Saturday 14 October 2023 at Inverurie Town Hall
Present: Helen Anderson, Stuart Anderson, Margaret Bremner (Secretary), Roy Bremner, Ian Clark, Phillip Cooke, John De Simone, Alistair Massey, James Munro, Sylvia Munro (Chair) and Clair Scott
- Welcome and Apologies
Apologies were noted from Mike Radcliffe, Nora Radcliffe and Lessel Rennie. - Minutes of Last Meeting
The minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 1 October 2022 were approved. - Matters Arising
Margaret indicated that Gift Aid was now being claimed (see Treasurer’s Report, final para). - Treasurer’s Report
Sylvia explained that she and Margaret have been covering the duties of Treasurer as this post remains vacant. Lessel Rennie, Independent Examiner, has looked at the accounts and is happy with them. The summary of the accounts from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023 was tabled at the meeting and Sylvia summarised the key points as follows:
The opening balance was £9,202.15 and the closing balance was £11,594.35 which is higher than in 2021. Subscriptions in 2022-23 cost £56 for seven concerts (subscriptions were free for those under 25 in full-time education and those receiving disability or low income benefits and some people have taken these up). Income from subscriptions was £1,455 and from single tickets it was £3,645. Musicians’ fees (including for workshops, but not including expenses) were £7,284 and venue hire (for concerts and workshops) was £2,815. Publicity costs were £931.
Workshops 2022
There were two Strings Workshops led by Dr Aaron McGregor from the University of Aberdeen; Masterclasses/Workshop led by the Tim Kliphuis Trio; and Masterclasses/Workshop led by Lana Trotovšek, Maria Canyigueral and Boris Bizjak. These generated £1,540 in fees. Workshop grants were received from CMS (£500) and from the David and June Gordon Memorial Trust (£750). These generous awards resulted in a small profit of £200 on the 2022-23 Workshop Season, whilst still offering extremely affordable rates for participants.
lnverurie Music Award Scheme 2022
The award scheme began in the 2019-2020 season and last year a total of £1,100 was awarded to twelve applicants (including a Brass Group from lnverurie Academy). A total of approximately £1,515 was received from generous individual donors and local businesses who support the lM Award Scheme and this was boosted by a further £539 in Gift Aid. Some of these donations have been carried forward to the award fund for the current 2023-24 Season.
Grants
Grants came from Chamber Music Scotland (£2,900) and other awards amounted to £4,000 (Foyle Foundation and Hugh Fraser Foundation). The Acorn Centre have supported lnverurie Music over the last three seasons and the Small Grant they awarded for the 2022-23 Season came in at the end of June 2022, thus missing inclusion in the 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023 accounts.
The 2022-23 Inverurie Music Accounts have been verified by Independent Examiner Lessel Rennie. We are most grateful, as always, to Lessel for his input.
Alistair Massey noted that the spending on publicity has decreased. Sylvia said that this was because fewer banners are now used to advertise concerts. One banner is now used for the whole season and this has cut costs and also cuts down on use of a large amount of plastic.
5. Chairperson’s Report
Sylvia provided the Chairperson’s report as follows:
Concert Season 2022-23
The Season comprised seven recitals, beginning and concluding with solo piano recitals which could not have been more different, the young ltalian/French pianist lda Pelliccioli presenting a beautifully crafted, introspective, and emotional programme, whilst the highly experienced Janusz Piotrowicz transported the audience to another place altogether with his renditions of Chopin, Liszt, et al.
ln between these, we had a wonderfully diverse mix of performances: the virtuosic young trombone quartet Bone-Afide proving extremely popular, combining fun with proficient playing, and attracting a large and highly appreciative audience. The delightful pianist, Duncan Honeybourne, stepped in at short notice when the scheduled Trio Orfeo had to cancel due to illness. Duncan presented a weighty programme, which included the world premiere of “National Anthems” composed by lM Trustee Phillip Cooke and concluded with Liszt’s transcription of Schumann’s “Widmung” – an encore for Valentine’s Day.
ln early March we saw the return of the Tim Kliphuis Trio who delighted the audience with their incredible musicianship and their Gypsy Jazz style. The number of young people attending this concert (and loving it) was noticeable – into double figures for the first time!
And then for something completely different! Later in March Apollo’s Cabinet, an early music ensemble comprising harpsichord, voice, recorder, Viola da Gamba and theorbo, presented a performance with a storyline, a mix of Baroque music played with virtuosity on period instruments, coupled with dramatic sketches. It resembled a pantomime for Springtime, a refreshing performance which resulted in audience members leaving with the biggest smiles I have ever seen.
April saw the return of lnverurie Music favourites Lana Trotovšek and Maria Canyigueral, this time accompanied by flautist Boris Bizjak. Their programme included works by Prokofiev, Schubert, and lnverurie Music Trustee John Hearne’s “Six Tableaux”.
The lnverurie Music Award Fundraising concert in June was not well attended but proved to be a delightful, light-hearted evening. The first ever Inverurie Music raffle conducted during the interval was great fun and deemed to be the best raffle ever. The raffle was supported by several local businesses including JG Ross, I&K Motors and the Old Post Office Tearoom, and there were also some sizeable donations.
Workshops
The Strings Workshops at Kemnay Church Centre, led by Aaron McGregor of the University of Aberdeen, continue to be popular and well-attended. Ian Clark commented that they were extremely good and astonishingly good value. Sylvia said that hard work went into obtaining grants to subsidise the cost to participants. Masterclasses/Workshops led by the Tim Kliphuis Trio (violin/guitar/double bass) in March and Lana Trotovšek, Maria Canyigueral and Boris Bizjak (violin/piano/flute) in April took place in the King’s Pavilion at the University of Aberdeen. Ian Clark said that it was pleasing to see a number of young people at these workshops and that they appreciated the brief performance session at the end. The Pavilion proved to be a good venue which we will continue to use in the coming season, thanks to Phillip’s support.
lnverurie Music Award
The scheme continues to attract applications, although the number of applications varies amongst different schools. We will continue to try and solve this, although it may be a lot to do with workload issues for staff in the schools.
Summary
Sylvia said that the 2022-23 Season has been possibly her favourite season thus far, with increased variety in programming, growth in audience numbers and increasing numbers of young people participating. lt was particularly pleasing to note that one of our lnverurie Music Award winners, a regular attendee at lM concerts and workshops, is going on this season to study Music at the University of Aberdeen.
The current lM Board work together very well and although still without a Treasurer, we may have a solution to this situation as Phillip Cooke has agreed to become acting Treasurer. Thanks go to all fellow Trustees for their hard work throughout last season. As always, volunteers to join us would be most welcome.
Sincere thanks also to those who contribute to the smooth running of lnverurie Music – Roy for his work on publicity; Lessel Rennie for examining the accounts; Margie for help with raffles and tea; Mike as choral consultant; and all who faithfully attend the AGM.
6. Membership Subscriptions
The board has suggested that subscriptions for the coming season of six concerts be set at £48, that single tickets should £13, and that free subscriptions and tickets should continue as before. This was agreed by those present.
7. Elections
All current board members were happy to stand for election. Elections to the board proceeded with each board member proposed and seconded as follows:
Margaret Bremner – proposed by Sylvia and seconded by Clair
Phillip Cooke – proposed as Acting Treasurer by Sylvia and seconded by Margaret
Sylvia Munro – proposed by Margaret and seconded by Clair
John De Simone – proposed by Margaret and seconded by Clair
Clair Scott – proposed by Margaret and seconded by Roy
Ian Clark volunteered to rejoin the board and this was welcomed. He was nominated by Margaret and seconded by Clair.
8. Close of Meeting
Clair gave a vote of thanks to Roy and Ian proposed thanks to Sylvia and Margaret. Sylvia thanked everyone for attending and declared the meeting closed.
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