AGM

Southrepps Chorale - Annual General Meeting. 8.30pm Tuesday 17th October 2023

Southrepps Chorale Annual General Meeting held in Southrepps Village Hall on 17th. October 2023 at 8.30p.m.
Minutes of meeting

  1. Present: 43 members of the Chorale were in attendance. 
  2. Apologies: were received from Beth Walsh, Juliet Collier, and Nicki Land.
  3. Minutes of the last AGM on the 11th. October 2022 were approved, proposed by Michael Gurney and seconded by George Bradford.
  4. Matters arising: none
  5. Election of committee: Stan Jeavons and Janet Rosier were standing down from the committee, and were thanked by the Chair for their contributions. Julia Forsyth (proposed by Michael Gurney and seconded by Jane Morris) and Sally Chapman (proposed by Janet Rosier and seconded by Lynda Brown) were elected to the Committee.
  6. Chair’s report: attached below. Michael Gurney proposed a vote of thanks to the Chair for all her hard work and leadership over the past year, and this met with the acclaim of the meeting.
  7. Treasurer’s report: attached below
  8. Music Director’s report: attached below
  9. Any other business: none

The meeting concluded at 9.15p.m.

Chair’s Report 2023

This has been a particularly busy year for the Committee, as I’m sure they will agree.

So, we started with a very successful fundraising quiz in April, organised by Ian – our thanks to him. This raised about £400.

Then the following month we held the Rutter Requiem Come and Sing, an event which was supported financially by the North Norfolk District Council Arts and Culture Fund. This is the second grant that we have received from them and we are extremely grateful.

Amidst all this activity, we discovered that our website had been hacked, and that presented us with a big problem. It become obvious that by far the best option was to create a new one. At this point I must thank Penny and her husband Patrick who took this on and have spent hours overseeing it. I’m fairly sure that creating a new website was not in her Events Organiser job description when she took it on. I hope that you have all looked at it and will use it regularly.

This year we have been trying to rationalise our extensive music library, which Kate and Lindsey look after. Having put together a list of music which we are unlikely to use again, we have explored several routes for selling it or loaning it out. We have managed to raise nearly £200 in sales so far, and some pieces are out on loan; the latter could be developed we think, but someone needs to take that on separately. Kate and Lindsey don’t have time – perhaps you could speak to them or me if you are interested in helping. You don’t have to join the Committee!

As you know, I see this as my opportunity to thank the Committee for all their hard work and the support that they give me. They willingly give up a lot of time to the choir and pretty much turn their hands to anything.

And then there’s Stephen. I think I’m right in saying that he has always wanted the Chorale to be different from other community choirs. His vision and enthusiasm for offering us new opportunities musically and in so many different venues has certainly achieved this. Thank you Stephen.

Carolyn Nash

Hon Treasurer comments

I am delighted to present accounts that show that, in an active and ambitious year, your committee carefully managed the finances so that we ended the year with a surplus of £946. So our reserves are now just under two and a half thousand pounds, and are back to the level they were pre-pandemic.

In fact, if you look across to the year-end accounts 2018/19, and compare them with the latest accounts, you will see a close resemblance in the two sets of results, some five years apart.

Starting at the top with our income:

  • Membership subscriptions came from an average membership of 55.
  • Actually concert ticket sales of £2,100 was less than our budget required, however, thanks to:
    1. Some hard work by Carolyn and Ian in obtaining a grant from NNDC for £1225
    2. Again, thank you to Carolyn and Committee for the fund-raising Quiz Night
    3. And to Stephen who donated his services for our Come and Sing
    4. Fundraising also included the sale of some items from our library that we would not be likely to use again in the future.

Taking these contributions together, we managed to redress the shortfall in ticket sales of £800. Otherwise our outcome would be a lot less satisfactory than I am reporting.

Turning to our expenses:

  • Most of the headings are similar to those in prior years
  • The amounts spent on music scores has dipped as repertoire choices have enabled us to hire sets of scores, and to re-use music from the library we have built up over 12 years
  • Kate (and Michael) and Lindsey have renovated our music library, which in a much better state now, which is why we spent a modest amount on shelving
  • The largest amount in the Concert Expenses was for the orchestra: £2000 for musicians, and £1270 to hire the orchestral parts. Both of these amounts were as expected, and as planned for in our budget
  • The largest cost in “Miscellaneous” was £230 for food for our fund-raising Quiz evening.

I have to thank the Committee, and particularly to Carolyn for stepping in on the times it has not been possible for me to be at choir in the last year.

I am happy to take any questions.

SOUTHREPPS CHORALE ACCOUNTS FOR YEAR ENDING 31 AUGUST 2023 HAVE BEEN APPROVED BY:

Stephen Allen

Mike Brown

Penny Clifford

Juliet Collier

Wendy Dane

Carol Evans

Jennifer Evans

Julia Forsyth

Cathy Kingham

Louise Marriner

Penny McClean

Carolyn Nash

Jo Samuels

Ian Stevenson

Beth Walsh

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