Chair’s Report 2022/2023

The past year. This past year was a very good one for Wye Valley Music and for its three areas of focus:  our monthly concerts and our two community engagement programmes. Financially we are in the black across the board with solid concert income and grants and donations supporting our engagement activities as forecast. Audience numbers were strong for almost all concerts, with quite a few selling out. Both engagement programmes are doing very well, with ongoing funding into 2024 and committed volunteers for both of them. You will hear more details on all of these areas later.

Plans for 2022/2023.  We have an exciting programme of concerts ahead booked up to June 2024 and both community engagement programmes are continuing full tilt. On a less exciting but no less important front, we are reviewing all of our administrative systems and platforms to refresh them and make sure they work for what is now an expanded organisation with multiple income streams. Our main focus next year, however will be finding new Committee members to keep this vibrant organisation running.

Committee membership.  We put the call out regularly, but this year we absolutely must find new people for the Committee in any and all roles. Most of our Committee members have been working with Wye Valley Music for years—in Martin Fenn-Smith’s case 20 odd years! Because of them, we have been able to bring wonderful concerts to this area for over half a century. Because of them, vital performance opportunities exist for established as well as up and coming chamber musicians.

But no one can continue doing this work forever, however committed they are to it. People move away, can no longer commit the time or energy, or simply move on to other things. Over the past few years, we have lost several committee members in this way and we now desperately need to replenish the committee.

You do not need to have a music background -- any skill sets you’ve amassed in your life and career can undoubtedly contribute to what we do. The time commitment is not onerous and individual duties can easily be fit around your daily life. You do not even need to live in the St Briavels area—we do a lot of our work via zoom and email.  Without you, we may not be able to continue. So please do get in touch with me if you or anyone you know is willing to help.

Thank you. Finally, I’d like to thank all the members of the committee for their generous help and support over the past year. Thanks as well go out to those on whose services we depend – St Briavels Church, Philip Kennedy our piano tuner, Caroline Jones our graphic designer and Wyastone our printers. Special thanks to Jean Sheraton for doing the teas/coffees for so many years and with such good humour and commitment. The church has now stepped back from doing these so we will only do them periodically, for example at our Christmas concert. Anyone who would like to assist us with this is most warmly welcomed!

Corinna Arnold 
Chair
15^th October 2023