Paisley Sinfonia* Scottish Charity Number SC020718
Trustees Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 30 June 2025
Trustees
Alan Hutchison (President) Kenneth Paterson (Acting President 1[st] July – 31[st] December 2024) James Breingan (Treasurer) Fiona Butcher (Leader and Secretary) Lucy Driver (Librarian) Mary Sinclair (Concert Manager) Eilidh Brown (from 15[th] September 2024) Christine Johnston (from 15[th] September 2024) Valerie Shaw (from 15[th] September 2024) Kester Clark (until 15[th] September 2024) Shona Fletcher (until 15[th] September2024) Linda Jauer (until 15[th] September 2024)
Principal contact
Jim Breingan (Treasurer) 6 Park Road, Inchinnan, Renfrew PA4 9QJ tel: 0141 812 1425 e-mail: james.breingan@btinternet.com
(*Formerly known as St James Orchestra)
www.paisleysinfonia.org.uk
PAISLEY SINFONIA SC020718 Annual Report of the Trustees for the year ended 30[th] June 2025
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Recruitment and appointment of committee
The Trustees listed on the covering page form the committee of Paisley Sinfonia. In accordance with the Constitution, all of the society’s committee members serve for three years and are appointed or reappointed by the members at our Annual General Meeting held in September each year. The Musical Director is a member of the committee ex officio . At the AGM on 15[th] September 2024 Kester Clark, Shona Fletcher and Linda Jauer reached the end of their terms as members of the Committee and as Trustees. They were replaced by Eilidh Brown, Christine Johnston, and Valerie Shaw. Also, between July and December 2024 Alan Hutchison took a break as an active member because of a health issue; Kenneth Paterson was Acting President during this period.
Membership @ 30[th] June 2025 – 39 active members
Governing document
The society is a charitable unincorporated association and its purpose and administration arrangements are set out in our Constitution.
Charitable purposes
Our purpose, as recorded in our Constitution, is the study and practice of orchestral music, in order to foster public knowledge and appreciation of the same by means of public performance.
Paisley Sinfonia is a registered Scottish charity SC020718.
Activities and achievements
The members of the orchestra continue to meet weekly, on Sunday afternoons, from September until April and traditionally hold two concerts annually, usually in November and April. We continue to rehearse in Paisley North Church Halls (formerly Wallneuk North) in central Paisley which have been a very successful replacement for St James Church where we rehearsed for many years until it closed in 2016. However, the church has been earmarked for closure at some time soon and we are currently seeking an alternative rehearsal venue.
The number of active members has reduced slightly with a core membership of 39 players and others joining for one or other of the concerts. Where we have insufficient members for the parts required by any piece(s) of music, we seek the help of good amateur ‘extras’ or students wherever possible. Our website brings us regular enquiries about membership.
Nicholas Wilks continues as our Conductor and Musical Director.
The cost of performing in any of OneRen’s venues (e.g. Paisley Town Hall, Johnstone Town Hall) has become prohibitive for an amateur orchestra like ours, so both of our concerts in 2024 / 25 took place in Sherbrooke Mosspark Church in Glasgow. The first of these was on Saturday 23[rd] November 2024. The programme consisted of Telemann’s “Viola Concerto in G major” The soloist
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was Aiden Macdonald who originally started playing via Sistema Scotland’s “Big Noise” programme. This was followed by the Allegro from Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”, arranged for wind instruments by our 1[st] Oboist Kester Clark, Haydn’s “Symphony No. 104 in D major (London)”, and Dvořák’s Czech Suite in D major. Unfortunately, the date coincided with an unexpectedly heavy snowfall, which significantly affected our audience number, which was barely 50.
Our second concert at the same venue was held on Sunday 13[th] April 2025. We played Sibelius’ “Karelia Overture”, Mozart’s “Symphony No. 35 (Haffner)”, and Sibelius’ “Symphony No. 2 in D major”. While the number who attended was significantly better than in November at around 90, it is still disappointingly low and demonstrates that we need to return to a venue within Renfrewshire. We plan to hold our Autumn 2025 concert in St. Mark’s Church in Ralston, Paisley. Also, in spring 2025 we received a generous donation from one of our members.
Committee remuneration and expenses
Members of the committee received no remuneration during the year other than repayment of expenses, on production of receipts.
The conductor, who is an ex officio member of the committee, received a fee as agreed by the committee. Professional soloists and ‘extras’ including students also expect to be paid a fee.
Reserves
There was a surplus over the year of £4453.85 (in 2023 / 2024 a deficit of £801.18). The society had unrestricted funds of £8216.77 at the end of the year. We applied to Renfrewshire Council for CHEF funding to help with the cost of rehearsal and concert venues but were unsuccessful.
Subscriptions are the society’s main source of income. There is a concession subscription for students but all other members pay the same membership fee.
Concert ticket charges were held at £12, in line with local prices, with a concession charge of £6 for schoolchildren. Concert programmes were supplied with a request for a donation.
Approved by the Trustees on 18/1/2026 and signed on their behalf.
Alan S. Hutchison, President
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