## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
**Registered Charity number 510847**
## **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2023**
## **Legal and administrative details**
**Governing instrument and Objects**
Constitution, last amended July 2019. Objects are to promote, improve, develop and maintain public education in, and appreciation of, the art and science of music in all its aspects by the presentation of public concerts and recitals and by such other ways as the Society, through its Committee, shall determine.
The Lord Mayor of Birmingham
## **President**
Music Director
David Wynne
**The Society is an unincorporated** Thomas David Fletcher (Chair) **association whose day-to-day affairs** Michael Cullen (Concert Manager) **are managed by Trustees appointed** Deirdre Finucane (Secretary) **by virtue of their being elected to** Barbara Howarth (Fundraising) **various honorary positions on the** Roger Monk (Treasurer) **Management Committee** Judy Prever (Membership) Andrew Steel (Vice-Chair) Christine Wright (Marketing)
During the year, the following changes to the Management Committee were made: Barry Jones retired and was replaced by Thomas David Fletcher.
**Independent Examiner** Paul Bayliss
Bankers CAF Bank Ltd 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4JQ
The Charities Act 2011 requires Trustees to
**1**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
**Registered Charity number 510847**
## **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2023 Statement of** prepare financial statements for each financial
prepare financial statements for each financial period which give a true and fair view of the surplus or deficit of the charity for that period.
**Trustees’**
**Responsibility**
In preparing those financial statements, they are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
- prepare financial statements on a going concern basis, unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation
- have regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.
The Trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud or other irregularities.
Statement on going concern basis
The Trustees have reviewed the Society’s financial position and confirm that the Society is a going concern in their opinion.
Statement on Reserves
The Accumulated Fund is the only present reserve that can be used for the day-to-day running of the Society and is designated as an unrestricted fund. For the ongoing security of this fund, a minimum amount in cash at bank or near-cash of at least £10,000 will be maintained. The amount in the Accumulated Fund at 31 May 2023 was £87,200. The Tour Fund is a designated income fund and the Commissioning Fund and the Training Fund are both restricted income funds.
Statement on investment policy
The investments of the Society are held in the Charity Commission’s COIF Income Fund, the interest on which is paid quarterly .During the year, the Society’s other investment in the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) fixed interest share fund was liquidated and re-invested in the COIF Income Fund, because of the greater income potential there than with CAF.
**2**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
**Registered Charity number 510847**
## **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2023**
All surplus cash is held in an interest-bearing Charities Aid Foundation gold bank account, the interest being credited to income and expenditure account.
## Statement on accounting policies
## **Fixed assets**
This is expenditure that relates to more than one accounting period and is therefore depreciated in the annual accounts over the estimated lives of those assets in equal instalments. The only fixed assets presently held are fully depreciated.
## **Fixed asset investments**
These are included in the Balance Sheet at year-end mid-market value as provided by the investment managers.
## **Debtors, prepayments, creditors and deferred income**
These are included on the Balance Sheet as receipts and payments that have either originally been included in a financial year but do not relate to that year or have been received or paid in a subsequent financial year, but relate back to the current financial year. Concert receipts and payments are excluded from this, as they often extend over two or more years.
**Statement on expenses**
Reimbursements of travel and office expenses incurred in the carrying out of their duties totalling £189 have been made during the year to two Trustees.
## **Statement on related parties**
There have been no related party transactions during the year.
**Plans for future periods**
In July 2023, there will be an evening of Choral and Organ Classics in Pershore Abbey, followed by an “In the Mood” concert of modern music in November 2023 in the Ruddock Centre, Edgbaston, Birmingham. This will be followed in March 2024 by JS Bach’s B Minor Mass, performed in Lichfield Cathedral.
**3**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
**Registered Charity number 510847**
# **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2023**
Signed by Chair
………………………………
Date of Trustees’ approval
12 July 2023………………………………
**Treasurer’s Report**
**4**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
**Registered Charity number 510847**
# **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2023**
## **Overall**
**In this post-Covid environment, our choir membership has grown very respectably, perhaps attracted by the major choral works that we have been performing in the past year. This has only been made possible by the donations and bequests that generous benefactors have made in the past few years.**
**In the year, three public concerts were held. These were Brahms’ “German Requiem” in July 2022, Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” in November 2022 and Haydn’s “Creation” in March 2023. A Christmas concert was also held in December 2022, from which the Acorns childrens’ charity raised £677. Audiences were still smaller than we wished for, perhaps due to audiences’ ongoing reluctance to be in more crowded public spaces, but, in every other way, the concerts were great successes.**
Overall, a £8,798 deficit was made, compared with a retained surplus of £11,060 last year, an adverse movement of £19,858. The main reasons for this are detailed under.
## Concerts and rehearsals
For the record, you will see from note 1 under **Other matters** the list of concert outcomes for the last six years.
There were four concerts in the year, all of which produced deficits, some substantial, mainly caused by the orchestral and soloist requirements of the three major works.
## INCOME
## Donations and legacies
This year, there was only one charitable trust grant, most probably again due to our current buoyant cash reserves. There was also only one private donation of £200 from a longstanding supporter.
## Members’ subscriptions
At £17,640 received, these reflect the warmly welcomed increase in new members in the year, more than covering the relatively small number of members that never returned after Covid. Of course, the magnificent music chosen to be sung in the year no doubt helped somewhat in encouraging people to want to join us.
## Interest received
There remains a substantial investment in the Charity Commission COIF Income Fund, made possible by the large donations and bequests received in the past few years.
## EXPENDITURE
## Orchestra
There were no orchestral concerts last year, when only small ensembles were needed, but in 2022/23 there were two.
**5**
**Registered Charity number 510847**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2023**
## Conductor and soloists
The number of vocal soloists needed last year was much smaller than in 2022/23, because of the nature of the works performed.
## Printing
There were four “commercial” concerts as against two last year.
## Venue hire
Four different venues as against three last year were used. Unexpectedly, for the Haydn concert, extra portaloos and organ hire became necessary, totalling £650. Deposits of £1,200 for future concerts were also paid.
## Other concert expenses
£276 for first aid services at the Pershore Abbey concert in July 2023 was paid in the year.
## Professional fees
Since rehearsals only re-commenced in September 2021, last year’s costs were smaller than usual by approximately 6 weeks, whereas this year, rehearsals ran for approximately 40 weeks. Fee rates for the Musical Director and Accompanist were also raised from September 2022.
## Publicity and archives
Since last year, the committee set a maximum budget of £1,500 per annum to be spent on this area of our activities, the need for which has been shown by the relatively good audiences that we have begun to enjoy again. Of this maximum, only £946 was spent in the year.
## Room hire
As for professional fees above, last year’s costs were smaller by approximately 6 weeks. In addition, Selly Oak Methodist Church raised their hire charges by 35% this year, because of the nationwide surge in energy costs.
## Music hire and buy
Last year’s costs included £845 for purchasing Will Todd’s “Passion Music” for the choir’s music store. This year, we paid £563 to bind in
**6**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
**Registered Charity number 510847**
## **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2023**
book form all of the summer 2023 concert music, plus £282 for hiring the Christmas concert music. The hire of band parts for the two orchestral concerts cost £247.
This year, for the first time, we paid a modest £240 to hire space from Savekers Solutions to house the choir store.
## Oratorio Prize competition
This is year 1 of a 3-year innovation, in partnership with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. We fund the purchase and inscription of the prizes themselves, £300 to the prizewinner plus the offer of a future engagement with our choir .Fees for the two judges of the competition are also funded.
## Administrative expenses
The £189 was reimbursed to two trustees.
## Other matters
1.
For comparison purposes, overall financial results for the past six years before exceptional expenses were as follows: 2017/18 £ 2,272 surplus 2018/19 £ 11,701 surplus 2019/20 £ 10,740 surplus 2020/21 £ 29,523 surplus 2021/22 £ 11,060 surplus 2022/23 £ 8,798 deficit
These included concert results as follows: 2017/18 £ 6,200 deficit
**7**
**Registered Charity number 510847**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2023**
2018/19 £ 2,362 surplus 2019/20 £ 4,489 deficit 2020/21 £ nil 2021/22 £ 5,122 deficit 2022/23 £ 12,109 deficit
## 2.
Our two investments comprise the CAF Fixed Interest Fund and the COIF Income Fund, which both diminished in value by the end of the year, by £658 and £729 respectively. These movements are of course due to stock market movements and outside our control. Because of the continued poor performance of the CAF Fund, the investment was liquidated and re-invested in the better-performing COIF Income Fund in May 2023.
## 3.
Cash at bank fell **£5,590** to **£2,713 i** n the year. Of this £2,713 a **negative** amount of £7,011 is available to pay for everyday running costs. Because of this, £10,000 of our COIF Income Fund investment (which counts as near-cash) was liquidated on 1 June 2023 and the proceeds credited to the bank account.
## 4.
Following a committee decision in June 2020, £2,500 was set aside each year out of the Accumulated Fund and transferred into the Commissioning Fund, a process that will continue in the future.
This latter Fund will be used to eventually commission new music for the choir to perform, and continues a very long tradition over the 178 years since the choir was founded.
## 5.
A £1,290 deposit paid to the Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire against a planned Away Weekend in April 2024 was paid from the Training Fund.
## 6.
I am pleased to again give warm thanks to all those on the committee and in the wider Society for the help and encouragement that they have given me over the past year.
## 7.
Lastly, I wish to thank Paul Bayliss for his
**8**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Registered Charity number 510847**
## **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2023**
advice and assistance as Independent Examiner, which is much appreciated.
Paul has indicated his willingness to serve in the coming year and therefore I am happy to commend him to choir members for reelection.
Roger Monk, Treasurer 12 July 2023
**9**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Income and Expenditure account for the year ended 31 May 2023**
||**2023**
**£**
**£**
**_Notes_**|**2023**
**£**
**£**
**_Notes_**|
|---|---|---|
|**INCOME FROM:**
**Donations and legacies**
Charitable trusts
Private donors
**Charitable activities**
**Concerts**
Ticket sales
Programme sales
Advertising
Provision of refreshments
**Support activities**
Members' subscriptions
Music hire or buy
**Total charitable activities**
**Other trading activities**
Members' fundraising
Rehearsal refreshments
**Investments**
Interest received
**TOTAL INCOME carried forward**|150
**_7_**
200
**_7_**
**350**
8,635
553
-
257
9,445
17,640
727
18,368
**27,813**
61
**_8_**
579
**_8_**
**640**
**2,662**
**31,464**||
||150
200
**350**
8,635
553
-
257
9,445
17,640
727
18,368
**27,813**
61
579
**640**
**2,662**
**31,464**||
||||
|||**2,662**|
||||
|||**31,464**|
**2**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Income and Expenditure account for the year ended 31 May 2023**
## **2023**
||**£**|**£**
**_Notes_**|**£**
**_Notes_**|
|---|---|---|---|
|**TOTAL INCOME brought forward**
**Less:**
**EXPENDITURE ON:**
**Raising funds**
Rehearsal refreshments
**Charitable activities**
**Concerts**
Orchestra
Conductor and soloists
Printing
Venue hire
Other concert expenses
**Support activities**
Professional fees
Publicity and archives
Room hire
Music hire or buy
Oratorio Prize competition
Insurance
Administrative expenses
Other support expenses
**Total charitable activities**
**TOTAL EXPENDITURE**
**SURPLUS/DEFICIT OF INCOME OVER**
**EXPENDITURE**
**Exceptional expenses**
**SURPLUS/DEFICIT OF INCOME OVER**|**31,464**
**60**
8,296
6,361
1,074
4,776
1,046
21,554
10,359
946
3,728
1,734
759
634
189
300
18,648
**40,202**
**40,263**
**(8798)**
-
**(8798)**|**31,464**
**60**||
|||||
|||**40,202**||
|||||
|||**40,263**||
|||||
|||**(8798)**
-||
|||**(8798)**||
|**EXPENDITURE AFTER EXCEPTIONAL**
**EXPENSES**||||
**3**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Balance Sheet as at 31 May 2023**
||**2023**|**2023**|**2023**|
|---|---|---|---|
||**£**
**£**||**_Notes_**|
|**Fixed assets**
Tangible assets
Investments
**Total fixed assets**
**Current assets**
Debtors and prepayments
Cash at bank
**Total current assets**
**Current liabilities**
Creditors falling due in one year
**Total current liabilities**
**Net current assets**
**TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT**
**LIABILITIES**
Unrestricted income funds
Restricted income funds
**TOTAL CHARITY FUNDS**
**Represented by**
**:**|-
102,403
**102,403**
2,676
2,713
**5,389**
-
**-**
**5,389**
**107,792**
87,200
20,592
**107,792**||**_2_**
**_3_**
**_5_**
**_6_**
**_4_**
**_4_**|
||-|||
|||||
|||**5,389**||
|||||
|||**107,792**||
|||87,200
20,592||
|||**107,792**||
|Signed by Chair
Date of Trustees' approval|Wednesday, July 12, 2023|||
**4**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Notes for the year ended 31 May 2023**
## **1. BASIS OF PREPARATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS**
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 and the Statement of Recommended Practice Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK (FRS102) issued on 16 July 2014
## **2. FIXED ASSETS**
|**Summary of movements of Fixed Assets in the year**
**Equipment**
**Cost**
**Brought forward 1 June 2022**
2 Display Boards + case
2 Banner Stands
**Carried forward 31 May 2023**
2 Display Boards + case
2 Banner Stands
**Accumulated depreciation**
**Brought forward 1 June 2022**
2 Display Boards + case
2 Banner Stands
**Carried forward 31 May 2023**
2 Display Boards + case
2 Banner Stands
**Net book value 31 May 2023**
**3. INVESTMENTS**
**Brought forward 1 June 2022**
CAF Fixed Interest Fund B - 12,893.07 shares sold in year
COIF Income Fund units bought in year
Net gain/(loss) on CAF Fixed Interest Fund B
Net gain/(loss) on COIF Income Fund
**Carried forward 31 May 2023**
COIF Income Fund - 5483.83 units
(Accumulated Fund and Training Fund)|**Total**
**£**
**£**
405
180
585
405
180
**585**
405
180
585
405
180
**585**
**-**
**103,790**
(15385)
15,385
-658
(729)
**102,403**
102,403
**102,403**|**Total**
**£**
**£**
405
180
585
405
180
**585**
405
180
585
405
180
**585**
**-**
**103,790**
(15385)
15,385
-658
(729)
**102,403**
102,403
**102,403**|
|---|---|---|
||||
|||**-**|
|||**103,790**
(15385)
15,385
-658
(729)|
|||**102,403**|
|||102,403|
|||**102,403**|
**5**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Notes for the year ended 31 May 2023**
## **£**
## **4. FUNDS Unrestricted income funds**
|**4. FUNDS**
**Unrestricted income funds**||
|---|---|
||**Accumulated Fund**|
|As at 1 June 2022|99,227|
|Surplus (deficit) for the year after exceptional expenses|(8798)|
|Gain/(loss) on investments in the year|(729)|
|Transfer to Commissioning Fund|(2500)|
|As at 31 May 2023|87,200|
|Made up of:||
|Cash|(7011)|
|Investments at valuation|91,535|
|Debtors less Creditors|2,676|
|Total|87,200|
|**Total Unrestricted income funds**|**87,200**|
|**Restricted income funds**||
||**Commissioning Fund**|
|As at 1 June 2022|5,075|
|Transfer from Accumulated Fund|2,500|
|Payments in the year|-|
|As at 31 May 2023|7,575|
|Made up of:||
|Cash|7,575|
||**Tour Fund**|
|As at 1 June 2022|(1091)|
|Receipts in the year|37,768|
|Payments in the year|(34528)|
|As at 31 May 2023|2,149|
|Made up of:||
|Cash|2,149|
|**New Swinnerton Heap Pascoe Training Fund**||
|As at 1 June 2022|12,816|
|Gain/(loss) on investments in the year|(658)|
|Payments in year less choir members' contributions|(1290)|
|As at 31 May 2023|10,868|
|Made up of:||
|Investments at valuation|10,868|
**Total Restricted income funds 20,592 Total Funds 107,792**
**6**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Notes for the year ended 31 May 2023**
|**5. DEBTORS AND PREPAYMENTS**
**Debtors**
Gift Aid income tax refunds
**6. CREDITORS**
Professional fees
**7. DONATIONS AND LEGACIES**
**Income from charitable trusts**
Brotherton Trust
**Total income from charitable trusts**
**Income from private donors**
Anonymous individuals
David Ricketts (in memory of Eric Ricketts)
Gift Aid
**Total income from private donors**
**Total income from donations and legacies**
**8. INCOME FROM MEMBERS' FUNDRAISING**
Sale of preserves
Rehearsal refreshments
**9. CHARITY COLLECTIONS DURING YEAR**
**Income collected for two charities (Crisis and Acorns)**
**and paid over**|**2023**
**£**
2,676|
|---|---|
||**2,676**|
||**-**|
||150|
||**150**|
||200
-
-|
||**200**|
|||
||**350**|
||61
579|
||**640**|
||**1,027**|
**7**
**2022**
|**£**|**£**|
|---|---|
||-
9,815|
||**9,815**|
||4,760
302
-
172|
||5,234
15,559
807|
||16,366|
||**21,600**|
||215
125|
||**340**|
||**2,370**|
|||
||**34,125**|
## **2022**
**£**
**£ 34,125**
**41**
3,176 3,316 456 2,676 732 10,356 8,059 38 2,267 1,289 - 622 125 268 12,668 **23,024 23,065 11,060** - **11,060**
**2022**
**£ £** - 103,790 **103,790** 4,000 8,303 **12,303** -66 **-66 12,237 116,027** 99,227 16,800 **116,027**
**2,022 £**
4,000 **4,000**
**66**
- **-**
7,125 1,000 1,690 **9,815 9,815**
143 197 **340**
**1,531**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 May 2023**
|**Income from:**
Donations and legacies
Charitable activities
Other trading activities
Investments
Other activities
**Total**
**Expenditure on:**
Raising funds
Charitable activities
Other activities
**Total**
**Net ordinary income/(expenditure)**
**Exceptional expenses**
**Net income/(expenditure) after**
**exceptional expenses**
**Transfers between funds**
**Net gains/(losses) on**
**investments**
**Net movement in funds**
**Total funds brought forward**
**Total funds carried forward**|**Unrestricted funds**
**Restricted funds**
**Total funds**
**£**
**£**
**£**
350 -
350
27,813 -
27,813
640 -
640
2,662 -
2,662
-
37,768
37,768|
|---|---|
||31,464
37,768
69,232
60 -
60
21,554 -
21,554
18,648
35,818
54,466|
||40,263
35,818
76,080|
||-8,798
1,950
-6,848
- - -|
||-8,798
1,950
-6,848
-2,500
2,500 -
-729
-658
-1,387
-12,027
3,792
-8,235
99,227
16,800
116,027|
||**87,200**
**20,592**
**107,792**|
|**Prior period total**||
|---|---|
|**funds**|**_Pages_**|
|**£**||
|9,815|**_2_**|
|21,600|**_2_**|
|340|**_2_**|
|2,370|**_2_**|
|-|**_2_**|
|34,125|**_2_**|
|41|**_3_**|
|10,356|**_3_**|
|16,062|**_3_**|
|26,459|**_3_**|
|7,666||
|-||
|7,666||
|-||
|-838|**_6_**|
|6,828||
|109,199||
**116,027**
Ind•p•nd•nt EXamin•S roport to th• Trust••s of Birniingham
F•stlv•l Choral Soclety on th• accounts for the y•ar •nd•d 31
May 2023 set 4)ut on pages 1 to 7 attach•d
I rgFJOrt lo the trustees cm my examinath)n of the accounts of the above charity for the year ended
31 May 2023.
R•sponslbllltl•• and basls of
A8 the Inj8te of sty. ycw are
resp)nsible for the preparation of the accounts
r•port in accordance wrth the requirements of the
Chanties kt 20111.the A¢VI The trustees
nshJer that an audit is not required for this
yèar under SeCn 144121 of the charit Act
2011 (the 2011 knt) and that an independent
examination * requwed.
I report in re8t of my examination of the
Sc¥Jety's aco)unts caffied out under 8ecti)n
145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my
examination I have follrywed 011 the applicable
Dire¢b"ons given by the Charity Commwion
und•r so¢tJon 1495llbl of the ACL
Ind•p•nd•nt •xamln•rf• I hamry completod my oxamin8tion. I confirni
that no material matters hav• come lo my
stat•m•nt attentK)n in connection wrth the examinatn
gmng me cause to bdieve that in any material
attounting feC¢xd8 were not kept in
re8P8cI of the SLxiety as required by
8ecticffl 130 of the Act.. or
2. the accounts do not accord with those
records". or
3. the accounts do not compty with the
applicable requirements conceming Ihe
fc¥m and contenl of acctyjnts Sel out in
the Charrties IAcc¢wnls and Reports)
Regulatn$ 2CQ8 other than any
roquirament that th• xcounts gNe a
'true and fair viww, v*thich is not a matter
consmlered a8 P*t of an indgFendent
examination.
I have no concems and have come acrogs no
other matters in conneclM)n wth the
examination to whth attent shoukl be drawn
In this pOrt in order to enabb a proper
understandi
of the acwunts to be reached.
Bimingha
Juty 2023