Leave a legacy

The London Handel Society is the charity which runs the annual London Handel Festival. Since the very beginning, the Festival has been supported by those passionate about Handel’s music, and we have been very fortunate in receiving a small but significant number of legacies in recent years which have made a valuable contribution to our continued growth and success. Ticket sales only cover 40% of the costs of running the Festival, and therefore we are hugely reliant on the generosity of our family of supporters, including our legacy donors, for our survival.

Please consider supporting us through a gift in your will. This will help us keep the glory of Handel’s music alive for future generations and will also ensure that we continue to nurture the very best talent through our annual Handel Singing Competition. We are a registered charity (no. 269184), and so any gifts made to us are exempt from tax.

If you have already included us in your will, or are thinking of doing so, we would love to hear from you so that we can thank you personally for your generous gift. We would be happy to discuss specific wording which you might wish to use, and also if there is a particular area of our work which interests you and how you might therefore designate your gift.

Please see below an example of wording you may wish to use, but we strongly recommend that you consult a solicitor in the first instance.

If you have any questions about supporting us in this way, please contact Richard Hopkin, Chairman of the London Handel Festival, in the strictest confidence at chairman@londonhandelfestival.org.uk.

Thank you for your support.

Your solicitor will advise on the wording to be used but it could be as simple as ‘I give free of tax to the London Handel Society Limited charity number 269184 the sum of £ [ ] to be used for its general charitable purposes and I declare that the receipt of the Treasurer or other proper officer shall be a full and sufficient discharge’.

Alternatively, a fraction or percentage of residue of your estate could be left to the Society, the exact wording of which should be as advised by your solicitor to make sure maximum tax advantage is gained in your estate.