HAMPTON SCHOOL MUSIC SOCIETY
Chairperson 2024/2025 Year End Report
Hampton School Music Society (HSMS) is a registered UK charity (298391). HSMS assists and enables Hampton’s Music Department in a variety of ways, including the facilitation of music events, sponsorships, purchases, and supporting Hampton boys in their musical journey. Our activities and focus are guided by the HSMS Mission Statement ‘Unlock the Musician Within’.
The charity is administered by an Executive Committee, whose members are either Trustees of the charity and/or Elected Officers. Executive Committee members, and Officers, are elected or reelected annually at the Annual General Meeting of the Society which is held in January. The HSMS Executive Committee has six Trustees comprising the Director of Music, Chairperson, Treasurer, Secretary, plus the Membership and Events Secretaries. The HSMS Committee also includes two additional Elected Officers, that of Website Editor and Newsletter Editor. Overall then the Committee is composed of 8 members, 6 Trustees and 2 Elected Officers.
The Committee meets twice per Hampton term (half-termly), to determine how best to support the Music Department and attendant initiatives to raise and allocate funds. Committee Members are invariably present at musical events throughout the year, supporting the Music Department, in conjunction with the Hampton Staff, through setting up venues, providing refreshments, coordinating fund raising initiatives, collating, and disseminating, performance reviews.
The Executive Committee for the academic year 2024/25 was as follows:
| Honorary President | Mr. Kevin Knibbs (Headmaster) |
|---|---|
| Director of Music | Mr. Daniel Roland |
| Chairperson | Mark Morrison |
| Treasurer | Melissa Foux (through to the completion of the 2024/25 Year) |
| Honorary Secretary | Stuart Skeffington |
| Membership Secretary | Parthiv Kumarswami |
| Events Secretary | Muninder Walia |
| Website Editor | Graham Thomas |
| Newsletter Editor | Robert Hawkins, and then Mala Schneider |
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After more than a decade of continuous and varied service in a variety of roles, Melissa Foux stepped down from the Committee at the conclusion of the academic year. The Committee is deeply grateful to Melissa for all her contributions to Hampton School Music during her extensive period with HSMS. In addition to the added value that Melissa brought to her last role as Treasurer, we would also like to extend our thanks to Amanda King – who was recommended by Melissa – for once again independently evaluating the 2023/2024 HSMS accounts prior to our May 2025 (Gov.UK) Charity Commission annual submission. Independent Evaluation was required as our 2023/24 turnover exceeded £25K. Amanda’s guidance and advice helped to ensure a fully compliant submission. We also, with a heavy heart, said goodbye to Robert Hawker who for many years, and with impressive regularity, worked closely with Mr. Roland’s team to edit and produce our end of term HSMS Newsletter which featured articles and commentary written entirely by the Hampton Musicians and Performers themselves.
Events
HSMS Committee once again extend our thanks and congratulations to Mr. Roland and his team for a 2024/25 musical program of outstanding breadth and depth. Hampton musicians, ensembles, bands, and orchestras, of all stripes and experience levels, truly embodied the ‘Unlock the Musician Within’ ethos of HSMS throughout the academic year.
2024/25 featured a memorable Juniour School performance of Bugsy Malone, with the scores and musical accompaniment ably underpinned by Hampton Musicians. The performers, both thespian and musical, rapidly discovered that, at Hampton, you “can be anything that you want to be” and that “if you give a little love it all comes back to you”! There were, as ever, concerts for all genres (including classical, rock, jazz, chamber and choral); highly credible performances at local music competition’s such as the Epsom Pro Corda; and opportunities for both juniour and senior musicians and ensembles to perform at a wide range of recitals, solo’s, orchestras, and choirs. In November, we helped celebrate St Cecelia’s day by hosting the annual black-tie dinner, at which there were solo performances from the school’s most senior musicians. Then, in March, our other ‘big event’ of the year, Jazz Café, was, once again, a sold-out show!
In addition, the HSMS committee raised funds, and / or promoted the HSMS membership benefits to existing, new, or prospective parents, throughout the year. This included our: Annual Welcome & Drinks reception at the autumn New Boys concert; Christmas Concerts year-end raffle; Summer Concert HSMS members reception; July New Parents and Pupils Welcome Event.
HSMS members have been fantastic in making themselves available for these events and, on behalf of the committee, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has volunteered during the year. I would also like to thank all the school staff who make these events happen, providing valuable performing opportunities for the pupils: the Music Department; the Events, Catering and Hammond Theatre teams, and the Keepers.
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Income and Donations
Funds are raised primarily through subscription and the selling of refreshments at school musical events. Membership is available to families of current Hampton students and the subscription for this remains unchanged at £30 per annum. Once again, there was a healthy sign-up rate from parents of new pupils this year, hence total membership numbers – now circa 500 members - remain strong. Full details will be available within Parthiv’s Membership Secretary’s report, to be presented at the AGM. Many thanks indeed to the School Admissions team for their administrative support with regards to HSMS membership and process.
Net funds raised from membership and events has followed the pattern of previous years. Details of these funds will be available within Emma Steeden’s Treasurer’s report, which will be presented at the AGM. All funds raised are for the benefit of music at Hampton School.
Donations for the year 2024/25 were targeted in line with our aim of embedding a broad program of ongoing support to the Hampton School Music Department, alongside meeting ad hoc requests from the Director of Music. The 2024/25 donations included supporting musical workshops, and free (new instrument) “taster sessions” for 1[st] and 2[nd] year pupils; ongoing, and growing, support for the increasingly popular “Rare Beasts” program (for 1[st] Year aspiring musicians interested in taking up specialist instruments such as the Oboe or French Horn) and which has paved the way for Hampton School’s first Harp Scholar. HSMS continued to fund helpful items to expand the music department’s reach and offering and which included (more!) djembe drums, battery powered musical keyboards, and an ever more sophisticated and powerful musical amplification capability!
A schedule of donations will be detailed in the Treasurer’s report, available at the AGM. As a committee we are delighted to be able to provide ongoing support and funding to facilitate, and broaden, musical opportunities at Hampton.
The Society also funds the prizes associated with the Lower and Upper School Music Society cups, presented for service to music. These prizes are intended to recognize commitment to the department; perhaps a boy who may have put a lot of extra hard work with the Music Department, or who has regularly given time to help-out, as an accompanist, assisting with a junior choir on a regular basis, or helping above and beyond his usual duties. The highly deserving recipients of these awards are formally recognized at the year-end Hampton Awards.
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Committee Activity
In addition to Mr. Roland’s great leadership throughout 2024/25, I would like to thank all members of the Committee for their hard work during the year:
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Melissa Foux. As noted above Melissa, in her final year with HSMS and in partnership with the Hampton School accounts team, professionally managed our finances. Melissa helped to ensure that the May 2025 Charity Commission (CC) submission was supported with an Independent Evaluation and submitted well within the deadline. Finally, our thanks to Melissa for a professional handover to her successor ( Emma Steeden ) as Treasurer.
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Stuart Skeffington: Stuart provided excellent support and guidance as Secretary whilst continuing to be an unrivalled source of Music-Tech ‘know how’ and enthusiasm within the Committee! Many of you will have met Stuart at our various 2024/25 HSMS events.
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Parthiv Kumarswami : Continued support throughout 2024/25 on the membership front. Parthiv is the conduit to you - our members - and his support, and technical prowess, are greatly appreciated. A Membership Secretary’s update from Parthiv will feature at the AGM.
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Muninder Walia: Events, along with subscriptions, are the key source of revenue for HSMS. As such we are very fortunate to have Muninder driving these events with many good ideas, and total commitment. Muninder’s strong working relationship with the Hampton Staff is the key that unlocks approximately half of our revenue generation returns.
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Robert Hawker – Mala Schneider: Thanks once again to Robert for all his many years of support and a very warm welcome to Mala who has taken over from Robert on the Newsletter front.
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Graham Thomas: Graham continued as Website Editor. In addition to the wise counsel, and good ideas, that Graham always brings to our Committee Meetings, Graham also serves Hampton School, and provides insights and opportunities for HSMS, further his very active involvement with the Fitzwygram Foundation.
Looking forward
The Committee is running well and will continue to support and nurture Hampton musical development, under the guidance of Mr. Roland, for the current 2025/26 academic year and beyond. At the conclusion of the AGM, we will formalize Emma Steeden’s replacement of Melissa as our new Treasurer. My tenure as Chairperson will conclude at the end of the current Academic Year and we are still very much on the lookout for somebody to join HSMS in this capacity.
As you will see from Emma’s first (thank you Emma!) AGM financial report, our balance sheet is encouraging and provides an opportunity to make further meaningful contributions to Hampton School Musical Life in 2025/26. In particular, the Committee continues to agitate, via Mr. Roland, for further upgrades to the Hampton Musical facilities and resources. On the administrative front we will look to optimize ‘One Stop’ consolidation and Microsoft-365 efficiencies, with this being an important personal consideration when I hand on the Chairperson file to my successor(s).
My thanks once again to the Committee for all their support and commitment. I look forward to another successful and busy year in 2025/26!
Mark Morrison HSMS Chair January 2026
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Statement of income and expenditure
| Income Net subscriptions for year 15,025 14,765 Events (see note below) 14,735 17,007 Raffles 743 614 Net interest 2,489 Total income 30,503 34,875 Expenditure Events (see note below) 7,013 15,403 Other expenditure 911 552 Total expenditure 7,924 15,955 Net funds raised for Music 22,580 18,920 Donations made Year to 31 July 2025 Year to 31 July 2024 |
Income Net subscriptions for year 15,025 14,765 Events (see note below) 14,735 17,007 Raffles 743 614 Net interest 2,489 Total income 30,503 34,875 Expenditure Events (see note below) 7,013 15,403 Other expenditure 911 552 Total expenditure 7,924 15,955 Net funds raised for Music 22,580 18,920 Donations made Year to 31 July 2025 Year to 31 July 2024 |
Income Net subscriptions for year 15,025 14,765 Events (see note below) 14,735 17,007 Raffles 743 614 Net interest 2,489 Total income 30,503 34,875 Expenditure Events (see note below) 7,013 15,403 Other expenditure 911 552 Total expenditure 7,924 15,955 Net funds raised for Music 22,580 18,920 Donations made Year to 31 July 2025 Year to 31 July 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| 34,875 | ||
| 15,403 552 |
||
| 15,955 | ||
| 18,920 | ||
| Edinburgh Festival Fringe PA System Drumming workshop Harp Hire Rare Beasts Amazon music Steel Pans Workshop Harp and Trolley |
845 3,890 315 630 11,132 |
0 2,168 0 0 1,027 |
| Musical Instruments, & Other Donations | 16,812 | |
| 3,194 |
£365 Alumni subs and £14400 membership See below
See below
NB: B/F Surplus of 88,568 Total Surplus 104,294
Surplus(shortfall)
5,768
15,726
| ISW1948G | J | |
|---|---|---|
| SectionB | Disclosure | |
| Onlycompleteiftheexaminerneedstohighlightmaterialmattersofconcern | ||
| (seeCC32,Independentexaminationofcharityaccounts:directionsand | ||
| guidanceforexaminers). | ||
| Giveherebrief details of | £97kofthe£104kcashheldatyearendisheldbytheschool.Ihavebeen |
|
| anyitemsthat the | unabletocheckanytransactions totheschoolbankaccountorconfirmwiththe | |
| examinerwishesto | schoolthat itisholding£97konbehalf ofHSMS. | |
| disclose. | ||
| AssuggestedlastyearthisissuecouldbeavoidedifHSMSsettleswiththe | ||
| schoolatyearendieiftheschoolisholdingcashonbehalf ofHSMSatyear | ||
| endthat it transfers toHSMSatyearendorasaminimum,HSMSgetsthe | ||
| schooltoconfirminwritingtheamountitisholdingonHSMS'sbehalfatyear | ||
| end. |