Finances 

Meantime's Financial Ethos

One of the founding principles of Meantime Chorus was that an individual's financial position should not affect their ability to participate in the chorus. The continued existence of our club relies on our ability to pay our bills, so we must all contribute what we can and what is fair; however, if you ever find yourself unable to pay some of the fees asked of you, please do reach out to the Finance Director to make an arrangement. 

Regular Costs

Subs

Our monthly subscriptions fees are £40 per month, and are due on the 10th of every month.  For the chorus bank details, please check the #useful-info channel on slack.
As mentioned above, if you are unable to afford this amount, the Finance Director would be happy to have a conversation about it with you. 

BABS Fees

Every year, each individual member pays a subscription fee to our parent organisation 'BABS' (The British Association of Barbershop Singers - find out more about them here) This fee level changes every year, but is normally around the £60 figure, and is half this price for anyone under the age of 26. This fee will also be decided pro-rata depending on when you join the chorus

This covers insurance for the chorus, as well as other perks mentioned in 'The Wider Barbershop Community'. 

Convention Attendance

Every year, the chorus attends the BABS Convention, and the cost for this can vary. In the interest of including everything from the cheapest to the most expensive option, here is a breakdown of what this could consist

Cheapest Option

At a minimum, you will need a registration for the day that we are competing (normally about £60, with a youth rate that is half price), your contest season pass and transportation to and from the venue. It is also suggested that you stay over the night before the contest, as these competitions are usually held far away from Central London (In either Harrogate and Bournemouth). If you include subsistence, the cheapest option for convention will cost around £150. 

More Expensive Option

Of course, with what the individual spends on food and alcohol being potentially limitless, this is just offer an estimation of what the full cost of Convention could be.

• Full Weekend Convention Pass: ~£100

• 4 Nights Accomodation (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday): ~£400

• Travel to and from venue: ~£100

• Food and Alcohol for 4 days: ~£100-£200

• Contest Season Pass: £5

This brings the total to ~£750 for the full 4 day experience. 

Chorus Retreat

Every year Meantime host a Chorus Retreat, which is a two day event in February where we get coached by our brilliant internationally renowned coach Rob Mance. The chorus does heavily subsidise the event, but there is usually a small charge to each member attending. Given the event normally takes place over a weekend, and away from central London, there are often some other associated costs, which are as follows

• General Retreat Costs ~£50

• Accommodation costs ~£100

• Food costs - between £20 and £100 depending on how you're feeling

• Individual Coaching session (if you have one) ~£85

Additional Costs

Other Convention Attendance

Occasionally, we will get invited to LABBS Convention as guests (if we win BABS in the same year) and the same costs as BABS Convention apply, with the exception of one day's worth of out Registration will be included in the price.

Social Events 

After every rehearsal, there is a group of people who will go to nearest pub and enjoy a couple of good beers and some chorus camaraderie.  Craft beer in London isn't the cheapest by any stretch of the imagination, but they do also have a great selection of soft drinks (and the chips are pretty incredible)

Throughout the year, there will be various social events hosted from within the chorus. In the past these have included darts, fine dining, poker, games of badminton, bowling, slightly-less-fine dining, and open-mic events. There is no obligation for anyone to attend any of these events, but it is just something to be mindful of when planning your Meantime budget for the year. 

Where does the money go?

Every year at the AGM, the chorus gets presented with our Accounts for the year, as well as the Budget for the upcoming year.  All members can access these documents at any time to see where your subscription money is going.

• 2023/24 Budget Document

• 2022/23 Accounts

Estimated Annual Cost of Meantime Chorus

Putting all of the above together, here is a rough estimate of what the annual cost of being a member of Meantime Chorus is. 

• Annual subscription fee - £480

• BABS Membership fee and Contest Season Pass -£65

• BABS Convention Attendance - Between £150 - ~£750

• Chorus Retreat - Between £70 and £335

• LABBS Convention Attendance - Between £100 -  ~£650

• A drink (or two)  in Latymer's after rehearsal each week -  between £250-£500

• Other Social events - Between £0 and £1000 depending on how many and how often.

This puts the minimum annual cost of being a Meantimer at £865, (and the maximum cost somewhere in the region of £3,500.)

That's roughly £2.37 a day, £16.63 a week or £72 a month.

As we stated at the beginning, an individual's financial position should not affect their ability to participate in the chorus. If you ever find yourself unable to pay some of the fees asked of you, please do reach out to the Finance Director to make an arrangement.