## **Newcastle-under-Lyme Festival for Music, Speech and Drama.** ## **Treasurer’s Report for 2025/2026.** After a complicated couple of years, this year the job of Treasurer has been much easier. Pay pal is back in use and payments have run smoothly. We are registered with HMRC as a charity for tax purposes. HMRC have requested our charity to file a Company Tax Return for 2024/2025. An accountant (The Curtis Partnership) was consulted and they assured me that as we didn’t pay tax, there were no figures to file, which has been recorded by Curtis Partnership. We have been asked to file for 2025/2026, so this seems to be an annual request. ## **Income.** Payments from performers and entry fees was £3,510.50 based on 109 drama and 175 music entries, taken from the written programme. This is an increase of £225.50 from last year. In total there were 284 entries this year compared to 260 in 2024/2025. More ensemble entries led to bigger audiences, which helped boost our revenue. Admission, programme and refreshment sales were also higher at £1966.98 compared with £1807.29 last year. This is despite having free online programmes sent to each competitor. Donations this year were lower that the previous year by £220 standing at £475. However, we received two Gift Aid amounts from 2023/24 and 2024/25 totalling £316.85. Hire and rental of our Festival pianos came it £1004.00, an increase of £254 from last year. The High Scorer’s Concert revenue will be seen over 2025/26 and 2026/27. In this year’s accounts we made £248.45 Third Party Advertising was £210 compared with £75 last year. Barracks Trust gave us £150 this year and The George Finney Bursary £100. There is a balance of £1470.85 remaining in the Bursary. ## **Our total income was £8,131.78** ## **Expenditure.** In terms of expenditure, the highest outgoings were the hire of the premises at £2160.00 and the Adjudicator’s costs of £2309.21. Their costs last year were £2434.46, so a slight decrease in 2026. The new Run my Festival system receives 45p per entry, which will be paid in the next financial year. This year, the PayPal fees were paid by the entrant. Insurance and Licence fees were £525 compared to £450 last year. Piano removal, hire and maintenance was £845, slightly more than last year’s £770. Printing costs were higher this year at £386.62 which incorporated a good batch of certificates which will last a couple of years. In addition this year we have paid two years worth of Wix Studio, our website support, costing £201.60. This has run alongside Ionos at £236.64. The George Finney Bursary paid out £100 this year and Barrack’s Trust £170. Monthly bank fees have been phased out, so we only pay for transactions such as withdrawals and cheques. Additional out goings have been for repair of trophies at £50. ## **The total expenditure was £7527.60** **In the Financial Year 2025/2026, the Festival made a profit of £604.18** **The balance on April 30[th] 2026 was £15,092.48** ## **Jane Harrop** **Festival Treasurer.** ## **Newcastle Festival for Music, Speech and Drama.** Summary of Income and Expenditure for Year Ending 30[th] April 2026. **2025/2026** ||Income.|Income.|£8131.78|£8131.78|| |---|---|---|---|---|---| ||Expenditure.||£7527.60||| ||||||| ||**Summary of Surplus(deficit) over**
**Expenditure, transferred to or from**
**Contingency Fund.**||||| ||||||£604.18| ||||||| ||**George Finney Bursary.**||||| ||||||| ||Fund level 01 May Brought Forward.|£1570.85|||| ||||||| ||Payment from Bursary.|£100|||| ||||||| ||Youth Choral Class £100 per
entrant.||||| ||||||| ||Bursary Fund Balance carried
forward.|||£1470.85|| ||||||| ||**Contingency Fund.**||||| ||||||| ||Balance Brought forward.|£13017.45|||| ||||||| ||Summary of surplus (deficit) over|£604.18|||| ||Expenditure.||||| ||||||| ||||||| ||||||| ||Contingency Fund Balance|||£13,621.63|| ||Carried Forward.||||| ||||||| ||Total funds carried forward 30th
April|||£15092.48|| ||Held in HSBC Account|||£15092.48|| ||Held in Paypal Account|||£0.00||