For those of you who have not been to an AGM before, this is the formal procedure by which the committee provides a report for the choir. It is a position statement; both looking back to the period July 2021 and July 2022 and forward to the future.
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR AGM 3 NOVEMBER 2022
The committee presents this report and the financial statements for the University of Essex Choir (Registered Charity No.285079) for the period July 2021 to July 2022
Objects
The object of the Society is to educate the public in the arts and sciences, and in particular the art and science of music, by the presentation of concerts and other such lawful activities as are necessary for the furtherance of the above objects.
Structure, Governance and Management
The society is governed by its constitution and is managed by the committee consisting of elected officers and other members. The officers are elected at the AGM. The committee meets regularly during the concert season. The conductor Ben Vonberg-Clark attends the committee on an ex-officio basis.
Chairman’s Report
This year was not as challenging as last year but covid continued to affect the business of the choir. We had to introduce covid procedures for the rehearsals: air filters, masks, testing before arriving at the rehearsals, open windows and many more. Some members had covid more than once and this affected the attendance. The concert in the Ivor Crewe was therefore a bit of a step into the unknown. We were worried about numbers attending the concert and we had also changed some of the concert format. The concert, however, was a triumph! We had lots of positive feedback from the audience, some of whom then joined the choir!
The programme was: Christus Natus Est and A Winter’s Night by Cecilia McDowell and then in the second half we sang the Christmas Oratorio by Bob Chilcott. The choir were accompanied by the City of London Sinfonia. Our accompanist Caroline Finley also joined them on our electric organ. The soloists were: Carolyn Holt mezzosoprano, David de Winter tenor and Michael Hickman baritone. We also had a children’s choir from years 5 and 6 at Millfields Primary School in Wivenhoe led by Sarah Barnard. Ben visited the school to rehearse and generally entertain the children too. The children all looked as though they had really enjoyed themselves. The
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linking of a local school with the university is very pleasing outreach activity. Long may it last and the plan is that it will.
Our second concert was at Snape Maltings Concert Hall on 30 April. The works we sang were Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Felix Mendelssohn’s Wie der Hirsh schreit (psalm 42) and Joseph Haydn’s Paukenmesse (Missa in tempore belli).The orchestra was the London Mozart Players. The soloists were: James Way tenor, Michael Lafferty baritone, Amy Lyddon mezzo soprano and Charlie Swann soprano. We all really enjoyed being back at Snape, which I am sure, contributed to the success the of the concert.
We need to thank all of the committee who work so hard for the choir. I am sure you have noticed that some people do more than one job. Sadly Tamasin and Samantha are giving up at the end of this season after leading the publicity team for so long, I can’t remember how long it is. Typically they are giving a year’s notice, so if anyone feels they could take over, you have a year to learn the ropes now is your chance to join them. Tamasin has also been working on the website transfer to being much more linked to the university. This is not a job she sought out but somehow ended up doing.If there is anyone who has that sort of expertise and is willing to run the website please come forward and see her. Pauline Skeritt is also doing two jobs brilliantly: Membership and Tickets. Both these require an immense amount of time. Pauline has given notice that she does not want to be Membership Secretary after this season so there is another vacancy for someone. Thankfully Pauline is continuing to do the tickets. There are members of the committee who have been in their roles for more than 10 years, and one for 20 years. It is clear we need new people to come forward for the vacancies that will exist next year.
As you know there are people who are not on the committee but who quietly get on with things. We all see Alex Bartholomew at the beginning and the end of rehearsals with the scores but maybe some of us haven’t noticed that she has only just started to join in the rehearsals as in the early rehearsals she was busy sorting out the money and the mistakes made by the publishers sending the wrong copies! Brexit hasn’t helped the supply of scores either. Tim Parker and Chris Holmes continue to always be on hand when anything needs doing. I am very grateful to both of them. Thalia is yet another non-committee person. She has taken over doing the posters and has produced a cracker for this year.
Finally, what about the dream team of Ben and Caroline? They both make it all such fun.
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Thank you both very much. Jan Cullum Nasta Date.'Sept 29, 2022
University of Essex Choir Charity Number 285079– Financial Report for Season 2021-22
As this is my first report since taking over from Richard Mason, I’d like to start with my thanks to him for his long tenure as treasurer and thank him for the handover last year which took longer than expected due to a few issues with the choir’s bank in processing the changes. We have put in place a process so that these issues should not be faced when changing treasurer next time.
With the ending of Covid 19 restrictions the committee were able to plan two concerts during the year.
The committee approved a budget for the year which gave a predicted loss of £8.1k allowing Ben to choose works with orchestra in both locations. The actual loss for the year was £7.6k which means that we enter 22-23 season with an opening balance of £27,368 in the bank.
Shown below is a table showing the main sources of income and expenditure.
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STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS Year ending 31st July 2022
| Subscriptions Ticket sales Grants Tax Refunds Music sale and rental Patrons/Donattion Transport Programme sales Advertising Sponsorship Interest Loss |
15,043.50 35% Orchestra costs 11,597.89 27% Professional fees 7,000.00 16% Concert halls, lighting, staging 4,075.89 9% Soloists 2,475.69 6% Music hire 1,572.00 4% Music purchase (for sale) 465.00 1% Non-concert presentations 362.00 1% Programme and ticket costs 358.50 1% Advertising (incl Web-site and Recruitment) 250.00 1% Other non orchestral, prof.costs 6.85 0% Transport costs (choir) 43,207.32 Subscriptions and Fees Insurance Presentations Rehearsal hall hire & Piano Tuning 7,636.21 |
22,750.00 45% 12,069.96 24% 5,106.28 10% 3,178.00 6% 1,698.76 3% 1,680.21 3% 1,000.00 2% 835.06 2% 740.28 1% 505.20 1% 395.00 1% 365.00 1% 257.00 1% 156.08 0% 106.70 0% 50,843.53 |
|---|---|---|
While the loss for the year was in line with our original budget there were a few areas where income was much lower than planned offset by a couple of one-off receipts.
Ticket sales were disappointing and as this is one of the key income streams for the choir it is an area which we all need to address for future concerts if the choir wishes to continue operating and performing in the current way. The committee is always open to ideas of how to increase sales.
Snape ticket sales came in close to estimate at £9k sales, the December concert only achieved £3k in sales which was 50% of expectation but can be put down to the continued impact of Covid 19 and hesitancy from the public of attending events in large numbers. We have heard that our Snape audience, while only about 50% is still one of the larger audiences they have had since the ending of restrictions. Thanks to Pauline Skerritt for managing the ticket sale process.
Subscriptions were in line with expectations, the number of people who can Gift Aid is lower than in previous years, the HMRC gift aid reclaim for 21-22 was just under £3k. We also received 20-21 reclaim which was only £1k due to the much lower subscriptions paid during our year on Zoom.
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Offsetting this we did received two years payments from the University of their grant covering 20-21 and 21-22. We continue to be thankful that the University can provide this grant.
There are several income streams which as a choir we need members to try and help secure more income.
While we received a one-off donation last year the number of Patrons has dwindled to just 2 from a highpoint a few years ago of 15-20. If anyone has any ideas or know of anyone who may wish to become a patron, please let us know
Sponsorship is another area which we have struggled with in recent years like many other organisations, despite the efforts of a few people, particularly Sarah Greatorex in the last year. If anyone know of any person or business who would like to sponsor us, please let us know
Just a point on the net profit on choir music hire and sales which looks high this year, this is mainly because of us finding about 50 copies of the Haydn Mass in the cupboard which Alex Bartholomew was able to sell to choir members. Normally we break even on this activity.
Turning to Expenses you can see that as usual the largest cost is for the orchestras, particularly at Snape this year although the total in line with the original budget excluding Music Hire which I will come onto
The cost areas which was higher than budgeted were:
Cost of Snape which now comes in around £5k per performance once you take account of the hall hire plus the box office fees. This compares to Ivor Crewe which costs us zero to hire as a venue and approximately £600 for the Events Essex staff to prepare the hall both before and after the concert. As mentioned before to continue to be able to sing in venues like Snape we need to be selling more tickets, getting more sponsorship. Sarah has investigated other venues around the Colchester area, and they all cost in the region of £3-4k to hire or the spaces are too small to fit us in.
Orchestral Music Hire – normally when we have hired orchestras in the past their quotes include the cost of music hire. For the December concert it was quoted separately. Modern music is expensive to hire, and it was therefore a much larger than any of us expected.
Other expenses were in line with expectations, Ben negotiated some good rates with the orchestras and soloist, and we have finally presented Richard Cooke with his leaving gift which has been sitting in the choir’s account for nearly 2 years.
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Clive Joyce has once again conducted the Independent Review and found no issues and I thank him for this.
Just turning to future seasons, the committee has agreed a budget for 22-23 which is for a loss of £3k. The allows the two performances planned in Ivor Crewe and Snape. While the committee feel it is appropriate for 22-23 season as it will still mean we enter 23-34 with £24k in the bank, it is not sustainable to lose money over the longer term as it makes planning the following season difficult. The alternative is that the nature of our concert performances will have to change to fit within a smaller cash envelope.
Andrew Dickerson
Treasurer
Notes
The two attached documents are what we submit to the Charity Commissioners along with this report once they have been approved at the AGM.
The Income & Expenditure details where we have received and spent our money during the year. The Balance Sheet shows how much cash we have in the bank and any money owing to the choir(debtors) or money the choir owes to other people (creditors) – for the current year we have neither of these. They also show a comparison to the prior year.
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(HARThY (IWIS510N Independent Examiner's Reporl on the Accounts -f my5Wl)E(¥lIIl1ltyJ It1Th1 13ILI iBy prt2Y hds+*p Date.'Sept 29, 2022
| UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX CHOIR Registered | UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX CHOIR Registered | Charity No. 285079 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS AND PAYMENT | S | |||||||||
| For the twelve months to: | 31-Jul-22 | |||||||||
| 31/07/2022 | 31/07/2021 | 31/07/2022 | 31/07/2021 | |||||||
| RECEIPTS | £ 7,000.00 15,043.50 250.00 4,075.89 0.00 0.00 1,572.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 |
£ | PAYMENTS | £ 22,750.00 3,178.00 5,106.28 835.06 1,698.76 395.00 505.20 c 740.28 156.08 |
£ | |||||
| Voluntary sources | 410 | Grants | 0.00 | Concert directly related | ||||||
| 420 | Subscriptions | 5,791.00 | ||||||||
| 430 | Sponsorship | 0.00 | 810 | Orchestra costs | 0.00 | |||||
| 440 | Tax Refunds | 7,120.36 | 820 | Soloists | 200.00 | |||||
| 451 | Specific Donations-Winter | 0.00 | 840 | Concert halls, lighting, staging | 0.00 | |||||
| 453 | Specific Donations-Summer | 0.00 | 830 | Programme and ticket costs | 0.00 | |||||
| 455 | Donations, Patrons | 200.00 | 850 | Music hire | 0.00 | |||||
| 458 | Legacies | 0.00 | 860 | Transport costs (choir) | 0.00 | |||||
| 460 | Bursary Fund | 0.00 | 870 | Other non orchestral, prof.costs | 1,992.00 | |||||
| 470 | Donations for non-concert Presentations | 0.00 | 880 | Advertising (incl Web-site and Re | 393.46 | |||||
| 475 | Leaving Gifts for R Cooke | 10.00 | 890 | Presentations | 0.00 | |||||
| 480 | Income from Fund-raising events | 0.00 | ||||||||
| 490 | From Contingency Fund | 0.00 | 0.00 | 35,364.66 | 2,585.46 | |||||
| Trading activities-concerts | 27,941.39 | 13,121.36 | ||||||||
| 520 | Ticket sales | 11,597.89 362.00 358.50 0.00 0.00 465.00 |
0.00 | 0.00 1,680.21 0.00 0.00 |
||||||
| 530 | Programme sales | 0.00 | ||||||||
| 550 | Advertising | 0.00 | Other Expenses | |||||||
| 560 | Income Received from Co-performers | 0.00 | 901 | Money owed to Co-Performers | 0.00 | |||||
| 510 | Music hire | 0.00 | 910 | Music purchase (for sale) | 238.61 | |||||
| 540 | Transport | 0.00 | 920 | Refreshments | 0.00 | |||||
| 930 | Raffle costs | 0.00 | ||||||||
| 12,783.39 | 0.00 | 940 | Bursaries & Singing lessons | 0.00 | 0.00 | |||||
| Trading activites-other | 2,475.69 0.00 0.00 0.00 |
950 | Professional fees | 12,069.96 g 106.70 365.00 257.00 0.00 1,000.00 0.00 |
10,626.63 | |||||
| 610 | Music sale and rental | 0.00 | 960 | Rehearsal hall hire & Piano Tunin | 0.00 | |||||
| 620 | Refreshments | 0.00 | 970 | Subscriptions and Fees | 365.00 | |||||
| 630 | Raffle ticket sales | 0.00 | 975 | Insurance | 248.00 | |||||
| 640 | Misc | 0.00 | 980 | Misc | 0.00 | |||||
| 990 | Non-concert presentations | 0.00 | ||||||||
| 1000 | Fund-Raising Events | 0.00 | ||||||||
| 2,475.69 | 0.00 | 1020 | Extra Concert Costs | 0.00 | 0.00 | |||||
| Other income | 6.85 | 15,478.87 | 11,478.24 | |||||||
| 710 | Interest | 2.33 | ||||||||
| 369 | Prepaid Rent | Total expenses | 50,843.53 | 14,063.70 | ||||||
| 6.85 | 2.33 | |||||||||
| Surplus/(deficit) for year | (7,636.21) | (940.01) | ||||||||
| 0.00 | ||||||||||
| Total receipts | 43,207.32 | 13,123.69 | 43,207.32 | 13,123.69 | ||||||
| 0.00 | ||||||||||
| INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF ACCOUNTS UN | DERTAKEN | curate view of | the Income and Expenditure of Charity 285079 | |||||||
| I am satisfied that this Statement represents for the year ended 31 July 2022. C R Joyce CLIVE JOYCE (formerly ACMA & FMAAT, no 17 August 2022 |
a fair and ac w retired) |
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Recepts & Payments UofE Choir 2021-22 IND EXAM.xlsx
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UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX CHOIR Registered Charity No. 285079 STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
| As at 31/07/2022 LIABILITIES Accumulated fund 110 Balance brought forward 120 Surplus/(deficit) for year 100 Total accumulated fund Sundry creditors 220 Accruals 250 Account adjustments 257 Deposits for music 878 PRS from previous year 210 Total Sundry Creditors |
31/07/2022 31/07/2021 £ £ 35,004 40,427 (7,636) (940) 27,368 39,487 0 (180) 0 (3,923) 0 0 0 (380) 0 (4,483) 27,368 35,004 - |
ASSETS Bank & cash 315 Bank accounts 350 Petty cash 310 Total Bank & Cash Sundry debtors 367 Other monies receivable 365 Income tax repayments due 369 Prepayments 360 Total Sundry debtors |
31/07/2022 31/07/2021 £ £ 27,363 34,155 4 179 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27,368 34,335 |
|||
| 0 0 0 0 0 669 |
|||
| 0 669 |
|||
| 27,368 35,004 |
|||
INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF ACCOUNTS UNDERTAKEN
I am satisfied that this Statement represents a fair and accurate view of the Assets and Liabilities of Charity 285079 for the year ended 31 July 2022.
C R Joyce
CLIVE JOYCE (formerly ACMA & FMAAT, now retired) 17 August 2022
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Balance Sheet UofE Choir 2021-22 IND EXAM.xlsx
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