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2023-07-31-accounts

The Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust

Charity Number; 261487

Annual Report and Accounts For the year ending July 31[st] 2023

and

Notice of the Annual General Meeting To take place on Saturday 21[st] October at 13.00 hrs at the Theatre Organ Heritage Centre. Alexandra Road, Peel Green, Salford. M30 7HJ

There will be a concert after the AGM starting at 14.30 played by Declan Poole.

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Timetable for the day.

Set up and rehearsal 09.30 ~12.00
Annual General Meeting
Doors openfor Members
 12.00
Members who need concert tickets £8.00
AGM 13.00 ~ 13.30
Opportunity for general discussion 13.30 ~ 13.40
Post meeting Intermission
Doors openfor the public 13.45
Persons joining for the concert tickets £8.00
Tea / coffee / hot and cold light refreshments 13.30 ~ 14.30
Afternoon concert by Declan Poole 14.30
Intermission
(approximately)		 15.15 ~ 15.30
Second half
(approximately)		 15.30 ~ 16.15
Theatre closes 16.45

Agenda

1 Apologies

All Members have received a copy of these by post with VOX .

3.1 Trustees Report

The most significant event during the year was the death of our President, Frank Read. He died one day after his 100[th] birthday. He had a “good innings” which was well deserved by a real gentleman. Fortunately a group of Trustees were able to meet him on his birthday and make a presentation to him.

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Frank was associated with the Trust from its beginnings and he and his late wife, Marion, played an enormous part in the development and progress of the Trust both as Chairman and then as President. They were a lovely couple who did so much to promote the Trust as a very professional but welcoming organisation to experts and novices alike.

Last year we reported the water damage caused to the Stockport Wurlitzer by a severe roof leak. After much effort the organ was restored to playing standard but it continues to suffer from the occasional cipher despite the extensive rebuild of one of the chests.

Disappointingly, the audience levels in the subsequent concerts have not recovered to preCovid level. It is clear from market trends that Sunday is now a shopping day and also public transport is not good on a Sunday. The decision to move some of the Sunday concerts to Saturday afternoons started with our first one timed to accommodate the Northern District Convention of The Cinema Organ Society in August 2022 with Richard Hills who presented a superb programme on the Stockport Wurlitzer. We had the famous Mark Herman in the audience but unfortunately time didn’t allow him to sample our organ.

The next concert was on November 5[th] when most people were organising bonfire night events so it was a less than useful date. Unfortunately it is Stockport who set which dates are available. The viability of these concerts is of some concern and we appeal to all of our Members to support and publicise these. It really is a “use it or lose it” situation.

At our Heritage Centre and Museum in Peel Green, the weekly concerts in our theatre have continued with steady audience numbers but also disappointingly these are not back to pre-covid levels. We have, like all of you, been hit very hard by the rising cost of utilities and some of the projected costs of gas and electricity have given us many grey hairs! Even the technical team have reduced the number of days they spend at the theatre in order to keep the power costs down, the two organ blowers consume around 10kW of energy all the time that they are running.

We are fortunate that we have “secondary spend” activities in the shop and buffet and the Trustees would like to thank the volunteers who work so hard to keep these extra sources of revenue operating.

The monthly coffee mornings have continued, sometimes with only half a dozen visitors, sometimes with a few more but these extra uses of the Theatre are important to keep the daily overhead down but they must be supported to achieve this.

During the year, the Trustees appealed to the membership by letter to see if we have any retired marketing or other like persons to help share our load and to develop our business. Unfortunately the result was a big and very disappointing zero.

We are still seeking to expand the number of active Trustees but the Charity Commission Regulations define that we have to carry out a “gap analysis” and find and fill the gaps in our expertise.

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Although there have been no applications to become a Trustee this year we do have the power to co-opt persons who can offer the necessary expertise to plug our gaps, so we don’t have to wait for an AGM to do this. One vital attribute these days is that any trustee must be able to communicate electronically because most of our meetings and business is carried out electronically, meetings being held using Skype or similar media. Also most marketing is web or social media based.

Succession management is, therefore, of great concern to us as we age. The increase in pension age has not helped in this respect. We have other initiatives under discussion at the moment as we must start passing on our skills to younger people and by that I mean people even in their 60’s.

Thank you all for your continued support, please bring a friend (or three) !!!.

3.2 Trustees

The Trustees serving at the beginning of this report period were ;

Chairman Mr. W. Baker Secretary & Stage manager Mr. R. H. Whalley Treasurer Mr. D. Alldred P.G Technical Mr. C. Brown S.T.H.Technical Mr. J. Loud Quartermaster Mr. V. Mathews Marketing Mr. G. Trinder

3.3 Risk Management statement

The trustees maintain a continual overview of the potential risks which could affect the Trust in future years and are satisfied that there are sufficient reserve funds for the immediate circumstances.

3.4 Statement of Financial activities for the year ended July 31[st] 2023

The statement below shows that the Trust has benefited for some most welcome donations over the past year and we must thank the donors. As you can see these represent a large part of our income for the year. Also on many of the donations and bequests we are able to collect “Gift Aid” from HMRC .

Please consider us when considering donations or bequests.

Our membership numbers have unfortunately also fallen, but the extent is not completely known because despite trying to contact members, not all reply.

The next table shows the Trusts income and expenditure for the past year and the following one illustrates the specific information for the Heritage Centre.

The last table, the balance sheet, shows our assets and how they are distributed.

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Income Expenditure
Heritage Centre Theatre 23,418 Heritage Centre Theatre 25,755
Membership Subscriptions 2,255 Membership Expenses 33
Gift Aid 529 VOX 1,559
Concert income 1,192 Concert costs 820
SMBC concert income 875 SMBC concert expenditure 700
Sales stall income 249 Sales stall purchases 57
Internet sales 74 Internet sales postage 5
Sale of equipment 0 AGM costs 317
Insurance claim 0 General admin 0
Salford business support 0 Postage 255
Donations 6,825 Printing / stationary 94
Advertising 605
STH Organ maintenance 1,871
PRS Stockport 36
Sundry expenses 231
Website 216
Data Reg 35
HLF expenditure balance 2,954
Total income 35,417 Total Expenditure 35,543
Surplus / loss -126
35,417

Heritage Centre Theatre income and expenditure ;

Income Expenditure
Volunteer admission 709 Organists fees 7,800
General admission 12,614 Video organist 0
Raffle sales 1,889 Raffle purchases 278
Refreshments sales 5,346 Christmas party costs 479
Room hire ( election) 550 Building maintenance 3,808
Group visit 150 Electrical repairs 786
Private practice 210 Advertising 35
Wurlitzer club 0 Catering purchases 764
Vintage sales 117 Cleaners 784
General sales 382 Consumables 43
Donation pipe 321 Electricity 2,813
Gift aid 70 Gas 1,844
Christmas party tickets 600 Insurance 3,744
Christmas party raffle 137 Organ tuning / repairs 300
Coffee mornings 323 Stationary / postage 9
PRS/ PPL 318
Rates to Salford 271
Operating Licenses 70
Water 1,097
BT broadband 459
Christmas hamper 53
Total income 23,418 Total expenditure 25,755
Surplus / loss -2,337
23,418

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3.5 Balance sheet as at July 31[st] 2023

Fixed Assets £ £ Note
Wurlitzer organ Stockport Town Hall 258,449
Vintage record and book collection 100
LTOT Heritage centre, brought forward 152,720
Refurbishment costs this year 1,596 1
Wurlitzer organ 15,550
Compton organ 42,471
AV equipment at cost 7,760
CCTV at cost 720
Provision for depreciation 0
479,366
Current Assets
Business current accounts 33,523
Cash floats 370
Debtor~Stockport MBC 0
Sundry debtors 0
Prepaid PRS licence 0
Sales stall stock 2.365
36,258
Current liabilities
Sundry creditors -114 -114
Total assets 515,510
Represented by
Funds brought forward 516,026
Disposal of equipment 0
Loss on re-valuation of asset -390
Income current year -126
515,510

Note 1 Refurbishment includes; Kitchen (2015/16) estimated at £16,000 recovered over 10 years. This years contribution £1596 Boiler (2017) £1950 recovered over 5 years ~ now written down

The income / expenditure and balance sheet have been independently examined by Peter A. Ratcliffe AMRSPH, Independent Examiner.

3.6 Approval

This report has been approved by the Trustees, minuted, and signed on their behalf by ;

Ronald H. Whalley C.Eng., FIET., MIRSE Trustee and Secretary.

On 27[th] September 2023

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Under article 17.7 Trustees retire after 2 years service but are eligible for re-election. The number of Trustees must be between 5 and 9.

We have recently had retirements from David Alldred and Gary Trinder and the Trustees thank these gentlemen for the hard work and time which they have given to the Trust over the past years.

The Trustee elected 2 years ago was Mr. C. Brown who, therefore, retires by rotation together with Mr. J. Loud. Both are eligible, and are willing to stand, for re-election.

There have been no expressions of interest from other Members (persons who have been Members for 3 years are eligible) in becoming Trustees and therefore the proposition to the meeting from the Trustees is that Mr. C. Brown be re-appointed as a Trustee.

At the moment there are no names in the frame for the post of President or Patron so the Trustees propose that the existing Vice – Presidents be re-elected.

In recognition of his long term work for the Trust in all aspects of our activities from organising the several very successful “weekends”, to general Management, Marketing, Musical and Technical expertise, the Trustees would like to propose that Mr. D. Alldred is appointed as a Vice-President.

Mr. Peter Ratcliffe has expressed his willingness to act in this capacity and the Trustees propose that he be appointed.

Important NOTE: That brings the formal business of the meeting to a close. The Trustees would like to advise you that in future we would like, where possible, to send the VOX out by e mail in order to reduce the cost of printing and postage. If we have your e mail address, you will receive it by e mail unless you specifically request a printed version. Those of you who have e mail but who have not advised us please do so.

Overleaf is the list of concerts for Stockport Town Hall for 2024

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Stockport Town Hall Concert Diary for 2024

LTOT concerts

Saturday February 18[th]

Sunday June 4[th]

Saturday September 23[rd]

Saturday November 4[th]

Stockport MBC lunchtime concerts

Monday February 13[th]

Monday June 5[th]

Monday August 7[th]

Monday October 2[nd]

Monday December 4th

Full details will be available in the winter edition of VOX and also on the Trusts website ; www.;tot.org.uk

Please come along and bring a friend to hear one of the Worlds finest WurlitZers.

RHW/LTOT/AR/22/23.v4

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