2023-06-30-accounts

Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ending 30 June 2023

Reference and Administration details

The name of the Charity is Ashtead Choral Society, whose Registered Charity Number is 265400. The principal address of the charity is 98 Craddocks Avenue, Ashtead, KT21 1NL.

Names of the Trustees who manage the Charity

The Trustees are as follows:

Mrs A Ridge (Chair) Mrs A Bailey (Membership Secretary) Mr A J Williams (Treasurer) Mrs L Crook Mrs S Early Mrs C Greenwood Mrs I Kenward Mrs K Lewis Mr G Morris Mrs V Moss Mrs H Parkin (co-opted) Mrs C Price

The following also served as a Trustee during the year:

Mrs L Clarke (resigned November 2022)

The Society’s Making Music representative is Mrs M Stephen

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Structure, Governance and Management

The Charity is an unincorporated association. A revised Constitution was adopted on 7 February 2022.

The Charity is managed and administered by a Committee constituted in accordance with Rule 5 of the Charity. Trustees are appointed in accordance with Rule 7 of the Charity. No section representative may serve as such for more than three consecutive years.

Objectives and Activities

The object of the Charity shall be:

to advance, improve, develop and maintain public education in, and appreciation of, the art and science of music in all its aspects by any means the trustees see fit, including through the presentation of public events.

In shaping our objectives for the year and planning our activities, the Trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, and, in particular, the specific guidance to charities for the advancement of the arts.

The benefits of the society are enjoyed by both choral society members and members of the public who attend our concerts, and can be seen in the diverse selection of choral music that is performed by the society. In deciding the concert programme for each season, the conductor and the Trustees are mindful to ensure that the choir performs both familiar and less familiar choral music. The music that we perform has been written by a variety of composers from different musical periods from both the sacred and secular repertoire available to choral societies of our size. The advancement of the arts is thus achieved through the exposure of both choir and audience members to different styles and genres of music.

The Trustees are mindful of the need to ensure that sections of the public are not excluded from participating as a member of the choral society through the use of financial assistance to those who might otherwise not be able to afford to join the society. Membership of the society is free for people aged 25 and under and there is a 50% reduction in the subscription for those members aged 26-30. Subscriptions may also be paid in instalments or reduced temporarily in the case of unforeseen hardship.

Our key objective this year has been to build on last year’s efforts to ensure the Society’s sustainability and to thrive in an ever-connected world. The next step was to rebrand and relaunch our website. This has brought many benefits, breathing new life into our digital presence and enhancing the user experience. In turn, this has helped to encourage a new audience, demonstrating our commitment to staying relevant in such a rapidly changing world. We are now working on ways to engage with our audiences more effectively, offering more tailored content where appropriate, to build our community.

In recent years we have undertaken concerts where we have engaged local young musicians either to accompany us or to sing the solo parts of certain musical items. In this way, our public benefit has been extended to a wider section of society, as many of those young people have benefited from the experience of performing with a large choral society and in front of larger audiences than might otherwise be possible for them.

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Achievements and Performance

The 2022/2023 season was again a busy one with three concerts all accompanied by professional soloists and the Kent Sinfonia. We began on 8th October 2022 in the Epsom Playhouse with concert versions of Pirates of Penzance and Trial by Jury by Gilbert and Sullivan. It was wonderful that two of the four soloists were brought up locally.

On 25th February 2023 we celebrated the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ birth with a programme of his works, culminating in the powerful Sea Symphony.

The season was rounded off by two twentieth century classics on 13th May 2023, Carmina Burana by Carl Orff and The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins.

In terms of non-musical achievement, the strategic decision to rebrand and relaunch our website noted above were the most critical of the year. Membership numbers and audiences have started to increase which is a good start, although we recognise that this will take time.

Financial Review

The Trustees decided to continue for a second year with their policy of putting on a bigger series of concerts than would normally have been the case prior to the covid pandemic, while at the same time keeping subscriptions at a lower level. In this way the Trustees hoped to encourage members to return to singing with the society, and also to encourage audiences to return. This policy appears to have been successful, as membership numbers have recovered to their pre-pandemic level, and audiences have been slightly higher than before. It was recognised that this policy would have the effect of further depleting our financial reserves.

The overall loss on concerts in the year was £16,209, which was similar to that in 2021-22 (£16,506). As was agreed for the previous season, and because of the policy to stage bigger concerts than usual, the Trustees again decided to use £5,000 from the Judy Williams Memorial Patronage Fund towards the cost of the concert season.

A shuffleboard evening was held during the year. This was a successful social event which raised a net amount of £282 towards choir funds. Easy Fundraising and Amazon Smile continued to provide useful income, bringing in a total of £412 over the year. Unfortunately, however, Amazon have now discontinued their Smile scheme and so no more income will be received from that source. Donations at the rehearsal tea interval raised £338.

Our Carols for Charity morning made a welcome return this season, and £1,468 was raised for the chosen charities – Besom in Ashtead and The Good Company.

The biggest item of miscellaneous expenditure related to the redevelopment of the Society’s website, professional photography to provide high-quality images for the new website, and the creation of a new logo. This totalled £1,273.

Overall, the Society saw a reduction of £8,506 in unrestricted funds this year. This was similar to the reduction the previous year (£8,793). We remain in a stable position financially, with just under £21,000 in unrestricted funds. However, costs continue to increase and so we do now need to revert more to our pre-pandemic pattern of concerts, together with an increase in subscriptions, to ensure we remain in a strong position.

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Charity’s policy on reserves

The Trustees recognise that there are expenses associated with the putting on of concerts which may need to be covered even if those concerts cannot take place. There are also expenses associated with running the choir on a day-to-day basis that would have to be met even if the society were to wind up. Having considered these issues the Trustees have decided that an appropriate level of reserve to be held is £12,000 in unrestricted funds.

Declaration

The Trustees declare that they have approved the Trustees’ Report above.

Signed on behalf of the Charity’s Trustees:

Anne Ridge Anthony Williams Position Chair Hon Treasurer Date 30 October 2023

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Ashtead Choral Society Charity Commission Number - 265400 Receipts and payments accounts For the period from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023

Receipts Income from concerts (note 3) Member subscriptions Income tax recovered Friends/Patronage donations Income tax recovered Other donations Income tax recovered Music hire and sales Funds raised for other Charities 100 Club Bank interest Fundraising income Bequests (note 2) Tour Miscellaneous income Total receipts Payments Concert expenditure (notes 2 and 3) Honoraria Hire of rehearsal rooms Music hire and purchases Publicity Gifts and donations Subscriptions, sundry fees, other dues, and bank charges Fundraising expenses Secretarial and admin. expenses Tour Miscellaneous expenses Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end	Unrestricted funds Restricted income funds Total 2023 Total 2022 £ £ £ £ 10,070 - 10,070 8,602 14,970 - 14,970 13,985 2,620 - 2,620 2,548 - 1,065 1,065 1,100 - 139 139 141 - - - 5 - - - 25 1,226 - 1,226 1,023 - 1,468 1,468 1,420 505 - 505 499 988 - 988 76 1,628 - 1,628 329 - - - 5,001 - 13,270 13,270 - 60 - 60 106
	32,067 15,942 48,009 34,860
	21,279 5,000 26,279 25,108 9,613 - 9,613 8,964 4,509 - 4,509 3,988 1,441 - 1,441 993 973 - 973 740 - 1,468 1,468 1,420 644 - 644 717 595 - 595 11 20 - 20 166 - 13,160 13,160 - 1,499 - 1,499 304
	40,573 19,628 60,201 42,411
	(8,506) (3,686) (12,192) (7,551) 29,471 19,872 49,343 56,894
	20,965 16,186 37,151 49,343

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Ashtead Choral Society Charity Commission Number – 265400 Statement of assets and liabilities as at 30 June 2023

Unrestricted funds Restricted income funds Total 2023 £ £ £ Cash Funds Barclays current account 7,690 - 7,690 COIF Deposit account 13,276 16,186 29,462 Total bank accounts 20,966 16,186 37,152 Assets retained for the charity’s own use Piano 2,000 - 2,000	Total 2022 £ 7,869 41,474
	49,343
	2,000

Signed on behalf of all the trustees

Anthony Williams Hon Treasurer Date of approval 30 October 2023

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Ashtead Choral Society Notes to the Accounts For the year ending 30 June 2023

1 Basis of accounting

The financial statements have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis.

2 Endowment and restricted income funds

The charity has no endowment fund. It has one restricted income fund, the Judy Williams Memorial Patronage Fund, which was established to enable the choir to be able to afford to perform works which it would not otherwise be able to do.

To continue to encourage members and audiences to participate once again in musicmaking following the pandemic, the Trustees decided to continue for another year with their policy of staging a more substantial season of concerts than normal, with full orchestra at each concert. Because of the extra costs involved, the Trustees decided to use £5,000 from the Judy Williams Memorial Patronage Fund towards the cost of the season.

The Charity does not have any designated funds.

3 Financial results of concerts

Concert income Concert Expenditure Professional fees Venue Other costs Total concert expenditure	October 2022 February 2023 May 2023 Total 2023 £ £ £ £ 4,440 2,972 2,658 10,070 5,027 7,880 5,625 18,532 1,409 846 789 3,044 1,929 1,272 1,502 4,703 8,365 9,998 7,916 26,279	2022 £
		8,602
		17,145 3,924 4,039
		25,108

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Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the Trustees/ members of	Ashtead Choral Society	Ashtead Choral Society	Ashtead Choral Society
On accounts for the year ended	30 June 2023	Charity no	265400
Set out on pages	5-7
Responsibilities and basis of report	I report to the Trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above Charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 30 June 2023. As the Charity Trustees of the Trust, 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 Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed 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 which gives me cause to believe that, in any material respect: • accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or • the accounts do not accord with the accounting records I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed:	E A Storey	Date:	1 November 2023
Name:	Mrs Elisabeth Storey
Relevant professional qualification:	FCA
Address:	29 Barrett Road, Fetcham, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 9HL

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