As the academic year draws to a close and our nine groups are winding down one by one for the summer holiday, I hope you have all had a great year and that The Cobweb Orchestra has offered you a large variety of musical experiences, whether in a group or at events or both. The Cobweb Orchestra is a unique organisation compared to a lot of other amateur orchestras. Not only do we offer open access with no auditions, we also offer so much more in the range of events and opportunities that you can delve in to, but these days all this comes at an ever-increasing cost that we need to address if the organisation is going to thrive and move forward.
At the last Trustees’ meeting, we decided that the time had come to make some changes in the hopes that we can increase our income and stop depleting our reserves. No one likes prices going up, but our reserves won’t last forever. Therefore, some tough decisions were taken after a lot of thought and debate.
Membership
As from September 2024, the cost of membership will be rising for the first time ever from £40 to £50. Non-taxpayers’ membership will rise from £25 to £35. We are also going to streamline membership so that there will be one renewal date of 1st September each year. This means that the current April renewals will need to pay an additional £27.00 in September 24 to cover the extra 5 months of membership (April 25 to Aug 25) and then you will renew again in September 2025, when the full amount of £50 will be due. Non-taxpayers will need to pay £21.00 in September 24 and then you will renew again in September 2025 at £35.
New members who join after September will pay a proportion of the membership fee, depending on how many months there are until the following September.
All the current discounts for group attendance and events remain for members.
Events
As the cost of venues and collaborations with soloists/choirs etc increases, it was decided that the fee for a basic event (not that a Cobweb event is ever basic!) such as a 4-hour study day will increase by £1. This means that members will pay £13, and non-members will pay £16.
More costly events such as those with a soloist, the hire of a piano or those longer than the usual 4-hours will have the fee decided on an individual basis.
We’d love to see more people at events, particularly the slightly more unusual ones. We all love the more familiar big symphonic works, but I can guarantee that you can get the same amount of enjoyment from the Opera Project or watching Mark mentor aspiring conductors or playing new music composed or arranged by the Composers & Arrangers Group. It’s great that we can offer so much to broaden horizons, but we do need your support.
Of course, our biggest concern when raising prices is that we will lose people from our membership or from taking part in events. We desperately don’t want that to happen and Cobfriends is set up to help people who may feel that the increased fee will be a financial burden that will break the bank. If you would like financial support, please email the Chair of Cobfriends Claire Wipat: claire.wipat@hotmail.com All applications for financial help are treated in the strictest confidence.
Also remember that we have an excellent car-sharing scheme in place, whereby Lorna will do her very best to find you a lift to an event. Not only does this make travelling to an event more enjoyable, it also reduces the cost of fuel and keeps cars off the road!
Don’t forget that there are two events during the holiday – The Summerhill Picnic on 28th July and the Concert in Gibside Chapel on 10th August. Information about both is in the Events Diary. Please do sign up for these events!
Finally, I’d like to wish you the happiest, if not the warmest, summer. Thank you for all your support throughout this last year. I hope to see you all back again in the Autumn.
Sue Baker
Chair of The Cobweb Orchestra Trustees
