Report of Committee Meeting

Posted on November 22, 2024

Can be downloaded here as a printable PDF file.

Held on Wednesday 6th November 2024

  1. Apologies for absence:  Jenny Hyams and Amanda Fletcher
  1. Minutes of last meeting (23rd September 2024): these were approved.
  1. Matters arising: 
  • Stella has confirmed the booking for the concert with the school for 28th June 2025.
  • The Archives Sub-committee now includes some of the founder members of the choir (please see attached list) and has begun work on the displays.
  • We have chosen a logo for all anniversary publicity.
  • Nikki is going to set up a Facebook page and we agreed that there needs to be some discussion about member’s privacy.  She will use this to post various information such as rehearsal schedules.
  • Stella is going to speak to Paul Morgan regarding the photos from the last concert so that these can be used on the website.
  • Julia will compile a list of possible dishes to bring to the January lunch after Christmas when people have more time to decide.
  1. Treasurer’s report (See attached) main points were:
  • The subscription income of £2,915, the highest amount ever to be collected in one term.  We have 64 members with 40 people supporting gift aid.
  • The quiz in the spring will be a good fundraiser as well as the Bonus Ball which raised £550.
  • All of the above will help with our big concert next year.
  1. Christmas 2024 Concert
  • John F reported that the banner has been done and he now just has to ask permission from the church to put it up.
  • The posters and tickets are done and ready to be distributed.   John A said he could send out a pdf version for members to send to friends.
  • There will be a raffle.
  • We now have all the musicians, including Tony who will play the flute.
  • Stella and Julia have been to the Dove Inn at Alburgh and have booked it for our after-concert coffee morning.

Front of House

  • We will offer wine or a soft drink in the price of the ticket but, this year, we will use larger cups as the smaller ones didn’t safely hold a proper measure!
  • Heather suggested getting a card reader for on-the-door ticket payments.  These are linked to PayPal and the choir business account and are as cheap as £29. We agreed this would be a good idea and hope to have it in place for the Christmas concert alongside cash payments. It can also be used for other events.
  1. 25th Anniversary events

      January lunch

  • Julia will compile the list of dish suggestions in the new year.
  • Fiona has been to the party shop in Harleston and they can do personalised items such as banners, balloons, napkins and paper plates.  As there are plates at the hall and napkins can be bought more cheaply in Asda, we agreed to stick with the banners and balloons.  Fiona will order these at the end of the month.  Nikki also suggested helium sculptures for the food table.
  • Partners will be invited.  There is a legal limit of 100-seated people but we agreed that many people would be standing or walking around.
  • People will bring their own drinks.
  • We discussed the possibility of having a ‘sing-song’ and Caroline knows someone who could provide a keyboard for this.  We agreed that this would need to include well-known music to avoid people feeling uncomfortable.

Archives

  • It was thought the display boards could go up at the party, at the summer concert and the Christmas concert.  John F suggested showing them at the first rehearsal after the party for those that did not attend.  He also suggested an ongoing display of the archives (in folders) at occasions such as the first rehearsal of the term for new members.

Summer Concert

  • There was much discussion about the logistics for this and it was decided that there would be a Music SC meeting in January to discuss arrangements in more detail.
  • It had been suggested that we ask senior pupils from Harleston Sancroft Academy to help with FOH as they know about the layout.
  • John F has spoken to South Norfolk council regarding grants and Stella said that SNC have been offering grants of £1000 for local events which may be relevant as we are working with the school.
  1. Making Music Platform
  • We have applied for this online organisational tool that can be used alongside our website.  https://www.makingmusic.org.uk/mm-platform 
  • We discussed the need to inform choir members that we are handing over their information to a 3rd party and that we need to get reassurance from MM that this information is secure and complies with our GDP policy.
  1. Feedback from SCs (see attached reports from the Archives and Publicity SCs)
  • The Archives SC is meeting again on the 3rd December.
  • The Publicity SC hope to meet again before the end of November.
  • No other SCs have met since the last committee meeting.
  1. Members’ feedback
  • It was agreed that members know who their reps are as they had been introduced at the AGM.
  • John A reported receiving very positive feedback from new members who said they found us to be very friendly.

    10. AOB

   Rehearsals next year

  • Justin has said there will be rehearsals for all bank holidays leading up to the concert with the exception of Easter Monday.

    11.  Date and time of next meeting.

Wednesday 29th January 2025 2pm 

Financial Report

The autumn term subscription income is £2,915 which is the highest amount of subs ever collected in one term to date, beating the previous highest in the spring.   There are currently 64 people in the choir and we think that some not here this term will be back for the spring and summer, so this is really good news for the choir finances, as well as for the continuing enjoyment of singing in a large choir.  As we all know all costs have increased and so this income is vital for us to remain in a strong financial position to be able to fund future concerts etc.   Additionally there are currently over 40 people supporting gift aid which gave us extra income this term of £450.

The quiz night which will be held in the spring should be an excellent fundraiser as it was in March this year earning a net income of over £900..  With the bonus ball income of over £550 this is all a major contribution from the choir members.

The expenditure for the upcoming concert in December will be in the region of £2,800.   Income probably will be around £1,200.   So this is a deficit which is always the case at our concerts.   However, the extra income mentioned above supports the concerts and this makes a major difference.   With a large choir and with it the income it generates we are in a strong position to afford a larger than normal concert as we will be doing in June 2025.  We still need to establish the costs of musicians and soloists and the cost of instruments, but this needs to be decided in the next couple of months.   I am certain that we will cope with these costs pretty well.

Malcolm Butcher

Treasurer

Report from Archive Sub-Committee meeting, 22nd October

Present at the meeting were: Fiona Bartlett, Ruth Cawcutt, Jo Curry, Jenny Hyams and Pat Thompson.  Apologies for absence from Amanda Fletcher.

It was decided that the Archive Sub-Committee’s remit was to collect and organise information and artefacts for display boards to be on display at the major events celebrating the 25th anniversary of HCS next year, viz the get together on 25th January at St James, the Carmina Burana concert at Archbishop Sancroft on 28th June and the Christmas concert on 6th December.   If possible, it would also be nice to have them at our London Road Church practice venue at some point but this will need investigating.  It was noted that we will need to get permission from these venues to put up the display boards.  Some of the material gathered could also feature on our website.

A list was made of all the aspects of the choir’s history which would be needed and members of the committee volunteered to research and compile information.

John Formston has very kindly offered to supply us with the boards and Linda Barden, who cannot at present attend choir, has offered to help mount the displays.  She has a lot of experience in this field and we are very grateful for her help. The question of where to store the display boards is being investigated.  Carol Hammond has kindly offered to take charge of the Archive File and to rationalise it.

Thanks to Carol for hosting us.

Our next meeting to monitor progress will be Tuesday 3rd December at Ruth Cawcutt’s house.

Jo Curry 

23rd October 2024

Publicity sub committee report for Committee meeting 6 December 2024

  • copy continues to be sent to the parish magazines etc at the beginning of each month for their next editions 
  • website updated regularly (and many thanks to Paul, who is currently in Canada) 
  • Heather has created a brilliant poster for the Christmas Concert, plus tickets, all of which will be available for distribution from Monday 4th
  • Malcolm has taken tickets and a float to HIP
  • ARTSeast:  Sarah Veness, Editor of the free Arts magazine for the Eastern Region, is putting copy in the November issue about our Christmas concert, with the pic below – Heather’s Christmas concert poster wasn’t available to meet their copy deadline.

  • John F has the banner in hand for our Christmas Concert 
  • Jenny starts work on the programme this weekend
  • we need to have a meeting about publicity for our 25th anniversary (and also to consider the overlaps with the Archives sub committee/Jo), before the end of November.  Jenny will send out possible dates in the next week.

Jenny Hyams

3 November 2024

Archives Sub Committee

Jo Curry

Jenny Hyams

Fiona Bartlett

Ruth Cawcutt

Carol Hammond

Pat Thompson

Amanda Fletcher

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