.35 |
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| 11/04/2023 | Posi2ve Grid-guitar amps | £ 213.60 |
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| 27/04/2023 | Paypal inward payment-paypal giving fund | £ 578.13 |
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| 09/05/2023 | Charity phone contract | £ 11.89 |
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| 09/05/2023 | DBS checks | £ 40.00 |
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| 09/05/2023 | Cash withdrawal-guitar repairs-R.Smith | £ 50.00 |
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| 16/05/2023 | Curry’s-laptop | £ 279.00 |
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| 30/05/2023 | Curry’s refund-laptop | £ 279.00 |
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| 01/06/2023 | Curry’s-laptop | £ 499.00 |
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| 05/06/2023 | South Coast Flag Poles. Promo2onal fag and pole. | £ 56.95 |
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| 06/06/2023 | Charity phone contract | £ 11.89 |
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| 07/06/2023 | Vodafone topup | £ 10.00 |
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| 09/06/2023 | Waitrose | £ 8.50 |
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| 20/06/2023 | Robert Dyas | £ 11.99 |
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| 26/06/2023 | Paypal inward payment | £ 4.73 |
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| 28/06/2023 | Hiscox | £ 76.48 |
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| 04/07/2023 | Petrol-volunteers | £ 69.59 |
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| 05/07/2023 | RBKC payment | £ 195.00 |
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| 05/07/2023 | Cash withdrawal-sundries for music room (water, biscuits etc) | £ 20.00 |
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| 05/07/2023 | Cash withdrawal-reimbursement expenses for young people working at Glastonbury. | £ 100.00 |
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| 06/07/2023 | Post Ofce | £ 4.19 |
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| 06/07/2023 | Charity phone contract | £ 11.89 |
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| 07/07/2023 | Vodafone topup | £ 10.00 |
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| 01/08/2023 | Timpson-door lock | £ 27.00 |
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| 08/08/2023 | Charity phone contract | £ 11.89 |
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| 12/08/2023 | Cash withdrawal-purchase D10 Roland keyboard | £ 100.00 |
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| 15/08/2023 | Vodafone topup | £ 10.00 |
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| 17/08/2023 | Cash withdrawal Weyfest Fes2val Expenses | £ 100.00 |
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| 21/08/2023 | Lidl | £ 5.70 |
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| 25/08/2023 | R.Nasta ukuleles and keyboard stand | £ 55.00 |
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| 01/09/2023 | Circuit breakers for clubroom. | £ 49.14 |
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| 06/09/2023 | Charity phone contract | £ 11.89 |
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| 12/09/2023 | Vodafone topup | £ 10.00 |
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| 13/09/2023 | Wandsworth Community transport-minibus hire | £ 196.00 |
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| 30/09/2023 | Cash withdrawal-payment for performance to seven young people. Barnfest. | £ 70.00 |
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| 09/10/2023 | Charity phone contract | £ 11.89 |
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| 17/10/2023 | Vodafone topup | £ 10.00 |
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| 18/10/2023 | Sale of guitar | £ 200.00 |
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| 27/10/2023 | Sale of guitar | £ 100.00 |
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| 28/10/2023 | Sale of guitar | £ 50.00 |
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| 07/11/2023 | Charity phone contract | £ 11.89 |
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| 07/11/2023 | Sale of guitar | £ 20.00 |
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| 14/11/2023 | L M Nasta Weyfest payment | £ 300.00 |
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| 21/11/2023 | Payment from Basement Door-Fender | £ 60.00 |
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| 22/11/2023 | Sale of guitar | £ 120.00 |
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| 24/11/2023 | Sale of guitar | £ 50.00 |
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| 06/11/2023 | Credit adjustment | £ 11.89 |
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| 30/11/2023 | Gear4music | £ 24.98 |
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| 04/12/2023 | Toland Square Community Clubroom-rent for room | £ 500.00 |
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| 12/12/2023 | Vodafone topup | £ 9.00 |
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| 21/12/2023 | Sale of amp-R McKoy | £ 90.00 |
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| 26/12/2023 | Sale of guitar | £ 50.00 |
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| 27/12/2023 | Wix-web page renewal | £ 23.26 |
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| 30/12/2023 | Paypal inward payment-paypal giving fund | £ 104.73 |
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| Totals | £ 3,619.52 |
£ 2,338.49 |
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| Balance as at 31/12/23 | 2,535.46 | ||||||