Category Archives: News
Newsletter, July 2022
Welcome to the 9th issue of Perth & Kinross Music Foundation’s 6 monthly Newsletter.
The Trustees hope that you and your families are all well, and have steered clear of the dreaded Covid over the last few months as life has started to get back to something more like normal?
In this issue, we bring you up to date with what we have been up to over the last 6 months, and also give you some information on what we plan to do in the future.
What have we been up to over the last 6 months?
As was set out in our last newletter, the Scottish Government policy change with regard to free music tuition in state schools which was announced last summer, changed how the charity would have to operate given that we were set up to provide funds for music tuiton fees (and associated costs) which financially challenged families had difficualty in paying.
Since the the Scottish Government announcement last year, the Trustees have continued to support the Instrumental Music Service, whilst remaining within the terms of our OSCR approved constitution. To that end, we agreed with Allan Young (IMS Co-ordinator) to make available a grant to his service of up to £20,000 to be spent on additional instruments, equipment, and other resources on order to support the team’s efforts to re-estabish the level of service that they provide to pre-pandemic levels, and thus to encourage more young people to want to learn to play a musical instrument…
January newsletter 2022
Newsletter, July 2021
Event Cancellations
At the Foundation’s Trustees’ meeting on Tuesday 25th August 2020, we regrettably took the decision to cancel our 2 forthcoming fundraising events – the IMS Staff Tutor Concert planned for 13th September 2020, and our popular Quiz Night which was planned for 17th September.
Although the Trustees took these decisions, we were guided by the two venues who had notified us that, due to current restrictions regarding large gatherings, they weren’t going to be able to allow us to hold these events. Whilst this is very sad news, I am sure that you will agree that the decision of both the venues and ourselves are the right ones at this time.
We plan to reschedule these events for late Spring/early Summer 2021 when we hope that restrictions will be much more relaxed (or better still, non existent) and we are all back to as normal a way of living our lives as we can be. We will keep you posted via our next six monthly newsletter as regards dates so that you can put them in your diary, and hopefully you will be able to come along and support our continuing efforts to “Let Our Children Play”.
As a consequence of these decisions, the next fundraising event we still have in the diary is our annual concert by IMS central groups bands/orchestras, which is currently planned for Wednesday 3rd March 2021 in the North Inch Community Campus. At this time, we are hoping that this event can go ahead given that it is more than 6 months away, but we will of course, again be guided by any restrictions still in place at that time, plus the views of the staff of the Instrumental Music Service, as it is not yet clear when Central Groups will be able to begin rehearsing.
Thank you all for your continuing support of the work of the Foundation in supporting our young musicians from across Perth & Kinross.
Youth Philanthropy Initiative
Thanks to four young friends who took part in the Youth Philanthropy Initiative at school this term, each group chose a charity that they would like to support and put together a presentation to try and win £3000 for their chosen charity – the Perth and Kinross Music Foundation.
Proud mum, Joanne Robertson, said, “The four kids put together this video to explain what music means to them and most importantly recognised how privileged they are at their school. This presentation wasn’t about them, it was genuine and close to their hearts.”
“Although they made it through to the finals, they didn’t win BUT have come away thinking about how they can help in the future.”
On behalf of the Perth and Kinross Music Foundation, Mr Gordon Murch, thanked the youngsters for speaking up on behalf of the charity.
“Their efforts have gone far to demonstrate the wide public support for our work and to prove the huge values to be uncovered from learning to play a musical instrument.”
Credit to their young composer and his pal on guitar!.
Quiz success
PKMF held a fundraising Quiz Night on Tuesday 17 September 2019 in the Civil Service Club, Perth. Joint Quiz Masters for the evening were Jason Blythe and Dave Findlay who had set some very challenging, but fun, questions. 13 teams took part and all participants who made a comment at the end of the evening expressed how much they had enjoyed themselves. A raffle was also held and the final proceeds to the Foundation funds after all expenses had been settled was £545.
The quiz was won by a team calling themselves “The B Side” with an extremely high score of 82 out of a possible 100. The evening was sponsored by Errochty Financial Services, a local company, which sponsored the cost of hiring the venue. The Committee will review how the evening went at its next meeting and will hopefully choose to organise another Quiz Night evening in the future.
Perth City Operatic Group’s support for young musicians
Perth City Operatic Group will now cease to exist, and their leftover funds have been donated to youth music charities in the area.
The Perth City Operatic Group has raised more than £10,000 for charities during its final farewell party.
The company was forced to wrap up their performances after 55 years due to dwindling attendance numbers.
Money raised from the event at the Tulloch Institute at the weekend will be evenly split to give three charities supporting young musicians £3,500 each.
Holly Cammidge, of the Perth City Operatic Group, said the last performance was bittersweet. “It was a sad occasion but it was one we wanted to celebrate,” she said.
“It was a really nice evening.We made our donations to three charities to distribute the money in our account.
The three charities were chosen by members of the group themselves. They decided to donate the money to Perth Youth Orchestra, the Perth and Kinross Music Foundation and the Young Musicians Parents Association.
On choosing the charities, Ms Cammidge said: “It was decided at that we wanted to support up and coming musicians.
“All of our productions have had a live orchestra and we wouldn’t have managed without one, so we feel that this is giving something back.”
The opera group had to cancel its final show last autumn and was unable to form a committee at its annual general meeting in the spring.
They had previously put on a major show once a year but the pressures of doing this have become too great for the remaining organisers of the group.
Ms Cammidge said: “We had also recently tried to put on a production at Perth Theatre, like our sister organisation Perth Amateur Operatic Society have managed, but it proved too expensive.
“At our meeting in March, we couldn’t get enough people to form a committee so the group had to stop.”
On Friday night past members and their families and friends were invited to join the group to celebrate the 55 years of the opera group’s work. As the Perth City Opera Group said its final farewell, they remained grateful to everyone who supported them. Ms Cammidge said: “We would like to thank our audiences and members over the years for their support.
A spokesperson for the operatic group said: “It is with great sadness that we had to announce the closure of Perth City Operatic Group, a charity which has been a part of Perth’s performing arts scene since 1964 and welcomed many audiences over the years.
“Perth City Operatic Group’s AGM was held earlier this year and the final decision was made by its members to close the society. A decline in membership numbers and a lack of interest in the running of the society meant that this decision was forced to comply with the society’s constitution as it can not exist without a committee in place.
According to Perth City Operatic Group’s constitution, their remain funds were distributed among local youth music charities which have been chosen by the membership – including Perth Youth Orchestra and the Perth and Kinross Music Foundation.
“We’d like to thank our audiences and members over the years for their support.”
Responding on behalf of Perth and Kinross Music Foundation, Chairperson Mhairi MacKinnon said, “We are delighted to receive such a great boost to our funds but obviously saddened by the circumstances which sees the end of a great Perth institution.”
Newsletter, July 2019
Newsletter, Jan 2019
Happy New Year to everyone and welcome to the second Newsletter produced by Perth & Kinross Music Foundation. We hope that you had a very merry, and enjoyable, Festive period.
In this issue, we bring you up to date with what we have been up to over the last 6 month, and also give you advance notice of what we are planning to get up to over the next 6 months and beyond.
We would also like to record in this Newsletter, the immense contribution to the Foundation, as well as the wider musical life of Perth & Kinross, from the late George Annan who sadly passed away in November 2018 after a short illness. George was the Founder of Perthshire Brass, and also a founder Trustee of this Foundation back in 1998. His funeral service in St John’s Kirk in Perth on 10 December 2018 was a wonderful tribute to his musical life over many years. George will be missed not only by his family and friends, but his passing leaves a huge gap in the musical life of communities across Perth & Kinross. The Trustees wish to acknowledge George’s input to the Foundation over more than 20 years.
What have we been up to over the last 6 months:
Since the last edition of our Newsletter, the Trustees have been very busy in continuing to raise funds to support our objectives.
In terms of our fundraising efforts over the last 6 months, these included a concert on 30 September 2018, in St John’s Episcopal Church entitled “Making Music Magic”. The performers for this event were staff from the Council’s Instrumental Music Service, and the concert was attended by almost 60 people plus a number of the young students of these talented musicians, who, on a daily basis, nurture and encourage all their students to achieve their best in music. The afternoon was widely acclaimed by all who attended, and the church officers and volunteers made us very welcome including providing interval refreshments for both the performers and the audience. We are in discussion with the IMS staff regarding whether or not this could become an annual event in our fundraising calendar – so watch the website for next year’s date!
During September and October we were pleased to be one of the 3 chosen local charities in the TESCO Bags of Help scheme. We were delighted to find out at the end of November that we had been awarded a grant of £2,000 towards out stated aims of “letting our children play”. Thank you to everyone who voted for us with their “wee blue tokens“ in TESCO stores over these 2 months.
What are our plans for the next 6 months and beyond?
First up, on Wednesday 6 March 2019 we will once again be holding our annual concert at the North Inch Community Campus, in North Muirton, Perth. This year the evening will showcase the musical talents of the Perth & Kinross Elementary String Orchestra, the Perth & Kinross Central Groups Choir, pupils from Kinross High School, the Perth & Kinross Percussion Ensemble, and Perthshire Youth Brass. The aim of this evening each year is to give young people (some of whom will be receiving financial support from the Foundation) an opportunity to perform in front of a keen listening audience of parents, relatives, family, and friends. For some of the youngest, this will be their first experience of playing in public and will, we are sure, be a daunting task for them. Please do come along and support our young musicians and enjoy this evening of “letting our children play”.
On 11 May 2019, 11 members of the IMS staff team plus some Trustees and friends of the Foundation, have signed up to take part in the Gung Ho Challenge in Edinburgh. This is 5km long race around an inflatable obstacle course! It promises to be a fun event for the competitors and the audience, as there are some very messy obstacles which end up in mud baths, water baths, and foam baths! Our intrepid gang will be seeking sponsors via a dedicated JustGiving Page or they can be sponsored directly. Every penny raised will go towards meeting the fees of young people from financially challenged households. If you want to see this event, it will be held on the Meadows in Edinburgh on the morning of Saturday 11 May 2019, so do come along and help these adventurers to enjoy their day out, and also give them some encouragement and help in getting really messy!
Following the success of our first ever Quiz Night fundraising venture last June, we are looking to have another one later this year. The exact date and venue have not yet been finalised but we will probably be looking at around Autumn sometime. Please keep your eyes on the Foundation’s website for more details www.pmkf.org.uk
As a Charity, we are always looking at new ways to raise funds to support our objectives and supplement the generous contributions received from local Charitable Trusts, other Groups, and individuals who are sympathetic to our aims and objective of “letting our children play”. If you have any fundraising ideas for us to try, do let us know and we will consider such an event.
Our Finances
To date, we have been successful in making grant funding applications to The Guildry Incorporation of Perth, The Cross Trust, The Gannochy Trust, The Jimmie Cairncross Trust, the Souter Charitable Foundation, TESCO Bags of Help Scheme, and the Ross & Liddle Community Bursary Scheme. We are extremely grateful to all of the Charitable Trusts that support us as these grant awards have enabled us to meet 100% of the applications received from young people for financial support. So far, this academic year we have received 119 applications (last year our final total was 83), and more keep trickling in as parents become aware of just how much Perth & Kinross Council have put the fees up by this year. This represents an increase of 43% in the number of applications received compared to 2017/18.
As well as being successful with our grant funding applications, we have also received donations from Perth based choir Encore, have had a pledge from RSPCC Childline (in recognition that the IMS staff freely give up their time for the annual Childline Fundraising Concert each December), and a number of individuals. We also now have 10 “Friends of the Foundation”. These are people who have invested in the work of the Foundation by signing up to an annual/monthly subscription which entitles them to receive this twice yearly Newsletter, and also 2 free tickets to any concert organised by the Foundation. The Trustees would like to say a huge thank you to all our sponsors and supporters. If you know of anyone else who might be interested in becoming a “Friend” please ask them to get in touch either with the Secretary or Treasurer via our website.
During the last 6 months we have received almost £28,000 in grant awards from Charitable Trusts, plus more from individuals and groups, and to date we have paid out/are due to pay out £18,400 in music tuition and central music group fees to Perth & Kinross Council. We will no doubt be due to pay more to the Council as the academic year comes to a close in the summer. So, as you can see, these grant awards, and other personal donations received from our sponsors, friends, and supporters, are very much welcomed, and indeed necessary.