THE WORKINGTON PLAYGOERS, CLUB INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31ST MAY 2024 2024 2023 Unrestri cted Restric ted Unrestrict Restrict ed ed Net Income Members, subscriptions Net income from:_ Golden Jubilee Club (summary attached) Performances (summary attached) Theatre Royal Youth (summary attached) Coffeel Licensed Bar (summary attached) Hire (summary attaached) 2,159 2,115 1,226 1,489 9,999 6,464 1,231 (175) 3,227 12,805 30,647 4,052 9,617 23,737 (175) Sundry Income Sale of CostumeslProps Bank Interest received Grants received (restricted funds) Feed in tariff Donations received 966 306 0 10,000 460 6,743 38,816 9,825 2,242 1,020 27,305 Support Costs Heating and Lighting Rates and Water Rates Maintenance costs Insurance Telephone charges Postage and Stationery Advertisinglmarketing Cleaning Legal & Professional fees Subscriptions & Licences Little Theatre Guild 7,193 969 11,689 7,356 667 168 6,915 1,069 11,933 6,982 929 306 1,229 1,404 2,031 1,320 5,000
Sundry costs Bank charges Depreciation Loss on disposal of fixed assets Partial exemption VAT adjustment 901 162 4,914 1,296 142 4,681 13,748 13,288 36,652 18,288 37,604 13,748 (13,74 8) 2,164 (8,463) (10,299) Net incomel(expenditure) for the year (13,74 10,299 THE WORKINGTON PLAYGOERS, CLUB BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31st MAY 2024 2024 2023 441,25 454,54 Fixed assets (per Schedule) 115,375 115,539 Current assets Stocks of paint and materials Coffee bar and Bar stock Sundry debtors and prepayments Cash at Bank Cash in hand 200 692 200 641 3.503 52,569 360 57,324 3,114 45,535 2,157 360 49,850 2,157 6,982 6,982 Current Liabilities Sundry Creditors and Accruals 11,994 6,848 Net Current Assets 45,330 6.982 43,002 2,157 Total Assets less current liabilities 448,24 456,70 160,705 158,541
Represented by:_ Accumulated fund 456,70 470,45 Balance as at 1st June 2023 158,541 Transfers between funds 168,840 (13,74 Surplus for the year 2,164 8,463 448,24 10.299 456,70 160,705 158,541 THE WORKINGTON PLAYGOERS, CLUB SCHEDULE OF FIXED ASSETS FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31st MAY 2024 2024 Unrestri Restric cted ted 2023 Unrestri Restric cted ted Furnishings and equipment Net book value at 18tJune 2023 Additions in year Disposals 27,007 30,771 4,751 29,580 34,437 (2,904) (1,312) 31,758 27,867 29,580 33,125 Depreciation Charge for the year On disposals 2,808 3,204 (2,904) 2,573 3,666 (1,312) Net book value at 31st May 2024 28,950 27,567 27,007 30,771 Freehold property Net book value at 1 st June 2023 Additions in year 423,77 433,85 88,532 90,640 423,77 433.85 88.532 90,640
Depreciation Charge for year 2,107 10,084 2,108 10,082 Net book value at 31 st May 2024 413,69 423,77 86,425 88,532 441,25 454,54 Total fixed assets 115,375 115,539 THE WORKINGTON PLAYGOERS, CLUB SUBSIDIARY ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31 St MAY 2024 2024 Unrestri Restric cted ted 2023 Unrestri Restric cted ted Performance Account (Playgoers) Sale of tickets and programmes Advertising income 15,343 1,417 12,220 Less expenses:_ Royalties Production costs Sundry Costs 6,461 300 6,761 9,999 5,509 247 5.756 6.464 Surplus for the year THE WORKINGTON PLAYGOERS, CLUB SUBSIDIARY ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MAY 2024 2024 Unrestri Restric cted ted 2023 Unrestri Restric cted ted
Rising Stars Sale of tickets 1,231 Less: Expenses Royalties Production costs Sundry costs 175 175 175 Surplusl{Deficit) for year 1,231 THE WORKINGTON PLAYGOERS, CLUB SUBSIDIARY ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MAY 2024 2024 Unrestri Restric ct'd ted 2023 U nrestri Restric cted ted Coffee and Licensed Bar Account Sales Less purchases (adjusted for stock) Sundry costs Surplus for year 5,394 6,561 2,167 2,450 59 4,052 3,227 59.83 61.7 6% Golden Jubilee Club Subscriptions Due by 31st May 2023 Received by 31 St May 2024 3,456 3.719 Due by 31st May 2024 3,456 3,719 Prizes Due by 31st May 2023 Paid by 31 St May 2024 {2,519) 2,054 (2,379) 2,090
Due by 31 $1 May 2024 2,695 2,230 1,226 2,519 2,230 1 ,489 Other income:_ Donations 1,226 1,489 Expenses Printing, stationery and postage Surplus for year 1,226 1,489 Hire Rental income auditorium, rooms etc Tickets sales - outside hire shows 15,389 9,086 8,718 11,620 Less: Expenses Visiting performers Sundry costs Bad debts written off 10,614 84 604 11,302 12,805 10,843 246 11,089 9,617
Annual General Meeting 2024 Productions Director Report Date: 28th August 2024 sin taking the position in August 2023. 1 have tried very hard to produce performances that engage the whole Playgoers community as well as the locals of Workington and West Cumbria. l oversaw three shows towards the end of 2023 (Four Weddings and an Elvis,. Something Spooky,. Last of the Summer Wine). l also inherited the 2024 season (I'118e Back Before Midnight.. Treasure Island and Blithe Spirit), apart from Accidental Death of an Anarchist, which was decided for the July slot shortly after I took the post. This decision was made at a members night based on the idea that the production was on the curriculum for secondary drama. It has seemed to be a popular decision to align at least one show a year with the curriculum in order to nurture a more appealing and diverse audience range. All plays have been successful in their own ways, or are predicted to be. That being said, overall the audience numbers have been poor for the last year. The council and l are grateful for the regulars who come along to every show regardless, but I have to admit it's slightly disappointing that most of our members do not. The same goes for members nights, which have been very poorly attended every time. Due to the lack of audience engagement I have been working on a season for 2025 that will appeal to the masses as well as our members, and hopefully therefore this popularity will reflect in our audience numbers. I am very open to suggestions for how else to build up numbers for audience engagement because currently our predicted numbers are not sustainable and our beautiful theatre will suffer as a result. I have previously touched on the low engagement with members nights. In my promise to the role last year I said I would endeavour to host a series of exciting members nights that everyone would want to attend. This has not proved the case as, despite mixing things up and hosting a variety, I'm sad to say it's the same members attending every time, and not many of them to boot. Unfortunately, the March members night was not attended by anybody. Plenty of notice was given for the members nights and it is very disheartening to have such a low engagement. Help me to help you.. what do you want to see? Casting the 2024 season has also proved difficult in places, with the same faS appearing in our shows. This is not a problem as everyone on our cast roster is highly talented and a joy to watch on stage, but it is nevertheless disheartening that I have received complaints about such a thing when it is very hard to cast these shows out of a small pool of those willing to perfomi. Looking forward to our 2025 season, all shows have been proposed based on a small cast size
for this reason and l implore you to, before complaining about the plays or the same faces and talents, consider performing in them yourself. The door is always open for anyone willing to perform, you need only askl I'm not a mind reader as much as I'd like to be, and my email is always monitored by myself and I'm happy to receive your interestl This low engagement is the same reason I have not followed up on my pledge for rehearsed readings.. it is hard enough to cast our main productions, let alone rehearsed readings. As it stands currently, the confirmed productions for next year are Blood Brothers in July and The Three Musk8teers in December. The other two slots are still under consideration, but if you are wanting to crew or perform in the 2025 season please let me know. Finally, l am excited to confirm that we will be hosting our own pantomime- Jack and the B&anstalk- in February, in collaboration with Cockermouth Amateur Dramatics and with our youth theatre. The workshop that was held on the 18th was very positive and well attended, however, following on from my previous point: not one of our adult members were amongst those who came along. I will be the first to accept that pantomime isn't for everyone, but it will hopefully be a great audien bringer to our theatre and will give us a safety net for 2025. However, for this to happen we need your supportl If you want to be involved in pantomime or in any of the plays proposed for next year, let me know. Despite the setbacks and struggles for the past year, l am optimistic that the next year will be one of our best. It's our 90th anniversary and we want it to be special for our membership and for the community outside. I cannot, however. do it alone and would love your support on making the productions we host here successful.
Treasurers Re ort Workin on Pla oers Club for the ar endin 31" Ma 2024 Ladies and Gentlemen The company accounts have been completed from the information in the income and expenditure which have been emailed out, if anyone hasn't received a copy and would like one, please let me know. Income this year is £38816 against last year of £27305 so up by £11511. Member5 subscriptions are slightly up. Golden Jubilee income is down again this year by approximately £263 which is a continuing trend. It goes without saying that there are available numbers please ask your friends and relatives if they would like a number. We are showing an excess of income over expenditure on the performance account of £9999 thi5 however does not include a percentsge of the overheads which include utilities, insurance. cleanin8, and maintenance. We have increased our income from hires by £3188 a8ain this does not include a percentage of the afore mentioned overheads. However RV Projects in Wilson Street account for approximately 47% of this income. Following the break in last November we were very fortunate in receiving donations in excess of £60 which has enabled us to replace the damaged items as well as install a new door entry system and a security barrier between the rear of the theatre and Wilson Street. Expendlture Expenditure is slightly down £952 over the last financial year. Overall we have an excess of income over expenditure of £2164 this year against a Ioss of £10299 last year and £16506 the previous year. You will see from the accounts that maintenance is slightly down. Our insurance is slightly up and heat and li8ht slightly down. We have an old building which needs constant attention, we have a bar that needs staffing, so if you are not in a play, please think about what else you could do help backstage, props, wardrobe, set building, bar. However this, needs doing not only for our own productions but for the outside hires which are a valuable source of income. As I have said before THIS THEATRE WILL NOT SURVIVE ON THE REVENUE FROM OUR PERFORMANCES ALONE. Could l also ask that when you are purchasing anything for the theatre that you get the best possible pri getting two quotes and check with myself before purchasing. We really need to watch every penny going forward. You may think it is just a few pounds but if several people are spending just a few pounds it soon adds up to a large amount. Could I remind you that the subscrlptlons were increased at the 2022 AGM to £30 therefore you are not eligible to vote if you have only paid £20. Any questions? Could I thank William Moore and Danny Moffat from Saint and Company not only for producin8 the accounts but for answering any query that I may have had. I would like to thank my fellow council members for their 5UPPOrt and Judith Teasdale my a5515tant who ha5 been invaluable when l am away.
I therefore submit these accounts for approval. Gilda Wells Treasurer
Annual General Meeting 2024 Productions Director Report Date.. 27th August 2024 This year marked the return of the youth presen in Theatre Royall As most of you know, my journey with this theatre began in 2015 with the forming of Second Star Youth Theatre. When I left for university in 2017,1 handed the reigns over to my second in command.. Kira, and the youth council. In my absence the youth theatre was renamed Theatre Royal Youth and seemed to be quite successful until it was discontinued in 2021. The lack of a youth presence in the theatre weighed heavy upon my mind in my return to Cumbria, so it was high on my list to reestablish for the youth of the town and beyond. Therefore, in 2024, the youth theatre returned under the name Rising Stars Youth Theatre, meaning I have reclaimed my youth leader and designated safeguarding lead place on council alongside my Productions Director role. When RSYT started in February we had 15 young actors sign up to our Play in a Day workshop. 11 of these joined for our Summer production of Robin Hood and the SilVerAOW. Throughout rehearsals, some of them dropped out but were replaced by three new eager souls so that our numbers stood at 14. Robin Hood and the SilverArrow brought in a significant amount of audience income alongside the young actors, participation fees and has been given the green light to continue as an endeavour. Our next production, Rumple and Punzie, will take place in November and currently holds 15 young actors on the roster. The young actors are partly creating this debut perfomiance themselves, based on a series of fairytales. This is our trial year and therefore we have chosen plays that do not require a performance licence, but we are hoping to stage professional productions in 2025 - including. we hope. a Jr musical. The RSYT actors will also be tsking part in our February pantomime, bridging the gap between youth and Playgoers. Our young actors have a series of fundraising ideas that we will be rolling out over the next few rnonths and ask for your full support in our next generation of actors. Thank you.
Facilities Re ort for the ar endin the 31st of Ma 2024 It's been a busy year on the facilities front. August saw the beginning of internal damp proofing of a section of wall in the auditorium. This was finally completed in October by way of re decoration. My thanks to the cleaning partv. December was a devastating month with the damage caused by vandals in the bar and mezzanine bar areas. Great team efforts to get all areas cleared and temporary bar equipment in p051tion to allow us to put on our Christmas production of Last of the Summer Wine and allowing later hires to go ahead. A fire safety audit was carried out in December and several recommendations suggested, some of which have been carried out. Further to the December incident council agreed to increase our security and we have installed a monitored door entry system to the front door and a security gate between back stage and the rear of the building. In January a massive props store clearout with several volunteers on hand to assist which made the work much easier. Regular maintenance has continued on the following fire alarm, emergency lighting, lift, boilers, fire extinguishers and stage lighting. I must especially thank my team of volunteers who have worked tirelessly on set building and maintenance. Tasks they have carried out with fortitude and good humour. Tony Magorrian Facilities Director
Publici and Marketin Jenni Rushton - Director res ort for AGM 2024 on 24th Au ust 2024 onsible for Publici and Marketin Last year I sent in a detailed list of the responsibilities I carry out as Publicity and Marketing Director during a Season of Workington Playgoers, Productions and Theatre Royal HIS, with my report. These r8sponsibilities have not lessened but the other members who help me carry out these responsibilities hav81 I have taken back responsibility for Facebook which has bean admirably looked after. since Septembar last year, by Megan Smeaton. A big thank you to her. If any member would like to help with this please get in touch. Becky Wilson is happy to carry posting on Instagram. l also have to get my head around sending out information on Mailchimp and updating the events using The ttle Box Office website. for our online booking. This now has an all singing. all dancing system which I believe Gilda and I will get our heads around in no tim8. The booking online LTBO page looks wonderful, extremely professional and I believe it will be easi8r for our audience members to navigate. I wrote in last year's report that there were three things I wanted to happen this year but I'm afraid only one has got off the ground. 11 Devise and send out some sort of survey to ask our audience - How did they hear about our Playgoe Productions and Hire Events? It has taken us a while but Anne Bowmer and I have worked together quite recently to produce this survey. I believe this will be going out soon, hopefully on Mailchimp. 2) I didn't manage to find designated people to sell our programmes. Just leaving them on the bar for peopl8 to buy is hopeless. Too many are recycled! Andy Gr88nwood has worked hard selling advertising again this year to local businesses and on8 of the things we offer them is space in our programmes. We also put their adverts on the foyer and front window TVS. send adverts out in all our E Blasts. It is always difficult to decide how many programmes to print. For this coming year I think w8 should rethink the programme and offer our audiences an A4 sheet like the one Th8 Theatre By The Lak8 now use. We could print it in-house and print them as we need them. The advertlS8rs would be listed on the sheet as Sponsors. 3) I wanted all members to buy a ticket for all our productions and sell tickets to friends and family for 8v8ry show not just for production they are involved in. It is very noticeab18 that cast members are always more active in selling tickets for and wanting to promote their production. We still adv8rtise Playgoers, productions on banners and posters. More help to distribute the posters would be welcome. A small commitment 4 times a year. I keep Cumbria Life Magazine & Ents 24 website up to date with our productions and hires. We used some of the money generated by the advertisers to send, out using Royal Mail, umpteen thousands of leaflets advertising productions and events in the Theatre Royal. Unfortunat8ly some of these 18aflets are still in th8 offi¢el The photographs for the productions are now posted on the foyer tv and it has b88n a great success. Small videos of the productions can also be uploaded. Not printing production photos has reduced publicity costs somewhat. Next year it is Workington Playgoers, goth Anniversary. There is a small group of memb8rs, mainly the ones involved in Publicity and Marketing, working on ideas of how best to celebrate this auspicious occasion. Let us know rf you have any ideas of how wo could celebrdte thisl Next year, in September, the Theatre Royal will be on the Heritage Weekend Trail. Again we need ideas on what to offer the visitors who would like to visit the theatre. A big thank you to everyone who has been involved in the work publicising and marketing the Playgoers, productions and Theat Royal Hires this past year. A few more willing members to work in this team would be very welcome! Jenni Rushton 25th August 2024.
Technical Mana erRe ortforAGM To the members of Theatre Royal it's certainly been a fun year filled with mixture of shows and as we look to the future hopefully some exciting upgrades to the theatre as well. Where we left off from last year in 2023 we sailed into four weddings and an Elvis. A hilarious play which centre5 on a wedding chapel and the weddings which it ordains for better or for worse. We had some fun creating a wedding sound track for the show. Although a simple lighting show the set crew gave a wonderful take on a Las Ve8as chapel. We then entered October and Halloween and took on the family show something spooky. Written for the stage to be fun for all we had some fun with lighting and smoke to create a scary but fun atmosphere and certainly show that we aren't afraid of no ghosts. Then the last of the summer wine came in and we had fun taking a British classic and putting it on for the stage. The set crew again did a marvellous job taking us into the world of wine and we had fun helping them create the world of wine. We next had a thriller, I'll be back before midnight. A tale of love and fear and how far you can push a person before they break. We had fun with creating sleight of hand effects and fun with smoke and lighting to create the atmosphere and also the sounds of guns and the odd hammerthrown in to help the characters with surviving the tale. We then went back into time forTheatre Royals Rising Stars. The youth theatre first show since their retu rn which we told the classlc tale of Robin Hood and the silver arrow. A fun filled show for all and I must say I thought our young actors did very well in telling the tale and playing the characters of which we all know well. They return with Rumple and Punzie later in our programme. We then to finish before this AGM, The Accidental death of an Anarchist. A mad show as the Anarchist wreaks chaos in a police station full of corrupt police. We had fun at the end simulating a bomb being thrown out of the window and the other challenges of which it posed. I would like also to take a moment to thank our amazing and talented set crew, for all their hard work is rarely seen except the resu It. They are a brilliant crew and I very much appreactie there hard work and efforts. I wish to thank also all the crew who have worked with me this year and their talents and ideas have made the shows better. We have exciting projects to look forward too, hopefully a fun packed season and the theatre first pantomime in Jack and the Beanstalk. We very much you will continue to keep supporting the theatre a5 Wlthout you we would have nothing and it would rnean the shows would end here. We hope to keep performing for another 90 years as the theatre lebrate$ its 90 anniversary next year. An amazing achievement to get to and you shall See a lot of the history of the theatre to celebrate this anniversary. Thank you for taking the time to read this report and hopefully we will see you at the theatre soon.