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2024-06-30-accounts

LMB 2024 AGM minutes, 7 JULY 2024

Meeting opened by Chair at 2.40pm with thanks to Janet & Mike Hurford for hosting

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Iain, Denis, Paul, Mark, Kim, Dan, Stuart B, Andrew C, Cristina, Francesca, Lucy

Attendees : Stuart Pentecost, Jenny Bourne-Taylor, Helen Orpe, Tracy Connors, Craig & Jenny Boulton, Jon le Marquand, Kate Marrs Gant, Dee Waller-Box, Chris Lane, Janet & Mike Hurford, Lou Flandrin, Stephen Simblet, Stephen Grange, Caroline Copeland, Andrew Lidstone, Anna Skalski, Milly Dyer, Yoshime Igarashi, Jordan Jones, Alex Jones

2. APPROVAL OF THE 2023 AGM MINUTES

Minutes approved

3. REPORTS FROM THE OUTGOING COMMITTEE MEMBERS/TRUSTEES

Treasurer

(see updated Treasurer’s report)

Question re uniform - why do we keep them? We use uniforms when someone volunteers to manage them (retrieving from absentees, getting one to deps etc.). No-one has been available over the last year to do this work so the uniforms have not been used but we hope someone will in the future.

Secretary

Retiring secretary outlined the role: to manage approaches to the band from potential joiners and work out together with MDs where the person has best fit within our bands. Learners course was very successful - big effort to find instruments and venue but then the course ran smoothly thanks to coaches and helpers. About one third of learners have joined the band subsequently. Dee has kindly agreed to help structure the next course and train our volunteer trainers. In future we will focus more on non-cornets and encourage cornets to get their own lessons and join Monday directly when ready..

We ran an Autumn social and awards evening again which was much enjoyed by all.

Question : did we ask why people didn’t join up after the course? We ran an exit survey at the end which scored very positively. Only 2 dropped out during the course. Reasons for not following through include logistics, time requirement, changing commitments or just don’t enjoy or progress as much as hoped.

Question : can we make it easier for Monday to accommodate the influx of joiners? This is a difficult transition for all - MD needs to be a teacher as much as a conductor - sectionals will be useful and we have the space to do this more often at our new venue.

Question : what is required of volunteer helpers on the course? Don’t need to be expert - instructions will be provided. Next time we aim to find more helpers from Weds and Thursday bands. We may use some time after the Xmas concert to brief potential helpers.

Chair

It has been an honour to be your Chair this year. Our 10th anniversary concert with all three bands was a huge success as was our joint Xmas concert and the very successful carolling season.

This year we restarted the Learner's course and welcomed many new members in our musical community - we now have around 110 people on our books. We provided 144 individual rehearsals, and 8 learners sessions = that’s a total of 152 evenings taken up by band activity (without taking into account concerts!)

This takes a huge amount of work and we are very grateful to everyone who helps make the band what it is:

This year, an extra thanks to our volunteers who helped out with the learners course.

Community Band rep

This year we welcomed 9 new members - every part is now covered, and we even have a full bass section.

Our Christmas and anniversary concerts were very successful and the summer season is going well - this week will be the 3rd and 4th gigs of the season.

Thanks very much to Dee for an excellent 2nd year leading the band with enthusiasm and fun new music.

Thanks to all the band members - we’re getting excellent turnout at rehearsals and gigs, nice improvement, and very little need for deps.

Thanks to Kim our librarian, Stuart our CUFOS custodian, Louise our tea monitor, drum transporters, and Lucy for stepping up as principal cornet.

Looking forward to another great year with Community band!

Beginners Band rep

The band currently has around 40 members, with about 25 attending regularly each week. Our membership consists of a core group of regular attendees and others who move on to different groups. We are delighted to welcome the new players who have joined us this year, and we hope they enjoy their time learning and playing with us.

We are very grateful for the help of our outgoing Musical Director, Iain Macdonald, whose guidance and support were invaluable during our concerts at the Grove in Muswell Hill, Holy Innocents in Crouch End, and various caroling performances.

A special thanks goes to everyone who attends and contributes to the band's success. We particularly want to acknowledge Wanda and Dave for their exceptional support in managing

the library. Our wonderful backup conductors, Stuart Pentecost, Simon, and to the irrepresssible Denis Desmond who has stepped in numerous times. We are very grateful for their assistance.

We are also thankful for the ongoing support and dedication of the LMB committee, especially Mike Hurford. A special mention goes to Lou Flandrin for her hardworking and creative efforts in organizing the move of the Monday Beginner Band to our new venue at Emmanuel Church, N7, from our previous rehearsal space at Stroud Green Primary School. Lastly, thanks to Kate Marrs Gant, who will be representing the Beginner's Band on the committee or the upcoming year.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to another successful year for the band. We look forward to continuing our musical journey together.

Mark was thanked for his term as Beginners Band Representative.

Senior Band rep

Thursday Band has had a fun and fruitful year. There are currently 38 members with the membership consisting of a core of regular attendees. Sorry to see Cat leave this year but welcome Jordan and Andrew C to the band.

Denis has been great this year in directing the Band to get us to perform well in important concerts including the 10th Anniversary concert with the Wednesday and Monday bands and the Christmas concert as well as gigs throughout the year. We would look to band members committing themselves to be available for gigs so that we can represent the band as best we can.

Holy Innocents Church has been supportive of the band throughout the year hosting us for the 10th Anniversary and Christmas concerts and the band supporting the Palm Sunday service and we are grateful to Fr Ben and MD Andrew making the church available to us for rehearsals when Middle Lane Church is not available.

Thanks to everyone in Thursday band for your dedication to playing good music, welcoming and supporting your bandmates and making it enjoyable. Please keep working hard in rehearsals and committed concerts. On a personal note, I hope to return to band in a few weeks when I am fit. We look forward to another successful year to progress and play good music.

4. COMMENTS FROM MUSICAL DIRECTORS

5. ELECTION OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS/TRUSTEES

The new committee was elected unopposed by a show of hands.

6. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Lou : a couple of points to mention:

We will be running members surveys for Community & Senior band to help plan the year ahead. A similar survey for Beginners band provided valuable insights and it enables us to develop and continue to deliver what our membership wants, so please do fill it in!

A final note to remind people about our Code of Conduct. We want our band to be a safe place where our members - but also our volunteers and our MDs - are treated with respect and positivity. This is extremely important especially as we continue to grow and I would like everyone to take the time to read the code of conduct again. This also enables us to have more efficient rehearsals and improve performance at gigs.

If people have concerns or complaints to make, please do approach a committee member directly. Raising complaints in a public setting like WhatsApp group isn't the best way and can lead to misunderstandings.

To finish on a more positive note, I wanted to thank you again for your support for the band and for your support of my role as Chair. We have lots to do this upcoming year and would love more support! We hope to be able to run the learners course again in 2025.

7. CLOSE OF MEETING

October 1, 2024

London Metropolitan Brass Treasurer’s Report for FY24

I am pleased to report that your band ends our eleventh financial year in a strong financial position despite the current economic environment.

Summary - we generated a small surplus of £933 (see details below and accounts overleaf). This offsets the small deficit of £710 from the previous financial year.

Revenue – Total revenue for the year was £26959. Subs were £1720 higher than last year with an average of 70 subspaying members up from about 60 the previous year. As a registered charity, we also received GiftAid totalling £3214 from the government for 25% of subs paid by Wednesday and Thursday players who have completed the GiftAid form and also some GiftAid for carolling bucket collections. This is higher than normal as it covers an 18 month period up to December 2023 – in future it will cover calendar years.

NB it remains our policy that no-one is precluded from our activities due to financial hardship – please speak to a member of the committee if you are struggling to pay your subs.

Carolling income at £3709 was a record (plus GiftAid on bucket collections noted above). Our 10[th] anniversary concert raised £1354 - gig income is unlikely to be so high in future years. Our annual Xmas concert for the foodbank raised over £2000 but does not show in our accounts as the church managed ticket sales this year.

Expenditure – total expenditure was £26026 of which the largest part is remuneration / expenses of MDs. These are higher than last year due to the professionals we paid to help with our free learners course in February/March.

We spent £1264 on new sheet music – this is rather higher than prior years as MDs extended repertoires across all three bands.

Room hire costs (£6231) have increased as Monday band has moved to a higher cost venue with better facilities. Costs have also increased at CUFOS although these remain low compared to alternatives.

The band incurred significant costs in web advertising as we relaunched LMB after covid – this finished last summer but all the costs (£2000) are included in these accounts. In future we expect advertising costs to be closer to pre-covid levels of £100-200/year.

Member contributions to the costs of our tours to Whit Friday and Bandemonium very largely offset costs incurred.

Other costs that we would not normally incur include £180 associated with the anniversary concert.

Non-financial assets – we own non-financial assets with a cost of £15887 (mainly in music, instruments, uniforms and stand banners). However, we anticipate some write-offs this year as we would still like to sell three timpani that we do not use. We have cleaned out obsolete music from our library but do not attribute any value to this.

Outlook – we are running close to breakeven and do not anticipate any financial problems in running our activities this coming year.

Wednesday and Thursday players who pay income tax in excess of their subs who have not completed a GiftAid form are asked to consider this as it will allow LMB to claim 25% of subs paid from the government (£45/year). Higher or additional rate payers can receive further tax back via their self-assessment tax return.

NB this is an updated version of the report presented to the AGM in July corrected for the timing of small amounts of income and expenditure around the start of F24.

Mike Hurford – Treasurer October 1[st] 2024

London Metropolitan Brass Accounts – 2024 financial year end

Income
Subs
Cash subs
Subs GiftAid
Gig
Carols
Carols GASDS
Charity
Other
Whits/tour
IWD Project
Donation
Total
Expenditure
Conductor
Tuition
Music
Room hire
Web
Printing
PRS
Insurance
Equipment
Transport
Donation
Dep
Storage
Gig
AGM
Charity
Library
Whits/tour
IWD Project
Other
Total
Surplus / (Deficit)		 F24
1 Jul 2023 to 30 Jun 2024
Total
12955
0
2419
2514
3709
795
325
0
4243
0
0
26959
-9012
0
-1264
-6231
-2095
0
-261
-151
-100
-814
0
-140
0
-12
0
-325
-150
-4640
0
-830
-26026
933		 F23
F24-F23
1 Jul 2022 to 30 Jun 2023
Total
Change
11235
1720
0
0
1237
1182
580
1934
3549
160
322
472
761
-437
116
-116
5079
-835
70
-70
0
0
22948
4010
-4839
-4173
-2840
2840
-461
-803
-5812
-418
-262
-1832
0
0
-265
4
-99
-52
-155
55
0
-814
0
0
-120
-20
0
0
0
-12
-99
99
-761
437
-51
-99
-5642
1002
-1367
1367
-826
-4
-23600
-2426
-652
1585

Band property (equipment and music)

Equipment
Music
Gross total
Lost/damaged
Net property		 -5373
-10514
-15887
-61
-15826

Mike H mikejhurford@gmail.com

Re: LMB accounts examination

1 message

Luke Guymer luke.guymer.uk@gmail.com To: Mike H mikejhurford@gmail.com

11 October 2024 at 15:48

Hi Mike,

For compleatness:

I can confirm I have reviewed the band accounts for 2023/24 and from the samples taken the accounts appear to be accurate and complete.

Regards

Luke Guymer ACCA

On Fri, 11 Oct 2024, 15:44 Luke Guymer, luke.guymer.uk@gmail.com wrote:

Hi Mike,

Thanks for getting back to me on those ones.

The accounts look fine. My only comment is that there were a few costs relating to prior years, such as transport and advertising costs. As we prepare the accounts on a cash basis this is not a major issue, it just makes it harder to understand our actual running costs for the period.

I am happy to sign off on these.

Thanks

Luke

On Fri, 11 Oct 2024, 15:05 Mike H, mikejhurford@gmail.com wrote: Hi Luke, Thanks for dealing with this - answers as follows:

The online advertising was all paid and recorded in the financial year (Craig had organised and paid monthly but only advised me when we decided to stop as it had become too expensive).

GiftAid was higher mainly due to an extra 6 months being included to get up to date - it will be lower in future years. Transport costs were anomalous this year - Craig Glenday uses taxis to move his drum kit for concerts and had not billed us for a couple of years so there were 6 old concerts to pay for to catch up as well as more normal items. Typically this will be of the order of £200/year.

In terms of going concern, costs and revenues are roughly balanced. Membership is slowly increasing. If operating costs were to increase significantly we'd try to raise more from carolling or possibly increase subs. Invoices requested are attached - let me know if you have any more questions. Many thanks, Mike

On Wed, 9 Oct 2024 at 18:27, Luke Guymer luke.guymer.uk@gmail.com wrote: Hi Mike,

I have reviewed the accounts. Thanks for attaching bank statements, reports and spreadsheets. I have been able to check most things from this.

I just have a few comments / questions below:

Advertising costs

You mentioned 2,000 in the report. I assume this is the Web costs in the spreadsheet. Am I right in understanding that this relates to the last 3 years costs, but was all paid in this year, so has been included in this years books?

Subs - Gift Aid

This is much higher (95% higher) than last year. What is the reason behind this?

Transport

We didn't have this last year. I can see it relates to moving percussion. Why have we not had this previous years?

Going Concern / Future forecast

We had £1.3k (anniversary concert) one off income and £2k (advertising) one off expenses this financial year. Ignoring these we are still generating a small surplus. Excluding these one off costs do we expect most other income / expenses are in line with this year in future?

Invoice Sample

Could you send me copies of invoice/receipt/backup for the following:

21 June 2024 Bandemonium
conductor room		 -220.00 Whits/tour F24 Whits/tour F24 294 CraigBoulton
1 February2024 Brass Band
England sub		 -245.70 Other F24 Other F24 DD BBE
19 July2023 Music Laudate
Dominum		 -59.95 Music F24 Music F24 170 M Hurford

Many Thanks

Luke

On Tue, 1 Oct 2024 at 18:01, Mike H mikejhurford@gmail.com wrote:

Fantastic. I'm attaching my master spreadsheet as at year end (June 30th 2024) with tabs for income, expenditure and "Annual Summaries" which drives the accounts reported at the AGM. Also scans of opening and closing bank balances and report to the AGM. There's a slight complication. Bank statements show: Opening balance £11881.75 Closing balance £12814.74 Surplus £932.99

The report I showed at the AGM had a surplus of £791... when I prepared that I failed to notice that (during F24) I had dated as F23 £100 x 2 income for gigs in F23 that were paid in F24 and similarly for an expense of £58. I've corrected these to show the date money paid / received so the actual F24 surplus is £933. I also attach the corrected treasurers report that I have sent to committee and will file with charity commission (once you have completed examination). Please let me know any questions. Many thanks, Mike

On Tue, 1 Oct 2024 at 14:10, Luke Guymer luke.guymer.uk@gmail.com wrote: Hi Mike,

Yes I will certainly review them again.

Now I know what I'm doing it should be a lot more straight forward. I should have a lot less questions this time.

Thanks

Luke

On Tue, 1 Oct 2024, 13:07 Mike H, mikejhurford@gmail.com wrote:

Hi Luke, I hope you're well. Would you be able to examine our accounts as you did last year? Hopefully a bit easier second time! Many thanks, Mike