## **PGS THEATRE PRODUCTION AGM** ## **9[th ] SEPTEMBER 2024** ## **THE MUSE THEATRE** The meeting started with Ross sending apologies from Richard whe was unable to attend to chair the meeting. ## **1. APOLOGIES** There were 47 attendees with apologies from: Richard Clark, Pauline Smith, Hilary Tommasson, Debbie Lawson, Rona Perry, Lucy Oliver, Ciaron Collins, Janet Liddicoat, Claire Mundell, Rebecca Miller, Lisa O’Brien, Janet Hunt, Pete Clement, Paul Foster. ## **2. MINUTES FROM 2023 AGM** The minutes had been emailed out prior to the meeting. These were accepted as a true record. Proposer – Di Bennellick Seconder – Karen Rockey ## **3. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT** Welcome to the 2024 AGM and thank you for all attending this evening. I have worked out that this is my 5th Chairmans Report, where have those years gone?! But it has been a great honour to be the Chairman of this company and I am immensely proud to represent and lead you all in what was our official 100th year as a Fellowship. This has been a fulfilling year for the company. Our commitment to providing exceptional theatrical experiences has been met with overwhelming support from our audiences, members and patrons alike. I just wanted to to say a personal THANK YOU to all of you, our members and patrons who have been involved and supported us over the last year for making it another memorable one for all to enjoy. Christmas - Concerts We launched the year on a mini-tour of Christmas concerts, led by the talented Helen Haviland. This was another huge success, both financially and critically where the venues loved us so much that they have asked us back for future projects. Following this, we went straight into a highly ambitious production of Titanic The Musical. This was a challenging show in more ways than one, but with our creative team of Brian as Director, Carole as Choreographer and the Musical Director duo of Helen Haviland and Rob Young, everyone rose to the occasion and delivered an outstanding performance and production for all to enjoy. Everyone involved presented a high-quality production, with a beautiful choral sound, that packed the houses most evenings, With everyone leaving with every emotion you can name. Once again, this show also showcased some new talent amongst the whole cast, including offering some principle debuts for the company, with lots to do for the whole company. After Titanic, we moved straight into our summer programme of summer concerts called ‘Newsicals’, which again was written and compiled by Helen to bring audiences through a musical journey over the years gone by. This was very well received, playing at venues which sold incredibly well, making incredible amounts of important funds for the company. Concerts are really important for us to produce each year, which generates a good amount of income to fund our main productions year on year. With this money, it really helps us produce top quality musical productions to the highest possible standard to ensure we are one of the leading companies in the City. All three of these projects I have just mentioned were ambitions but brilliant fun, The reviews and feedback we received from our audiences, NODA and other critics were outstanding for all of those projects. So well done and be proud. As always the success of the last year was down to a brilliant team of talented individuals. The biggest thanks has to go to Helen Haviland who was a musical director for all three projects, her dedication and commitment to ensuring that we all sound on top form is nothing but exceptional. Her humour, fun and hard work that she brings to rehearsals is always remarkable and keeps us all engaged every week. Thank you Helen, we really do appreciate your support and everything you do for the company. For Titanic, we welcomed back Rob Young as Conductor after his successful debut for ‘Sunday Night In The Lyric’. He came in to provide support to Helen, whilst steering an incredible orchestra for us for Titanic. Thank you Rob! Behind every good MD is a good pianist, Tom on the Keys! We are incredibly lucky to have someone of Tom’s talent on board who turns up to every rehearsal and performance with minimal fuss. He even gives up his house for the after show party. Thank you Tom! Lastly our amazing choreographer and secretary Carole Wilson who again produced excellent Choreography for Titanic, though personally I haven’t missed doing The Latest Rag 100 times in a rehearsal! Thank you so much Carole for your hard work, efforts, dedication and patience to ensure that we all know what we are doing on and off stage. Putting on a production isn’t just down to individuals, it’s a team effort and my thanks go to Di and Ziggy in props, Kit and team in wardrobe, Trevor and the box office team, Nico and his technical support, John and the Front of House team and the stage crew led by Wayne Wilson for Titanic, all of these people are unsung hero’s who contribute their expertise in putting on a successful production. I do have to single out the marketing team who have created and managed a brilliant marketing campaign for the company, certainly some of the best work we have seen since I have been on Committee. Thank you Tim, Steph, Alice, Sam, Kit & Nico for making this possible. Throughout the year, there is always a team behind the scenes, we have our fab tea makers Phil and Maria who are ensure we are always hydrated every week. There is also Buy from Di, who works hard raising important funds for the company with some many interesting goodies to sell each week and for the raffle show week. Then we have the social committee who continue to create a programme of social events for us to enjoy, so thank you Steve, Jodie, Matt and Isla for all your hard work to ensure we remain sociable with one another! Lastly, my personal thanks goes to everyone on this committee up here, who have worked hard all year round to ensure that the company continues to be ambitious and proactive. A special thank you to my right hand man, Sam who continues to challenge and support everything I say and do! You have all been incredibly supportive to me, so thank you. Thank you also goes to our President, Richard Clark who has been an amazing support and ambassador for PGS, always enthusiastic and supportive of the committee in what we are trying to achieve and deliver. So onto this year…I assume you are all desperate to know what we are doing for the next 12 months?! We have a short video to show you all which will reveal the programme for the year ahead, but I would like to stress, it has been an incredible challenging journey over the last 8 months or so for the committee to select a programme which caters for all. As you know we were unable to agree suitable dates with Devonport Playhouse for 2025 which presented us with a headache to find a venue to host our main production. However, we finally got there and we are confident that there will be something for everyone to participate in, so I hope you will be excited by what we have scheduled for the year ahead…WATCH VIDEO! As you can see we have a diverse programme which I hope will excite everyone, I am incredibly excited that we have four Musical Directors delivering each of these with Josh Clarke, the return of Jane Warwick, our own Helen Haviland and Rob Young for Chess. Plus we welcome Nina Jarram as Director for Made in Dagenham, which excites me as Nina, Jane & Carole will form an all female creative team, which is the first for this company but also relevant given the story line of the musical. More details around key dates and information will follow over the next few weeks. I really do hope this year will bring much success as the last year did on and off the stage as the Fellowship continues to be progressive, welcoming, creative and inclusive for all. Thank you for listening. ## 4. **TREASURER’S REPORT** In presenting this year’s accounts to you, I am pleased to report that, financially, it was another profitable year, which is good news considering the accounts include our 100[th] Anniversary Concert in the Theatre Royal. That said, it’s all about how you judge a financial success, when again we made a loss on the show and, indeed, also on the Theatre Royal concert. It is things like the proceeds from the concerts, subscriptions, Gift Aid etc that has kept us in the black. Page one of the accounts are the accounts for Titanic and the 100[th] Anniversary Concert. It should be stated at this stage that the official accounts only include monies that directly went through the PGS accounts – there is in addition a separate (unofficial) breakdown which includes transactions within the TRP accounts. The Committee (and others) continue to work really hard to reduce the costs of our productions, however, by comparison and ignoring inflation, Titanic was one of our more expensive shows in recent times. At a cost of just over £20,000, it was second only to Chess since 2017, but as I said that doesn’t take account of inflation. A lot of the increases were caused by the cost of buying things being more expensive and the need for extra sound equipment, using a more expensive rehearsal room (i.e. Kings) and the hire of the Devonport Playhouse. Luckily for us, ticket sales for Titanic were good at 80% and this helped the overall loss on the show to ‘only’ be £3,200, which was considerably better than all recent shows other than Evita. For your information we would have had to sell 94% of the tickets just to break even. I am not sure we can prune much more – all we can do is continue to review expenses and make savings where we can. I particularly want to thank Kit for the way she kept costume costs low and then sold some on to reduce costs further! Also, to Di and the raffle ticket sellers for a very successful raffle. With regards the 100[th] Anniversary Concert which was obviously a very successful and challenging evening. Financially it made a loss of £1,700, which, to be honest is a lot less than I was expecting when people were talking about the cost of everything. If you consider the ‘unofficial’ accounts it can be seen that the show cost nearly £30,000 to put on and had an income of over £26,000. Moving on to the second page which represents the overall income and expenditure for the whole year. As previously stated, I am very pleased to announce that we made a profit on the year of just over £2,600. It was the second most successful result for 10 years. At a profit of £7,800 in 2019, we would have been going some in order to improve on that. This was possibly due to two main factors, firstly the profit on our concerts and an increase in subscription income. Fundraising also appears to be up thanks to Di’s for her raffles her table of goodies. It does also include the clothing order for the 100[th] Anniversary concert, payment for which was accounted for in the 100[th] anniversary expenditure line. The concert income, shows how important these events are to the company. This profit largely relates to the Christmas concerts as all monies relating to this summer’s concerts will be in next year’s accounts. My thanks go to the production / musical team for all their work with the concerts as a whole. The last page shows the overall balances in our various accounts. The main points to mention here are that financial assets of the company have continued to improve and overall remain very healthy. Having previously withdrawn money from the two Virgin Money Accounts, I have started to refund the money, however, changes to the accounts may mean the interest levels might not be as good in the future. I may look to see if we can do anything better elsewhere. The Creditor / Debtor / Pre-Payment figures all relate to the summer concerts, July to September subs payments and show pre-payments. I’d like to thank everyone who has worked hard to keep the company afloat this year and also express my thanks to Yazmin Roberts for auditing the accounts and indeed helping me out of a hole when I struggled to get the accounts to balance! Any questions? Isla – asked if the committee had thought about applying for any grants available? David – explained that we had applied for a grant via the Arts Council but unfortunately this was unsuccessful. We will be looking at other grants. Cai asked regarding subscriptions and if there was an impact with membership from the Lyric Theatre 100 Concert. Trevor explained that the people doing the Lyric Concert did pay a one off membership fee which did have an impact in the rise showing in subscriptions. David also explained that he had presented a cheque for £511.78 to the Lifeboat Charity which was raised during Titanic. The report was accepted: Proposer – Kieth Pullan Seconder - Phil Mills ## **Subscriptions** Subscriptions for the company will run from 1st October to 30[th] September next year as normal and remain the same as last year **Basic (Concert) membership** will be £60 for the year or £5 a month. Instalments can be paid between October and September. This entitles you to participate in all activities of the company for this year except for the show. **Full (Show) membership** will be £120 for the year or £10 a month. **Student membership** will be – basic membership = £30 (£2.50 a month) / show membership = £60 (£5 a month). A student is someone in full-time education. **Associate membership** remains at £10 for the year. Instalment payments should be by a standing order ideally paid on 5[th] of each month. If paying by cash the membership fee has to be paid by 31[st] January 2024. The preferred method of payment is by bank transfer but cash, cheque and card payments can be made. The first payment is due on or as soon as possible after 1[st] October. (Please be aware I will not be at a rehearsal again until 14[th] October). Subscriptions were accepted: Proposer – Di Bennellick Seconder – Gill Regan ## **5. ENTERTAINMENT REPORT** Good evening everyone. This past year was a very exciting one for the social committee – with events for the 100[th] that were more than five years in the making! As you will see from the social committee accounts the current balance of Money in account - £326.21 - recently £525 has been paid out to cover the deposit for the Christmas D’Oyly evening at the Zoo. We started the year with a much larger amount than usual due to the monies being paid in for the 100[th] anniversary ball. The ball was a great success and a huge thanks needs to go to my fellow committee members for all of their efforts for a very long period of time – along with many of our better halves. The raffle raised £700 for the MND charity, thank you to all those who supported this and to Matt for sourcing some amazing prizes. Thanks also to the main committee for their support in making this evening a great success. Also particular thanks to Lucy, Tim , Becca and Jodie for their work on decorating the venue. This event was honestly more work than organising a wedding! - at least our brides and grooms-to-be in the company now have pros to call upon if needed! In December we had our Christmas party at Dartmoor Zoo and, due to the 100[th] ball, we decided to incorporate the annual D’Oyly awards. Again, another lovely evening with entertainment from our resident DJ Nico -thank you Nico. We shall be repeating this event on 20[th] Dec – more details and nomination sheets for awards will be shared very soon. Our skittle evening at the BT club was once again very well attended – thank you to Charlotte for her assistance in arranging this for us. During Titanic we organised some merchandise for cast – this was extremely popular and raised £159 to support future social events – we aim to work a similar model for our next production but will start this much earlier as requested by members. Throughout Titanic there were numerous social events – thanks particularly to Tom on keys for his hospitality in hosting the aftershow party and to Colin for his culinary expertise. Also to the Wilson clan for their hosting of the after after show bbq. Over the summer we have continued to meet for regular walks and BBQs – thanks to all who have helped and supported these. We are considering making these weekend wanders a regular event – perhaps monthly. And finally - thank you all so much for continuing to attend these events and – if anyone does have any ideas for further social activities please let us know. ## **6. ELECTION OF PRESIDENT** Ross announced that Richard has stepped down as President for personal reasons but would like to stay as Vice President and still be involved in the company. The Committee had decided to elect Phil Mills as President. Phil was a past Chairman of the company, supports us in everything we do either making props, working backstage and is at rehearsals making tea along with Maria. Phil was presented with the Presidents Badge and Ribbon. ## **7. ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN** There were no other nominations for Chairman so Ross will stand for another year. ## **8. ELECTION OF VICE CHAIRMAN** There were no other nominations for Vice Chairman so Sam will stay for another year. ## **9. ELECTION OF SECRETARY** There were no other nominations for Secretary so Carole will stay for another year. ## **10. ELECTION OF TREASURER** There were no other nominations for Treasurer so Trevor will stay for another year. ## **11. ELECTION OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS** There were no other nominations so the Committee will remain the same. Nico Bray, David Green, Charlotte Hammond and Kit Kendall. ## **12. ELECTION OF SOCIAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS** There were no other nominations for the Social Committee so will remain the same. Matt Caves, Isla Ellis, Steve Wilson and Jodie Wheeler The Social Committee will always be happy for anyone who would like to join them. ## **13. ELECTION OF AUDITOR** Yazmin Roberts was accepted as our Auditor for another year. Proposer – Colin Woodfin Seconder – Matt Caves ## 14. **ANY OTHER BUSINESS** David explained that he had re worded some of the Constitution, the latin wording had been taken out and had now changed wording to include diversity. He thanked Kit for proofreading. Jean asked if the word Fellowship needed to stay in – Trevor explained that because of the charitable status we need to stay as G&S Fellowship Plymouth but it does state that we do use other names such as PGS Productions and Limelight. Proposer for Constitution – Jean Ellis Seconder – Jo Meddings We presented Karen Rockey with a Life Membership. 2024 Tttanlc Show and 2023 IOOth Annlversary Concert Accounts lexcludlng Plrate5 2020) Tltanic 2024 I￿th COn￿rt 2023 Anything Gois 2023 Hunchback 2022 Evita 2019 Span)alot 2018 Chess 2017 Box Office Receipts Box Office Payments Hire of Theatre Costumes & Wi85 Make-up Set & Li8htln8 sound Equlpment Orchestra Props Professlonal Fees Rehearsal Room Hlre Publicity Tickets & Posta8e Sundries VAT £19,647 £4,703 £14,116 £16.558 £21,715 £16.314 £22,214 £3.075 £1,259 £0 £3.900 £1,719 £3,600 £213 £3.380 £2,343 £524 £0 £51 £0 £0 É245 £0 £709 £Z6 £2,426 £2,140 £1,214 £0 £3,750 £B51 £3,60Q E72 £3,546 El,483 £471 £25 £42 £1,971 £1,285 £0 £1,500 £1,872 £3S £1,4 £2.384 £0 É1,400 £3,581 £0 £3,OCx) £B76 £2,700 £1,131 £3,775 £140 £2,5fX) £962 £2,7CQ É708 £7,220 £122 £3,520 £303 £4,520 £2S2 £1,065 £2.310 £538 £0 £0 £0 £2,270 £2,140 £753 £3,d40 El481 £705 £5,330 £2,301 £607 £8,7CQ £2,978 £1,717 £546 £46 £28 £242 E12 £69 £51 £32 £20,064 -£417 £7,403 -É2.700 £17,194 -£3,078 El9,695 -£3,137 £17,876 £3,839 É19,600 -£3,286 £27,134 -£4,920 Pro8ramme Sales Programme Advert Incom, Pro8ramme Costs £603 £420 -£613 £658 £350 -£14 £578 £280 -£700 £550 £711 £505 £826 £355 £505 E585 £505 -£670 -£700 -£620 -£680 £409 £82 £355 £848 £994 £158 £37 £235 ÉS16 £470 É651 Show donations Costume donations Raffle Proceeds £358 £82 £0 £633 £687 £S43 £￿9 E662 Operating Prof it / Loss Performln8 Ai8hts £1,278 -£4.478 -£1,706 £0 -£2,249 -£4.079 -£1.856 -£4,642 £4.980 -£4,958 2,167 -£3,588 .£3.607 -É2,506 Profit l Loss -£3,ZOO 1,706 -£6,328 -£6,498 £22 -£5,755 -£6,113 PGS INCOME & EXPENDITURE 2024 YIE 3010612024 YIE JI0612023 YIE 30/0612022 Yle 30/L￿/zo21 v/É 3010612020 30106n019 YIE 3010GIJ)18 Show Income IrTr¢kets. Pro£rammes, Raffle) show Expen5e5 £21,955 -£25.155 £ts,645 £18.59? f IID £9.3( £23,556 £18,053 -£21.973 -fj2S.008 -e6 -£14.667 -03,534 42),BO 3.200 -F6,328 41498 £104 -£5.361 £22 .£S.755 Iooth Concert In¢ome IOOth Concert Expènses £5.711 -£7A17 1,706 Coheert Income Concert Expenses Net Proflt, on concerts Member's Contrlbs Harrogate Expendlture re Harro8ate £2.630 -£1,303 £1,326 É4.271 e8t9 Éo tl.126 £2,889 Él,S92 .£15S4 -£863 eo -£663 41,979 -£i.y?• £1,326 £1,287 .E44 ¢1,189 -É184 Expeodlit4t* Sale of CDS etc. Costs Net Proflt, £1,887.00 -£1.651.20 l5 £357 £381 .£1 £236 .¢ EIS £14 £is -£si -£2 Charlty Collertlon5 Awards EvenlnB Fund-ralsln8 Donatlons GIftAld Interest Sub5¢rlption5 Patrons, Subs Umell8ht Insurance Admin Sundries IOOth Anniversary Excess ol Incorn• over Expendlture 511.78 .£SL2 -£4t £0 EO £1.337 £554 £1,052 £158 £6,513 £889 £0 -£928 -£667 £23 -£2,975 £D £0 .£511 S12 400. fD £0 £0 io E2 1,336.5Q 5S3.99 £266 £J2Y £50 £200 É279 £29 1?2 -£95 E35 .£250 £yi 1,051.72 158,21 £884 e637 £336 £Boi £91 t700 ioi £?7 £k3S £2%3 É189 £138 6,513.29 889.C E5,847 £3,093 £1,375 £4.42a 1S,B55 £9.741 £81 E77J £975 £495 £0 £0 -11S5 £1gS -£928 -£782 .E793 .£?62 -E761 .e758 .É75B -£667 .£472 4879 301 -£1.275 -4594 -£697 £767.99 -£745 £0 1,254 -el,141 -El.C*3 £0 .£2.043 -£50 4¥401 .£1,539 £2,612 l.730 -£2,SS5 EL581 -£31a £7.836 PGS Balance Sheet as at 30th June 2024 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 Assets Virgin Money Notice Account Virgin Money Deposit Account Cambridge BS Savings Account Lloyd5 Bank Account Lloyds Bank Other Account Cash in Hand Total Cash & Bank Balances £20,649 £4,080 £21,510 £60 £21,425 £4,345 £21,353 £5,840 £21,230 £5,829 £16,970 £9,796 £10,832 £6,726 £10.724 £5,205 £25,524 £203 £25,209 £193 £34,385 £5,102 £4,967 £50 £0 £7,420 £5,951 £2,063 £3,239 £2,358 £3,664 £2.772 £11,300 £0 £7,517 £50 £50 £112 £32,262 £66 £27,588 £45 £44 £48 £401 £39 £28 £28 £31 £45 £27,878 £30,476 £29,465 £30,831 £20,370 £27,257 £25,805 £33,000 £44,549 Loan to Social Committee Debtors Pre-payments Total Assets £300 £1,418 £776 £34,455 £773 £3,770 £32,131 £255 £0 £430 £520 £1,144 £2,186 £23,699 £240 £1,299 £28,796 £210 £895 £934 £250 £481 £1.388 £29,521 £1,500 £31,976 £500 £555 £30,395 £31,906 £26,910 £34,484 £45,030 Less Credltors Bank Overdraft Net Assets -£692 -£980 -£100 £0 £0 -£1,193 -£819 -£4,025 -£3,227 -£203 -£4,135 -£1,020 £33,764 £31,151 £29,421 £31,976 £30,395 £30,712 £22,880 £24,771 £23,480 £30,349 £44,010 Represented By: Balance brought forward Less Y/S Account Net surplus for the year £31,151 £29,421 £31,976 £30,395 £30,712 £22,876 £24,771 £23,480 £30,349 £44,010 £43,388 £2,612 £1,730 -£2,555 £1,581 -£318 £7,836 -£1,895 £1,291 -£6,869 -£13,661 £622 Balance carrled forward £33,764 £31,151 £29.421 £31,976 £30,395 £30,712 £22,876 £24,771 £23,480 £30,349 £44,010 INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS Report to the Trustees / Members of.. The Plymouth Gilbert & Sullivan Fellowship On the accounts of the year ended.. 30.06.24 Set out on pages: Respective responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner As the Charity, Trustee5 you are responsible for the preparation of the Accounts; you consider that the audit requirement of Section 43(21 of the Charities Act. 1993 (the Act) does not apply. It is my responsibility to state, on the basis of producers specified in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners under Section 43(7)Ibl of the Act, whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basis of Independent Examiner's Report My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the Accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the Accounts, and seeking explanations from you as Trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the Accounts. Independent Examiner's Statement In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention.. 11) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements to keep accounting records in accordance with section 41 of the Act, and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the accounting requirements of the Act. have not been met, or 12) to which in my opinion attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: Date: 04 2Q2 Name: Mrs Y Roberts Professional Qualification.. ACCA Address: Hawkins Close, Plymouth, Devon.