## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
**Registered Charity number 510847**
## **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2025**
## **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** Thomas David Fletcher (Chair) **unincorporated association whose** Michael Ford (Joint Concert Manager) **day-to-day affairs are managed by** Barbara Howarth (Secretary) **Trustees appointed by virtue of their** Roger Monk (Treasurer) **being elected to various honorary** Tracy Piotrowska (Vice-Chair) **positions on the Management** Judy Prever (Membership) **Committee** Nicola Walker (Joint Concert Manager) Christine Wright (Marketing)
**Independent Examiner** Paul Bayliss Bankers CAF Bank Ltd 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4JQ
## **Statement of Trustees’**
The Charities Act 2011 requires Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial
**1**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
**Registered Charity number 510847**
## **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2025 Responsibility** period which give a true and fair view of the
period which give a true and fair view of the surplus or deficit of the charity for that period.
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 2025 was £91,616. 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 investment of the Society is held in the Charity Commission’s COIF Deposit Fund, the interest on which is paid monthly. 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
**2**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Registered Charity number 510847**
## **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2025**
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 investment**
This is included in the Balance Sheet at yearend value.
## **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 £38 have been made during the year to one Trustee.
**Statement on related parties**
There have been no related party transactions during the year.
Plans for future periods
In July 2025, there will be an evening of Folk Songs and Madrigals at Bromsgrove School. Performed at St George’s church, Edgbaston, Birmingham in November 2025 will be a concert of French Music.
## . Signed by Chair
………………………………
## Date of Trustees’ approval
9 July 2025…………
**3**
**Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
**Registered Charity number 510847**
# **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2025**
## **Treasurer’s Report**
Overall
**The absolute highlight of the choir’s year was the supremely successful Dream of Gerontius concert held in Leamington Spa in April 2025, given to a packed house in conjunction with Coventry Philharmonic Choir and the Atherstone Choral Society, accompanied by the Leamington Chamber Orchestra. The tiny financial deficit was shared between the three choirs. Great thanks are due to all the participants in this truly memorable performance.**
Overall **,** a £907 surplus was made in the year, compared with a deficit of £4,153 last year, a favourable movement of £5,060. The main reasons for this are detailed under.
## **INCOME**
## **Ticket sales**
Of the total of £11,834, £6,265 is attributable to the Dream of Gerontius concert alone, a record.
## **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 – Opera Choruses in July 2024, Music of America in the Autumn and the Dream of Gerontius in April 2025 plus a charity Christmas 2024 concert.
## **Members’ subscriptions**
**The year also saw yet another welcome increase in the number of new members, although some older members did decide to cease their membership, leaving the total number approximately the same, year on year.**
At £18,115 received, including Gift Aid, these reflect the welcome increase in new members, replacing those who left the choir. Of course, the magnificent music chosen to be sung in the year no doubt helped in this respect **.**
## **Music hire or buy**
The Music from America concert used a specially printed songbook, which attracted a higher contribution towards the cost from choir members this year, compared to last.
## **Interest received**
£320 extra was received over last year, caused by rising rates of bank interest and the receipt of deposits for the 2026 Tour from participating members.
## **EXPENDITURE**
## **Rehearsal refreshments**
This is nil because costs of purchase were paid
**4**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Registered Charity number 510847**
## **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2025**
from cash takings before they were banked.
## **Orchestra**
The Leamington Chamber Orchestra cost £3,500 less than the Amicable and Musical orchestra last year.
## **Conductor and soloists**
Soloist fees rose from £350-£400 last year to £450 this year.
## **Printing**
There were only three concerts last year, as against four this year. Approximately £500 more than usual was spent on publicising the Leamington concert, which, in the event, was justified by an audience of record size.
## **Venue hire**
Lichfield Cathedral cost £3,618 to hire last year, whereas Leamington Parish Church cost £1,193 this year, and there were four concerts in 2024/25.
## **Other concert expenses**
Last year’s figure included £590 loss on the provision of a coach for choir members to Lichfield, whereas this year the equivalent figure to Leamington was only £177. £300 was spent on buying our own staging.
Cost contributions from Coventry Philharmonic Choir and Atherstone Choral Society totalling £334 were received.
.
## **Professional fees**
Fee rates for the Musical Director and Accompanist were raised from September 2024, plus there were three extra rehearsals held for the Leamington concert **.** Retainer fees of £480 were also paid to the MD
## **Publicity and archives**
In 2023/24, the committee set a budget of £1,500 per annum for this. Of this maximum, only £439 was spent in the year as a refund of £380 overpaid in 2023/24 is included.
## **Music hire and buy.**
110 songbooks were purchased for the Summer concert, plus a hire charge for the same music that was necessary under copyright laws.
**5**
**Registered Charity number 510847**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2025**
## **Oratorio Prize competition**
This year there were two first places costing £200 each, plus a third place of £50, as against £350 in total last year. Also there were two Adjudicators this year and one last year, costing £150 each. In the year, the next three years’ trophies were bought, plus engraving, at a cost of £216.
## **Administrative expenses**
The £38 was reimbursed to one trustee.
## **Other matters**
## **1.**
For comparison purposes, overall financial results for the past six years before exceptional expenses were as follows 2019/20 £ 10,740 surplus 2020/21 £ 29,523 surplus 2021/22 £ 11,060 surplus 2022/23 £ 8,798 deficit 2023/24 £ 4,153 deficit 2024/25 £ 907 surplus These included concert results as follows: 2019/20 £ 4,489 deficit 2020/21 £ nil 2021/22 £ 5,122 deficit 2022/23 £ 12,109 deficit 2023/24 £ 9,211 deficit 2024/25 £ 2,368 deficit
## 2.
Cash at bank rose **£6,305** to **£21,563** in the year.
## 3.
Following a committee decision in June 2020, £2,500 per annum had been transferred from the Accumulated Fund into the Commissioning Fund, but this year it was decided to abandon that policy due to the perceived unaffordability of a worthwhile piece of music for the choir to perform. Accordingly, £7,575 was transferred back to the Accumulated Fund in the year.
## 4.
£5,920 deposits for the 2026 Tour of Holland and Belgium have been received. £64 was paid in the year for a reconnaissance trip.
**6**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
**Registered Charity number 510847**
## **Report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2025**
## 5.
There has been no movement in the Training Fund during this year.
## 6.
At the Leamington concert, a retiring collection for the benefit of the family of Seb Farrall raised the magnificent sum of £1,910.
## 7.
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.
## 8.
Lastly, I wish to thank Paul Bayliss for his 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 9 July 2025
**7**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Income and Expenditure account for the year ended 31 May 2025**
||**2025**
**2024**
**£**
**£**
**_Notes_**
**£**|**2025**
**2024**
**£**
**£**
**_Notes_**
**£**|**£**|
|---|---|---|---|
|**INCOME FROM:**
**Donations and legacies**
Charitable trusts
Private donors
**Charitable activities**
**Concerts**
Ticket sales
Programme sales
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**|-
**_7_**
220
**_7_**
**220**
11,833
716
126
12,675
18,115
1,318
19,433
**32,108**
22
**_8_**
510
**_8_**
**532**
**4,342**
**37,202**||150
200|
||-
220
**220**
11,833
716
126
12,675
18,115
1,318
19,433
**32,108**
22
510
**532**
**4,342**
**37,202**|||
||||**350**|
||||10,082
726
189|
||||10,997
18,288
1,067|
||||19,355|
||||**30,352**|
||||45
598|
||||**643**|
|||**4,342**|**4,022**|
|||||
|||**37,202**|**35,367**|
**2**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Income and Expenditure account for the year ended 31 May 2025**
||**2025**
**£**|**2024**
**£**
**_Notes_**
**£**|**2024**
**£**
**_Notes_**
**£**|**2024**
**£**
**_Notes_**
**£**|**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**TOTAL INCOME brought forward**
**37,202**
**Less:**
**EXPENDITURE ON:**
**Raising funds**
Rehearsal refreshments
**-**
**Charitable activities**
**Concerts**
Orchestra
5,043
Conductor and soloists
4,108
Printing
1,213
Venue hire
3,196
Other concert expenses
1,483
15,043
**Support activities**
Professional fees
12,707
Publicity and archives
439
Room hire
3,985
Music hire or buy
1,891
Oratorio Prize competition
966
Insurance
700
Administrative expenses
38
Other support expenses
526
21,252
**Total charitable activities**
**36,295**
**TOTAL EXPENDITURE**
**36,295**
**SURPLUS/DEFICIT OF INCOME OVER**
**907**
**EXPENDITURE**
**Exceptional expenses**
-
**SURPLUS/DEFICIT OF INCOME OVER**
**907**||**37,202**
**-**|||**35,367**
**72**|
||||||8,338
3,698
785
5,684
1,703|
||||||20,208
11,219
1,114
4,048
897
500
675
100
687|
||||||19,240|
|||**36,295**|||**39,448**|
|||||||
|||**36,295**|||**39,520**|
|||||||
|||**907**
-|||**(4153)**
-|
|||**907**|||**(4153)**|
|**EXPENDITURE AFTER EXCEPTIONAL**
**EXPENSES**||||||
**3**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Balance Sheet as at 31 May 2025**
||**2025**
**£**
**£**
**_Notes_**|**2025**
**£**
**£**
**_Notes_**|**2024**
**£**|**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**£**|||
|**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**
Signed by Chair
Date of Trustees' approval
**Represented by**
**:**|-
82,490|
**82,490**
**24,788**
**664**|-
82,490
**82,490**
2,850
15,258
**18,108**
748
**748**
**17,360**
**99,850**
83,134
16,716
**99,850**|-
82,490|
||3,225
21,563||||
||664||||
||||||
|||**24,124**||**17,360**|
||||||
|||**106,614**||**99,850**|
|||91,616
14,998||83,134
16,716|
|||**106,614**||**99,850**|
||||||
**4**
**Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Notes for the year ended 31 May 2025**
## **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**||**Total**|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|**£**|
|**Equipment**|||
|**Cost**|||
|**Brought forward 1 June 2024**|||
|2 Display Boards + case|405||
|2 Banner Stands|180||
|||585|
|**Carried forward 31 May 2025**|||
|2 Display Boards + case|405||
|2 Banner Stands|180||
|||**585**|
|**Accumulated depreciation**|||
|**Brought forward 1 June 2024**|||
|2 Display Boards + case|405||
|2 Banner Stands|180||
|||585|
|**Carried forward 31 May 2025**|||
|2 Display Boards + case|405||
|2 Banner Stands|180||
|||**585**|
|**Net book value 31 May 2025**||**-**|
|**3. INVESTMENTS**|||
|**Brought forward 1 June 2024 and carried forward 31 May**||**82,490**|
|2025|||
**5**
**Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Notes for the year ended 31 May 2025**
## **£**
|**4. FUNDS**
**Unrestricted income funds**
**Accumulated Fund**
As at 1 June 2024
83,134
Surplus (deficit) for the year after exceptional expenses
907
Transfer from Commissioning Fund
7,575
As at 31 May 2025
91,616
Made up of:
Cash
6,565
Investment at valuation
82,490
Debtors less Creditors
2,561
Total
91,616
**Total Unrestricted income funds**
**91,616**
**Restricted income funds**
**Commissioning Fund**
As at 1 June 2024
7,575
Transfer to the Accumulated Fund in the year
(7575)
-
**Tour Fund**
As at 1 June 2024
169
Receipts in the year
5,920
Payments in the year
(63)
As at 31 May 2025
6,026
Made up of:
Cash
6,026
**New Swinnerton Heap Pascoe Training Fund**
As at 1 June 2024
8,972
Receipts in the year
-
Payments in the year
-
As at 31 May 2025
8,972
Made up of:
Cash
8,972
**Total Restricted income funds**
**14,998**|**4. FUNDS**
**Unrestricted income funds**
**Accumulated Fund**
As at 1 June 2024
83,134
Surplus (deficit) for the year after exceptional expenses
907
Transfer from Commissioning Fund
7,575
As at 31 May 2025
91,616
Made up of:
Cash
6,565
Investment at valuation
82,490
Debtors less Creditors
2,561
Total
91,616
**Total Unrestricted income funds**
**91,616**
**Restricted income funds**
**Commissioning Fund**
As at 1 June 2024
7,575
Transfer to the Accumulated Fund in the year
(7575)
-
**Tour Fund**
As at 1 June 2024
169
Receipts in the year
5,920
Payments in the year
(63)
As at 31 May 2025
6,026
Made up of:
Cash
6,026
**New Swinnerton Heap Pascoe Training Fund**
As at 1 June 2024
8,972
Receipts in the year
-
Payments in the year
-
As at 31 May 2025
8,972
Made up of:
Cash
8,972
**Total Restricted income funds**
**14,998**|
|---|---|
||8,972|
||8,972|
||**14,998**|
|**Total Funds**|**106,614**|
**6**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Notes for the year ended 31 May 2025**
|**5. DEBTORS AND PREPAYMENTS**
**Debtors**
Gift Aid income tax refunds
**6. CREDITORS**
Sundry expenses
Professional fees
**7. DONATIONS AND LEGACIES**
**Income from charitable trusts**
Brotherton Trust
**Total income from charitable trusts**
**Income from private donors**
Anonymous individuals
**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 charity**
**and paid over**|**2025**
**2024**
**£**
**£**
3,225
2,850|
|---|---|
||**3,225**
**2,850**|
||-
104
664
644|
||**664**
**748**|
||-
150|
||**-**
**150**|
||220
200|
||**220**
**200**|
|||
||**220**
**350**|
||22
45
510
598|
||**532**
**643**|
||**1,910**
**405**|
**7**
## **Birmingham Festival Choral Society**
## **Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 May 2025**
|**Income from:**
Donatons and legacies
Charitable actvites
Other trading actvites
Investments
Other actvites
**Total**
**Expenditure on:**
Raising funds
Charitable actvites
Other actvites
**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**|**Total funds**
**_Pages_**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
220 -
220
350
**_2_**
12,675 -
12,675
30,352
**_2_**
532 -
532
643
**_2_**
4,342 -
4,342
4,022
**_2_**
19,433
5,920
25,353
15,267
**_2_**
37,202
5,920
43,122
50,634
**_2_**
- - -
72
**_3_**
15,043 -
15,043
20,208
**_3_**
21,252
63
21,315
38,383
**_3_**
36,295
63
36,358
58,663
**_3_**
907
5,857
6,764 (8029)
- - - -
907
5,857
6,764 (8029)
7,575 (7575) - -
- - -
87
**_6_**
8,482 (1718)
6,764 (7942)
83,134
16,716
99,850
107,792
**91,616**
**14,998**
**106,614**
**99,850**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**Prior period**
**total funds**|
|---|---|
**1**
## independent Examiner’s report to the Trustees of Birmingham Festival Choral Society on the accounts for the year ended 31 May 2025 set out on pages 1 to 7 attached
| report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity for the year ended 31 May 2025.
Responsibilities and basis of As the trustees of the Society, you are report inresponsibleaccordance forwith the preparationthe requirementsof the accountsof the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’). The trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is required. | report in respect of my examination of the Society's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in Carrying out my examination | have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. Independent examiner’s | have completed my examination. | confirm statement that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect: 1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Society as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or 3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view’ which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. | have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper fePans,, of the accounts to be reached. | padi Wha Birmingham 19 June 2025