Londonderry Bands Forum Financial Statements and Trustees Report For the Year ended 31st March 2023
Trustees Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2023 The Trustees of The Londonderry Bands Forum are pleased to present their report for the year ended 31 March 2023. Purposes and Activities of the Charity The Forum is established "to challenge and communicate at all levels" To forward our aims is still relevant in the ongoing peace process and our partnerships with others has expanded our remit outside Londonderry, This is evident in our monthly Board reports and the Quarterly reports to funders. Chalrs report The past year has been eventful for the Londonderry Bands Forum, it has seen us continue to engage with our member bands and musicians, fostering a strong sense of community. We continued to hold regular meetings and training courses to help share information and up skill our members. We have actively engaged with local authorities around a number of issues including parading funding and support and continue to advoke for increased support for music education and preservation. Covid is still causing issues and it is taking longer to get people back to practSces and events. Budget restraints and a lack of government are not helping when applying for funding. We are fortunate to be in the first year of a 2-year commitment of funding from CRC. We are looking forward to strengthening our partnerships with other cultural groups and to continue to enhance our youth involvement through outreach programmes. Main Achievements In the year We ran a child protectlon training course which was well attended and important for the bands involved to maintain their governance. As part of CRC Good relations week, we again ran a number of podcasts looking at cross community work bands have engaged in the last 10 years. We counite to share a lot of the good work and event bands are engaged with. Christmas Saw the Britannia Concert band play in the city centre which was support by CCI. This was received well by the local shoppers around the town. Our Co-ordinator completed his level 5 in leadership, thanks to NICVA who facilitated the course. Public Benefit Statement The Trustees of The Londonderry Bands Forum confirm that they have complied with their duty under section 17151 of the Charities Act 2011 to have regard to the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit and that the public benefit requirement has informed the activities of the Society in the year to 31 March2023. Page I