GARLETON SINGERS
CHAIR REPORT 2025
We’ve now been rehearsing at Holy Trinity for a year, and I think we all agree that it’s a great improvement on The Maitlandfield. The main benefit being that Caroline has a proper piano to play. Thanks to for making this space available to us.
We’ve done some great concerts in the last year and had some amazing reviews. The Armed Man on 11[th] November was a huge success and we were very pleased to be able to donate over £2500 to Poppyscotland. The spring concert with Meadows Chamber Orchestra was the other highlight and I know how much we all enjoyed performing with a large orchestra of such high standard. The Puccini was glorious to sing, but ‘Illuminari’ was the piece that got an incredibly enthusiastic response from the audience and ‘thoroughly excellent’ as a review. Couldn’t ask for better than that.
Thanks to for putting together another wonderful year of interesting music and for making all our rehearsals such fun. And thanks to for being such a great accompanist in both rehearsals and concerts.
Three committee members are standing down this year. as secretary, as concert organiser and who looked after ‘Friends’. On behalf of all of us I want to thank them for all their hard work and everything they’ve done for Garleton Singers. Although we’ll really miss them on the committee, we have 3 very able replacements; and
. Thank you to them for stepping in.
As you all know, we have a new website and a lot of work has been put into this by . We’re hugely grateful for the time and thought they’ve put into this. It will make the management/administration of Garleton Singers much more straightforward. Please will everyone familiarise themselves with the new website and get used to checking it regularly for choir updates, rehearsal schedules, homework and practice files. It’s very user-friendly.
Looking forward to another year of great singing ending up with a trip to Salamanca.
GARLETON SINGERS
Treasurer’s Report on Accounts for the Year to 31 July 2025
bank balance stands at £20,151, up from £13,738 the year previously. The increase is due to higher total ticket sales during 2024-25 which largely balanced the overall costs of putting on five concerts, even though the entire surplus of £2,389 from the Armed Man concert in the autumn was donated to Poppy Scotland. The choir’s other principal sources of income, from members’ subscriptions and friends’ donations, were not fully utilised in meeting general expenditure during the course of the year, which included in particular the fees of the musical director and the accompanist, and the hire of rehearsal facilities at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.
It cannot be assumed that future concerts will break even in this way. In the past, a surplus from the Christmas concert has been needed to offset deficits from other concerts. The Committee consider it prudent to carry a reserve of at least £10,000 to cover potential losses from concerts in the event of unforeseen events leading to cancellation. Certain expenses of the choir tour to Salamanca in 2026 will also require to be subsidised. In these circumstances the Committee does not regard the current credit balance as excessive. It is, however, proposed that the annual subscription for members remain at the current level of £180 for the year 2025-26.
During the year a new Zettle card machine (operated through PayPal) was purchased, enabling tickets to be purchased by choir members by card at rehearsals, with the money going directly to the choir bank account. This is a much more efficient system for selling tickets and ensuring that payment is promptly received.
We continue to receive a modest amount of income from lending music in our library to other choirs, via the “Making Music” facility to which we subscribe.
14 August 2025
Garleton Singers Scottish Registered Charity SC002500
Receipts and Payments Year ended 31 July 2025
| Receipts | 2024-25 | 2023-24 | Payments | Payments | 2024-25 | 2023-24 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social events | 0 | 1516 | Accompanist fees | 3942 | 3371 | ||
| Donatons received | 3505 | 2891 | Bank service charge | 7 | 0 |
||
| Friends subscriptons | 1004 | 478 | Catering and concert refreshments | 91 | 0 |
||
| Fundraising | 0 | 24 | Choir summer social + other socials | 218 | 1845 | ||
| Miscellaneous | 146 | 190 | Donatons made | 2389 | 772 | ||
| Music hired out | 294 | 1203 | Flowers and presents | 426 | 476 | ||
| Programme advertsing | 770 | 315 | Graphic design, posters, tckets | 3092 | 1684 | ||
| Subscriptions | 14650 | 12288 | Hire of halls | 114 | 14 | ||
| Tax reclaimed on Gif Aid (2024-25 to be claimed) |
0 | 3103 | Hire of venues | 5164 | 6025 | ||
| TIcket sales | 18262 | 13995 | Making Music fees and insurance | 566 | 543 | ||
| Sponsorship | 500 | 1215 | Miscellaneous (incl prepayment) | 352 | 0 |
||
| Bus hire contributons | 320 | 280 | Music hired/copied | 806 | 500 | ||
| Music and folders purchased | 506 | 1864 | |||||
| Music storage | 0 | 630 | |||||
| Musical director's fees | 7442 | 7622 | |||||
| Performing rights fees | 261 | 345 | |||||
| Photocopying/postage | 255 | 176 | |||||
| Printing | 524 | 2105 | |||||
| Rehearsal fles subscripton | 149 | 0 |
|||||
| Soloists/orchestra | 5296 | 4968 | |||||
| Staging storage/labour/van hire | 248 | 220 | |||||
| Uniform | 0 | 37 | |||||
| Website/zoom/domain name | 311 | 627 | |||||
| Zetle card machine purchase | 179 | 0 | |||||
| Bus hire | 700 | 650 |
|||||
| Total income | 39451 | 37497 | Total payments | 33038 | 34474 | ||
| Surplus/deficit Carried forward from previous year Balance |
2024-25 6413 13738 20151 |
2023-24 3023 10715 13738 |
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GARLETON SINGERS MUSIC SOCIETY
TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT
From 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2025
Objectives and activities
In terms of its Constitution, the object of the Society shall be 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 from time to time.
The Society presents four concerts each year in Haddington, with one of these, in Spring, also performed in Edinburgh. The programme for 2025-26 includes a joint concert with a choir from Iceland; the usual Christmas concert; and Karl Jenkins’ Stabat Mater in the spring. In October 2026 the choir will travel to Salamanca in Spain to present a concert there.
Structure, governance and management
The Society is an unincorporated association. Its governing document is its constitution. Its trustees comprise the members of the choir committee; details of the current trustees have been submitted to OSCR. They are elected annually at the choir’s AGM, held at the end of August or beginning of September.
Achievements and performance
Details of the choirs’ achievements and performance are set out in the Chair’s Report, submitted herewith. Of particular note is the choir’s new website at www.garletonsingers.co.uk , which contains much information and will streamline procedures for, eg, collection of subscriptions and payment for concert tickets.
Financial review
The Treasurer’s Report and account of receipts and payments are submitted herewith. At the close of the choir’s financial year on 31 July 2025 the Society had a positive bank balance of £20,151. The surplus of £6,413 achieved in 2024-25 was largely attributable to higher than anticipated ticket sales.
The Society’s reserves policy is to hold six months’ projected costs in order to cover liabilities if a concert had to be cancelled at very short notice. In addition, provision is made for a potential
as the costs incurred by the musical director and accompanist. The current surplus may also enable the Society to engage a larger orchestra for certain concerts.
The annual subscription payable by choir members will remain at £180 for 2025-26.
Declaration
Signed on behalf of the Charity’s Trustees
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