# **Tilford Bach Society trading as Tilford Bach Festival Charity Number 230601**
## **Annual Report for 2024**
5 September 2025
## **Table of Contents**
|**Table of Contents**|**Table of Contents**|**Table of Contents**|
|---|---|---|
|**TILFORD BACH SOCIETY TRADING AS TILFORD BACH FESTIVAL .......................................................................... 1**|||
|**CHARITY NUMBER 230601 ................................................................................................................................. 1**|||
|**1**|**INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... 2**||
|**2**|**REPORT ON 2024 ....................................................................................................................................... 3**||
||2.1|Programme ......................................................................................................................................... 3|
||2.2|Financial Report .................................................................................................................................. 3|
||2.3|Final words on 2024 ............................................................................................................................ 7|
|**3**|**REPORT ON 2025 AND PLANNING FOR THE NEXT STAGE .......................................................................... 8**||
||3.1|Our programme for 2025 .................................................................................................................... 8|
||_3.1.1_|_Our aims for 2025 ........................................................................................................................... 8_|
||_3.1.2_|_Our programme .............................................................................................................................. 8_|
||_3.1.3_|_The Community connection ............................................................................................................ 9_|
||_3.1.4_|_A new management and volunteer team ....................................................................................... 9_|
||_3.1.5_|_Engagement with sponsors and donors ....................................................................................... 10_|
||_3.1.6_|_Ticket sales ................................................................................................................................... 10_|
||3.2|Our likely financial situation at the end of 2025 ............................................................................... 10|
||3.3|Looking ahead to 2026...................................................................................................................... 10|
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## **1 Introduction**
2024 was a year of transition for Tilford Bach Society. Mike Shorthose became Trustee and Chair of Tilford Bach Society charity number 230610 (trading as, and hereafter referred to as Tilford Bach Festival (TBF)) on 31 October 2024. He took over the Chair role from Peter Hopkins who gave great support during the “transition”. Both Peter and Sheila Austin remain as Trustees fulfilling the requirement to have three Trustees.
This Annual Report is a summary of:
- The achievements of 2024 and a statement of the financial position at the end of 2024
- A work in progress summary of 2025 which presents the concert programme we put on and early view of our financial position as we look towards 2026
- A short outline of the plans for 2026 and the following years.
The Trustees acknowledge that it is not conventional to include information on future years in this type of report. However, given the transitional period that TBF is undergoing, we wanted to provide a full report on where we stand, primarily so that attendees at the AGM on 9[th] September 2025 and any other interested parties can get the fullest possible view of where we are, and so that we can also ask people for their views and suggestions for the future. Fortunately, as we present this report, we can confirm that TBF is in good shape with strong finances and we are able to look back on a successful 2025 programme.
In looking forward, the Trustees wanted to thank the many people who have been involved in the Festival this year without whom it simply would not have happened. We thank our donors, sponsors, management team and volunteers later in the report but we just wanted to record here our thanks to our Examiner Alan Thorpe for his thorough and thoughtful examination of our accounts for 2024.
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## **2 Report on 2024**
## **2.1 Programme**
The 2024 Festival celebrated the 300[th] anniversary of the first performance of the St John Passion with a centre piece Saturday night performance with Adrian Butterfield, the London Handel Players and eight wonderful singers covering both chorus and solo parts. This very exposed choral presentation, in the intimate environment of Tilford All Saints Church, heightened the tension, suspense and desperation that is the story told by St John. It was a truly memorable evening that moved audience members to tears and inspired one person to want to get involved as Chair simply to be part of a Festival that could present such musical perfection.
The opening concert presented “A Vivaldi Experience”: two sonatas, a concerto for four violins and a complete performance of Quattro Stagioni (the Four Seasons). The concert showcased the talents of students from the Royal College of Music under the directorship of Apolline Khou.
The closing concert brought a performance of two of J.S Bach’s secular cantatas - BVW 211 and BVW 212 - commonly referred to as the “Coffee” and “Peasant” cantatas, featuring the London Handel Players, Charlotte Bowden, Joseph Doody and Edward Grint.
## **2.2 Financial Report**
The Statement of Financial Activities is shown below:
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**----- Start of picture text -----**
TILFORD BACH SOCIETY
TRADING AS TILFORD BACH FESTIVAL
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
Notes 2024 2023
£ £
INCOME FROM:
Charitable activities 2 25,215 33,199
TOTAL INCOME 25,215 33,199
EXPENDITURE ON:
Charitable activities 3 30,917 23,158
TOTAL RESOURCES EXPENDED 30,917 23,158
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS IN YEAR (5,702) 10,041
TOTAL FUNDS BROUGHT FORWARD 21,613 11,572
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD 15,912 21,613
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.
All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities
**----- End of picture text -----**
The summary is presented without the inclusion of gift aid. Previous Annual Reports have included the gift aid contribution from the prior year, which would be 2023. The timely submission of gift aid claims has been a victim of the handover process to the new Chair team and the value of the 2023 claim, expected to be £4,732, will be included in the 2025 Annual Report. Had it been claimed in time, it would have significantly reduced the shortfall in funds from -£5702 to -£970.
The balance sheet is shown below.
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**----- Start of picture text -----**
TILFORD BACH SOCIETY
TRADING AS TILFORD BACH FESTIVAL
BALANCE SHEET
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2024
2024 2023
£ £ £
CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors - -
Cash at bank and in hand 15,912 21,613
15,912 21,613
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year - -
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES 15,912 21,613
FUNDS
Unrestricted funds 15,912 21,613
The Financial Statements were approved by the Trustees on 29 August 2025
**----- End of picture text -----**
The notes to the financial statements are shown below.
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|**TILFORD BACH SOCIETY**|**TILFORD BACH SOCIETY**|**TILFORD BACH SOCIETY**|**TILFORD BACH SOCIETY**|**TILFORD BACH SOCIETY**|**TILFORD BACH SOCIETY**|**TILFORD BACH SOCIETY**|**TILFORD BACH SOCIETY**|**TILFORD BACH SOCIETY**||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS**||||||||||
|**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024(CONTINUED)**||||||||||
|**2 **|**INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES**|||||||||
||||||||**2024**||**2023**|
||||||||**£**||**£**|
|||Donations||Subscriptions and Donations received||17,521|||19,036|
|||||Tax recovered on subscriptions and donations||
0|||5,264|
||||||||17,521||24,300|
|||Charitable Activities||Ticket Sales||6,866|||8,881|
|||||Other income||808||||
|||||Bank Interest||21|||18|
||||||||7,694||8,899|
|||||||||||
||||||||25,215||33,199|
|**3 **|**EXPENDITURE ON CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES**|||||||||
||||||||**2024**||**2023**|
||||||||**£**||**£**|
|||Charitable Activities||Musicians' Fees and expenses|||28,190||19,730|
|||||Miscellaneous expenses|||1,791||2,268|
|||||Donations:||||||
||||||Tilford Church|500|||470|
||||||Cavatina|100|||100|
||||||||600||570|
|||||Support andgovernance costs:||||||
||||||Bank charges
Website costs
Insurance|60
180
96|||60
180
350|
||||||||336||590|
|||||||||||
||||||||30,917||23,158|
|||||||||||
|**4 **|**TRUSTEES**|||||||||
||None of the trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration during the year, and
none of the trustees were reimbursed for anytravellingexpenses.|||||||||
|**5 **|**EMPLOYEE INFORMATION**|||||||||
||The charityhas no employees.|||||||||
The income is lower in 2024 than the previous year representing a fall in both donations and ticket sales. The increase in Musicians’ Fees and Expenses is due to the staging of an earlier concert year under the auspices of our Haslemere colleagues at HHH. This was funded by the incredible generosity of Daphne and George Burnett and helped raise the profile of TBF in advance of the summer festival and also helped raise funds for TBF through receipt of a significant proportion of ticket sales.
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Our Independent Examiner’s Report is shown below:
## **2.3 Final words on 2024**
Mike Shorthose took on the Chair’s responsibility towards the end of 2024 but in fact, technically, he took over from Daphne Burnett who had stepped in as acting Chair for a few crucial months. Daphne ran the show and hosted a fabulous reception at her home, which marked the start of the next phase for TBF. The new Chair would like to pass on his thanks and also Peter Hopkins’ thanks to Daphne for her initiative and support at a difficult time. It was one of those short periods that, in almost 75 years of TBF history might turn out to be “future defining”!
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## **3 Report on 2025 and planning for the next stage**
## **3.1 Our programme for 2025**
## **3.1.1 Our aims for 2025**
- To present an exciting programme for a single weekend
- To refresh the connection between the Festival and Tilford village by providing events which were attractive and valuable to the Community
- To put in place a new management team
- To re-engage with our sponsors and donors
- To sell more tickets
- To renew our educational outreach programme.
## **3.1.2 Our programme**
The 2025 Festival was the 73[rd] Festival and was put together by our musical director, Adrian Butterfield, and took us on a weekend journey from a Celebration of Scottish Baroque music on Friday complete with a Ceilidh for those adventurous enough, taking in Bach’s unsurpassed Mass in B Minor on Saturday night, and finally arriving at a Best of Baroque special on Sunday showcasing exciting new choral and orchestral talent.
On Friday we were thrilled to bring Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas to Tilford for the first time. They not only play traditional Scottish tunes beautifully but they arrange them so imaginatively and compose their own new numbers all the time. They have toured the globe for many years and were on a UK tour from the USA. We were honoured that they were able to fit us into their busy schedule. Folk music has been valued by mainstream composers throughout history and the baroque period is no exception.
A ceilidh is a celebratory social event that traditionally includes music, dancing and storytelling. Rachel and Adrian have arranged several of them over the years to mark various special family events so we were incredibly excited to be having one as part of this weekend. The steps are easy to learn and were lots of people to help the beginners on the night. My own memory of the night was the enthusiasm with which the string section of the LHP joined in with the Ceilidh fun.
Our central offering on Saturday evening was Bach’s extraordinary B minor Mass. Adrian noted in the programme that, whilst he adores so much of Bach’s music, if he were really pushed to make a single choice of a favourite piece of music then this monumental work would have to be it! We were lucky to have the London based choir, Pegasus, who sang brilliantly and enthusiastically, whilst blending so well with the cultured original instruments of the London Handel Players. Our top rank soloists Ruairi Bowen, Julia Doyle, Daniel Taylor and Ashley Riches also excelled and we were excited to see the main countertenor solo performed by one of Daniel Taylor’s wonderful young Toronto singers Nick Burns.
On Sunday we featured emerging talent with student instrumentalists from the UK and young singers from Canada. They performed a repertoire by composers from Italy and Germany, all of whom had a significant influence on Bach’s development as a musician and composer. Providing performing opportunities to the younger generation has always been a central part of the ethos of the Festival from its foundation by Denys Darlow in 1952 and we were delighted to be able to continue this tradition. The arrival of our Canadian choir somewhat stretched our local team of hosts who responded brilliantly with accommodation, food and lifts. It was lovely to be able to meet and spend time with this charming group of young
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people and we ended with a party on the Sunday night to celebrate a successful Festival. The accommodation of visiting musicians is part of the real meaning of a Festival and we shall continue that into future Festivals.
## **3.1.3 The Community connection**
One of great joys and challenges of being involved with the Festival is to be aware of its incredible history. We had the opportunity to look at the excellent book by Rosemary Wisbey published in 2011 which describes the first 60 years of the Festival.
The first meeting of the Tilford Bach Society was held on 11th August 1952 and a certain Miss Gregory volunteered to canvas schools for their support at an additional afternoon recital. She was obviously very successful at this canvassing as the concert attracted 350 children! Wouldn’t it be nice to get that level of support at our Festivals now?
Fostering a love of music in children from a young age is so important given all of the cuts in funding such activities in the state school sector. We are determined that the Festival should develop to engage with our local schools to enable pupils to experience the joy of music. It is early days, but we have made a start already. We are working with All Saints School in Tilford to encourage their musical activities. We have made a small grant to support instrument purchase and Rachel Brown, one of our wonderful musicians at the Festival, provided a day of musical inspiration at the school just before the start of Festival leading to a small concert with parents.
The Trustees are really grateful to the school, and particularly the Head Teacher Brigid Walters, for making all of this possible. We will develop the outreach further in the years to come. Watch this space!
Our events were centred around All Saints Church Tilford and we would like to thank Rev. Ben Cahill-Nicholls, the vicar at All Saints, for his huge support for this year’s events. There was a special Sunday service in the church starting at 10:00 which included a Mass sung by members of the Toronto choir who also starred in our Sunday afternoon concert. It was a wonderful service and a great way of linking with the Festival.
For our Friday night concert, we started in the Church but moved everyone to the Tilford Institute for the Ceilidh. It was well enjoyed by all involved and sets a precedent for introducing a fun, participative element to the Festival.
## **3.1.4 A new management and volunteer team**
A challenge this year has been to refresh the management and volunteer team, to introduce new blood and to put the future organisation on a solid basis. This is still a work in progress but we are lucky enough to work with some wonderful people.
The core “dream team” of Adrian Butterfield, Caroline Tonkin, Suzanne Cacciottolo and Tom Knight have done an incredible amount of work to make the Festival possible and we are so grateful to them.
Also, grateful thanks to Peter Hopkins, our former Chair who has led the Festival for several years, for helping Mike take up the reins, and to Sheila Austin who has inspired Mike with her encouragement and reminders of the heritage of the Festival.
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Finally thank you to everyone who have helped with the Festival this year – without you, chaos would have ensued! Particular people to thank are: Mike Bryan, Sara Burnie, Ben CahillNicholls, Simon Claiden, Neil Fairlamb, Edward Fenech, Trevor Gray, Irmela Hopkins, Glen Plant, Vivienne Raeside, Christine Scholes, Sally Shorthose, Geoff Quick, Sue Sagun, Caryn De Walden and Jan de Walden.
## **3.1.5 Engagement with sponsors and donors**
We would not be able to put on this Festival without the particular support of our sponsors and the Trustees would especially like to thank Daphne and George Burnett, James Penney and Bernard & Felicity Jeffcote for their incredible generosity this year. The amazing contribution all of you make to supporting music is extraordinary and we are so lucky to have your support for the Festival.
## **3.1.6 Ticket sales**
The Festival is all about our audience who bring the enthusiasm to keep this incredible event going in this lovely village. Our venues constrain somewhat the numbers we can accommodate but we are proud to report that we sold out Friday and Saturday events and we well attended on Sunday. Our ticket revenues were just under £10,000.
## **3.2 Our expected financial situation at the end of 2025**
We have had a good financial year in 2025 with the income (including 2024 gift aid) of around £33,000 almost exactly balancing our costs.
We intend to claim Gift aid on all donations received in 2023, 2024 and 2025 prior to the end of 2025 with the result being an increase in our income for 2025 of around £10,000. We will therefore take into next year reserves that are £10,000 higher than at the start of 2024.
Note that these figures are the non-examined analysis of draft accounts and will be subject to more precise presentation next year. However, we are confident that we remain with sufficient reserves to give us confidence for 2026.
## **3.3**
## **Looking ahead to 2026**
We are excited to be starting the process of planning for 2026. Next year’s Festival will be on 19 – 21 June 2026 – please put it in your diaries.
It is early days but here are some thoughts to share with you and get feedback on. This is unashamedly a brainstorm list presented to get you thinking for discussion at the AGM and beyond. We welcome comments, discussion and suggestions at any time.
The Festival is approaching its 75th anniversary. It was formed in 1952 and the first concert was 1953. This puts an emphasis on 2027 or 2028 to do something really special. The first concert was a St John Passion and it would be appropriate to do a St John Passion on a reasonable scale in 2027/8.
For Saturday next year on 20th June, a programme could include one or other of Bach’s Easter Oratorio, Ascension Oratorio and Cantata BMV 21. Neither of them fully fills a programme but we could certainly fill out with other pieces.
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Noting the wonderful previous performance, we might look at re-doing the Bach Christmas Oratorio in December 2026. This would add an extra concert in the year but might be a nice complement to what we do in the summer.
Last year on Sunday, Dan Taylor and his choir produced some amazing music. There was also some interesting intermingling between the Canadians and Pegasus and other UK based singers. We think this movement of artists between concerts is really the essence of the Festival and it would be good to keep this spirit. Artistically we would be very happy to have Dan again but perhaps we should really be focussing on more UK-based young artists and singers?
We really enjoyed our orchestra based on RCM players this year and would probably seek to do similarly in 2026 to encourage younger artists.
This year we had an excellent night of Scottish baroque fiddling followed by a Ceilidh. We got very good reviews and we think this really added a new dimension to the Festival and added a fun event for the Tilford community. So, what do we do to continue this spirit? Adrian and Rachel have a big interest in Baroque dance and work with some UK based collaborators researching and developing courses. If an evening of demonstration and participation could be designed, this would go down well.
It would be nice to broaden the musical range and include more soloist work. A possibility would be the Bach Cello/Violin Suites and Flute Partitas. It would be good to fit something like that into the programme at some stage - perhaps on the Saturday with one of choral pieces mentioned above.
The choice of venue is important and lies at the heart of the future success of the Festival. Tilford venues are lovely and position the Festival at the heart of the village. However, the Church and Institute are rather small which presents a problem selling enough tickets to make the concerts at least start to balance the books. We are keen to maintain the link with Tilford so any change needs thought. Particular ideas which just about maintain the balance could be:
- Move Saturday to St Andrew's Church in Farnham. Much larger and more convenient
- Move Friday night to eg Frensham Heights School or Moorhouse. These are much more dance worthy venues
- Keep Sunday at Tilford and major on the choral and liturgical works we did this year (including a service)
- Keep our outreach focussed on Tilford School
We are very fortunate to live in an area with wonderful opportunities to listen to music of the highest quality. The work of Grayshott Concerts, HHH, TBS (CIO) and the Godalming Conservatoire Concerts, to name but a few, provide a range of concerts that are complementary to those offered by the Festival. The only downside is that all of these organisations pull largely on the same audience and donors/sponsors. We will aim to develop the Festival with a sympathetic and collaborative view towards these other societies. Specifically, this means working with them and trying to maximise our collective successes and manage the challenges.
Whatever we do, we will remain dependent on the very generous support of our donors and sponsors. We hope you will all continue to support us as best you can. We are so fortunate to have received a funding guarantee for three years from Daphne and George. We will still need other contributions in the same way as any other year but their generosity gives us a basis for
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planning. We really hope we can persuade others to support us for a multi-year period whilst we develop the next phase of the Festival. It would give us an opportunity to design a three year programme culminating in the St John Passion in 2027/8.
Finally, we will continue to develop our Trustee, Management team and volunteer base. We are delighted to report that Daphne Burnett has agreed to join as a Trustee – it is wonderful to have her support. If you would like to contribute in any way to the development of this wonderful organisation to lead the Festival into its next 25 years, please do contact Mike or any other Trustee at any time.
Thank you for taking the time to read this report. We look forward to catching up with you over the course of the next year.
## **Trustees’ responsibilities statement**
The Trustees are responsible for preparing this Annual Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In preparing these Financial Statements, the Trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
- prepare the financial statements on an ongoing concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Charity will continue in business.
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity, and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
This report was approved by the Trustees on 5 September 2025 and signed on their behalf by
**………………………………………… Mike Shorthose Chair**
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