Report of the Trustees and Financial Statement
28[th] August 2024 to 31[st] August 2025
Contents
Charity information Trustees’ Report
Introduction Organisation
Trustee names and responsibilities Objectives and public benefit Achievements and activities
Financial review Statement of Financial Activities
Declaration
Page 1 of 8
Charity information
Founded : North Norfolk Sinfonia orchestra was originally set up in 1990 and called North Norfolk Orchestral Society. Later it changed its name to North Norfolk Sinfonia. In August 2024, it was registered as a charity.
Charity number : 1209773
Governing document : Constitution and detailed arrangements adopted on 28th August 2024
How the charity is constituted : Unincorporated charitable association
How Trustees are selected: Trustees are appointed or reappointed every three years for a maximum of three terms at the Annual General Meeting. Trustees may be co-opted within the year if necessary, but will resign and be put forward for election at the next AGM.
Registered address : c/o Sarah Colman-Mapes, 3 Salisbury Road, Sheringham, NR26 8EA.
Independent Examiner : Neil Lawrence, North Walsham (Date of examination:
Bankers : Natwest plc,
Insurers: CoVea (through Making Music)
Website : https://www.northnorfolksinfonia.co.uk/
Email : secretary@northnorfolksinfonia.co.uk
Social media : https://www.facebook.com/share/1KNcvCQ3ej/
Trustee’s Report
This report will be published on our website.
Introduction
This year was our first year as a charity. We also set up the trading company North Norfolk Sinfonia Productions Ltd to take on the management of our concerts. We are reaping the benefit of the huge work of our now retired Chair, Ian Newton, who set up the charity and production company and spent hours, with the support of Making Music, negotiating the many forms and processes that needed to be completed and for this we are very grateful. We wish him well in his retirement and move from Norfolk to be near family. Having been co-opted as committee member and trustee and immediately promoted to chair, it has been an honour to serve the North Norfolk Sinfonia this year.
Sarah Colman-Mapes
Organisation
The charity is an orchestra open to membership for any players in Norfolk. The organisation is managed by the trustees in consultation with our Musical Director.
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Trustee names and responsibilities
| Name | Additional role(if any) |
Dates served as a Trustee (if not whole year) |
|---|---|---|
| Ian Newton | Chair | 28thAugust 2024 to 30thApril 2025 |
| Angela Robinson | Secretary | |
| LennyThomson(aka Galaena) | Treasurer | Re-elected AGM 17/12/24 |
| Kate Munro | Publicity | Re-elected AGM 17/12/24 |
| Paula Lawrence | Librarian | |
| Sarah Colman-Mapes | Chair | Co-opted Appointed Chair 30thApril 2025 |
Associated Company – North Norfolk Sinfonia Production Ltd Company number: 16015601
| Name | Role | Dates served as a Director(if not wholeyear) |
|---|---|---|
| Ian Newton | Director | 28thAugust 2024 to 15thAugust 2025 |
| LennyThomson(aka Galaena) | Director | |
| Neil Johnson | Director | 15thAugust 2025 onwards |
Objectives and public benefit
The Objective of the charity is:
to advance, improve, develop and maintain public education in, and appreciation of, the art and science of music in all its aspects by any means the trustees see fit, including through the presentation of public events.
The trustees have complied with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission.
In pursuing our aims for the public benefit, the orchestra believes it impacts on people's lives in two ways. First, for participants (young and old), we involve people in a creative, enjoyable and fulfilling educational activity, providing them with opportunity to develop their musical technique and play a wide repertoire. Second, for audiences, we present exciting and highquality performances which should always be a pleasurable cultural experience but will sometimes challenge them and educate them by extending their musical knowledge. We hope in the future to pass on our enthusiasm for music to the next generation by working with local primary schools.
In addition to the public educational benefits to participants and audiences mentioned above, the Committee is conscious that its activities must be affordable. Under 18s can watch our concerts for free and young musicians under 18 do not need to pay for membership subscriptions. Any other member with financial difficulties can privately discuss their subscription arrangement with the Treasurer.
Achievements and activities
The weather has been against us again on concert dates, but we have had some good-sized audiences, no doubt down to the variety and quality of our playing, enhanced by Keith's conducting and even singing the missing parts during rehearsals! Thank you so much to Keith as the orchestra would not be the same without you. If you can think back to last November's concert, we had our very own Ian Laing as soloist for the Handel Suite for Trumpet and Strings
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and Albinoni Trumpet Concerto San Marco along with Arne Symphony Number 2 and Mozart's Symphony No. 29. Our March concert included Brahms Symphony No. 1, the Beethoven Coriolan Overture and the Weber Bassoon Concerto featuring Hugh Woolley. July had a superb turnout with Michael Erskine playing the Elgar Cello Concerto, Wagner's Die Meistersinger overture and what an opportunity to use St Peter's organ for the Saint Saëns Organ Symphony! Keith said he had bruised thighs from timpani impressions during rehearsals. The fundraising quiz held on March 1st was a great event, a challenge for our brain cells and good food too. Many thanks to Keith for the questions and to the committee for organising the food. Hopefully it will become an annual event. We have 32 players on the 2025 membership roll, including younger players, and I would like to thank the committee for their efforts to ensure all licences and safeguarding are in place. We need our younger players for the longer-term future of the orchestra. I am grateful for the enthusiasm and dedication of all players turning out on dark nights to practise and to those who join us for concerts to fill gaps. Also to the wind and brass for their patience whilst the strings adjust their tuning. Being registered as a charity is already having a benefit to our finances and with a grant for March's concert applied for by Kate, we are in a much better position financially this year. We have a small committee, but they all work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep the orchestra running, my enormous thanks go to Lenny our meticulous treasurer, Angela who keeps us all organised as secretary and Kate Munro who leads on publicity and much more. Particular thanks go to Paula our librarian who is now stepping down from the committee, but I am very grateful she has agreed to continue as librarian, with just the right amount of threat for returning scores! Another hugely successful year both musically and embedding as a charity and production company, may it long continue.
Policies
We currently have policies for Safeguarding and Risk Management. We realise there are additional policies we need to consider and will discuss their adoption in our next Trustee meeting.
Financial review
Full details of our accounts are shown on the following page. Our thanks go to all our generous patrons and friends as well as the membership. We ended the financial year with a small gain of £203 and our end of year bank balance (reserves) was £1077.61. This provides some cushioning against potential financial risks and is an improvement on the last year’s finances when we made a small loss overall.
We thank our members for accepting the increased subscription cost which has made a significant increase to our finances. We are a relatively small group, but our subscription income pays for our rehearsal hall hire and Musical Director. We were also pleased to be able to increase the Musical Director’s remuneration in recognition of his commitment, time, and expertise.
The charity managed the first concert of the year in November, but once the production company was running in early 2025, it then managed the next two concerts in the year. The charity loaned the production company £5,800 for these two concerts. The actual cost was £4,544 and the production company was pleased to repay the loan in full after the year end. Healthy audiences in March and July meant that our losses for these concerts were low. However, this emphasises the importance of donations from our patrons for keeping our orchestra afloat.
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Reserve Policy Whilst we do not have a formal reserves policy, trustees review the bank balance on a regular basis to ensure there are sufficient funds to meet current and future liabilities.
The accounts were examined on 18[th] November 2025 by Neil Lawrence who assessed that the figures gave a true and fair representation of the charity’s activities during the period. He did not examine the accounts of the production company which were prepared and checked by accountants at Making Music.
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Statement of Financial Activities as of 31[st] August 2025
| 2024-2025 | 2023-2024* | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts | |||
| Voluntary Donaton | Membership Subscriptons | £ 2,036 | £ 1,365 |
| Donatons for refreshments | £ 115 | £ 87 | |
| Friends & Patrons | £ 690 | £ 540 | |
| Other Donatons | £ 553 | ||
| Gif Aid | - | N/A | |
| Sub total of Donatons | £ 3,394 | £ 1,992 | |
| Charitable Actvites | Ticket Receipts | £ 4,153 | £ 3,080 |
| Adverts in concert programmes | £ 185 | £ 105 | |
| Sub total of income from Charitable Actvites | £ 4,338 | £ 3,185 | |
| Other Trading | Quiz Night | £ 509 | - |
| Sub total of other trading | £ 509 | £ - | |
| Total Receipts | Total Receipts | £ 8,241 | £ 5,177 |
| Expenditure | |||
| Raising Funds |
Venue hire for Quiz Night | £ 60 | |
| Marketng | £ 45 | ||
| Subtotal of costs for raising funds | £ 60 | £ 45 | |
| Charitable actvites |
Rehearsal Hall Hire | £ 202 | £ 350 |
| Musical Director | £ 690 | £ 1,155 | |
| Printng | £ 108 | £ 250 | |
| Music Hire | £ 49 | ||
| Concert Venue Hire | £ 174 | £ 672 | |
| Soloist | £ 300 | £ 800 | |
| Additonal Players | £ 360 | £ 2,239 | |
| Cost of November Concert | £ 1,883 | ||
| Loan to Producton company to undertake charitable actvites (March & July concerts) |
£ 5,800 | ||
| Subtotal of Charitable Actvites | £ 7,683 | £ 5,466 ** | |
| Other | Making Music Subscripton & Insurance | £ 294 | £ 158 |
| Sub total of Other costs | £ 294 | £ 158 | |
| Total Expenditure | £ 8,037 | £ 5,669 | |
| Balance Receipts - Expenditure | £ 204 | **(£ 493) ** | |
| Opening Cash Balance 1st September | £ 874 | £ 1,366 | |
| Closing Cash Balance 31st August | £ 1,078 | £ 874 | |
| Net Income/(defcit) | £ 204 | (£ 493) | |
| Current Assets | Cash in Natwest Bank | £ 1,078 | £ 874 |
| Gif Aid (received afer the year end) | £ 512 | N/a | |
| Debtors: Balance of loan to be returned by the North Nofolk Sinfonia Producton Company |
£ 1,256 | N/a | |
| Total | £ 2,845 | £ 874 |
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*In 2023-2024, we operated as a community group not a charity.
**The figures in this section relate to our total expenditure on three concerts.
Declaration
Signed:
Galaena Thomson, Treasurer
Sarah Colman-Mapes, Chair
Page 7 of 8
Appendix 1: Minutes ofAGM Page8of8