B_SHARP_LTD - Accounts

The trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2019.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the trust's governing document, the Companies Act 2006 and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2016)

The trust's objects are:

• The advancement of the arts, culture heritage or science;

• the advancement of citizenship or community development;

• The advancement of education;

• The relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage.

STRATEGY

To achieve the objectives, the currents strategy is:

• To consult young people about their music aspirations, secure grant funding and then organise and deliver group music making workshops and performances for young people in Lyme Regis, Bridport, Axminster and the surrounding area. The workshops offer technical, creative and leadership training;

• To mix children and young people of varying ability, experience and background, bringing them together where they can make friendships and find support, encourage co-operation and tolerance, and build confidence and self-esteem that they can carry forward for the rest of their lives;

• To ensure that financial hardship is not a barrier to participation in our programmes;

• To increase our organisational resilience and capacity to support children and young people in challenging circumstances;

• To train and sustain emerging workforce;

• The partner with individuals and organisations to share resources, expertise, recruit participant and build pathways to enhance our programme and those of our partners, strengthening the wider sector.

These strategies depend upon the goodwill of many adults, young people, organisations and funders. B Sharp would like to thank all our supporters for the practical help we receive in delivering our objectives.

B Sharp exists to provide exceptional music making opportunities to young people, especially those experiencing challenges, to build their musical skills, personal skills and confidence, as well as their contribution to their community. The evidence is that the B Sharp model of music making that we have developed has a significant impact on young people’s personal, emotional and social development. The model requires a high intervention rate from staff and music leaders, in order to have significant impact, and is therefore necessarily expensive and will always require high levels of funding.

Over the year we have worked with 401 young people in a sustained way (and a further 1020 through taster and outreach sessions) across 33 regular group or partnership settings. We have engaged with 27 partner organisations through working with them to reach young people, through joint development or to provide professional development and training to music leaders and young people.

This year saw a major transition in our organization. We said farewell (but not goodbye) to our founder and long serving leader Fran Williams and hello to Ruth Cohen our new and very experienced Chief Executive and Artistic Director.

The handover was a momentous piece of work. The final stages of the activity covered by the 2014 – 2018 Business Plan were delivered in the first half of this period. Fran and the team carried out a great deal of work to rationalise and streamline our processes, strengthen relationships, and generate funding opportunities to support the transition period. Work on the new business plan began as soon as Ruth had settled in and during the final quarter of 2018-19 Ruth and the Board focused on drafting the strategies, developing the financial model and testing the viability and sustainability of the organisation in an extremely challenging and financially uncertain environment.

B Sharp worked hard to gain significant financial support from the RIO Foundation which has enabled us to contemplate a step change; strengthen our management structure and increase the volumes of work that we are able to undertake. Simultaneously, we secured Arts Council support to enable a significant research and development project, ‘Raising The Bar’, which allows us to focus on enhancing the artistic quality of our performances and community events, and to develop an events strategy. We are also immensely grateful to Youth Music for their support for our innovative work supporting regular open access music making groups, schools and early years settings.

Our focus over the next year:

The Trustees are close to finalizing the business plan for the next three years. We will be aiming to:

• Maintain and develop our existing open access music making programme in Lyme Regis and Bridport, and to develop the programme in a wider geographical context to reach more young people.

• Develop relationships with partner organisations to reach young people who have specific vulnerabilities, enhance the delivery of the core programme, finesse our offering and capitalize on joint-venture opportunities.

• Work with partners, including local venues, local communities and world class musicians, to provide inspiring musical and creative experiences and performance opportunities for local young people.

• Continue to develop the capabilities of our music leader team, including our young music leaders, to deliver high quality music making with young people that develops their musical and personal development.

We are determined to maintain and extend the high quality of our core programme of on-going regular music projects, training for older young people and staff, and to reach more young people, particularly those who are vulnerable.

Trustees recognize that maintaining our on-going development will require significant support. We will continue our drive for philanthropic support through, individuals, trusts and foundations and crowdfunding. Securing this funding will be a major challenge, particularly in the current environment and will be an on-going area of work.

A selection of high-quality, interesting musical memorabilia was very kindly donated by our Patron Ian Gillan. This went to auction and raised a significant sum which we were able to put towards our on-going programme development. In the current year (2019-2020) we are continuing our search for philanthropic support and have already received significant support from the Garfield Weston Foundation and The 29th May 1961 Charitable Foundation.

NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND LOCAL SUPPORT

During the year 2018-2019 B Sharp has received support from National Organisations:

Youth Music - £30,000 for an interim programme Jan 2018 – Jan 2019, and £100,000 for a 3 year programme June 2018 – June 2021. We are grateful for Youth Music’s support for B Sharp’s open access, inclusive group music making programmes, our work with early years settings, our professional development pathways, and our 1 to 1 work with young people who are NEET, and who struggle to access group music making

Arts Council England - £13485 for the ‘Raising the Bar’ project, to enable B Sharp to produce a forward-looking 3 year event strategy, strengthening and understanding B Sharp’s cultural offer so that we can provide more joined up, deeper experiences for young people and the wider community.

i-Will (via Dorset Community Foundation) - £5000 for 'Sound + Live' – a programme of youth volunteering, delivering grassroots music events run with young people for young people

The Trustees recognize that maintaining our on-going programme development requires substantial support and we would also like to thank the following local organizations for their help:

Lyme Regis Town Council – Lyme Regis Town Council continues to support B Sharp with a service level agreement of £5,000 for 2018/2019. An agreement was secured in 2016 for an additional £5000 for 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20 to fund activities in Lyme Regis, building the work force, offering training and progression for local young people.

West Dorset District Council - we are grateful for West Dorset District Council’s longstanding support of B Sharp. We have had annual investments from their Arts and Leisure Development fund since our beginnings in 2007. The backing of local authorities creates confidence and leverage to attract other investors, by demonstrating support from peers who have local knowledge of the need for what we do and the impact we have.

Dorset and Devon Music Education Hubs, Daisi, Bridport Town Council, and B Sharps fundraising has enabled B Sharp’s core programme of regular grassroots music making, training and CPD to roll out to the neighbouring towns of Bridport and Axminster and surrounding rural communities, identified as music and geographical cold spot areas.

We have secured new contracts and grants with local early years providers, primary and secondary schools across East Devon and West Dorset who have contributed to our singing, music and training programmes.

RIO Challenge Fund: 2015-18. We were successful in gaining the support of The Challenge fund to develop a 2-year operational / business plan, an opportunity to look at ways to strengthen our organisation, diversify income so that high-risk dependency on traditional grant funders is minimised.

We are also grateful to have received funding and support from the following:

Lyme Carnival

Lyme Splash

Uplyme Morris

G F Eyre

ESG Robinson Trust

The Derek Hill Charitable Foundation

R D Creed (via the Swift Initiative)

Woodroffe School

Sir John Colfox School

Mrs Ethelston's School

St Michael’s School

Westfield School

Axe Beacon Schools (Colyton, Seaton, Shute and Kilmington Primaries)

Stepping into Nature

Girlguides

Early Years venues

B Side Festival

ACTIVITIES AND PROJECTS

On-going Regular Music Projects

• Hub Jams – Tuesdays (term time) at The Hub for young people 11-19

• Boombox – Thursdays (term time) at the Hub for young people aged 9-11

• Bridport Jams – B Sharp Voices – Mondays (term time) at Bridport Youth & Community Centre for young people 7-19

• B Sharp Voices – Singing programmes for primary and secondary years; various projects, part funded by Dorset Music Education as part of the singing strategy

• B Sharp Early Years - Music for toddlers and their families

• B Sharp music in schools – bespoke music offers for primary and secondary

• Young (Music) Leadership Training Programme (YMLP) – 6 young leaders progressed through B Sharp’s leadership programme in 2018-19. One alumni returned to take up a position as Music Leader for B Sharp.

Work experience, education and employment

Central to our work is our training and skills development for young people. Through our professional development opportunities and work-based training experiences (mentoring, leading groups, organising events for example) with B Sharp projects, young people can build an impressive portfolio and CV, which is important in building their transferable skills and gaining access to employment, college and university courses. At age 15, young people can apply to become an Apprentice Music Leader (unpaid), and from 16 a Trainee Music Leader (paid).

Over the past year, our office/administration Team has maintained its size at 1.5 full time equivalent and 8 trained freelance music leaders and support workers, plus a pool of skilled associates/consultants regularly contracted for work.

Professional Workforce Development

We commission, recruit and form working partnerships with high-quality professional guests who bring an added dimension to the local B Sharp offer – inspiration, mentorship, skills and knowledge development. For example, we regularly work with Composer John K Miles. As part of our CPD programme, Associates of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Daisi, Dorset Youth Association, Activate, Arts Development Company and DYS Space Ltd have all contribute to our training programme and provide our participants, music leaders, organisation and community with an extra dimension to growth and development and, of course, bring with them a wealth of resources.

Developing Music and Singing Opportunities in Schools

Through forming partnerships with local authorities, arts and educational organisations (Dorset and Devon Music Educational Hubs) and schools, we design and deliver a variety of music and singing programmes that would not be possible for the schools to provide for themselves by reason of logistics and resources. This way we ensure that we reach hundreds of children and young people who may not normally get an opportunity to take part and begin to build pathways between us.

We work closely with Woodroffe and St Michael’s, as well as Axminster, Seaton, Colfox, Colyton and Beaminster secondary schools; St Michael's, Chardstock, Mrs Ethelstones, Colyton, Kilmington, Seaton, Shute, Colyton, Axminster and Bridport primary schools.

By working with the primary feeder schools and their appropriate secondary schools, we are building pathways for music, social and organisational development, which the schools and participants find extremely beneficial.

Community Events in Lyme Regis & Bridport

This year, B Sharp had a calendar of popular community events that included:

• Busking Festival in May 2018

• Summer Cabaret July 2018

• Bridport Sounds Gig July 2018

• Bridport Open Day October 2018

• ‘Evolution’ Gig November 2018

• Pop up Choirs, Lyme Regis and Seaton, Autumn 2018 and Spring 2019

We did not have resources to hold our very popular Big Mix Festival this year but we have been researching its potential for the future, as part of an events strategy, through our Arts Council England funded ‘Raising the Bar’ Project.

B Sharp has continued to develop our new enterprise and platform for young musicians – Launchpad. This has formalized our offer to the community and we now have a pool of young musicians, bands and technicians available for hire at community events, festivals, fetes and for private hire.

B Sharp has become well known for its young producers and leadership programme, which has earned a local and national reputation. B Sharp is an anchor and leading youth arts organisation with a social purpose, providing a comprehensive, high quality music making, training, young leadership and performance programme, underpinned by core activities that require resourcing and funding in themselves.

The excess of Income over expenditure for the year shown in the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) was £11,068 for the year (2018 deficit of £33,051). In accordance with Charity Commission requirements the SOFA shows Income that we have received and expenditure that we have incurred without any attempt to “match” them as there would be in a commercial Profit and Loss account.

The bank balance at the end of the financial year was £80,151 (2018 £67,832) of which £35,506 is not required to be spent on any specific activity This is described in the SOFA as unreserved funds Although the balance may seem relatively high for a small charity all of the reserved funds and most of the unreserved (subject to our Reserve policy) has already been committed to activities over the coming year.

We are embarking on a programme of expansion over the next three years to bring the benefits of B Sharp to more young people and will require considerable additional funding to achieve our aspiration.

Reserves and reserves policy

The Trustees aim to keep a proportion of unrestricted funds in reserve. Enough to ensure the organisation could conclude its activities in an orderly manner. Trustees review the appropriate amount annually and a copy of the reserves policy is available on request.

The trust is a company limited by guarantee and is a registered charity. The governing document is the company's Memorandum and Articles of Association. B Sharp was established in 2007 under the name Lyme Youth Arts as an unincorporated community group, in response to a culture of bad press towards young people in Lyme Regis area and lack of opportunity for them. Young people were requesting open access and relevant music activities out of school. B Sharp was incorporated in 2011.

The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:

Professional advisers:

Sally Clements – Adviser and ‘critical friend’.

Sara Hudston – observer and prospective Trustee.

Rachel Coney – mentor to CE/AD.

Cleo Evans – adviser and consultant on raising the Bar project.

Ayvin Rogers, former Chair (2008-2015) and fundraising consultant.

Bankers: Lloyds Bank

Accountants: Hammett Associates

The Trustees adopt policies, develop strategies and oversee the organisation’s finances in order to achieve the objectives of B Sharp. Policies are updated annually at the October AGM. B Sharp engage suitable people to deliver the objectives. Until her resignation on 30th November 2018, the B Sharp founder, Chief Exec/Artistic Director Fran Williams was key to this. After a month’s hand over period, her role was taken up by Ruth Cohen.

The Board meets at least four times a year. Periodic reviews/audits of the Board’s skills, assets and needs are undertaken, and gaps filled by invitation or advertisement, though it has been increasingly difficult to find suitable candidates for these roles. During this financial year, our Board ran with four trustees and an observer/prospective trustee. This year, through the skills and dedication of both Fran and then Ruth, a part-time administrator and the core team of Board Members, B Sharp has been able to deliver the Operational Plan, recruit excellent staff, adopt a new financial reporting system, re-write the business plan, and maintain a small, skilled, and diverse range of staff and Board members.

At the heart of B Sharp’s ethos is the input of our delivery team: Music Leaders, Support Workers, Young Music Leaders, Producers and Trainees. Young participants are consulted regularly, and are invited to our AGM/Board meeting and special focus groups to shape the programme, to inform the Chief Executive/Artistic Director and the Board.

Emails & Mailing list: info@bsharp.org.uk

Website: www.bsharp.org.uk

We operate several social media sites that inform and interact with stakeholders:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bsharpmusic

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bsharplyme

Instagram: @b_sharp_music

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/110589184@N02/14894401069/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BsharpVideos

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/b-sharp-music

The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.

I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of B Sharp Ltd (the trust) for the year ended 31 March 2019.

As the trustees of the trust (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (the 2006 Act).

Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the trust are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the trust’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the trust as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or

the financial statements do not accord with those records; or

the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or

the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.

J R Banks FCA

Youth Music Charity    

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.

All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

The company is entitled to the exemption from the audit requirement contained in section 477 of the Companies Act 2006, for the year ended 31 March 2019.

The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for ensuring that the charity keeps accounting records which comply with section 386 of the Act and for preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of the financial year and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the financial year in accordance with the requirements of sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements, so far as applicable to the company.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year in question in accordance with section 476.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.

B Sharp Ltd is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Unit 5, Uplyme Road Business Park, Lyme Regis, Dorset, DT7 3LS.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the trust's governing document, the Companies Act 2006 and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2016). The trust is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

The trust has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities applying FRS 102 Update Bulletin 1 not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the trust. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, modified to include the revaluation of freehold properties and to include investment properties and certain financial instruments at fair value. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the trust has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Turnover is measured at the fair value of the consideration received or receivable and represents amounts receivable for goods and services provided in the normal course of business, net of discounts, VAT and other sales related taxes.

Expenditure is recognised on accruals basis when a liability is incurred.

Costs of generating funds are those costs incurred in attracting voluntary income, and those incurred in trading activities that raise funds.

Governance costs include those incurred in the governance of its assets and are primarily associated with constitutional and statutory requirements. They include accountancy and legal costs and costs linked to the strategic management of the charity.

Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.

Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:

The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year.

At each reporting end date, the trust reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).

Intangible assets with indefinite useful lives and intangible assets not yet available for use are tested for impairment annually, and whenever there is an indication that the asset may be impaired.

Stocks are stated at the lower of cost and estimated selling price less costs to complete and sell. Cost comprises direct materials and, where applicable, direct labour costs and those overheads that have been incurred in bringing the stocks to their present location and condition. Items held for distribution at no or nominal consideration are measured the lower of replacement cost and cost.

Net realisable value is the estimated selling price less all estimated costs of completion and costs to be incurred in marketing, selling and distribution.

Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

The trust has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

Financial instruments are recognised in the trust's balance sheet when the trust becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.

Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.

Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.

Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Financial liabilities are derecognised when the trust’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.

The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.

Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the trust is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.

In the application of the trust’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.

Youth Music Charity    

Youth Music Charity    

Grants

Workshop fees

Commission fees

Merchandise sales

Raffles & auctions    

Events catering and bar    

Ticket sales

Youth Music Charity    

Youth Music Charity

Youth Music Charity

Consultants    

Training and CPD    

Business development    

Music leaders    

Performance expenses    

Event staff and technical support

Trainee expenses    

Trainers and mentors    

Equipment expensed    

Equipment hire    

Merchandise costs    

Travel expenses    

Venue expenses    

Telephone    

Office supplies    

Office space

Computer expenses    

Sundry expenses    

Insurance    

Advertising and marketing

Website costs

Accountancy    

Accounts support    

Administration expenses    

None of the trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits from the trust during the year (2018 - C Evans was paid £400 for acting as event manager).

The average monthly number of employees during the year was:

Restricted funds:

Youth Music B - restricted for delivery of youth music project running regular open access music making opportunities, early years opportunities, one to one music making for NEET young people, and progression pathways for young people;

Youth Music A - restricted for delivery of youth music project running regular open access music making opportunities, early years opportunities, and performance and progression pathways for young people;

i-Will - restricted for delivery of youth social action project, encouraging young people too create music events for other young people;

Raising the Bar - restricted for delivery of research and development project, examining B Sharp's Events Strategy.

Transfers between funds:

YMA Activities, B Sharp events, Bridport Jams - activities have concluded, and funder's terms have been met;

Soundwaves - first tranche of funding, activities have concluded and funder's terms have been met. Further funds remain in restricted funds;

RIO project - Funder terms did not restrict charity's use of funding. The funds were held as restricted until it was determined that funds would be used to fund core activities.

Unrestricted

Restricted

There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2018 - none).