BICESTER CHORAL & OPERATIC SOCIETY Minutes from the Annual General Meeting held on 30th January 2013

Attendees

Amanda Anderson, Caroline Graham, Nicola Quinn-Taylor, Martin Quinn, Jane Wimbury, Rosina

Watts, Dave Hughes, John Holmes, Iain Tipper, Heather Howells, Tania Duby, Helena Martinez,

Margaret Kunzer, Joan Packer, Gabi Twigg, Cathy Procopiou, Keith Skerrett, Andy Stiff, Liz Stiff,

Viv Frost, Laura Kingsley, Lou Woodwards, Nicky Roberts, Roy Morgan, Trevor Daniels, Gale

Law, Jan Hartley, Nikki Fine, Patricia Lee, Andreya Teasdale, Mike Cowdy, Brian Blyth, Tim Lane,

Mike Rees.

Apologies

Rina Israeli, Ian Muddle, Ian Brent-Smith, Norah Morgan, James Greenwood, Kim Benson, Jan

Sandy, Caroline Taylor, Andrew Gibson, Sally Ross, Barbara McDonald.

Minutes of last meeting

These were accepted and signed as correct.

Matters Arising

All present were reminded that annual subscriptions can now be paid by standing order and the

100 Club that has just been launched can also be paid this way.

We have been looking into purchasing a curtain as we are now performing at Cooper School.

However the estimated cost is around £8500 which is way outside our budget, and there are other

users of the performance hall who would not want the use of a curtain.

AA also informed all present that Sam Vaughan has arranged some storage space to keep all of

our props etc. in, therefore if anyone has any BCOS stuff hiding in their garage, it can now be

stored elsewhere.

Chairman’s Report

The Chairman’s report is attached in Appendix 1

Treasurers Report

The treasurer’s report is attached in Appendix 2.

Election of Committee

Rina Israeli, Jane Griffin, Liz Stiff and Nicki Quinn-Taylor are all stepping down from the

committee.

A special thanks was made to Rina Israeli who is stepping down as Chairman as she has a new

job which takes her out of the country for most of the week, she was thanked for all her hard work

over the past few years and wished every success in her new job.

Therefore the following members were voted onto the committee:

Amanda Anderson was voted as Chairman by Nicky Quinn-Taylor and seconded by Laura

Kingsley

Caroline Graham was voted as Treasurer by Jane Wimbury and seconded by Nicky Roberts

Laura Kingsley was voted as Secretary by Jan Hartley and seconded by Liz Stiff

Ian Muddle was proposed by Heather Howells and seconded by Brian Blyth

The following members are staying on the committee for 2013:

Iain Tipper, Heather Howells and Patricia Lee.

Honorary Members

The following were thanked for the help that they have provided over the past year and voted as

Honorary Members for 2013:

Fr Paul Martin (Church of the Immaculate Conception), Simon Gardner (SH Jones), Matt Fincham

(Round Table), Steve Cook (Cooper School), Liam Didcock (Cherwell District Council), Patrick

Lane, Phil, Lane, Andy Liggins, Mark Wiggins, Gillian Liddell, Toby Marshall, Tomy Duby, Adam

‘Chubby’ Dix, Michele & John Kevill (owners of the barn at Godington Hall), Ella Turner, Cressida

Barrett and Steve Mollon.

We will write to the Honorary Members to let them know that they have been nominated for 2013

Honorary Life Members

AA announced that this year we would be awarding an existing member with Honorary Life

Membership. This was awarded to Trevor Daniels for all the work he does behind the scenes

even though he stepped down as Treasurer in early 2012 he has still be involved in keeping this

in order and we would like to thank him for time and effort he puts into BCOS.

Programme 2013/14

April 27th 2013 – Spring Concert – St Edburg's Church, Bicester

15th June 2013 – Supper Concert – Marsh Gibbon Village Hall

20th-23rd November 2013 – ‘Hello Dolly’ – Cooper School, Bicester, directed by Ann Robson and a

talk through evening will take place on 19th June 2013

No carol concert will take place in 2013

5th April 2014 – Verdi’s Requiem – Oxford Town Hall with Wantage Choral Society and St Giles

Orchestra

Pilkington Cup

This year’s winner was decided by the 4 previous winners, who are, Andrew Gibson, Dave

Hughes, Trevor Daniels and Rina Israeli. Trevor Daniels gave a brief presentation and the cup

was awarded to Nicky Roberts for her significant contribution and continued support of the

society, running the box office for several years and recently taking on the role of librarian. Trevor

also thanked Amanda Anderson for all the work that she did with regards to the Magic Lamp and

also to Sally Ross for her work behind the scenes.

AOB

Tania Duby enquired whether subscriptions had to be paid by standing order. It was confirmed

that this is now an extra option when paying but you can still pay by cash or cheque.

Cathy Procopiou enquired whether subscriptions or fees would be increased this year. It was

confirmed that all fees are remaining the same as 2012.

Liz Stiff asked why we had to have 10 committee members. AA advised that the constitution

states that we should have 10 members; however the committee will look into this and see

whether it can be amended.

Nicky Roberts suggested that they may be some members who do not want to take on the

responsibility of going onto the committee but would however be prepared to take on a smaller

job. AA advised that the committee would highlight any jobs that they felt could be passed onto

someone not on the committee.

AA closed the meeting at 9.30pm.

APPENDIX 1: Chairman’s Report

Firstly, I am very sorry not to be here in person at the 2013

AGM. I’m particularly sorry as this was my last year as

Chairman and I would have liked to have formally handed

over and thanked everyone for the hard work and support I

have received.

This has been signed as being an

authentic account of the society’s

Annual General Meeting by

Amanda Anderson - Chairman

........................................................

Dated..............................................

As this is being read out on my behalf, I’ll keep it short (hooray everyone thinks!).

Yet another eventful year for me and the Society: we had a guest MD in the shape of Justin Lavender, with

whom we hope to keep in touch, and who is now an honorary life member. He and his wife Louise

performed a wonderful recital for us in March and raised over £1500 for the society. Justin enjoyed his

time with us so much he has gone on to become MD for another amateur choir closer to home, although

he says the committee there is nowhere near as efficient as ours!

Then a big welcome to our new MD Martin Quinn, returning after many years. He is settling in well, and

I’ll leave him to talk about how he has found his first few events with us. Paul Burke, our répétiteur,

moved on to take up the MD role at Wantage, so we’ll see him again, and it is great to create those ties

with other musicians in the area. We welcomed Ali, who has fitted in straight away, and who says she

enjoys it!

A summer concert with many well loved and different pieces for us, and then a complete change of

direction with a musical panto for our autumn show in tribute to Kate Cowdy. The new venue at Cooper

School is working out well; we still have some things to work out, but the relationship with everyone there

is great, and we have been fortunate in creating a set that will be reusable for many shows to come

(thanks to Andy). Enormous thanks to Sally and Trevor for all their hard work in redrafting the words and

music. The feedback from my friends is the one thing that really shone through was how much we all

seemed to be enjoying ourselves, and that is the ultimate purpose of BCOS.

We have a storage space for all our props thanks to Sam Vaughan, so dig out all your items

so that we can manage what we have a little better. Volunteer to help where you can, it’s

fun and makes a difference. The 100 club is starting, so get your forms in and good luck!

We have standing order forms for your membership subscriptions so you don’t have to

remember your chequebooks, a new website, and an active Facebook page.

Sadly, (or fortunately, whichever way you look at it), I started a new job at quite short notice in October

which takes me out of the country every week, and has meant I have had to step down as chairman. I had

hoped to stay for another couple of years to see the society through the exciting things coming; 50th

anniversary celebrations, Hello Dolly! - one of my favourite musicals, the Verdi Requiem at Oxford Town

Hall, and the planned change over of timings for the show and choral works in 2015. However, I know I

leave you in fantastically good hands with the brilliant committee, and I highly commend Amanda as next

chairman and hope you agree (I had my eye on her from the time she joined though she didn’t know!).

I’ve seen a lot of changes over the last few years (and even more in the seven years I’ve been on

committee), but I would like to thank everyone in the society for making this such a fantastic place to sing,

make friends and try new things; it improved my singing confidence no end, and I know many of you feel

the same. I will miss you all and hope to be back should I be based in the UK for long enough. Here’s to

the next 50 years!

Rina Israeli, BCOS Chairman, 2013

APPENDIX 2

BICESTER CHORAL AND OPERATIC SOCIETY

ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED

31 DECEMBER 2012

(Also known as BCOS)

Registration number 1109779

Annual Report

Financial Year 2012

The Charity is governed by a Constitution adopted by an Extraordinary General Meeting held on 16 March 2005.

The objects of the Society are to educate the public in the choral, orchestral, dramatic and operatic arts, and to further

the development of public appreciation and taste in the said arts.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Activities and Achievements

General

The Society had a total paid-up membership of 68 in 2012 (62 full and six student), plus four life members. Most

members participated in more than one of the Society’s main activities. We are fortunate again, this year, to have

retained the membership of several younger members.

Productions

The Trustees are mindful of their duty to ensure that the charity's activities exist for the public benefit. They have

considered Charity Commission guidance, and are satisfied that the performance and achievements of the charity

during the year, as outlined below, are consistent with this duty.

As has been the Society’s normal practice in recent years, a major oratorio was presented in the Spring and a show was

staged in the Autumn. This year our Spring concert was Haydn’s Creation. It was given in the Church of the

Immaculate Conception in Bicester on 12 May 2012. Financially this resulted in a loss of £150.64.

The Autumn show was BCOS’s own Pantomime, The Magic Lamp. Fully staged, costumed, and with a combo, this

ran for five performances from 21 November 2011. The production was well received, with good audiences at each

performance. Some of the costs are not yet known, but it is expected that the production will show a surplus of just

under £4,000.

Principally as a means of raising funds, the Society also presented several lighter concerts in the Summer and towards

Christmas. These also provided opportunities for members to gain experience in solo work. In the Summer the

society presented a concert entitled Kings and Queens in honour of the diamond jubilee. This made a surplus of

£567.81, but in December the carol concert made a loss of £23.00.

Fund-Raising

Over £2,800 was raised during the year through a variety of activities, including the concerts mentioned above, the

main one being concert of light music given by Justin Lavender and his wife which raised £1794.77. The weekly raffle

and tea/coffee sales to members realised £482.28.

Due to changes in the licenced frequencies our radio microphones had to be surrendered in exchange for a cash

payment of £5164.08. This grant is shown as Restricted Funds in the accounts, and is reserved for the purchase of a

replacement set of radio microphones.

Overall, the year's activities resulted in an increase in the Society's cash reserves of £11,053.51 at year-end, with net

cash assets of £88.00. Excluding the Restricted Funds, the cash reserve at year-end was £7,530.64.

Trustees Trustees are elected each year at the AGM. The elected trustees for 2012 were

Rina Israeli, Chairman and Publicity

Amanda Anderson, Vice-Chair, Membership

Nichola Quinn-Taylor, Treasurer

Caroline Graham, Secretary

Jane Griffin, Front of House

Liz Stiff, Patrons

Heather Howells, Member

Laura Kingsley, Member

Iain Tipper, Member

Addresses BCOS

c/o Dr Amanda Anderson

23 Thyme Close

Hanwell Fields

Banbury

OX16 1WH

Bankers

HSBC

1 Sheep Street

Bicester

Oxon OX6 7JA

Independent Examiners

Dr Trevor Daniels, 37 North Street, Middle Barton, CHIPPING NORTON, OX7 7BH

Policies

Reserves

The Trustees have adopted a policy of maintaining a financial Reserve to ensure the Society does not become

insolvent as a consequence of income in any year falling significantly below expenditure. In years when the Reserve

exceeds the target figure the Society will be able to consider staging more adventurous works or using more expensive

techniques and equipment which might be more likely to result in a loss but which might be more artistically justified.

In years when the Reserve falls below the target figure greater consideration will be given to conserving funds in order

to increase the Reserve. The target figure for the Reserve has been set at £5,000 for 2013.

The Society has no investments other than bank account balances and currently does not award grants.

Signed ___________________________ (N Quinn-Taylor, BCOS Treasurer) Date ______________

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT

TO THE TRUSTEES OF BICESTER CHORAL AND OPERATIC SOCIETY

I report on the accounts of the society for the year ended 31 December 2012, which are set

out on pages 4 to 7.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees

consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 43(2) of the Charities Act 1993 and

that an independent examination is needed.

It is our responsibility to:

examine the accounts (under section 43(3)(a) of the 1993 Act);

follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners (under section 43(7)(b) of the 1993 Act); and

state whether particular matters have come to our attention.

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity

Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and

a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any

unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees

concerning such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be

required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the

accounts.

Independent examiners’ statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to our attention:

1 which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements

to keep accounting records in accordance with section 41 of the 1993 Act; and

to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the accounting requirements of the 1993 Act

have not been met; or

2 to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

(Signed)

T Daniels (20 January 2013)