MINUTES OF AGM OF THE HASLEMERE PLAYERS
Held on Tuesday 11 June 2009 at the Haslemere Hall
The President, Hamish Donaldson, welcomed all 30 members to the meeting, especially Mary Kirkman who joined in 1983 for ‘Trial by Jury’ and who sadly, had lost her husband, Charles in April.
1 APOLOGIES: were received from: Robin North, Rebecca Lucas, Mike Cubitt, Shona and Alan Dickinson, Rae Boxall, Jenny Hill, Mary Coyte, Fay and Michael Foster, Peter Gardner, Esther Jones, Lynn and Tony Creasey.
2 MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING were read and taken as a true record of the meeting. Proposed by Richard Tytler, seconded by Valerie Bishop.
3 MATTERS ARISING AND CORRESPONDENCE: No matters arising or correspondence to report.
4. TREASURER’S REPORT: Vicki began by going through the result of each of the shows put on during the year.
Vicki started with the Music Hall and pointed out that these figures relate to the 2008 Music Hall, not 2009. Tickets sold were down by 45 on the previous year but revenue was up by just over £600 due to a ticket price increase. Other revenues for the show were roughly in line with 2007 and revenues overall were also up on 2006. This year no box office commission was paid. This was because the Hall introduced a new charging structure for shows where the bar and box office are not used, which is reflected in the cost of hiring the hall for shows, which increased by £440. Charges for hiring the hall for rehearsals also increased but lighting was down by £370 as the lighting technician role was kindly undertaken by Tony Legat. Costumes came in at just £10 and Vicki considered a 156% increase in scenery costs reasonable as they came in at £36.77. Advertising costs were up on the previous year by £306 and overall publicity was up by £214. Sundry costs were roughly in line with the previous year and the show made a surplus of £335.94.
For ‘Pirates’, Vicki reported that ticket sales showed a vast improvement on October 2007 and revenue from ticket sales was up by just over £6,300. There was another rise in programme advertising revenues thanks to Elizabeth Chester but programme costs were unavoidably up on the previous year. A new ‘show donation’ was introduced whereby each member of the cast makes a donation of, currently, £15 which generated revenue of £480. On the other hand, no charge was made as a contribution for scores and libs, coffee, presents or the after show party, as previously. Vicki considered that the new system seemed to work well. Royalties were up on the previous year as expected but only by £200. Vicki mentioned a query raised at the 2008 AGM about payment of VAT on royalty charges. She said that VAT is charged by Weinbergers, who provided the license for ‘Pirates’ but not by Musicscope who provided the license for ‘My One & Only’. She had checked this with the VAT office and this relates to the place of supply of services. Musicscope are part of Stage Musicals New York and are, therefore, outside the rules of UK VAT. Vicki said that she had explained the situation to the VAT office and they assured her that this is correct. Hall and rehearsal venue hire costs were up slightly on the previous year as were music costs. Many costumes were provided from our own wardrobe and from the many cheap or even free sources that Jennie Budden always manages to find, so costume costs were considerably down on the previous year, as were scenery and props. Overall costumes and sets were down by £811 compared to ‘My One & Only’. Publicity costs were roughly the same as last year as were sundry costs, other than gifts. The revenue that would have been set against this in previous years, is included in show donations. Overall the show produced a surplus of £1,268.14.
Vicki reported that for ‘Sweeney Todd’, ticket sales were disappointing. The Hall box office also reported similar results when they showed the ‘Sweeney Todd’ film at the cinema, despite having seen figures showing its popularity in many other parts of the country. Ticket sale revenue was down in comparison to ‘Summer Holiday’ by almost £5,800 but other revenues, in total, were up in comparison to ‘Summer Holiday’ by nearly £260. Programme advertising reached an all time high of £1,205, again, thanks to Elizabeth Chester and, once again, Peter Marsh worked tirelessly on getting sponsorship from the Lythe Hill and arranging the Sweeney Lunch which in total raised £654. Show donations of £367.50 were received. Royalties and box office commission were down in line with ticket sales revenue and by just over £2,000 in comparison to the previous year. Hire of the hall and other venues for shows and rehearsals was up by £336 due to the hall’s annual price increase but this was offset by the reduction in the rate of VAT to 15%. This will also benefit this year’s Music Hall and ‘Scrooge’ and any other VAT costs until the rate goes back to 17.5% on 31 December 2009. Orchestra costs were £400 higher than for ‘Summer Holiday’ and overall music costs were higher by about £600. Costumes and sets were over £1,600 less than for ‘Summer Holiday’ with costumes at just £251 and sets at £350. £500 was saved on advertising costs. Sundry costs were roughly in line with last year and the show made a deficit of £2,354.33. Vicki said that although the show’s financial result could not be dressed up as a success, a number of people worked very hard to either generate extra revenue or minimise costs and Players should be very grateful to them. Vicki then named only a few, and hoped she would not offend anyone not mentioned - Elizabeth Chester, Peter Marsh, Jennie Budden and Hamish Donaldson.
Vicki then turned to income and reported that the total income from the shows was up by over £2,000. She mentioned that the decision was taken last year to increase the patron sub from a minimum of £5 to £20 per individual, couple or family. This resulted in patron subs being up by £760 on last year. This increase did not appear to have a detrimental effect on the amount received in donations, which was £10 up on last year. However, this included a £200 donation received in appreciation of the Foster family providing entertainment at an 80th birthday party, which they donated to Players. It was also noted at last year’s AGM that member subs were lower than expected. Vicki reported that a stricter collection process had been adopted this year and this resulted in member subs being up by £575. Vicki said she had sent a mailing to all patrons and members in early August last year, chasing subscriptions but also including a gift aid form which got a very good response. Increased subs, more gift aid forms and the introduction of the show donation on which we can also claim gift aid have meant that the amount we have been able to claim back was up by almost £480 on last year. Interest income was down by £645, due mainly to falling interest rates. £203 interest was received on the CAF Gold account in June last year but only £68 in March this year, on roughly the same balance. £252 was made on social events, mainly the Karaoke night in January, organised by Val Bishop. Costume hire was also up on last year by over £300 and as always, this is mainly due to Doreen Wylde and Teresa Marsh who spend countless hours keeping everything at the studio in good order. Vicki reported that overall, income for the year was up in comparison to last year by almost £4,000. Vicki said that again, this is due to people working very hard to help the society financially.
Vicki reported that on the expenditure side, overall costs for the shows were down by almost £2,500. Studio expenses were down by £1,855 and the £2,626 spent on the studio included £874 spent on a new ladder to the mezzanine level in the scenery store, the installation of a safety rail and the purchase of a new photocopier, all of which are being funded out of the Cledwyn Evans’ legacy which at the year-end stands at £1,093.88. Vicki mentioned the figure shown in the accounts, of £226.40 which Players had donated to the Haslemere Hall roof fund. She said that general scenery and costumes costs were down by a total of almost £730 on the previous year and income from rehearsal coffees were up by £195 as the revenue that has been set against this in previous years, is included in show donations. Depreciation is up by £745 for the year. We took the decision to buy our own sound equipment at a cost of £3,725, rather than hire it for each show. We have chosen to depreciate this over a period of 5 years which we should look at as a cost of £372.50 against each musical during that period. Management & Admin was down by £655 on last year as the 2008 accounts included costs relating to general advertising.
Vicki reported that overall the society made a deficit for the year of £1,507.72. She did not want to try and dress it up as a resounding success but did think we should look at the positives as well as the negatives. She said that a lot of people had worked very hard to achieve this result and it was an improvement on last year of £8,589. Income for the year was up by £3,958. Costs for the year were down by £4,631. Vicki said it was not all good, but not all bad either.
On a question of costs, Andy said there has been tighter budget control since not as much surplus arose from ‘Summer Holiday’ as we expected from the good audiences.
Richard Tytler enquired about the £440 charge by the Hall. Should we resist this? Andy said that Hamish was on the Hall Management Committee. Hamish mentioned different pricing by the Hall from which we benefited. Hamish pointed out that the Hall has to make a profit or break even. Richard also mentioned programme costs, a charge of £250 by Claire instead of services provided free by Carolyn Beaumont. This was because Carolyn was busy having a baby and not available. Advertising costs for the Music Hall were increased due to increased postage costs. Eric Adie mentioned that the Hall is to be refurbished and wondered how it would affect Players’ rehearsals.
Hamish congratulated Vicki on her detailed report which was proposed by Graeme Somerville and seconded by Teresa Marsh.
5. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT:
Andrew Boughton presented his report for 2008/09 and said it had been a difficult year requiring a lot of hard work and dedication by those on the committee and the members of the society who give of their time frequently to complete the many tasks which running the society and staging shows requires.
He continued:
Following last year’s AGM 2008-09 started with an elected executive committee two members short of the constitutional ten. Bob Fells volunteered his services as a co-opted member, later to be replaced in November by Val Bishop who took over the vacant role of co-ordinating the social sub-committee. We thank Bob for his voluntary service.
Year on year the standards we achieve in staging our shows increases. The importance of astute and careful business planning and the demands made upon the various teams to provide high quality sets, lighting and sound enhancement, costumes and properties are becoming greater and more complex.
We operate in a society beset by regulations; health and safety, child protection and safeguarding and the need to operate within the law in these respects has driven the time required for operational planning and management to new heights. This was clearly illustrated during our production of ‘Sweeney’ when the inability of the Haslemere Hall or us to provide an engineer’s certificate of structural reliability for our stage extension to support a stress of 75 Kilo-newtons resulted in our being restricted to only two actors on the extension at any one time.
Health and safety regulations have placed a much greater burden on us to provide planned front of house support to satisfy the requirements for trained managers and minimum numbers of helpers in pre-identified roles. I particularly thank Angela Jones who has co-ordinated to great effect this aspect of our activities.
More of our shows involve the participation of children. Strict rules and regulations apply to the involvement of children and young people and their safeguarding. We are required to use sufficient numbers of adults, trained and registered as ‘matrons’ and provide appropriate facilities for dressing rooms. This has been a potential minefield with inspection visits from Surrey County officials possible at any time during our shows. Elizabeth Chester has completed an outstanding job as our child protection officer and given the society complete peace of mind by ensuring that all necessary paperwork is completed in a timely fashion and assembling an excellent team of volunteer matrons.
Enhancement of our shows with light and sound has moved into the electronic age with greater expertise and proof of competency being required by hall managers. This has thrown greater challenges in our paths in terms of finding adequately competent people to operate the systems, not to mention the greater expense involved. Purchase of our own radio mics and combination with the hall’s own sound equipment is proving to be a sound investment (please excuse the pun!). However, finding operators and volunteers for almost all aspects of show production has proved to be challenging and I thank Vicki Gavin in her role as business manager for tackling successfully many of the challenges placed before us.
We are fortunate in having the enduring support of Steph Ridler, Alison Owen and Sue Summers in providing year-on-year properties for our productions and to Jennie Budden for her tireless efforts to costume our shows to very high standards. The Pirates of Penzance and Sweeney Todd this year have been particularly demanding for properties and costumes and the teams did splendid jobs for both productions. Hamish has continued to provide the creative and constructive skills for set building and has been well supported by a small, but enthusiastic band of helpers.
The first production of 2008-09 was the music hall directed and staged by Teresa Marsh and Angela Cantan with Tony McIntee as MD. The music hall had been running in its present format for some considerable years and the dwindling numbers in audiences brought into question the desirability of continuing with this type of show. However, it was decided again to stage a four-performance show with evening catering. The music hall was well received and thoroughly enjoyed by those devotees who attended. With takings from the bar and raffle a worthwhile surplus was made and many thanks were given to Teresa and Angela for their hard work.
The October production was the Broadway version of The Pirates of Penzance, a replacement show for the originally chosen Thoroughly Modern Millie. This decision was taken in response to members’ concerns that the planned programme of shows would fail to provide adequate opportunities for a wide cross-section of members to participate. The production was a lavish affair, colourfully costumed and directed with great enthusiasm by Hamish and Megan Farrington as choreographer, which translated into an energetic, vigorous and humorous performance by the cast, adding to the delight of audiences. High standards of singing were achieved owing much to the efforts of Angela Jones as MD and Doreen Wylde as chorus mistress.
The Spring 2009 production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd brought particularly tough challenges. This was a demanding show, certainly in the music and staging. The society was fortunate to have the services of Stephanie Goodfellow as director and Robert Douglas as MD to tackle this complicated show. The first challenge to assemble a suitable cast was easily accomplished and the Players could boast of one of its strongest casts to date, with several talented newcomers combining with established members. The singing and acting were of the highest quality and the staging of the show by Mandy Sutcliffe added to the overall high standards of the show. Audiences spoke in superlatives of the performances and many were surprised to find that Sweeney was more than ‘blood and gore’ and a show they thoroughly enjoyed.
Sadly the numbers of people prepared to come and see the show failed to exceed a thousand and the show made a loss of £2800 in spite of careful business planning and tight budget control by Vicki Gavin and vigorous and creative marketing by Peter Marsh, Edward Roberts and Elizabeth Chester. Peter Marsh was particularly creative in his sponsorship dealing with the Lythe Hill Hotel and the setting up of a Sunday lunch at the hotel with invited dignitaries to partake of Sweeney pie! Peter generated a lot of publicity and we are grateful to him for his enduring efforts and enthusiasm. Particularly disappointing was the lack of internal support from members of the society. Pre-conceived ideas about the show and its perceived grimness were a common reason given for non-attendance. In reality the show was full of humour with a profound tale to tell.
I am indebted to Edward Roberts for the support he has given during the past three years as a member of the committee. He has decided to stand-down to focus on his business interests. We are particularly grateful to him for the tremendous work he has done in introducing new ideas and concepts into marketing. He, together with Elizabeth Chester and Peter Marsh have worked tirelessly to market shows and bring in much needed revenue through advertising and sponsorship. Typically, show programmes ran only to eight pages thirty years ago. The Sweeney programme was comprised of no less than 28 pages printed professionally on high-quality paper. Also, Edward has re-designed the Players’ web-site to be more user-friendly for members and to provide an impressive and professional lay-out to attract the casual browsers.
I also thank Tony Creasey, who has also completed three-years’ of dedicated work and support on the committee and is also standing down. I have benefited from Tony’s views as vice-chairman, and as with Edward he will be greatly missed. Tony’s main work has been in the research and selection of future shows and in the appointment of production teams. Choosing shows is difficult in view of the numerous parameters placed upon selection. Balancing the needs of the society to perform shows to interest members and audiences is not easy. The society is justified in taking risks to perform shows such as ‘Titanic’ and ‘Sweeney’ although their immediate appeal to audiences is far from guaranteed. Tony has done well to balance shows providing good opportunities for a wide range of tastes and my belief is that we should not always bow to the needs of ‘box-office’ success. Indeed show selection for next year with ‘Annie’ is an example of how we have tried to provide a mix of shows, including those with good records of audience appeal.
Val Bishop came onto the committee and readily took up the mantle of social secretary. Val’s immediate task was to organise, together with Vicki, the fund-raising karaoke evening at the Grayshott Village Hall in January. Member Jamie Atkin gave of his services free of charge. Although numbers attending were disappointing it was a fun evening and we managed to raise over £250 for the society. We are pleased to have Val’s enthusiasm and skills to re-invigorate the society’s social calendar of events.
Dealing with issues relating to the running of the society seems to be becoming more frequent. We have experienced increased difficulty in finding people to fulfil roles, as Musical Directors, directors, stage managers, sound engineers etc and we can no longer assume there is a bank of people willing to take on these tasks. For how long can we sustain the burden of staging three productions a year? I’ve mentioned the complexity of shows and the ever-increasing level of financial risk with show costs now typically in excess of £15,000. Vicki Gavin as treasurer and business manager and general factotum completes a huge amount of work for the society each year. She is an ever-willing participant who gets on with things and gets things done.
Pamela Depledge as our honorary secretary is another person to whom the society owes a great dept. Again Pamela is always willing to support the society and she spends hours and hours completing a multitude of correspondence and organisational tasks in almost every aspect of the society’s activities.
I wish to thank Robin North for the willingness and enthusiasm he brings to his role as our studio custodian. Robin maintains the studio and his work enables more effective use of this important asset. I mention also Robin’s work with Hamish in producing poster boards and displaying them around Haslemere despite the constant frustration of needing to replace boards taken down by individuals self-elected to rid the town of the blight of societies such as the Players advertising events which have enhanced the community for decades.
I acknowledge the continuing work of Linda Donaldson as editor of the newsletter, an important publication for keeping members in touch; Jennie, Teresa and Doreen who manage the society’s costume store and bring in much needed income through hirings. Indeed such is the importance we place on their work, that the committee declined an opportunity to rent out the studio office to Opera South for fear that the work of the costume store would be impeded. I acknowledge the important work of those who have given time as part of our sub-committees, especially for show selection, front of house and social events.
This year has been hard work. I have found it difficult to find the time to meet my obligations to the society and balance priorities with my paid work. I frequently work away from home and return to a lengthy list of matters to be addressed. I am indebted to the support I receive from other committee members and without their willingness to give generously of their time the society would not be able to maintain its current level of activity. Concerns about balancing the books for shows are ever-increasing in the face of rising costs, not least increased charges for using the hall and the declining numbers of people coming to watch our shows.
Operating without a full contingent of committee members inevitably places additional pressure on the rest. We value the support which has been given to us by members of the society, but we need more support and more involvement by those who value the society. As with last year I put out a plea; please support the Players by participating in shows, or helping backstage or front of house, or at the very least joining the paying audiences.
There were no questions and Hamish gave a vote of thanks to Andy for his report.
6. SUBSCRIPTIONS: The outgoing committee recommended that the subscriptions stay the same for members at £20 and a minimum of £20 for new patrons as previously. The motion which was proposed by Maureen Barnes and seconded by Mary Kirkman, was passed unanimously.
7. ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Edward Roberts and Tony Creasey wished to stand down. Carolyn Lane (Beaumont) and Kate Chesworth had agreed to stand after being proposed by Vicki Gavin and Elizabeth Chester and seconded by Hamish Donaldson. These proposals were adopted. The Executive Committee now consists of: Hamish Donaldson – President, Andrew Boughton – Chairman, Pamela Depledge – Secretary, Vicki Gavin – Treasurer. Other committee members: Elizabeth Chester, Angela Jones, Robin North, Carolyn Lane and Kate Chesworth.
8. Auditor: It was explained that the auditor is obliged to examine at least 3% of all the transactions recorded in the accounts. Peter Massey FCA was thanked for his work and re-appointed as independent examiner. Appreciation was also expressed for Peter’s patience and good humour when examining the accounts and his general support of Players. He was thanked for again taking the bookings for the Music Hall.
Life Membership.
Hamish invited two New Life Members :
Valerie Bishop and Brian Upstell
Andy said that Brian is a quintessential chorus member who never missed being in a show and rarely missed a rehearsal. He joined Players in 1976 for ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ and has appeared in over 50 shows.
Val joined Players in 1961 for ‘Iolanthe’. She has been a very valuable member of Players, appearing in over 70 shows, taking the lead in ‘Oklahoma’ and ‘The New Moon’, serving on committee, organising social events and being our resident hairdresser for the shows.
9. ANY OTHER BUSINESS:
Music Hall: Valerie and Jennie Budden enquired what we would be doing next year instead of the Music Hall. Andy mentioned that ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ had been considered. Jennie thought it would be too ‘squashed’ in between the other two shows. Andy said we need more support and proposed that we instigate a Music Hall committee. He also suggested that we might have members who come in and just do one slot so there is less rehearsal time. Mary-Lou Knox said she was disappointed at the apathy demonstrated by the Society. Attendances at rehearsals were very poor. Judith Reading suggested involving children. Andy said we need a co-ordinator. Eric mentioned updating the show and Richard said we had done modern music in previous Music Halls. Edward talked about the Camus show which presented ‘Songs from the Shows’ which Players have done before but it takes a lot of work and organising, researching copyright, etc. Andy said we should plan earlier and get people involved.
Hamish asked for a show of hands to agree continuing with the Music Hall and the majority of members present showed that we should.
Thanks were expressed to Eric for organising the tea and coffee.
Members were reminded of the skittles evening on 27 June and 7pm at The Jolly Farmer, Blacknest at a cost of £10 per meal, organised by Val.
Doreen Wylde talked about ‘Scrooge’ Players’ next show to be presented in October for which she is the Director.
Hamish thanked everyone for attending the meeting which he closed at 9.15
Signed as a true record …………………………………..Andy Boughton (Chairman)
………………………………...Pamela Depledge (Secretary)
|
