Gŵyl Fel ‘Na Mai Festival – Trustees Report 

## **ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE Charitable activities** 

During the last financial year, we as trustees and supporters succeeded to organise and hold another ‘Gŵyl Fel ‘Na Mai’ – a Welsh music festival in the community for the third year. Our community festival is a family event where people of all ages can experience live music. Our intention is to provide a variety of entertainment that will include performances by local and national individuals and bands to expand and reinforce the artistic and expressive experiences of the youth and attendees of all ages. As well as promoting the Welsh language, our charity managed to hold additional events during the year, organized to promote talent and give young people a platform to develop their creativity, artistic and cultural skills.  We feel that it is important for us to invest in young people and we are passionate about planning activities to give young people the opportunity to nurture and develop their talents and generate interest and pride in Welsh culture. We work closely with Menter Iaith Sir Benfro and Dysgu Cymraeg to achieve our aims. 

We ensured that we offered a variety of contemporary music to a wide range of ages and backgrounds in the Welsh language by organizing and providing entertainment of different 'genres' from the Welsh music scene and an opportunity for attendees to have the chance to listen to popular, exciting local and national professional musicians, bands and individuals e.g. Jess, Dafydd Iwan, Al Lewis a’r band, HMS Morris, Cleif Harpwood a’r band, Lowri Evans, Fleur de Lys and many others.  In addition, this year we have started to expand and develop musical provision occasionally throughout the year - this includes folk evenings, workshops and instrumental training and a competition for new musicians and bands. 

We are also delighted and proud to have given a platform to local talents to show their talents at the Festival, especially the youth e.g. local school pupils, individuals, duos, instrumental groups and choirs. This attracted parents to the Festival and captured their interest in Welsh culture, especially those who did not speak Welsh. 

We ensured that we provided purposeful and exciting activities for young children at the Festival by identifying a specific area and preparing various activities and sessions e.g. ukulele workshops, silent disco, singing / moving sessions with experts, stories, various crafts including a focus on instruments and music.  There is good collaboration between the individuals of the committee, who have extensive experience with children and youth - organizations such as the local Cylch Meithrin, the children and youth officers of Menter Iaith Sir Benfro and creative individuals and teachers in the community. We feel that it is very important to introduce music to children at a young age and foster their interest by presenting an exciting and energetic activity and presenting Welsh traditions and culture in a playful way.   We wanted to ensure that we also included suitable activities for teenagers and provided a mobile recording studio that allowed the young people to venture into composing, experiment with technology and record their efforts individually or in a group under the guidance of experts in the field. 

The Richard and Wyn, - Ail Symudiad Memorial Prize competition was held in February, an annual competition for individuals and young bands within the counties of Pembroke, Carmarthen and Ceredigion, to encourage them to learn and cultivate artistic skills and develop their confidence to perform in front of an audience. Leading up to this event collaboration was taken place with Menter Iaith Sir Benfro to organize a popular professional musician, namely Mei Gwynedd to hold workshops in Pembrokeshire schools and College to learn and foster composition and performance skills and develop their confidence to form a band or perform as solo artists. This year's winner, the band Gelert, had the opportunity to perform on one of the Festival's stages as part of their prize. 



Our folk music development is going from strength to strength with several ukulele workshops being organized and following the success of these, several informal folk music evenings were organized around local venues where locals jammed and sang traditional Welsh folk songs.  These proved very successful.  We also held a folk music night with the world-famous folk band, Ar Log to celebrate St David's Day.  We see the Folk element as a way of building on the reach of the festival, engaging with individuals from isolated and secluded villages, and achieving our ambition of music for everyone Our main marketing vehicle is our website. This is developed and updated on regularly throughout the year, with the period before Christmas being an essential productive time in terms of ensuring that we reach a wide audience through newsletters and an offer of cheaper tickets for attendees of the previous festivals on a 'first come, first served' basis.  We managed to sell many tickets during this pre-Christmas period, which ensured that we had funding to secure the booking of bands and purchase resources such as gazebos, festival cups, bespoke decorations etc. 

Other methods of marketing are used in the two months leading up to the Festival in order to raise awareness, promote and create interest, including interviews on Radio BBC Cymru and magazine programs on S4C television; frequent messages and posts on Social media platforms; emails to local schools, colleges and universities; posters in public places locally e.g. shops and local papers.  The messages are also shared nationally through our partners such as Menter Iaith Sir Benfro, Mudiad Meithrin and Welsh for Adults. 

We hold regular meetings of the full committee monthly throughout the year and we started planning and sharing ideas for the next Festival immediately after the Festival in May this year. The feedback and comments of the attendees were considered, and the positive responses were well documented as constructive ideas to improve for our plans when preparing and organizing the next festival. Our partners and festival participants were also asked to evaluate our arrangements, by means of email and/or social media and these were documented and recommendations noted. 

As well as holding meetings, the members of the committee are in constant contact on a WhatsApp group and email when quick decisions are needed to be made to facilitate and move the preparations forward and share ideas and solve problems. Closer to the festival date we worked closely with our partners and other participants who make it possible for us to hold the festival, such as technical providers, security related providers, catering providers etc. 

## **Charitable activities** 

The rules and constitution of Gŵyl Fel ‘Na Mai is available for the members and the public to read on the website. The above list of activities demonstrates the demand for our community festival. 

## **Financial Review** 

## **Reserves policy** 

It is currently the policy of the charity to maintain unrestricted funds, which are the free reserves of the charity at a level which equates to at least three months unrestricted expenditure in order that the charity can continue to function if current income sources become unavailable. This would enable the charity to identify other sources of funding.  The results for the year and financial position of the charity are shown in the annexed financial statements. 

## **Future Plans** 

The charity is planning to work with a wider geographical area of communities and offering opportunities to partake in Welsh language music events in their local village hall. We expand our annual music award to new bands from across Wales, expanding the criteria from West Wales only. We will always remember that the residents of Crymych and the immediate surrounding area have been very supportive to our community festival and have become increasingly active in raising funds and awareness about the charity - work continues, with success, in engaging with those residents who are harder to reach. The charity has been very fortunate in having a strong band of volunteers. 



## **Structure, Governance and management Governing document** 

The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006. The governing document can be viewed on our website www.felnamai.co.uk 



## **GWYL FEL 'NA MAI CYF  CHARITY NO. 1202059 PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT AS AT 30TH NOVEMBER 2023.** 

|**Income**<br>Ticket Sales<br>Sponsors<br>Other Income<br>Bank Interest<br>Rental Refund<br>Event Night<br>Mocktails<br>Concessions<br>Donations<br>Raffle<br>Pembrokeshire County Council<br>Cwmpas<br>**Less: Expenditure**<br>Artists<br>Small Tools<br>Hire and Leasing of plant and machinery<br>Insurance<br>Printing, postage and stationery<br>Advertising and marketing costs<br>Website costs<br>First Aid<br>Subscriptions<br>Charitable donations<br>Sundry Expenses<br>Other Operating costs<br>Rental of Unit<br>Licence<br>Security<br>Services<br>Fencing<br>Equipment purchased<br>Menter Iaith<br>Event Night<br>Cwmpas Grant Expenditure<br>**PROFIT/LOSS**|**30/11/2023**<br>21327.26<br>3520.00<br>269.15<br>642.50<br>295.00<br>408.10<br>1031.50<br>1450.00<br>77.00<br>9850.00<br>9800.00<br>**48670.51**<br>6425.00<br>5321.60<br>1304.00<br>316.40<br>762.65<br>189.24<br>390.00<br>35.00<br>150.00<br>120.00<br>150.00<br>1380.00<br>180.00<br>2362.20<br>432.00<br>345.91<br>3396.85<br>100.00<br>1088.80<br>9873.46<br>**34323.11**<br>**14347.40**|**30/11/2022**<br>11350.62<br>3100.00<br>1047.93|
|---|---|---|
|||**15498.55**|
|||5059.40<br>260.00<br>3701.00<br>1149.00<br>32.35<br>592.59<br>84.79<br>390.00<br>35.00<br>3200.00<br>1165.53<br>753.45|
|||**16423.11**|
||||
|||**-924.56**|





## Independent Examiner Report to the Trustees of 

## Gwyl Fel ‘Na Mai Cyf Charity No 1202059 

I report on the first accounts for the above Charity for the period of inception on 23[rd] February 2023 to 30[th] November 2023. 

## Respective Responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner 

The charity’s trustees (who are also the directors for the purpose of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the accounts.  The charity’s trusttes consider that an audit is not required for this year under Section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 and that an independent examination is required. 

Having satisfied myself that the charity is not subject to audit under Company law and is eligible for independent examination, it is my responsibility to: 

- Examine the accounts under Section 145 of the 2011 Act 

- To follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission and 

- State whether particular matters have come to my attention. 

## Basis of the Independent Examiner’s Report 

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given 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 you as trustees concerning 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 statements below. 

## Independent Examiner’s Statement 

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention: 

1. Which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements 

- To keep accounting records in accordance with Section 386 and 387 of the Companies Act 2006: 

- To prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records, comply with the accounting requirements of Sections 394 and 396 of the Companies Act 2006 and with the methods and of the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities have not been met; or 

2. To which in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. 

Bronwen Picton Jones Ffynnon Fraith Blaenffos Boncath SA37 0HZ MAAT 176018 

29[th] July 2024