Trustees Annual Report
For the Year Ended 30 June 2024
Wokingham Choral Society Registered Charity No. 274853
Charity address: is as reported
Trustees: are as reported
Structure and management of Wokingham Choral Society
The business of the Society is managed by a Committee of volunteers elected annually by the Society’s membership at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), held just after the end of the financial year. These same Committee members are also the Trustees of Wokingham Choral Society. All members of the Committee are drawn from the Society’s membership. The Committee meets not less than every three months to discuss and plan the business of the Society. Full details of the make-up, election and operation of the Committee are set out in Wokingham Choral Society’s Constitution.
Objectives and Activities of Wokingham Choral Society
The objectives of the Society are to educate the public in the art and science of music, the presentation of concerts and other activities.
To achieve these objectives, funds are raised by charging annual subscriptions to the members, the sale of concert tickets to the public and the organisation of fundraising activities, to enable the Society to employ the services of the best possible professional Musical Directors, Rehearsal and Concert Accompanists, Concert Orchestras and Soloists.
Achievements and Performance of Wokingham Choral Society
There were unexpected changes at the start of the 2023/24 season. Our new Chairman, elected at the 2023 AGM, had to step down because of pressure of work. However, our newly elected Deputy Chair was able to step up and take his place. Shortly thereafter, our Musical Director, who had joined the Society (hereafter referred to as “the choir”) just the previous January, stepped down to take up the role of conductor with a local symphony orchestra. We agreed with him that he could leave immediately after our Autumn Concert and before the start of rehearsals for the Christmas concert. Fortunately for the choir, our Accompanist, who had been appointed about 14 months previously, is also an accomplished choral conductor and was willing and available to take on the role of Musical Director. He
was formally appointed to this role following a consultation with the membership of the choir.
This, of course, left the choir without an Accompanist. We were again fortunate in being able to appoint to the role of permanent Accompanist someone already known to the choir, who had acted as stand-in accompanist on a number of previous occasions.
Our Autumn Concert was of Classical pieces: Beethoven’s Opferlied , Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 (orchestra only) and Haydn’s Theresienmesse . This was followed in December by our annual, popular Christmas Carol Concert (under our newly appointed Musical Director).
The Spring Concert was of two twentieth century choral classics: Finzi’s Lo, the full, final sacrifice and Durflé’s Requiem . This concert also included Mendelssohn’s beautiful and much-loved Hear my prayer , and Elgar’s popular orchestral piece, Serenade for Strings .
Our lighter Summer Concert, entitled A Song for Summer , featured John Rutter’s folk song settings, The Sprig of Thyme , and also included pieces by Elgar, Dyson, Sullivan and others.
Audience numbers for the Autumn and, in particular, the Spring Concert were disappointingly low. The Committee concluded that the location of the venue for these concerts, in Reading, was inconvenient for our largely Wokingham-based audience, and that we would in future make more use of All Saints Church in Wokingham, which had recently undergone extensive refurbishment, making it a much more attractive concert venue for both audience and performers.
Membership numbers were down slightly on the previous year, from just over one hundred to the mid-nineties.
Wokingham Choral Society is a hard-working, welcoming and forward-looking choral society and though an auditioned choir, it is open to anyone from 16 years upwards who meets the musical standard required.
Now in its eighth decade, the choir continues its long tradition of bringing high quality performances of classical choral works to the residents of Wokingham and the surrounding area. The 2024/25 season will start with a concert of works by English composers, in collaboration with St George’s School, Windsor Castle, to feature as the main work St Nicolas by Benjamin Britten.
Financial Review:
Along with other organisations, Wokingham Choral Society has faced rising costs. In response to this, we reviewed and increased our tickets prices, effective from the last concert of the 2023/24 season; this has brought our ticket prices into line with the prices charged by other local choirs, and we shall monitor what impact this has on ticket sales. The choir finished the season with a relatively modest loss.
Wokingham Choral Society’s Reserves at 30 June 2024 stood at £44,106 and accounts are available to support this figure.
Wokingham Choral Society
Income & Expenditure Account for the Year Ended 30 June 2024
| 2023 | 2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| Income: | ||||
| Concerts: | ||||
| 9,744 | Ticket Sales | 9,938 | ||
| 604 | Programmes | 532 | ||
| 120 | Concert Refreshments | --- | ||
| 2,289 | Music - Choral Subscriptions: |
2,604 | 13,074 | |
| 18,935 | Members | 18,278 | ||
| 594 | Patrons | 644 | ||
| 210 | Friends | 210 | ||
| Fund Raising: | 19,132 | |||
| 673 | Coffee Sales | 890 | ||
| 580 | 100 Club | 577 | ||
| 11 | Book Sales | --- | ||
| 558 | Raffles | 862 | ||
| 14 | Easy Fundraising | 41 | ||
| 36 | Amazon Smiles | --- | ||
| 4,105 | Come & Sing | --- | ||
| 7 | Miscellaneous Fund Raising | 7 | ||
| Other: | 2,377 | |||
| 77 | Folders | 52 | ||
| 1,072 | Donations | 876 | ||
| 3,378 | Gift Aid | 3,134 | ||
| 1,000 | Sponsorship | 1,200 | ||
| 1,000 | Grants | --- | ||
| 165 | Bank Interest | 567 | ||
| 1,655 | Charity Collections | 700 | ||
| 375 | Leaving Collection | --- | ||
| 125 | Miscellaneous Income | --- | 6,529 | |
| £47,327 | Total Income c/f | £41,112 |
Wokingham Choral Society
Income & Expenditure Account for the Year Ended 30 June 2024
| 2023 | 2024 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| 47,327 | Income b/f | 41,112 | |||
| Less Expenditure | |||||
| Concerts: | |||||
| 2,800 | Conductor | 2,700 | |||
| 1,720 | Accompanist | 1,490 | |||
| 2,300 | Soloists | 2,900 | |||
| 7,006 | Orchestras | 9,350 | |||
| 3,275 | Venue | 3,249 | |||
| 348 | Green Room | 348 | |||
| 100 | Music Stands | 50 | |||
| 565 | Instrument Hire | 250 | |||
| 438 | Music : Orchestral | 450 | |||
| 2,525 | Choral | 2,548 | |||
| 67 | Concert Refreshments | --- | |||
| 354 | Printing: Programmes | 398 | |||
| 160 | Flyers & Posters | 208 | |||
| 71 | Tickets | 63 | |||
| --- | Miscellaneous | 13 | |||
| 38 | Postage: Orchestral | --- | |||
| 37 | Choral | --- | |||
| 135 | Gifts | 182 | |||
| 796 | Stage Transport | 986 | |||
| 269 | PRS Fees | 295 | |||
| 165 | Miscellaneous | 580 | |||
| Rehearsals: | 26,060 | ||||
| 5,942 | Musical Director | 6,243 | |||
| 4,958 | Accompanist | 5,204 | |||
| 3,142 | Venue Fund Raising: |
3,182 | 14,629 | ||
| 10 | Coffee | 107 | |||
| 315 | 100 Club | 315 | |||
| 86 | Raffles | 29 | |||
| 2,366 | Come & Sing | --- | 451 | ||
| £39,988 | Expenditure c/f | £41,140 | |||
| £47,327 | Income c/f | £41,112 |
Wokingham Choral Society
Income & Expenditure Account for the Year Ended 30 June 2024
| 2023 | 2024 | 2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| 47,327 | Income b/f | 41,112 | |||
| 39,988 | Expenditure b/f | 41,140 | |||
| General Administration; | |||||
| 271 | Advertising | 256 | |||
| 20 | Printing, Postage & Stationery | --- | |||
| 263 | Insurance | 276 | |||
| 533 | Subscriptions | 537 | |||
| 144 | Zoom | --- | |||
| 75 | Meeting Venue | 164 | |||
| --- | Miscellaneous | --- | |||
| 1,233 | |||||
| Other: | |||||
| 76 | Card Commission | 72 | |||
| 86 | Folders | 49 | |||
| 1,655 | Charity Payments | 700 | |||
| 375 | Leaving Gift | --- | |||
| 527 | New MD Expenses | --- | |||
| 202 | Website Building | 152 | |||
| 298 | Miscellaneous | 261 | |||
| 1,234 | |||||
| 44,513 | 43,607 | ||||
| £ 2,814 | Excess Income over Expenditure/ Expenditure over Income |
( | 2,495) |
Wokingham Choral Society
Balance Sheet as at 30 June 2024
£ £ £ |
2023 £ 259 2,120 5,132 40,728 49 48,288 1,687 46,601 £ 43,787 2,814 46,601 --- 46,601 |
CURRENT ASSETS Stock Debtors and Pre-payments Bank Accounts: Current Account Reserve Accounts Cash in Hand £ Less: CURRENT LIABILITIES Creditors, Accruals and Receipts in Advance £ CAPITAL ACCOUNT Accumulated Funds at 1 July 2023 Plus: Profit for the Year Minus: Loss for the Year Accumulated Funds at 30 June 2024 £ |
2024 £ --- 3,935 3,770 39,218 40 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 46,963 2,857 |
|||
44,106 |
|||
£ 46,601 --- 46,601 2,495 |
|||
44,106 |
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORTTO THE ACCOUNTS OF WOKINGHAM CHOFiAL SOCIETY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 I have examined Ihe Income and Expenditure Account for the Year Ended 30 June 2024, and the Balance Sheet as at 30 June 2024 1 have also reviewed the accounting records kept by the charity. My examination was carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 I'the Act") and was conducted in accordance with the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145{51{bl of the Act. In ccnnection with my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention which give me cause to believe that in any material respect= 1) the requirements to keep accounting records in accordance wilh section 130 of the Act have not been met.. or 2) the accounts do not accord with those records. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in Gonnection wilh Ihe examination lo which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Neil Coupe ACA Date 50 Easlhampslead Road Wokingham Berkshire RG40 2EF