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2024-07-31-accounts

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KINGSTON CHORAL SOCIETY

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

1 August 2023-31 July 2024

Annual Report and Financial Statements

27 September 2024

Charity Number 261522

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CONTENTS

Reference and administrative information 3
Trustees’ report 4
Charity Objectives 4
Fundraising 4
Activities during the year 5
Governance 7
Risk Management 7
Financial Controls 7
Statement of public benefit 8
Principle Accounting Policy 8
Reserves Policy 8
Accounts
 9
Statement as to Disclosure of Information to the Independent Examiner 9
Independent Examiner’s report on the financial statements 9
Financial statements
Statement of financial activities 10
Balance sheet 11
Financial Review 12
Future Plans 12

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Administrative Information

Trustees during the period

Kate Cockle Anna Cronin (until 19 October 2023) Jane Harnden Jeanette Hull (from 19 October 2023) Debbie Lye OBE

Executive Officers

Debbie Lye OBE (Chair) Kate Cockle (Deputy Chair Jane Harnden (Treasurer) Jeanette Hull (Secretary)

Registered address

39 The Green Morden SM4 4HU

Charity registration number 261522

Independent Examiner Claire Stephenson, 3 Popes Road, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire WD5 0EY Bankers CAF Bank Ltd., 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ

Kingston Choral Society is affiliated to Making Music and Arts Richmond

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OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Objectives of the Charity

Kingston Choral Society is a Registered Charity in England and Wales, charity number 261522. Its charitable object is "the study and practice of choral music in order to educate the public in its arts and sciences, by the presentation of concerts and other activities".

Objectives during the period were:

Fundraising

As a voluntary organisation managed by its members, Kingston Choral Society’s main source of income is member subscriptions. The Society claims Gift Aid relief on these where eligible. Further income is generated via grant applications, sundry activities, including the sale and hire of music and concert dress accessories, and fundraising activities, described below. During the period, membership numbers increased by 4 to 112. At the AGM on 12 October 2023 members discussed the committee’s proposal to increase the annual membership subscription from £160 to £180 per annum, with effect from Autumn 2023. The motion was approved by a large majority the following week. A second increase, only a year after subscriptions rose from £150, was unavoidable in the light of increasing costs of hiring rehearsal and performance venues, insurance premiums and fair pay awards to the two professional musicians. The Society will not be increasing subscription fees again in the coming year.

Internally, the Society raises funds through activities including raffles, bring and buy and produce sales, ticketed Come & Sing events, quizzes and a Friends Scheme. During the period these activities raised £2,580 net of costs. During the year ending 31 July 2024 fundraising activities were supplemented by external funds generated by a successful application to the Sir George Dyson Trust for a grant of £1,000 towards the performance of Hierusalem in November 2023, and two separate awards from the Humphrey Richardson Taylor Charitable Trust amounting to £2,125 over the period.

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The Society also received several generous individual donations. These included a bequest from the Haworth family, in memory of Marigold, who served as KCS Chair from 2002-2007, and a soprano soloist sponsorship in memory of KCS soprano Michele Barons. These and other donations amounted to £2,145. The choir also received a large donation of £7,000 to enable us to stage a concert at Cadogan Hall in central London in spring 2025 (which appears in the 2023-24 accounts as deferred income).

Activities during the year 1 August 2023 to 31 July 2024

Each year Andrew Griffiths, the Musical Director, proposes the programme for the following season which is then agreed by the Committee in the early spring of the preceding season. The Concert season runs from September to June. Members rehearsed and performed four concerts during the period. The November concert, which unusually did not feature any established audience favourites, challenged the choir in rehearsals and it was more than usually difficult to sell tickets for it. However, a strong social media marketing campaign, which pulled in visitors from beyond the area with particular interest in George Dyson, and the attendance of composer Cecilia McDowall, both generated additional ticket sales, and the concert loss was lower than expected. It was particularly gratifying for the choir to receive warm and generous feedback from Cecilia McDowall for their performance of the Da Vinci Requiem, both in person and via her social media accounts. The performance of Elijah in March attracted a very healthy audience and the summer Purcell Celebration also generated a larger attendance than was achieved in Summer 2023. Throughout the season the Society again secured soloists and musicians of the highest calibre to perform for the local community:

18 November 2023 at 7.30pm

All Saints Church, Kingston upon Thames, KT1 1JP

Da Vinci Requiem

Britten: Te Deum in C Grace Williams: Elegy for Strings (Orchestra) Dyson: Hierusalem Cecilia McDowall: Da Vinci Requiem

Soloists: Katherine Crompton (soprano), Gareth Brynmor John (baritone). With Thames Sinfonia

Conductor: Andrew Griffiths

Saturday 16 December 2023 at 7.30pm

St Andrew’s Church, Surbiton KT6 4DS

Ronald Corp: A Christmas Mass, Carols for choir & audience

Conducted by Andrew Griffiths With Gavin Roberts, Organ

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25 March 2024 at 7.30pm All Saints Church, Kingston upon Thames, KT1 1JP

Mendelssohn’s Elijah

Soloists: Anita Watson (soprano), Catherine Carby (alto), Tom Elwin (tenor), Felix Gygli (bass). With Thames Sinfonia

Conducted by Andrew Griffiths

22 June 2024 at 7.30pm

St Andrew’s Church, Surbiton KT6 4DS

A Purcell Celebration

Purcell: Anthems Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, Z46: Remember not, Lord, our offences, Z50: My heart is inditing, Z30

Purcell: Dido & Aeneas

Soloists: Rosalind Dobson & Shafali Jalota (soprano), Shakira Tsindos (mezzo soprano) & Emyr Lloyd-Jones (tenor). With The Purcell Players Conductor, Andrew Griffiths

Other musical activities

Alongside the scheduled concerts, the Kingston Choral Society volunteer outreach programme engaged audiences from the wider community in fulfilment of our Public Benefit responsibility. Activities included welcoming members of the public to join a ‘Choruses and Cake’ singing workshop focused on Poulenc’s Gloria on 21 March 2024, carol-singing to raise a record £550 for the Shooting Star Children’s Hospices charity at the Bentall Shopping Centre in December 2023, a carol singing afternoon in John Lewis Kingston, and concerts at care homes and day care settings across the borough.

Website development

Last year it was agreed that the Society website would benefit from being updated. There were several issues members wished to address:

This project was led by the Society website manager and the Treasurer. It could have been a costly and complex exercise. However, the website manager enlisted the expertise of an IT professional who donated his time and advice free of charge. By the end of the reporting year the revamped website was ready to launch.

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Governance

The Trustees form the management team, and they advise the Committee of 13 (the Trustees plus 9 additional volunteer members), which is the governing body of the Society.

Trustee appointments are approved by members at the AGM. Trustees serve for up to five years with their appointments re-approved annually at each AGM during their term of service. A few months before a Trustee post falls vacant, the position is advertised in the Choir Newsletter. Potential applicants receive a job description, and a summary of Trustee roles and responsibilities based on Charity Commission Guidance. If there is more than one application for a role, an appointment panel composed of Trustees and other Committee members select the successful candidate. Appointments are endorsed by the AGM.

The Committee endorses and reviews all policies, manages risks, agrees the concert programme, signs off budgets and makes significant decisions, e.g. on subscription rates. During the period the Committee reviewed and amended the Reserves Policy, Financial Controls and the Choir Code of Conduct Policy which sets out the Society’s expectations of its members.

The Committee meets three times a year, and additionally agrees specific decisions via email. A quorum for both meetings and written decisions is 8. Around a dozen other non-committee helpers contribute by taking on essential tasks, including social media, internal communication, music librarianship, liaison with Making Music, ticket sales, member support, drafting programme notes, assembling marketing materials, management of the Friends scheme and arranging outreach activities. All committee members and helpers carry out administrative roles with tasks and responsibilities set out in job descriptions.

At the April Committee meeting, members reviewed governance arrangements alongside the 1993 version of the KCS constitution and agreed to amend the latter to take account of developments in electronic communication and banking, and better to reflect administrative practices that have evolved over time. These changes are allowed for within the powers vested in the constitution itself. They will be proposed to members and adopted during the 2024-25 financial year.

At the AGM all members have the opportunity to approve both new appointments and re-appointments to the Committee.

Risk Management

Trustees maintain and invite the Committee to review a risk register and to be ready to respond to potential risks and issues as they arise. The register encompasses four risk areas: Governance, Finance, People and Reputation.

Financial Controls

Financial controls, which are reviewed regularly by the Trustees, include:

  1. Preparation of budgets showing a two-year outlook, which are approved by the Trustees and Committee.

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  1. Reviews of performance against budget and other financial matters at each committee meeting.

  2. Preparation of a forecast, generally at the half-year stage, for review by the Trustees and committee, and agreeing actions to address areas of concern as necessary.

  3. All Trustees are advised of payments to be made from the Society’s bank account, which also require authorisation by two trustees.

  4. Expenses are only reimbursed where they have been incurred in the course of carrying out agreed choir activities.

  5. Capital expenditure and other one-off types of expense must first be agreed by Trustees and committee.

Public Benefit

In planning activities, the trustees give careful consideration to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit and confirm that they have complied with their duty in Section 17 of the Charities Act 2011.

Kingston Choral Society specialises in providing access to high quality choral music to the local community and audiences from further afield. The Society engages with the community in several ways, including through:

During the year the charity additionally benefited the public by generating charitable funds from a Christmas Carol public concert held in the Bentall Centre which raised over £550 for Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.

Principal Accounting Policy

The accounts are prepared on an accruals basis.

Reserves Policy

The trustees have established a policy whereby the unrestricted free reserves held by the Society should be sufficient to cover between 3 and 6 months of operating costs. This ensures that commitments made, for example, in the form of contracts with venues and freelance musicians, can be met with confidence. At 31 July 2024, free reserves amounted to £9,515 (2023: £18,821). Restricted reserves consist of a grant from the Humphrey Richardson Taylor Charitable Trust towards our concerts in the 2024-25 season and a donation and associated Gift Aid to cover the costs of our Cadogan Hall concert in March 2025. A policy document will be developed and published on our website in the coming year.

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Accounts

Statement as to Disclosure of Information to the Independent Examiner

The trustees who were in office on the date of approval of the financial statements have confirmed, as far as they are aware, that there is no relevant information of which the Independent Examiner is unaware. Trustees have taken the steps that they ought to have taken as trustees in order to make themselves aware of any relevant information and to establish that it has been communicated to the Examiner.

This report and financial statements were approved by the committee by email in August 2024 and were subsequently endorsed by Kingston Choral Society Members at the AGM held on 24 October 2024.

io Statement of Financial Activities Kln85ton Chwal 5¢xi Account5 forchor Year ZOZ3-24 TOTAL TOTf4L TOTAL 2023-24 202Z-23 2021-2Z Intomè E18.950 £4,152 E2.145 £0 E16.7(X) £3,187 E375 £14.800 £2.958 E991 Gift Aid Intomè Danatitsnl Legacs Grant- Hum EO £0 Rith¥d%tsn T ltsr CharitablÈ Trust Christmas Cards Rafflès & SaÈs Events lQvii & open Evening) Amazon l Easy Fundrasin K[5 Ilub Fr￿Ad5 E2,075 E15B E2,575 f2&1 El,300 E78 £1,051 £793 £258 EO £1,310 El.268 £378 E164 £i.oJi £236 E143 E493 f171 £0 T@￿ i coffèÈs InÈt of togtg E544 E390 £153 £3.a64 £158 £3.130 £253 £2.784 £145 NotÈbashÈts Inét of costsl Salo & Hire of fowors £26 £52 £94 £76 £62 £27 E707 E227 £14 Gross Coniert Income Autumn Contèrt £4,262 £3.256 £4.760 £3.408 £1 £50,836 £4,721 £2.2( £3,882 E2,3 £3,287 £0 £3.649 E2,147 -E49 £34629 Spr￿g Contert 5ummÈr COntÈrt Other Reyenue Total Incomln EO £43.612 R•sour<és Cost ofsales Ex enses General music￿Ths lees Room HirÈ £12.235 É4,471 £2.822 £446 £7 Ell.990 E4,144 £2.749 £321 £9 £11.020 £3,966 £2.103 £2SB £11 Purchase & Hire of Mu51C post4è. Printing & 5L)titshÈr Bank Fees E154 E128 f158 £56 £153 £128 PR5 £0 £19 EO In5ur¥n Honorarium £283 Eiio f269 £110 £257 Eiio MÈmber&hiF Purchase of Ties & Roses Othèr E343 E320 E345 £0 EO £0 E347 £0 EO ConcertC05ts Autumn Contert £9,363 £1.669 £11.6 E5.097 £0 £9,460 £1.465 £9.728 El.653 f108 £7,535 £876 £9.238 El,560 £0 SprmÈ Concert 5ummor Conièrt Qutreach events FUnai￿nI ChrstM￿ Cards Events lQuii & Open Evening) £49 £128 £0 £124 £386 £83 Total Resources Evpended £49.252 E43.071 £37.643 Gènool Surplus for thÈ year El.58a E541 -£3.014 BalantÈ Brou ht forward at 118123 £19,481 £18,940 £21,954 £21,065 £19.481 £18.940 PR5 octrutskort Irttludeém indNJduolconcÉrtttctOurtts.

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Balance Sheet

Approved by the Trustees of Kingston Choral Society

Jane Harnden, Treasurer Date: 29/8/24

Debbie Lye, Chair Date: 31/8/24

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Financial Review

The 2023-24 accounts were approved at the AGM in October 2024.

Subscription revenues rose by 13.5% due to the increased rate and small growth in membership mentioned above. Having raised £2,000 in donations towards our spring concert, we excluded this event from our annual grant application to the Humphrey Richardson Taylor Trust and took the opportunity to bring this and future years’ applications in line with our financial year. The donations also boosted our Gift Aid and interest income. Fund-raising was lower than in 202223 due to the closure of Amazon Smile and no online quiz, in which interest waned post-pandemic. Our Friends scheme continued to grow slowly.

Large concerts with orchestra and soloists are part of our charitable aim and expected to be loss-making, offset slightly by smaller events with only keyboard accompaniment. Following a review of ticket price structures, including comparison with those at other local choral events, the committee approved an increase in prices and a revision to our concessions policy. We now offer free tickets for accompanied children under 18. In place of our previous small concession for all aged over 60, we have introduced a more generous discount for full-time students and people receiving means-tested benefits. At £13,068, the net loss on our concert account was higher than in the previous year as we held our first concert with a full orchestra since before the pandemic. However, the loss was £1,000 better than budgeted, thanks to a combination of higher ticket sales and lower costs in some areas.

Future Plans

Kingston Choral Society has scheduled an exciting programme for the 2024-25 season which marks 75 years since the choir was first established as Surbiton Oratorio Society to sing Handel’s Messiah in March 1950. The season will open with Handel’s Israel in Egypt – a first performance by the choir. The Anniversary itself will be marked by a performance of Brahms’ Requiem and Poulenc’s Gloria at Cadogan Hall with celebrated soloists Sophie Bevan and Roderick Williams. Christmas and June concerts will feature works by living composers alongside traditional carols and madrigals. The programme is set out in a Concert Calendar leaflet to be disseminates across Kingston and the wider locality.

Over the next period the Society Trustees aim to:

Signed on their behalf:

Debbie Lye OBE, Chair