## **Treasurer’s Report (2025 Accounts) to BCS AGM April 15[th] 2026**
This report should be read in conjunction with the 2025 BCS accounts document and copy of the independent auditor’s report submitted as part of the AGM papers.
2025 saw the reserves eke out a small surplus compared to previous years; a combination of expensive concerts countered by strong membership numbers (healthy subscriptions and associated HMRC Gift Aid tax refund) and generous individual donations; without these the Society would have been in the “red” for this year.
As the Society treasurer, my thought is always to balance the books/protect the Society reserves across each year ideally through ensuring that “general” costs are covered by the membership subscriptions and concert losses covered by Gift Aid. This goal is becoming more and more of a challenge to achieve as costs (venue, professional costs, Performing Rights Society charges) relentlessly increase and more of an income dependency on the general public to “enthusiastically” attend all the concerts that we stage. This goal was just about achieved in 2025, assisted by individual donations on top that allowed a small surplus rather than a loss. I would like to extend my thanks on behalf of the Society to everyone (Members and Friends) who have donated and continue to donate, it really does make a difference.
In terms of concerts, lacking the pull of Messiah performances, the Society lost nearly £6,000 across the 3 concerts staged, this loss would have been nearly £8,000 without anonymous individual donations to offset costs. General costs in 2025 remained broadly in line with 2024 costs – amongst exceptional items, the committee agreed to donate £1,000 to contribute to the Manvers Street Baptist Church toilet restoration project (now in progress), benefiting the flow for MSBC so to speak but also a relief to the Society members……….
Membership continues to remain strong to assist with the accounts – maintaining a net position of over 100 strong with new members coming on board over the year – this all helps in the running and provision for “general”
Society costs over the year and boosts the annual HMRC Tax refund (Gift Aid was over £4,000 benefit to the Society in 2025).
2026 is proving to be another challenging year financially – the musical programme for the upcoming concerts is inspiring but also expensive to stage at different venues, hoping to get the audiences that they deserve to keep the losses down as much as possible. In the Summer, the tour to Netherlands will also show a loss against the accounts – the one saving grace will be the two Messiah performances in December combined with hopefully strong membership subscription receipts for next season.
The Society is fortunate to currently have a strong bedrock of reserves that has built up over the years – however, this reserve is susceptible to erosion due to the unknown and variable income and costs, especially in staging concerts – the lifeblood for the Society. The BCS committee working with Katrine, will always need to consider this in planning of future programmes of work. I am exploring options to maximise the money “earning” potential of reserves too by selection of better interest accounts for some of the monies (not that any rates are high currently!).
In terms of subscriptions, season 2026/7 will be the final season that subscriptions will be “frozen” at existing rates (see details below) – I wanted to thank the majority of members who pay promptly in line with chosen option of payment to allow the collections to be as painless as possible! The committee will review the position on subscriptions in time for the proposal at next year’s AGM meeting.
The accounts have been independently and expertly examined and I commend them to you for your perusal and approval before submission to the Charity Commission website. I am, of course, willing to answer any questions you may have – either email at michael_ledbury@yahoo.co.uk or catch me in person at rehearsals if you would like anything more specific.
## 2026 AGM Motions to be voted on:
1. To accept the annual BCS financial accounts for 2025
2. To confirm that subscription for choral members is _frozen_ at
- £180 for the 2026-2027 season (as approved at 2024 AGM)
3. To confirm the following options for payment:
- a. One payment of £180 if paid in full (cheque or preferably bank transfer) by 30[th] September 2026
- b. Instalments of either:
- i. 3 x post-dated cheques of £60 presented upfront - first to be dated before or latest 30[th] September 2026, second dated 1[st] Dec 2026, final dated 1[st] Mar 2027
- ii. 3 x ebank transactions of £63 to be paid into the BCS Unity Bank Account on or before the following dates: 30[th] September 2026, 1[st] Dec 2026, 1[st] Mar 2027
_Mike Ledbury Hon. Treasurer April 2026_
## **Bath Choral Society Accounts for the year ending 31st December 2025**
|**Income and Expenditure**
**Concerts**
see details below
**Music/folders**
**Tour 2024/Tour 2026**
Deposits
Refunds
professional costs
Room hire
Total
**Social events**
2024 meal/2025 meal
Welcome back socials (Sept)
**BCS Workshop events**
**Brahms Requiem (St Swithins) - Nov 24, Purcell**
**(St Swithins) - Apr 26**
hire charge
professional costs - conductor, accompanist
other costs
Income - Admission/donations
**Subscriptions**
Choral Members
Gift Aid tax refund
**Other Income**
Interest (NSI account) - 2023-2025 inclusive
Donations to BCS (not including concerts)
**Incomes total**
**General expenditures**
**Promotion/Advertising**
Flyers and posters inc design
Web site
**Other**
**Rehearsal related costs**
Music Director fees
Accompanist fees
Room hire - masterclass
Rehearsal room hire
Bank charges (Unity current account)
NFMS subscription (in advance Jan - Dec)
NFMS insurance (in advance Jan - Dec)
Donation to MSBC for toilet refurbishment
Donation to Faithspace (rehearsal for Music day)
Miscellaneous costs
**Expenditure total**||**2025**|||**2024**||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||Income
£25,768
£724
£31,632
£31,632
£1,324
£190|Cost
-£31,612
-£941
-£31,000
-£300
-£31,300
-£1,424
-£78|**Net**
**-£5,844**
**-£217**
**£332**
-£100
£112|Income
£44,434
£661
£24,235
£24,235
£712
£176|Cost
-£41,403
-£1,035
-£24,442
-£2,100
-£84
-£26,626
-£691
-£58|**Net**
**£3,031**
**-£374**
**-£2,391**
£22
£118|
||£1,514
£110|-£1,502|**£12**
**£110**
**£22,790**
**£659**|£888
£1,294|-£749
-£430
-£700
-£24|**£139**
**£140**
**£21,815**
**£145**|
||£110
£18,449
£4,342|£0
-£1,054
-£390||£1,294
£18,008
£3,807|-£1,154
-£884
-£314||
||£22,790
£233
£426|||£21,815
£145|||
||£659
_£83,197_|||£145
_£93,472_|||
||||**£17,842**
**-£1,443**
**-£13,274**
**-£1,973**|||**£22,506**
**-£1,198**
**-£11,979**
**-£1,457**|
|||-£1,443
-£7,080
-£3,603
-£84
-£2,507
-£72
-£427
-£155
-£1,000
-£50
-£269|||-£1,198
-£6,712
-£2,730
-£90
-£2,447
-£71
-£411
-£155
-£820||
|||-£1,973
_-£82,045_|||-£1,457
_-£85,601_||
||||**-£16,690**|||**-£14,635**|
|**Total Outcome**|||**£1,152**|||**£7,871**|
|**BCS reserves**
Opening Bank balances
Surplus / Deficit for theyear|||£69,286
£1,152|||£61,415
£7,871|
|**Closing Bank balances(as at 31/12)**|||**£70,438**|||**£69,286**|
Page 1 of 2
## **Notes to the accounts**
The Society reports its financial position using Receipts and Payments
Its main asset is an upright piano with an estimated value of £2,500. No deprecation of asset in accounts
|**Bank balances by account**
**31-Dec-25**
**31-Dec-24**
Unity Trust Current Account
£61,892
£60,973
NS&I Investment Account
£8,546
£8,313
**£70,438**
**£69,286**
**Concerts summary**
**Concerts summary**
**Income**
**Cost**
**Net**
**Income**
**Cost**
**Net**
**Brahms/Poulenc Gloria Mar 2025**
Venue charges (Bath Abbey)
-£2,871
-£957
Professional costs
-£10,692
Ticket sales (Secretary/door/BBO)
£9,894
£615
Concert donation (anonymous)
£1,500
PRS charge
-£347
Agency costs (10% BBO ticket sales)
-£972
programmes (cost/sales)
£449
-£277
publicity/printing/gift soloist
-£28
-£487
**2024**
**2025**|**31-Dec-25**
£61,892
£8,546
**£70,438**|**31-Dec-24**
£60,973
£8,313|
|---|---|---|
|||**£69,286**|
||||
||**2024**||
|**Total**
£11,843
-£15,187
-£3,345
£615
-£1,444
-£829|||
|**Summer Concert- June 2025**
Venue charges (Hayesfield School)
-£680
Professional costs
-£850
Ticket sales (Secretary/door/BBO)
£1,427
Agency costs (10%+vat + ads)
-£197
publicity/printing/gift soloist
-£335|||
|**Total**
£1,427
-£2,062
-£635
£0
£0
£0|||
|**Christmas Oratorio - November 2025**
Venue charges (Bath Abbey)
-£3,894
Professional costs
-£8,798
Ticket sales (Secretary/door/BBO)
£11,507
Concert donation (anonymous)
£500
PRS charge (from 2023 perf)
-£703
Agency costs (10% BBO ticket sales)
-£1,109
programmes (cost/sales)
£491
-£322
publicity/printing/gift soloist
-£239|||
|**Total**
£12,498
-£14,362
-£1,864
£0
-£703
-£703|||
|**Haydn/Mozart March 2024**
Venue charges (Bath Abbey)
-£2,783
Professional costs
-£7,894
Ticket sales (Secretary/door/BBO)
£8,793
Agency costs (10% BBO ticket sales)
-£1,093
programmes(cost/sales)
£486
-£386|||
|**Total**
£0
£0
£0
£9,279
-£12,156
-£2,877|||
|**Summer 2024**
Venue charges (St Mary's Bathwick)
-£475
Professional costs
-£1,220
Ticket sales (Secretary/door/BBO)
£2,177
advertising revenue/donations
£125
Agency costs (10% BBO ticket sales, ads)
-£272
programmes (cost/sales)
£196
-£259
publicity/printing/gift soloist/staging/St Johns
-£852|||
|**Total**
£0
£0
£0
£2,498
-£3,077
-£579|||
|**Messiah December 2024 (x 2 perfs)**
Venue charges (Bath Abbey)
-£6,612
Professional costs
-£13,450
Ticket sales (Secretary/door/BBO)
£30,852
advertising revenue/donations
£235
Agency costs (10% BBO ticket sales+ ads)
-£3,062
programmes (cost/sales)
£955
-£473
publicity/printing/gift soloist
-£426|||
|**Total**
£0
£0
£0
£32,042
-£24,023
£8,019|||
|**Concert totals**
£25,768
-£31,612
**-£5,844**
£44,434
-£41,403
**£3,031**|||
Page 2 of 2
## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts**
**Section A Independent Examiner’s Report**
**Report to the trustees/ members of Bath Choral Society On accounts for the year** 31 December 2025 **Charity no** 263086 **ended (if any) Set out on pages** 1 - 2 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/12/2025. **Responsibilities and** As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the **basis of report** accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’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** I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have **examiner's statement** come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
- the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
- the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
- the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
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.
* _Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply._
|**Signed:**
**Name:**
**Relevant professional**
**qualification(s) or body**
**(if any):**
**Address:**|**Date:**|23 January 2026|
|---|---|---|
||||
||||
||Richard Robb||
||||
||Institute of Chartered Accountants||
||||
||||
||Briscoe House, 28 Church Street, Bathford, Bath BA1 7RS||
||||
1
**Oct 2018**
**IER**
## **Section B Disclosure**
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
**Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose** .
2
**Oct 2018**
**IER**