MINEHEAD AND EXMOOR FESTIVAL SOCIETY

Treasurers’ Report for the 2007 Season

Period of report 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2007

  1. I am happy to report that the figures for the 2007 season are a significant improvement on those for 2006.  The 2006 profit of £1,242 has more than doubled to £3,273 in 2007.  ARTlife gave us a grant again this year (£1,000) and we, in turn, tried a more adventurous programme as discussed at the last A.G.M.  The audience numbers showed that more 20C music did not deter our supporters.
  2. Analysis of the income for 2007 is as follows:
    1. Ticket income was up by nearly 20%, reflecting partly the 10% price increase but also slightly improved sales.
    2. Programme sales were £20 down and I cannot quite see why.
    3. Gift Aid donations (and the tax recovered) were up by nearly 24%.  This is very pleasing.  We continued to press for these donations and it has paid off.  The previous season was 40% up.  This year 24%.  We must budget on this source of funds levelling off in subsequent years.
    4. The non Gift Aid donations include collections at the free concerts.  In 2006 we did not have a Young Artist recital.  The 2007 recital is reflected here as well as more generous donations for the Wednesday chamber concert.
    5. Minehead Town Council gave us £300 as in previous years but Dulverton Town Council generously increased their grant from £50 to £100 for which we thank them.  Minehead Town Council were talking of giving us a grant on a regular basis without the need to apply each year.  We simply received a cheque last season (somewhat late in the day) but no confirmation of the basis on which it was given.  We will have to enquire.
    6. ARTlife’s grant has been mentioned above.  Thank you ARTlife for your support.
    7. Graham Sizer (Minehead Radio) remained our most generous sponsor being joined again by Western Power, Amherst and Shapland and Chanin and Thomas.  Graham Sizer is increasing his donations following the last concert and is paying by instalments so some of what he intends for 2008 appears in the 2007 figures.
    8. The funds we had from last year warranted the opening of a deposit account which has produced nearly £100 in interest.
    9. Overall, income was up by £4,415.77.  This includes the ARTlife £1,000 grant.
  3. Expenditure:
    1. Richard Dickins’ fee was increased by a further £100 to £1,500.  This in no way reflects the time and effort he puts in.  Our thanks go to him for his generosity.
    2. Music hire was up by 36% to £1,160 as a result of the more contemporary programme where music is still in copyright and also attracts PRS liability.  The PRS payment was up by 210% to £628.
    3. Orchestra honoraria and travel expenses were up but contained given the large number of performers and several mid-week changes.
    4. Soloist fees were down.  We remain grateful to Richard Dickins who negotiates such knock down rates for excellent performers.
    5. The increase in venue hire reflects better ticket sales at the Regal (we pay a rate for each seat sold) and more generous donations to the churches who host our concerts.  It is money well spent.
    6. One item of capital expenditure this year is the purchase of a quantity of new music stands to replace some that have suffered over the years.
  4. At the end of the season we had £5,331.97 in the bank.
  5. I propose that the next meeting should consider a further small increase in adult ticket prices from £12.00 to £12.50.  This would be a 4% increase to keep step with inflation.  It would also buffer us against possible loss of sponsorship elsewhere in the event of an economic downturn.  We have to be as self sufficient as we can.
  6.  I invite the meeting to adopt these accounts.

 

Crispin Hodges

Treasurer           16 January 2008