Year to Year to 31 July 2025 31 July 2024 £ £ Subscriptions 5,309.00 5,259.00 Ticket Sales & ice-creams 5 137.40 4,462.30 Funding (2 grants) 3,500.00 Raffle 834.92 1,008.30 Prog Donations 192.28 295.69 Misc Donations 161.90 Total Receipts 11,635.50 15,020.29 Conductors’ fees inc. concert 4,195.40 2,350.00 Hall rental 2,194.00 2,511.09 Leader inc. concert performance 1,375.00 1,406.00 Printing, programs, posters / banners 1,305.64 907.75 Visiting Soloists 600.00 2,850.00 Music 427.17 3,003.60 Insurance 337.00 204.00 Sundry expenses — gifts 111.74 677.17 Bank charges 76.30 172.08 | Misc — sundries-ice cream/postage 154.65 Refreshments 46.85 64.79 Total Payments 10,669.10 14,301.13 Net incoming resources 966.40 719.16 6,147.84 Total funds as at 31* July 2024 £[6.147.84] Total funds as 1% August 2025 £ 7,114.24
- Approved by the Committee and signed on their behalf Treasurer Independent Examiner
Date: 20.08.2025
Date: 20.08.2025
Inverurie Orchestra (SCIO) Trustees’ Annual Report August 2024 – August 2025
Inverurie Orchestra
Scottish Charity Number: SC051922
c/o Burnside of Rothiebrisbane, Fyvie, Turriff AB53 8LJ
www.inverurieorchestra.co.uk
www.facebook.com/inverurieorchestra
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Charity Trustees
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Objectives and activities
Inverurie Orchestra was set up 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.
We aim to:
Provide an opportunity for instrumentalists to play in an orchestra under a Musical Director;
Enable musicians to enjoy the musical and social life of the orchestra, explore a varied repertoire and develop musically under the direction of the Musical Director, Orchestra Leader and other members;
Work to establish a profile in the Grampian area, through a number of public concerts and, in the future, through open rehearsals
We undertake weekly rehearsals during school term time and present at least 3 concerts a year, meeting the charitable purpose of “the advancement of the arts, heritage, culture or science” and “the advancement of education”.
Structure, governance and management
Type of governing document
Inverurie Orchestra is governed by its constitution.
Trustee recruitment and appointment
In the period from August 2024 – 2025 we had very few changes in trustees.
At each Annual General Meeting, all of the trustees retire from office and are eligible for re-election. At the AGM in August 2024, stood down as a trustee and was replaced by . There were no other changes.
The membership of the orchestra can elect any member to be a trustee with uncontested posts being confirmed by a proposer and seconder; contested posts are decided by member vote.
We employed a new Musical Director from August 2024 onwards – , along with a new orchestral leader – .
Achievements and performance
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Throughout the 24-25 season we ran weekly rehearsals during school term time and presented three public concerts. In December 2024 we held our first concert under our new Musical Director who joined us in August 2024. It was also our first concert with our new leader, . Naturally it took the orchestra a little time to adapt to a new Musical Director and Jesus’s style, working with individual players and sections during the rehearsal sessions, can be challenging. However, the orchestra responded well to the challenge and performed a mix of adaptations of wellknown Christmas tunes and The Nutcracker Suite to a sell-out crowd at St Andrews Parish Church, Inverurie.
For our spring concert we decided to continue with our approach of a having a shorter matinee concert at this time of year. The orchestra played Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 and No. 2, which were both received with enthusiasm and admiration by the audience. is a Mexican composer, whose Danzón No. 2 premiered in 1994. The piece is beginning to be performed more widely outside South America and provided the orchestra with a number of technical challenges, most notably the Latin American rhythms and varying accents and tempos.
Building on the success of the Danzón No. 2, we included a further piece by Arturo Marquez in our summer concert – the Conga del Fuego Nuevo. This further challenged the orchestra with a range of new rhythms and articulations, but was enjoyed by all, including the audience. We also played Schubert’s unfinished symphony (number 8 in B minor), and a playful piece by Haydn, his 45[th] symphony, also known as the Farewell Symphony. Written to encourage his patron to leave his summer residence and return to Court, the final movement features musicians leaving the stage one-by-one. The piece gives short solos to each section of instruments, showcasing individual players, before they leave the stage.
The summer concert also included Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite and Fauré’s Pavane. This repertoire gave the orchestra an excellent mix of rhythms, styles and expressions, challenging us all technically. Under Jesus’ direction we also worked on our ensemble playing, focusing on playing well together rather than just on learning the notes.
We have been joined by several younger players this year, who have had the opportunity to play with a full orchestra and to learn the basic musicianship required to function well as a group.
The combination of music we have covered has helped us to achieve our aim to promote, improve, develop and maintain public education in and appreciation of, the art and science of music. In particular, we have focused on bringing a range of different music types to audiences within the Inverurie area. We have played a mix of well-known classical pieces and some lesser-known Latin music Our Musical Director has helped to develop our skills in ensemble playing as well as our individual technical ability. The weekly rehearsals continue to provide a social networking and engagement opportunity for members both young and old.
Financial statements
Income and expenditure
Our main items of expenditure in 2024-25 were fees for our Musical Director for rehearsals and concerts and venue hire for both rehearsals and concerts.
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Inverurie Orchestra Expenditure 24-25
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= Conductor's fees = Venue hire
= Leader's fees = Printing programs and posters
= Visiting soloists = Music hire
= Insurance = Sundry expenses
= Bank charges = Refreshments
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Our main items of income were subscriptions from orchestra members and ticket sales from concerts.
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Inverurie Orchestra income 24-25
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= Subscriptions =Ticketsales =Raffle =Programme donations = Misc donations
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Overall, at the end of the year, the orchestra had a reserve of just over £7,000, which is a slight increase on last year. It is our policy to maintain a reserve of at least £1,000 to cover any unforeseen items of expenditure.
Donations
The orchestra received no donated facilities or services, but we received just under £200 in donations towards the printing costs of programmes at concerts and around £160 in miscellaneous donations during the year.
Future plans
We will continue with our programme of weekly rehearsals in term time and at least three concerts per year. We anticipate that most concerts will be in Inverurie, but we continue to look for alternative venues that could hold the orchestra and an audience. We hope to encourage more young adults to join us including senior school pupils especially where their opportunities for ensemble playing at school are limited.
Declaration
Signed on behalf of the charity trustees:
Print name:
Title / designation: Chairperson