2024-10-31-accounts

Loud and Proud Choir Trustees’ Annual Report Period 1 Nov 2023 to 31 Oct 2024

Charity contact information

Loud and Proud Choir

Scottish Charity Number: SC038303

Address: Postcode

-- Telephone number:

Email address: [e-mail] Website: https://loudandproudchoir.org/

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Charity Trustees

Name all of your charity trustees for the period, and the date they left if they were not in post for the whole year.

----- Start of picture text -----
1 Chair
2 Treasurer
3 Secretary
4 Vice-chair
5 Vice-secretary
6 Trustee
7 Trustee
8 Trustee
9 Trustee
10. Trustee
----- End of picture text -----

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Objectives and activities

Loud and Proud is an association of people who get together for the study, practice and performance of choral music. The ultimate goal is to promote equality and diversity, and foster public understanding and appreciation of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and non-binary community.

Our focus is, through our love for music, to create a community where everyone is welcome and can be themselves, helping them combat loneliness and progress in their journey of self-acceptance. Additionally, we perform for causes which are important for our community and for the protection and promotion of LGBTQ+ rights.

We rehearse on a weekly basis during the year and work towards two to three yearly performances, with the odd small gig in-between.

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Structure, governance and management

Type of governing document

The choir’s governing document is its Constitution, which was adopted in October 2006 and amended to its current form on 7 January 2019. All choir members should have access to it in digital form via Dropbox upon joining the association.

Trustee recruitment and appointment

As required by our constitution, the board of trustees will resign at the choir’s annual general meeting (AGM) on 28 April 2025. At that same AGM, a new committee will be elected, with each candidate nominated by a charity member and seconded by another as per the Constitution.

Trustees are chosen without an office – offices are assigned among trustees at the first committee meeting following the election. Where possible, outgoing office bearers will offer a handover or shadowing period or support to new members to ensure a smooth transition.

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Achievements and performance

2023-24 was another excellent year for the choir, which has gone from strength to strength.

We continued to attract new names to the waiting list for all sections throughout the year, particularly following concert performances where we were complimented on both our sound and the joy which people tell us members exude during performances. This year, we maintained our policy of growing the choir slowly but steadily, aiming to ensure new recruits are integrated securely and have a positive experience, particularly feeling welcomed in their first few weeks. Section reps have played a particularly important role in this regard as has the introduction of monthly post-rehearsal socials which afford people the opportunity to get to know each other in a relaxed environment.

We also affirmed and re-launched our ‘70% attendance at rehearsals expectation’ for anyone wishing to sing in our concerts and established a ‘resting members’ policy for those existing members who find they need some time out from choir for a period. As ever, the committee’s aim has been to balance the needs of existing members with the wishes of aspiring new members, ensuring fairness, transparency and accountability in how people are treated. This enjoyed wide-spread support from choir members.

Musically, our freelance Musical Director has

continued to lead, inspire and challenge us to achieve the best sound possible and this year we received a lot of feedback about how much we have improved as a choir. Additional sectional rehearsals held during the term across all sections of the choir supported the achievement of a more unified sound and the cementing of learning.

In July 2024, the choir travelled to Bristol to participate in Hand in Hand, the UK & Ireland’s biennial LGBTQ+ choir festival, where we performed on the main stage and outdoors. We built on the learning we gained from taking part in the Various Voices Festival in Bologna in 2022-23 and felt proud of our performance. We even added some choreography to one of our pieces, which was a massive step for some of us. Again, we received very positive feedback about both the quality of our sound and the level of inclusion and support that people could see between members.

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Inclusion has been a persistent theme for us throughout the year. In addition to supporting and furthering visibility and a positive image as an LGBTQ+ choir, we made some small but important adjustments to our staging arrangements to better support those members for whom moving around on stage is challenging. We also introduced routine use of a microphone and hearing loop to better meet the needs of members with a level of hearing impairment. As we did for our trip to Bologna, we made some financial support available for our visit to Bristol to any choir member who needed it, to minimise financial barriers to participation in the festival.

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Financial review

Statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

With a modest increase in subscriptions and a larger membership generating greater levels of income, as well as profitmaking in concerts, the choir’s bank balance has been increasingly healthy.

We have therefore opened an interest-generating savings account. In line with our long-standing policy on maintaining at least six months of reserves though (which we do by convention, not as a statutory obligation) we have ensured that the savings account has immediate access, allowing us to draw down funds without penalty, should we need to do so.

Details of any deficit

We have no deficit at the current time, nor have we experienced a deficit during the year in question.

Donated facilities and services

None, but we did perform for Porty Pride in summer 2024, with choir members having to pay for their ticket, leading to a small financial loss from the performance. The next committee will have to review if the object of the gig is aligned enough with our values to justify a similar situation moving forward.

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OSCR Submission Categories Receipts and Payments Accounts OSCR OSCR 2023-24 2022-23 Receipts Member Payments Subscriptions Donations Residential contributions T-shirt eonlributions After-party contributions £12,838.00 £3.947.96 £2.327.00 £218.24 £5.00 £599_00 £0.00 £6.850.80 £177.49 £0.00 £0.00 £26,963.49 £10,196.50 £2,650.01 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £728.69 £281.06 £5,177.94 £24.62 £o.ao £21.07 £19,079.89 Gfft Aid Receipts from fvrKlraising Trading Receipts Saving interest income Grants Receipts from other charitable aL*vtties Pa￿nentS Payments relating to charitable activities Rehearsal Costs Music elc Choir festivals Musical Director Fees Musical Director Expenses Stationery & postsge Choir gear IT-shirts} Residential Other £4.560.64 £546.73 £1,569.60 £7.059.03 £871.44 £0.00 £390.22 £2,169.03 £155.88 £2,341.47 £242.39 £1,266.52 £6,831.35 £842.38 £0.00 £0.00 £260.00 £737.34 Expenses for fijndraising activities GrantslDonations Trading Payments £0.00 £112.80 £1.525.95 £60.00 £0.00 £0.00 £3,583.34 £91.20 £1,036.00 £60.00 £27.27 £o.crfi PRIMarketing Concert Expenses linc. Venue} Bank Charges Payments for other charitable activities Governance Auditllndependent Examination Preparation Annual Accounts Legal £0.00 £0.00 £37.50 £19 117.62 £o.cKJ £239.00 £119.90 £17 678.16 Surplusl(Defieiti £7,845.87 £1,401.73 statement of Balances Balance brought for¢dard Surplusl{Deficitl on R&P Accounts Balance carried for¢4ard £13,494.69 £7,845.87 £21.340.56 £12,092.96 £1,401.73 £13,494.69 Reconciling Drfference £0.00 £0.00

Future plans

2025 will see the choir’s 20[th] Anniversary. At time of writing, our plan is to host an anniversary concert on 31 May 2025, reprising pieces that represent the choir’s history and pieces that mean a lot to us. We also aim to mount an exhibition of some kind, still to be determined, linking the choir’s history over 20 years to the progress in the representation of the LGBTQ+ community. To that end, we have already made links with the Scottish Council on Archives for assistance in managing the choir’s archive of material. We hope to end the year with a social event for both current and past choir members and supporters.

In addition, if time and energy allow, we aim to have a residential weekend for the choir in February 2025, inviting a guest musical director as in previous years.

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Declaration

Signed on behalf of the charity trustees:

Print name Designation Date

Treasurer 25 April 2025

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APPENDIX 3

	Independent examiner’s report on the accountsV2
Report to the trustees/members of	Charity name Loud and Proud Choir
Registered charity	SC038303
number
On the accounts of the	Period start date Period end date
charity for the period	Day Month Year Day Month Year
	01 11 2023 to 31 10 2024
Set out on pages	(remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)
Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner	The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the terms of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) 2005 Act and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). The charity trustees
	consider that the audit requirement of Regulation 10(1) (d) of the Accounts Regulations
	does not apply. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts as required under section
	44(1) (c) of the Act and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of independent examiner’s statement	My examination is carried out in accordance with Regulation 11 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the
	charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes
	consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeks
	explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken
	do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and, consequently, I do
	not express an audit opinion on the viewgiven bythe accounts.
Independent examiner’s statement	In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention [other than that disclosed on the attached page*] 1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements: • to keep accounting records in accordance with section 44(1) (a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations, and • to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulation 9 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations have not been met, or 2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed:	Date: 23rdJanuary2025
Name:
Relevant professional
qualification(s) or body
(if any):
Address:

*Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. If the words do apply, set out those matters which have come to your attention on the following page.

APPENDIX 3 Disclosure section Only Complete rf the examiner needs to highlight material problems. Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose