LINCOLN CHORAL SOCIETY Registered Charity No. 505023
Trustees Report for the Financial Year 2024-2025
Lincoln Choral Society, established in 1896, is a not-for-profit community music society comprising of around 100 members.
Objects of the Charity.
The Objects are 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.
The Society meets the Objects by being inclusive in terms of its membership, by presenting a variety of musical genres and reaching out to deliver these in various settings in the community.
Governance .
In this financial year the Society was administered by a Management Committee of three Trustees and several ex-officio representatives, all current members are elected at a general meeting.
A review of the Society Constitution was undertaken and planning put in place to adopt a new Constitution in the year for 2025-26 at a special general meeting convened for that purpose. This would involve expanding the Trustee Body and making all the Management Committee trustees of the Society/Charity.
Music Activities .
In this financial year the Society participated in two major events. In November 2024 the Choir joined with the Choir of Lincoln Cathedral in a pre-Christmas performance of Messiah by G F Handel at the Cathedral. This was a wonderful opportunity to join in with this major event in the Cathedral calendar.
Feedback from a members survey showed a willingness by members to sing more modern but lesser-known music alongside the more traditional fare of similar music societies. The second major event carried this desire forward with a concert of music in Lincoln by modern composers. This consisted of two major works: The Girl from Aleppo by Cecilia McDowall and Mass in Blue by Will Todd. For this production we welcomed children’s choirs from 2 local primary schools along with their teachers, broadening our audience; it was attended and enhanced by Cecilia McDowall, the composer of The Girl from Aleppo.
In addition, the Society presented smaller events at local churches, and we welcomed non-members to a Come and Sing event. The choir also sang at the Lincoln NHS Christmas concert.
University of Lincoln (UoL) . The Society has an association with the UoL through its University Civic Initiative bringing mutual benefits. For the Society it provides use of some UoL facilities including cost free rehearsal space. For the UoL it provides benefits
for gifted students in the form of choral scholarships opportunities for their students to support the society with vocal, conducting and performing experience. It also allows discounted fees for students and staff.
Finances .
The Society derives its income from membership subscriptions, sponsorship from local businesses, other institutions and individuals, including Friends of the Society and any profit there might be from ticket paying performances.
The society’s main outgoings are those associated with mounting large-scale concerts, including cathedral hire, orchestra hire and soloist hire. There is also the general running costs of weekly rehearsals, including venue hire and directors and accompanist fees. While the cost-free venue hire for rehearsals from the UoL provides some financial relief, the increasing cost of concerts became unsustainable and threatened the financial viability of the Society. The Committee took action in planning the activities in this financial year to regain a sound financial position after the significant losses of recent years and, as is seen from previous paragraphs the works chosen for events have needed smaller musical forces than normal. The number of Cathedral concerts has reduced from two to one. The measures introduced are likely to be continued for future years.
The overall result is that the Society is in a sound financial position to go forward for the next few years.
Bank Accounts and Reserves. The funds are held in accounts at Lloyds Bank: LINCOLN CHORAL SOCIETY CHARITY ACCOUNT - The normal working current account.
COMMERCIAL INSTANT ACCESS ACCOUNT.
95 DAY NOTICE ACCOUNT - This account was set up to act as a reserves account. In line with expert advice for the sector, £12,000 held in Lloyd’s bank was set aside as a reserve to cover the cost of one disastrous concert to protect our financial position.
LINCOLN CHORAL SOCIETY
FINAL ACCOUNTS - YEAR ENDING JULY 31[ST] 2025
AUDITED BY BRUCE NELSON SEPTEMBER 2025
RECEIPTS
| Subscriptons | 15,705.00 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gif Aid Claim | 1,534.61 | ||
| Friends/Patrons/Sponsors | 860.00 | ||
| Donatons | 237.10 | ||
| Interest - Savings A/c | 441.12 | ||
| Social Fund | 0.00 | ||
| Concert Receipts | |||
| Tickets | 6,940.97 | ||
| Prog Ads | 300.00 | ||
| Prog Sales | 154.30 | ||
| Music Hire | 1,162.09 | ||
| Concert Sundries | 0.00 | ||
| Sundries | 1,592.90 | ||
| Total | 28,928.09 | ||
| PAYMENTS | |||
| Rehearsal Expenses | |||
| Conductor and Pianist | 6,405.00 | ||
| Rehearsal venue | 0.00 | ||
| Student Singers | 2,400.00 | ||
| Concert Expenses | |||
| Professional Fees | 1,820.00 | ||
| Advertsing/Publicity |
| Venues | 4,677.00 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Printng | 456.13 | |||
| Music | 1,352.06 | |||
| Miscellaneous | 412.76 | |||
| Sundry | ||||
| Social Fund | 169.89 | |||
| Insurance | 155.00 | |||
| Friends & Patronage Scheme | ||||
| Expenses | 162.65 | |||
| Subscriptons Paid | 655.15 | |||
| Social media | 0.00 | |||
| Donatons Made | 0.00 | |||
| Misc | 316.70 | |||
| Total | 18,982.34 |
YEAR END PROFIT £ 9945.75
Bank reconciliaton – all accounts with Lloyds Bank Treasurers account (current account) Balance at 01/08/24 3468.62 Balance at 31/07/25 973.25 Instant access savings account Balance at 01/08/24 12790.11 Balance at 31/07/25 12945.35 High interest savings account (90-day notce) Balance at 01/08/24 0 Balance at 31/07/25 12285.88
Independent Examiners Report.
I report to the committee of the Lincoln Choral Society on my examination of the accounts for the year ended 31[st] July 2025.
I have completed my examination of the accounts which accord with the accounting records and have nothing to draw to your attention.
B.S Nelson FCA.
2[nd] October 2025.