# **THE QUAY PLAYERS Charity number: 1147608 (“Quay Players”)**
**Trustee Report 2024/2025 (the “Report”)**
The trustees (as registered with the Charity Commission, together the “Trustees”) shall present this Report at the Quay Players Annual General Meeting (“AGM”). This Report, together with the financial statement for the year, appropriately audited, will be filed with the Charities Commission and we present this information for members of the Quay Players in line with the Trustees’ responsibilities statement, as set out at the end of this document.
## **Structure, Governance and Management**
The Quay Players is managed by an Executive Committee elected at the AGM and consisting of the following officers: Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. These officers are also the Trustees.
The Executive Committee is further supported by additional committee members elected at the AGM or co-opted in the intervening period (together, the “Committee”). All members of the Committee will stand for re-election every year.
## **Aims and Objectives**
The Quay Players was established in 1997 with the aim of producing musical theatre shows in Southwark, London. We continue to remain rooted in the local community whilst striving to create shows of the highest quality. Our objectives are to:
- Provide opportunities for the local community to develop their dramatic arts skills and showcase skills onstage and offstage;
- Make affordable, quality theatre easily accessible for local residents; and
- Educate the community in the dramatic and operatic arts
## **Public Benefit**
We have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning our future activities. A summary of activities undertaken to fulfil these obligations is detailed below.
## **Activities and Achievements**
The Committee is delighted to report on a number of successful endeavours for Quay Players in the past year. These include:
Open Music Night, run by musical director Mark Smith Our annual pantomime, Humpty Dumpty A February cabaret, curated and musically directed by Isaac Bartels Acting through song workshop with facilitator, vocal coach Olivia Ruggerio Improvisation workshops with facilitator, member Ben Hollands Our sensational production of The Witches of Eastwick Open Music Night, run by musical directors Mark Smith and Isaac Bartels The Quay Choir, run by musical director Mark Smith Vocal workshop with facilitator, opera singer and vocal coach Frazer Scott Hosting a stall at the Bermondsey Street Festival and getting up close and personal with our local community Dance workshop with facilitator, member Beth Sillitoe Dance workshop with facilitator, member Bhawanni Kirkland Complete overhaul of the Quay Players constitution Long term investment of monies donated by the estate of a past member
The Committee would like to take this opportunity to thank the creative teams for each show. Taking on responsibility for any of our shows is a challenging and complex task, and our production teams worked incredibly hard. We are all very grateful.
We would also like to thank the cast members for all shows, as well as those who have assisted backstage and front-of-house. We are lucky to have such a talented company who are prepared to go the extra mile to support Quay Players’ shows.
There are still plenty of opportunities for all our members to get involved and some roles can easily be combined with acting roles as well. The Committee would welcome any offers of help and support for future shows.
## **Plans for the future**
Moving forward, we have significant plans for the year 2025 - 2026. These include, but are not limited to:
- Seeking out potential alternative venues to help staunch the ongoing increasing costs of productions as outlined below
- Continuing to improve the financial viability of the group of the whole with additional fundraising opportunities and events
- Work hard to retain existing members as well as continuing to recruit new members through a busy and vibrant social media and newsletter output
- Increase the social outreach of the group with more opportunities to meet and greet at socials and external events, not just through participation in performance
- Continue the ample workshop provision we have established over the coming years, reaching out to members to highlight and showcase their skills as well as hiring professional facilitators from the Arts to help our members constantly improve their craft.
## **Financial Review**
The Quay Players have successfully concluded another remarkable year, continuing a proud tradition of financial stability that has characterised our organisation since 2018. The committee remains steadfast in its commitment to ensuring the financial sustainability of the Quay Players, even as we navigate the rising tide of operational costs.
Notably, expenses related to our performances at the Greenwood Theatre have continued to surge, with a nearly 300% increase in the past 3 years. Hire costs now exceed £15,000 per show (£5000 in 2022). In light of these challenges, whilst we are diligently striving to keep show subscriptions and ticket prices as accessible as possible, the constantly rising costs of venue and hire equipment is proving increasingly challenging. The cost of the Greenwood theatre is now so restrictive that the committee took the difficult decision to run a Christmas Cabaret in 2025 to be held at St Annes church hall, rather than the usual Greenwood panto with the aim of recouping moneys lost. The committee will continue to review plans for the summer production and are continuing to review more affordable alternative venues In December 2024, our pantomime Humpty Dumpty enchanted strong audiences, and strong budget control yielded a small loss of £270.
Our summer offering, The Witches of Eastwick, faced escalating costs, resulting in a reported loss of £7929 (although we are still awaiting a late invoice which will make this a loss of £9,687.41).
On a brighter note, our cabarets continue to make a strong profit with the March cabaret generating a profit of £2045. Membership is strong and whilst free workshops for members meant a loss of £200, membership fees generated £1828.
In 2023 we reported that we were humbled to learn that QP founding member Shirley Hayward had bequeathed a 10% share of her estate to The Quay Players. In 2023 we received an interim payment of £33,000 and in 2024 and 2025 we were payed the balance of £38,252. An overall donation of £71,252. The committee are keen that this generous donation is used to future-proof the group for the foreseeable future and have transferred £50,000 to a savings account with a 3-month notice period which will generate a good return of annual interest.
Our financial journey this year began with a balance of £54,784 and culminated with an ending balance of £84,155, reflecting a profit of £29,372, however without the generous donation we would have seen a loss of £8,880
For a more comprehensive examination of our financial performance, please refer to the detailed accounts attached to this report. Thank you for your ongoing support and commitment to the Quay Players as we look to continue our legacy of artistic excellence and financial stability.
2015-16: loss of £5000 2016-17: loss of £4000 2017-18: profit of £692 2018-19: profit of £5861 2019-20: profit of £6938 2020-21: loss of £552 2021-22: profit of £4104 2022–23: Profit of £30,654 (£33,000 of which was a one off donation) 2023-24: Profit of £2,353 2024-25: Profit of £29,372 (£38,252 of which was a donation)
The Quay Players have running costs outside of our shows including our NODA membership fee, insurance, costume cupboard storage and website costs. The Quay Players continue to pay increasingly high costs associated with the rehearsal space and the Greenwood Theatre and therefore must reduce costs in other areas wherever necessary.
## Related Party Disclosure: Payment to Quay Players’ Trustee
During the production of the Witches of Eastwick, The Quay Players paid Mark Smith a fee of £800 for his services as Musical Director which is below the rate that we have paid to MDs for previous shows. Payment for a Musical Director is in the normal course of activity and common practice for community theatre shows. This service is something that Mark provides in a professional capacity at a higher fee for other organisations outside of his involvement as Trustee of The Quay Players and so has the relevant experience to provide this service for Quay.
## Risk Management
The Quay Players have in place policies on health and safety, safeguarding, child protection and guidelines for show week. These are available to all members and those participating in shows are expected to abide by the guidance. The Committee is planning to review all documents, including the constitution, over the course of the next year and will bring all suggestions to the members as a whole.
## **Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities**
The Trustees are responsible for preparing this Report and the financial statements in accordance with the applicable law and regulations.
The law applicable to charities in England & Wales requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law, the Trustees have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under charity law, the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of its incoming resources and application of resources of the Charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements the Trustees are required to:
● select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
● observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
● make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
● state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
● prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charity’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
## **The Trustees of the Quay Players 2024-2025**
Chair: Mark Smith Vice-Chair: Charlotte Murray Treasurer: Nicki Plews Secretary: Emma Bowker This Report is also supported by all the committee members currently serving.
|cat|**The Quay Players**|**The Quay Players**|**SUMMARY**|**SUMMARY**|**SUMMARY**|**SUMMARY**|**SUMMARY**|**SUMMARY**|**SUMMARY**|**SUMMARY**|**SUMMARY**|**SUMMARY**|Opening position
54,784
24/25 income
93,369
24/25 costs
63,997
**Closing position**
**84,155**
25/26 income
254
25/26 costs
-246
**Closing balance**
**84,164**
Uncleared
18.36
_Monies Held 2025-09-21_
Bank balance
83,882
Cash box balance
300
**Total Held**
**84,182**|Opening position
54,784
24/25 income
93,369
24/25 costs
63,997
**Closing position**
**84,155**
25/26 income
254
25/26 costs
-246
**Closing balance**
**84,164**
Uncleared
18.36
_Monies Held 2025-09-21_
Bank balance
83,882
Cash box balance
300
**Total Held**
**84,182**|Opening position
54,784
24/25 income
93,369
24/25 costs
63,997
**Closing position**
**84,155**
25/26 income
254
25/26 costs
-246
**Closing balance**
**84,164**
Uncleared
18.36
_Monies Held 2025-09-21_
Bank balance
83,882
Cash box balance
300
**Total Held**
**84,182**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Financial Report for the year ending 31st A**||**ug**Opening position|18,134||Opening position|22,238|||Opening position|52,892||Opening position|54,784||
||||21/22 income|37,349||22/23 income|70,697|||23/24 income|58,088||24/25 income|93,369||
||||21/22 costs|33,246||22/23 costs|40,043|||23/24 costs|56,196||24/25 costs|63,997||
||||**Closing position**|**22,238**||**Closing position**|**52,892**|||**Closing position**|**54,784**||**Closing position**|**84,155**||
|||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||25/26 income|254||
||||||||||||||25/26 costs|-246||
||||||||||||||**Closing balance**|**84,164**||
|||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||Uncleared|18.36||
||||||||||||||_Monies Held 2025-09-21_|||
||||||||||||||Bank balance|83,882||
||||||||||||||Cash box balance|300||
||||||||||||||**Total Held**|**84,182**||
|||||||||||||||||
|1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
21a
21b
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33|Year
Opening balance
Show
**INCOME**
Tickets
subs
raffle/progs/adverts/Bar
gift aid
donations/grants
sale of costumes/set
**COSTS**
venue hire
Hall
Musical director
band
licence & materials
Set
costumes/props/tech
Printing & publicity/bar
paypal fees/Stripe
misc||**2021-22**|||**2022-23**||||**2023-24**|||**2024-2025**|||
||||**18,134**|||**22,238**||||**52,892**|||54,784||NB : Invoice of £1758 yet to pay|
||||Red (postponed)
7,616
5,215
0
0
0
0|Shrek
14,950
4,880
250
0
250
0||Little Red
5,555
2,050
1,087
0
0
0|Pippin
10,702
6,879
1,867
0
0
0|Saucy jack
1,366
779
1,421
0
0
0||Robin Hood
17,642
7,164
2,092
75|Spongebob
12934.69
6440
1987.07
626.56||Humpty
15482.19
5780
1489.98|Witches
15086.31
5720
3583.55||
||||**12,831**|**20,330**||**8,692**|**19,449**|**3,567**||**-**
**26,973.12-**|**-**
**21,988.32-**||**-**
**22,752.17-**|**-**
**24,389.86-**||
||||1,543
1,879
830
850
0
1,180
621
114
0
40|5,661
1,483
2,000
2,295
3,508
1,200
5,425
215
0
89||5,097
1,225
1,000
1,053
0
1,129
197
239
0
0|10,564
1,740
2,250
2,568
2,873
1,128
605
371
0
60|481
0
0
0
289
0
634
0
912||10,800
2,564
1,200
1,182
0
2,047
1,118
597
137|13900
2147.25
1000
3600
3571.18
1972.6
2386.08
1354.68
1132.69||15000
1647
1200
1090
2668.79
904.53
464.5
47.55|15600
2511
1380
2833
3902.67
3561.05
1399.4
800.65
331.5||
||||**7,057**|**21,877**||**9,941**|**22,159**|**2,316**||**19,645**|**31,064**||**23,022**|**32,319**||
|||||||||||||||||
||**Surplus/Deficit for show**||**5,775**|**-1,547**||**-1,249**|**-2,710**|**1,250**||**7,328**|**-9,076**||**-**
**270.20-**|**-**
**7,929.41-**||
||**Non-show INCOME**
Cabaret
Events
DVD
Grants / Donations
Non-show Membership
Misc
Workshops
**Non show COSTS**
Insurance
NODA
hall storage
admin & running costs
Equipment
Website redesign/web hosting
Stripe Fees
Quaynix events
Sound for MID
Workshops
Cabaret
Misc|||2,938
180
26
0
8
1,037||||4,278
760
27
33,100
825|||5,922
337
595
1,870
403|||4666.45
501.49
140
38635.59
1827.89
78.16
377.31||
|||||**4,188**||||**38,990**|||**9,127**|||**46,227**||
|||||771
235
1,520
0
0
92||||326
218
960
1,307
94|||400
245
1,110
460
2,080|||341.26
260
880
589.6
749
1216.27||
|||||0||||||||||||
|||||0
0
120
1,574||||92
718
1,912|||115
1,046
31|||598.44
575.5
2621.26
824.38||
|||||**4,312**||||**5,627**|||5,486|||8,656||
|||||||||||||||||
||**Surplus/Deficit fornon-show**|||**-124**||||**33,362**|||**3,640**|||**37,571**||
|||||||||||||||||
||**Surplus/Deficitfor year**|||**4,104**||||**30,654**|||**1,892**|||**29,372**||
||Post year end adj
**Year end closing balance**|||||||||||||||
||**Year end closing balance**|||22,238|||||||**54,784**|||**84,155**||
CHARITY COMMISSION Independent examiner's report on the
FOR ENGLANO ANO WALES |
accounts
Indopand•nt Examln•r'$ Report
Report to th• trust8
Quay Players
On accounts for the yoar V3110812025
ended
Charity no
(If any)
1147608
Set ovt on pagos
I feport lo the Irusiees on my examination of the acrnunts of the above
charity I"Ihe TnJst"I for the year ended
As the charity's trustees. you are responsible for the preparation of the
accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011
1.the Act").
Responslbllltles and
bas1$ of report
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 all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission
under section 1495Xb) of the Act.
Independent
examiner's Statement URde
app1w. Delete l ] if not applicable.
I have completed my examination. I confim that no material matters have
come to my attention in connection with the examination £otheA
di6GloWhich 9ives me cause to believe that in, any material
respect:
the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130
of the Charities Act: or
the accounts did nol accord with the accounting records.. or
the accounts did not comply with Ihe applicable requirements
concerning the fom and content of accounts sel out in the Charities
(Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 olher than any requirement
that the accounts give a 'lrue and fair, vi8w which is not a matter
considered as part of an independent examinalion.
I havè no cor)¢erns and have come across no other matters in connection
with the examination lo which attention should be drawn in this report in
order to enable a proper underslanding of th8 accounts lo be reached.
Please delete the words in Ihe brackets if they do not apply.
Slgned:
Date:
zots
Name..
LikJ5
Relevant professional
qualificalion(s) or body
NIA
IER
Oct 2018
Ilf any):
Addr•ss:
FLqt 9, Gabrlol House
Okd Par8di8e Street
SE11 6AL
S•ctlon B
Dl•closur•
Only complete it the examiner neer15 10 triiuliliyiil iii¢il¥iioi iii&ll¥fS 1 LL4S1¢**111
(S CC32, Independent gxaminatson of charity accounls.. directions and
guidance lor oxaminersl.
Glv• h•r0 be1 details of
any Items that th•
exarnlnèr w5shes to
d18clo80.
ocke& .
pq) S
Oct 2018
IER