HARLESTON CHORAL SOCIETY
Held on Monday 7 th October 2024
at 8.15pm in The Church on London Road, Harleston
Stella welcomed Justin, Karen and choir members and declared the meeting open
- Apologies for absence
Apologies were received from Jo Curry, Philip Hall, Lynda Bradley, Alison
Dumbell, Anne Pickstock, Felicity Todd, Robyn Challis and Lou Townsend. - Minutes of the last AGM (held on Monday 9 th October 2023)
The minutes were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair. - Report by Music Director
Justin delivered his report (see attached). This was proposed by Caroline
Rodbourne and seconded by Ivan Tammas. - Report by Chair
Stella delivered her report (see attached). This was proposed by Nikki
Wilkins and seconded by Jenny Hyams. - Report by Treasurer
Malcolm delivered his report (see attached). This was proposed by John
Formston and seconded by Julia Awty.
He had also brought along copies of the annual accounts for choir
members that wanted them and these will be filed with his report. - Appointment of Auditor
Mr Robin Farrar was, again, appointed as Auditor for the year. - Election of Committee members for the year 2024/25
Jo Curry, Amanda Fletcher, Fiona Bartlett and Heather Butcher were all
due for re-election this year and have all agreed to stand again. This was
proposed by Tony Pringsheim and seconded by Tom Crisp.
This left one vacancy and Nikki Wilkins, who was co-opted earlier in the
year to deputise for Malcolm, as Treasurer, was proposed by Malcolm
Butcher and seconded by Julia Awty. Heather Butcher had volunteered to
stand down if anyone else wanted to join but there were no further
nominations.
It was proposed by Ruth Cawcutt and seconded by Ivan Tammas, that
John Awty, who has been acting as Membership Secretary, be elected permanently in this position.
Stella had announced in her report that she is standing down as Chair.
Caroline Rodbourne and Jo Curry were proposed by Tony Pringsheim and
seconded by Ruth Cawcutt, as Chair and Vice Chair respectively (for the
purposes of the constitution), although, in practice, they will share this
position equally.
Stella encouraged people to join the committee and invited them to come
to a meeting if they wanted to see how we work. She also told them about
the various sub-committees and explained that members are welcome to
join any of these without being on the main committee.
Stella declared the meeting closed
Date of next AGM: Autumn term 2025
TREASURERS REPORT
Income and Expenditure Report downloadable here
We commenced the year with a membership of 60 and during the year we
have kept the numbers of choir members at the same level which is an
indication of the strength and success of the choir and the enjoyment of
taking part in a thriving team.
The income from subscriptions in the year was £7,720, an increase of
£1,300 on the previous year.. In addition to that we raised a further
£1,249 from Gift aid, and a further £917 from the Quiz night. Also, we
have increased the earnings from the bonus ball to £550. Thank you
Fiona for continuing to manage this and thank you all for your
contributions to all of these fundraising incomes which are vital to
provide the necessary support to the choir.
The cost of the hire of the London Road Church was up by £120 this year
to £1,539.
The library costs in the year are considerably less than the previous year,
at a net figure of £1,096 which is £239 less than last year and this is
because some choir members have purchased their own copies.
Concert income from the two concerts was £3,254 and the costs
amounted to £5,560.. This is fairly consistent as we have not had large
orchestra numbers, but obviously if we do then the costs will multiply
while the income does not increase very much because the audience
number that we can fit into the church is restricted. Also, if we charge too
much then fewer people may attend. However, the income from the
December concert, Vivaldi’s Gloria, was the highest we have ever had.
Probably the most significant cost in the year is that we had to purchase a
new digital piano, because the old one decided enough was enough. This
cost was £1,139. Also, regrettably, the workshop that we planned had to
be cancelled due to a lack of interest. We will have to reconsider what we
do in the future.
Apart from increased rent, all costs are steadily increasing. The fees for
our Music Director and Accompanist have risen, quite rightly, and
although we have been fortunate to acquire talented soloists and
musicians at fairly lowish costs, there is ongoing pressure for their fees to
be increased. So, this will put further pressure on our income.
Subscription costs rose from £40 to £45 in the year and I know some of
you are paying £50, which is very generous.
We have two concerts ahead of us in the next 12 months and the costs of
these will test the resources, both of the management and the finance. The
concerts I am sure will be very enjoyable and challenging. There will
always be changes in the circumstances in the year and these need to be
managed by everybody.
I hope we have a very successful year both musically and financially.
Malcolm Butcher – Treasurer
MUSIC DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Another year has flown by – a year packed with musical achievements
and triumphs for the society. Casting our minds back to December 2023,
we delivered a blistering version of Vivaldi’s Gloria which rightly
received rapturous applause. Other highlights included Stella doing
sterling work on percussion in “Do you hear what I hear?” ,Tony on flute
and my thanks to Ivan, Brenda and Fiona-Catherine for their solos within
the concert. Audience numbers were up and I think the general feeling
was a wonderful evening all round.
The choir worked very hard during the spring and summer months on the
double bill of Saint-Saens Requiem and Dvorak Mass in D. I know some
of the choir found the music challenging at times but come June, and
even with a sizable number unwell on the night, the choir delivered
singing of high quality combined with commitment and confidence. The
reception at the end – including cheering, was testament to all your hard
work and I thank you so much for this. We were very fortunate to have
our quartet of soloists back for this and they are all returning this
Christmas for the Haydn Missa Sancti Nicolai.
I’d like to thank Karen for her humour and unswerving determination to
make rehearsals fun and informative. I would also like to thank John
Witchell for stepping in and playing the rehearsals Karen was unable to
do earlier in the year. The choir is growing in number and quality, which
brings me neatly on to my next point….
So, 2025 is the 25th anniversary of the formation of Harleston Choral Society. As you already know we will begin the year’s
celebrations with an event towards the end of January. But what about the
music we will be singing next year? Well I can now reveal the concert in
June is going to be Carl Orff’s masterpiece Carmina Burana. I used to
sing this every year in the children’s choir and it was the piece that started
my parent’s interest in “Classical music” so it’s very dear to my heart. The
piece is epic, bonkers but a lot of fun to perform.
Christmas 2025 we will be performing Messiah part 1. The Messiah was
the first full length work performed by HCS so it seems very appropriate.
As this anniversary belongs to all of you – I would like you all to get
involved in choosing the numbers in the second half of the concert. If
everyone in the choir sends in their 3 favourite pieces, I will collate them
and the most popular will be included! Details on voting will follow in
due course.
It only remains for me to say a big thank you to our ever hard working
committee, without whom the society simply couldn’t exist and a VERY
big thank you to Stella who has steadied the ship this year and provided
me and the committee with invaluable help, support and advice.
Thank you all so much for making Harleston Choral Society what it is
today – fun, committed and boy do we pull it out of the hat come
performance day!
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
It is with pride and great achievement we can look back on the
year just gone. We have continued to develop all the different
areas of the choir renewed after Covid – membership numbers,
musicality and most important of all friendship.
The year started with our Christmas concert under the direction of
Justin – Vivaldi’s “Gloria” with old friends Jo Westaway and
Joanna Gamble joining us for the evening. The rest of the
programme contained so many lovely items both known and
unknown. (Berlioz, Rutter, Whitaker, Holst to name a few.)
The new venture of the previous year – hampers for the raffle –
was repeated, making another substantial profit.
Quiz night held its usual position in March. Such a well attended
evening. Thank you to John Formston for the even more frustrating
questions, to Fiona for the raffle and to Julia and her team for the
exquisite food.
Our Summer concert at the end of June really tested all our brains,
memory and ability to connect sight to sound. Part I was Dvorak’s
Mass in D Major and Part 2 Saint-Saens’ Requiem. A few weeks
beforehand our much loved friend and Membership Secretary
Joanna had died and everyone agreed we should dedicate the
concert to her memory. Her husband Paul was overjoyed at this
decision. He attended the concert and told me afterwards she
would have loved the music.
Our Garden party was held in July, lovely weather, quizzes and
finger food. What more could we want. A further development this
year was a quiz to identify trees and plants around the garden.
Thank you to Caroline for hosting and to members who brought
food.
Our projected workshop planned for August unfortunately had to
be cancelled due to lack of numbers. Difficult decisions had to be
made at the last minute before money was spent. Thank you to
Amanda for dealing with all the contacting of prospective
attendees.
Also, as you have already heard from Justin about next year’s
work we are involving the High School with singing and hosting the
event. Contact is now very much in hand and several of the
committee have paid fruitful visits.
All this doesn’t happen, as you realise (or perhaps not) without a
great deal of hard work behind the scenes. First of all, thank you to
the Committee as a whole for their support and willingness to help
whenever there is a challenge. Justin had commented to me
earlier this year he had never worked with such a pro-active
committee. Thank you to Amanda for all her organisation and
minute taking. Thank you to John Awty for all his hard work as
Assistant Membership Secretary, sending out reminders for
everything from Schedules to dress code. My grateful thanks to
Julia for all her amazing work as librarian (and to Fiona and
Sharon who have helped her on handout days) It is important that
you listen to her requests and abide by them. Thank you to them
both for lending a listening ear when I needed it. A very big thank
you to Malcolm for his continued, amazing management of the
Society’s money and to Nicky for agreeing to help in that area.
Thank you to Heather for all her work devising the programmes
and posters, to Jenny and her team for dealing with publicity, to Jo
for all her work behind the scenes, to Caroline for being so
generous with her house, garden and time and to John Formston
for quizzes and banners.
Thank you to Fiona for all her help with bonus ball and raffles.
Thank you to Justin for all his encouragement, and hard work over
the last year. He has introduced us to such wonderful music we
didn’t know existed. And thank you to Karen for all her hard work
over what has been a very difficult period for her.
Last year we initiated Sub-committees to help with the working of
the Society and cut down on the length of the main meetings.
These are Archives, Publicity, Music, Social, Workshop. Please
consider joining one of them to learn what goes on and bring your
expertise to the Society.
Finally, I did say last year I was stepping down. Circumstances
slightly changed within the Committee but this year I do mean it
and the Committee have accepted my decision.
However, next year will be an amazing time, much to celebrate
and giving and experiencing the joy of singing.
Stella Brownsea
7 th October 2024
