2025-04-05-accounts

Trustees’ Annual Report for the period

From 6 April 2024 To 5 April 2025

Charity name: Horizon Voices

Charity registration number: 1203409

Objectives and Activities

	The reference
Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document	Para 1.17	TO ADVANCE, IMPROVE, DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN PUBLIC EDUCATION IN, AND APPRECIATION OF, THE ART OF MUSIC BY THE ORGANISATION AND/OR PRESENTATION OF EDUCATION WORKSHOPS, COMMUNITY PROJECTS, CONCERTS AND RECORDINGS OF HIGH ARTISTIC AND EDUCATIONAL MERIT, AND BY OTHER SUCH MEANS AS THE TRUSTEES SHALL FROM TIME TO TIME DETERMINE.
Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts.	Para 1.17 and 1.19	● Byrd Reasons to Sing Project o Completed Arts Council funded music education project across the UK o Evaluation completed on project outcomes ● Website and Media ○ Overhaul of website for professional and educational remit ○ Professional recordings for future schemes and funding applications ● Performance ○ Completed Making Music Artist Scheme with performances with choral and music societies ● Elemental ○ New education project research and development completed

		○ Project trialed in schools and care homes and evaluation completed
Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit	Para 1.18	The trustees confirm they have regarded the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit during this reporting period.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

	SORP reference
Policy on grant making	Para 1.38	n/a
Policy on social investment including program related investment	Para 1.38	n/a
Contribution made by volunteers	Para 1.38	Chris Rowlands has been a regular Volunteer for a number of performance events as Front of House support and also as a secretary for taking minutes for the charity’s annual general meetings.

Achievements and Performance

	SORP reference
Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole.	Para 1.20	In our second year as a registered charity, we have demonstrated continued progress in the fields of music education, outreach and performance, in accordance with our charitable objectives. OurByrd: Reasons to Sing project in collaboration with Stile Antico and university lecturers and researchers at Birmingham and Northumbria Universities has now been completed. The final wave of schools involved in the project included educational institutions in Birmingham, Darlington, Peterborough and Croydon. The Arts Council evaluation has been completed and the charity are considering next steps for utilising the digital resources created for schools. We have utilised the generous donations from the Simon Gibson Charitable Trust to redesign our website to ensure it is fit for purpose for performance and educational initiatives. We have also professionally recorded Horizon Voices so that we have the content to apply for future schemes and funding applications. The Trust funding has also enabled us to research and develop our next project, Elemental, which we have now trialled in both schools and care homes in Hertfordshire. An evaluation of the project is underway and funding applications are being made to continue this project on a wider scale. The ensemble has performed alongside and for choral and music societies, including Matlock Music Society, Tickhill Music Society and The Maidstone Singers, bringing choral music to a diverse range of audiences across the UK with our unique interactive and educational performance approach. We continue to host our annual Big Sing at Kingshott School Hitchin to champion choral singing, alongside delivering masterclasses with the school’s advanced chamber choir. Artistic Director James Rhodes has been invited to present at Music Education Expo and co-host and deliver the Angela Lansbury Musical Theatre Conference at the University of Birmingham, with a focus on musical theatre scholarship’s practical impact on education. Forthcoming plans for 2025-2026:

●	Further funding from Simon Gibson
	Charitable Trust to
	○ expandElemental
	programme to schools and
	care homes
	○ provide a 0.1 (half a day a
	week) salary to Artistic
	Director James Rhodes to
	work exclusively on the
	artistic direction, operations
	and management of the
	charity
	○ Provide some freelance
	funding for a member of
	Horizon Voices to work on
	administration, marketing
	and communications for the
	charity
●	Funding applications with a focus on
	music and dementia to align with
	NHS social prescribing plans - care
	homes and residential settings,
	Churchill fellowship application and
	project research and delivery
●	To develop a residency with 1-2 local
	state schools to develop long term
	music education impact
●	To develop performance
	programmes to be shared with
	festivals to increase outreach
	possibilities for the charity

Financial Review

Financial Review
Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period	Para 1.21	We opened at the beginning of this financial period with an opening balance of £7396.72. Our income this year totalled £14,143.71. Our spending totalled £15,730.79. Our closing balance at the end of this period is £5809.64 This residual balance is principally due to the final funding received from Arts Council England for the Byrd Reasons to Sing project’s final phase, which had just completed after the end of the financial year and funding from the Simon Gibson Trust for theElemental project which had not yet been invoiced for by independent contractors.
Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held	Para 1.22	We do not require a significant amount of reserves due to the nature of our charitable objectives, in which we apply for funding for specific education, outreach and performance projects and proceed with the projects upon successful funding

		awarding/allocation. We hold a small reserve to account for any unforeseen expenditures and to account for any rising costs/inflation.
Amount of reserves held	Para 1.22	We have a reserve of £1700.00, which was devised from the initial gifts and donations received before the CIO was formed.
Reasons for holding zero reserves	Para 1.22	n/a
Details of fund materially in deficit	Para 1.24	n/a
Explanation of any uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern	Para 1.23	n/a

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

The charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising)	Para 1.47	Principal sources of funding this year have been: ● Simon Gibson Charitable Trust ● Arts Council England
Investment policy and objectives including any social investment policy adopted	Para 1.46	n/a
A description of the principal risks facing the charity	Para 1.46	Operational – increased number of projects and events will eventually result in the need for an individual to work for the charity on a freelance basis to manage the administrative and operational aspects of the charity. Funding is now being sought for the Artistic Director for half a day for management and for freelance members of the ensemble for marketing and administration. Financial – income and financial sustainability should be monitored. Although projects do not take place until successful funding awards have been received, the same funding pots cannot be relied upon and the charity should seek to diversify their funding bids with a range of funding bodies and other means for generating income e.g. donations, creation of a friends’ scheme, etc.

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of charity’s trusts:
Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter)	Para 1.25	CIO Constitution (based on the model constitution provided by the Charity Commission)
How is the charity constituted? (e.g unincorporated association, CIO)	Para 1.25	CIO
Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees	Para 1.25	The charity (Horizon Voices) appoints trustees through an advertising and application process.

Reference and Administrative details

Charity name	Horizon Voices
Other name the charity uses	n/a
Registered charitynumber	1203409
Charity’s principal address	5 Barnack Grove Royston Hertfordshire SG8 5HQ

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

1 2 3	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any)
	Dr Katherine Bank	Chair	Whole year 2024-2025 The charity – Horizon Voices
	Edmund Whitehead	Trustee	Whole year 2024-2025 The charity – Horizon Voices
	Duncan Brown	Trustee	Whole year 2024-2025 The charity – Horizon Voices

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Full name(s)[Dr Katherine Bank ] Position (eg Secretary, Chair of Trustees Chair, etc) Date 11 January 2026