Trustees' Annual Report for the period
| Period start date | Period start date | Period end date | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | 01 | 09 | 2023 | To | 31 08 |
2024 |
Section A Reference and administration details
Charity name Thomas Tallis Society
Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any) 247258
Charity's principal address 35 Dinsdale Road
London
Postcode SE3 7RJ
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
Dates acted if not for whole Name of person (or body) entitled Trustee name Office (if any) year to appoint trustee (if any) 1 Nigel Press Chairman Secretary & 2[Alice Shelton ] Treasurer 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)
Name Dates acted if not for whole year
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Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)
Type of adviser Name Address
Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)
Section B Structure, governance and management
Description of the charity’s trusts
Type of governing document
Constitution
- (eg. trust deed, constitution)
How the charity is constituted
Association
- (eg. trust, association, company)
Trustee selection methods
Election by members
(eg. appointed by, elected by)
Additional governance issues (Optional information)
You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:
- policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
The Members appoint a Committee from amongst their number at the Annual General Meeting. Other volunteer committee members are coopted from time to time.
The Committee prepares and manages an annual programme of events. The Committee reviews the financial situation at regular meetings and reports back to membership.
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the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
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relationship with any related parties;
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trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
Section C Objectives and activities
Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document
The study and practice of music (including choral music) in order to foster the public knowledge and appreciation of such music by public performances.
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The main activities undertaken for the public benefit are the rehearsals and subsequent performance of concerts by the Thomas Tallis Society Choir and Orchestra.
The Trustees are confident that performance of such concerts constitute a public benefit according to the guidance of the Charities Commission.
Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)
Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)
You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:
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policy on grant making;
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policy programme related investment;
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contribution made by volunteers.
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Section D Achievements and performance
Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year
This year 2023-24, TTS’s 58[th] year, we have performed six concerts over the year.
The second record to highlight is that by the end of the year, we had increased the number of Patrons to 49, a tribute to the variety of programmes and standard of the concerts.
This has also been the eighth year of the Choral Ambassador scheme which we launched in 2015. Although we only had only one Choral Ambassador, we welcomed back previous Choral Ambassadors in December.
Concerts
Our first concert of the year was based around George Shearing’s Songs and Sonnets and Bob Chilcott’s A Little Jazz Mass, interspersed with motets and part-songs by Byrd and Howells. The syncopation and rhythms of the Shearing and Chilcott were fun to get to grips with, harder than it sometimes looked on the page but we got our jazz hands waving in time by the concert.
We had Paul Plummer accompanying on the piano, playing a couple of solo pieces and then impromptu joining the tenors for some unaccompanied pieces. Paul was joined by double bass player Laurence Ungless. We also invited Frances Shaw and Ian Lindsay to read the Shakespeare Sonnets before each of the Shearing movements. Our first Sunday concert for a while, the audience was relatively small but enthusiastic.
In November we finally got to perform Hugh Keyte’s edition of Spem in Alium, a piece we’d worked on during the pandemic, together with another 40-part motet by David Bednall Lux orta est iusto. The remainder of the programme was other polychoral motets by Philips, Gibbons and Byrd as we celebrated the 400[th] anniversary of his death. We were accompanied by the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble.
The concert was sung from the galleries in St Alfege. This was easier for some choirs than others but certainly achieved the intended effect. From the start of publicity tickets went quickly with us selling out prior to the concert. We sold tickets in the choir stalls and put other chairs out in front of the pews which also sold. Without the gallery for audience we can fit 300 seats downstairs, we sold them all.
The audience particularly appreciated hearing Spem in Alium a second time at the end of the concert and were also pleased to be introduced to the David Bednall piece.
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Section D Achievements and performance
In December we performed our biennial performance of Messiah. The only available date in December was Friday 1 which meant only top and tailing choral movements before the concert which was unusual but seemed to work out.
One of the joys of this performance was to have past TTS Choral Ambassadors as soloists; we had Emily Jennings, our longest serving Choral Ambassador, Sam Jenkins and Ben Davies, who all gave stellar performances.
Messiah is always popular, it didn’t seem to matter that it was a Friday night and we pretty much sold out including the gallery. With hindsight we should have increased the ticket price.
In January the concert was Liederabend, an evening of song, the German term for a song recital. Part of the reason for the choice of repertoire was to start work on our German prior to the Matthew Passion, but also to perform music probably previously unknown to all in the choir, repertoire by Franz Schubert and Robert and Clara Schumann.
Emma, Becky and Larry all sang solo pieces accompanied by Jack Redman in his first of two concerts with the choir this year, great
performances all. Thanks also to Daniel for another set of excellent programmes notes for this concert. There are often comments from audience members about the standard of the programmes and the quality of the notes due largely to Daniel.
We didn’t sell many tickets in advance but sold well on the door and the audience was complimentary about the choir even if the memory that will probably endure is the piano playing of Khrystyna Mykhailichenko!
March and TTS’s first performance of the St Matthew Passion under Eamonn, a piece he has waited to do until the choir was ready. We had a dedicated workshop day and extra rehearsals. There were 56 singers in the choir.
Britten Sinfonia played and we had James Robinson as Evangelist and Alex Bower Brown back as Christus. Emma and Becky shared the soprano solos, and Angharad Rowlands who missed Messiah was the alto soloist.
Although not completely sold out the concert was very well attended
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Section D Achievements and performance
and the audience was extremely complimentary about all aspects of the performance; choir, orchestra, soloists, German and the overall effect in telling of the story.
We were planning to finish the year with Handel’s Semele. However following review of the St Matthew accounts and consideration that there is not a lot for the choir to do in the piece, the committee decided to postpone Semele to another time and replace with a programme of Constant Lambert’s Rio Grande in a version for two pianos and percussion, together with the English premiere of Phillip Cooke’s Gloria, also scored for two pianos and percussion and a celebration of Stanford in the 100[th] year after his death.
It was a really fun programme and good to finish the year with some of the syncopated rhythms we started the year with. However the audience was not great and costs were higher than anticipated contributing to another large deficit on this concert.
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Section E Financial review
Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves
The charity has no assets and no ongoing financial commitments. Incoming funds are used to enhance the quality and variety of the concert programme. The size of the reserves fund is not large enough to warrant consideration of an investment programme in the current economic climate.year. We have reserves and the support of our Patrons and we want to continue to provide interesting concerts in the public benefit. However given the unusual deficit on the concerts in this financial year the committee will be reviewing better budgeting to avoid unexpected losses.
Details of any funds materially in deficit
None
Further financial review details (Optional information)
You may choose to include We continued our Choral Ambassador scheme and we continued the additional information, where Spem project access via our website using funds to support website relevant about: hosting.
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the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
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how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
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investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.
Section F Other optional information
Section G Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature(s)
Full name(s) ALICE SHELTON Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc)[Secretary and Treasurer ]
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Date 20 June 2025 TAR March 2012
Charity Name No (if any) Thomas Tallis Society 247258 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period Period start date Period end date To from 01/09/2023 31/08/2024
Section A Receipts and payments
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ - 34,607 - - - - - - 34,607 - - - 34,607 - 50,839 - - - - - - - 50,839 - - - 50,839 - 16,232 - 40,318 24,086 |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Total funds to the nearest £ - 34,607 - - - - - - 34,607 - - - 34,607 - 50,839 - - - - - - - 50,839 - - - 50,839 - 16,232 |
Total funds to the nearest £ - 34,607 - - - - - - 34,607 - - - 34,607 - 50,839 - - - - - - - 50,839 - - - 50,839 - 16,232 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | |||||
| Fund Raising | 34,607 | - | ||||
| Donations | - | - | ||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
34,607 | - | ||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | - | |||||
| ~~Sub total~~ | - | - | ||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | - | |||||
| Cost of Fund Raising | 50,839 | - | ||||
| Grants | - | - | ||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| **Sub total ** | 50,839 | - | ||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| **Sub total ** | - | - | ||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
||||||
| - | ||||||
| - 16,232 | - | - | - 16,232 |
- | ||
| - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 40,318 | - | 40,318 | - | |||
| 24,086 | - | - | 24,086 | - |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
20/06/2025
1
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B1 Cash funds |
Details Details Details Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details Fund raising Donations Signature |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 24,086 - - - - 24,086 - OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Print Name Alice Shelton |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| OK | |||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
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| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
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| Current value (optional) |
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| When due (optional) | |||
| Date of approval | |||
| Alice Shelton | 20th June 2025 | ||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
20/06/2025
2
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Rèport to the trusteesl members of Thomas Tallis Society On accounts for the year . 31 August 2024 ended Charity no | 247258 {if any) j Set out on pages lieip.ei)Iber 50 Inciu.Je li'e p39e nun)Jers ol addi.'ional .hEetSi Respective The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in responsibilities of accordan with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (Ihe Act.). trustees and examiner The charrty's trustees consider thal an audit is not required for this year under sectson 144 of the Act and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to-. examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act, to follow the applicable DIrectnS given by the Charity Commission (under section 14515}Ib) of the Act, and to state whether partscular matters have come to my attention Basis of independent My examinats'on was cartied out in aCrdan with general Directions given examinerfs statement by the Charrty Commission. An examinats.on indudes a rewew of the accounting records kept by the charity and a wmpanson of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts. and seeking explanations from the trustees conmIng any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit. and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair, wew and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement bel¢)w. Independent In connection wrth my examinalion. no material matters have come to my examiner's statement attention which gives me cause to believe that in, any matenal respect". accountsng re¢ords were not kept in accordan wrth section 130 of the Chanties Act or the accounts do not accord the accounting records I have no cOnrnS and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. . Please delete the words in the brackels rfthey do not apply. Signed: Date: 2f Name: MALCOLM DAVID REID Relevant professional FCA IRN: MDR01092 quallflcat5on{s) or body lif anyl- IER May 2018
Address: 18 Robertson House Gilbert Close London SE18 4PR Section B Disclosure Only cornplete rf Ihe examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity aCCnts. directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER May 2018