1 ## KINGSTON CHORAL SOCIETY TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT 1 August 2024-31 July 2025 ## Annual Report and Financial Statements 29 September 2025 Charity Number 261522 2 ## CONTENTS |Reference and administrative information|3| |---|---| |**Trustees’ report**|4| |Charity Objectives|4| |Membership and Funding|4| |Fundraising, Grants and Donations|4| |Musical Programme during the year|5| |Other Musical Activities|6| |Social Activities|6| |Website Development|6| |Documentation & File Sharing|7| |Governance|7| |Amendment of the Constitution|8| |Risk Management|8| |Financial Controls|8| |Statement of public benefit|9| |Financial Review|9| |**Independent Examiner’s report on the financial statements**|10| |**Financial statements**|| |Statement of financial activities|11| |Balance sheet|12| |Principal Accounting policy|13| |Reserves Policy|13| |Statement as to Disclosure of Information to the Independent Examiner|13| |**Future Plans**|13| 3 ## Administrative Information ## Trustees during the period Kate Cockle Jane Harnden Jeanette Hull Debbie Lye OBE Sarah Moreton (from 24 October 2024) Peter Wickenden (from 5 December 2024) ## Executive Officers Debbie Lye OBE (Chair) Kate Cockle (Deputy Chair Jane Harnden (Treasurer) Jeanette Hull (Secretary) Sarah Moreton (Deputy Treasurer) Peter Wickenden (Member representative) ## 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 4 ## 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: - To further build the membership, especially in the lower voice parts - To generate more income in response to continuing cost increases to enable KCS to continue to provide high quality choral music for audiences within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK) and beyond - To supplement fundraising activity and subscriptions with grant income from the Humphrey Richardson Taylor Charitable Trust and soloist subsidies from the Josephine Baker Trust - To complete the review of Governance arrangements, started in 2023-24, culminating in the adoption of a revised Constitution. - To carry out additional activities to fulfil the Society’s public benefit objectives. ## Membership and Funding 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. Annual Membership subscriptions remained at £180 or £25 per term for students. During the period, KCS membership increased from 112 to 126, with a temporary higher figure of 138 during the spring term, when the society ran a successful special ‘one term only’ membership offer to attract lower voices for the Cadogan Hall 75[th] Anniversary Concert. ## Fundraising, Grants and Donations Internally, the Society raises funds through activities including raffles, bring and buy, plant and produce sales, a ticketed Come & Sing event, and a Friends Scheme. During the period these activities raised £3053. The society’s fundraising activities were supplemented by grants generated by a successful application to the Humphrey Richardson Taylor Charitable Trust and to the Josephine Baker Trust sponsorship scheme to match fund six young soloists for the November performance of _Israel in Egypt_ . The Society drew on the donation of £7,000, received in the 2023-2024 financial year, that was made specifically to enable us to meet the considerably higher costs of staging the March 2025 Brahms and Poulenc concert at Cadogan Hall in central London. In accordance with the donor’s wishes, we intend to carry 5 forward a proportion of that gift to facilitate the re-establishment of the pattern of regular concerts there that applied before the pandemic. ## Musical programme during the year 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2025 The annual concert programme is proposed by Andrew Griffiths, the Musical Director, and within a budget parameter proposed by Trustees in the early spring of each year. The Trustees then seek Committee approval for the programme. The Concert season runs from September to June. Members rehearsed and performed four concerts during the period. The November and March concerts in particular drew larger than expected audiences, and the Society was able to attract soloists and musicians of the highest calibre to perform for the local community. ## KCS 2024-2025 Concert Season ## **16 November 2024 All Saints Church, Kingston** _**Israel in Egypt**_ Handel: _Israel in Egypt_ Soloists: Georgie Malcolm & Harriet Cameron (Sopranos), Alexander Hutton (Countertenor), Dominic Lee (Tenor), Alaric Green & Jacob Harrison (Basses) Purcell Orchestra Conductor: Andrew Griffiths **14 December 2024 St Andrew’s Church, Surbiton** _**Christmas Concert**_ Bob Chilcott: _Mary Mother_ Carols for Choir & Audience Organ: Gavin Roberts Conductor: Andrew Griffiths **29 March 2025 Cadogan Hall** _**75[th] Anniversary Concert**_ Poulenc: _Gloria_ Brahms: _A German Requiem_ Cadogan Hall, Sloane Square Soloists: Sophie Bevan (Soprano), Roderick Williams (Baritone) Thames Sinfonia Conductor: Andrew Griffiths **28 June 2025 St Andrew’s Church, Surbiton** _**Rhymes & Charms**_ Kerry Andrew: _Rhymes & Charms for Flyaway Things_ John Rutter: _The Sprig of Thyme_ Madrigal Selection: Gibbons, _The Silver Swan;_ Bennet, _All Creatures Now;_ Butler, _The Bee Madrigal;_ Josquin, _El Grillo;_ Vautor, _Sweet Suffolk Owl;_ Anon, _Sumer is icumen in_ . - Samuel Coleridge Taylor, _Deep River_ (Piano) 6 Florence Price, _Clouds_ (Piano) Piano: Libby Burgess Conductor: Andrew Griffiths The almost 40 year partnership with the Thames Sinfonia and Purcell Orchestra ended this year. It has been of immense value to be able to source professional musicians through the Society’s longstanding relationship with the orchestra fixer Elizabeth Andrews. Fortunately, the KCS Musical Director has identified a professional fixer who has agreed to work with KCS in the same way by securing professional musicians to play in the society’s orchestral concerts in the future. ## Other musical activities On 3 April 2025 at St Andrew’s Church, Surbiton, KCS Musical Director, Andrew Griffiths, supported by accompanist Gavin Roberts on piano and organ, ran a highly successful _Come & Sing_ evening workshop, focusing on Faure’s _Requiem_ and his _Cantique de Jean Racine_ . This fundraising event attracted 115 singers, including 31 non-members. The evening also featured a raffle and a refreshment interval including cakes baked by members, some of which were later sold. The event raised £1,118 for the society. Alongside the scheduled concerts, the Kingston Choral Society volunteer outreach programme entertained and engaged with audiences from the wider community in fulfilment of our Public Benefit responsibility. The choir’s annual carol-singing afternoon in the Bentall Shopping Centre on 30 November 2024 raised a record £600 for the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice. In addition, KCS Outreach programme volunteers visited 5 residential homes and day care settings across the borough to entertain visitors and clients on 7 occasions during the period. ## Social Activities The pandemic of 2020-2021 demonstrated the value of the KCS community to its members. The singing is the primary purpose of the choir, but the sense of community, burgeoning friendships and interaction that go with it are an important aspect for our members. The Membership Secretary, Voice Reps and the Trustees are all conscious of this and build opportunities for socialising into choir activities. For example, all new members receive a welcome letter, there is a tea and talk break during every rehearsal, and members are reminded regularly of the opportunity to meet others at a nearby pub after rehearsals. Members also organise annual Choir & Friends walks, and advertise other opportunities to walk with choir colleagues during the year. ## Website development This project was completed and launched for members during the period. Members and external partners have praised the look and navigability of the refurbished website. There is also enhanced security and the benefit of an easily accessible private Members’ area. 7 This project was led by the Society website manager and the Treasurer, supported by the expertise of an IT professional who donated his time and advice to KCS free of charge. ## Documentation and file sharing The current executive team inherited a Dropbox file storage system. This was incomplete, difficult for some members to access on their personal IT systems, posed problems of version control and was difficult to navigate. During the year the Secretary, on behalf of the Committee, explored different options. Informed by that work, Committee agreed to migrate KCS files from Dropbox and personal computers onto Google Drive, and to use Google Drive consistently for file storage and sharing from now on. Although this system is problematic for users who don’t have a Gmail account, its functionality in terms of sharing files, and allowing selected users to save and edit documents is good. There is therefore a project afoot to migrate KCS documents into folders, including naming and dating all files and folders in a consistent and transparent way. ## Governance The Trustees form the executive team, and they advise the Committee of 12 (the 6 Trustees plus 6 additional volunteer members), which is the governing body of the Society. Trustee appointments are proposed and elected by members at the AGM each September/October. Trustees serve for up to five years with their appointments re-approved annually at each AGM during their term of service. As early as possible before a Trustee post (see next paragraph) falls vacant, the position is advertised in the weekly KCS 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 of Trustees and other Committee members select the successful candidate. All Committee appointments are endorsed by the AGM. The October 2024 AGM agreed to appoint a fifth Trustee. There have traditionally been four Trustees who also carry out the executive roles involved in running the charity. These are: Chair, Deputy Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. The serious illness of the Treasurer throughout the period necessitated the appointment of a Trustee Deputy Treasurer. The Trustees arranged for the current Treasurer’s predecessor, a professional accountant, to manage the choir’s finances as Acting Treasurer, but she was not able to take on the wider responsibilities of Trusteeship and membership of the executive. The election of a Trustee Deputy Treasurer both enhances financial management and ensures that the executive team of Trustees remains informed about and accountable for financial decision-making. The December 2024 SGM (see below) then elected a sixth Trustee “without portfolio” to represent the Members’ perspective, and to provide additional management capacity. For example, assisting the Secretary with the ongoing digital files migration from Dropbox to Google Drive, and working with members to review governance arrangements and role descriptions to ensure that there will be a strong candidate standing for election as Chair at the September AGM. 8 The Committee endorses and reviews all policies, manages risks, agrees the concert programme, signs off budgets and makes significant decisions, e.g. on musician appointments and remuneration, subscription rates and concert ticket pricing. During the period Committee reviewed and amended the Financial Reserves Policy, the Risk Management Policy and Risk Register, the Concert Policy, the Data Protection Policy, the Music Hire Policy, the Safeguarding Policy and the Choir Code of Conduct Policy, which sets out the Society’s expectations of members’ behaviours. The Committee meets termly, at least three times a year, and outside these meetings may occasionally agree decisions via email. A quorum for both meetings and written decisions is 8. Around a dozen other non-committee helpers contribute by taking responsibility for essential tasks, including website management, social media, internal communication, music purchase and librarianship, liaison with Making Music, ticket sales, member support, drafting programme notes, marketing materials, management of the KCS Friends scheme and outreach activities. All committee members and helpers carry out roles with tasks and responsibilities set out in job descriptions. Additionally, during the period a Cadogan Hall Organising Committee (CHOC) special project team, worked together to ensure timely and successful delivery of the major investment we made in the March 2025 concert. The CHOC met again to review the experience and the outcomes, which have been recorded for future learning. ## Amendment of the Constitution Following on from the identification of a need to update the constitution during the 2023-24 season, the Committee drafted, amended and reviewed proposals to update it. In September 2024 they agreed to recommend the revised version to members, and Trustees called an SGM for 5 December 2024. 52 members (46% of the membership) attended. The meeting unanimously adopted the amended KCS constitution (last revised in 1993), agreeing that the new version better reflected current practice, notably in the domains of digital communication and recognition of essential policies and controls to underpin the operations of the charity, particularly electronic banking. ## Risk Management Trustees maintain, and the Committee regularly reviews, a risk register to enhance the Society’s readiness to respond to potential risks and issues as they arise. The register encompasses four overarching risk areas: Governance, Finance, People and Reputation, and assesses likelihood and impact. Risk mitigation and contingency plans are included. ## 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. 9 2. Reviews of performance against budget and other financial matters at each committee meeting. 3. 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. 4. All Trustees are advised of payments to be made from the Society’s bank account, which also require authorisation by two Trustees. 5. Expenses are only reimbursed where they have been incurred in the course of carrying out agreed choir activities. 6. 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: - Four annual concerts, usually at venues within the borough, which are preceded by free open rehearsals earlier on the day of the concert; - Active publicity and marketing campaigns, both online and via leaflets and flyers, which encourage local people to join the choir and to attend our concerts; - Outreach activities in shopping centres, care settings and other locations; 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 £600 for Shooting Star Children’s Hospices. ## Financial Review The 2024-25 accounts were approved by Members at the AGM on 25 September 2025. Subscription revenue was £3,530 over budget – largely thanks to members that joining in the Spring term for the Cadogan Hall concert, but also through a growth in annual memberships. The major portion of the additional Gift Aid receipts of £1,818 was attributable to this increase. Large concerts with a professional orchestra and soloists are part of our charitable purpose and are expected to be loss-making. This is offset slightly by smaller events with only piano and/or organ accompaniment which tend to yield a small profit. This year finances did better than budgeted overall. Strong publicity efforts helped to boost audiences, particularly at Cadogan Hall. Sales of drinks and programmes per head of audience are increasing, helped by the introduction of card readers that allow us to sell multiple items in one go. The change in environment since the pandemic prompted the Trustees to conduct more detailed analysis of our own finances, including benchmarking 10 against other choirs. This helped to inform the 2023 subscription fee increase, and a ticket-pricing review last year led to increased concert revenue. The Committee has also focused on trimming costs, striving to get good value without affecting the quality of our activities. The improvement in the Society’s financial position enables a more ambitious approach in the coming year. li Statement of Financial Activities Klwton ChDral SotlEty 211242025 I￿24 Sub51ription5 Gift Intome Donatlon5 Legacie5 Gift5 Grant- HRTcr Spon50r5hip Fund[al￿n¥ £22.480 £5.970 £3.913 £0 £i(N) £2.8(KJ £18.950 £4,152 £2,145 £0 £0 £2,075 £0 £158 £1,051 E793 £258 £0 É493 £544 £3,464 £158 E26 E76 £707 Pudding5 & Christrnas Card5 Raffles & Sale5 Events lQul2 & Open Evenlngj azon l Eary Fundral&n8 KCS 100 Club Friend5 £n £1.059 £1.347 £202 £0 £825 £873 £4.830 £182 £16 £93 £841 Teas/ Coffees Sale & Hire of muslc Noteba5hers Sale & Hire of foldpt5 Sale Df Tles & Roses Bank Interest 6ro55Conrertlncome AutumD Concert Chrlsimas Concert Sprin8 Concert Surnmer Concert E4.939 £2.890 £21.440 £2,321 £0 £77.192 £4.262 £3,256 £4,760 £3,408 Eioo £50.836 Other RevEDue Totsl Intofflln8 Rewurces Muslclans fees Room Hlre Cowd-19 Costs Purchèse & Hire of Mu51( General Prlntlng/ Publlclty P05tsge, Printing& Stationery £13.794 £4.177 £12,235 £4,471 £0 £2,822 £446 £? E4.069 £399 a li Bank Fee5 Grft5 PRSI £258 £38 É154 É128 £0 £283 Éiio É343 £0 £347 £0 Insurance Honorariurn Member5hip5 Purchase of Tles & Roses A55ets depreciation Oiher £289 £110 £547 £53 £83 CM¢ertCosts Autumn Contert Christmas Concert Spring Concert Sutnmer Concert Outreach work £9.657 £1,720 £25,705 El,762 £9,363 £1,669 £11,604 £5,097 £0 Fundrnisirf Puddin85 & Christmas CarL15 Events lQul2 & Open Evenln8J £37 £415 E49 E124 Total Re50urce5 ExpEnded £49,252 Generalsurplus forthe year £14.07S £1.584 12 ## Balance Sheet Approved by the trustees of Kingston Choral Society Signed: Clare Mannall, Acting Treasurer 30/8/25 Debbie Lye OBE, Chair 25/8/25 13 ## Principal Accounting Policy The accounts are prepared on an accruals basis. ## Reserves Policy The Trustees have set 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 undertakings, for example, in the form of contractual commitments to venues and freelance musicians, can be met with confidence. At 31 July 2025, free reserves amounted to £28,839 (2024: £9,515). Restricted reserves consisted of a £2,800 grant from the Humphrey Richardson Taylor Charitable Trust for the four concerts in the 2025-2026 season, and a private donation of £3,500 towards the cost of staging a future dated Cadogan Hall concert, and to provide a subsidy for future appearances there. ## 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. The report and financial statements were approved by the committee via email in September 2025, and recommended to and adopted by Kingston Choral Society Members at the AGM on 25 September 2025. ## Future Plans Kingston Choral Society has scheduled a varied programme for 2025-26. The season opens on 22 November, St Cecilia’s Day, with an exuberant orchestral concert of musical celebration: Britten’s _Rejoice in the Lamb_ , Vaughan Williams’s _Serenade to Music_ and Haydn’s _Paukenmesse_ . The Christmas concert features The Holy Birth, a choral work by Elgar’s contemporary, Herbert Sumsion, alongside traditional carols and well-known songs. On 21 March _Romantic Visions_ celebrates great nineteenth century German oeuvres by Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Schumann. The June season finale, _Make our Garden Grow_ will focus on compositions celebrating the natural world, and depicting the fragile balance of the climate. The programme is set out in a Concert Calendar leaflet which Members disseminate widely across Kingston and neighbouring boroughs. Over the next period the Society Trustees aim: - To further build the choir’s profile, audiences and membership - To continue to generate more income sufficient to support high quality music-making - To keep member subscriptions and ticket prices under review, as advised by the Treasurer - To extend access to music to new local audiences through an increasingly active outreach programme 14 - To ensure a smooth transition when the current Chair steps down after five years in September. Signed on their behalf: Debbie Lye OBE, Chair