_Livewire Trust Annual Report 2021 - 2022 Registered Charity Number 1104838 1_
THE LIVEWIRE TRUST ANNUAL REPORT
## _Contents_
1. **Front Cover**
**2. Contents**
**3. Partners and Friends**
**6. Letter from the chair**
**8. Annual programme 2021 - 2022**
_**11.**_ **An Explanation of our work**
**13. Objectives**
**14.** _**Creative Directors report**_
_**19. Organisation**_
_**15.**_ **Recruitment**
_**20.**_ **Recruitment**
**21. Child Protection Policy**
**34. Basic Practical Measures**
_**33.**_ **Charities Commission Accounts Submission**
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## Partners and Friends
We would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank our partners, funders and friends for their support this year. It has been a difficult couple of years for a small charity such as ours and at several moments we felt we were unable to carry on. However, with the support from all the people and organisations below we have survived the storm and now stand steady, ready to continue working with Harlow’s young people and ready to respond to our towns needs. Thank you. - Sam Ashford, Creative Director
## **The Jack Petchey Foundation**
Without the support of The Jack Petchey Foundation we would not be here today. We have taken advantage of the excellent achievement awards scheme which has been a very rewarding experience for our young people. We would like to thank Nikki Casey, in particular, for her firm support and encouragement which drove our fundraising efforts forward so we are more able to source funding and eventually be self sufficient.
## **Essex Community Foundation**
We regularly deliver work funded through the ‘Essex Community Foundation’. Although in this Academic year we did not apply for funding we continue to value their support and look forward to working with them again this year.
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Hare Street School continue to be a fantastic supporter of Livewire. Not only promoting our events to their students so they can take part and have been a key part in developing a Livewire project for the Royal Opera House Bridge.
The Harlow Playhouse is now our major partner, our big sister. We run workshops each week and holiday sessions all within this wonderful facility that is the heart of our community. Without The Playhouse we would not be able to deliver he programme of work to the levels we are at now, thank you
We run our Primary School sessions and our Yr7 and 8 group at Pemberley Academy. Without their donation of space, promotion to parents and all round support and enthusiasm we would not be able to run these sessions and reach 80 young people every week. A key part in developing a Livewire project for the Royal Opera House Bridge and we look forward to delivering our first Arts and Culture Theatre Challenge in the Autumn!
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The National Lottery Community Fund / Reaching Communities Fund have been a major part of our year. The Community Fund funded a project to reach new areas of the town whilst Reaching Communities are a part of the biggest development in Livewire’s existence…..words really don’t do enough to state the impact this support will have on our organisation.
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A letter from our Chair Person
## Becky:
I'd like to start by saying what a wonderful five years I've had being Chair of The Livewire Trust. From joining in year 8, to becoming a trustee at 21 then progressing to Chair, I've seen a lot of changes and development at Livewire. I still can't believe we've gone from one Monday night class with 25 students to catering for over 100 young people in our town offering multiple workshops including drama, dance and music.
I'd like to say a massive thank you to my fellow trustees for all your support over the years. And a special thanks to Sam, Steve and Becky for always giving 100% to Livewire. Now I handover to Gemma Nicholson as the next Chair of Livewire.
## Gemma:
Wow, what another amazing year Livewire has had! It has been great to see everything getting back to normal post-covid and to have all our sessions back up and running in person. The last 12 months have been jam packed for Livewire, and having spoken to a number of participants, there is no question about the positive difference Livewire continues to make to so many young people throughout Harlow. This year we have been busy running our Toxic masculinity workshops into secondary schools; welcoming Leo and Roisin onboard to help run some additional groups; and putting on some more Livewire original performances including Love Beach, My awkward life and After. As well as our Livewire drama groups, dance (LDC) and music (LMC) have also flourished this year, welcoming lots more young people through their doors. It has been fantastic to see how all 3 groups have been able to come together on so many occasions to create some truly sensational productions.
I would like to echo Becky and pass on a huge thank you to Sam, Becky, Steve and all other leaders for their continued hard work, commitment, and passion to Livewire. It is because of their drive that Livewire has been able to grow to the amazing place that it is today. I would also like to say thank you to all our trustees for helping keep Livewire doing what it does best. Becky Bird, you have been an absolutely amazing Chair for Livewire for many years, but I am looking forward to now taking up the position and seeing what incredible things come next for Livewire. Livewire forever!
## Gemma
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Annual Programme 2022 - 2023 What do we want to deliver this year?
Primary and early secondary age Livewire Sessions at Pemberley Academy every
Monday.
Yr9 plus Livewire Sessions at The Playhouse every Thursday.
HeadSpace Sessions every week.
LMC and LDC sessions every Wednesday for secondary age,
LDC and LMC each Wednesday for Primary age.
Development workshops during every half term holiday
Theatre Challenge Workshops during Easter and Summer Holidays.
The delivery of Theatre Challenges
The pilot of LTC - Livewire Theatre Company for school leavers
An successful bid and plan to deliver an interactive Theatre Tour of Primary Schools
A pilot open session for adults - parents and former members.
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## **An explanation of our work**
## **Theatre devising**
All of livewire’s workshops are based around improvisation and the devising of new and original pieces of theatre. The Livewire ‘Theatre Challenge’, in particular, is a unique and intense programme where the young people are involved in all aspects of putting on a piece of theatre in a theatre for the public. This process allows the young people to:
- Explore different points of view around a key issue and turn them into a performance that is relevant and thought provoking.
- Be involved in a process, which would not normally be accessible to them.
- Be creative in their own way and on their own terms and for their enjoyment.
- Make new friends.
- Gain confidence in their own ability and learn to trust others.
- Improve upon or learn completely new skills.
## **Interactive theatre**
Interactive theatre is partially controlled by the audience with the assistance of a facilitator. The audience are presented with a scenario, which ends with four key characters all having opposing objectives. The action stops at a key point of decision and the audience guide the characters through the rest of the play. This is done by separating the audience in to four groups and allocating one character to each group. The audience then have to tell their character what to do and say according to what the character wants. By being responsible for the actions of one character at a time the audience are required to understand how and why people make decisions that affect theirs and other peoples’ lives well beyond the moment of action. The process aims to;
- Free young people from the pressure to make ‘knee-jerk’ reactions,
- Demonstrate the consequences of different courses of action in a safe environment,
- • Help young people to re-assess their views by enabling them to stand in someone else’s shoes,
- Give voice to the full range of views in the group rather than predominant, ’cool’ opinions.
The interactive model provides young people with a ‘challenging’ but safe environment where they can experiment with and rehearse a wide range of behaviours in response to a multitude of social pressures. The process has to be based on the principle of ‘respect for all’ and the preservation of self-esteem. However, there is no attempt to ‘preach’ a right answer, ‘sloganise’ or even deliver a specific message, rather it allows young people to;
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- Explore different points of view around a key issue,
- Develop discriminatory skills that will allow them to come to informed decisions about their behaviour,
- Engage in a constructive dialogue about personal responsibility within a practical context.
## **Music Workshops**
The Livewire Music Collective is open to young people who play instruments already and are ready to devise new, original music. Members are given opportunities to explore their own material, record and perform though gigs and as part of our theatre Challenge Projects.
## **Dance Workshops**
The Livewire Dance Company is open to young people with zero experience or a lot of experience but who want to devise new, original dances. Members will take part in many performances and will work with Drama and Music closely to devise Dances that tell a story or highlight an important issue rather than commercial dancing (although this is still explored for technique purposes).
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## **Livewire Objectives**
- Create and sustain interactive educational theatre using young people from Essex in a tour of Harlow primary schools at least once every year.
- Bring interactive and other forms of theatre to people who may have had little or no contact with the arts before.
- Provide a safe working environment for young people to develop their theatrical, personal and social skills.
- Challenge intolerance and prejudice in all its forms.
- To always produce the highest quality of work possible, therefore promoting young people as talented, dedicated and engaging members of our community
- Use the frequent contact with young people as a basis for regular youth work.
- Use interactive theatre as a forum for discussion.
- As a charitable organisation, raise its own funds in order to provide a free, high quality service to all young people.
- Develop and sustain weekly music and dance workshops.
To maintain and care for all young people’s mental wellbeing
.
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## **Creative Director’s Report**
Another busy year for Livewire!
We began in September in our usual busy way, getting all the groups back up and running and welcoming lots of new enthusiastic members. October Half term was spent preparing for our main performance of Love Beach on the main stage at Harlow Playhouse.
We were able to improve upon our summer rehearsals and spent time creating green screen promotion videos to encourage a larger audience and to also help our cast feel a part of something special. The Playhouse Tech team were fantastic as usual and they gave us their full support to create our biggest, boldest and most challenging performance to date. Over 250 people enjoyed it on the night and many more afterwards as “Carve” filmed the performance for us to edit and put on YouTube.
There was lots of talks with The Barbican Theatre about putting LoveBeach there or at an associated venue but, unfortunately, the member of staff backing us moved on to another role. A year has passed but the cast still ask if we can do it again and, although we never return to past material, I believe this is worth looking at as part of a larger touring project next summer. A reduced cast could make this an excellent touring piece of theatre ….watch this space.
In the Autumn term we also began our pilot Primary Theatre Challenge Project funded by the Royal Opera House Bridge. We began at Hare Street working with two year five classes for one whole week. Myself, Steve and Becky applied our theatre challenge process to the school week and devised a piece of theatre on an issue selected by the school, in this case - Inclusion. The week was interrupted by myself getting Covid but we return to finish the performance in early January. Everyone involved was delighted with the outcome but most of all the process.
We then piloted a second model at Pemberley Academy. We spent one day a week over a half term with one year Five class to compare the two approaches. This was a fantastic success and we learnt through evaluation that this would be more accessible for most schools. We devised a performance about Harlow Sculptures and our local environment and we performed at the Harlow Study Centre which was a memorable experience for all involved!
This pilot project has formed the basis of a much larger bid to The Paul Hamlyn Foundation which, as I write this, is about to be submitted for the first time…..if successful we would see Livewire delivering this across Harlow to many more schools at least three days per week. The opportunity for recruitment and increasing diversity is at the heart of this project and we have the full support of ROHB, HEC and Harlow Council moving forward with this bid.
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Over the Easter holidays we devised a piece of Theatre called “My Awkward Life”. This was performed in Theatre 2 at the Playhouse and didn’t include the LMC this time around. This gave both drama and dance an opportunity to use music written by others (Michael Jackson…..eg) and was a more simple process for our much younger cast to develop within. Our Love Beach cast have mostly moved on or were involved in exams so this was a great opportunity for our younger members to step up, which they did brilliantly!
The following week saw the LMC take part in some recording and we invited Dave Walsh as a sound engineer and producer. The band had a lot of fun and got a lot of ideas down, some nearly finished and sounding great. However, if we are to do this again (we are… February half term) then we must apply what we have learnt to get the absolute maximum outcomes from these sessions. We are learning and we are getting there!
Summer term continued as always, brilliantly. Numbers have sustained throughout the year and where numbers dropped we pushed to get people involved with videos, assemblies and reaching out to our contacts in the community.
In the Summer holidays we put on two theatre challenges. The first as part of our Lottery funding was performed at Victoria Hall Theatre and was aimed at our year 6 and 7’s. For many of them this was their first theatre challenge and we had lots of new members. The performance was called “CARE” and centred around two sisters and their grandad who all had to move apart from each other. It was a very simple but emotional performance and the audience gave us our very first, unprompted and fully involved, standing ovation! It really was a magical moment and we were all delighted with their effort, especially as many older members came to support.
The second performance was for the Playhouse Summer School for Yr10 and above. We devised a performance based on grief and bereavement, a tough subject which have never considered before. I put out a sound effect online which an instruction to message with me with ideas of story or, what you imagine as this sound is playing. We had several fantastic ideas from young people and even a couple of parents! I was able to plot the first third of the performance which gave us a fast and solid start to our week together. Of course, the play went in its own direction and the young people came up with some fantastic story lines, some beautiful dances and some stunning songs. We would like to say thank you to The Playhouse Trust for funding us to bring in Roisin Quinn as a vocal coach. Her input was fantastic and lifted the overall quality and improved the experience for our singers who received some incredible one to one training.
Both Theatre challenges are available to watch online via our YouTube channel.
And so another year comes to an end, our 21st I believe. We have a lot on the horizon and it will take a lot of hard work to achieve our dreams but we’ve come so far and I believe we can keep growing and evolving so we can reach more young people in Harlow.
The arts have Never been more important.
Sam
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## _Annual Averages_
|Drama 3up|Pemberley Academy|35|
|---|---|---|
|Drama 7up|Pemberley Academy|28|
|Drama 10up|Harlow Playhouse|16|
|LDC 3up|Harlow Playhouse|15|
|LDC 7up|Harlow Playhouse|20|
|LDC 9up|Harlow Playhouse|15|
|LMC Primary|Harlow Playhouse|5|
|LMC 9up|Harlow Playhouse|8|
|LMC Singers|Harlow Playhouse|12|
|HeadSpace|Harlow Playhouse|10|
## **Total weekly average attendance**
## **174**
Delivery TM / A&C Application PH renew NL
Sam
Creative Director to The Livewire Trust
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## **Organisation**
- Livewire’s working address for correspondence and day-to-day management is:
Livewire C/O Gemma Nicholson
Chair Person
Harlow Playhouse
Playhouse Square
Essex CM20 1LS
- Livewire’s contact number is:
Sam Ashford - 07974 241647
- Livewire has its own email address which is managed by the Creative Director
- livewiretheatre@live.com
- www.livewiretheatre.co.uk
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## **Recruitment**
- Livewire have an open door policy allowing for a constant flow of members
- Livewire will continue to deliver and develop delivery in schools to promote Livewire as well as addressing key issues within our community
- Toxic Masculinity Workshops for Essex Community Foundation
- Primary Theatre Challenges for ECC Arts and Culture
- At the beginning of each school term Livewire will advertise to all of Harlow’s Secondary schools with posters and letters to the appropriate members of staff
- Livewire will recruit through existing Youth Work organisations in Harlow
- Livewire will recruit through existing Arts Organisations such as ‘The Harlow Playhouse’
- Livewire will recruit through connections within Local Secondary and Primary Schools
- If Required Livewire will recruit through Taster workshops within Local Secondary and Primary Schools
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## **Child Protection/Safeguarding Policy**
## **Livewire Theatre Company Safeguarding Policy Statement**
## The purpose and scope of this policy statement
Livewire Community Theatre Company is a non-profit community theatre charity offering free and accessible drama, dance and music workshops and weekly sessions to young people in Harlow.
The purpose of this policy statement is:
- To protect children and young people who receive Livewire Community Theatre’s services from harm.
- To provide staff and volunteers as well as children and young people and their families with the overarching principles that guides our approach to child protection.
This policy applies to anyone working on behalf of Livewire Theatre including senior managers and the board of trustees, paid staff, volunteers and sessional workers.
## Legal framework
This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England
## Supporting documents
This policy statement should be read alongside our organisational policies, procedures, guidance and other related documents
## We recognise that:
- The welfare of children is paramount in all the work we do and in all the decisions we take all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have and equal right to protection from all types of harm and abuse
- Some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues
- Working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare.
## We will seek to keep children and young people safe by:
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- Valuing, listening to and respecting them
- Appointing a nominated child protection lead for children and young people, a deputy and a lead trustee/board member for safeguarding [check if two can be same person owing to our set up]
- Adopting child protection and safeguarding best practice through our policies, procedures and code of conduct for staff and volunteers
- Developing and implementing an effective online safety policy and related procedures
- Providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures so that all staff know about and follow our policies, procedures and behaviour codes confidently and competently
- Recruiting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made
- Recording, storing and using information professionally and securely, in line with data protection legislation and guidance
- Sharing information about safeguarding and good practice with children and their families via leaflets, posters, group work and one to one discussions
- Making sure that children, young people and their families know where to go if they have a concern
- Using our safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately
- Using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately
- • Creating and maintaining an anti-bullying environment and ensuring that we have a policy and procedure to help us deal effectively with any bullying that does arise
- Ensuring that we have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place
- Ensuring we provide a safe physical environment for our children, young people, staff and volunteers, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance
- Building a safeguarding culture where staff and volunteers, children, young people and their families treat each other with respect and are comfortable sharing their concerns
## **Nominated child protection lead**
Name: Abbie Cody Phone/email: abbie_cody@yahoo.co.uk
## **Deputy child protection lead**
Name: Sam Ashford Phone/email: sam_ashford@live.com
## **Trustee/Senior lead for safeguarding and child protection**
Name: Neil Coster Phone/email: neil@reach2.org
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## **Financial Report**
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## **The Livewire Trust**
## **Receipts and pay**
04/06/2021
## **For the period from**
## **Section A Receipts and payments**
## **Unrestricted funds**
## **Restricted funds**
**to the nearest £ to the nearest £**
## **A1 Receipts**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Grants - 8,600
Donations / Fundraising 1,763 -
Essex Community Fund
Harlow Council/ Harlow Rec Trust 4,185
Arts Council -
Main Grants 54,360
1,763 67,145
Sub total (Gross income for AR)
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- -
- -
Sub total [ - ] -
Total receipts 1,763 67,145
A3 Payments
Schools Tour, Workshops and Theatre challenges
76,285
Website 172 -
Insurance 462 -
Consultant 70 -
T Shirts 725 -
Music Equipment - 1,773
- -
- -
- -
Sub total 1,429 78,058
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- -
- -
Sub total - -
Total payments 1,429 78,058
**----- End of picture text -----**
|**_Net of receipts/(payments)_ **
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_ **|**334**||**- 10,913**|
|---|---|---|---|
||**-**||**-**|
|||||
||**334**||**- 10,913**|
## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the**
## **Categories**
## **Details**
## **B1 Cash funds**
## _**Total cash funds**_
(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))
## **Details**
## **B2 Other monetary assets**
## **Details**
## **B3 Investment assets**
## **Details**
**B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use**
## **Details**
## **B5 Liabilities**
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
Signature
**1104838**
**yments accounts To**
04/05/2022
## **CC16a**
**Endowment funds**
**to the nearest £**
## **Total funds Last year**
**to the nearest £ to the nearest £**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
- 8,600 1,500
- 1,763 1,250
- - 7,520
- 4,185 11,270
- - 27,551
- 9,660
- 68,908 58,751
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
- -
- - -
- - -
- 68,908 58,751
- 76,285 56,320
- 172 172
- 439
- 70
- 725
- 1,773
- - -
- - -
- - -
- 79,025 56,931
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
- -
- -
- - -
- 79,025 56,931
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
- - 10,579
- - -
- 22,465 22,465
- 11,886 22,465
**----- End of picture text -----**
**e end of the period**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Unrestricted Restricted funds Endowment
funds funds
to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £
-
- - -
- - -
334 - 10,913 -
OK OK OK
Unrestricted Restricted funds Endowment
funds funds
to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Fund to which asset Current value
Cost (optional)
belongs (optional)
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
Fund to which asset Current value
Cost (optional)
belongs (optional)
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
- -
- -
- -
- -
Fund to which Amount due When due
liability relates (optional) (optional)
-
-
-
-
-
Print Name Date of approval
Rory Davies 01/24/2023
**----- End of picture text -----**
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examinerfs
report on the accounts
Section A
Independent Examlner's Report
Report to the trusteesl
members of
On accounts forthe year
ended
2021
Charlty no
(if any)
I ioue8P
Set out on pages
I report to the trusloes on my examination of th8 accounts of the above
charity ('the Trusy,) for the year ended O b10 412 021
Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation
basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requiroments of the Charities Act
2011 {"the ACVI.
I report In respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I
have followed the appllcab16 Directions given by the Charity Commission
under section 145{5)(b) of the Act.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have
come lo my attention (other than that disclosed below "} in connection with
e examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material
respect..
accountlng records wer@ not kept in accordance with section 130 of
tho Act or
the acGounts do not accord with the accounling records
Independent
examiner's statement
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in Gonne¢tion
wilh the examination to which attention should be drawn in order t0 8nabl8 a
proper understanding of the accounts lo be reached.
Please delete the words in the braGkets if th9y do not apply.
Signed:
Date:
Name:
AQAH W [LA•
Relevant professlonal
qualification(s) or body
lif any):
SGklOOL 8 LISihJ&SS HP¢AJA-
Address:
o&
IER
October 2018
Section B
Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32,
Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for
examiners).
Give horè brief dotails of
any items that the
oxamlnerwishes to
disclose.
IER
October 2018