## **≥** 

## CONCERTS SOCIETY 

(A CHARITABLE COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE) 
















**Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025** 

Company Number 62753 Charity Number 223882 



TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025 

|Reference and Administrative details|4|
|---|---|
|Chair’s Report|5|
|Chief Executive’s Review of the Year|6|
|2024/25 in Numbers|16|
|Summary Financial Information|18|
|Trustees’ Report|20|
|Independent Auditor’s Statement to the Members of Hallé Concerts Society|30|
|Consolidated and Aggregated Summary Income and Expenditure Account|32|
|Consolidated and Aggregated Statement of Financial Activities|33|
|Charitable Company Statement of Financial Activities|34|
|Consolidated and Aggregated and Charitable Company Balance Sheets|35|
|Consolidated and Aggregated Cash Flow Statement|36|
|Notes to the Accounts|37|
|Appendices - not forming part of the audited financial statements||
|Sponsors, Business Club and Workplace Choirs|60|
|Supporters|61|
|Members of the Hallé Concerts Society|64|
|Players|66|
|Orchestral Chair Endowments|67|
|Hallé Choir|68|
|Administration and contact details|69|



The Hallé Concerts Society gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of Arts Council England, Manchester City Council and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. 

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## REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS 

Registered Office: The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester M1 5HA 

PATRON HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh gcvo 

PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR AND ARTISTIC ADVISOR Kahchun Wong 

CONDUCTOR EMERITUS Sir Mark Elder ch, cbe 

AUDITOR Crowe U.K. LLP 3rd Floor St George’s House 56 Peter Street Manchester M2 3NQ 

SOLICITORS CMS LLP 1 The Avenue, Spinningfields Manchester M3 3AP 

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD 

Elected Debbie Francis obe Chair # Sharon Amesu Eamonn Boylan - appointed September 2024 Alex Connock - resigned September 2024 Darren Drabble # Tim Edge – resigned September 2024 * Alastair Nuttall - appointed September 2024 * Juergen Maier Linda Merrick cbe John Phillips cbe * Merryl Webster #* Aileen Wiswell # 

Nominated by Manchester City Council Cllr Azra Ali 

BANKERS Santander UK Plc Royal Bank of Scotland Plc 298 Deansgate, St. Ann Street Manchester M3 4HH Manchester M60 2SS 

INVESTMENT ADVISERS CCLA Investment Management Ltd One Angel Lane London EC4R 3AB 

COMPANY REGISTRATION NO 62753 

CHARITY REGISTRATION NO 223882 

Nominated by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Eamonn Boylan - until retirement from GMCA in May 2024 Cllr Janet Emsley – resigned July 2025 Caroline Simpson – appointed June 2024 Cllr Charlotte Morris – appointed July 2025 

Co-opted Sir Nicholas Kenyon CBE (from Jan 2025) 

## EXECUTIVE TEAM 

David Butcher Chief Executive and Company Secretary Ruth Harkin Finance Director $ - resigned June 2024 Natalie Atkinson $ - appointed June 2024 

ORCHESTRAL NOMINEE Tom Osborne 

VICE PRESIDENTS Martin McMillan Edward Pysden $ 

* Member of the Audit Committee 

# Member of the Nominations & Remuneration Committee $ Member of the Investment Committee 

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CHAIR’S REPORT 


This financial year marked a pivotal moment for the Hallé. Sir Mark Elder stood down as Music Director after nearly a quarter of a century, his transformative tenure culminating in the most emotionally charged concerts in The Bridgewater Hall, the BBC Proms and Edinburgh International Festival. At the Edinburgh performance he received a richly deserved and extensive standing ovation. On behalf of the Board I would like to thank him for his visionary artistic leadership; under his stewardship the Hallé has been revitalised as one of the world’s leading orchestras. His unique championing of, and commitment to, our education and ensembles initiatives has been unstinting and this programme is now one of the largest of its kind in Europe. We are delighted he now continues, as active as ever, as our Conductor Emeritus. 

The year also marked a new beginning with Kahchun Wong whose arrival, as Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser, has been all we could have hoped for. Our Greater Manchester audiences have taken him to their hearts and his concerts have received critical acclaim and exceptional reviews. Kahchun is a joy to work with and has the trust and inspiration of the musicians alongside him, so discernible in his concerts and recordings. As Ivan Hewitt reports in the _Daily Telegraph_ : 

to have two individuals who recognise and value the importance of the city’s cultural offering as playing a key role in the ongoing happiness and wellbeing of its residents and an important driver of economic growth and international influence. We are honoured to have been invited to represent and champion Manchester’s vibrant cultural heritage on a number of trade missions including to Japan and to Singapore. It is through the generosity of these organisations, of trusts and individuals and of our many sponsors that we are empowered to continue our award-winning work across Greater Manchester and beyond. 

I would like to pay tribute to my fellow Board members whose skills and commitment are so hugely important in supporting this great organisation. I would like to thank John Phillips and Aileen Wiswell as they stand down as Trustees, and to Janet Emsley who stands down as our GMCA representative, and thank them all for their guidance during their term on the Board. Finally, I should like to pay tribute to our exceptional players who are second to none in the musical skill and dedication that they bring to this great orchestra, and to our exemplary management team, led by Chief Executive, David Butcher. It has been a pleasure and privilege to work with them all and we look forward with great excitement to the year ahead. 

## _‘The Hallé has struck gold. Wong is a hugely gifted, properly serious maestro.’_ 

Financially, I am pleased to report a strong performance which has enabled our balance sheet position to remain relatively healthy. The UK government’s decision to increase Orchestra Tax Relief permanently to 45%, has been a very welcome support for us and for many orchestras of all sizes across the country. We are extremely grateful for continued financial backing from Arts Council England, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and from Manchester City Council (MCC), whose ongoing support is critical to our existence. In our Mayor, Andy Burnham and in MCC Leader, Bev Craig, we are exceptionally fortunate 

Debbie Francis Chair 

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CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REVIEW OF THE YEAR 


with a huge standing ovation and cheers. The critics too responded with abundant praise, garnering Kahchun and the Hallé a raft of five-star reviews (and six stars, if the _Times_ critic would have his way): 

_“It’s just a pity that I can’t give this concert six stars. Right from those impassioned opening bars, it was clear that the Hallé players and their new Principal Conductor Kahchun Wong had Mahler’s Second Symphony, the ‘Resurrection’, completely in their grip. Phrasing, shaping, dynamic contrasts, instrumental colouring, ensemble unity: these were almost beyond perfection.”_ 

The Times ***** 

_“Kahchun Wong, the new principal conductor of the Hallé, gave the finest performance I have ever heard in concert of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No 2 in C minor, ‘Resurrection’: and I have heard dozens. Conducting without a score, Wong had complete control of his world-class orchestra during a performance welded together through a meretricious attention to detail as if treating every player as a soloist in their own right with the Hallé seemingly proving itself to be the UK’s premier orchestra.”_ 

As I write, we have just concluded our 2024/25 season with critically acclaimed performances at the BBC Proms and at the prestigious Santander Festival in Spain. The season has been both memorable and historic, even in the context of the Hallé’s long history. It concluded with Kahchun Wong’s debut at the Proms, conducting Mahler’s epic ‘Resurrection’ Symphony, received by the Royal Albert Hall’s full house 

Seen and Heard International ***** 


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CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REVIEW OF THE YEAR 

_“Then the choir rose slowly for the finale, like guiding angels, drawing us into a shimmering, magical conclusion. For a moment, I thought that the roof of the Royal Albert Hall had lifted, and the night-time sky was within reach.”_ 

_“His tenure (Sir Mark Elder) in Manchester, like that of his forbear John Barbirolli, has embodied values that are increasingly unfashionable in the orchestral world today: dedication to a place, stewardship of an institution, commitment to a repertoire, evolution of a sound, cultivation of a style. This Elgar [Symphonies_ 

The Daily Telegraph ***** 

_1 and 2] is in a sense the worthiest of farewells, a tribute not only to those 25 years, but also to what conducting can mean”_ 

It’s a fitting end to what’s been a memorable season for us all at the Hallé. Here are some more detailed words on the Hallé Concert Society’s work across this significant financial year: 

New York Times. May 2024 ***** 

## CONCERTS, RECORDINGS, BROADCASTS 

Autumn 2024 heralded Kahchun Wong’s incredible debut as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor. We have been thrilled with how well our Manchester audiences have responded to Kahchun, and of course the orchestra and critics too. Rebecca Franks in a recent _Times_ feature on Kahchun captures some of this spirit: 

This year was dominated by the successful and inspiring artistic leadership change from Sir Mark Elder to Kahchun Wong. We couldn’t have hoped for better. Late Spring 2024 witnessed the ecstatic finale to Mark’s 24-year tenure as Music Director of the Hallé with sold-out concerts in The Bridgewater Hall (where a second performance was mounted to cope with demand), at the BBC Proms and at Edinburgh International Festival, attended by our active Patron, the Duchess of Edinburgh, alongside the Duke of Edinburgh. 

_“The sound throughout was magnificent, as Wong’s control of those Bruckner peculiarities - the slow progression, the structural cul-de-sacs - that require conductors, orchestras and listeners to show sympathy and patience. Wong especially impressed in the scherzo, weighting down the thrusting chords in the music’s diabolical dances”._ 

What is noticeable is the strong support for both conductors as Mark now takes up an active role as our Conductor Emeritus. Alongside a diverse range of artists, this signals a broad and exciting new direction for the Hallé, resulting in growing audiences and increasing critical acclaim across the globe. Crucially, however, it says much about the Hallé, both as a beloved organisation, rooted here in Manchester, and as as a cultural ambassador for the city region across the world. The press has captured some of what makes this relationship so powerful:’ 

The Daily Telegraph ***** 


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CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REVIEW OF THE YEAR 


_“Wong’s first season as principal conductor has been electric. Last autumn my colleague Geoff Brown praised the “blazing Hallé force” unleased when Wong conducted Bruckner’s Ninth symphony. This year I was impressed by the sheer drama of his Mahler Resurrection Symphony, a piece he has chosen for his BBC Proms debut this summer. “It’s all about the idea of having the whole Hallé family – not just the symphony orchestra but our choir and youth choir – coming to the Proms for my first outing. It’s not about the new conductor, it’s about the new Hallé moving forward.”_ 

The Times 

Our roots across Greater Manchester are deep, primarily owing to our Hallé Connect ensembles and education programme which has continued to grow – now one of the largest orchestral and choral music programmes in Europe - as you will see detailed below. Our many ensembles, from the Children’s Choir to our main Hallé Choir, have a total membership of 700 people, who rehearse in our Ancoats venues every week. Our health and well-being work alone attracted 42,500 individual participants across 900 events, creating over 93,000 engagements in 2024/25. 

Over the financial year, we delivered 112 performances in Manchester plus a further 49 across the UK and Europe, performing to over 100,000 people. Alongside the concerts with Sir Mark Elder and Kahchun Wong there was probably the most diverse programme of music and artists we 


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CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REVIEW OF THE YEAR 

have ever offered, ranging from Thomas Adès to Honey Dijon, and ranging in size from works involving over 400 people from our family of choirs and orchestras to intimate chamber music trios as part of our Chamber Music series. The new ‘Rush Hour’ and ‘Hallé Presents ...’ initiatives continued to flourish and the orchestra spearheaded the continuation of the award-winning ‘Manchester Classical’. 

April brought about the season’s second week of activity from our Artist-in-Residence, Thomas Adès, which included a fantastic chamber programme where Thomas conducted, performed piano and introduced a varied programme including his own compositions and those of people he admires – including a world premiere from Alex Paxton. For his main season concert, we performed a world premiere from Oliver Leith, a colossal work that included Liverpool’s fabulous Church Bells; a suite of movements from Purcell’s operas and masques arranged by Barbirolli and Adès’ own symphonic work, _Tevot_ . We were delighted with the enthusiastic response from the audience and the number of reviewers in the house who rightly rewarded the concert five stars. 


_“A stupendous evening. Concerts like this one renew one’s faith in the ability of British orchestras to flourish, startle and exhilarate even in these problematic times”._ 

The Times ***** 

## _“Few if any UK symphony orchestras currently comes close for finesse and beauty of sound”_ The Spectator ***** 

The orchestra then entered an intense period of recordings with Opera Rara, in an account of Verdi’s _Simon Boccanegra_ in its original 1857 version. This recording work was concluded with a concert performance of the opera, which showcased the incredible cast, glorious choral forces from Opera North and performers from RNCM. The audience realised they had experienced something incredibly special, offering a standing ovation and the reviewers once again awarded five stars. 

Spring and summer featured our final concerts with Sir Mark Elder. At the Proms we repeated the Manchester programme with MacMillan’s _Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia_ and the concert was incredibly well 

received by the audience at the Royal Albert Hall as well as with critics. The almost overwhelming sound of the orchestra with the Hallé Choir, Youth Choir and Children’s Choir in the MacMillan worked so incredibly well in the space and it felt just as emotionally powerful and musically exciting as it had in Manchester. We were especially delighted that the concert in its entirety ended up being broadcast live on BBC4 and BBC Radio 3 so TV and radio audiences could experience the impactful performance as a whole. 

In Edinburgh, we performed Mahler’s Symphony No.5 twice. Our first performance was part of the Festival’s ‘Inside Out’ series where the seats in the stalls of the Usher Hall are completely removed and the audience are seated on beanbags in amongst the orchestral sections. This intimate presentation saw Sir Mark offering personal reflections as well as musical and historical insights as he guided the audience through a 90-minute performance of extracts and highlights of the work. The following day, with the seats returned to their usual positions, the orchestra performed Lili Boulanger’s _Du fond de l’abîme_ in the first half. Superstar Anglo-French mezzo-soprano Anna Stéphany joined the Edinburgh Festival Chorus for this deeply moving ethereal work. The final performance of Mahler 5 was truly special with Sir Mark reflecting that it couldn’t have been surpassed as his final concert as Music Director. The orchestra played their hearts out for him. 

Kahchun Wong then opened our 2024/25 season and heralded his arrival as our Principal Conductor with a specially arranged version of Britten’s _The Prince of the Pagodas_ ; a bold choice, alongside his beloved Mahler Symphony No.1. 

## _“If audience reaction is anything to go by, Kahchun Wong’s season-opening first concert officially in post as principal conductor of the Hallé was an outstanding success.”_ 

## The Arts Desk 

_“The exceptional Hallé orchestra already seems to have developed a strong rapport with their new Principal Conductor, and this exceptional evening felt like a real taste of the thrilling performances to come. Exciting times ahead for Manchester and The Hallé”_ 

## The Arts Shelf 

_“One thing, however, is certain; the Hallé has struck gold with its new appointment. Wong is a hugely gifted, properly serious maestro, who is bound to grow and grow.”_ 

## The Daily Telegraph 

The 2024/25 season continued with many highlights, including Kahchun’s third appearance with the orchestra, featuring MacMillan’s percussion concerto _Veni, veni Emmanuel_ , Malcom Arnold’s F _our Scottish Dances_ and Beethoven’s Symphony No.7, performed standing. The reaction was very positive and continues to demonstrate the growing and palpable bond between Kahchun and the orchestra. 

We had similar positive reactions to the second Rush Hour concert, which featured Hallé Choir and former Assistant Conductor Delyana Lazarova in a Boulanger-Shostakovich pairing. The Boulanger was also performed in Sheffield with the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, supported by some members of the Hallé Choir. Both concerts were moving and exciting in equal measure and both choirs enjoyed working with Delyana. 

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CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REVIEW OF THE YEAR 


Conductor/composer Thomas Adès returned to the orchestra with two Sibelius symphonies, alongside two of his own compositions and a piece by Rautavaara. This period was immediately followed by a recording patch and then a repeat performance in Nottingham. Thomas Adès’ final appearance as Artist-in-Residence was a notable success. On paper the programme was challenging, as it included a UK premiere performance and several other less well-known works, yet there was a buzz in the Hall – the audience clearly knew this was an event they didn’t want to miss. The soprano Anna Denis gave an incredible performance and Hallé Choir really rose to the occasion in the newly extended version of _America: A Prophesy_ . This exclusive and celebrated partnership with Adès goes from strength to strength. 

Our ‘Hallé Presents ...’ concert involved Nitin Sawhney’s new commission and arrangements for orchestra and his group. The concert, involving tabla hand drums and incredible vocals from artist YVA, was really well received by the audience, many of them new to the Hallé. 

The Pops series featured _Top Gun Maverick_ which attracted a large audience, surpassing our box office target and highlighting the merits of continuing to present a live-to-film orchestral experience. Our Christmas concerts were also a huge success, again highlighting the quality of our incredible ensembles. The Carol Concerts were a particular success story, selling out weeks before the concerts and opening a conversation concerning the number of these concerts we should present in 2025. 

Kahchun Wong returned to us in late Spring to perform the piece that, arguably, landed him the job – Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5. This time round, he coupled it with Prokofiev‘s ‘Classical’ Symphony and Arutiunian’s Trumpet Concerto featuring our very own Gareth Small as a stellar soloist. Our final ‘Rush Hour’ concert of the season was given by debut conductor Stephanie Childress 

In the Pops series, we performed our _Star Wars_ concert both in Manchester and in Nottingham, presented by Tom Redmond. These were great evenings with lively crowds, and a huge amount of enthusiasm for this great music. 


of the above concerts. Sheffield audiences continued to grow, up 24% on the previous season, but Nottingham was the touchstone with the majority of our 10 concerts sold out, a tribute to the expertise and tireless work of Neil Bennison, particularly worthy of recognition now as he finishes as the Producer of the series at the end of the coming season. All of us at the Hallé applaud his extraordinary achievement and legacy. 

## HALLÉ CONNECT – OUR EDUCATION, COMMUNITY AND ENSEMBLES PROGRAMME 

Hallé Connect brings together all the Hallé’s work away from the formal concert platform, bringing music in its broadest terms to those who may choose not to attend the concert hall. The overarching aim of Hallé Connect is to bring music to people wherever they happen to be – through projects in schools, care homes, hospitals and other community settings, and through the nurturing of talent and support of creativity. 

During the year, Hallé musicians worked in various settings across Greater Manchester and beyond, releasing creativity and raising aspirations through very accessible and practical projects. Linking with our strategic aims of providing inspiration, relevance and contributing to health and well-being, our Connect work engaged with over 42,500 individual participants across 900 events, creating over 93,000 engagements or ‘connections’ in 2024/25. 

## HALLÉ CONNECT: EDUCATION 

Over 3,500 children from Greater Manchester and beyond created music with Hallé musicians in their own schools as part of our Education programme. Our work with schools in Greater Manchester is delivered in partnership with the GM Music Education Hub and strategically rotated around the city region. This included the following project work: 

- Adopt-a-Player programme, involving a high school and three feeder primary schools, including a concert visit and working creatively around the repertoire with Hallé musicians. This took place in Bury, 

Our residencies in Nottingham and Sheffield included repeats of many 

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CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REVIEW OF THE YEAR 


Tameside, Wigan and Salford. 

- Hallé for Youth project for schools, inspired by the annual Hallé for Youth concert programme, in Bolton, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport and Trafford. 

- Hallé Inspire, a curriculum-based composition and performance project which enhances class curriculum themes took place in one primary schools from each GM borough. 

- SEND programme including our long-standing residency at the Seashell Trust in Stockport and ongoing relationships with Siemens Enthuse schools across Greater Manchester. We took a relaxed concert into Seashell buildings for the first time which enabled the residential students with the most severe complex needs to experience the orchestra up close. 

- One-off workshops including Meet-a-Musician, Creative Music Workshops and school assemblies. 

Our concerts for schools now cover every Key Stage through school life and it is a privilege to welcome over 35,000 children each year to the following concerts: 

- Key Stage 1 concerts exploring the theme of dinosaurs. 

- Hallé for Youth for Key Stages 2 and 3 based on the love of reading inspired by World Book Day. This programme also played in Sheffield and Stoke-on-Trent. 

- Set Works concert for GCSE and A-level students, based on the development of the Orchestra through the Ages. 

Coach transport costs are still a real issue for all schools looking to undertake concert visits and sadly this is preventing children from experiencing wonderful opportunities. 

In Stoke, our partnership with the Character and Arts Foundation, led by the City Learning Trust, continues to offer in-school workshops for children at every key stage, developing their musical understanding and awareness in a relevant way. 

The RNCM/Hallé Advanced Orchestral String Programme nurtured six post-graduate students during 2024/25. The students combined extensive professional playing experience, including mentoring from Hallé Principals, with tuition and chamber group work at the RNCM. Alongside this, our Professional Experience Scheme for undergraduate RNCM wind and brass players enabled 70 students to participate in workshops with Hallé players, with 14 progressing to playing professionally in the orchestra, and 4 students from the RNCM and University of Manchester completed administrative placements. 

- Come and Play with the Hallé inspired by the Olympics for Key Stage 2 children to play, sing and dance along with the orchestra. This concert is aimed at inspiring children learning instruments through the national Whole Class Instrumental Teaching Programme. The programme also played in Bradford, Derby, Nottingham and Stoke-onTrent. 

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CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REVIEW OF THE YEAR 

## HALLÉ CONNECT: COMMUNITY 

Our community programme continued to expand, bringing music to people in an appropriate and accessible way whatever their circumstances. Our relaxed concert days are joyous and to witness the incredible impact of live music on the audience members is a privilege. Over 1,200 adults and young people attended relaxed concerts for people living with dementia, disability, special educational needs and other health conditions 

In February we held our first relaxed concert for the City Learning Trust schools’ Nurture Group students, who undertook a workshop with Hallé players prior to the performance. These students have particular needs and would not usually feel able to access a more formal concert experience. This was such a success we hope to continue the journey with these students and explore further work with them in the coming months. 

During the year, our flagship project continued at Pendine Care Homes in Wrexham, North Wales and workshops have also taken place in care homes across Greater Manchester, at Woodlands Hospital in Salford, at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester in partnership with Lime Arts, with the Afro-Caribbean Care Group in Manchester and with a group of disabled adults connected to L’Arche (an international charity supporting disabled people). Over 2,500 people in hospitals and care homes received well-being visits from our musicians. This work brings relaxation, enjoyment, a sense of well-being and respite also for carers. The relationship with Carers Manchester continued with free concert tickets providing a moment of respite for carers. 

Hallé Klezmer dance evenings are delivered in partnership with the Klezmorim of Manchester and Manchester University with an inclusive and participatory dance element. 

Our new initiative for babies, toddlers and pre-school children and their carers started in September 2024 with regular Monday morning sessions in Ancoats, and a special ‘Hallé Magic’ session with a string trio in February. This is a growing network of very young families and it is delightful to watch the young children actively engage with music so early in their lives. These sessions have expanded to Openshaw and Clayton Sure Start centres, bringing music into the heart of communities that are unlikely to travel into Ancoats. 

## HALLÉ CONNECT: ENSEMBLES 

The Hallé’s family of choirs and ensembles welcomed 700 people, aged 8 upwards, to sing and perform weekly with inspirational leaders. It has been another amazing year with many performance highlights, including: 

Three of our choirs – the Children’s, Youth and Hallé Choirs – gave Sir Mark an emotional choral farewell with the stunning new commission by James Macmillan, _Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia_ before his Mahler Symphony No.5 ‘Finale’ at both The Bridgewater Hall and at the BBC Proms. 

The Youth Choir remained in London to hold their summer course following the Prom and presented two free lunchtime concerts at St James’ Piccadilly and in the Old Royal Naval College Chapel in Greenwich. Their varied concert programme included works by Bruckner, Morten Lauridsen, Xabier Sarasola, Adolphus Hailstork and Kyle Pederson. The group also enjoyed some sight-seeing and a performance of Shakespeare’s _Much Ado About Nothing_ at the Globe Theatre. 

Members of the Youth Choir sang a medley of Manchester City Football Club (MCFC) tunes together with the Hallé brass ensemble immediately before the first Champions League game of the season in September, and supported MCFC again in their televised memorial moment for Tony Book in January. Singing a new arrangement of ‘Blue Moon’ written and conducted by Matthew Roughley, the choir brought a special quality to the minute of applause before kick-off. 

The Youth Orchestra spent a creative week in Hallé St Peter’s in August, working on a range of repertoire including works by Stravinsky, Florence Price and Ethel Smyth. They also worked with composer Sarah Freestone to create their own response to the repertoire in a composition day, before presenting their first ever relaxed concerts. In addition to their December concert of Berlioz’s _Carnival Overture_ and Sibelius’s Symphony No.1, in February Euan Shields conducted the Hallé with the Youth Orchestra in our annual Side-by-side programme including extracts from Thomas Adès’ _Inferno Suite_ , alongside R Strauss’ _Death and Transfiguration_ . 


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## CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REVIEW OF THE YEAR 

The Hallé Choir gave a stunning performance of Fauré’s Requiem with the Hallé and incoming Principal Conductor, Kahchun Wong, as part of the new ‘Rush Hour’ series, and loved working with him. The Choir was also delighted to join the BBC Philharmonic for their performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No.3, and an _a cappella_ performance at Gorton Monastery in July. Hallé Choir sopranos and altos performed Holst’s _The Planets_ with the BBC Philharmonic for their season opening concert in September, with the full Choir performing Lili Boulanger’s work _Psalm 130: De Profundis (Out of the Depths)_ for our ‘Rush Hour’ concert in November with Delyana Lazarova, and Thomas Adès’ _America: A Prophecy_ and Saariaho’s _Oltra Mar_ in March. Mahler’s epic Symphony No.2 with Kahchun Wong in January included a stunning contribution from the combined forces of the Hallé Choir and Youth Choir. 

The Youth Training Choir had a fun residential weekend at the Kingswood Centre near Doncaster in June, combining rehearsals with teambuilding activities. The Youth Training Choir then joined the Children’s Choir and Ancoats Community Choir in a Choral Festival in Hallé St Peter’s in July, which was a joyous day of free performances for families and the local community and included a community singing workshop. The Youth Training Choir performed Take That’s ‘Never Forget’ live from Media City UK for the national broadcast of BBC _Children in Need_ in November, before performing in the Hallé Christmas Family Concert and three performances of Rachel Portman’s _Mimi and the Mountain Dragon_ in December. 

The Children’s Choir performed ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day’ on the Christmas episode of BBC’s _Blue Peter_ in December, as well as our sold-out annual Carol Concerts with the Hallé Choir and Youth Choir. The children loved meeting the _Blue Peter_ and CBeebies stars and especially Henry the dog. Surprise fake snow completed the final take! 

In March, all of our Youth Ensembles joined together for their annual celebration concert. The Youth Orchestra performed Dvoˇrák’s Symphony No.8, the Children’s Choir performed Lin Marsh’s _Drum Songs_ with movement, the two youth choirs performed a range of a cappella repertoire. In honour of their upcoming tour to Italy, all Youth Ensembles performed Verdi’s well-loved chorus _Va Pensiero_ . 

New musicianship sessions were introduced to support our work with singers in the Youth Training Choir and Youth Choir. These sessions take place most Sundays alongside the weekly rehearsals and are designed to improve music reading skills and sight-reading confidence for those that need this the most. 

Over 800 singers joined us for ‘Sing with the Hallé’ in June, focusing this time on Mozart’s Requiem. These days are such fun! The whole building is buzzing with excitement and a sense of personal achievement.  Over 60 people joined our Choral Academy project to get to know the score even better in advance. Feedback from the day included: 

‘This was an absolutely brilliant day, I loved every minute and will be back next year. I can’t wait’ 

‘This was THE BEST singing day I’ve ever attended. I was so uplifted and driven by it all. Just awesome’ 

The Hallé Ancoats Community Choir celebrated its 10[th] Anniversary in Summer 2024. This choir is phenomenal in its inclusive welcome and sense of joy and has contributed hugely to embedding the Hallé’s place in the Ancoats community. Performances throughout the year included various locations in Ancoats and the Northern Quarter, at the Science and Industry Museum and in Birmingham to share songs and hold a workshop together with So Vocal – the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s community choir. The Community Choir also loved being a part of ‘Christmas at the Movies’ together with the workplace choirs. 

The Workplace Choir Competition took place in November, with a total of eight choirs taking part. The NHS Bolton One Voice Choir won the competition and performed at the Movies concert, becoming our first NHS choir ever to have won the competition. Reverend Catherine Binns, Deputy Head Chaplain at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said: _‘It means a huge amount to the choir. As people will know, the NHS has been through so much over the last few years, we’re still going through a lot of pressure, but it’s just unbelievable what we’ve been through and to win this representing Bolton NHS Foundation Trust is something that we work hard for. To perform at The Bridgewater Hall with the Hallé orchestra is a thing that dreams are made of.’_ 

The Choral Academy held three successful projects: Vivaldi’s _Gloria_ in October; Vaughan Williams _Fantasia on Christmas Carols_ in November/ December, and Fauré’s Requiem in March. Each project attracted approximately 50-60 participants and offered a chance for singers to learn a classic choral work together before an informal run-through performance for family and friends. 


Over 200 boys attended our annual ‘Boys Sing!’ event in March, and over 15 singing for well-being sessions have been held throughout the year. The Oasis Unity Choir in Gorton continues to welcome and support a diverse mixture of vulnerable adults and a translator assists sessions to ensure the local refugee communities can feel thoroughly welcome. 

## COMMUNICATIONS 

It has been another impressive year of growth in our audiences and in increasing the reach of our digital work, with campaigns and activity aligned to our strategy to diversify and expand our audiences, to reach new bookers and deepen loyalty with existing attenders. 

Sir Mark Elder’s final concerts in Manchester, and at the Proms and Edinburgh International Festival were a wonderful and fitting celebration of his transformative time in post. The concerts sold out, and audience response was incredible, as was the response from press and media, really profiling Hallé in the national spotlight as a leader in the orchestral space – a position we aim to retain with regular and exciting announcements and performances. 

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## CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REVIEW OF THE YEAR 

As well as celebrating Sir Mark Elder’s final concerts as Music Director, a big focus for the year has been launching and positioning Kahchun Wong in his new role of Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor, leveraging his performances and recordings with the orchestra, as well as press and media reviews and interviews, to introduce him and his artistic vision to audiences. With the Hallé own label release of _The Prince of the Pagodas_ we also took the opportunity to run an international press campaign. Initial response has been really positive, with strong reviews and good press coverage nationally and internationally, helping to really raise the profile of this new artistic partnership. The audience response in person and online has also been warm and overall, a very successful opening year in terms of reception. 

Across the financial year, sales and audience numbers remained strong, with the average income per concert up by 14% and paid tickets up by 5%. Christmas was once again a hugely important time of year for our audiences, welcoming almost 28k attenders across 19 concerts and generating the highest ticket revenue achieved to date over this period. Other individual concert sales of note included the wonderful Sir Mark Elder Finale concerts, Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’, Finlandia, A Celebration of Vaughan Williams and a fan favourite – _Top Gun Maverick_ . 

We also welcomed a range of first-time audiences to enjoy Hallé concerts, really demonstrating the impact of a diversified programme and undertaking new promotional activities in different spaces. _Top Gun Maverick_ , Nitin Sawhney and Game On! had particularly high numbers of new bookers, and we are seeing this pattern emerge particularly around the ‘Hallé Presents …’ concerts. 

We entered 2025 with a sold-out concert for Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’, which was an uplifting start to the year, especially given that January can be a difficult time to cultivate big audiences. Our focus was then on the Philip Glass festival, which built on audiences established for the previous year’s Steve Reich festival, and included a sell-out chamber concert for Glassworks, which moved to the larger RNCM concert hall, and sold out at this venue, including a good number of students. In terms of Digital activity, we have continued to build on content development in-house across photography and videography. As well as testing different types of content using a range of set ups and working to build remote camera capabilities, the Digital team have also been supporting partnership projects including the LowFour Project, working with artists to deepen audience engagement with concerts, and working with Hallé Connect on some new filming and photography content. 

Our goal for social media is to build audiences and deliver strong content in order to reach wider and deepen engagement with our brand and work. This year, we have seen steady growth in both audiences and engagement across all social media platforms, in particular on Instagram and TikTok, and we have been working hard to activate our audiences on newer platforms such BlueSky and Threads, testing the most impactful content for these platforms. 

We were also pleased to see strong engagement for our digital products with our 2024 Spotify figures reporting over 1.02m listeners (+14%) and 3.48m streams (+17%), with listeners from over 177 different countries 

## HALLÉ VENUES 

The Hallé’s own venues, Hallé St Peter’s and Hallé at St Michael’s, in the heart of the Ancoats region of Manchester, continue to be central to the success of all our artistic, educational and community projects, providing vital facilities, resources and opportunities for the whole of the Hallé’s ambitions. Whilst of course, the past twenty-five years has seen the re-emergence of the Hallé as a world-renowned orchestra under Sir Mark Elder and now Kahchun Wong, it’s arguable that the great development for the Hallé is its venues which nurtured and 

provided a base for its community, educational, ensembles and artistic work. Moreover, these venues have provided a catalyst for change in Ancoats and embedded further the Hallé as the cultural ambassador for Greater Manchester. 

Hallé St Peter’s, as the centre for the Hallé’s rehearsal and recording activities, provides space to deliver more of our plans for community engagement programmes, which are ever more inclusive and diverse in their reach. The venues are now fundamental to the operations of the Hallé’s Ensembles as home to weekly rehearsals for the Hallé Youth Orchestra and all six Hallé choral groups, as well as centres for auditions and summer courses. 

Our venues are operational 7 days a week, including a public facing café. This year has been our busiest yet, with nearly 1000 separate activities across the various spaces in 2024/25 financial year. To manage this growth, we have restructured the team to engage an in-house Sales and Marketing position. 


14 



## CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REVIEW OF THE YEAR 

Around 50% of the activities in the building are Hallé-led to include rehearsals, recording, a variety of concerts (notably the chamber music and relaxed concerts, as well as archive talks, workshops and meetings.) Outside of the Hallé’s work, there is a wide range of commercial and community activity. Much of it supports the other musical and artistic institutions across the city region, such as the BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, Manchester Collective, Northern Film Orchestra, Riot Ensemble and Manchester Baroque, Royal Northern College of Music and Kantos Chamber Choir. There have also been auditions for Sinfonia Cymru, Manchester Camerata, National Children’s Choir and The Glasshouse/Royal Northern Sinfonia. 

The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) continues to use Hallé St Peter’s as its main Manchester examinations centre. Hallé St Peter’s was a host venue for the BBC _Songs of Praise Young Chorister of the Year_ in 2024, broadcast on both BBC One and BBC Radio 2, and the competition is due to return for the 2025 event. Factory International regularly use venues as rehearsal spaces and we have hosted theatrical performances by The Telling, The Lowry, Gideon - The Musical as well as a comedy event for Gag Reflex/The Frog and Bucket Comedy Club. 

Central to both venues is providing a home for community music making as a weekly rehearsal base to Manchester Proud Chorus, Manchester Alternative Choir and The Sunday Boys among many others. External promotors continue to favour the space including events by Fever by Candlelight and Hey Manchester. 

In our busiest year to date we would like to thank our event catering partners Chapman Holmes and Café Cotton staff. The café remains popular in what has been a highly challenging trading environment. 

## DEVELOPMENT 

The commitment of our donors continued to grow and deepen during this financial year, and their loyalty and encouragement is a hugely important feature of our increasing family of supporters. We simply would not be able to function as an organisation without the ongoing commitment of our sponsors, patrons and trust and foundation donors. 

In December 2024 we were delighted to welcome two Major Sponsors to the fold: the return of Manchester Airport in November 2024 followed by the arrival of a completely new supporter, OCU Group, which in December 2024 made a commitment to engage at our Major Sponsor level.  We are also very grateful to four additional Major Sponsors: Brother, CMS, PZ Cussons and Edwardian Hotels, all of whom contribute both monetary and in-kind value, and especially to Hallé Diamond Sponsor, Siemens.  We eagerly anticipate the third occurrence of the Siemens Hallé International Conductors Competition in March 2026. 

We continue to rely on the ongoing encouragement of a large number of Patrons who are supportive and loyal, and we are grateful for their financial and personal commitment. We have welcomed many new supporters eager to engage with Kahchun Wong and we also established a new group of donors who engaged with our new Emeritus Conductor programme and helped us celebrate the return of Sir Mark in May 2025. 

During the year we were proud to represent GMCA in the immersive BLOOM performance, part of this year’s Japan-Week and in the Trade Mission to Japan led by Mayor Andy Burnham and Leader of MCC, Bev Craig. Our Development Director, Kath Russell, and I once again represented the Hallé as the main cultural representative on this trip which included the celebration of Manchester Day at the Osaka Expo 2025. 

In March 2025, we received notice that the National Heritage Lottery Fund had awarded us a grant of £250,000 to deliver a feasibility study to identify the best option for a public archive for the Hallé collection. 

We were also able to move towards legally securing two key additional archives: the Arthur Reynolds Elgar Collection and the Victoria Wood Foundation Archive.  The Elgar archive is currently in the USA, and we were invited to apply, as an emergency case, to the National Lottery Memorial Fund to secure this archive for the Hallé and the UK.  An acknowledged national treasure under threat, this is a discrete piece of work that we hope will secure the £120k required to obtain the archive and bring it to Manchester as a part of the Hallé archive project. 

The Hallé launched its first Commissioning Circle initiative in 2024, and results so far have been really promising.  The majority of donations to date have been raised via our current Patron base, and we are broadening out the appeal with the aim of attracting new supporters with a particular interest in the commissioning of work. We have had help in kind from the Edwardian Group to establish meetings in both Manchester and London and more are scheduled. 

The majority of the Hallé’s fundraising is targeted at companies and individuals and additionally Charitable Trusts. Our fundraising throughout is underpinned by a relationship development strategy which means the retention of donors and sponsors is particularly high and we draw much of our support from locally based businesses and regular audience members. The Society’s fundraising activity is conducted in line with the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising Practice. 

## PERSONNEL AND BOARD 

During the year the orchestra said farewell to Jim Muirhead (bass clarinet), Kyle MacCorquodale (bass trombone) and Diego Gabete (second violin). We formally welcomed Emily Davis as Leader alongside Roberto Ruisi. We have, without doubt, two of the finest orchestra leaders in Europe, both of whom have made their mark artistically. 

I would like to acknowledge the extraordinary skill, talent and creativity of our Hallé musicians who are an inspiration to us all. The immersive way they have responded to Mark’s final concerts and to Kahchun’s arrival is evident to see from our growing audiences and unparalleled critical response. Moreover, their artistic and enthusiastic response to the ever more plural range of music alongside our extensive educational programmes demonstrates why the contract orchestra model and, if I may, this great orchestra as its exemplar, is the cornerstone of orchestra music provision in the UK. It is no surprise that the Hallé has been named at the head of the Daily Telegraph’s Top 8 British Orchestras and is nominated as Gramophone’s International Orchestra of the Year for 2024/25. 

Finally, a world class orchestra and choirs need a world-class management team; so, I’d like to thank our skillful and committed Management team and Board for their expertise and energy in curating and enabling performances and projects of exceptional quality and range and, crucially, inspiring the next generation of musicians and audiences. 


David Butcher, Chief Executive July 2025 

15 



## **≥** THE YEAR IN NUMBERS 

## ORCHESTRA AND MANAGEMENT 

**76** salaried musicians, with a 49/51% male/ female split comprising 75% British and 25% from 14 different countries from around the world 

**47** administrative staff, with 26/74% male/ female split 






## PERFORMANCE AND AUDIENCE 

**8.93m+** people streamed from the Hallé own-label (a 120% increase on the previous year) 

**4.2m+** unique views of Hallé video content including UK, US, Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan and India. 

**1m+** heard the Hallé via TV and radio 

**100,000 +** concert-goers heard the Hallé live. 

first time attenders **7,813** 

**120** performances in Manchester plus a further 50 across the UK and Europe 

**7** radio and 1 TV broadcasts 

**29%** increase in social media subscribers across all platforms 




## HALLÉ CONNECT: ENSEMBLES 

**400+** adult singers sang weekly in our adult choirs, contributing hugely to improved health and wellbeing 

**300+** children and young people from across GM and beyond made music weekly for free with our inspirational musicians across our four youth ensembless 

**100+** employees sang in our workplace choirs to improve their health and wellbeing in the workplace. 

**200+** boys were supported through outreach sessions 



## HALLÉ CONNECT: EDUCATION 

**89,000+** Engagements. **42,500+** Individual participants **35,300+** young people from Greater Manchester played with the Hallé 

children created music with the **3,500+** Hallé in their own school. 

**2,500+** people in hospitals and care homes received wellbeing visits from our musicians. 

**1,200+** adults and young people attended relaxed concerts for people with dementia, disability and special educational needs 

**70+** undergraduate wind and brass players from the RNCM were supported by Hallé musicians and 14 played with the orchestra. 

**30+** sessions supported young families to introduce their babies and toddlers to music in a relaxed environment. 

**15+** singing sessions supported vulnerable adults to join in, feel welcomed, and have a break from the pressures of life, and leave feeling valued and uplifted 

**6** advanced string players from the RNCM were mentored by Hallé musicians and played with the orchestra throughout the year. 

**4** students from Manchester University and RNCM undertook administrative work experience placements. 

17 



## THREE YEAR FINANCIAL SUMMARY 

The table below summarises the operating results of the Hallé group for the last 3 financial years. 

|Year ended 31 March<br>**Income from normal charitable operations**<br>**excluding exceptional items**<br>Box office<br>Engagements, touring & broadcasting<br>Education & Hallé St Peter’s<br>Fundraising, Sponsorship & other income<br>Investment income<br>Revenue grants<br>Orchestra Tax Credit<br>TOTAL<br>**Operating costs**<br>Orchestra, related staff and other costs<br>Conductors, soloists and freelance<br>Hall hire & box office charges<br>Other performance related costs including touring<br>Marketing & Communications<br>Education & Hallé St Peter’s<br>Fundraising<br>Other<br>TOTAL<br>**Net operating (deficit)/surplus**<br>Transfer from Endowment<br>**Total (deficit)/surplus for the year**<br>Total funds<br>Unrestricted before pension liability<br>Pension liability<br>Total unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment Funds<br>**TOTAL FUNDS**|2025<br>£000<br>1,482<br>1,002<br>870<br>1,115<br>109<br>3,208<br>2,724|2024<br>2023<br>%<br>£000<br>%<br>£000<br>%<br>14%<br>1,483<br>14%<br>1,253<br>13%<br>10%<br>1,280<br>12%<br>1,091<br>11%<br>8%<br>790<br>7%<br>640<br>7%<br>10%<br>1,051<br>10%<br>1,181<br>12%<br>1%<br>125<br>1%<br>196<br>2%<br>31%<br>3,208<br>30%<br>3,207<br>34%<br>26%<br>2,713<br>26%<br>2,014<br>21%|
|---|---|---|
||10,510|100%<br>10,650<br>100%<br>9,582<br>100%|
||5,038<br>680<br>887<br>1,749<br>650<br>1,322<br>353<br>477|45%<br>4,844<br>44%<br>4,650<br>46%<br>6%<br>803<br>7%<br>781<br>8%<br>8%<br>911<br>8%<br>778<br>8%<br>16%<br>1,822<br>16%<br>1,592<br>16%<br>6%<br>606<br>6%<br>633<br>6%<br>12%<br>1,245<br>11%<br>1,013<br>10%<br>3%<br>352<br>3%<br>318<br>3%<br>4%<br>517<br>5%<br>367<br>3%|
||11,156|100%<br>11,100<br>100%<br>10,132<br>100%|
||||
||**(646)**|**(450)**<br>**(550)**|
||331|272<br>220|
||**(315)**|**(178)**<br>**(330)**|
||||
|||2025<br>2024<br>2023<br>£000<br>£000<br>£000<br>1,873<br>1,977<br>1,621<br>(6,962)<br>(8,040)<br>(8,709)|
|||(5,089)<br>(6,063)<br>(7,088)<br>9,500<br>10,092<br>10,920<br>7,427<br>7,805<br>7,160|
|||**11,838**<br>**11,834**<br>**10,992**|



18 



SUMMARY FINANCIAL INFORMATION 

WHERE THE FUNDING CAME FROM 

## 2024/25 



Box Office - 14% Engagements, touring and broadcasting - 10% Education and Hallé St Peter's - 8% Fundraising, sponsorship and other income - 10% Investment income - 1% Revenue grants - 31% Orchestra Tax Credit - 26% 

WHERE THE FUNDS WERE SPENT 

## 2024/25 




Orchestra, related staff and other costs - 44% Conductors, soloists and freelance - 7% Hall hire and box office charges - 8% Other performance related costs including touring - 16% Marketing and Communications - 6% Education and Hallé St Peter's - 11% Fundraising - 3% Other - 5% 

The Annual Report and Summary Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2025 will be available at www.halle.co.uk A copy of those statements is available on request by e-mailing info@halle.co.uk or from Hallé Concerts Society, The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester M1 5HA 

19 



## TRUSTEES’ REPORT 

The Trustees, who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act, present their annual report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025, in compliance with current statutory requirements, the governing documents and Charities SORP (FRS 102): Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland. 

## REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS 

Details of the registered office, Trustees, principal officers and other relevant information are given on page 4. 

The Hallé Concerts Society (“the Society”) is a company limited by guarantee, governed by its Articles of Association as amended and adopted by the Annual General Meeting in September 2022. It is registered as a charity with the Charity Commission, registration number 223882. 

## **Nominations and Remuneration Committee** 

Darren Drabble * (Chair) Debbie Francis * Merryl Webster * Aileen Wiswell * 

## **Investment Committee** 

John Schultz (Chair) $ (resigned Apr 2025) John Eckersley $ (Chair from July 2025) David McKeith $ Edward Pysden $ (resigned Apr 2024) Tim Seagrave ^ $ Elizabeth Shepherd $ Debbie Francis* $ Claire Dwyer $ (from May 2024) Simon Shelbourn $ (from May 2024) Ruth Harkin (retired June 2024) Natalie Atkinson (from June 2024) 

* Member of Hallé Board 

$ Trustee of Hallé Endowment Trust 

- ^ nominated by Manchester City Council 

## STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT 

The Society’s Board of Trustees is responsible for its affairs and the Chief Executive reports to the Board on behalf of the Management and Staff. The Board consists of a maximum of 13 members appointed as follows: 

Elected: 

Nominated by ten members of the Society, unless recommended by the Board 

Nominated: 

Nominated by Manchester City Council (1) and GMCA (2), appointed by the Board 

The Board meets approximately seven times a year to review strategy and operational performance and to set operating plans and budgets. Day to day management is delegated to the Chief Executive. 

The Board has three standing committees with specific areas of responsibility, and which make recommendations to the Board: 

- Audit Committee – responsible for overseeing the Society’s financial reporting, external audit and reviewing the Society’s internal control and risk management systems. 

- Nominations & Remuneration Committee – responsible for reviewing the structure, size and composition of the Board and the Trustee bodies of the Society’s related trusts, having regard to the balance and mix of skills required, and making recommendations to the Board about any adjustments deemed necessary. This Committee is also responsible for setting the procedure for recruitment of Board members and other senior appointments, for recommending appointments to the Board and setting the framework for remuneration of senior appointments; and 

- Investment Committee – responsible for overseeing the investment portfolio of the Society and its related entities. 

Other _ad hoc_ committees may also be formed to oversee special projects, and their terms of operation are agreed in advance by the Board. The members of the three standing committees are: 

## **Audit Committee** 

Alastair Nuttall (Chair)* (from Sept 2024) Tim Edge (Chair) * (resigned Sept 2024) John Phillips * William Smith (co-optee) Merryl Webster * Debbie Francis * 

Full terms of reference for the standing committees and short CVs of Board members are available on the Hallé website, halle.co.uk. 

## TRUSTEES 

All Trustees have an equal vote and have the statutory duties and obligations of Trustees. 

All Trustees who are members of the Society are guarantors of the Society with a maximum liability of £5. 

At each Annual General Meeting the Trustees who have reached the end of their term of office will retire and, if eligible, may stand for reelection. In accordance with the Articles of Association the following Trustees are due to retire in 2025 and will need to be re-elected (subject to their willingness to continue): 

Darren Drabble has agreed to continue as a Trustee (subject to Board approval) at the September AGM. 

John Phillips and Aileen Wiswell will be standing down after serving a full-term. Nicholas Keynon, who was co-opted last year, will become a formal Trustee (subject to Board approval) at the September AGM. 

The Company Secretary ensures that appropriate induction and training is given to all Board members; for example, updates on new charity regulations are provided at Trustee meetings. Each new Trustee is provided with a pack of information about the Hallé and their responsibilities as Trustees and is given an opportunity for personal meetings with the Chair and senior management of the Society. 

## STRUCTURE OF THE GROUP 

The Hallé Concerts Society includes the Hallé Concerts Society Sickness and Benevolent Fund, which is a charity linked by a Charity Commission Uniting Direction. The Sickness and Benevolent Fund results are included as a restricted fund within the Society’s financial statements. 

The Hallé Concerts Society Group (the Group) consists of the Hallé Concerts Society, its subsidiary Hallé Promotions Limited and two related trusts: the Hallé Endowment Trust and the Charles Hallé Foundation on the basis that they are subsidiaries of the Society. 

The Society also has a connected charity, the Terence Judd Trust Fund, which was set up in memory of the pianist, Terence Judd, by his family, who still have an active interest in its activities. This connected charity is not consolidated or aggregated, in accordance with Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) FRS 102. 

20 



## TRUSTEES’ REPORT 

## RISK MANAGEMENT AND INTERNAL CONTROL 

The Trustees are responsible for ensuring that an effective system of internal financial control is maintained and operated by the Society. 

The system can provide only reasonable, and not absolute, assurance that assets are safeguarded, transactions authorised and properly recorded, and that material errors or irregularities are either prevented or detected within a timely period. 

The system of internal financial control is based on a framework of regular management information; administrative procedures, including the segregation of duties; and a system of delegation and accountability. 

In particular, it includes: 

- A comprehensive budgeting system, with a strategic plan and an annual budget, which is reviewed and agreed by the Trustees. 

- Regular reviews by the Trustees of periodic and annual financial reports, which indicate financial performance against approved budget and forecast. 

- Clearly defined capital expenditure control guidelines. 

- A review by the Audit Committee of the comments made by the external auditors in their management letter and other reports; and 

- Procedures for monitoring progress against the strategic plan. 

As part of the monitoring process, the Trustees have implemented a risk management strategy, which comprises: 

- Regular review by management and an annual review by the Board of the risks which the Society may face and actions taken to mitigate identified risks (last review completed in July 2025); 

- The establishment of systems and procedures to mitigate those risks identified; and 

- The implementation of procedures designed to minimise any potential impact on the charity should any of those risks materialise. 

## OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES OF THE SOCIETY 

The object of the Society, as stated in its Articles, is to promote the study, practice and knowledge of the art of music in the United Kingdom and elsewhere by the arrangement and giving of concerts, and other such means as is thought fit including, without limitation, performances of the Hallé Orchestra at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester for the benefit of the public generally. 

During the year, the Board approved the Society’s new and ambitious Strategic Plan 2024-2029. The whole organisation was involved in its production and ongoing implementation. The Vision, Mission and Values as outlined in this plan are as follows: 

## **VISION** 

Changing lives through music 

## **MISSION** 

As a progressive musical force, we will lead by example through innovation in programming, education and talent development, celebrated internationally and rooted in our relationship with audiences 

## **VALUES** 

Pioneering – leading by example; it’s in our DNA Inclusive – open, accessible and welcoming to all Passionate – embracing our zeal and commitment Excellence – striving to be the best we can be Confident – with a Mancunian swagger 

Our work annually includes: 

- Promoting concerts by the orchestra and by other artists and ensembles in Manchester as the principal resident orchestra at The Bridgewater Hall, performing a wide range of music for diverse audiences including concerts and events for schools and family concerts. 

- Performing concerts throughout the United Kingdom including residencies in Nottingham and Sheffield, appearances at major arts festivals such as the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival and Aldeburgh Festival, together with regular engagements in Leeds, Blackburn, York, Hanley, Lincoln and across the UK. 

- Concert performances overseas acting as a cultural ambassador for the Greater Manchester region, in particular with performances and residencies in Europe and Asia. 

- The production of highly acclaimed recordings issued on the Hallé’s own label and digital platforms. 

- Regular broadcasts and films for radio, television, social media and online platforms.. 

- Producing an extensive and award-winning education and outreach programme in Greater Manchester and beyond, which engages over 75,000 people each year, (55,000 children and young people), across the entire community, from schools to universities, care homes to prisons, bringing music and creative experiences to those who may not attend the concert hall. 

- Supporting the Hallé’s family of choirs welcoming, weekly, over 700 people aged 8 upwards to sing and perform with inspirational choral leaders, plus the Hallé Youth Orchestra. 

- Operating the award-winning venues: Hallé St Peter’s and Hallé St Michael’s in Ancoats for Hallé rehearsals, performances and education activities as well as for local community and commercial use. These venues have been and continue to provide a catalyst for the cultural and commercial development of Ancoats. 

## PUBLIC BENEFIT 

In shaping the objectives for the year and planning the Society’s activities, the Trustees considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, including the guidance on fee charging. The Society relies on grants, donations, sponsorship, engagement fees and income from ticket sales to cover its operating costs. Its work is also informed by the aims of its principal public funders including the Arts Council England (ACE) 2020-2030 ‘Let’s Create’ strategy and the associated investment principles and framework. We work hard to ensure our activities reflect and further the social and cultural priorities of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and Manchester City Council (MCC) in ensuring the widest number of people in the region have the opportunity to experience the Hallé’s work.  In setting the level of ticket prices and concessions, the Trustees give careful consideration to the accessibility of the Hallé for those on low incomes and with special needs. A special scheme for students provides them with access to heavily discounted tickets. 

Schemes are in place to encourage attendance from those who would not ordinarily have access to concerts. The Hallé offers free tickets and programmes, as well as advice and support to many diverse groups including those targeted through the GMCA network. 

Charges for education and outreach work aim to ensure those activities are accessible to the widest possible constituencies, whatever their means, and activity is targeted at schools and communities where there are limited opportunities for cultural involvement and where 

21 



TRUSTEES’ REPORT 

there may be multiple barriers to participation. Membership of the youth and children’s ensembles is free, and, with the generous aid of our supporters, bursaries are available to help members who require financial support. Membership of our adult ensembles is subject to voluntary donation (Hallé Choir) or a fee (Choral Academy, Community Choir), and where fees are charged, there is always a stated option for those on low incomes to attend and to contribute only what they can afford. 

The extent of our outreach work, under our branded umbrella, Hallé Connect, is described in more detail in the Chief Executive’s Review of the Year and on the Hallé website. Our digital platforms also make video and audio content available, free of charge, to users across the world. 

Events in Hallé St Peter’s and Hallé at St Michael’s are planned to encourage active participation from the local community and the charging structure for events offers heavily discounted rates for community groups. 

## STRATEGIC REPORT 

## **Achievements, performance and financial review** 

The Group’s accounts have been prepared in accordance with Charities SORP (FRS 102). 

The Statements of Financial Activities for the Group and the Society are set out on pages 33 and 34 and the consolidated and aggregated summary income and expenditure of the Group is given on page 32. A full review of the Society’s activities and achievements is set out in the Chair’s Statement and the Chief Executive’s Review of the Year, which have been approved by the Trustees. 

Orchestra Tax Relief at the higher rate of 45%. 

Of the £11,838k in Funds at 31 March 2025 the majority of the funds are held in restricted reserves and permanent endowment funds, reduced by the liability on the defined benefit pension scheme: 

- Restricted reserves of £9,500k include over £5,000k in respect of the capital funding received for Hallé St Peter’s, which is used to cover the depreciation charges on the building as it is written off over its life. 

- Endowment Trust balances of £7,427k - only the income and investment gains are available to support expenditure because the capital is a permanent endowment. 

- Defined benefit pension liability – the deficit has reduced by £1,078k in the year, from £8,040k at 31 March 2024 to £6,962k at 31 March 2025. 

Within the overall fund balances of £11,838k, expendable reserves are £4,455k (31 March 2024 £4,561k) and are explained in more detail in the Reserves section below. Expendable reserves have reduced due to the deficit on unrestricted funds in this financial year. These expendable reserves are essential both to support planned core activity over the next 5 years and to provide a buffer through difficult and uncertain times. Challenges over the next few years will include continuing cost of living pressures and the impact inflations levels at higher than historic norms paired with flat levels of funding. This exacerbates the ongoing pressures of uncertainty over future public sector grants and the contributions required to meet the Pension Scheme deficit. As a result, despite the welcome extension of higher rate Orchestra Tax Relief, there remain significant potential risks to the financial security of the Hallé and these reserves play a critical role in creating financial resilience and ability to plan constructively for the future. 

## **Review of 2024/25 financial results** 

## **Overview of 2024/25 financial position** 

The Income and Expenditure Account on page 32 shows that the Group generated a net deficit for the year of £315k (2023/24: deficit £178k). The Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) on page 33 is a more comprehensive presentation of the Group’s financial results, as it brings in the Endowment Fund and shows income and expenditure split between unrestricted and restricted categories. This statement also includes the actuarial loss on the defined benefit pension scheme and investment losses to give a full reconciliation of the movement in funds from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. 

The Statement of Financial Activities for 2024/25 shows an overall increase in funds of £4k for the Group and £377k for the Company. This increase in funds includes an actuarial gain of £711k in respect of the Defined Benefit pension scheme and the Group position includes £334k of unrealised loss on investments held mainly by the Hallé Endowment Trust. Both of these factors are described in more detail later in the report. It should however be noted that neither of these movements is crystallised, they reflect wider economic conditions and are managed over the longer rather than short term. 

The position before investment and actuarial losses for the Group is a net deficit for the year of £373k. The deficit position is not a matter for concern as it is due to depreciation of £383k largely funded by specific restricted reserves, created from generous capital donations in previous years for particular capital schemes such as Hallé St Peter’s. Therefore, a deficit within restricted funds is reasonable and results from planned expenditure against restricted reserves built from successful fundraising in previous years.  Unrestricted funds, where the majority of our operational income and expenditure is recorded, have produced a deficit of £67k of income over expenditure and Endowment funds a surplus of £272k, before investment loss is taken into account. 

The Hallé greatly appreciate therefore the government’s decision (announced in the Spring 2024 Budget) to permanently extend 

## **Income** 

Analysis of donations and legacies, income from charitable activities and income from trading activities is provided in notes 5, 6 and 7. Total income in 2024/25 amounted to £10.8M (2023/24 £10.9M). 

The financial year 2024/25 saw a broadly level income from concerts compared to last year despite 7 fewer concerts in Manchester than in 2023/24. Audience numbers for the concerts were strong and the exciting programme on offer has resulted in reaching significant new audiences, despite the environment continuing to be challenging due to general cost of living and economic pressures. 2024/25 saw a full schedule of schools’ concerts which were consistently well received. There were fewer engagements around the UK than in prior years. 

Income from charitable activities also included the income generated from Hallé St Peters and Hallé St Michaels in the regenerated area of Ancoats in Manchester. External hire and catering income from these venues continued to grow, in addition to the valuable cost savings resulting from having this rehearsal space. 

Donations and legacy income includes £3.2M revenue grants from Arts Council England (ACE), Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and Manchester City Council (MCC). This represents 30% of the total income, providing essential security for funding and planning all activities. The Hallé are grateful for this continued support and pleased that this income has been approved by ACE and GMCA for the period 2023-26. 

Other donations and legacy income has largely been maintained in 2024/25 overall. This result is due to reduced income from individual giving and trusts/foundations, arising from a difficult fundraising environment and to wider economic problems, combined with higher legacy income in the financial year. 

Corporate sponsorship income has increased in 2024/25 despite a challenging environment for business. Key sponsorship relationships 

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## TRUSTEES’ REPORT 

continue to flourish and provide essential support. We were delighted to welcome both a significant new sponsor and to re-establish support from an important sponsor, previously lost during the pandemic. 

Investment income for the Group is £324k (2023/24: £344k) This should be viewed together with the unrealised loss on investments of £334k, as the investments are managed on a total return basis. Market volatility due to geopolitical uncertainty remained throughout the accounting period. More detail on investment performance is provided in the investment section of this report. A grant of £331k from the Endowment Fund was approved by the Endowment Trustees (2023/24: £312k) and this is reflected in the transfers between funds in the SOFA. The grants from the Endowment Fund are an essential source of reliable income for the Society. 

Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR) at over a quarter of the total income, now forms a vital element of the Hallé income, helping to address the pressures caused by real terms reductions in revenue grants. Both 2024/25 and 2023/24 benefitted from the temporary doubling of the claim percentage to 50%. The year-end provision is necessarily based on an estimate with the actual claim not being fully calculated until later in the following accounting year. The estimated claim for 2024/25 is £2,475k and demonstrates the vital importance of this income stream. The decision to make the rate 45% permanently from 2025/26, is therefore very welcome. 

income the forecast recognised the seasonality of key income streams including: 

- The Orchestra Tax Relief payment from HMRC, which is expected to be paid in one payment between 10 and 11 months after the financial year end. 

- Other major forms of funding including the GMCA grant which is paid bi-annually. 

- Ticket income which is biased towards the winter concert season. 

A number of plausible downside scenarios were then considered to stress test the base case forecast position. The downside scenarios included reductions in income from donations, grants, and trading activities, as well as potential increases in operating costs. The Trustees also considered potential management actions to mitigate the impact of downside scenarios. 

Having considered the results of this process the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has sufficient resources to meet its obligations and continue its activities for a period of at least 12 months from the date of approval of the financial statements. Accordingly, the financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. 

## **Subsidiaries** 

## **Expenditure** 

Total resources expended amounted to £11.2m (2023/24: £11.2m). An analysis of the charitable activity expenditure is given in note 9. 

Underlying the flat spend are variances to prior year including a 3% pay rise, spend on the implementation of new operating software and hardware, as old IT systems became obsolete, and planned increased marketing spend to support the change in conductor. These additional spends were matched by reductions in other costs, including no overseas tours in the 2024/25 financial year. 

Fundraising costs of £353k (2023/24: £344k) mainly comprise staffing costs of the team. 

The other main expenditure heading is pension costs of £476k (2023/24: £517k) associated with the defined benefit scheme: these comprise net interest of £369k on the liability and £107k administrative costs of the scheme. These costs are as calculated in accordance with financial reporting standards by a professional actuary. The approach is different from that used for the formal actuarial valuations required by the Pensions Regulator which form the basis of the recovery plan agreed periodically with the Pension Scheme Trustees and under which the Hallé paid £736k into the pension scheme to reduce the deficit in 2024/25. 

## **Going concern assessment** 

The Trustees have assessed the charity’s ability to continue in operational existence for a period of at least 12 months from the approval of the financial statements. The assessment considered: 

- The charity’s current financial position, including unrestricted reserves and cash flow. 

- Forecast income and expenditure, including the impact of any known risks or uncertainties. 

- The continued support from donors, grant funders, and other stakeholders. 

- The charity’s ability to adapt its operations in response to changing circumstances. 

- The Trustees prepared a prudent base case forecast which reflected expected operating costs and income levels. In relation to expected 

The Society’s wholly owned subsidiary, Hallé Promotions Limited, did not trade during the year. 

## **Hallé Concerts Society Sickness and Benevolent Fund** 

The Hallé Concerts Society Sickness and Benevolent Fund, which is a charity linked by a Charity Commission Uniting Direction, holds investments, which, at the discretion of the Society, may be applied to assist employees of the Society who are in temporary distress through poverty or sickness. 

The Sickness and Benevolent Fund is treated as a restricted fund of the Hallé Concerts Society for the purposes of the Company and Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities and is overseen by the Board of the Society. The income from this fund has traditionally been used to meet the costs of physiotherapy treatment and similar expenses. In 2018/19 the Board agreed that the cost of the premium for the health insurance for orchestra players fitted within the objectives of the Fund and that the Fund would plan to cover this cost in the future (although this will be regularly reviewed in respect of affordability and longer-term planning for the Fund). The cost charged to the Fund in 2024/25 is £54k (2023/24: £54k) in addition to physiotherapy and similar benefits of £10k (2023/24: £8k). 

## **Charles Hallé Foundation** 

The Charles Hallé Foundation holds funds raised from public donation, legacies and fundraising events. These funds are applied, at the discretion of the Foundation Trustees, to fund projects by the Society which would not otherwise be funded from core grant income. In 2024/25 the Charles Hallé Foundation received £194k in donations and legacies (2023/24: £260k) and raised £14k (2023/24: £9k) net income through fundraising events. Funds of £200k (2023/24: £360k) were transferred to the Society to support educational and other projects. Total funds at 5 April 2025 were £20k (2024: £15k). 

## **Hallé Endowment Trust** 

The Hallé Endowment Trust holds long-term investments, the income from which is available to the Society, at the discretion of the Endowment Trustees, to further the education of the general public 

23 



## TRUSTEES’ REPORT 

in the study, appreciation and practice of music and the allied arts through supporting the activities of the Society. The Endowment Trust comprises two funds – the Main Endowment and the Catalyst Endowment, which was established following an Arts Council England initiative which provided endowment match funding to donations received by the Hallé. The Trustees have adopted the total return approach to investment. 

The Hallé Endowment Trust has a year-end of 31 December; however, for the purposes of consolidation into the Group accounts, the results for the 12 months to 31 March are consolidated into the 31 March Group financial statements. 

The results of the Endowment Trust included in the consolidated results are as follows: during the 12 months to 31 March 2025 the Hallé Endowment Trust received donations and legacies of £76k (2023/24: £29k) and generated investment income of £214k (2023/24: £217k). The investment loss consolidated into the group accounts is £319k (2023/24: gain of £749k). A grant of £331k was awarded to the Society in 2025 (2023/24: £312k). Total funds held by the Hallé Endowment Trust at 31 March 2025 were £7,385k (202: £7,763k). More information regarding the investment performance is provided in the Investment Policy section below. 

## **Hallé 2058 Foundation** 

The Hallé 2058 Foundation is treated as a restricted fund for the purposes of the Statement of Financial Activities and is overseen by the Board of the Society. The fund includes monies raised by the Hallé Appeal and supplements the core funding of the Society by striving to support the following: the Society’s artistic and educational programmes and initiatives such as the Hallé’s youth and outreach activities including, inter alia, the Hallé Youth Orchestra, Hallé Youth and Children’s Choirs and the Hallé Assistant Conductor programmes together with any new initiatives and developments in this area. Net income in 2024/25 was £60k (2023/24: £38k), increasing the fund balance to £1,183k. 

## **Changes in tangible fixed assets** 

Tanglible fixed assets are detailed in note 12 of the financial statements. Tangible fixed assets are held either for direct charitable purposes or to provide additional revenue for charitable purposes through event and catering income, as with the multi-use spaces at Hallé St Peter’s. Now that the Hallé St Peter’s capital project is complete there have been no major movements in fixed assets other than the annual depreciation charge (£372k) which is largely funded from the restricted funds set up with the donations to acquire these assets. 

## **Investment policy** 

The Investment sub-committee reviews the investment strategy and performance of the Society and its related entities. 

During 2024/25 the discretionary management of the Group’s investment portfolios was carried out by CCLA Investment Management Limited. 

The investments are held in CCLA’s COIF Charities Ethical Investment Fund. Separate Investment Portfolios are held for the Main Endowment 

Fund and the Catalyst Endowment Funds (comprising the Halle Endowment Fund), the Sickness & Benevolent Fund and the Terence Judd Trust. 

The majority of investments are held by the Hallé Endowment Trust within the Main Endowment Fund and the Catalyst Endowment Fund. A total return approach is adopted for the investment strategy, such that the investment objective focus is on maximising the overall investment return (gains and income) rather than maximising investment income. 

The following investment policies and strategy have been adopted by the Trustees of the individual trusts: 

- The investment objective is to maintain the real value of capital whilst generating a sustainable and reliable income. 

- The aim is to maximise the total investment return and a balanced attitude to risk is accepted by the Trustees in order to achieve this. 

- The target of the investment strategy is to maximise total return, with a target of CPI +4% per annum over the long term, by definition without distinguishing between capital return and income return. 

- There are currently no restrictions on the Trustees’ power to invest and the Trustees have not adopted an ethical investment policy, in order that their flexibility to invest is not restricted; however, the Trustees wish to follow a proactive ESG stance as a matter of investment policy, believing that ESG related risks, including climate change risks, are an important component of investment risk and that organisations that soundly manage these risks are more likely to be financially sustainable over time. The trustees require the Investment Manager to integrate analysis of relevant ESG issues into their investment processes.  The Trustees will monitor how the Investment Manager takes ESG issues into account in practice on a regular basis. 

Taking the above factors into account CCLA have selected the COIF Charities Ethical Investment Fund as suitable for the investment policies of the individual Hallé associated Trusts and will keep this suitability under regular review. 

The COIF Charities Ethical Investment Fund is a multi-asset, long-term fund with a diversified and balanced spread of investments including equities, bonds, property and cash. It excludes investments where >10% of revenue is from activities including oil and gas extraction, armaments, tobacco, alcohol and gambling. 

## **Investment performance** 

The investment performance for the year to 31 March 2025 has been adversely affected by geopolitical events and global markets remain volatile. Most of the adverse impact was seen in the January to March 2025 period. 

After fees and expenses, the total return performance of the fund for the year to 31 March 2025 was -1.5% (2023/24: 13.0%) against the target of 6.8%, being CPI+4%, (2023/24: 7.4%) It should be noted, however, that the target return of CPI+4% is an average target over the longer term. 

Further details of the investment performance can be found in the accounts for the Hallé Endowment Trust. 

Prior to both funds being invested on a total returns basis, the Main Endowment Fund had exceeded the CPI+4% target. Over the same 

24 



TRUSTEES’ REPORT 

## **Investment Performance of Hallé Portfolios over 7 years** 


period the Catalyst Fund had fallen behind target because incomeproducing investments had not performed as well. 

The priority for the Trustees remains the longer-term performance of the investments to provide support for the Society in the future. The Trustees are confident that the investment policy provides a good basis to achieve the investment objective over the medium and longer term and to secure this outcome but will continue to carefully monitor the performance of the funds selected. 

## **Reserves** 

The Trustees reviewed and approved the reserves policy in July 2025. The policy is stated below: 

In accordance with the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) FRS 102 the Society has considered the risks facing the Charity in order to formulate an appropriate reserves policy. 

The major financial risks are perceived to be inflationary pressures, reductions in public sector funding, wider cost of living pressures and the defined benefit pension liability. 

The Society aims to maintain expendable reserves at a level which will enable the Society to provide for contingencies, withstand periods of poor trading conditions or, in extreme circumstances, to manage a fundamental restructure of the orchestra’s activities. On this basis the Trustees have set a target for expendable reserves of approximately £3,000k to represent 6 months of fixed costs. This reflects the significant level of fixed costs borne by the Society, particularly in respect of salaries (with a 70+ contract orchestra), the contractual commitment to The Bridgewater Hall and payments to reduce the defined benefit liability required under the recovery plan agreed with the pension trustees. 

For the purposes of this policy the Trustees define expendable reserves to be the General Fund and those restricted reserves where the funds are given to support activities which fall within the Society’s core purpose. The level of expendable reserves at 31 March 2025 is £4,455k (31 March 2024 £4,561k). The Trustees consider their expendable 

reserves at 31 March 2025 to comprise the General funds of the Group £1,698k, plus the reserves of the Hallé 2058 Foundation of £1,184k, plus the Monument and Oglesby revenue reserves of £1,573k. 

The Trustees consider the level of reserves to be in line with the target of £3,000k. The balance exceeds the target, but this is prudent to allow extra headroom to manage the challenges and risks of the next financial year and beyond. The Monument and Oglesby reserves hold the balance (£1,573k) of the £2,500k raised in respect of the original St Peter’s revenue fundraising, to support activities in Hallé St Peter’s. 

It is acknowledged that the expendable reserves include restricted reserves which have been given for specific purposes to support developmental activity, and their disposition is overseen by the Board. 

As reported in previous years, the recognition of the defined benefit scheme pension liability under FRS 102 clearly has a major impact on the reported unrestricted reserves of the Group and the Society. The liability at 31 March 2025 is calculated as £6,962k (2024: £8,040k). Although this is significant, the liability is not crystallised at this date and is updated annually to reflect market conditions and other actuarial assumptions. 

## **Defined benefit pension liability** 

The pension liability in the financial statements is calculated in line with financial reporting standards, whereas the formal actuarial valuation, normally carried out on a triennial basis, is the one recognised by The Pension Regulator. It is this latter valuation which forms the basis of the recovery plan and deficit payments to be made by the Society over future years. Further detail on the pension scheme liability is provided in note 22 of the financial statements. The liability is significant and presents a major risk for the Society. The Board of the Society works collaboratively with the separate board of Pension Scheme Trustees to meet Pension Regulator requirements and to balance pension obligations with the future financial security of the Hallé Concerts Society, recognising that the two priorities are closely linked. 

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT 

The last complete triennial actuarial valuation was carried out as at 31 March 2022 and produced a liability of £9.1m. The Society agreed a recovery plan with the Pension Trustees to pay off the shortfall which requires the Society to make payments of £550k per annum from 1 April 2023 until December 2028 increasing at 2% per annum. In addition, the Society has made additional lump sum payments of £175k each in January 2024 and January 2025 and bear the pension scheme administrative expenses directly. It is this plan which is reflected in these 2024/25 Annual Accounts. 

The next actuarial valuation will be dated 31 March 2025, and the results of this valuation will be available to the Pension Trustees in the first half of 2026. 

## **Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging** 

The Hallé is embedded in its city region and aims to embrace and reflect the diversity of Greater Manchester in all areas of its work and workforce - musicians, staff, board, participants and audiences. Our aim is to be a truly inclusive and relevant organisation with a workforce, audience and participants as diverse as the communities we serve. We believe this is fundamental to the Hallé Concert Society’s future success and our ability to continue our positive contribution to culture and society in Greater Manchester and on the global stage. 

An Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (EDIB) Plan has been approved by the Board as part of this commitment to embrace and embed EDIB across all areas of our work, including programming, talent development, workforce, leadership and governance. It is monitored by an EDIB sub-group which reports to the Board, and internally at Senior Management Team and departmental team meetings. The plan has now been refreshed and incorporated in a new Strategic Plan for 2024-29 which includes recommendations from a Hallé commissioned audit on the orchestra’s EDIB from Charlotte Sweeney Associates. Our aim and objectives as outlined in the plan (with accompanying written strategies) are as follows: 

## _Aim_ 

To become a truly inclusive and relevant organisation with a workforce, audience and participants as diverse as the communities we serve. 

## _Objectives_ 

1:  Create a more diverse workforce at the Hallé through strategies which impact recruitment, retention, training and health and wellbeing. 

- 2:  Diversify our artistic and outreach programmes. 

- 3:  Embed a culture of EDIB across the organisation that resonates both within and with the communities we serve. 

Additionally, the HCS’s Board at the July 2025 meeting agreed a Charter and pledge as follows: 

At the Hallé Concerts Society, we believe that music is a universal language - one that transcends borders, breaks down barriers, and unites communities. As the Board (Members) of the Hallé, we affirm our commitment to creating and sustaining an inclusive culture that reflects and serves the richly diverse communities of Greater Manchester and beyond. 

This EDIB Charter is our formal commitment to lead courageously and act intentionally to embed equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging into every note, decision, and interaction - within the boardroom, across our organisation, and into the heart of every concert hall. 

## **1. Representing with Intention** 

Champion diverse representation at all levels of the organisation - especially in leadership, governance, and artistic programming. 

## **2. Removing Barriers** 

Support equitable recruitment, progression and engagement practices that ensure opportunity for all - regardless of background. 

## **3. Building Inclusive Culture** 

Foster an environment where everyone - staff, musicians, audiences, and community members - feels safe, respected, and empowered to contribute fully and authentically. 

## **4. Measuring What Matters** 

Embrace transparency and accountability through annual EDIB progress reviews and personal commitment to our shared goals. 

## **5. Learning and Unlearning** 

Engage in ongoing education to deepen our understanding of systemic inequities, personal bias, and inclusive leadership. 

## **6. Listening and Amplifying** 

Listen actively to marginalised voices and use our influence to challenge inequity and amplify underrepresented perspectives. 

## **Environmental responsibility** 

The operations of the Hallé Concerts Society have an effect on the local, regional and global environment. We are committed, as an organisation, to continually monitor and improve upon our environmental performance and support Greater Manchester’s Zero Carbon initiative. Environmental regulations, laws and codes of practice set the minimum standards of our environmental performance. Greater Manchester has set an ambitious net Zero Target of 2038, ahead of the UK target of 2050 (which is in line with the Paris Agreement). 

The Hallé aims to work to best sustainable policy and practice wherever possible. We recognise that this is an area where there is always room for learning and improvement. Through training, networking and knowledge-sharing we intend to develop our work in this area and enable our staff to become sustainability champions, supporting and inspiring our communities, audiences, partners and stakeholders through action and engagement. 

The Hallé works to minimise our environmental impacts from the buildings we own and operate, and to continually monitor and report on our activities in order to better understand and improve our performance. We are fortunate that the Hallé St Peter’s extension was designed and delivered to a high technical standard with considerable attention paid to energy efficiency and sustainability but accept that innovation in this area is constant and we have sought to make improvements wherever possible, including the installation of solar panels during the 2023-2024 financial year. 

As a cultural leader, with a trusted voice and a broad reach, we will seek to engage our audiences by providing focus on environmental issues through our artistic planning and our education and outreach work, often through the work of Hallé Connect.  We are a member of GMAST (the Greater Manchester Arts Sustainability Team) and actively support Greater Manchester’s Zero Carbon strategies. We share GMAST’s belief that the growth of our sector can be advanced through innovative low-carbon initiatives and endeavours. It is our aim to place sustainability, wherever possible and appropriate, into the heart of our organisation, its operations and programming. 

The Hallé’s Environmental Working Group has representatives from all department and exists with the intention of actively pursuing a reduction in the Halle’s carbon impact. Departments monitor, measure and develop plans for reduction of carbon within our operational activities. The group, the majority of whom have received Carbon Literacy training, takes collective responsibility to develop greater engagement from the Hallé Senior and Operational Management Teams, members of the administration, Board, Orchestra and Ensembles and eventually members of the Society and Hallé audiences. 

The immediate aims for the group are to seek to reduce the carbon footprint of our administrative activities and our venues. Longer term the group will consider how we can positively impact on the travel/ 

26 



touring plans and behaviours of the Orchestra, Ensembles and our audiences. A long-term aim of the group is to deliver the Hallé’s first Carbon Neutral concert as part of the Hallé work towards meeting Manchester’s Net Zero target of 2038. 

## **Carbon literacy pledge** 

In November 2024, on Carbon Literacy Action Day the Hallé signed the Manchester Carbon Literate City Commitment, part of the city’s drive to become zero carbon by 2038. 

Carbon Literacy is the awareness of the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions, on an individual, community and organisational basis. Being Carbon Literate is an essential proficiency required for people and organisations to take informed decisions, in the effort to dramatically cut harmful carbon emissions. 

More details available here https://carbonliteracy.com/mclc/ 

In keeping with the Hallé’s efforts to the Manchester Carbon Literate City Commitment we agreed to act as a host venue for Manchester City Council delivered Carbon Literacy courses. 

As a member of the Greater Manchester Arts Sustainability Team (GMAST), in addition to training our own staff, our plan is to utilise our spaces to provide opportunities for team members from a wide range of affiliated arts organisations in the city to become Carbon Literate Certified. This includes Hallé Concerts Society trustees and senior volunteers. 

In addition to our efforts at a local level we have joined the Classical Environment Group, a new network of organisations looking at the Environmental challenges specific to Orchestras. 

## **Hallé Connect environmental projects** 

Within the Hallé’s Carbon Literate efforts is a continued commitment to include Environmental issues within the themes of Hallé Connect Projects. Recent examples of this include the following. 

## _Inspire_ 

This is a long-term programme of partnership with primary schools that aims to raise aspirations and expectations in communities across Greater Manchester that do not generally engage with the Hallé. Children taking part in the programme often face daily challenges such as social and economic disadvantages, low engagement, low motivation and poor behaviour. Using music-making as a creative tool, Hallé Inspire promotes positive attitudes to learning, helps develop life skills and motivation, and deepens children’s learning and understanding in a range of curriculum areas. 

Each term two Hallé musicians work with selected classes or groups of children and deliver creative music workshops based on a specific curriculum area/theme chosen by the participating school. To encourage families to engage positively in their children’s learning, parents and carers are invited to school to watch the children perform their music compositions at the end of each term. The children also showcase aspects of other curriculum learning linked to the chosen theme. During these performance opportunities, children develop self-confidence and the ability to work as part of a team. In 2024 some of the curriculum topics and composition stimuli included: 

- Electricity (Gorse Hill Primary) 

- Living In Extreme Environments (St James’ Primary) 

- The Water Cycle (Gorse Hill Primary) 

- Blue Planet (St James’ Primary) 

## _Adopt-A-Player_ 

Adopt-A-Player has been conceived to introduce children, mainly from inner-city primary schools, to the Hallé and to classical music. Four schools in Stoke performed their own version of Smetana’s Vltava. Each school took a section of the piece which depicted a certain part of the river’s journey through Czechia and worked with their adopted Hallé musician to create a musical response. A performance highlight was given by Burnwood Primary who used their part of the piece (symbolising a forest hunt) to create a protest song about protecting animals and the environment. 

## _Hallé For Youth_ 

This programme comprises an annual series of schools’ concerts which provide a live music experience for young people who, in most cases, have never before heard a symphony orchestra. Each year the concerts adopt a different theme. In Summer 2024 the theme was Cities Of The World and the concerts took the audience on a journey across the world through many cities and landscapes such as the Brazilian rainforest. 

In support of these concerts, we ran the Hallé For Youth project with four classes of children from Greater Manchester. As with the projects described above, the children worked with musicians from the Hallé to compose music inspired by something they heard at the concert, each class adopting a piece from the concert programme and performing their own re-telling. In addition to their composition, the children also worked with students from the Northern Ballet School to choreograph a short dance performance in response to their adopted piece. 

## **Fundraising practices** 

The majority of the Hallé’s fundraising is targeted at charitable trusts, companies and individuals who already have a relationship with the orchestra, such as regular audience members. There is very little fundraising from the wider general public. The Society’s fundraising strategy is overseen by its Trustees, and all its fundraising activity is conducted in line with the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising Practice. 

The implementation of our fundraising strategy is mainly delivered by an in-house fundraising team with occasional support from a professional fundraiser on bids to charitable trusts and foundations. This person does not carry out fundraising with the general public. 

The Hallé is pleased to confirm that it has received no complaints in relation to its fundraising activity over the course of the 2024/25 year. 

## **Pay policy for senior staff** 

The Trustees consider the key management personnel to comprise the Trustees and the Chief Executive. All Trustees give of their time freely and no Trustee received remuneration in the year. The Board is responsible for setting the salary of the Chief Executive and delegates the setting and annual review of the Chief Executive’s salary to the Nominations and Remuneration Committee. The Chief Executive’s salary is normally increased in line with other management and administration salaries within the Society. 

## **Plans for future periods** 

The Trustees’ key area of focus continues to be the long-term financial sustainability of the Society. This has always been a challenge, and the Trustees will continue to work towards a balanced financial position and, with careful budget management, to rebuild and maintain a reasonable level of reserves that will allow the Hallé to plan for a sustainable future. 

We will continue to work closely with our public sector partners 

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## TRUSTEES’ REPORT 

including ACE, GMCA and Manchester City Council and with ASM Global who operate our main venue at The Bridgewater Hall. We will also continue to work closely with the Trustees of the defined benefit pension scheme, in the interests of pensioners and the Society, to manage the challenges posed by the scheme. 

As described in detail in the going concern note on page 23 we have a reasonable expectation of continuing in business beyond the next 12 months. 

The new ambitious Strategic Plan for 2024-29, as described above, has been a positive all-company experience and continues to guide us. Over the next three years we will build with increased focus and intention on this fresh, diverse, pioneering face for Manchester’s orchestra, alongside the great music of the classical canon. Through our Hallé Connect work we aim to deepen and expand the number of people we work with in the North West, embracing our venues as a catalyst for cultural change. This global programming, plurality and diversity will express our Mancunian and pioneering zeal as both a local and an international ambassador, championing music, growing diverse audiences leading as an exemplar. of the modern symphony orchestra. 

Looking ahead to our concert and educational plans 2025-26 season, it is arguably more wide ranging than ever with many concerts across the rest of the UK and internationally in Spain, China and Japan. As Manchester’s musical ambassadors, we are so proud of our city region base at one of the world’s great concert venues, The Bridgewater Hall and Hallé St Peter’s, and this season we’re also performing in other venues including Aviva Studios, Manchester Cathedral and the RNCM. Recent initiatives such as Hallé Presents and the hugely popular hourlong Rush Hour concerts continue. 

There are many highlights ahead. Kahchun Wong leads a wide-ranging offering, including Mahler’s epic sixth symphony alongside new works by Max Richter and Unsuk Chin. Sir Mark Elder, our beloved Conductor Emeritus, returns in two beautiful concerts and Stephen Bell leads another vibrant series of Pops concerts. 

During this season we are delighted to introduce organist extraordinaire Anna Lapwood as our featured artist performing music from SaintSaints to Hans Zimmer, and we’re honoured that Unsuk Chin is our Featured Composer. Alongside these outstanding artists, the iconic composer and conductor John Adams joins us in October in Manchester to conductor a weekend of his music, as will Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, in February, and across the season we welcome back some of the world’s great performers: Thomas Adés, Imogen Cooper, Viktoria Mullova, Tarmo Peltoski, Maxime Pascal, and we host debuts for Jeanette Sorrell, Leila Josefowicz and Julius Asal. 

partnership in Stoke, and Goole in partnership with Orchestras Live. 

We aim to increase family and community music-making opportunities through workshops, relaxed concerts, family concerts, open access youth ensembles opportunities (including a non-auditioned children’s choir and youth orchestra outreach project), and community singing workshops for all ages. We aim to ensure music literacy, or any additional needs, are not an obstacle to engagement. We will develop bespoke programmes in response to community consultation and the need to offer respite, enjoyment and a better quality of life, for example in hospitals, care homes, day centres and in specific communities. We also aim to develop an intermediate youth orchestra, based on offering support through weekend / holiday courses that complement music service work and enable young people to experience nurturing ensembles unavailable elsewhere. 

We are fortunate to have our Hallé Venues – St Peter’s and the Oglesby Centre and St. Michael’s – alongside our home at The Bridgewater Hall. As the operations at Hallé St Peter’s and Hallé at St Michael’s continue to grow and thrive, we have strengthened our current Hallé Venues team with the addition of a dedicated professional with specific responsibilities for sales and events management. 

## **Principal risks and uncertainties** 

The Trustees consider the major risks facing the Society are: 

- Financial vulnerability from the general economic environment including the impact on audiences; 

- Continued pressure on public funding and uncertainty as to future government policy/funding for arts/culture; 

- The threat of reduced income from box office, engagements, corporate sponsors and donors, and; 

- Underfunding of the Hallé Concerts Society Retirement Benefit Scheme, which was closed to future benefit accrual in July 2006. 

As explained earlier in this report, in order to mitigate the effects of these, there is a robust risk management framework in place, overseen by the Audit Committee and approved by the Board with ongoing monitoring of management actions and of changes in the Society’s risk profile. 

This feast of musical adventures would not be possible without our generous supporters Siemens, CMS, Brother, PZ Cussons, Manchester Airport and OCU Group, alongside the Edwardian and many other corporate supporters, trusts and individual patrons. The vital support of Arts Council England, the National Heritage Lottery Fund, Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester Combined Authorities also enable us to deliver our vast Hallé Connect ensembles and education work – the largest of its kind in the UK. 

Our off-platform work – Hallé Connect – which encompasses our celebrated ensembles, community and education programme, will continue to deepen roots across the North West and further afield. Looking ahead, we aim to continue to develop and expand our Hallé Connect programme, continuing to improve people’s lives through music across the three pillars of education, community outreach and ensembles opportunities. Schools are where we can effectively most inspire the musicians and audiences of the future, so we aim to add regular Early Years activities, and ensure our ongoing offer for schools across all key stages complements and contributes to School Improvement Plans and class learning objectives. We will target singing, specifically to encourage more boys to sing. We will continue to reach out and engage with a number of communities and cultural levelling-up spots across GM – notably Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Tameside and Wigan, as well as consolidating the expanding 

28 



STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE HALLÉ CONCERTS SOCIETY IN RESPECT OF THE TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT AND THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

## **Statement of responsibilities of the Trustees of the Hallé Concerts Society in respect of the Trustees’ annual report and the financial statements** 

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations. 

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law they are required to prepare the group and company financial statements in accordance with UK Accounting Standards and applicable law (UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) including FRS 102, The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland. 

Under company law the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the group and company and of the group’s excess of income over expenditure for that period. In preparing each of the group and company financial statements, the Trustees are required to: 

## **Disclosure of information to independent auditor** 

The Trustees who held office at the date of approval of this Trustees’ report confirm that, so far as they are each aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the company’s auditor is unaware; and each Trustee has taken all the steps that they ought to have taken as a Trustee to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the company’s auditor is aware of that information. 

## **Auditor** 

In accordance with Section 485 of the Companies Act 2006, a resolution for the reappointment of Crowe U.K. LLP as auditor of the group and company will be proposed at the Annual General Meeting, together with a resolution empowering the Trustees to fix their remuneration. 

By Order of the Board 

- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; 

- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; 

- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; 

Debbie Francis Chair and Trustee 25 September 2025 

- assess the group’s and the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern; and 

- use the going concern basis of accounting unless they either intend to liquidate the group or the company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so. 

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charitable Company and enable them to ensure that its financial statements comply with the Companies Acts. They are responsible for such internal control as they determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and have general responsibility for taking such steps as are reasonably open to them to safeguard the assets of the group and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities. 

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the company’s website. Legislation in the UK governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions. 

29 



INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF HALLÉ CONCERTS SOCIETY 


## **Opinion** 

We have audited the financial statements of Hallé Concerts Society (‘the charitable company’) and its subsidiaries (‘the group’) for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the Consolidated and Aggregated Summary Income and Expenditure Account, Consolidated and Aggregated Statement of Financial Activities, the Charitable Company Statement of Financial Activities, the Consolidated and Aggregated and Charitable Company Balance Sheets, the Consolidated and Aggregated Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). 

In our opinion the financial statements: 

- give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2025 and of the group’s income and expenditure, for the year then ended; 

- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and 

- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006. 

## **Basis for opinion** 

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. 

## **Conclusions relating to going concern** 

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustee’s use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate. 

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s or the group’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue. 

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report. 

## **Other information** 

The Trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent 

otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. 

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. 

We have nothing to report in this regard. 

## **Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006** 

In our opinion based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit 

- the information given in the Trustees’ report, which includes the directors’ report and the strategic report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and 

- the strategic report and the directors’ report included within the Trustees’ report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements. 

## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception** 

In light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the directors’ report included within the Trustees’ report. 

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion: 

- adequate and proper accounting records have not been kept; or 

- the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or 

- certain disclosures of Trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or 

- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit 

## **Responsibilities of Trustees** 

As explained more fully in the Trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 29, the Trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. 

In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or 

30 



## INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF HALLÉ CONCERTS SOCIETY 

## have no realistic alternative but to do so. 

## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements** 

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements. 

Details of the extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations are set out below. 

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report. 

## **Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud** 

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team members. We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. 

## **Independent auditor’s report to the members of Hallé Concerts Society** 

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charitable company and group operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011 together with the Charities SORP (FRS 102). We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items. 

risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations. 

## **Use of our report** 

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed. 


Vicky Szulist Senior Statutory Auditor 

For and on behalf of Crowe U.K. LLP Statutory Auditor 3[rd] Floor St Georges House 56, Peter Street Manchester M2 3NQ 

Date:  22nd December 2025 

In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charitable company’s and the group’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charitable company and the group for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were Employment legislation. 

Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of the Trustees and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any. 

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of income and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance. 

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable 

**31** 



CONSOLIDATED AND AGGREGATED SUMMARY INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025 

|Note<br>Gross income from charitable operations<br>Orchestra Tax Credit<br>Total income from continuing operations<br>Total expenditure for continuing operations<br>Deficit on ordinary activities for the year before transfers and asset disposals<br>Net expenditure after interest and charges, before transfers<br>Transfer from endowment funds<br>19<br>Net expenditure for the year<br>Dealt with by:<br>The Society<br>Subsidiary company and related trusts|Total<br>Total<br>2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>7,786<br>7,937<br>2,724<br>2,713|
|---|---|
||10,510<br>10,650<br>(11,156)<br>(11,100)|
||(646)<br>(450)|
||(646)<br>(450)<br>331<br>272|
||(315)<br>(178)|
||(318)<br>(43)<br>3<br>(135)|
||(315)<br>(178)|



- Total income comprises £10,276k for unrestricted funds and £234k for restricted funds (2023/24: £10,459k and £191k respectively). A detailed analysis of income and expenditure is provided in the Statement of Financial Activities on page 34. 

- Income and expenditure totals are shown after eliminating intra-group transactions. 

- A detailed analysis of expenditure is provided in the Statement of Financial Activities and notes 8 and 9. 

- The Group had no recognised gains or losses other than the deficit in both the current and preceding years and the movements in other recognised gains and losses as shown in the Statement of Financial Activities. 

- In both the current and preceding years, the surplus calculated on an historical cost basis is not materially different from the reported results as above. 

- The Summary Income and Expenditure Account is derived from the Statement of Financial Activities on page 33 which, together with the notes to the accounts on pages 37 to 59 provides full information on the movements during the year on all funds of the Group. 

- During the year, the Group has neither discontinued any of its operations nor acquired any new ones. 

The notes on pages 37 to 59 form part of these financial statements. 

32 



## CONSOLIDATED AND AGGREGATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025 

|Note<br>Income and endowments from:<br>Donations and legacies<br>5<br>Income from charitable activities<br>Orchestral activity and education<br>6<br>Income from other trading activities<br>Activities for generating funds<br>7<br>Income from investments<br>Other incoming resources<br>Orchestra Tax Credit<br>Total income and endowments<br>Expenditure<br>Expenditure on raising funds:<br>Costs of activities for raising funds<br>8<br>Investment management expenses<br>Expenditure on charitable activities<br>Orchestral activity and education<br>9<br>Other expenditure<br>Retirement Benefit Scheme costs<br>22<br>Total expenditure<br>Net income/(expenditure) and net movement in funds before<br>gains and losses on investments<br>Net gain/(loss) on investments<br>13<br>Net income/(expenditure) before transfers<br>Transfers between funds<br>19<br>Net incoming/(outgoing) resources before other recognised gains and losses<br>Other recognised gains and losses<br>Actuarial gain/(loss) on defined benefit pension scheme<br>22<br>Net movement in funds<br>Reconciliation of funds<br>Total funds brought forward at 1 April<br>Total funds carried forward at 31 March<br>18|Unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Total<br>Total<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>3,752<br>224<br>76<br>4,052<br>4,067<br>3,354<br>-<br>-<br>3,354<br>3,553<br>347<br>-<br>-<br>347<br>221<br>99<br>10<br>215<br>324<br>344<br>2,724<br>-<br>-<br>2,724<br>2,713|
|---|---|
||10,276<br>234<br>291<br>10,801<br>10,898|
||353<br>-<br>-<br>353<br>344<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>68<br>9,514<br>812<br>19<br>10,345<br>10,252<br>476<br>-<br>-<br>476<br>517|
||10,343<br>812<br>19<br>11,174<br>11,181|
||(67)<br>(578)<br>272<br>(373)<br>(283)<br>-<br>(15)<br>(319)<br>(334)<br>789|
||(67)<br>(593)<br>(47)<br>(707)<br>506<br>331<br>(331)<br>-<br>-|
||264<br>(593)<br>(378)<br>(707)<br>506<br>711<br>-<br>-<br>711<br>336|
||975<br>(593)<br>(378)<br>4<br>842|
||(6,063)<br>10,092<br>7,805<br>11,834<br>10,992|
||(5,089)<br>9,500<br>7,427<br>11,838<br>11,834|



All incoming and outgoing resources derive from continuing operations. The Group has no gains and losses other than those recognised in this Statement of Financial Activities. 

The accompanying notes on pages 37 to 59 form part of these financial statements. 

Total investment income amounted to £324k (2023/24: £344k) of which £99k (2023/24: £113k) was unrestricted, £10k restricted (2023/24: £12k) and £215k (2023/24: £219k) accounted for within the Endowment Fund. 

33 



## CHARITABLE COMPANY STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025 

|Note<br>Income and endowments from:<br>Donations and legacies<br>5<br>Income from charitable activities:<br>Orchestral activity and education<br>6<br>Income from other trading activities<br>Activities for generating funds<br>7<br>Income from investments<br>Other incoming resources<br>Orchestra Tax Credit<br>Total income<br>Expenditure<br>Expenditure on raising funds:<br>Costs of activities for generating funds<br>8<br>Investment management expenses<br>Expenditure on charitable activities<br>Orchestral activity and education<br>9<br>Other expenditure<br>Retirement benefit scheme costs<br>22<br>Total expenditure<br>Net income/(expenditure) and net movement in funds before<br>gains and losses on investments<br>Net gains/(losses) on investments<br>13<br>Net incoming/(outgoing) resources before other recognised gains and losses<br>Transfers<br>Other recognised gains and losses<br>Actuarial gain/(loss) on defined benefit pension scheme<br>22<br>Net movement in funds<br>Reconciliation of funds<br>Total funds brought forward at 1 April<br>Total funds carried forward at 31 March<br>18|<br>Unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Total<br>Total<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br> <br>4,090<br>224<br>-<br>4,314<br>4,450<br> <br>3,354<br>-<br>-<br>3.354<br>3,553<br> <br>318<br>-<br>-<br>318<br>204<br>98<br>10<br>-<br>108<br>121<br>-<br>-<br>2,724<br>2,724<br>2,713|
|---|---|
||10,584<br>234<br>-<br>10,818<br>11,041|
||<br>337<br>-<br>-<br>337<br>332<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>8<br> <br>9,511<br>812<br>-<br>10,323<br>10,227<br> <br>477<br>-<br>-<br>477<br>517|
||10,325<br>812<br>-<br>11,137<br>11,084|
||259<br>(578)<br>-<br>(319)<br>(43)<br> <br>-<br>(15)<br>-<br>(15)<br>40|
||259<br>(593)<br>-<br>(334)<br>(3)|
||-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br> <br>711<br>-<br>-<br>711<br>336|
||970<br>(593)<br>-<br>377<br>333|
||(6,082)<br>10,092<br>42<br>4,052<br>3,719|
||<br>(5,112)<br>9,499<br>42<br>4,429<br>4,052|



All incoming and outgoing resources derive from continuing operations. The charitable company has no gains and losses other than those recognised in this Statement of Financial Activities. 

The accompanying notes on pages 37 to 59 form part of these financial statements. 

Total investment income amounted to £108k (2023/24: £121k) of which £98k (2023/24: £109k) was unrestricted and £10k restricted (2023/24: £12k). 

34 



## CONSOLIDATED AND AGGREGATED AND CHARITABLE COMPANY BALANCE SHEETS AT 31 MARCH 2025 

Hallé Concerts Society (A Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee) Company Number 62753 

|Hallé Concerts Society (A Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee) Company Number 62753||
|---|---|
|Note<br>Fixed assets<br>Tangible assets<br>12<br>Investments<br>13<br>Current assets<br>Debtors<br>14<br>Cash at bank and in hand<br>Liabilities:<br>Creditors:  amounts falling<br>due within one year<br>15<br>Net current assets<br>Total assets less liabilities excluding pension liability<br>Pension liability<br>22<br>Total assets less liabilities including pension liability<br>Capital funds<br>Endowments<br>Income funds<br>Restricted funds<br>Unrestricted funds:<br>Other charitable funds<br>Pension reserve<br>Total Funds<br>18|Group<br>Group<br>Company<br>Company<br>2025<br>2024<br>2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>6,078<br>6,454<br>5,810<br>6,170<br>7,550<br>7,885<br>339<br>354|
||13,628<br>14,339<br>6,149<br>6,524|
||3,720<br>6,139<br>4,285<br>6,279<br>3,073<br>1,305<br>2,624<br>1,186|
||6,793<br>7,444<br>6,909<br>7,465<br>(1,621)<br>(1,909)<br>(1,667)<br>(1,897)|
||5,172<br>5,535<br>5,242<br>5,568|
||18,800<br>19,874<br>11,391<br>12,092<br>(6,962)<br>(8,040)<br>(6,962)<br>(8,040)|
||11,838<br>11,834<br>4,429<br>4,052|
||7,427<br>7,805<br>42<br>42<br>9,500<br>10,092<br>9,498<br>10,092<br>1,873<br>1,977<br>1,851<br>1,958<br>(6,962)<br>(8,040)<br>(6,962)<br>(8,040)|
||(6,063)<br>(6,063)<br>(6,082)<br>(6,082)|
|||
||11,838<br>11,834<br>4,429<br>4,052|



The notes on pages 37 to 59 form part of these financial statements. 

These financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf on 25 September 2025 by 

Debbie Francis Chair 

Alastair Nuttall Chair of Audit Committee 

35 



CONSOLIDATED AND AGGREGATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025 

|Cash in/(out)flow from operating activities<br>Cash flows from investing activities:<br>Interest and dividends<br>Interest received<br>Interest paid<br>Dividends received<br>Net cash inflow from investing activities<br>Capital expenditure and financial investment<br>Payments to acquire tangible fixed assets<br>Payments to acquire fixed asset investments<br>Receipts from sales of fixed asset investments<br>Net cash outflow from capital expenditure and financial investment<br>Reconciliation of net cash flows to movement in net funds<br>Increase/(Decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in the year<br>Cash and cash equivalents at 1 April<br>Total cash and cash equivalents at 31 March<br>Notes to the group cash flow statement<br>Reconciliation of net movement in funds to net cash flow from operating activities<br>Net incoming/(outgoing) as per the SOFA<br>Depreciation charge<br>Decrease/(Increase) in debtors<br>Increase/(Decrease) in creditors<br>(Decrease)/Increase in pension fund liability<br>(Gain)/Loss on investments<br>Interest received<br>Interest paid<br>Investment income<br>Net cash inflow/(outflow) from operating activities<br>Analysis of net debt<br>Cash at hand and in bank|2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>1,450<br>(2,086)|
|---|---|
||102<br>113<br>(2)<br>(2)<br>224<br>229|
||323<br>342|
||(5)<br>(66)<br>-<br>(275)<br>-<br>248|
||(7)<br>(93)|
||1,769<br>(1,837)<br>1,305<br>3,142|
||3,073<br>1,305|
|||
||2<br>842<br>383<br>372<br>2,419<br>(1,974)<br>(287)<br>390<br>(1,078)<br>(669)<br>334<br>(705)<br>(101)<br>(115)<br>2<br>2<br>(224)<br>(229)|
||1,450<br>(2,086)|
|||
||At 1 April<br>Cash flow<br>At 31 March<br>2024<br>2025<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000|
||1,305<br>1,769<br>3,073|



The notes on pages 37 to 59 form part of these financial statements. 

36 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## 1 STATUS OF CHARITABLE COMPANY AND LIABILITY OF MEMBERS 

The Hallé Concerts Society is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in the UK. The registered office is: The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester M1 5HA. 

Each member undertakes to contribute to the assets of the Society in the event of the Society being wound-up during the time he is a member, or within one year of ceasing to be a member. In the case of Subscribing Members this sum shall not exceed £5, but in the case of Permanent Members such sum shall not exceed the amount which the Board determined and agreed with the member when he or she became a member of the Society. 

## 2 ACCOUNTING POLICIES 

The following accounting policies have been applied consistently in dealing with items which are considered material in relation to the Group’s financial statements. 

## **a] Basis of preparation** 

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with applicable accounting standards, in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (Charities SORP), and the Companies Act 2006. The accounts are prepared under the historical cost accounting convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant note(s) to the accounts. 

The Society meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. 

The Society is considered to be a qualifying entity under FRS 102 and has taken advantage of the reduced disclosure framework of FRS 102 in respect of certain disclosures for the Company. No separate Company cash flow statement is included. 

## **b] Preparation of accounts on a going concern basis** 

The Trustees have assessed the charity’s ability to continue in operational existence for a period of at least 12 months from the approval of the financial statements. The assessment considered: 

- The charity’s current financial position, including unrestricted reserves and cash flow. 

- Forecast income and expenditure, including the impact of any known risks or uncertainties. 

- The continued support from donors, grant funders, and other stakeholders. 

- The charity’s ability to adapt its operations in response to changing circumstances. 

The Trustees prepared a prudent base case forecast which reflected expected operating costs and income levels. In relation to expected income the forecast recognised the seasonality of key income streams including: 

- The Orchestra Tax Relief payment from HMRC, which is expected to be paid in one payment between 10 and 11 months after the financial year end. 

- Other major forms of funding including the GMCA grant which is paid bi-annually. 

- Ticket income which is biased towards the winter concert season. 

A number of plausible downside scenarios were then considered to stress test the base case forecast position. The downside scenarios included reductions in income from donations, grants, and trading activities, as well as potential increases in operating costs. The Trustees also considered potential management actions to mitigate the impact of downside scenarios. 

Having considered the results of this process the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has sufficient resources to meet its obligations and continue its activities for a period of at least 12 months from the date of approval of the financial statements. Accordingly, the financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. 

## **c] Basis of consolidation and aggregation** 

The statement of financial activities (SOFA) and balance sheet of the Company include the Sickness and Benevolent Fund (a charity linked by a Charity Commission Uniting Direction). 

The income and expenditure account, SOFA and balance sheet of the Group consolidate the financial statements of the charity and the results of the charity’s subsidiaries, with the exception that movements in endowment funds are not aggregated in the income and expenditure account in accordance with the SORP. 

The Hallé Endowment Trust has a year end of 31 December and the Charles Hallé Foundation a year end of 5 April.  For the purposes of consolidation, the results of the Hallé Endowment Trust to 31 March 2025 are aggregated into the 31 March 2025 Group financial statements. Further information is included in note 24. The Charles Hallé Foundation has been aggregated based on the financial statements as at 5 April 2025. 

The Society has taken advantage of section 408 of the Companies Act 2006 in not presenting its own income and expenditure account. 

37 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED) 

## **d] Income** 

Income from box office admissions, engagement fees and education workshops is included in incoming resources in the period in which the relevant performance takes place. Income relating to performances which take place after the year end is deferred. 

Grants receivable from funders for general purposes are taken to the statement of financial activities in the year to which they relate. 

All other income is recognised when the charity is legally entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. For legacies, entitlement is the earlier of the charity being notified of an impending distribution, the grant of probate where known or the legacy being received. Receipt of a legacy, in whole or in part, is only considered probable when the amount can be measured reliably and the charity has been notified of the executor’s intention to make a distribution. 

Gifts of shares are held at market value but not recognised as a realised gain until all restrictions on disposal have been met. 

Income in the form of grants from the permanent endowment is unrestricted. 

Orchestra tax relief is recognised in the period to which it relates. The Society claims Orchestra Tax Relief as it is a qualifying Orchestral Production Company, which undertakes qualifying concerts. For 2024/25 the relief is payable at a rate of 50% of qualifying expenditure (80% of the creative and production costs incurred). 

## **e] Taxation** 

The Society is a registered charity and by virtue of its trading activities being in fulfilment of the objects of the Charitable Company, the Charitable Company is exempt from corporation tax on all charitable activities. The charge for taxation on the subsidiary company’s noncharitable activities is based on the profit for the year. 

## **f] Expenditure** 

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis, inclusive of irrecoverable VAT. 

The costs of raising funds represents the costs of securing sponsorship and donations for the funds for the Society. Resources expended which form part of the Group’s trading activities are separately disclosed in fundraising trading. 

The cost of activities in furtherance of the Group’s charitable objectives include costs directly incurred in undertaking those activities. Costs for future performances are deferred until the period in which the relevant performance takes place. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular categories, they are apportioned on a basis consistent with the average consumption of resources as set out in the notes. 

Governance costs represent the costs associated with the governance arrangements of the Group which relate to the strategic management of the Group as opposed to those costs associated with fundraising or charitable activity. They include the costs of external audit, legal and professional advice for Trustees and the costs of constitutional and statutory compliance. 

Support costs relating to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Where support costs relate to several activities they have been apportioned on a basis consistent with the average consumption of resources as set out in note 10. 

## **g] Irrecoverable VAT** 

Irrecoverable VAT is charged against the category of expenditure for which it was incurred. 

## **h] Funds** 

Unrestricted funds are those funds available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in the furtherance of the general objectives of the charity. 

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors, or which have been raised by the charity for particular purposes. The costs of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund. The purpose of each restricted fund is set out in note 18. 

Within the Hallé Group there are two permanent endowment funds which are held within the Hallé Endowment Trust, the Main Endowment Fund and the Catalyst Endowment Fund. 

The principal activity of the Hallé Endowment Trust is to maintain a capital endowment fund and to apply the annual income of that fund in perpetuity towards the education of the general public in the study, appreciation and practice of music and the allied arts by furthering and supporting the objects and work of the Hallé Concerts Society. As at 1 January 2017 the Trustees adopted the total return approach to investment accounting for the Main Endowment Fund, under the powers granted in Section 4 of the Trusts (Capital and Income) Act 2013. This allows any increase in the value of an investment to be treated as income. The Catalyst Endowment Fund is held as a segregated fund within the fund of the Hallé Endowment Trust under the terms of a Trust deed dated 29 October 2012 between the Hallé Concerts Society and the Arts Council of England (ACE). From 1 January 2023 the Trustees also adopted the total return approach to investment accounting for the Catalyst Fund following approval from ACE. 

Transfers between funds represent grants made by subsidiaries from restricted and endowment funds to the Society to support its activities in accordance with the terms of the subsidiary’s trust deeds. 

38 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED) 

## **i] Tangible fixed assets** 

Assets with a purchase cost of less than £1,000 are not capitalised. All assets are held at cost except for certain musical instruments which were revalued. 

Depreciation is provided to write off tangible fixed assets over their expected useful lives in equal instalments, as follows: 

Fixtures and Fittings: Three to ten years Motor Vehicles: Five years Music Library: Five years Musical Instruments: Ten to twenty-five years Leasehold property: Twenty-five years 

The musical instrument held by the Hallé Endowment Trust is re-valued at market value by the Trustees periodically based on the Trustees’ review of recent sales values of similar instruments. 

The leasehold of Hallé St Peter’s was acquired from the Homes and Communities Agency for a period of 999 years at a peppercorn rent. The terms of the lease place restrictions on the use of the building and its disposition and therefore no value is placed on the leasehold itself. 

## **j] Investments** 

Investments are included at fair value, measured at mid-price. The SOFA includes the net gains and losses arising on revaluations and disposals throughout the year. In relation to the Hallé Endowment Trust, the Trustees adopted a total return approach to the permanent endowment -Main Fund - with effect from 1 January 2017, and for the Catalyst Fund with effect from January 2023. The return on investments determines the ability of the Endowment Trust to make grants to the Society. 

Investments in subsidiary undertakings are valued at cost. 

## **k) Pension costs** 

The Charitable Company’s defined benefit pension scheme was closed to future accrual in July 2006. For that scheme, current and past service costs and the interest cost and expected return on assets are charged to resources expended and are allocated to appropriate expenditure categories. Actuarial gains and losses are recognised immediately in ‘other recognised gains and losses’. 

The defined benefit scheme is funded, with the assets of the scheme held separately from those of the group, in a separate Trustee administered fund.  The scheme’s assets are measured at fair value and liabilities are measured on an actuarial basis discounted at a rate equivalent to the current rate of return on a high quality corporate bond of equivalent currency and term to the scheme liabilities. Actuarial valuations are obtained at least triennially and are updated at each balance sheet date.  The resulting defined benefit asset or liability is presented separately after other net assets on the face of the balance sheet. 

The Society also operates a defined contribution pension scheme (Group Personal Pension Plan) for which the amount charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in respect of pension costs is the contributions payable in the year. Differences between contributions payable and contributions actually paid in the year are shown as either other creditors or prepayments in the balance sheet. 

## **l) Accounting estimates and judgements** 

Key sources of estimation uncertainty 

In the application of the Group’s accounting policies, which are described above, the Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions concerning the future. The resulting estimates will, by definition, seldom equal the related actual results. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. The estimates and assumptions that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year are detailed below: 

## **Defined benefit scheme** 

The Company has an obligation to pay pension benefits to certain employees and former employees. The cost of these benefits and the present value of the obligation depend on a number of factors including: life expectancy, asset valuations and the discount rate of corporate bonds. Management estimates these factors in determining the net pension liability in the balance sheet. The assumptions reflect historical experience and current trends. 

See note 22 for the disclosures relating to the defined benefit pension scheme. 

## **Orchestra Tax Relief** 

Included within debtors is a provision for the receipt of Orchestral Tax Relief (OTR) to the extent that it is probable that funds will be received and can be reliably estimated. The amount receivable is measured at management’s best estimate of the claim at the end of the reporting period. The charity estimates the amount of OTR that will be received based on the eligible expenditure incurred during the year and by flexing amounts included in previously submitted returns. The eligible expenditure is determined in accordance with the guidelines provided by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and includes direct expenditure on the production and performance of orchestral concerts. 

There are no critical accounting judgements. 

39 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## 3 MOVEMENT IN FUNDS 

i) The net movement in funds is stated after charging: 

|gg<br>Auditor remuneration - audit: - Group (including Society)<br>- Society alone<br>other services relating to taxation for the Group and the Society<br>Depreciation|2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>23<br>21<br>18<br>17<br>3<br>3<br>383<br>372|
|---|---|



## 4 SUBSIDIARY COMPANY 

The Hallé Concerts Society owns the whole of the issued ordinary share capital of Hallé Promotions Limited, a company registered in England. The company undertook no transactions during the year. 

## 5 DONATIONS AND LEGACIES 

|||
|---|---|
|DONATIONS AND LEGACIES<br>Group<br>Grants receivable<br>Revenue grants receivable:<br>Arts Council England<br>GM Combined Authority<br>Manchester City Council<br>Total revenue grants receivable<br>Total grants receivable<br>Donations and similar income<br>Fundraising donations<br>Membership subscriptions<br>Legacies and bequests<br>Total donations and similar income<br>Total grants and donations|Unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Total<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>2,122<br>-<br>-<br>2,122<br>749<br>-<br>-<br>749<br>337<br>-<br>-<br>337|
||3,208<br>3,208|
||3,208<br>-<br>-<br>3,208|
||318<br>223<br>76<br>617<br>29<br>-<br>-<br>29<br>196<br>-<br>-<br>196|
||543<br>223<br>76<br>842|
|||
||3,751<br>223<br>76<br>4,050|



|Company<br>Grants receivable<br>Revenue grants receivable:<br>Arts Council England<br>GM Combined Authority<br>Manchester City Council<br>Total revenue grants receivable<br>Total grants receivable<br>Donations and similar income<br>Fundraising donations<br>Membership subscriptions<br>Legacies and bequests<br>Total donations and similar income<br>Total grants and donations|Unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment<br>Funds<br>funds<br>Funds<br>Total<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>2,122<br>-<br>-<br>2,122<br>749<br>-<br>-<br>749<br>337<br>-<br>-<br>337|
|---|---|
||3,208<br>-<br>-<br>3,208|
||3,208<br>-<br>-<br>3,208|
||656<br>224<br>-<br>880<br>29<br>-<br>-<br>29<br>196<br>-<br>-<br>196|
||881<br>224<br>-<br>1,105|
|||
||4,089<br>224<br>-<br>4,313|



40 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## DONATIONS AND LEGACIES (CONTINUED) 

|DONATIONS AND LEGACIES (CONTINUED)||
|---|---|
|<br>Group<br>Grants receivable<br>Revenue grants receivable:<br>Arts Council England<br>GM Combined Authority<br>Manchester City Council<br>Total revenue grants receivable<br>Total grants receivable<br>Donations and similar income<br>Fundraising donations<br>Membership subscriptions<br>Legacies and bequests<br>Total donations and similar income<br>Total grants and donations<br>Company<br>Grants receivable<br>Revenue grants receivable:<br>Arts Council England<br>GM Combined Authority<br>Manchester City Council<br>Total revenue grants receivable<br>Total grants receivable<br>Donations and similar income<br>Fundraising donations<br>Membership subscriptions<br>Legacies and bequests<br>Total donations and similar income<br>Total grants and donations|Unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Total<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>2,122<br>-<br>-<br>2,122<br>749<br>-<br>-<br>749<br>337<br>-<br>-<br>337|
||3,208<br>-<br>-<br>3,208|
||3,208<br>-<br>-<br>3,208|
||507<br>179<br>29<br>715<br>25<br>-<br>-<br>25<br>119<br>-<br>-<br>119|
||651<br>179<br>29<br>859|
|||
||3,859<br>179<br>29<br>4,067|
|||
||Unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment<br>Funds<br>funds<br>Funds<br>Total<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>2,122<br>-<br>-<br>2,122<br>749<br>-<br>-<br>749<br>337<br>-<br>-<br>337|
||3,208<br>-<br>-<br>3,208|
||3,208<br>-<br>-<br>3,208|
||919<br>178<br>-<br>1,097<br>25<br>-<br>-<br>25<br>119<br>-<br>-<br>119|
||1,063<br>178<br>-<br>1,241|
||4,271<br>178<br>-<br>4,449|



41 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## 6 INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES 

|INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES||
|---|---|
|<br>Orchestral concerts and related work<br>Box office income (Manchester promotions)<br>Engagement income<br>Income from overseas touring<br>Broadcasts, recordings and other income<br>Education and outreach<br>Hallé St Peter’s & Hallé at St Michael’s<br>Total income from charitable activities|Group<br>Group<br>and Company<br>and Company<br>2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>1,482<br>1,483<br>782<br>1,060<br>220<br>90|
||2,484<br>2,763<br>547<br>490<br>323<br>300|
||3,354<br>3,553|



Income from charitable trading activities was all unrestricted as in the previous year. 

## 7 INCOME FROM OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES 

|INCOME FROM OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES||
|---|---|
|<br>Sponsorship and other income<br>Corporate sponsorship<br>Fundraising events<br>Other income<br>Total activities for generating funds|Group<br>Group<br>Company<br>Company<br>2025<br>2024<br>2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>247<br>182<br>247<br>182<br>29<br>17<br>-<br>-<br>71<br>22<br>71<br>22|
||347<br>221<br>318<br>274|



Income from other trading activities was all unrestricted as in the previous year. 

## 8 EXPENDITURE ON RAISING FUNDS 

|||
|---|---|
|EXPENDITURE ON RAISING FUNDS<br>Fundraising salary & administration costs<br>Allocated support costs<br>Total expenditure on raising funds|Group<br>Group<br>Company<br>Company<br>2025<br>2024<br>2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>306<br>302<br>290<br>290<br>47<br>42<br>47<br>42|
||353<br>344<br>337<br>332|



Expenditure on raising funds was all unrestricted as in the previous year. 

42 



## NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## 9          COSTS OF CHARITABLE ACTIVITY 

|COSTS OF CHARITABLE ACTIVITY||
|---|---|
|<br>Group<br>Orchestral concerts and related work<br>Orchestra, related staff and other costs<br>Conductors and soloists<br>Overseas tours<br>Travel and subsistence<br>Hall hire<br>Sundry concert costs<br>Music and instrument hire<br>Recording costs<br>Marketing & Communications<br>Box office charges<br>Programme costs<br>Depreciation<br>Support costs<br>Education and outreach<br>Direct Education costs<br>Choir, Youth Orchestra, Youth Choir, & Children’s Choir<br>Support costs<br>Hallé St Peter’s & Hallé at St Michael’s Costs<br>Operational costs<br>Total charitable expenditure|Unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Total<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>4,973<br>65<br>-<br>5,038<br>468<br>213<br>-<br>681<br>1<br>-<br>-<br>1<br>194<br>-<br>-<br>194<br>724<br>-<br>-<br>724<br>149<br>-<br>-<br>149<br>97<br>-<br>-<br>97<br>52<br>-<br>-<br>52<br>650<br>-<br>-<br>650<br>163<br>-<br>-<br>163<br>35<br>-<br>-<br>35<br>43<br>324<br>16<br>383<br>852<br>1<br>3<br>856|
||8,401<br>603<br>19<br>9,023|
||175<br>163<br>-<br>338<br>474<br>41<br>-<br>515<br>47<br>-<br>-<br>47|
||696<br>204<br>-<br>900|
||417<br>5<br>-<br>422<br>417<br>5<br>-<br>422|
||9,514<br>812<br>19<br>10,345|



43 



## NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## COST OF CHARITABLE ACTIVITY (CONTINUED) 

|COST OF CHARITABLE ACTIVITY (CONTINUED)||
|---|---|
|<br>Group<br>Orchestral concerts and related work<br>Orchestra, related staff and other costs<br>Conductors and soloists<br>Overseas Tours<br>Travel and subsistence<br>Hall hire<br>Sundry concert costs<br>Music and instrument hire<br>Recording costs<br>Marketing & Communications<br>Box office charges<br>Programme costs<br>Depreciation<br>Support costs<br>Education and outreach<br>Direct Education costs<br>Choir, Youth Orchestra, Youth Choir, & Children’s Choir<br>Support costs<br>Hallé St Peter’s & Hallé at St Michael’s Costs<br>Operational costs<br>Total charitable expenditure|Unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Total<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>4,783<br>61<br>-<br>4,844<br>532<br>273<br>-<br>805<br>123<br>-<br>-<br>123<br>235<br>-<br>-<br>235<br>745<br>-<br>-<br>745<br>147<br>-<br>-<br>147<br>104<br>-<br>-<br>104<br>64<br>-<br>-<br>64<br>606<br>-<br>-<br>606<br>166<br>-<br>-<br>166<br>35<br>-<br>-<br>35<br>23<br>333<br>16<br>372<br>757<br>1<br>4<br>762|
||8,320<br>668<br>20<br>9,008|
||294<br>42<br>-<br>336<br>382<br>46<br>-<br>428<br>42<br>-<br>-<br>42|
||718<br>88<br>-<br>806|
||433<br>5<br>-<br>438|
||433<br>5<br>-<br>438|
||9,471<br>761<br>20<br>10,252|



Company charitable expenditure is analysed on page 43. 

44 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## COST OF CHARITABLE ACTIVITY (CONTINUED) 

|F CHARITABLE ACTIVITY (CONTINUED)||
|---|---|
|<br>Company<br>Orchestral concerts and related work<br>Orchestra, related staff and other costs<br>Conductors and soloists<br>Overseas tours<br>Travel and subsistence<br>Hall hire<br>Sundry concert costs<br>Music and instrument hire<br>Recording costs<br>Marketing & Communications<br>Box office charges<br>Programme costs<br>Depreciation<br>Support costs<br>Education and outreach<br>Direct Education costs<br>Choir, Youth Orchestra, Youth Choir, & Children’s Choir<br>Support costs<br>Hallé St Peter’s & Hallé at St Michael’s Costs<br>Operational costs<br>Total charitable expenditure|Unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment<br>Funds<br>funds<br>Funds<br>Total<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>4,973<br>65<br>-<br>5,038<br>468<br>213<br>-<br>681<br>1<br>-<br>-<br>1<br>194<br>-<br>-<br>194<br>724<br>-<br>-<br>724<br>150<br>-<br>-<br>150<br>97<br>-<br>-<br>97<br>52<br>-<br>-<br>52<br>650<br>-<br>-<br>650<br>163<br>-<br>-<br>163<br>35<br>-<br>-<br>35<br>43<br>324<br>-<br>367<br>848<br>1<br>-<br>849|
||8,398<br>603<br>-<br>9,001|
||175<br>163<br>-<br>338<br>474<br>41<br>-<br>515<br>47<br>-<br>-<br>47|
||696<br>204<br>-<br>900|
||417<br>5<br>-<br>422|
||417<br>5<br>-<br>422|
||9,511<br>812<br>-<br>10,323|



45 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## COST OF CHARITABLE ACTIVITY (CONTINUED) 

|AA A||
|---|---|
|F CHRITBLE CTIVITY (CONTINUED)<br>Company<br>Orchestral concerts and related work<br>Orchestra, related staff and other costs<br>Conductors and soloists<br>Overseas tours<br>Travel and subsistence<br>Hall hire<br>Sundry concert costs<br>Music and instrument hire<br>Recording costs<br>Marketing & Communications<br>Box office charges<br>Programme costs<br>Depreciation<br>Support costs<br>Education and outreach<br>Direct Education costs<br>Choir, Youth Orchestra, Youth Choir, & Children’s Choir<br>Support costs<br>Hallé St Peter’s & Hallé at St Michael’s Costs<br>Operational costs<br>Total charitable expenditure|Unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment<br>Funds<br>funds<br>Funds<br>Total<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>4,783<br>61<br>-<br>4,844<br>532<br>272<br>-<br>804<br>123<br>-<br>-<br>123<br>235<br>-<br>-<br>235<br>745<br>-<br>-<br>745<br>147<br>-<br>-<br>147<br>104<br>-<br>-<br>104<br>64<br>-<br>-<br>64<br>606<br>-<br>-<br>606<br>166<br>-<br>-<br>166<br>35<br>-<br>-<br>35<br>23<br>333<br>-<br>356<br>754<br>-<br>-<br>754|
||8,317<br>666<br>-<br>8,983|
||294<br>45<br>-<br>336<br>382<br>46<br>-<br>428<br>42<br>-<br>-<br>42|
||718<br>88<br>-<br>806|
||433<br>5<br>-<br>438|
||433<br>5<br>-<br>438|
||9,468<br>759<br>-<br>10,227|



46 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## 10 ANALYSIS OF GOVERNANCE AND SUPPORT COSTS 

|ANALYSIS OF GOVERNANCE AND SUPPORT COSTS||
|---|---|
|<br>Group<br>Management and Finance<br>Sundry office & operational costs<br>Professional and consultancy fees<br>Company<br>Management and Finance<br>Sundry office and operational costs<br>Professional and consultancy fees|Orchestral<br>work<br>Education<br>Fundraising<br>Total<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>503<br>28<br>28<br>559<br>261<br>15<br>15<br>290<br>91<br>5<br>5<br>102|
||855<br>48<br>48<br>951|
|||
||Orchestral<br>work<br>Education<br>Fundraising<br>Total<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>502<br>28<br>28<br>558<br>260<br>15<br>15<br>290<br>86<br>5<br>5<br>96|
||848<br>48<br>48<br>944|



|Group<br>Management and Finance<br>Sundry office & operational costs<br>Professional and consultancy fees<br>Company<br>Management and Finance<br>Sundry office & operational costs<br>Professional and consultancy fees|Orchestral<br>work<br>Education<br>Fundraising<br>Total<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>452<br>25<br>25<br>502<br>233<br>13<br>13<br>259<br>77<br>4<br>4<br>85|
|---|---|
||762<br>42<br>42<br>846|
|||
||Orchestral<br>work<br>Education<br>Fundraising<br>Total<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>450<br>25<br>25<br>500<br>233<br>13<br>13<br>259<br>71<br>4<br>4<br>79|
||754<br>42<br>42<br>838|



Support costs are apportioned on a percentage basis reflecting the time spent working to support each area of activity. 

47 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## 11 (A) STAFF NUMBERS AND COSTS 

The average number of staff employed during the year, analysed by category, was as follows: 

|The average number of staff employed during the year analysed by category was as follows:||
|---|---|
|,   ,<br>Orchestral musicians<br>Administrative and other non-playing personnel<br>The aggregate payroll costs of these persons were as follows:<br>Salaries and fees<br>Employers’ National Insurance contributions<br>Employers’ Group Personal Pension Plan pension contributions|Group and<br>Group and<br>Company<br>Company<br>2025<br>2024<br>Number<br>Number<br>71<br>75<br>46<br>47|
||117<br>122|
|||
||Group and<br>Group and<br>Company<br>Company<br>2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>4,190<br>3,923<br>392<br>413<br>511<br>488|
||5,093<br>4,824|



## 11 (B) REMUNERATION OF TRUSTEES AND EMPLOYEES 

The Trustees consider the Key Management Personnel to comprise the Trustees and the Chief Executive. The Trustees receive no remuneration nor reimbursement of expenses and derive no financial benefit from their services to the Society. Employee benefits amounting to £136k (2023/24:  £135k) were received by Key Management Personnel in 2024/25. The Chief Executive’s pay is reviewed each year and normally raised in line with other management salaries. The employers’ contribution to the Hallé Group Personal Pension Plan for the above employees was £7k (2023/24: £7k). 

The number of employees whose emoluments (salaries and benefits in kind) amounted to more than £60,000 during the year was as follows: 

||2025|2024|
|---|---|---|
||Number|Number|
|£60,000-£70,000|1|1|
|£110,000-£120,000|1|1|



48 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## 12 TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS 

|TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS||
|---|---|
|Group<br>Cost or valuation<br>At 1 April 2024<br>Additions<br>At 31 March 2025<br>Depreciation<br>At 1 April 2024<br>Charge for the year<br>At 31 March 2025<br>Net book value<br>At 31 March 2025<br>At 31 March 2024<br>Company<br>Cost or valuation<br>At 1 April 2024<br>Additions<br>At 31 March 2025<br>Depreciation<br>At 1 April 2024<br>Charge for the year<br>At 31 March 2025<br>Net book value<br>At 31 March 2025<br>At 31 March 2024|Leasehold<br>Music<br>Musical<br>Fixtures &<br>Motor<br>Total<br>Property<br>Library  Instruments<br>Fittings<br>Vehicles<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>7,401<br>95<br>1,019<br>798<br>81<br>9,394<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>7<br>-<br>7|
||7,401<br>95<br>1,019<br>805<br>81<br>9,401|
||1,614<br>95<br>618<br>565<br>48<br>2,940<br>311<br>-<br>27<br>34<br>10<br>383|
||1,925<br>95<br>645<br>599<br>58<br>3,323|
||5,476<br>-<br>374<br>206<br>22<br>6,078|
||5,787<br>-<br>401<br>233<br>33<br>6,454|
|||
||7,401<br>95<br>619<br>798<br>81<br>8,994<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>7<br>-<br>7|
||7,401<br>95<br>619<br>805<br>81<br>9,001|
||1,614<br>95<br>502<br>565<br>48<br>2,824<br>311<br>-<br>11<br>35<br>10<br>367|
||1,925<br>95<br>513<br>600<br>58<br>3,191|
||5,476<br>-<br>106<br>206<br>22<br>5,810|
||5,787<br>-<br>117<br>233<br>33<br>6,170|



Lincoln Stradivarius - The Hallé Orchestra enjoys the use of the Lincoln Stradivarius free of charge.  The violin is on loan from the people of the City of Lincoln to whom it was bequeathed in 1970.  The Hallé pay for the upkeep of the violin and its insurance, the cost of which is included in expenses. The violin is not included within fixed assets as it remains the property of the City of Lincoln. 

Capital commitments - At 31 March 2025 the Society had capital commitments of £nil (2024: £nil). 

Revaluations - The Music Library and Musical Instruments held by the Society itself were re-valued on an open market basis at 31 March 1998 to £30k and £179k respectively.  In accordance with Charities SORP FRS 102 and with the transitional provisions of FRS 102, these valuations have not been updated as this is considered to be the deemed cost.   Under the historical cost convention accounting rules, the net book value of the Music Library and Musical Instruments at 31 March 2025 would have been £nil.  The musical instrument held by the Hallé Endowment Trust was revalued to £400k as at 1 January 2017. The revaluation was undertaken by reference to the Coutts index by the Hallé senior management team. Under the historical cost convention accounting rules, the net book value of the instrument at 31 December 2024 would have been £nil in the Endowment Trust’s books. 

All tangible fixed assets are used for direct charitable purposes. 

49 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## 13 INVESTMENTS 

|INVESTMENTS||
|---|---|
|Fair value at 1 April 2024<br>Net disposals<br>Additions<br>Change in market value<br>Fair value at 31 March 2025|Group<br>Company<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>7,885<br>354<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>(334)<br>(15)|
||7,550<br>339|



All investments are held as units with the CCLA Ethical Investment Fund. 

The following table shows the valuation and allocation of assets at 31 March 2025. The majority of holdings are in common investment funds. 

|Shares in Group companies<br>At cost<br>Provision for impairment<br>Quoted investments:<br>At fair value|Group<br>Group<br>Company<br>Company<br>2025<br>2024<br>2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>1<br>1<br>1<br>1<br>(1)<br>(1)<br>(1)<br>(1)|
|---|---|
||-<br>-<br>-<br>-|
||7,550<br>7,885<br>339<br>354|
||7,550<br>7,885<br>339<br>354|



All investments are held at fair value, except for shares in group companies. Investments in UK equities (and bonds) are traded on quoted public markets primarily the London Stock Exchange. Holdings in common investment funds and Unit Trusts are at bid price. The basis of fair value for quoted investments is equivalent to market value, using the mid-price. Asset sales and purchases are recognised at the date of trade at cost (that is their transaction value). 

The Society holds the following investments in Group companies registered in England.  The investments represent 100% of the issued ordinary share capital of the following company: 

100 £1 ordinary shares in Hallé Promotions Limited, a company engaged in publicity and advertising which was dormant throughout the year. 

In addition to the aforementioned subsidiary, the following trusts are aggregated on the basis that they are considered to be subsidiaries of the Society:  Hallé Endowment Trust and Charles Hallé Foundation. The Hallé Concerts Society Sickness and Benevolent Fund is linked under a Charity Commission Uniting Direction and therefore included within the Company figures. 

The aggregate of the share capital and reserves/funds as at 31 March 2025 and of the income or expenditure for the period ended on that date for the subsidiary undertakings were as follows: 

|for the subsidiary undertakings were as follows:|||
|---|---|---|
||Aggregate of||
||share capital|Income/|
||and reserves/funds|(expenditure)|
||£000|£000|
|Hallé Endowment Trust (charity number:286145)|7,385|(378)|
|Charles Hallé Foundation (charity number:236149)|20|5|
|Hallé Promotions Limited (company number:02592501)|5|-|



50 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## 14          DEBTORS 

|DEBTORS||
|---|---|
|Trade debtors<br>Amounts owed by group charities<br>Other debtors<br>Orchestra Tax Relief due from HMRC<br>Other prepayments and accrued income|Group<br>Group<br>Company<br>Company<br>2025<br>2024<br>2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>295<br>765<br>295<br>765<br>-<br>-<br>695<br>207<br>139<br>122<br>120<br>113<br>2,475<br>4,734<br>2475<br>4,734<br>811<br>518<br>700<br>460|
||3,720<br>6,139<br>4,285<br>6,279|



All debtors fall due within one year. 

## 15 CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR 

|CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR||
|---|---|
|Note<br>Trade creditors<br>Amounts owed to connected charities<br>Taxation and social security<br>Other creditors<br>Deferred income<br>16<br>Accruals|Group<br>Group<br>Company<br>Company<br>2025<br>2024<br>2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>469<br>330<br>469<br>330<br>-<br>12<br>-<br>-<br>114<br>117<br>114<br>117<br>83<br>117<br>135<br>128<br> <br>409<br>712<br>409<br>707<br>546<br>621<br>540<br>615|
||1,621<br>1,909<br>1,667<br>1,897|



## 16 DEFERRED INCOME 

|DEFERRED INCOME||
|---|---|
|As at 1 April 2024<br>Amount released to incoming resources<br>Amount deferred in the year<br>As at 31 March 2025|Group<br>Company<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>712<br>707<br>(712)<br>(707)<br>409<br>409|
||409<br>409|



The deferred income is for sales relating to concerts which take place after the year end. 

## 17 FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS 

|FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS||
|---|---|
|Financial assets measured at amortised cost<br>Financial assets measured at fair value<br>Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost|2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>6,793<br>7,444|
||7,550<br>7,885|
||1,621<br>1,909|



Group financial assets measured at amortised cost are cash, trade debtors, other debtors, prepayments and accrued income. Impairment losses charged to financial assets measured at amortised cost in the year amounted to £nil (2024: £nil). 

Group financial assets measured at fair value are the investments. 

Group financial liabilities measured at amortised cost are trade creditors, other creditors and accruals. 

51 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## 18 ANALYSIS OF TOTAL FUNDS 

|ANALYSIS OF TOTAL FUNDS||
|---|---|
|Group<br>Unrestricted reserves<br>General funds<br>Designated funds:<br>St Peter’s maintenance fund<br>St. Michael’s maintenance fund<br>Pension reserve<br>Total unrestricted funds<br>Restricted funds<br>Fixed asset reserves<br>Halle St Peter’s (HSP) capital fund<br>HSP capital fund - Phase 2<br>ACE capital funding – Phase 2<br>Monument artistic<br>Monument St Peter’s revenue<br>Oglesby St Peter’s revenue<br>Oglesby revenue challenge<br>Halle St Peter’s artistic fund<br>Education and outreach<br>Hallé 2058 Foundation<br>Sickness & Benevolent fund<br>CHF Restricted<br>Total restricted funds<br>Endowment Funds<br>HET Endowment fund<br>HCS Endowment fund<br>Total endowment funds<br>Total funds|Actuarial &<br>At 31 March<br>Investment<br>At 31 March<br>2024<br>Income<br>Expenditure Gains & Losses<br>Transfers<br>2025<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>1,837<br>10,276<br>(9,975)<br>-<br>(440)<br>1,698<br>60<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>15<br>75<br>80<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>20<br>100<br>(8,040)<br>-<br>(369)<br>711<br>736<br>(6,962)|
||(6,063)<br>10,276<br>(10,344)<br>711<br>331<br>(5,089)|
||198<br>-<br>(19)<br>-<br>-<br>179<br>598<br>-<br>(61)<br>-<br>-<br>537<br>287<br>-<br>(262)<br>-<br>-<br>25<br>4,840<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>4,840<br>1,093<br>-<br>(213)<br>-<br>-<br>880<br>750<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>750<br>500<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>500<br>350<br>122<br>(147)<br>-<br>-<br>325<br>91<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>91<br>9<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>9<br>1,124<br>60<br>(1)<br>-<br>-<br>1,183<br>252<br>10<br>(66)<br>(15)<br>-<br>181<br>-<br>41<br>(41)<br>-<br>-<br>-|
||10,092<br>233<br>(810)<br>(15)<br>-<br>9,500|
||7,763<br>292<br>(19)<br>(320)<br>(331)<br>7,385<br>42<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>42|
||7,805<br>292<br>(19)<br>(320)<br>(331)<br>7,427|
|||
||11,834<br>10,802<br>(11,176)<br>377<br>-<br>11,838|



52 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## 18 ANALYSIS OF TOTAL FUNDS (CONTINUED) 

|ANALYSIS OF TOTAL FUNDS (CONTINUED)||
|---|---|
|Company<br>Unrestricted reserves<br>General funds<br>Designated Funds:<br>St Peter’s Designated Fund<br>St. Michael’s Designated Fund<br>Pension reserve<br>Total unrestricted funds<br>Restricted funds<br>Fixed asset reserves<br>Halle St Peter’s capital fund (HSP)<br>ACE Capital Funding – Phase 2<br>HSP capital fund - Phase 2<br>Monument artistic<br>Monument St Peter’s revenue<br>Oglesby St Peter’s revenue<br>Oglesby revenue challenge<br>St Peter’s artistic fund<br>Education and outreach<br>Hallé 2058 Foundation<br>Sickness & Benevolent fund<br>Total restricted funds<br>Endowment Funds<br>HCS Endowment fund<br>Total endowment funds<br>Total funds|Actuarial &<br>At 31 March<br>Investment<br>At 31 March<br>2024<br>Income<br>Expenditure Gains & Losses<br>Transfers<br>2025<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>1,818<br>10,585<br>(9,856)<br>-<br>(771)<br>1,675<br>60<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>15<br>75<br>80<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>20<br>100<br>(8,040)<br>-<br>(369)<br>711<br>736<br>(6,962)|
||(6,082)<br>10,585<br>(10,325)<br>711<br>-<br>(5,112)|
||198<br>-<br>(19)<br>-<br>-<br>179<br>598<br>-<br>(61)<br>-<br>-<br>537<br>4,840<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>4,840<br>287<br>-<br>(262)<br>-<br>-<br>25<br>1,093<br>-<br>(213)<br>-<br>-<br>880<br>750<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>750<br>500<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>500<br>350<br>122<br>(147)<br>-<br>-<br>325<br>91<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>91<br>9<br>41<br>(41)<br>-<br>-<br>9<br>1,124<br>60<br>(1)<br>-<br>-<br>1,183<br>252<br>10<br>(66)<br>(15)<br>-<br>181|
||10,092<br>233<br>(810)<br>(15)<br>-<br>9,500|
||42<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>42|
||42<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>42|
|||
||4,052<br>10,818<br>(11,137)<br>696<br>-<br>4,430|



Restricted funds: 

All restricted funds are used in line with the original restrictions imposed by the donors. 

- The fixed asset reserves represent monies provided for capital expenditure which in accordance with applicable accounting standards will be reduced over the useful lives of the assets in line with their depreciation. 

- The Hallé St Peter’s Capital Funds and “ACE capital funding – Phase 2” represent monies received to support both the original conversion of Hallé St Peter’s, Ancoats into a rehearsal centre and the Phase 2 extension completed in November 2019. In accordance with applicable accounting standards these reserves will be reduced over the useful lives of the assets in line with their depreciation. 

- The Monument Artistic funds represent funding received for revenue support for Hallé St Peter’s Phase 2 and to support the artistic programme. 

- The Oglesby funds represent funding from the Oglesby Trust pledged to match other funding raised, together with funding raised from supporters to match the Trust’s gift to support activity at Hallé St Peter’s. 

- The Hallé St Peter’s Artistic fund represents a restricted donation for the purposes of supporting the development of the work at Hallé St Peter’s. 

- The Education and outreach fund represent funds received in support of specific educational and outreach projects. 

- The Hallé 2058 Foundation Funds represent monies received in support of the fundraising effort for the Hallé’s 150th birthday combined with the funds raised by the earlier Hallé Public Appeal. 

- The Sickness and Benevolent Fund and Hallé Endowment Trust funds represent donations and investments held for the restricted distributable purposes of those trusts. 

- The Charles Hallé Foundation restricted funds represent funds received from a variety of donors for specific educational and outreach projects. Those funds are disclosed in the accounts of the Charles Hallé Foundation. 

53 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## 18 ANALYSIS OF TOTAL FUNDS (CONTINUED) 

## **Endowment funds** 

Endowments amounting to £42k (2023/24: £42k) represent the amounts received from members under Article 25 of the Articles of Association. 

Funds held in the Hallé Endowment Trust are in respect of public donations received.  All endowment funds are in respect of permanent endowments. The Catalyst Endowment Fund was originally an Arts Council initiative matching £ for £ donations raised up to a maximum of £1,000k, achieved in May 2015.  All funds raised for the Catalyst Fund are invested in a separately designated fund within the Hallé Endowment Trust. 

## 19 TRANSFERS BETWEEN FUNDS 

|TRANSFERS BETWEEN FUNDS||
|---|---|
|Group<br>Transfers between funds<br>HET donation to Society funds<br>HET Catalyst donation to Society funds<br>HET Endowment to Restricted<br>HCS restricted to HCS unrestricted<br>Total transfers between funds|Unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Total<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>243<br>-<br>(243)<br>-<br>86<br>-<br>(86)<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|
||331<br>-<br>(331)<br>-|



## 20 ANALYSIS OF GROUP NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS 

|ANALYSIS OF GROUP NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS||
|---|---|
|Balances at 31 March 2025 represented by:<br>Tangible assets<br>Investments<br>Current assets<br>Current liabilities<br>Pension liability<br>Total net assets/(liabilities)|Unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Total<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>332<br>5,478<br>268<br>6,078<br>-<br>339<br>7,211<br>7,550<br>2,706<br>3,682<br>405<br>6,793<br>(1,165)<br>1<br>(457)<br>(1,621)<br>(6,962)<br>-<br>-<br>(6,962)|
||(5,089)<br>9,500<br>7,427<br>11,838|



|Balances at 31 March 2024 represented by:<br>Tangible assets<br>Investments<br>Current assets<br>Current liabilities<br>Pension liability<br>Total net assets/(liabilities)|Unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Total<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>362<br>5,808<br>284<br>6,454<br>-<br>354<br>7,531<br>7,885<br>3,349<br>3,931<br>164<br>7,444<br>(1,734)<br>(1)<br>(174)<br>(1,909)<br>(8,040)<br>-<br>-<br>(8,040)|
|---|---|
||(6,063)<br>10,092<br>7,805<br>11,834|



In respect of the Hallé Endowment Trust, the Charles Hallé Foundation and the Hallé Concerts Society Sickness and Benevolent Fund, there are adequate funds available to fulfil the obligations of the trusts. 

Also included within other restricted funds are reserves in respect of fixed assets as disclosed in note 18. 

54 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## 21 STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR CHARITABLE GROUP’S USE 

|Net movement in funds for the year<br>Net (increase)/decrease in tangible fixed assets for direct charitable purposes<br>Net movement in funds available for future activities<br>Net movement in funds for the year<br>Net (increase)/decrease in tangible fixed assets for direct charitable purposes<br>Net movement in funds available for future activities|Unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Total<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>2025<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>975<br>(594)<br>(378)<br>4<br>30<br>330<br>16<br>376|
|---|---|
||1,005<br>(263)<br>(362)<br>380|
|||
||Unrestricted<br>Restricted<br>Endowment<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Funds<br>Total<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>1,025<br>(828)<br>645<br>842<br>(32)<br>322<br>16<br>306|
||993<br>(506)<br>661<br>1,148|



## 22 PENSIONS 

Defined contribution pension scheme 

Since 1 April 2014 the Hallé Concerts Society auto enrols all eligible employees into a contributory Group Personal Pension Plan (GPPP) with Royal London. Prior to this, a contributory Stakeholder Scheme was offered to all permanent employees with Standard Life. Employees joining the GPPP contract directly with Royal London.  All contributions are charged to the income and expenditure account as they arise. Contributions are made under a salary sacrifice arrangement The pension cost charge for the current year was £511k (2024: £490k). 

Defined benefit pension scheme 

The Society’s defined benefit pension scheme (the Hallé Concerts Society Retirement Benefits Scheme) which provided benefits based on final pensionable salary, was closed to future accrual of benefits from 1 July 2006.  The assets of the Scheme are held separately from those of the Society in a Trustee-administered fund. 

The full triennial actuarial valuation at 31 March 2022 showed a deficit of £9,160k on the Trustees’ (technical provisions) funding basis. 

The Trustees agreed a plan with the Society following the 2022 valuation to pay off the deficit by 31 December 2038. This requires the Society to make payment of £550k for 1 April 2023-31 March 2024, increasing at 2% per annum and to bear the administration costs of approximately £100k per annum. In addition, two lump sums of £175k were paid, the first in January 2024 and the second in January 2025. The contributions from the Society reflected in these Annual Accounts are based on this plan. 

The 31 March 2023 defined benefit obligation includes a loading to reflect the estimated additional liability arising in respect of the requirement to equalise Guaranteed Minimum Pensions (GMPs) in the Scheme following the October 2018 High Court ruling in respect of the Lloyds pensions schemes. 

The Society contributed £844k to the Scheme in the 2024/25 financial year including administration expenses of £108k. 

55 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## PENSIONS (CONTINUED) 

The pension liability under the FRS102 accounting requirements is calculated separately by a qualified independent actuary as shown below. The following information relates to the Group and the Company: 

|Change in benefit obligation<br>Benefit obligation at start of year<br>Current service cost company only, including administration expenses<br>Interest cost<br>Actuarial gain on obligation<br>Benefits paid<br>Administration expenses paid<br>Benefit obligation at end of year<br>Change in scheme assets<br>Fair value of scheme assets at start of year<br>Expected return on scheme assets<br>Actuarial losses on assets<br>Employer contributions<br>Administration expenses paid<br>Benefits paid<br>Fair value of scheme assets at end of year<br>Funded status<br>Components of pension cost<br>Amounts recognised within other expenditure<br>Administration expenses paid<br>Net interest cost (on defined benefit liability)<br>Total pension cost recognised within other expenditure<br>Re-measurements recognised in other recognised gains and losses<br>Actuarial losses on the assets<br>Actuarial gains on the liabilities<br>Total gain/(loss) recognised in other recognised gains and losses|2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>18,000<br>19,000<br>93<br>125<br>841<br>873<br>(1,767)<br>(1,017)<br>(974)<br>(856)<br>(93)<br>(125)|
|---|---|
||16,100<br>18,000|
||9,960<br>10,291<br>472<br>481<br>(1,056)<br>(681)<br>829<br>850<br>(93)<br>(125)<br>(974)<br>(856)|
||9,138<br>9,960|
||(6,962)<br>(8,040)|
|||
||2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>93<br>125<br>369<br>392|
||462<br>517|
||(1,056)<br>(681)<br>1,767<br>1,017|
||711<br>336|



All pension costs for the current and preceding year are recognised in unrestricted funds. 

|Scheme assets<br>The major categories of Scheme assets, measured at fair value are:<br>Asset category<br>Equities/Diversified growth<br>Government bonds<br>Cash and net current assets<br>The expected return on assets:<br>Actual return on scheme assets (£’000)|2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>4,350<br>5,224<br>4,026<br>3,625<br>762<br>1,091|
|---|---|
||9,138<br>9,960|
||5.65%<br>4.8%<br>(584)<br>(200)|



56 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## PENSIONS (CONTINUED) 

The major weighted average assumptions used by the Actuary to determine benefit obligations were: 

|The major weighted average assumptions used by the Actuary to determine benefit obligations were:|||
|---|---|---|
|Discount rate|5.65%|4.8%|
|Rate of increase in salaries|N/A|N/A|
|Rate of increase in future pensions in payment for members|||
|retiring on or after 1/8/1993 inflation linked up to 5%|3.05%|3.1%|
|Rate of increase of in future pensions in payment for|||
|members retiring before 1/8/1993 3% fixed|3%|3%|
|Rate of future inflation (RPI)|3.25%|3.3%|
|Rate of future inflation (CPI)|2.75%|2.8%|



Weighted average life expectancy for mortality tables used to determine benefit obligations at 31 March 

||2025|2024|
|---|---|---|
|Mortality table pre- and post-retirement|100% S3PA|100% S3PA|
||YOB|YOB|
||CMI 2023|CMI 2023|
||1.25%|1.25%|
|Pre-retirement|||
|Life expectancy at 65 of male member currently aged 45|22.7|23|
|Life expectancy at 65 of a female member currently aged 45|25.4|25|
|Post-retirement|||
|Life expectancy of male member currently aged 65|21.4|21|
|Life expectancy of a female member currently aged 65|24.0|24|
|Allowance for early retirements|No|No|
|Allowance for members to commute pension for tax free cash|Maximum Allowed at|Maximum Allowed at|
||80% of value commuted|80% of value commuted|



## 23 RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS 

The Charitable Company has relied on the exemption in FRS 102 (s33.1A), which does not require the disclosure of transactions between wholly owned subsidiaries which are consolidated. 

The Society has a connected charity: the Terence Judd Trust.  This Trust made contributions to the Society of £7k (2024: £7k) for administration costs during the current year and it owed £13k to the Society at the year end.  In 2024, the Trust was owed £11k. 

The contact address of the connected charity is The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. 

None of the Trustees receive remuneration or other benefit from their work with the Hallé. 

During the year and post the year end, Cllr. Azra Ali, Eamonn Boylan and Cllr Janet Emsley were either employees or elected representatives of local authorities which are major funders of the Hallé and with which the Hallé has worked in partnership on Education and Outreach projects. 

## 24 CONSOLIDATION OF HALLÉ ENDOWMENT TRUST 

The year end for the subsidiary entity, the Hallé Endowment Trust is 31 December. For the purposes of consolidation, the results of the Hallé Endowment Trust to 31 March 2025 (12 months) are aggregated into the 31 March 2025 Group financial statements. The fund balances reduced by £256k in the 3-month period from 31 December 2024 (£7,641k) to 31 March 2025 (£7,385k) mainly due to investment losses in the period. 

## 25 TOTAL RETURN INVESTMENT 

Under the powers granted in Section 4 of the Trusts (Capital and Income) Act 2013, a resolution to adopt the total return approach for the Main fund was made by the Trustees on 8 February 2018 effective from 1 January 2017. The Catalyst Fund initially remained under permanent endowment rules as it is an Arts Council based fund and subject to different arrangements from the Main Fund. A proposal to the Arts Council for the Catalyst Fund to be managed on a total return accounting basis was agreed in a Declaration of Trust signed 1 January 2023 and the Trustees implemented this approach for the Catalyst Fund for this financial year ending 31 December 2023. 

The Trustees identified the value of the gifts of permanent endowment received since the establishment of both funds and this set the baseline value of the gift component of the endowment to which any subsequent gifts of endowment are added. Within each of the Main Fund and the Catalyst Fund this is referred to as the “original endowment” and forms the initial “Investment Fund”. The difference between the total value of endowment funds and the value of the gift component at the point when total return was adopted represents the opening balance of Unapplied Total Return (UTR) for each fund. The UTR is classed as part of the Endowment fund until it is allocated to income. 

57 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## TOTAL RETURN INVESTMENT (CONTINUED) 

The power of total return permits the Trustees to invest permanently endowed funds to maximise total return and to apply an appropriate portion of the unapplied total return to income each year. Until the power is exercised to transfer a portion of unapplied total return to income, the unapplied total return remains invested as part of the permanent endowment. 

The Trustees decide annually how much of the UTR is transferred to income funds and so available for expenditure as grants to the Society. In the year to 31 December 2024 the Trustees made a transfer of £244k from the Main Fund and £86k from the Catalyst Fund from the respective UTR in each fund to unrestricted income funds, enabling the making of grants to the Society of £244k from the Main Fund and £86k from the Catalyst Fund. In making this decision the Trustees have taken account of the return on investment for the year, the long-term sustainability of the investment funds after considering various levels of transfer to income and the income needs of the Society. 

Under the regulations (Section 4 of the Trusts (Capital and Income) Act 2013) charities have the power to add part of the UTR to the Investment Fund. The amount that can be added annually is capped and is calculated by reference to the increase in inflation and the value of the Investment Fund. The purpose of such a transfer is to maintain the real value of the Investment Fund. The Trustees have agreed that they will consider on an annual basis whether to make such a transfer and that the appropriate inflation index to use is CPI. For the year ended 31 December 2024 the trustees agreed to transfer £65k from the UTR of the Main Fund to the Investment Fund of the Main Fund.  Transfers will not be made from the Catalyst UTR to the Catalyst Investment Fund, reflecting the differing reserves policies of the Main and Catalyst Funds – in turn arising from their different duration and background. 

The tables below show the breakdown of the endowment funds between the Investment Fund element and the Unapplied Total Return (UTR), firstly for the Main Fund and then for the Catalyst. 

These are shown for the year to 31 December 2024 because this is the relevant statutory accounting period for the Endowment Funds. The total value of the Main Endowment Fund at 31 December 2024 is £4,361k of which £2,952k is Investment Fund and £1,409k is UTR.   The total value of the Catalyst Fund at 31 December 2024 is £3,280k of which £2,772k is the investment Fund and £508k is UTR. 

## Main Endowment 

The investment fund and application of total return to permanent endowment funds 

|The investment fund and application of total return to permanent endowment funds||
|---|---|
|<br>Opening value of endowment:<br>Gift component of permanent endowment (incl. £120k instrument)<br>Unapplied total return<br>Total<br>Revaluation reserve – Instrument<br>Total Endowment 1/1/2024<br>Movement in unapplied total return and endowment in the year:<br>Gifts received<br>Investment return: dividends and interest<br>Investment return: recognised and unrecognised gain<br>Investment / management costs<br>Allocations of Unallocated Total Return (UTR) in the year:<br>Unapplied total return allocated to income<br>Unapplied total return allocated to Investment Fund<br>Net movement in the reporting period<br>Revaluation reserve – Instrument<br>Total Endowment movement in year<br>Gift component of permanent endowment<br>Investment Fund<br>Unapplied total return<br>Total<br>Revaluation reserve – Instrument<br>Total Endowment 31/12/2024|Trust for<br>Unapplied<br>Total<br>investment<br>Total Return<br>Endowment<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>2,735<br>-<br>2,735<br>1,480<br>1,480<br>2,735<br>1,480<br>4,125|
||168<br>-<br>168|
||2,903<br>1,480<br>4,383|
||-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>125<br>125<br>-<br>116<br>116<br>-<br>(2)<br>(2)<br>-<br>(245)<br>(245)<br>65<br>(65)<br>-|
||65<br>(71)<br>(6)|
||(16)<br>-<br>(16)|
||49<br>(71)<br>(22)|
||2,800<br>-<br>2,800<br>-<br>1,409<br>1,409|
||2,800<br>1,409<br>4,209|
||152<br>-<br>152|
||2,952<br>1,409<br>4,361|



58 



NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

## TOTAL RETURN INVESTMENT – CATALYST (CONTINUED) 

The investment fund and application of total return to permanent endowment funds 

|Th itt fd d liti f ttl t t t dt fd||
|---|---|
|e nvesmen un an appcaon o oa reurn o permanen enowmen uns<br>Opening value of endowment:<br>Gift component of permanent endowment (incl. £120k instrument)<br>Unapplied total return<br>Total Endowment 1/1/2024<br>Movement in unapplied total return and endowment in the year:<br>Gifts received<br>Investment return: dividends and interest<br>Investment return: recognised and unrecognised gain<br>Investment / management costs<br>Allocations of Unallocated Total Return (UTR) in the year:-<br>Unapplied total return allocated to income<br>Unapplied total return allocated to Investment Fund<br>Total Endowment movement in year<br>Gift component of permanent endowment<br>Investment Fund<br>Unapplied total return<br>Total Endowment 31/12/2024|Trust for<br>Unapplied<br>Total<br>investment<br>Total Return<br>Endowment<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>2,694<br>-<br>2,694<br>-<br>421<br>421|
||2,694<br>421<br>3,115|
||78<br>-<br>78<br>-<br>90<br>90<br>-<br>85<br>85<br>-<br>(2)<br>(2)<br>-<br>(86)<br>(86)<br>-<br>-<br>-|
||78<br>87<br>165|
||2,772<br>-<br>2,772<br>-<br>508<br>508|
||2,772<br>508<br>3,280|



## 26 OPERATING LEASE COMMITMENTS 

At 31 March 2025 the total Group and Charity’s future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases was: 

|Amounts due within one year<br>Amounts due between one and five years<br>Amounts due after five years<br>Total|Group<br>Group<br>Company<br>Company<br>2025<br>2024<br>2025<br>2024<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>18<br>19<br>18<br>19<br>34<br>32<br>34<br>32<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|
|---|---|
||52<br>51<br>52<br>51|



59 



SPONSORS, BUSINESS CLUB AND WORKPLACE CHOIRS AT AUGUST 2025 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
DIAMOND PARTNER AND THURSDAY SERIES SPONSOR<br>MAJOR SPONSORS<br>VAN AND TOURING SPONSOR<br>19 CHAPMAN HOLMES 88<br>CATERING & EVENTS OF DISTINCTION<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>



**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
NEW YORK<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>









HALLÉ BUSINESS CLUB 

PLATINUM GOLD SILVER Brother BDO LLP Beaverbrooks Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce Tony and Daniela Coxon Elcometer Esprit Group Kuit Steinart Levy LLP 

## MANY THANKS TO OUR FAMILY OF WORKPLACE CHOIRS 

Aircapella | BASF | BDO LLP | Bolton NHS Foundation Trust | Manchester Metropolitan University Mills & Reeve LLP | The Nightingale Centre | The Oasis Centre | Siemens plc | Stopchordians | Subpranos 

60 



SUPPORTERS AT AUGUST 2025 

## **CONDUCTOR’S CIRCLE** 

John & Margaret Allen Dr Anne R Fuller Pat Kendall-Taylor Professor Chris Klingenberg Patrick & Tricia McDermott David & Mary McKeith Dr & Mrs Ian McKinlay OBE Penny Moore, for Terry, who loved the Hallé Carole Nash OBE Mike & Joanna Sambrook In memory of Lynne In memory of Alfred & Brenda Burley 

## **MAESTOSO** 

Dr Susan M Brown Mr David A Budgett Mrs S. Davnall Valerie & Peter Dicken Mrs Juliet Gibbs Andrew Hay & Nicola Kitching Dr Alexander Marsland Mr Vincent Marsland Alastair Nuttall John & Pat Turner Ian & Janet Wiseman 

## **CRESCENDO** 

Michael Allen in memory of Yvonne Mr Jon & Dr Carol Ashley Mr Keith A Bevan Richard Binch & in memory of 

Audrey David & Maggie Blackburn Clair Boyes Dr Christopher Brookes Dr & Mrs Michael & Diana Cavanagh Lawrence David Cody & in memory of Mr & Mrs L. J. Cody Mr A Fowell Mr & Mrs J. Fox Debbie & Paul Francis Mr Richard Garnett Chris & Karen Halicki Miss Lynne Hamilton Dr Andrew Hardman Mrs C. A. Harmer Ms Val Hawkin David Haworth Margaret Heaton Mr John Hopwood & Dr Julia Morrison Chris Hughes, to mark 47 years with the Hallé Choir Professor Nicholas & Dr Mary Jones Kenneth Kay Mr Michael Leach 

Mr Colin Lomax Sir Charles Nightingale Mr John D Owens Mr D Pritchard AC & CJ Riddington T. G. Roberts Will Roddy Judith & Patrick Rutter John & Susan Schultz Dieter Senn Mr David Shipley Mrs E. G. Tonge Sheila Tonge Mr John Turner Lynne Waterfield in memory of Derek 

Philip & Helen Wiles Judi Winterson & David Hoyle Craig & Margaret Wright For music In memory of Brenda Owens In memory of Father David Peters In memory of Miss Julie Cussons and also Mr Alex & Mrs Wendy Cussons In memory of Brian Plumb 

## **INTERMEZZO** 

Dr D Yvonne Aplin & in memory of 

G. Clive Sheppey Joan Ball Tony Bates Professor Tony Berry Mrs Margaret Bradshaw Barbara & Anthony Butcher Pamela Craig Sarah Crouch Peter J Dawson Mr Anthony Doust Rev’d & Mrs J F Ellis Charlie Fleischmann Ann Flowerday Jeremy & Gillian French Mr John Hannah Mrs Bessie Harper Callum Harvey Mr & Mrs D Hawkes Mr Peter Hocking Mr Simon Hutchence Dr Keith Jeffery & Patrick Geary Mrs Wendy Jeffs Mark Kenrick Mr J G Knox Mr & Mrs B H Lawrence Mr & Mrs R W Lee Mr Alan Lowe Mr Kevin Lyons Mr T Marsden John & Mary McPeake Stephen & Jacqueline Miley Mrs Alison Milford 

Miss Maire Morton John Nickson & Simon Rew Joan & Graham Rogers Dr T & P E Schur Sandra Stone & in memory of Martin Stone Phil Thornley Mrs M Warrener Mr J C White Professor Richard Whitley Mr John Wildman In memory of Jean Dowling In memory of Arthur Newton, from his family and friends In memory of Andrew Walker 

## **SCHERZO** 

Mr Peter Adamson Mr Timothy R Ades Dr Katherine M Adler Mrs J Ainsworth Mr Roger Ainsworth Vin Allerton J Aslan Dr Peter Barberis Mr Michael Barley Mrs J E Baxendale Mr Steve Best Mr D J Bird Mr Stuart Bishop Mr & Mrs E J Booth Dr Howard Booth Mr David Bradley Arnold & Brenda Bradshaw Philip Broughton Mr Andrew Bryan Peter Burgess Tina Bywater Miss Christine S Catherall Mrs B Y Chubb Mrs Kathleen Cleary Mrs Gina Collison Mr David Cooke Mrs Frances Critchley Hilary & Adrian Curtis Mrs J D Darwent Dr D Dawson Dr Jeffrey J Dean & Dr Penelope M Gouk Mr & Mrs B A DeSousa Mrs Marie Dixon Mr Paul Durham Mr E Alan Eaves Chloe Eissa-Hoyos Miss E Evans Margaret Fancy Professor Patrick Farrell David Farrow Dr Tim Gartside Mrs Elaine M Gavin Mr Adrian Gerrard 

Mrs J Gill 

Mr Christopher Grafham Mr & Mrs R Green Mr & Mrs S R Lancelyn Green Mrs Caroline Greenwood Mr John D Gregory Dr R Gregory Mr J B Haddow Dr I M Hall Paul & Amanda Hamblyn Mr C W Hampson Brian & Bridget Harris Mr Simon Harrison Mrs J M Hartley Mr N V Haynes Mrs Dorothy Heaton Mr Cliff Heckle Donald & Carolyn Henderson Mrs G Hewitt Miss Pauline Hickey Mrs Sheila Hill Peter & Charlotte Hill Mrs Shelia Hill Mrs J M Hindshaw Mrs Janet Holwill Dr W Hoyle Mrs Glynys Hunter Dr Steven Hurst Joyce Hytner Alma Jones, & in memory of Frank David & Fae Jones Christine & Michael Jones Mr Trefor Jones Miss Brunhilde Kay Clare Knight Jennifer & Paul Lingwood Mr Harry Lipson Mrs Dorothea Livesey Virginia & Peter Lloyd Mr Chris Adams & Professor 

Rosemary Lucas Mr & Mrs I Lumsden Mr F P S & Mrs D A B Marriott Dr & Mrs P J Marriott Mr P Marsh & Ms H M Bennett Mrs C Mason Dr Michael Mattison Mrs E McCrone Mrs Angela McMenemy Dr David Miers Mr David Milner Mr Jeff Milner Mrs Jean Moorhouse & in memory of the late Mr Peter Moorhouse Ms Kathleen Morris Miss Jean Motler Mr P K Murphy Mr David Odling Mr & Mrs Damian O’Doherty William & Janet Ollier Mr John Peaker 

61 



## SUPPORTERS AT AUGUST 2025 

Dr John Pearson In memory of Liz Glynn David & Elizabeth Pioli In memory of D S Goodes Mr D Radley In memory of Dr D B Jones Mr Peter Ramsden In memory of Meinir McDonald Mrs Beryl Ratcliffe In memory of Patsy Pringle Kathleen & Alasdair Renfrew In memory of Dr Barbara Smith Mr Paul Reynolds In memory of Arthur Stanley David & Elly Roberts Thompson Elizabeth & Hugh Roberts In memory of John Wallace Tonge Mrs A Rose Mrs Susan Rowlands Professor Michael G Rusbridge John & Jackie Say Mrs Jan Schofield Mr James A Scott Mr Simon Shelbourn Mr C & Mrs T Shepherd Mr Michael J Shiels Mr & Mrs G R Slater Charles & Helen Smith Mr & Mrs C Smith Mr Roger Smith Mr Alan Spier Mr & Mrs R T Stafford Stephen Stockton Mr Frank Stoner & Mrs Margaret Dudley-Stoner Mrs Norma Swan Mrs M. E. Thompson Mr John Thomson Mrs Jean Tracy Tom Uprichard Mrs Barbara Upton Mr Peter & the late Mrs Diana van der Feltz Jeffrey & Judith Wainwright Mr Brian Walker Mrs Pam Walker & in memory of Andrew Walker Mr R B Walsh F T Walters Mrs Anne Ward Mr & Mrs J M Watson J Christopher Whitehead Mr A Whittaker Gladys Williams & in memory of Dennis Dodge Mr Thomas Williams Ron Wilson Barry Wood Hilary & the late Noel Woodhead Mrs Ann Woolliscroft Dr J M Worth D & M Wright David & Veronica Yates Dr David Yorke A music lover In memory of my parents In memory of Margaret Brailsford In memory of O Calvert In memory of Mr Tom Chadwick 

62 



## SUPPORTERS AT AUGUST 2025 

The Monument Trust The Oglesby Charitable Trust 

Esmée Fairbairn Foundation The Foyle Foundation Granada Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation The Kirby Laing Foundation The Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation The National Lottery Heritage Fund Paul Hamlyn Foundation The Victoria Wood Foundation The Wolfson Foundation The Zochonis Charitable Trust 

29th May 1961 Charity The Band Trust The Beaverbrooks Charitable Trust The Boris Karloff Foundation The Boshier Hinton Foundation Church Burgesses Educational Foundation D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Duchy of Lancaster Benevolent Fund DWF Foundation Fenton Arts Trust Fidelio Charitable Trust Garrick Charitable Trust The Gisela Graham Foundation The Grand Trust CIO The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation The Greater Manchester High Sheriff’s Police 

Trust The Harding Trust High Lee House Trust The Ironmongers’ Company John Horniman’s Children’s Trust John Thaw Foundation J Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust The Irving Memorial Trust Land and Co Foundation The Lee and Barkirgian Family Trust McLay Dementia Trust Michael Tippett Musical Foundation N. Smith Charitable Settlement The Nugee Foundation Peter Cunningham Memorial Fund The Cecil Pilkington Charitable Trust Pilkington General Charity Q Charitable Trust The Radcliffe Trust Rainbow Dickinson Trust The R K Charitable Trust RUSI (The Royal United Services Institute) Sir George Martin Trust The Sobell Foundation The Thistle Trust Thriplow Charitable Trust and others who wish to remain anonymous 

## **HALLÉ FAMILY OF BENEFACTORS** 

Mrs A. Alford Mr C. K. Andrews Mr and Mrs Black In Memory of Rabbi Felix Carlebach from his family, friends and supporters Pamela Cate Mr Peter Copping Miss Rebecca Louise Finch Mrs Vivian Glass Mr Harry Johnson Mr A. and the late Mrs A. Johnson Kenneth Kay Mr C. H. Pooley Brian and Glenna Robson Bernadette Rudman Mr and Mrs R. P. Shepherd JP DL Lynne and Bob Spencer Mr and Mrs Brian Tetlow 

## **HALLÉ BUSINESS CLUB** 

PLATINUM Brother Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce 

GOLD BDO LLP SILVER Beaverbrooks Tony and Daniela Coxon Elcometer Esprit Group Kuit Steinart Levy LLP 

## **HOLDERS OF THE HALLÉ SILVER MEDAL** 

## **FOR PHILANTHROPY** 

John & Margaret Allen Stewart Grimshaw Michael and Jean Oglesby Terry and Penny Moore Arthur Reynolds Jurgen Maier David McKeith Stuart Robinson 

## **2058 FOUNDATION** 

PRINCIPAL BENEFACTORS Manchester Airport Mr Martin McMillan obe and Mrs Pat McMillan The Oglesby Charitable Trust Fred Nash and Carole Nash obe Tiger Developments CIM Investment Management Ltd DLA Piper LLP Rothschild MAJOR BENEFACTORS Peter Heath David and Mary McKeith Brother (UK) Ltd PZ Cussons plc Nigel Warr David Wertheim and Family Kirby Laing Foundation Kobler Trust Martin and Jacqueline West 

The 2058 Foundation is a restricted fund of the Hallé Concerts Society established in the Hallé’s 150th Anniversary year to support specific artistic and education projects. 

## **SUPPORTERS OF THE OGLESBY CENTRE AT HALLÉ ST PETER’S** 

The Oglesby Charitable Trust The Monument Trust The Dunard Fund The Foyle Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation Granada Foundation The Kirby Laing Foundation Victoria Wood Foundation The Wolfson Foundation and all those who supported The Oglesby Challenge as well as those who wish to remain anonymous 

## **AMERICAN PATRONS** 

Caroline Firestone Rita Z. Mehos Christa Percopa Arthur Reynolds Annette Vass 

## **LONDON PATRONS** 

Joyce Hytner John Nickson and Simon Rew 

63 



## MEMBERS OF THE HALLÉ CONCERTS SOCIETY AT AUGUST 2025 

Dr John Ackroyd Mr J. Chadwick Mr Paul Adkins Dr Austin Chambers Mr R. Aitchison Mrs Margaret Chatfield Mr Mohammed Amin Dr G. Christie Mrs Gerlinde Anten Mrs F. Christou Mrs Dorothy Aplin Mrs Janet Clark Mrs Janet Aslan Dr Joan Clarke Mr M. Baggott Mr M. Clayton Ms Elaine Bagley Mr Lawrence Cody Mr & Mrs B Bailey Mr Eric Coldrick Mrs Helen Bailey Miss P. Coley Dr Peter Barberis Mr Alex Connock Dr Roger Neil Barton Mrs Pauline Coombs Dr A. Basey Mr Jim Cowell Dr Robert Beale Mr Martin Cox Mr Patrick Beesley Ms Pamela Craig Mr R. Behrend Mrs Margaret Croker Mrs Alison Bell Ms Sarah Crouch Mr Gordon W Bell Dr C. Cundy Mr Martyn Bennett Mr M. Cunningham Mr Neil Bennett Mrs Pamela Cunningham Dr Eileen Bentley and Helen Lennie Dr Ian Curbishley Mr I. Berridge Mr D. Dale Professor Anthony Berry Mr N. Daniels Mr Duncan Berry Mrs Kathleen Davies Mr John Biggins Mr G. Davies Mr A. Birch Miss E. Davis Mrs Ann Birch Mrs Sarah Davnall Mr D. Bird Mr Peter Dawson Mr Michael Birkett Mr Alan Dean Mr & Mrs L. Black Mr D. Delahunty Mrs Helen Blackburn Mr B Desousa Mrs S. Blake Prof Peter Dicken Miss J Blanksby Rev H Dickinson Mrs S P Boffey-Longworth Mr John Dickinson Mr Clive Bond Mrs Lynda Dobbie Mr Martin Bond Mr A. Dorney Mrs Nora Booth Mr Darren Drabble Mr John Bowden Mr S. Dugdale Mr David Bradley Mr James Dunn Mrs Margaret Bradshaw Dr Paul Durham Mr David Brailsford Mr Barry Eastwood Mr Mark Brailsford Mrs Valerie Edminson Mrs P. Brannon Dr D. Edwards Miss M Bridge Mr John Edwards Ms Elisabeth Bridgford Dr Francisco Eissa Barroso Dr Patricia F Brien Dr Rosemary Ellerby Dr Christopher Brookes Mrs Beryl Emery Mrs Gwyneth Brown Mr David Emery Mr Martin Brown Janet Emsley Mr David Burgess Mr J. Evans Miss Tracy Burns Jane Fairclough Mrs J. Burslem Professor Patrick Farrell Mr David Butcher Mr David Farrow Mrs Deborah Butterworth Mr J H Fisher Mr Peter Cameron-Brown Mr B Fitton Mrs G. Campbell Mrs Evelyn Flett Ms Annabel Carter Miss Margaret Forster Mr Jon Cartmel Mrs Monica Foster Mrs Pamela A Cate Rev K Foulkes Miss Christine Catherall Mrs Eileen Fox 

Mr John Fox Mr Alistair Fox Mrs A Rita Fox Debbie Francis Mrs C. Frieze Mr J. Froggatt Mrs Barbara Fryers Professor John Garside Ms Karen Gedd Mr J. Geddes Dr Geoffrey Gee Mr Adrian Gerrard Mrs Kathleen Gildon Dr D. Gillibrand Venerable R. Gillings Mrs S. Gledhill Miss G M Glover Mr I. Glover Mr Martin Glynn Mrs Barbara Goodall Mr Keith Gorton Mrs Rhoda Gouldsbrough Mrs Evelyn Grafham Mrs Margaret Gray Mrs V Graystock Mr Neil Greening Mr Michael Greenwood Mr J. Haddow Dr I. Hall Mr Gordon Hall Mr M Hall Mrs Y. Hallworth Mrs Clare Hambleton Mr C. Hampson Mr P. Hampson Mrs Jane Hampson Mr Colin Hankey Roger Hardcastle Mr E. Hardman Ruth Harkin Mrs Helen Harrington Richard Harrington The Venerable R. Harris Mr David Harrison Mr Graham Hart Mrs Ann Hart Mr Callum Harvey Dr Joan Hassall Ms Val Hawkin Mr David Haworth Mr Russell Haydon Mr Richard Hayes Mr Peter Hesham Mrs Barbara Heywood Mrs Jennifer Hindshaw Mr D. Hines Mr Nicholas Hodgson Mrs Moya Hollinrake Mr N. Holt Mrs E. Holt Mr Michael Hosker 

Mrs Valerie Hotter Mr James Howell Dr W. Hoyle Mr J. Hoyle Mrs J. Hudson Mrs C. Hughes Mr David Hughes Mrs Glynys Hunter Mrs A. Hurrell Mrs Kathleen Hurst Miss Judith A Hutton Mr John Hytner Mrs Helen Ireland Mrs Sylvia Isted Miss Carol Jackson Mrs Freda Jenkins Mr Steven Jennings Dr Richard Johnson Mr Derek Jones Mr P. Jones Mr Trevor Jones Dr David Llewellyn Jones Mrs A. Jones Mr G Jones Mr Trefor Jones Mr Kenneth Kay Mr David Kay Mr Martin Kay Mrs J. Kaye Mr Stuart Kempster Mrs Angela Kendrick Mr W. Kerr Mr J. King Harry Kippax Dr H J Klass Mr R. Kletz Mrs Diana Kloss Mr John Knox Mrs Audrey Lamb Dr Deborah Larah Mr Michael Leach Mr Charles Ledigo Mrs Jane Lee Mr Richard Leigh Mr David Lewis Mrs W Leyden Ms M. Linton Mr G. Lipschitz Miss C. Lloyd Mr M A Lloyd Dr Denise Lomas Miss Stella Lowe Mrs Olive Lumb Mr I. MacKay Professor Sir Netar Mallick Mrs P. Mann Mrs B. Marples Michael Marsh Mr M. Masters Mr A. McAllister Mr Martin McDonald 

64 



MEMBERS OF THE HALLÉ CONCERTS SOCIETY AT AUGUST 2025 

Mr Peter McIlwham Dr Jennifer Rich Mr Robert McIntyre Mrs Mavis Richardson Mr David McKeith Mr Victor Roberts Mr Martin McMillan Mr Terence Gordon Roberts Ms Jennifer McNamee Mr Stuart Robinson Mrs Shirley Meadowcroft Mrs J. Roper Mrs June Messenger Mrs A. Christine Rose Mr Richard Middlehurst Mr Roger Rostron Mr S. Miley Mrs E Rowland Mrs Kate Mollo Ms Bernadette Rudman Mr Rodney Mollo Ms Katharine Russell Dr Brian Molyneaux Miss M. Ruxton Dr Andrew Moore Mr Andy Ryans Mrs Penny Moore Miss E. Ryner Mrs Jean Moorhouse Mrs Jennifer Sandland Mr Philip Morey Mrs Karen Sandler Mr S. Morley Mr Christopher Sargent Mr J B Morrell Mrs Margaret J Scott Mr George M Morton Mr James Scott Mrs J Winterson Mr Derek Seex Mrs Christine Muller Ms Pam Senior Mrs E. Mulliner Ms Philippa Sharp Mr P. Murphy Mr David Shearing Dr Nayyar Naqvi Mr David Shepherd Mr Michael Neale Mr Michael Shipley Mr Jeremy Nolan Dr David Shreeve Mr W. Norbury Mr Christopher Simon Miss F. Nutt Mr Bryan Simons Mr David Odling Mr Antony Slater Mrs Margaret Odling Mr Clive Smart Mr D. Oglivy Sir Warren Smith Professor Pedro Oliveira Mr D. Smith Mr Martin Olley Mr Charles Smith Mr A. Openshaw Miss Pauline Smith Miss Christine Owen Mr Bob Spencer Mr Geoffrey Owen Mrs Judy Spencer Mr John Owens Mrs Susan Stamford Miss Barbara Pape Mrs C. Stead Dr Roger Parr Mr B. Stickings Mr L W S Parry-Williams Mrs Sandra Stone Mr D. Parsons Mr P. Stott Mrs A. Peach Dr & Mrs Ian Stout Alan Pearce Mr D. Swindell Mr Robert Pearson Mr J. Syner Mr Roger Pearson Mr Shefali Talukdar Henry Mrs Annette Percy Mr David Tatlock Mr D. Pettifor Mrs J. Taylor Mr Neville Phillips Mr M. Taylor Mr John Phillips Mrs M Taylor Miss Gwen Pickford Mr Ian Taylor Mr & Mrs D. Pioli Mr D. Taylor Mrs M. Pritchard Mr Ian Taylor Mr Frederick Purslow Mrs J. Taylor Mr Edward Pysden Mr Mike Taylor Miss Moira Rabbitt Dr C. Terrell-Nield Mr P. Radnan Mr C. Thickett Mr Brian Rains Mrs P Thompson Dr B S H Rarity Mr John Philip Thornley Dr Graham Read Mr G. Thornton Dr G. Rees Mr John Throup Mr Michael Rhatigan Mr D. Tickle 

Mrs Elizabeth Tonge Sir Simon Towneley Mrs Susan Tully Mr John Turner Mr John Turner Mr T I Uprichard Mrs Carol Anne Wafer Mr Donald Wagstaff Mr Ian Wallace Mr John Walsh Mr D. Walton Mr J. Watson Mr D. Watson Merryl Webster Mrs Elaine West Mrs Wendy Westoby Mrs Sybil Westwood Charlotte Westwood Mr John Whibley Mr J. White J Christopher Whitehead Mrs Rosemary Whitesman Richard D Whitley Mr Geoffrey Whittle Ms Josephine Wiggans Mr John Wildman Mrs Alison Wilkinson Mr Roger Williams Mr Thomas Williams Mrs Margaret Williams Miss W P Williamson Mr R. Willis Mr T Windsor Mr P Wolstencroft Mr A. Woods Miss Anna Woolley Mrs Ann Woolliscroft Mr Jeffrey Worden Mr Peter Worrell Miss Myra Worsley Dr J. Worth Mr Norton Wragg Dr David Yorke Dr R. Yule 

65 



## PLAYERS AT AUGUST 2025 

## FIRST VIOLINS 

Roberto Ruisi leader Emily Davis leader Sarah Ewins associate leader Tiberiu Buta Zoe Colman Steven Proctor Helen Bridges † Nicola Clark † Victor Hayes † John Gralak † Michelle Marsh † Katie Jackson Eva Petrarca Dylan Edge 

SECOND VIOLINS Marie Schreer 

section leader Paulette Bayley Rosemary Attree Caroline Abbott † Grania Royce † Christine Davey † Elizabeth Bosworth † John Purton Yu-Mien Sun Heather MacLeod 

## VIOLAS 

Timothy Pooley † 

section leader Julian Mottram † Martin Schäfer Piero Gasparini † Robert Criswell † Gemma Dunne † Chris Emerson † Cameron Campbell Victoria Stephenson 

CELLOS Simon Turner Dale Culliford † David Petri † Jane Hallett Clare Rowe Paul Grennan Jonathan Pether Lucy Arch 

DOUBLE BASSES Billy Cole 

section leader Daniel Storer Yi Xin Han † Beatrice Schirmer † Rachel Meerloo Natasha Armstrong 

## FLUTES 

Amy Yule section leader Sarah Bennett 

OBOES Stéphane Rancourt section leader Virginia Shaw † 

COR ANGLAIS Thomas Davey † 

CLARINETS Sergio Castelló López section leader Rosa Campos-Fernandez 

BASSOON Elena Comelli CONTRABASSOON Simon Davies 

## HORNS 

Laurence Rogers † 

section leader Matthew Head Julian Plummer † Richard Bourn † Andrew Maher 

TRUMPETS Gareth Small † 

section leader Tom Osborne 

TENOR TROMBONES Katy Jones section leader Rosalyn Davies † 

TUBA Ewan Easton mbe † 

TIMPANI John Abendstern 

PERCUSSION David Hext † 

section leader Riccardo Lorenzo Parmigiani † Erika Öhman 

HARP Marie Leenhardt † 

66 



## ORCHESTRAL CHAIR ENDOWMENTS AT AUGUST 2025 

## CONDUCTOR EMERITUS 

SIR MARK ELDER CH CBE Mr Martin McMillan obe and Mrs Pat McMillan 

CHIEF EXECUTIVE DAVID BUTCHER Hamish and Sophie Forsyth 

LEADER 

ROBERTO RUISI AND EMILY DAVIS Penny Moore 

GUEST LEADER in memory of Geoffrey Robinson 

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR, EUAN SHIELDS PZ Cussons, Sir Mark & Lady Elder, The Garrick Charitable Trust 

CHORAL DIRECTOR, MATTHEW HAMILTON W H Whitehead Family Trust 

## FIRST VIOLINS 

SARAH EWINS Elaine and Neville Blond Charitable Trust 

TIBERIU BUTA Dr Anne R Fuller 

ZOE COLMAN John Geddes 

POSITION VACANT In memory of Jennifer MacPherson 

POSITION VACANT Mrs Vivienne Blackburn for Michael 

HELEN BRIDGES Professor Chris Klingenberg 

POSITION VACANT In loving memory of Kaye Tazaki, from his family and the Hallé 

KATIE JACKSON Philip & Helen Wiles 

## SECOND VIOLINS 

MARIE SCHREER Patrick & Tricia McDermott 

PAULETTE BAYLEY Karen Farquhar 

ROSEMARY ATTREE In memory of the late Marie and Jack Levy 

JOHN PURTON In loving memory of Michael Hall 

## VIOLAS 

TIMOTHY POOLEY Dr Susan M Brown 

MARTIN SCHÄFER David and Beryl Emery 

PIERO GASPARINI Mrs Jane Fairclough 

CHRIS EMERSON Bolton Opus Group 

GEMMA DUNNE In memory of Diz Shirley and happy days at Chipping Camden 

ROBERT CRISWELL In memory of Brian Plumb 

## CELLOS 

SECTION LEADER Sandra Stone and in memory of Martin Stone 

SIMON TURNER In memory of Mrs G E Whitehead DALE CULLIFORD Prestbury Opus Group 

DAVID PETRI K and S Coen 

JANE HALLETT Professor Sir Netar Mallick 

CLARE ROWE Nina Harris 

JONATHAN PETHER Charlotte Westwood 

POSITION VACANT In loving memory of Dorothy Hall 

## DOUBLE BASSES 

BILLY COLE Edmundson Electrical Ltd 

YI XIN HAN In memory of Stella and Harold Millington 

NATASHA ARMSTRONG John and Pat Garside 

RACHEL MEERLOO In loving memory of Hilmary Quarmby, a lifelong lover of music and friend of the Hallé 

## FLUTES 

AMY YULE In memory of Graham Morris SARAH BENNETT In loving memory of Mrs Anna Drackley 

## PICCOLO 

POSITION VACANT In memory of Ronald Marlowe 

## OBOE 

VIRGINIA SHAW Alison Wilkinson 

COR ANGLAIS 

THOMAS DAVEY In loving memory of Douglas Crawford 

CLARINET 

SERGIO CASTELLÓ LÓPEZ The Hallé Choir 

BASS CLARINET POSITION VACANT Shared Trust 

## BASSOONS 

SECTION LEADER In memory of Miss Amy Alexandra Morris ELENA COMELLI Anonymous 

HORNS 

In memory of Arthur Bevan and Enid Roper 

LAURENCE ROGERS In memory of C K Andrews 

RICHARD BOURN Shared Trust 

MATTHEW HEAD Roger Wolstenholme 

## TRUMPETS 

GARETH SMALL Shared Trust 

POSITION VACANT Shared Trust 

TOM OSBORNE Penny Moore 

TROMBONE 

KATY JONES Sylvia Kendal in memory of Ivor Rowe 

ROSALYN DAVIES Richard Binch & in memory of Audrey 

## TUBA 

EWAN EASTON In memory of Carol Ray 

## TIMPANI 

JOHN ABENDSTERN In memory of Alan and Vivian Glass 

## PERCUSSION 

DAVID HEXT Rosemary Whitesman 

ERIKA ÖHMAN 

In memory of Becky & Jim Russell, brilliant parents & missed every day 

HALLÉ YOUTH ORCHESTRA BASSOONS Mr C R and Mrs E Anslow 

PERCUSSION I & E Brett 

CELLOS The Holland-Frickes Mr John Summers obe 

WOODWIND AND CELLOS In memory of Peter & Helen Pearce Alistair Nuttall Anonymous 

HALLÉ YOUTH CHOIR SOPRANOS AND ALTOS Mr and Mrs Smith 

HALLÉ CHOIR Jane Hampson ALTOS Chris Hughes 

Sincere thanks also to those who have made donations to the Chair Endowment programme during the last twelve months. 

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## ≥ CHOIR AT AUGUST 2025 

SOPRANOS 

Tracey Adlem Emily Allen Lizzy Allerton Dawn Ashworth Barbara Barratt Rosaline Beesley Natalie Bennett Ivy Blackmoor Ruth Broadfield Sophia Brown Nicole Brown Sarah Bunting Katy Cavanagh Martha Clayton Elizabeth Conway Claire Croft Daphne Dawson Charlotte Dear Victoria Denard Elaine Evans Catherine Evans Charlotte FitzGerald Yvonne Flood Tamandra Ford Katherine Foxall Claire Garety-Govind Judith Greenwood Rachel Grimshaw Hannah Hadwen-Wright Claire Harbourne Sarah Harding Emelie Harding Jackie Harmer Jessica Harper Sally Harris Alice Henery Phoebe Heywood Eleanor Hobbs Charlotte Hopkinson Emily Jaques Miluka Javadi-Anstey Ruth Jones Rhiannon Jones Magdalena Kowal Po Lin Lai Ruby Lewin Emily Ley Alison Lloyd Williams Crystal Lok Man Yu Katharine Longworth Larissa Lourenco Jenny Lucking Clare MacKinnon Beth Macrae Olivia May Isabelle Milner Meg Parnell Jo Pink Jemima Richardson-Jones Cathy Riddington Laura Roberts Annie Rogers 

Jo Sharples Kathryn Smethurst Helen Smithurst Charlotte Stevenson Ruth Taylor Sarah Taylor Anna Thomas Hannah Thorpe Fenella Todd Jean Tracy Abigail Turner Prabha Venkat Isabella Vesperinas Jess Walters Merryl Webster Grace Wexler Rebecca White Maeve Whittaker Millie Whittle Rebecca Woolley Poppy Worthington-Harris 

## ALTOS 

Elizabeth Alberti Laurie Bailey Alice Beckwith Jami Bennett Hannah Brian Maryna Brochwicz-Lewinski Penelope Broomhead Petromelidou Joanna Brown Rachel Brown Kat Burke Grace Card Yu Chinen Jamie Choi Rowena Cockerham Georgina Crosswell Linda Edmondson Grace Edwards Kate Fuggle Gillian Gibson Ellen Heslop Sara Holroyd Rachel Hopper Chris Hughes Martha Hulme Sara Humber Ella Jackson Mairead Kelly Fiona Kennon Clare Knight Anna Korbel Jocelyn Lavin Eileen Lee Jen Liem-Hewitt Virginia Lloyd Liz Lord Alexandra Maliphant Bethany May Sue McKinlay Kate Milner 

Gay Morton Anya Munro Elizabeth Murray Andrea Murray Judith Newton Susan Oates Barbara Oxley Alessandra Palidda Angela Partington Judy Paskell Alison Playfoot Tessa Quayle Maureen Rammell Lorna Reader Libby Reeve Marion Ridd Olivia Robinson Caragh Rooney Elizabeth Scott Katherine Seddon Iryna Sokirko Sue Stirzaker Dorothy Stoddard Anna Strowe Sara Szabo Wendy Walker Rowena Ward Jill Wills Tara Worrall-Hill Rachel Yates 

## TENORS 

Christopher Ashfield Steve Best Paul Beswick Paul Brennan Thomas Burrow Joe Campbell Jonny Downing Ben Dunsmore John Elliott Christopher Elliott David Evans Oscar Fairclough Tom Guest Christopher Hopper Howard Kane Graham Keen Paul Kilbey Amoah Koranteng-Addo Sammy Matthewson Jeremy Nelson Gustav Ng Max Noble Liam Ormiston Sean Roche-Watson Graham Rogers Sidarth Surya Charley Whelan-Hicks Thomas Winstanley BASSES Robert Akers Peter Aldred 

Vin Allerton Jonathan Barber Michael Bell David Burgess Rémi Castaing Jim Cowell Ian Critchley Roger Darling Ian Dayes Ted Downer-Wills Stuart Fielding Tony Flynn Oliver Gorton Chris Green Darcey Durham Grigg Tim Hammond Owen Hewson Chris Holroyd Rob Kerr Humphrey Kwaah Andrew Kyle Lok Lai Mitchell Lloyd Neil Mackenzie Alex Markham Harry Martin David Metcalfe Alexander Oldroyd Rémy Oudemans Stuart Perkins John Piper Eugene Pozniak Oliver Railer Sax Rendell Colin Scales Tony Smith John Smith Nigel Spooner Joseph Steane Jamie Steele Nigel Stones Cliff Tinker Rob Tolefree Roger Williams Ian Wood Angus Yardley Oleksii Yehorychev 

CHORAL DIRECTOR Matthew Hamilton ASSOCIATE CHOIR DIRECTOR Frances Cooke VOCAL COACHES Maggie Mcdonald Richard Strivens, ACCOMPANIST David Jones CHAIR Lizzy Allerton SECRETARY Sammy Matthewson TREASURER Steve Best 

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## ADMINISTRATION AND CONTACT INFORMATION AT AUGUST 2025 

**PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR AND ARTISTIC ADVISOR** Kahchun Wong 

**CONDUCTOR EMERITUS** Sir Mark Elder ch cbe 

**ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR, POPS** Stephen Bell 

**ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR** Euan Shields 

**CHORAL DIRECTOR** Matthew Hamilton 

**YOUTH CHOIR DIRECTOR** Stuart Overington 

**YOUTH TRAINING CHOIR DIRECTOR** Matthew Roughley 

**CHILDREN’S CHOIR DIRECTOR** Shirley Court 

**COMPOSER EMERITUS** Colin Matthews 

## **CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S OFFICE** 

David Butcher * David Major 

## **FINANCE** 

Natalie Atkinson * Lyndsey Priestley Curtis Dixon Jacqueline Vesperinas Henry Page **HUMAN RESOURCES** Jennifer Stevens 

## **VENUES** 

Martin Glynn * Tyrone Holt Imogen Fahey Lawrie Bebb Liam Burke Karon Knapman 

**ARTISTIC PLANNING** Anna Hirst * Louise Hamilton Andrea Stafford 

## **SPONSORSHIP AND FUNDRAISING** 

Kath Russell * Eleanor Roberts † Caragh Rooney Louise Harvey Beth Wright 

## **COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL** 

Bonnie Turnbull * Peter Naish † Liz Barras Anna Shinkfield Alex Burns David Hughes Sharyn Bellemakers Harriet Hall † 

## **ARCHIVE** 

Eleanor Roberts † Heather Roberts Janine Hague Charlie Booth (maternity leave) Harriet Hall † Stuart Robinson † 

†  20 years service 

## **CONCERTS** 

Bekah Cork * Jenny Nicholls * (maternity leave) Lucy Turner Tom Dale 

*  HEAD OF DEPARTMENT 

**GENERAL ENQUIRIES** info@halle.co.uk 

**www.halle.co.uk** 

**ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT** Chris Lewis Osian Dance 

**LIBRARY** Hannah Bellamy Emily Crichton 

**STAGE MANAGEMENT** Dan Gobey David Barker 

## **HALLÉ CONNECT** 

Naomi Benn * † Clare Webster Alex Munro Jessica Harper Rosie Sutton Tabitha Kobine Rachel Graff Isobel Stubbs 

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