7.00 pm on Monday 31st July 2023

Apologies for Absence

Tom Danter, Tom Walker

Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising.

Minutes of the last meeting were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chairman. There were no matters arising.

Chairman’s opening remarks.

I didn’t want to be Chairman in the first place!

I was persuaded to be vice- chairman by my predecessor, only to be told when I had accepted, that two years later I would be Chairman!

When I became Chairman two years ago, nobody wanted to be Vice-Chairman. This was no big deal, as we were in the throes of Covid at the time.

During the Covid pandemic , I feared that the Choir would fold, as a number of members were ill or had died, and we didn’t seem to get Any new recruits. I am deeply indebted to Nigel for setting up the Zoom rehearsals, even though I fell asleep during one of them!

After the lockdown was over, we sang at the Minster, and gained a new member, Conor Pearce, and have subsequently got several recruits, who are now fully uniformed and active members of the Choir, and have had some successful concerts.

We are now in a good position, with a number of future engagements , and are now in a strong financial position.

I could not have done my Chairman’s role without my esteemed colleagues, especially Terry our secretary, Philip our Treasurer, Barry for his help with sound, publicity etc., Albert, for securing Charitable status for the Choir, Nigel, for his hard work with the recordings and his role as Assistant Musical Director, Liz, as Musical Director, and Amy, our faithful accompanist, and the you, Choir as a whole, for coming to rehearsals so faithfully, often in adverse conditions, and keeping me buoyed up, especially when I wasn’t feeling too well.

I wish to conclude by wishing all in the Choir, good fortune and nice

Bright vocal cords!

Nick.

Music Directors Report.

Thank you all for the hard work over the last year. We are still trying to pick up the pieces after covid, but we are not alone in that after speaking to other choirs throughout the country covid has had its disastrous effects on people waiting to come and sing as it was suggested that singing was the worst thing to pass the disease onto other people despite all the other benefits that singing gives you. Speaking to Mansfield Choir who had 58 members before covid and now down to 28.

I am grateful for all the work the members are doing to promote new members, we must keep trying to get those new members. If everyone could bring someone else it would be great.

We have now got to work on building A) Our performance repertoire and B) Places we can perform that repertoire.

We are a good choir and need to take on more concerts a year as 5 a year is not enough.

If any of you attend a church or other organizations they may want to run a concert to raise funds.

As usual, I would like to give a big thanks to Nigel for all he does for the choir and producing the recordings for everybody to hopefully use. Also for my colleague Amy who is just amazing and long may she continue to come. A big thanks to Nick and the rest of the committee for their hard work and support.

Liz Wilson

Patrons Officer Report

We are now down to only 25 Patrons and will try to get more.

Hon Liberian Report

There was nothing to report other than Chris Szafran will be stepping down and the assistant Liberian Barry Gibson will take over.

Hon Secretary’s Report

First of all I would like to thank Nick for being our chairman over the last two years, especially when it has been hard for him due to his illness. Repeating what has been said by the Chairman, I would also like to thank our Music Team – Liz, Nigel and Amy and the committee members for all their hard work in the past year for keeping the choir going and the successful concerts we have put on.

Including in this a very big thanks for Nigel who has offered to step in to be the Chairman. As you know he is a very busy chap and already does so much for the choir, but without him coming forward to be the chairman we could not continue. So it is up to us to assist him and John Faulkner who also kindly offered to be our Vice Chairman in every way..

We have got 7 concerts booked at present. 26th Aug our own here, so we need to sell tickets to make it successful.

1st Sep Lions Hornsea,

6th Oct – Beverley Minster

19th Nov – Lions Beverley

10th Dec – Beverley Festival of Christmas

15th Dec – Brough Golf Course

17th Dec Prelude Plus the pubs carol singing.

We have at present 44 members on our books.

16 Baritones

10 Basses

8 1st Tenors

10 2nd Tenors

We will issue a flier shortly for the members to give out for recruitment and getting more concerts.

Terry Lynn

Treasurer’s report

The audited accounts are appended to these notes. I have the original copy signed off by Albert Newbery which is available for inspection on request. Please note that Albert stepped in at very short notice after Tom Danter was unable to commit to doing the audit. This is slightly irregular as the auditor is agreed a year in advance at our AGM. Perhaps the change could be approved retrospectively by this meeting?

In round figures our income exceeded outgoings by £1060 leaving us with a balance of around £6550. We have commitments of about £1000 meaning that we have broken even for the year.

We also currently have 3 years of ‘donated’ income which should be eligible for Gift Aid. If all £17200 is accepted by HMRC this will amount to about £4200: a useful contingency against future expenditure. We might consider opening an easy access savings account to get a modest return on a proportion of our funds.

Notes to the accounts

1. We received a grant from Beverley Town Council during the accounting period for the purchase of sheet music. About £500 of this has yet to be spent.

2. A payment to AMD (Nigel) was made online before the year end but there was a delay in processing by the bank. This means that about £500 of this year’s expenses will appear in next year’s accounts.

3. As for last year the value of ‘donations’ may seem high but I’ve included Xmas pub events here to maximise our claims for Gift Aid.

4. Subs income includes several part-year payments from members who joined during this last year and were charged pro rata.

Year-on-year Income Comparisons (rounded figures)

The following table shows income under various categories over the last five financial years:

Note: figures are not strictly comparable: indicative only

Comments

1. Concert income has been strong – back up to pre-covid levels – and subs income is also recovering thanks to the number of new members.

2. Despite a difficult couple of years BMVC seems now to be back in good financial health. This is good news given that the cost of hiring Toll Gavel for rehearsals has increased 3-fold – from £1200 to £3600 p.a. – since 2019/20.

3. We need to be able to continue demonstrating to our local authorities that we are an asset for Beverley and the East Riding and that we deserve continuing grant support. I am building up a file of testimonials and data showing how much income we bring to local businesses through for example visiting choirs.

4. We are in the process of appealing for new commercial sponsors. I’m writing to a range of businesses including house builders and KC. I’m hopeful that we should have some success in this.

5. We have an outstanding commitment to review our website, the company that provide web-based services and the value for money that we’re getting.

Beverley Male Voice Choir: Year Ended 30^th June 2023

Receipts and Payments Account for the year ended June 30^th 2023

Statement of Affairs as of 30^th June 2023

Current assets Accumulated Funds

Balance as of 30^th June 2022 £5398.22

Add income over expenditure £1060.88

Total £6549.10 Total £6549.10

I confirm the statement of affairs as stated above showing assets of £6549.10 as of 30^th June 2023.

I have examined the receipts and payments account, together with supporting documentation, of Beverley Male Voice Choir as set out above. In this connection nothing has come to my attention which gives me reasonable cause to believe that the accounting requirements of Section 130 of the 2011 Charities Act have not been met, or that any further information is required to enable a proper understanding of the accounts. I believe that the accounts have been properly kept and presented by Hon Treasurer Mr P MacMullen.

Albert Newbery

20.07.2023

Charities Act 2011

130 Accounting records

(1) The charity trustees of a charity must ensure that accounting records are kept in respect of the charity which are sufficient to show and explain all the charity’s transactions, and which are such as to—

(a) disclose at any time, with reasonable accuracy, the financial position of the charity at that time, and

(b) enable the trustees to ensure that, where any statements of accounts are prepared by them under section 132(1), those statements of accounts comply with the requirements of regulations under section 132(1).

(2) The accounting records must in particular contain—

(a) entries showing from day to day all sums of money received and expended by the charity, and the matters in respect of which the receipt and expenditure takes place, and

(b) a record of the assets and liabilities of the charity.

Adoption of Reports

All above reports were adopted by the meeting after a vote.

Proposed – Mark Nicholson Seconded – Charles Laing

Election of Officers

The only nomination received by the secretary was from Phil MacMullen for Nigel Clarke as Chairman.

Officers Remaining Eligible and/or Standing or Reelection-ReElection

(To be elected individually)

Hon Treasurer Mr. Phil MacMullen – Re- elected

Hon Librarian Mr.Barry Gibson – Elected

Ass Librarian Vacant

Hon Secretary Mr. Terry Lynn – Re-elected

Patrons Officer Mr. Julian Musik – Re-elected

Website Administrator Mr. Albert Newbery to take on this role.

Concert Coordinator Mr. Barry Gibson – Re-elected

Recruitment Officer Vacant

Welfare Officer Mr. Nick Hart – Elected

Re-Elect/ Elect Committee Members

(An en-bloc proposal is acceptable)

Mr. Andrew Park – Bass Representative

Mr. Barry Gibson – Baritone Representative

Mr. Jon Capel – Second Tenor Representative

Mr. Dave Wiliamson – First Tenor Representative

Proposed – Julian Musik – Seconded – John Chapman

Election of Chairman and Vice Chairman

Chairman – Mr, Nigel Clarke Proposed Phil McMullen Seconded – Nick Hart

Vice Chairman – Mr. John Faulkner Proposed Mike Offen Seconded – Mark Nicholson

Appointments for Ratification

No Appointments for Ratification

Amendment of Choir Constitution and Chairmans Job Description

Constitution

4.2. Eligible voting members of The Committee shall decide every matter discussed

by a simple majority, with the Chairman having a casting vote in the event of a tie.

NEW 4.3 Where any matter involves a possible conflict of interest with the

Chairman this should be declared and the Chairman shall recuse himself from

the vote delegating his powers to the Deputy Chairman.

5.2.3. Voting at the AGM will be by a simple majority with the Chairman having a

casting vote in the event of a tie.

NEW 5.2.4 Where the matter being voted on involves a possible conflict of

interest with the Chairman this should be declared and the Chairman shall

recuse himself from the vote delegating his powers to the deputy Chairman.

Job descriptions

Role of Chairman

Amended g. Discipline:

To initiate any appropriate disciplinary procedures except where this involves a

possible conflict of interest with the Chairman. In this case the conflict shall be

declared and the Chairman shall delegate his powers to the deputy Chairman.Adopted

Both Adopted

Proposer – Barry Gibson Seconder – Glyn Cohan

Elect Examiner of Accounts

Tom Danter was re-elected Proposed – Mike Offen. Seconded – Bernard Norris

Conduct Any Business previously submitted by Members

After a an explanation of a Hundred Club given by Phil McMullen a discussion took place and it was agreed by a good show of hands that we would start one. Barry Gibson is to look into arranging and setting it up.

Meeting ended at 7.30 pm