DORSET OPERA

Registered charity 1105318 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Providing an opportunity for young people to experience the demands and joys of participating in the choral or technical theatre aspects of opera production, through a residential summer school, alongside highly experienced professional soloist/tutors, production staff and orchestra, culminating typically in six public opera performances and a gala concert.

Objects

"TO PROMOTE, MAINTAIN, IMPROVE AND ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC, ESPECIALLY YOUNG PEOPLE, IN OPERA, IN PARTICULAR BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY BY:· ORGANISING SUMMER SCHOOLS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES FOR THE BENEFIT OF ASPIRING SINGERS, MUSICIANS AND PRODUCTION AND TECHNICAL PERSONNEL BASED IN DORSET AND FURTHER AFIELD; AND · PRESENTING HIGH QUALITY OPERATIC PRODUCTIONS INVOLVING, WHERE POSSIBLE, SIGNIFICANT ROLES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHORISTERS"

Area of benefit: DORSET

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Dorset, South West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The charity reported a surplus of £62,515 for the year ended 30 September 2025, with total income of £884,229 and total expenditure of £821,714. The General Fund reserves stood at £199,915, which the Trustees confirmed exceeds their stated solvency reserve requirement of £140,000. The accounts were prepared on a going concern basis with no material uncertainties identified regarding the charity's ability to meet its financial liabilities.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 05170704 · Financial health read from its filings

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• COOMBS, Lucinda Frances — director, appointed 10/12/2025on trustee list
• LEWIS, Merlin Philip David — director, appointed 17/12/2023on trustee list
• GRANT, David Euan Barron — director, appointed 08/03/2023on trustee list
• JENNER, Paul Malcolm — director, appointed 20/02/2020on trustee list
• LANG, Jean Mary — director, appointed 12/03/2018on trustee list
• BATT, Garry Peter — director, appointed 21/03/2016on trustee list
• NORMAN, Steven Dudley — director, appointed 01/05/2014on trustee list
• HUBERT, Susannah Margaret — director, appointed 02/02/2013on trustee list
• KENNEDY, Roderick Iain Macgregor — director, appointed 05/07/2004on trustee list

Official officers record.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/09/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~4.4 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (44% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.8% of total income — below the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• GARRY PETER BATTchair
• His Honour David Euan Barron Grant · trustee of 1 other charity
• Jean Mary Lang · trustee of 2 other charities
• Lucinda Frances Coombs · trustee of 2 other charities
• Merlin David Philip Lewis · trustee of 1 other charity
• Paul Malcolm Jenner
• RODERICK IAIN MACGREGOR KENNEDY
• STEVEN DUDLEY NORMAN
• Susannah Hubert

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Dorset

Income and spending

Common questions

Shared trustees with funders

Register facts shown side by side: a person serves as trustee of both this charity and a funder whose accounts record grants to it. Shared trusteeship is lawful and common; well-run charities manage it through declared-interest procedures.

• Merlin David Philip Lewis — trustee here and at THE VALENTINE CHARITABLE TRUST

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE FRIENDS OF DORSET OPERA.

• THE FRIENDS OF DORSET OPERA income £33k
• DORSET COMMUNITY ACTION income £666k
• WATERPERRY OPERA FESTIVAL income £748k
• OPERA PRELUDE income £143k
• BRITISH YOUTH OPERA income £446k
• CHILDREN'S CONCERTS income £141k

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.