Richmond Performing Arts Festival 2025
This year’s festival saw a further increase in numbers of participants and an astonishing array of talent across all sections.
| attended each of the sections and was enormously impressed by the sheer size of the Festival. Hundreds of children, young people, parents, teachers and supporters attended the various venues and there wasa positive and enthusiastic atmosphere throughout. | look forward to hearing the exact numbers from the Section Heads.
It was excellent to have the Speech and Drama section back in operation. | was impressed by the number of young people taking part in the more formal poetry and prose reading and duologues and monologues in this section.
The Dance Section was huge. The move to Waldegrave School brought Dance back to the borough and it proved to be an excellent venue with plenty of warm up and dressing space anda large on site café that was much appreciated by supporters and families. The catering for volunteers was amazing.
The Vocal Section was as popular and enjoyable as ever with a fascinating mix of classical and pop, traditional and modern. The Choirs event at Duke Street Church was an absolute triumph. The standard of singing and the level of engagement with the audience were just wonderful. | am sure even more choirs and groups will want to take part when they hear how good it was!
The Piano Section had an increased number of entries with an impressive standard of playing across the board. From the tiny tots who need a box to help them reach the pedals to the older students for whom performance is obviously second nature, this section was an extraordinary experience.
The Instrumental Section sessions | attended were equally impressive. Smooth organisation is a hallmark of all the sections and this was no exception with sweets for all competitors as an added bonus! Again the standard of playing is astonishingly high.
| felt all the adjudicators were supportive and sympathetic listeners (and watchers). It was fascinating to watch the dance adjudicator talking quietly to his transcriber throughout each performance!
Last year we were concerned about our financial position which, although improving, was feeling the loss of the Hampton Fund support. | look forward to this year’s report from our loyal and hard-working Treasurer, Graham Harmes. | believe numbers of
entries increased across the board and | look forward to an assessment of the impact of this on our figures.
Our Administrator and Section Heads
‘We are entirely reliant for the delivery of the Festival on the wonderful people who organise it and run their Sections with such efficiency, enthusiasm and dedication alongside their many commitments elsewhere.’
| wrote those words for last year’s report and can only reiterate them. So much hard work goes on in the weeks and months before the Festival and without the expertise and generosity of the organisers we would not have the enormous, professionally delivered event that we currently enjoy.
In spite of her bike accident in November, Heidi Pegler, the overall administrator for the whole Festival, has worked tirelessly to deliver a first class event. Everyone involved in the Festival: trustees, patrons, Section Heads, volunteers, young people, parents, teachers, adjudicators and visitors, owes her a huge debt of gratitude for being so efficient, cheerful and encouraging. All this is achieved alongside running the Vocal Section and a busy teaching role in the real world!
We are enormously grateful to Julia Drager for taking on the role of Head for the Instrumental Section from Manuella Jessop. The weekend seemed to go like clockwork from the outside so | hope very much that if felt like that for the organisers too! It was generous of Manuella and her husband to help with the stewarding and organisation on the festival days. We are further indebted to Manuella for keeping our website up to date and full of well-organised information.
Sue Thornton’s Piano Section runs on well-oiled wheels and continues to attract large numbers of entries. Sue’s cheerful and sympathetic approach creates a relaxed atmosphere which I’m sure must help performers to achieve their best.
Lizi Cole ran a successful and enjoyable Section full of talented young show stoppers and some beautifully crafted drama and speaking classes. It was excellent that this Section took place following its absence in 2024.
Natalie Wells ran the enormous Dance Section with cheerful confidence and good humour. So many young people are involved that the organisation of arrival, checking in, warm up rotas, dressing areas and pre-performance line ups has to be carefully managed. It is an impressive operation!
We owe such an enormous debt of gratitude to these hard-working, dedicated and impressive people who, as volunteers, take on their Festival roles with such professionalism and good humour. Their uniformly welcoming approach means that
the young performers are encouraged to perform at their highest level in a relaxed atmosphere.
Thanks to our Festival Stewards
We have many loyal stewards who support the Section Heads in the running of their events. Many of these are friends and family but others are long-standing supporters of the Festival who have played a part in its smooth running for many years. We are enormously grateful to them all.
Thanks to our[President][and][Patrons]
We are indebted to our President, Hilary Fisher, and to our patrons for their continued moral and financial support. We are particularly grateful to those who gift aid their patronage.
The Festival Showcase
Concert
To be added.
To sum up
Festival 2025 was in my view, a high quality, successful event that reached out to hundreds of young and older, people, offering them the opportunity to perform to their best ability, receive constructive and supportive feedback and experience the excitement of performance in front of an audience. After all these years of its operation, it feels more worthwhile than ever.
Hilary Dodman Chairman May 2025
Richmond upon Thames Performing Arts Festival Balance Sheet
As at 30th April 2025
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2025 2024
£ £
Current Assets
Stock of medals 1490 1297
Cash at Bank 16513 10420
18003 11717
Current Liabilities
St Luke's Sponsored Prize 500 600
S&D Prizes 150 i
— 850. ———_600.
Total Assets ~__17353 ~ [14117]
Represented by:
Fund bought forward 11117 15328
Surplus/Deficit for the Year 6236 -4211
Fund carried forward 17353 11117
Sept our DA Mone H. Dodman (Chair)
signed. LO pert G. Harmes (Treasurer)
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| have examined the Income and Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet of the Richmond-uponThames Performing Arts Festival and in my opinion they give a true and fair view of the Festival's affairs at 30th April 2025, in accordance with the accounts and explanations given to me.
L Halle. Les Phillips (Independent Examiner).
Richmond upon Thames Performing Arts Festival Income and Expenditure Account
For the year ended 30th April 2025
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||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Income|2025|2024|
|Entry|Fees|15452|13349|
|Door|Money|10098|10153|
|Patrons'|Fees|365|215|
|Gift|Aid|128|99|
|Sponsorship|500|0|
|Donations|145|0|
|Sponsored|Prizes|100|100|
|Advertising|Income|35|0|
|Bank|Interest|192|207|
|27015|24123|
|Expenditure|
|Venue|Hire|6571|15458|
|Adjudicators'|Fees|5071|5888|
|Cash|Prizes|520|515|
|Medals|1993|2118|
|Printing|568|732|
|Catering|594|827|
|Advertising|650|0|
|Website|94|91|
|Piano|Hire|1062|340|
|Piano|Tuning|320|85|
|Affiliation|Fees|470|607|
|Accompanist's|Fees|0|60|
|Insurances|325|300|
|Gifts|96|111|
|First|Aid|0|31|
|Postage|&|Stationery|107|229|
|Trophies:|New/Engraving|240|0|
|Play|&|Perform|258|534|
|SumUP|Devices|0|Vd|
|PayPal/SumUp|Charges|1840|331|
|20779|28334|
|Surplus/Deficit|for the|year|6236|-4211|
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Richmond upon Thames Performing Arts Festival Financial Report
For the year ended 30th April 2025
Income/Expenditure Account
This year's Festival was very successful and was extremely well received by all participants and contributers, including the return of the Speech & Drama Festival.
Overall Festival Income was £27,015 (£24,123 in 2024) which included sponsorship of £500 from Antony Roberts Estate Agents. We would also like to thank our Patrons for their continued loyal support, generating £365 with an additional £128 in Gift Aid.
Total Expenditure fell to £20,779 from £28,334 in 2024, with venue hire being reduced to £6,571 from £15,438 in 2024. Resulting in an overall surplus of £6,236 in 2025 compared to a deficit of £4,211 in 2024.
Section Accounts
Most Sections greatly improved their financial position from 2024. The Dance Section had a surplus of £5,520 compared to a deficit of £2,778 in 2024, this was achieved by making savings in all areas, but particularly in changing the venue to Waldegrave School costing £2,775 compared to £12,000 in 2024.
The Vocal/Choral Section had a surplus of £1,024 (compared to a deficit of £315 in 2024). The Instrumental Section made a surplus of £289 compared to £1,238 in 2024, but this was largely due to the venue being free of charge last year & having to pay £780 this year. The Piano Section incurred a small deficit of £64, but this was due to a late invoice for 2024 Piano Hire of £340 which should have been in last year's accounts. The returning Speech & Drama Festival had a small deficit of £25.
The Showcase Concert last June was well attended & made a surplus of £221.
Balance Sheet
The reserves have increased due to the healthy surplus this year, being £17,353 at 30 April 25 (£11,117 in 2024).The bank account balance was £16,513 at 30th April. The stock of medals totalled £1,490 and the balance of St Luke's Music Society donation is now £500, to sponsor prize awards for a further 5 years.
independent Examiner
We are very grateful to Les Phillips who has agreed to continue in the role of Independent Examiner this year.