Charity No 1084863
Somerset Fellowship of Drama
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
Year ended 30[th] June 2024
www.somersetdrama.org.uk
Committee Members 2023/2024
Chair Dendy Harris Vice Chair Di Dean Treasurer Margaret Ann Brolly Secretary Lorna Evans (superseded by Pam Price) Membership Secretary Margaret Ann Brolly Online Manager Roger Price Phoebe Rees Coordinator Robert Graydon Cinderella Coordinator Pam Price David Beach Coordinator Georgina Barry (from December 2023) David Beach Youth Coord Di Dean County Drama Coord Irene Glynn Original Playwriting Coord Philip de Glanville
Competition Moderators and Adjudicators 2023/2024
Cinderella Trophy Competition
Moderator: Nigel Ford Adjudicators: Sam Allen, Lee Baker, Jane Burt, Ray Jarvis, John Robinson
David Beach Competition
Moderator: Jane Busby (superseded by Ian Hurdman) Adjudicators: Jadi Carlyon, Beth Hancock, Dendy Harris, Christopher Holman-Holmes, Andy Marchant, Cathie Warner
David Beach Youth Competition
Moderator: Dendy Harris Adjudicators: Jadi Carlyon, Beth Hancock, Chris Holman-Holmes, Andy Marchant, Linda Mumford, Cathie Warner, Penny Lambert
Phoebe Rees Competition (not run 2023/2024 season) Moderator: Robert Graydon Adjudicators: Niamh McGrogan, Lynn Pearson, Helen Tompson
Original Playwriting Competition
Readers: Mike Linham, Philip de Glanville, Brenda Shrewsbury
Introduction
At the start of the SFD year, July 2023, the committee was concerned about the organisation’s ability to continue. Previous Chairman, Sam Allen had, for some time, expressed his intention to resign from the committee but there was no obvious replacement. There were also difficulties recruiting volunteers for other key roles, in a repeat of the situation just after the COVID pandemic when the SFD was only saved by an intensive recruitment campaign that saw enough new volunteers step forward to make continuing viable.
The committee decided that, unless a new Chair and other volunteers came forward by the time of the AGM there would have to be a managed termination of the organisation. Fortunately, that prospect resulted in a significant response from member organisations and some new recruits stepped forward, most significantly Dendy Harris who agreed at the AGM to take over as Chair, an appointment that was unanimously and enthusiastically approved by members attending the AGM. It meant that the SFD could continue, albeit with no Phoebe Rees Competition for at least a year. The managed decline was abandoned. Sam agreed to stay on in an advisory role, which he will continue to do until the 2024 AGM.
During the last year SFD are delighted to report that the Cinderella Trophy Competition has continued, going from strength to strength as have the David Beach Adult and Youth Competitions. Alongside those the County Drama Festival was a great success. Also delighted to announce that the Phoebe Rees Competition will be relaunching as of October 1[st] . (Individual reports as below). SFD are so thankful to all those amazing volunteers who ensure that SFD continues to run.
SFD has run and encouraged entry in the original play writing competition for a number of years and a heartfelt thank you is given to Philip De Glanville for all he has done with this competition, so very much appreciated. However, it has been agreed that 2023/24 was the last season this competition would run. SFD thanks everyone who has been involved in that competition in whatever way.
SFD will continue to support and encourage all amateur dramatic and operatic groups and societies across Somerset and look forward to what the future brings with so much incredible talent across the county.
Finance
As things get back to normal it is great to see that there is a surplus on the year to June 2024 of £1571.14 This is entirely due to almost all competitions being back up and running.
General expenditure covers such items as Insurance, Certificate printing, IT updates to web site, hall hire for meetings and PPS.
We are pleased to say that one society, Somerton Drama Group, took up the training bursary set out at last year’s AGM. They ran a very successful singing and dance workshop and the SFD covered half of the cost. We hope that in the coming year we will be in a position to help other societies in this manner. If you are planning any courses, or workshops, please get in touch via the contact section on the website. All in all, the Fellowship is still in good financial order. The accounts have been checked by an independent auditor and found to be a correct account of the Fellowship financial affairs.
Thank you for your continued support and if you have any questions, we will be happy to answer them.
Membership
Group membership for the year has fallen slightly from 70 to 67 members. Several groups are still paying the old subscription amount of £15 by standing order. The correct subscription for groups is £25. We would ask groups to check their standing orders to reflect the correct amount, subscriptions are due 1[st] October each year. Individual membership is standing at 39 individual and 5 couples. Our membership Secretary has asked that groups should keep their contact details updated via the contact section of the website
Online Activities
The new website, that was ably constructed by Sam Allen, has been well received and Roger Price continues with his Online Management of the site, albeit with the assistance of Sam.
The Cinderella Trophy Competition
Nigel Ford, with his enthusiasm, was once again the Moderator for the Cinderella Competition 2023/24. Competition entries picked up, we had 3 new groups and a total of 24 entries. Pam Price is the coordinator and arranged the awards evening on Friday 10 May at the Batch Country House, Lympsham as this was the 50[th] Anniversary for Cinderella Awards we made it extra special. We invited Jacqueline and Ron Roberts and Tommy Banner from the Wurzels as our guests, together with 310 people from all the Societies that entered the Competition. It was a lovely evening, enjoyed by all.
The top prize The Cinderella Trophy was won by Yeovil Amateur Pantomime Society with their production of Treasure Island, The Cinderella Runner up Trophy was won by Burnham District Pantomime Society for their production of Mother Goose. The Spotlight Trophy for best Village Pantomime was won by Somerton Dramatic Society for their production Robinson Crusoe & the pirate treasure and the runners up were CUDOS for their production of The Three Musketeers. Unlike our other competitions, the nominations for the Cinderella Trophy are not announced in advance but are announced on the evening, as panto people love the anticipation.
Adjudicators for 2023/24 were Sam Allen, Lee Baker, Jane Burt, Ray Jarvis and John Robinson and we are now looking forward to 2024/25 with 2 new Adjudicators joining us.
The David Beach Competition
As with the David Beach Youth Competition, entries were down for the adult competition after the prolonged Covid break where everything came to a standstill, and many societies did not reform for a time. With just fifteen entries, we joined with the Youth societies to get together for the first presentation evening since just before lockdown. This was held at Haselbury Mill where around 250 people squeezed in and had a great night, and were so happy to be back meeting up with their theatre friends again from other societies. The standard of productions was high and the David Beach Trophy for the best production could have gone to a number of societies, but it was Chess produced by Weston-super-Mare Operatic Society who won in the end. Congratulations to them and to everyone who either won or who were nominated in the various categories.
This year the entries have been much higher as twenty one have been received so far, with possibly more in the pipeline.
The Presentation evening will be held at Batch Country House, near Weston on Friday 7[th] March and we will be joined by the Youth societies again.
The David Beach Youth Competition
It was a disappointing year as there were only seven entries from five Youth groups over the year, but seventy-seven members attended the David Beach Youth Presentation evening which was held at Haselbury Mill last March.
Every youth member dressed for the occasion, behaved impeccably and heartily cheered for the nominees and winners of each category.
Although there were few entries, the standard was very high overall. It was very close but there was a winner of the David Beach Youth Trophy which was Clevedon School for We Will Rock You. Congratulations to them and to every other youth group who I know overcome so many challenges and work very hard to continue to produce great theatre. We have some amazing talent coming through who hopefully will join the adult groups in the future.
Still a little disappointing, but marginally better than last year, there have so far been seven entries from different groups with two more in the pipeline before the end of November. I am pleased that three of this year’s entries have returned from the pre Covid days and we have gained another school.
As with the last presentation evening, the Youth and Adult competitions will be combined and will be held at The Batch Country House, near Weston-super-Mare on Friday the 7[th ] March 2025.
The Phoebe Rees Competition
We concluded the 2022/2023 season with a very well attended awards evening on Friday 20 October 2023 at the Shrubbery Hotel, Ilminster. The Best Production Winner was AT2K for their production of Absent Friends. Until very close to that event the future of Phoebe Rees looked bleak and we were preparing to wind up the competition for good. Happily, there was enough interest and enough goodwill to have a ‘pause’ instead while we regrouped and had a good think about relaunching after a break. I am really pleased to report that we are now in a position to start hitting the road again and Phoebe Rees will be back in business from the 1[st] October.
Original Playwriting Competition
After a three year hiatus, this long-established one act playwriting competition was resurrected in 2023, with a Reading Panel consisting of Mike Linham, Brenda Shrewsbury and Philip de Glanville, who took on the job of OPW Coordinator.
We had a total of seven entries, which was significantly down on previous years. From these the panel selected a short-list of four plays which met the entry criteria, and these were posted on the SFD website in October 2023 for people to read and, we hoped, to perform in the 2024 County Drama Festival. Two of this year’s entries were in fact presented, but in both cases were directed by their own authors, rather than being picked up by an independent drama group.
The winning script, chosen unanimously by the panel, was Not Quite As Planned by Tony Bray. This was a very well-written full-blown contemporary farce for no less than seven characters, and we very much hoped it would be published in due course. The runner-up was Neil Walden’s beautifully crafted Discharging Duties.
Sadly, in view of the steadily dwindling number of entries over the past decade, the SFD Committee feels that the OPW is no longer viable, and it has therefore been mothballed this year pending a hoped-for resurgence of interest amongst new and established playwrights in the Southwest.
County Drama Festival
Six groups took part in the festival and there were 10 plays in total
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Taunton Thespians: The Door by Paul Elliot
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IES: The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter and So Now What by Valda Dagnall
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@2K Theatre: After Esme by Kathy West, Murderous Passion by Stephen Mercer and Proof of Provenance by Lorna Evans
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Clevedon School Youth Theatre: All My Love Charles by Victoria Pope and The Changing Room by Chris Bush
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St Philip and St James Church Drama Group: Soul Mates and All Inclusive both written by Lydia Brimble
The event took place over two days and we had a technical visit to the theatre on Sunday 3[rd] March. All the groups performed well and the adjudicator Annie Rees GODA Associate did a fine job in adjudicating each play at the end of each session Annie gave a report and awarding the trophies to the winners at the end of the festival.
The SFD gave great support for the event – Ann Brolly drew up the accounts and it was a delight to see that this year there was a substantial profit of £700.38. Dendy Harris and Philip de Glanville were the adjudicators stewards.
The energy, enthusiasm and teamwork from all the groups and, in fact everyone involved, was inspirational and at the end of the awards ceremony the packed theatre was a real celebration of local drama.
The winning group was IES with The Dumb Waiter which went forward to Merlin Theatre Frome on the 11 May 2024 for the Western Semi Final but unfortunately came second.
The dates for 2025 are 22 and 23 March, when Bob Tomson Award Winning West end Director will adjudicate.
Training
Yet again our training activities were on ice for the year, largely due to lack of volunteers to administer them. Even if we end up terminating our other activities, we plan to explore the option of a training bursary to provide funding for amateur theatre training in Somerset in future years.
Dendy Harris Chairman
Somerset Fellowship of Drama ACCOUNTS TO JUNE 2024
| Expenditur | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income | e | ||||||
| Original Play | £130.00 | £125.00 | |||||
| CountyDrama | £2,190.02 | £1,451.47 | |||||
| Cinderella | Entries | £720.00 | ADJ/MOD | £927.70 | |||
| Award | £10,547.5 | £11,267.5 | |||||
| s | 0 | 0 | Awards Eve | £10,305.40 | |||
| £11,233.1 | |||||||
| 0 | |||||||
| Phoebe Rees | Entries | £30.00 | ADJ/MOD | £760.95 | |||
| Award | |||||||
| s | £3,078.00 | £3,108.00 | Awards Eve | £3,021.00 | |||
| £3,781.95 | |||||||
| David Beach | Entries | £630.00 | ADJ/MOD | £878.85 | |||
| Award | |||||||
| s | £7,097.00 | £7,727.00 | Awards Eve | £7,196.11 | |||
| £8,074.96 | |||||||
| DB Youth | Entries | £135.00 | ADJ/MOD | £0.00 | |||
| Award | |||||||
| s | £355.00 | £490.00 | Expenses | ||||
| Awards refunds | £0.00 | ||||||
| Subscriptons | £2,015.00 | Subs | £0.00 | ||||
| General | £3.50 | General | £536.09 | ||||
| Interest | £279.12 | ||||||
| IT | IT | £181.44 | |||||
| Trophies | Trophies | £0.00 | |||||
| Sponsorship | £0.00 | Sponsorship | |||||
| Training | Training | £250.00 | |||||
| £27,210.1 | £25,634.0 | ||||||
| 4 | 1 | ||||||
| £26,851.4 | |||||||
| Balance Current Account | £8,775.14 | Balance as at 30/6/23 | 2 | ||||
| £19,652.4 | £27,210.1 | ||||||
| Balance Savings Account | 1 | Income | 4 | ||||
| £28,427.5 | £54,061.5 | ||||||
| Sub Total | 5 | Sub Total | 6 | ||||
| £25,634.0 | |||||||
| Less O/S Cheques | £0.00 | Expenditure | 1 | ||||
| Less O/S Income | £0.00 | ||||||
| £28,427.5 | £28,427.5 | ||||||
| Available Funds | 5 | Available Funds | 5 |
Prepared by Ann Brolly 17/04/2025
Page 1
ACCOUNTS TO JUNE 2024
| Original Play CountyDrama Cinderella Phoebe Rees David Beach DB Youth Subscriptions General Interest IT Trophies Sponsorship Training Balance Current Account Balance Savings Account Sub Total Less O/S Cheques Available Funds Check |
Income | Income | £130.00 £2,190.02 £11,267.50 £3,108.00 £7,727.00 £490.00 £2,015.00 £3.50 £279.12 £0.00 £27,210.14 |
Expenditure £125.00 £1,451.47 ADJ/MOD £927.70 Awards Eve £10,305.40 £11,233.10 ADJ/MOD £760.95 Awards Eve £3,021.00 £3,781.95 ADJ/MOD £878.85 Awards Eve £7,196.11 £8,074.96 ADJ/MOD £0.00 Expenses Awards refunds £0.00 Subs £0.00 General £536.09 IT £181.44 Trophies £0.00 Sponsorship Training £250.00 £25,634.01 Balance as at 30/6/23 £26,851.42 Income £27,210.14 Sub Total £54,061.56 Expenditure £25,634.01 Less O/S Income £0.00 Available Funds £28,427.55 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £130.00 | ||||
| £2,190.02 | ||||
| Entries | £720.00 | |||
| Awards | £10,547.50 | £11,267.50 | ||
| Entries | £30.00 | |||
| Awards | £3,078.00 | £3,108.00 | ||
| Entries | £630.00 | |||
| Awards | £7,097.00 | £7,727.00 | ||
| £135.00 £355.00 |
||||
| Entries | ||||
| Awards | £490.00 | |||
| £2,015.00 | ||||
| £3.50 | ||||
| £279.12 | ||||
| £0.00 | ||||
| £8,775.14 £19,652.41 £28,427.55 £0.00 £28,427.55 £0.00 |
Miss Ann Clancy 3 Valley Road Crewkeme Somerset TA18 8DT 20 August 2024 The Committee Somerset Fellowship of Drama Accounts for the year ended 30 June 2024 Dear Committee. I have reviewed the accounts whith Ann has prepared; I confirm that the accounts agree with the underlying records. The accounts show a profft of £1.576.13 has been generated for the year. If you have any cornments or questions regarding these accounts. I would be gratefvl rf you could ask Ann in the first instance. If, IK)wever. there are any further questions, or you qUIre any assistance in the future, please contsct me. With kind regards, Yours sincerely. Ann Clancy