Newcastle-under-Lyme Festival for Music, Speech and Drama.
Treasurer’s Report for 2024/2025.
2025 has seen the successful opening of our new bank account and the closing of our old account as a result of the Festival becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Whilst most of the problems have been overcome, Gift Aid on our donations is proving problematic. We are now registered with HMRC as a charity for tax purposes and have enrolled with Charities Online. A Gift Aid submission has been made for 2023/2024 and I am awaiting the outcome.
We have been unable to use Paypal this year as it would not link to Run My Festival. All entries were made directly through bank transfer. Although time consuming, it ran smoothly with no difficulties.
Income.
Payments from performers, entry fees and a small number of online programmes, was £3,285, based on 89 drama and 171 music entries taken from the written Programme. This is a slight increase of £9 from last year. In total there were 260 entries this year, compared with 286 last year, but there were more ensemble entries which helped to maintain a stable income.
Admission and programme sales were higher this year, standing at £1,807.29 compared with £1,543.67 last year.
This year we received £695 in donations, last year we received £620. A mention should go to Heral Patel, who donated £150 this year.
Hire and rental of our Festival pianos came to £750, £90 more than last year.
The High Scorer’s Concert revenue will be seen over 24/25 and 25/26. In this year’s accounts, we made £201.
Third Party Advertising took a hit this year, coming in at £75, compared to £310 last year.
This year, we did not receive any Amazon sponsorship, but Barrack’s Trust gave us £350 and The George Finney Bursary, £200. The amount remaining in this Bursary is £1,570.85.
Our total income was £7463.30
Expenditure.
In terms of expenditure, the highest outgoings were the hire of the premises at £2,072 and the Adjudicators’ costs of £2,434.46. Last year, their costs were £2, 335.93, so almost the same.
Piano removal, hire and maintenance has cost £770, £158.78 less than last year.
We paid £59.60 for new certificates and place stickers, in line with the new Biff marking scheme and £100 to Mushram for the Run My Festival set up. We also paid £440 for web site support, usually £360, with an £80 increase for additional help. Mark Proctor has now completed all work for the Festival.
Ionos, our website host, is on going, but will be phased out when appropriate.
The George Finney Bursary paid out £200 this year and Barrack’s Trust £220.
Small but necessary amounts of money have added up this year, such as maintenance of the trophies and the purchase of an urn at £129.45 and additional printing costs of £179.69.
The total expenditure was £7,944.04
In the Financial Year £2024/2025, the Festival made a loss of £480.74
Jane Harrop
Festival Treasurer.
Newcastle Festival for Music, Speech and Drama Summary of Income and Expenditure for the Year Ending 30 April 2025 202412025 Sub Totals Income £ 7,463.30 Expenditure £ 7,944.04 Summary of Surplus (Deficit) Transferred to Contingency Fund £ (480.74) George Finney Bursary Brought Forward 01 May 2024 £ 1,770.85 Payment from Bursary £ (200.00) GF Bursary Carried Forward £ 1,570.85 Contingency Fund Brought Forward 01 May 2024 £ 13,498.19 Surplus (Deficit) Transferred to Contingency Fund £ (480.74) Contingency Fund Balance Carried Forward £ 13,017.45 Total Funds Carried Forward 01 May 2025 £ 14.588.30 Hdd in HSBCAccount Held in Paypal Account £ 14,588.30 Accounts Ex ev by R Wilcox - May 2025 Signed Dated g6dJy 2£y25