# **NORTHAMPTON BACH CHOIR** _Registered Charity No 276390_ **TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT** # **For the Year 1[st] AUGUST 2021 to 31[st] JULY 2022** The following information is given in accordance with the Charity Commissioners’ ‘Accounting by Charities – Statement of Recommended Practice’. 1. The full name of the Charity (the Choir) is ‘Northampton Bach Choir’. 2. The Choir is registered with the Charity Commission, its registration number being 276390. 3. The Choir’s Honorary President is Sir Peter Ellwood, DL, CBE. 4. The Choir is managed by a General Committee (the Committee), the appointment of whose members is governed by the constitution document. The following were the Choir’s Committee during the year under review: Chairman Jonny Alms Secretary Sheila Moakes Concerts Manager & Mark Gibson (resigned 4 October 2021) Making Music Contact Concerts Manager David Tristram Treasurer Jackie Campbell (appointed 4 October 2021) Timothy Daily (resigned 4 October 2021) Friends Secretary Judy Ellwood Membership Secretary Crawford Craig Librarian Iain Erskine Voice Part Rep. Maureen Trent Marketing Elianne Montero (appointed 6 May 2022) The holders of the first four posts listed above are defined in the constitution as Officers, and they and the other members of the Committee are the Trustees of the Charity and are elected annually at the Annual General Meeting. The Committee can number between 8 and 12. All members retire from office at the end of the AGM following that at which they were elected, but are eligible for re-election, with the exception of the Chairman, who cannot serve in the post for longer than five years at a time. The constitution provides for a number of Choir members to be co-opted to the committee as necessary. All members of the Committee are fully aware of their responsibilities as Trustees of the Charity. 5. The objectives of the Charity are the study and practice of choral music in order to foster the knowledge and appreciation of such music by means of public performance. The Choir was established in 1936 and has a programme of, normally, 3 or 4 concerts each year, many of which are held at St Matthew’s Church in Northampton. Further information about the Choir’s history and current programme is available from any Committee member or on the Choir’s website at www.northamptonbachchoir.org.uk 6. The activities undertaken to further the charity’s purposes for the public benefit are listed above. The Trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and believe that the Charity is a public benefit. 7. The Choir’s members form the electorate from which the Committee is elected annually. The Choir consists of; |**Voice Part**|**2021-22**|**2020-21**|**2019-20**| |---|---|---|---| |Soprano|45|44|35| |Alto|44|40|44| |Tenor|12|16|15| |Bass|24|18|21| |_Total_|_123_|_118_|_119_| Membership of the Choir is gained by expression of interest and a voice test. 8. Financial Review: Total income for the year was £65,024 compared to £18,849 in 2021. The Charity made a deficit of £7,165 (2021: surplus of £4,527), decreasing total reserves as at 31 July 2022 to £64,168. All reserves held by the Charity are unrestricted. 9. Reserves Policy: The choir aims to hold cash reserves approximating to 6 months’ expenditure in order to fund concerts and other events where a proportion of the income only arises close to the event itself. At 31 July 2022 the reserves were £64,168 and 50% of the estimated annual expenditure is £36,000. This policy will be reviewed annually but will also kept under continual review by the Charity’s Treasurer. ## 10. The Choir’s bankers are: The Co-operative Bank PLC, Skelmersdale, Lancs. WN8 6WT Charities Aid Foundation, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4TA Shawbrook Bank, Warley Hill Business Park, The Drive Great Warley, Brentwood, CM13 3BE ## 11. The Choir’s Independent Examiner is; DNG Dove Naish LLP, Eagle House, 28 Billing Road, Northampton NN1 5AJ 12. The Choir neither owns or leases property and consequently has no registered address. However, correspondence should be sent to, and copies of the Report and Accounts may be obtained from the Secretary, Sheila Moakes, at: - 38 Fishers Close, Little Billing, Northampton, NN3 9SR 13. The Treasurer’s Report and Accounts which follow should be regarded as part of the Charity’s Annual Report. Signed: ## _**Chairman**_ _**Treasurer**_ Date: 24[th] October 2022 ## **Northampton Bach Choir** ## _**Registered Charity No. 276390**_ **Treasurer’s Report for the year 01/08/21 – 31/07/22** This is my first year as Treasurer and I have had a very great deal to learn. I would like to express my thanks to our previous Treasurer, Tim Daily, for his support in the handover. I am very grateful for the huge amount of patience and support from the Committee which has helped me to get to grips with this fascinating, but challenging role. I would also like to record how grateful I have been for the warm welcome I have received from Choir members. There have been a total of five concerts this year in addition to a programme of sung Evensongs. This is an amazing feat given the constraints due to Covid restrictions of the previous year. More than that, the final concert of the financial year was in celebration of the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and we took the decision to make this a memorable event by putting on our own concert in the Derngate Theatre, with all the costs and financial risks that entailed. I have had to make some minor changes in the way our accounts have been run as a result of moving to different accounting software, with one of the outcomes being a better match between the income and expenditure headings in the accounts and the budgets. We have also changed our system for accepting credit card payments which has saved us a considerable amount of money in fees and rentals as well as making it easier to identify what payments were for. The provision of a payment facility on the members’ section of our web site has made a huge difference in being able to account for subscription and music payments and I am grateful for members making use of this. Of course, if members are not able to use this form of card payment we can accommodate other forms of payment but I would encourage as many as can to do so. Another change that you may see in the accounts is that we made the decision to classify the income from all the wonderful members’ fundraising activities as donations. This is an accurate description as these events are not run by the Choir collectively but rely on the selfless initiatives run by individual members and, as such, is eligible for Gift Aid tax rebate which effectively increases our fundraising income by 25%. This was done in consultation with those that run these events. The downside of this is that the accounts do not now show the income from individual events. If you feel that this is something you would like to keep, I can provide these figures outside of the formal accounts. ## **Concert account** The amounts given here include payments and income outside the financial year dates and do not exactly match those in the formal end-of -year accounts but are presented in this form to give a more accurate representation of the financial situation for each concert. ## _Handel’s Messiah: 6 November 2021_ We had a budgeted income for this concert of £2,250 and actually received £4,787 from ticket sales which was a fantastic response to our first concert after Covid. This meant that the budgeted deficit of £5,440 was reduced to £3,499. ## _Carols and Fanfares: 4 December 2021_ Our income for this concert was slightly above budget (£2,547 compared to £2,250) but our costs were lower than predicted, giving an actual loss of £577 compared to the budgeted loss of £4,100 ## _The Armed Man: 6 February 2022_ This concert was part of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s programme and was put on by them at the Derngate Theatre. We therefore had no financial liability related to this concert and were paid by the RPO for our choral contribution. We therefore made a budgeted profit of £750. _Carmina Burana: 2 April 2022_ Again, ticket income exceeded the budgeted amount (actual £3,246 against budgeted £2,225). Costs associated with the provision of pianos and the professional artists were higher than predicted giving a total loss of £4,403 against a budgeted deficit of £5,770. ## _Jubilee Proms: 12 June 2022_ This concert had been budgeted to make a loss of £12,400. As this was an exceptional concert, it had been agreed to cover this loss from the generous legacy donation received in 2018-19. A huge effort was made to boost ticket sales for this concert which turned a budgeted ticket income of £4,050 into net ticket sales totalling nearly £14,000. The final deficit was therefore only just over £4,000, to be covered by the legacy. ## **Administration account** The non-concert expenditure was nearly twice as high as last year (at £24,474) which reflects the increase in rehearsal and other activity post-Covid. Accountancy fees are higher this year which reflects the additional professional support required for the new (non-accounting professional) Treasurer. This account still made a surplus of £3,379 for the financial year. ## **Fundraising account** As discussed above, all individual fundraising amounts are now included in an overall donations line in the administration budget (£1,472 this year). We are very grateful for the kind donations and fundraising activities of members and Friends ## **Other income** This included members’ payments for additional rehearsals for the Choral Evensongs (£1,486) as well as sundries such as folders and CD sales. ## **Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA)** The choir made a deficit of income over expenditure of £7,165 in the financial year Aug 21-Aug 22. This is a very reasonable amount given that we put on five concerts this year, all in theatre venues. The move from St Matthews Church as the main concert venue was necessitated by the need to adhere to post-Covid spacing requirements initially, as was the move to Northampton School for Girls as the rehearsal venue. Both have proved to have benefits, not least in the availability of parking but has led to increased costs. We have also and provided vocal tuition to all members that wanted it. Our reserves remain healthy at £64,168. We have £12,000 in a Shawbrook Bank CAF 60-day notice account for a combination of reasonable returns with a short notice period for access. This is backed by a further £32,676 in a Shawbrook 1 year fixed rate account and a CAF Gold savings account containing £15,003. At the end of year, we had a total of £3,171 in the Cooperative current bank accounts. This has enabled us to make the decision not to increase the subscriptions for 2022-23, even though we are anticipating higher costs, so as not to increase the financial burden on members and Friends in these challenging times. Jackie Campbell, Treasurer 19/10/22 NORTIIAMMN BACH CHOIR page 1 STATEMEKf OF FINANCLAL ACTMTIES 01A)8r21- 31L17r22 2021-22 2￿21 Incom•lrom Gtrmrltabb• ActMU•• Concerts Account1￿ pago 21 ministratbn A¢£ount1sge w36 31 Fundr¥lsirvJ Account (Set P8ge 31 h?r Incom• Isoe pagg 41 27.8S3 17.484 1.874 024 18049 Cefjcerts Ac£ount18e8 p•ae 21 Admlnistrabon *£¢ount18•e p89• 31 Fundrai•ing Account188e paga 3) Ohr E>wdltur• IW py 41 47.226 24.474 12.842 71189 14.322 Surp1￿¢￿ (1.1￿} AU Inwrn• •nd •x¥*fidl￿r• *> ￿•11￿cl•d NCE SHEEf AS AT 31n7r22 Cutront A8fot• Co.op•ralfve Bank PLC e£rn￿lty ¥¢ Cov0￿ratIVe Bunk PLC Communlty No.2 *¢ CAF Gokl al Showbrgok 8¥nk eo day notic• Shawbrwk Bank 1 Yt8r FLKYd R Paypal tm & Prepaym•nts Iw p4e 41 12.fj80 10 12.462 12,C IS.ryJ3 12.( Td*l n.637 CuTrnl Liabilyd Cr•dltw•& Arxru•kn IM• pao• 4} Ta*1 N•t Curr•ntA••• Balan0# bl SurpluB for par 71.333 (7.1651 4.527 BalAnc• rjfwd 71.333 ¢75 Lts u> &8ryQ)¢0￿J ry¢Dty fD 4rJ *A> (N RuozIcsOo(LQ(n￿ NORTHAMVMN BACH CHOIR pag8 3 ADMINISTRATION ACCOUNT 01￿￿21- 31h)7f22 INCOME Deposlt int8re8t Dmats'cnsl Legari•s Musi¢Account Sub8crfplon8- Chc4r SL*xrfptv)n8- FriÉnd8 rax r4bAts on Gfft A 318 1.472 551 10,528 3.374 18.229 1.371 27JSJ EXPENDITURE Acwnpani$l AdverU8ln￿pUb1ldfy Ctsdlt C8rd Machlno Zoom Cloud Stortra• Independent ￿mInatIOn f•• Accountan Inauran Vocpl tuitian Mlsc*llaneous MusiG OiredorlConductNtfeadw Music A￿urnt Purch*MI Hire Postage RehearBal Room HK• 3.770 674 522 20 497 747 10S 5,239 285 435 I2￿2 Trt 24A74 Surpl 3A79 4042 FUNDRAISING ACCOUNT 01A)8rd1- 31ffj7r22 INGQMe 100 cl￿> J Wood8 Xm86 C8ke• Ian G8dd¢$ Cakind8r Cook Book EasyfundrawJirrfJ Plant Sale PTrantsr Raffle J•m S81• 74 817 140 157 15 Td•l EXPENDITURE Total urpliA NORTHAMpfoN BACH CHOIR p4e4 OTHER INCOME 01A)8r21- 31A]7f22 CD Salgs Choral Evansong Fclders Other Sncc 133 OThER EXPENDITURE 01A)8r21- 31A)7122 Profession81 Mu51ck9￿ concert rdot COV￿ 19 ￿1818￿ IFae• Spa¢ertl Vlrkjal R8¢0rding Thankyou Gifts 2W2020 Ttket RofuTr# Bank charg08 FundrgbSrvJ 240 135 827 250 28 Tothi DEBTORS AND PREPAYMETrThS AT 3117122 Hmgc i