Carshalton Choral Society Charity registration number: 262790
Trustees’ annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 July 2024
Carshalton Choral Society (Unincorporated charity 262790)
Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 July 2024
The trustees present their annual report and the financial statements of Carshalton Choral Society (“the charity”) for the year ended 31 July 2024. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the 2011 Act”).
Reference and administrative details
| Charity name | Carshalton Choral Society |
|---|---|
| Charity registration number | 272790 |
| Principal correspondence address | c/o Mr Rick Prior |
| 61 Alma Road | |
| Carshalton | |
| Surrey | |
| SM5 2PQ | |
| Trustees | Rick Prior (Chair) |
| Jan Wright (Hon. Secretary) | |
| Paul Flowers (Hon. Treasurer) | |
| Helen Bertels (Publicity Officer) | |
| Julian Cheek (Membership Secretary) | |
| Ros McCaul (Librarian) | |
| Paul Waton (Concert Officer) | |
| Simon Williams (Ordinary member) | |
| Bankers | HSBC |
| 54 Woodcote Road | |
| Wallington | |
| Surrey | |
| SM6 ONJ | |
| Website | www.carshaltonchoral.org.uk |
| Independent examiner | Mrs L E Webster, MA (Oxon.) ACA |
| 101 Upland Road | |
| Sutton | |
| Surrey | |
| SM2 5JA |
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Carshalton Choral Society (Unincorporated charity 262790)
Structure, governance and management
The constitution of the charity sets outs the rules by which it is governed and the means for appointing the officers and ordinary members of the committee at the AGM. It was last amended in December 2023.
The committee is appointed by the members of the charity at the Annual General Meeting and they are considered to be the trustees of the charity.
Objectives and activities
The objects of the charity are:
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The study and practice of choral music to foster the public knowledge and appreciation of such music by means of public performance, and;
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To assist and support such charitable institutions or purposes as the committee shall from time to time determine.
The trustees have paid due regard to the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
The main activities of the charity were preparation for, and execution of, four public performances of choral music in the local area. The charity’s Christmas carol concert raised funds for Sutton Nightwatch, a local charity providing shelter for the homeless.
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Carshalton Choral Society (Unincorporated charity 262790)
Achievements and performance
Report from the chair
Following a year which started with the Mendelssohns Concert, we had the traditional Carol concert at All Saints, some singers took part in the Frost Fair in Carshalton and singing for the Marsden charity at The Greyhound. We embarked on 2024 with a Come and Sing Messiah and a performance of same for our spring concert. This had the benefit of attracting some new singers and achieved good audience numbers.
The Summer concert was a folk song-based evening with works by Cecelia Macdowell, Vaughan Wiliams and John Rutter. Some solo items were performed by choir members. At the time of writing this report we are about to sing our Autumn concert of works by Holst, Faure, Imogen Holst and Ravel.
Penny has commented below on the choir's performance and, like her, I am encouraged by the growth in number of singers and the attendance at our concerts. My thanks go to her for her part in this process. She has a good rapport with the choir and her wonderful voice helps the ladies in particular. She has been working hard to ensure singers have all they need for home learning including links to some music theory websites. The choir are now used to her style and obvious desire that we do our best. We had a change of accompanist this year when Anthony Merryweather had to stand down due to family pressures. We are happy that we were able to call on Robert Randell again to seamlessly replace him.
Paul Flowers, our, treasurer, has managed to gain some funding from the Humphrey Richardson Taylor Trust to support our concerts and provide funding for a Choral Scholarship scheme for 2025.
My thanks as always go to all those on the committee who support the activities of the choir in their own particular way. We can look forward to another great year of music making.
Rick Prior
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Carshalton Choral Society (Unincorporated charity 262790)
Report from the musical director
What a year! It truly has been wonderful working with Carshalton Choral Society this year, and getting to know the choir. CCS has worked on such a huge range of music, delivering high quality performances and impressing audiences as well as the musicians who’ve come to work alongside. I continue to be impressed with the energy and musicianship of the choir, the willingness to take on new repertoire alongside old favourites, and building on technique to enhance an already excellent sound.
The first concert of the 23-24 season celebrated the music of the Mendelssohns. For this the choir brought in an orchestra to perform a number of works by Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, including the latter’s marvellous Hiob cantata and a full performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Christus . The year was rounded off with a wonderful Christmas concert of classic carols.
Spring saw the choir take on Handel’s epic, Messiah – again working with Chameleon Arts Orchestra and fantastic soloists, received by a wonderfully appreciative audience. The summer concert was comprised of folk-inspired repertoire, including Ralph Vaughan Williams Five English Folksongs , Cecilia McDowall’s Fancy of Folksongs and John Rutter’s A Sprig of Thyme .
The choir survey has proved very helpful to me and the committee. We are investigating running more events to build up musicianship skills, as well as providing information to courses available elsewhere. Furthermore, I am delighted to announce that we are setting up a choral scholarship scheme, providing opportunities to young professionals in choral music as well as providing support to our upper voice sections. If successful we hope to expand this across all voice sections, which also opens up more repertoire possibilities with our scholars as soloists.
We have also used the choir survey to inform repertoire choices going forwards; for instance, we had been considering including more music theatre or pop songs in future concert repertoire, however the vast majority of choir members who responded were not keen on this so we have moved away from this idea. It has also been interesting to hear strong views both positive and negative on recent repertoire choices – the diversity of the choir members’ musical tastes is both fascinating and something for us to carefully balance in programming.
Budget is also something I and the committee have to factor into our planning for each season – I would love for us to be able to do a major choral work with soloists and/or orchestra in every concert, unfortunately, even with Paul’s successful grant applications, that isn’t possible with our current funds.
There are also a number of works that have been suggested by members that I would also like to be able to programme in the future. For this to happen, there needs to be full commitment from choir members to attend rehearsals and take part in performances – especially when the repertoire is less familiar to members. This commitment will help both individual voices and the whole choir grow, as well as giving me confidence that the choir is ready to tackle the more demanding choral favourites!
Penny Homer
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Carshalton Choral Society (Unincorporated charity 262790)
Financial review
Income for the year was £30,000 (2023: £23,144) and expenditure was £33,143 (2023: £20,772), giving rise to a deficit of £3,143 (2023: surplus of £2,412). At the end of the year, the charity held assets of £6,262 (2023: £9,405), all in cash reserves. There are no restricted funds; all available reserves may be applied for the general purposes of the charity.
The trustees do not have a formal reserves policy. In 2022, the Treasurer set the goal that the ongoing costs of the charity (the musical director and accompanist, hall hire for rehearsals, insurance, etc.) should be met by its membership income. Support from the state (Gift Aid) and other charities (the HRT Trust) should be deployed to put on larger concerts, with soloists and orchestration, that are unlikely to recoup their costs through ticket sales.
In the prior year 2022/2023, this goal was achieved: membership income of £13,849 against running costs of £11,022 – a surplus of £2,827. However, this was only because we spent a term without a Musical Director. In this year 2023/2024, our membership income dropped to £12,319 and our core costs rose to £15,259, so we made a deficit of £3,143, which has come out of our reserves. The reason for the drop in membership income is thought to be due to some members pausing their subscriptions when they weren’t singing in a concert. If this is the case, please remember that the subscription is annual with the option to pay monthly, and not a pay-as-you-go arrangement. If we have a minimum of 85 singers this year, all paying full subs, no subscription increase is needed to meet our outgoings. I propose to freeze the subscription this year, and review it next year, rather than apply a small inflationary increase.
In 23/24 the Gift Aid claims for the lockdown years were processed together, resulting in a ‘windfall’ of £7,187 that we spent on large orchestras for the Mendelsohn and Messiah concerts. In the coming year, income from the HRT Trust and Gift Aid is forecast to meet shortfalls in orchestrated concerts. Ticket sales were erratic: approximately 110 for the Mendelsohn, 165 for Christmas, 225 for the Messiah and 120 for the Summer concert. The mix of popular and less-known repertoire is being taken into account when programming coming seasons.
54% (2023: 47%) of the charity’s expenditure in the year was directly attributable to the cost of putting on the four concerts and the ‘Come and Sing’. 40% (2024: 44%) was spent on rehearsal costs: the fees paid to the musical director and accompanist, and the cost of hiring the hall. The remainder was spent on publicising the charity to attract new members and listeners, generating funds, affiliation fees and insurance, the website and small administration costs.
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Carshalton Choral Society (Unincorporated charity 262790)
Trustees’ responsibilities in relation to the financial statements
The trustees are responsible for preparing a trustees’ annual report and financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the 2011 Act. As a non-company charity with income of less than £250,000, the charity has opted to use the receipts and payments method as the basis of preparation, in accordance with section 133.
Approved by the trustees and signed on 18 November 2024 on their behalf by:
Paul Flowers Hon. Treasurer
Rick Prior
Chair
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Carshalton Choral Society (Unincorporated charity 262790)
Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Carshalton Choral Society
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Carshalton Choral Society (“the Charity”) for the year ended 31 July 2024, which are set out on pages 9 and 10.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the trustees of the charity, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner’s statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed on 18 November 2024:
Mrs L E Webster, MA (Oxon.) ACA 101 Upland Road Sutton Surrey SM2 5JA
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Carshalton Choral Society (Unincorporated charity 262790)
Statement of receipts and payments for the year ended 31 July 2024
| Receipts Ticket sales Members' music hire Participants' fees Members' subscriptions Gift Aid Other donations Raising funds Payments Conductor Soloists Orchestra / accompanist Music hire / purchase PRS fees Venue hire Concert refreshments Publicity & printing Sundry concert expenses Concert expenditure Musical director's fees Accompanist Rehearsal hall hire Website & publicity Affiliation & insurance Donations made Bank charges Sundry expenses Governance costs Raising funds Ongoing expenditure Total payments Surplus / (deficit) for the year Reconciliation of funds Charity funds at the start of the year Charity funds at the end of the year |
2024 2023 £ £ 9,090 6,965 1,039 754 365 - 12,319 13,849 7,187 - - 1,050 - 526 |
|---|---|
| 30,000 23,144 |
|
| 2,245 470 1,650 2,810 8,515 650 1,900 2,901 136 - 1,743 1,273 572 - 959 1,018 164 589 |
|
| 17,884 9,710 |
|
| 5,760 2,400 4,245 3,945 3,211 2,698 716 1,237 464 338 87 - 158 155 345 103 140 - 133 146 |
|
| 15,259 11,022 |
|
| 33,143 20,732 |
|
| (3,143) 2,412 |
|
| 9,405 6,993 |
|
| 6,262 9,405 |
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Carshalton Choral Society (Unincorporated charity 262790)
Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 July 2024
| tatement of assets and liabilities at 31 July 2024 | |
|---|---|
| Bank & cash balances HSBC main account HSBC members’ payments account Total assets at the end of the year |
2024 2023 593 492 5,669 8,913 |
| 6,262 9,405 |
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