TRIANON MUSIC GROUP
Registered Charity No. 276715
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Trianon Music Group
for the financial year 1 May 2015 – 30 April 2016
held on Monday 26 September 2016, 7.30 pm at the Co-op Education Centre, Ipswich
Members Present: 24
Monica Rohtla, Peter Norton, Sheila Stannard, Roy Everett, Jean Shaw, Gordon Hughes, Janet Dann, Rebecca Conway, Linda Eastwood, Margo Pigott, Adrian Kitchen, Be Bird, David Ruddock.
Including the following Trustees
Simon Fisher (Chairperson)
Nigel King (Vice-Chair)
Chris Green (Artistic Director)
Carole Cowgill (Treasurer)
Izzy Ixer (Publicity Officer)
Dominique Nightingale (Administrator)
John Barratt (Choir Secretary)
Gillian Williams (Choir Representative)
Paul Thomas (Choir Representative)
Josh Mundy (Orchestra Representative)
Bev Ruddock (IAA Representative)
1.Welcome from the Chairperson.
Members were welcomed by the Chairperson, Simon Fisher, who recorded an attendance similar to that of the previous year.
2.Apologies for absence: Apologies were received from:
Margaret Baldry, Wendy Caiels, Dorothee Double, Sandy Feasey, Yvonne Graham, Beryl Hughes, James Kent, Susie Mawson, Fiona Reid, Maddy Rhodes, Nigel Walker, Sophie Watson, Alan Wilcox, Kevin Woollard.
3.Adoption of the Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Tuesday 22nd September 2015
The Minutes were adopted unanimously and signed as a true record.
4.Chairperson’s Report
The Chairperson, Simon Fisher, now in his twelth year as Chair, summarised the Group's activities over the past year starting in September 2015.
Financial results were similar to the previous year after a small improvement in concert ticket sales and an effort to reduce concert expenditure but a decrease in the value of investments. The overall surplus for the year was £2,775.
Membership of the Group continued to run at a high level and currently numbered 92 players and 124 singers. There had been success in recruiting new singers into the Tenors and Basses. Overall the Management team continued to pay close attention to the list of members to understand people’s availability and commitment to supporting the concert programme.
The Group attracted sponsorship for all three major concerts from Scrutton Bland, Barchester Homes and the Friends of Trianon.
The Bursary Scheme had supported two Orchestra members with their musical education. It was a significant element in fulfilling one of Trianon's key objectives which was to help individuals to further their education in music.
The Group continued to be extremely grateful to the considerable unpaid efforts of its Artistic Director Emeritus Professor Christopher Green OBE who conducted all three of Trianon's major concerts in this year, as well as four community concerts. Combined with voluntary contributions in key roles by many other members, the Group was able to operate in a way that enabled membership subscriptions to be amongst the lowest in the region.
Major Concerts
The September 2015 concert, entitled Trianon Ipswich Prom, was conducted by Emeritus Professor Christopher Green at the Corn Exchange and sponsored by Scrutton Bland. The programme included Matthew Curtis' Fiesta, John Rutter's Gloria, Vaughan Williams' English Folksong Suite, Tribute to Rodgers and Hammerstein by Andrew Burke, Spitfire Prelude and Fugue by William Walton, Me and my gal by Noel Gay and a Last Night of the Proms sequence.
The size of the audience was smaller than usual with 36% seats remaining unsold. Both Trianon and Box Office sales were down though costs were also down for publicity and music hire. This yielded a reasonable profit of £1,157.
The January 2016 concert, entitled Trianon Music Group on the Bright Side was again at the Ipswich Corn Exchange, and was sponsored by Barchester Homes. Our conductor was Emeritus Professor Chris Green.
This programme of familiar music brought out a confident performance by players and singers but had a slightly disappointing ticket sales of 606 compared to previous January. It made a profit of £2,526.
The Spring concert in April 2016 was entitled The Presidential Suite and again conducted by Chris Green. It was sponsored by the Friends of Trianon. The concert featured Malcom Arnold's OverturePeterloo, John Rutter’s Amazing Grace, Tchaikovsky' Symphony No 2 in C minor Op.17, Vaughan Williams' O Clap your Hands and John Rutter's Mass of the Children. Unfortunately despite continuous advertising ticket sales were poor until the last three days. Financially the concert made a profit of £262 after lower than usual costs.
Trianon in the Community
Four concerts were performed within a programme that continues to offer other charitable organisations the opportunity to raise funds for themselves. The events were as follows:
9 May 2015 St Peter's by the Waterfront, Ipswich. Funds raised £230.
3 October 2015 St Andrew's Church, Chelmondiston. Funds raised £463
14 November 2015 St Mary the Virgin Church, Mendlesham, raised £207.
5 March 2016 St Mary's Church, Hadleigh. Funds raised £200.
In July Trianon took part in the annual Ipswich Music Day, when a small group of players performed in Christchurch Mansion, whilst members of the Choir performed in St Margaret's Church.
Trianon Arras Tour
Also in this financial year, in October, a group of Trianon Singers with friends from Anglia Singers set off for a highly successful three day tour in Arras, France where we performed four concerts, of which two were with our French friends in a performing group called Crescendo. The local support was tremendous and Crescendo offered warm and generous hospitality.
Such tours require a significant amount of planning over a long period, and many thanks must go to Maddy Rhodes and her small team for organizing such a successful tour.
Management Team and Volunteers
The Chairperson thanked by name the Management Team and all those volunteers who are essential to making Trianon successful in all its many activities.
A special thanks went to Izzy Ixer who had headed up all of Trianon's publicity and was stepping down after 4 years in the role. In that time she had managed the relaunch of the Group's Website which was superb, and pursued endless ideas with boundless energy for promoting the Group in the press, magazines, local radio and social media.
The Chairperson also acknowledged the contribution of all those in the Music Committee.
Finally the Chair expressed the Group’s gratitude to the considerable unpaid efforts of the Artistic Director Chris Green and similar contributions by many others that allow the Group to operate in the way it does.
The past year had been enjoyable and successful, and from our 2017 Concert Season Flyer the coming year promised to be also jam packed with some cracking music.
There was one question from the floor:
Q. Could the librarians be added to the list of thanks?
A. Indeed, and the Chair thanked by name Emma Grant, Orchestra Librarian and Peter Norton, Choir Librarian.
5.Artistic Director’s Report
The Artistic Director listed the issues which he had raised at last year's AGM, namely: obtaining rehearsal venues, obtaining choir and orchestral music, programming sectional rehearsals and the growth of commercial so-called 'community choirs'. These issues had not disappeared although considerable energy had been invested in researching alternative rehearsal venues, which had led to the use of Northgate Arts Centre for the first time and Cauldwell Hall Rd Baptist Church for sectionals. However weight-loss clubs continued to interfere with certain nights' use of regular venues.
The Music Committee was also aware of the need to re-examine past repertoire and tried to programme music worthy of repeating. The most recent programme was a good example where all three works had been performed before (at least once or twice) but with a sufficiently long gap.
In the past twelve months’ artistic activity, the Group had enjoyed enthusiastic audiences even if, at times, there had not been “sell out” houses. Trianon benefitted from the programme mix of popular, more serious fare and the challenge, and a breadth of repertoire that few other music groups could boast.
Whilst the April programme was much enjoyed, the work that seemed to make the great impact was that by Malcolm Arnold, and the Overture Peterloo. Many performers were moved by the drama of the work featured in the April 2016 programme.
The four community-based concerts, although lighter on time for rehearsal, could provide a challenge in terms of repertoire – a challenge to which the wind and singers rose in the autumn 2015, and strings and singers in the spring and summer 2016. Happily audiences had responded in terms of turning up to the concerts and recording their appreciation, as they did on Ipswich Music Day July 2016.
As the powerful sound of Belchazzar's Feast still echoed in his head, the Artistic Director recalled how good it was to be back at Snape Maltings with its world-class acoustic, one where no one could musically hide. He was hoping that Trianon's return would not take so many years as this time, but that was dependent on the economics of the situation.
The Artistic Director thanked the Concert Management Team for their support. He finally thanked by name all the members of the Music Committee under the chairing of Cath Bury for their help, support and guidance during the past year. With the coming celebration of Trianon's Diamond Jubilee just under three years time now, he announced the start of some serious talking led by Janet Dann next month.
There was one question from the floor:
Q: A lot of choir members should have a theory session apart from choir rehearsals. It would be useful but people don't dare ask.
A: Yes, we have done that in the past and we'll consider it in the Music Committee. Trinity College website is good for that.
6.Treasurer’s Report
The Treasurer, Carole Cowgill, presented the accounts.
The financial results for the period, together with the statement of accounting policies, were shown in detail in the audited accounts which formed part of her report.
The policy of the Management Committee is to cover the costs of concerts for each season from ticket sales and sponsorship, and to cover the cost of administration from subscriptions.
The group remained financially strong. The concert account recorded a surplus of £3,749, which was a increase on the £1,516 surplus of the previous year. There was a decrease of £844 in concert income, largely due to a decrease of £500 in sponsorship.
Sponsorship was becoming harder to obtain in the current financial climate.
Expenditure on the concert account was down £2,947 on the previous year. There were decreases in the rehearsal and concert hall hire of £603, music sales and hire of £351, programme printing of £269, soloist/guest conductor fees of £440 and in miscellaneous concert expenditure of £774. There were an increase in the cost of posters and advertising of £128.
The administration account recorded a deficit of £1682, higher than the previous year's deficit of £909. There was a slight decrease in members' subscriptions and gift aid income from the 2015 figures, but both were significantly higher than the 2014 totals. Friends subscriptions increased by £229 to £873. Trianon's new website was launched during the year at a cost of £1298.
The Bursary Fund showed a surplus in the year of £ 222, with a slight decrease in income and only one Bursary paid.
The Tour Fund showed a surplus of £470 from the trip to Arras in October 2015 of over 50 musicians from Trianon and Anglia Singers. Expenses were lower than originally budgeted, mainly due to favourable exchange rates. It was agreed to fund out of the Tour Fund tickets to the value of £222 for members of Crescendo, our host choir in France, to attend our January concert.
The Patrons Fund showed subs income of £873, with £500 being used to sponsor the April 2016 concert.
In conclusion, the Balance Sheet remained very strong with £31,131 in the General Fund and £98,813 total funds.
Reserves Policy: The reserves should provide the group with adequate financial stability and the means for it to meet its charitable objectives for the foreseeable future.
Contingencies which may arise include last minute cancellation of major concerts (as in January 2010 due to bad weather), paying conductor's fees in the event of illness, storage cost (the current musical director does not charge for his services and provides storage for music and instruments), and the cost of replacing musical instruments. In addition there is uncertainty over ticket sales in the current economic climate, and increased costs of rehearsal rooms hire and music.
The Trustees have established a policy whereby unrestricted funds not already designated should represent at least 12 months of normal operational expenditure, or approximately £25,000 in the year to 30th April 2016. At this level, the Trustees are confident that the Group would be able to carry on its activities in the event of a significant shortfall in income.
The Trustees will review the amount of reserves required on a regular basis at management meetings, at least every six months.
Designated Funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the Trustees for particular purposes. They include:
Patrons Fund: (£11,058) comprises subscriptions and donations from friends and patrons which are used for special events and projects decided by the Management Committee.
Bursary Funds: (£26,520) the capital fund generates income from investments which is used to provide bursaries to suitably qualified members to enable them to continue and develop musical education.
Tour Fund: (£1,143) used to recover cost of overseas tours from those participating, or for expenditure incurred in hosting overseas music groups visiting on their tours. Any surplus will be used for general expenses of future tours.
Angela Chaplin Fund: (21,113) bequest received in August 2012 from a former choir member. The group are actively seeking ways to spend this appropriately.
Risk Assessment: The Management Committee had not adopted a formal Risk Assessment Policy. The main risk areas were considered to be:
•Public liability claims arising from concert activities
•Cancellation of concerts in respect of which commitments had been made
Both these areas were the subject of insurance arranged through Making Music, formerly known as the National Federation of Music Societies.
•Loss of suitable and affordable venues
The group was a member of Ipswich Arts Association which took an active role in safeguarding the interests of the group and other groups with similar interests.
Investment Policies: The investments were regularly reviewed by the Chairperson and Treasurer. Cash fund surpluses were held in interest bearing accounts where appropriate.
This report was approved by the Management Committee on 26 September 2016 and signed on its behalf by Simon Fisher, Chair.
There were several questions from the floor:
Q: Why do we have only pages 8 to 12 of the Treasurer's Accounts?
A: This is to try and keep cost down as there is a lot to photocopy. The missing pages are those which were read by the Chair and the Treasurer.
Q: Is there any level of sponsorship mentioned in the missing pages since I am trying to find a sponsor?
A: It is usually £500 for a concert. There is a shopping list starting from £50 up to £500. It is on the website. It is worth mentioning to potential sponsors the advantage in publicity and invitations and better to accept any level of sponsorship even if low.
Q: Where is money directed in the future? Did any Charity Commission Inspection ask you that? How would you reply?
A: . Trustees have not addressed this. We have had workshops and other activities but we are volunteers and lots of ideas don't always get through to realisation. The Group is already very active and we find there is a lack of volunteers to carry out ideas.
Q: There are published examples of Charity Commission enquiring about the funds of charities. You need to be aware that this sizeable figure may be enquired into.
A: We are aware. We have a very clear reserves policy for 12 months although it could be 24 months. The programme runs over two years, for example now in 2016 we shall be starting to look at the programme for 2017. This limits the amount of spare cash. But the question is valid.
Q: For the size of this organization, the funds is not that large.
A: Yes, we can very quickly eat into that fund.
Q: Any idea who to compare ourselves with?
A: It is difficult to compare with other groups – they may have subsidies. Some groups have free use of their rehearsal venues. Others have better terms than TMG. Also with late ticket sales, there is no way of predicting the outcome of a concert. The risks are higher.
Q: There was a shortage of programmes for orchestra and choir. Perhaps members would be happy to pay?