2024-08-31-accounts - Ely Choral Society

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ELY CHORAL SOCIETY

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT for the year ended 31 August 2024

Purpose and Trustees

Ely Choral Society is a charity registered with the Charity Commission, registration number 802308.

Its charitable purpose is 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 concerts and recitals. Also to further such charitable purpose or purposes as the trustees in their absolute discretion shall think fit but in particular through the making of grants and donations.

The Society is managed by a committee of Trustees elected from the Society’s membership.

The Trustees who served during the year were:

Jeremy James (chairman) Angela Major Linda Rogers Colin Batchelor Ruth Ogden Elizabeth Burton Clarke Brunt Elisabeth Every Roger Young Ruth James Jenny Holloman Virginia Grace

Musical Director: Andrew Parnell

Chair’s report

The chair’s report is, above all, an opportunity to look back at the year – celebrating everything that was good – and to thank those who contribute to making it so good.

Musically, our 2023/24 season was, as Andrew has reminded us, a good and varied year of musicmaking. We can take pleasure in the fact that Helen Medlock invited us (I think there were about 30 of us who were able to do it) to sing in a charity concert in aid of the Foodbank. We were encouraged that an orchestra made up of professional musicians considered us to be of such a standard that they chose to ask us to perform with them. And we should also make mention of another extra concert. In June, a couple of weeks before our July concert, a group, again about 30 strong, sang a selection from that concert repertoire, at an event organised by the Ely Festival. And, as Andrew was unavailable, Paul made his debut as our assistant conductor.

So: a fantastic year of music-making. And we were grateful to receive financial support through grants from the Williams Church Music Trust and from the Josephine Baker Trust.

It’s been great to see our numbers growing steadily over the course of the year. There is just a slight concern that nearly all of them have been sopranos and altos. So here’s a challenge for us all: let’s see if we can recruit a few more tenors and basses.

There are lots of people to thank for their particular contributions over the past year.

Our committee must be thanked for their work which includes

reviewing past concerts to see what lessons (positive or negative) can be learnt for future concerts;
planning the practicalities of upcoming concerts and agreeing the budgets for them;
looking at future plans;
monitoring our financial position;
receiving regular reports on Ely Youth Choir which we support.

Some particular thank you’s:

to our librarians who, with great efficiency, make sure that we always have the music we need;
to Angela Major, our publicity guru, who makes sure that our concerts are well advertised, both physically and on social media;
to Roger Young who produces the programmes for our concerts;
to Ruth James who looks after and communicates with the Friends of ECS;
to Clarke Brunt who ticks us off in the register week by week, and who manages all our communications (and who never seems to be absent!);
to Linda, Lis, Jonathan and all involved in the smooth running of Ely Youth Choir;
to Linda and Ruth Ogden for their secretarial duties;
to Ginny who, this time last year, became our treasurer and has done that job with great skill and know-how. You should see how busy she is, for example, the day after a concert as she pays huge numbers of invoices with great efficiency.
to Roger Hill who manages our website and also designs our publicity material;

There are some members of the committee who are standing down and whom we must thank.

This time last year, Colin Batchelor stood down as our treasurer but remained on the committee to ensure a smooth handover to Ginny. He’s now standing down from the committee.
Ruth Ogden has been our secretary, always producing immaculate minutes of our meetings.
Linda Rogers has shared in the production of those minutes. And also, very importantly, has been a member of the steering group of EYC. If she’s ever looked slightly breathless when arriving here on a Monday evening, it’s because she’s been at the EYC rehearsal – one of the chaperones ensuring the safety of the young people there.

So our thanks to lots of people for their contribution to another great year’s music-making. But great music-making doesn’t happen without a great Musical Director. So, looking back on all that he’s challenged us with and all the enjoyment we’ve had, we say an absolutely massive thank you to Andrew.

Financial review

The accounts show that we made an overall surplus in 2023/24 of £1,665 (compared with a deficit of £4,935 in 2022/23), comprising small surpluses on central and other activities of £926 (£1,401 in 2022/23) and on concerts of £739 (deficit of £6,337 in 2022/23).

The Society’s aim is that its central costs should be covered from central income, such as members’ subscriptions. This we achieved.

Before the pandemic, we also aimed to balance concert income and expenditure, over a period of years, so that popular concerts pay for the more artistically-challenging programmes. Post pandemic, we have been focusing on re-establishing our programme of concerts. This we have now achieved, with growing audiences each year. In 2023/24 we generated concert income of over £23,000 (compared with £14,974 the year before). As well as larger audiences, this income included £2,208 from the summer 2023 concert, and grants of £2,000 from the Williams Church Music Trust and £825 from the Josephine Baker Trust towards funding and engaging soloists for our performance of Bach’s Magnificat and Haydn’s Nelson Mass in April 2024. Overall, our concert activity in 2023/24 broke even, the first time that this has been achieved since the pandemic and a notable milestone. We will continue to work towards breaking even on concert activity. In the short term, however, the Society’s reserves are sufficient to meet small deficits.

Reserves at the year-end amounted to £30,696 (2023: £29,031). The Society aims to hold cash reserves at a level sufficient to cover the costs of a concert in the event that no income is generated. Currently this is set at £23,000.

Jeremy James

Chair

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|||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |ELY|CHORAL|SOCIETY| |INCOME AND|EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT for the year ended:| |31st August|2023|31st August 2024| |£|£|CENTRAL|INCOME|£|£| |11,453|Subscriptions|14,553| |758|Friends|650| |2,579|Gift Aid|0| |530|Donations|0| |123|Interest|and|bank|refunds|received|190| |405|EYC:|Unrestricted|80| |0|EYC:|Restricted|0| |15,847|15,473| |CENTRAL|EXPENDITURE| |(508)|Making|Music|(571)| |(1,326)|Hire|of rehearsal|room|(1,406)| |(7,046)|Musical|Director|(7,330)| |(541)|Accompanist|(90)| |(300)|Website|(300)| |Admin|(55)| |(337)|Publicity|(200)| |(95)|Bank|Charges|(206)| |(3,634)|EYC:|Unrestricted|(3,995)| |0|EYC:|Restricted|0| |(13,786)|(14,152)| |2,061|NET TOTAL|1,320| |CONCERT|PROFITABILITY| |2,560|Easter 2023|Income|-| |(1,651)|Expenditure|-| |909|-| |-|Summer 2023|Income|2,208| |(90)|Expenditure|(170)| |(90)|2,038| |2,171|Autumn|2023|Income|4,857| |(5,813)|Expenditure|(5,347)| |(3,642)|(490)| |2,563|Christmas|2023|Income|3,743| |(2,465)|Expenditure|(2,892)| |97|851| |9,042|Easter 2024|Income|9,702| |(10,078)|Expenditure|(11,511)| |(1,036)|(1,809)| |291|Summer 2024|Income|2,534| |(2,835)|Expenditure|(1,976)| |(2,544)|558| |(30)|Autumn|2024|Expenditure|(310)| |(30)|(310)| |Christmas|2024|Expenditure|(50)| |(50)| |Summer 2025|Expenditure|(50)| |(50)| |(6,337)|NET TOTAL|739| |OTHER|ACTIVITIES| |1,368|Music|hire|and|sales|Income|1,084| |(1,976)|Expenditure|(1,510)| |(608)|(426)| |90|Folders|Income|102| |(141)|’|Expenditure|(70)| |(51)|32| |(659)|NET TOTAL|(394)| |(4,935)|SURPLUS/(DEFICIT)|FOR THE YEAR|1,665|

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ELY CHORAL SOCIETY
SUMMARISED INCOME AND EXPENDITURE
31st August 2023 for the year ended 31st August 2024
£ £ £ £
15,847 Central Income 15,473
(13,786) Expenditure (14,152)
2,061 1,320
16,626 Concerts Income 23,045
(22,963) Expenditure (22,306)
(6,337) 739
1,458 Other activities Income 1,186
(2,117) Expenditure (1,580)
(659) (394)
(4,935) SURPLUS/{DEFICIT) FOR THE YEAR 1,665
BALANCE SHEET as at
31st August 2023 31st August 2024
£ £
33,966 Value of funds brought forward 29,031
(4,935) Surplus/(Deficit) 1,665
29,031 Value of funds carried forward 30,696
Funds
28,279 Unrestricted Funds 29,944
752 Restricted Funds 752
29,031 30,696
Invested
10,937 Current accounts 12,447
18,094 Deposit account 18,249
29,031 30,696
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Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of the Ely Choral Society

| report on my examination of the accounts of the Society for the year ended 31st August 2024 which are set out on these 2 pages

Responsibilities and basis of report

The Charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("the Act").

| 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 statement

| have completed my examination. | confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

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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 understanding of the accounts to be reached.
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\E LY Mike Axford
Address: 53 Ward Way
Witchford
Ely CB6 2JUR
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