2025-03-31-accounts - Three Feathers Theatre Company

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Trustees’ Annual Report 1[st] April 2024 – 31[st] March 2025

1. Our reference and administration details

Charity number: 1163518

Principal office: Bates Wells, 10 Queen Street Place, EC4R 1 BE. Public address: 6 Heath Road, Thornton Heath, CR7 8NE.

Trustees

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||| |---|---| |Karen Collins|Trustee and secretary| |Tamasin Hooper (nee Cook)|Trustee| |Natalie Imlay|Trustee| |David Mascarello|Trustee| |Alyson McGarrigle|Chair|

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Ms Natalie Imlay also served as the CIO’s artistic director throughout the reporting period.

2. Our structure, governance and management

Three Feathers Theatre Company is a charitable incorporated organisation governed by its constitution. It is registered as a CIO with the Charity Commission.

Appointments and induction of new trustees

Trustees are appointed by decision of the existing board of trustees. When considering the appointment of a new trustee, the board has regard to the requirement for any specialist skills needed.

When a new trustee is inducted, they are provided with a copy of the constitution and any amendments made to it, and a copy of the charity’s latest trustees’ annual report and statement of accounts. Trustees are also given copies of the Charity Commission’s CC03 guidance to ensure they are briefed on their legal obligations under charity law.

The board elected Alyson McGarrigle as Chair this year. Karen Collins had been undertaking the role on an interim basis since October 2023.

Organisation

The board of trustees, which must have at least three members, administers the charity. The board meets quarterly. One of the trustees, Ms Natalie Imlay, is the artistic director of the company, with responsibility to manage the day-to-day operations of the charity. Ms Imlay is required to abstain from any vote wherein a conflict may arise between her role as artistic director and her role as trustee.

Relationships with other parties

Natalie Imlay gives her time voluntarily to the charity in her capacity as artistic director and as a trustee, but when performing as a professional actor is sometimes paid performance fees at the Equity minimum rate. Natalie abstains from all trustee votes relating to her pay and is not involved in decision-making on the amount of her fee. Natalie was not paid for any performances in this financial year.

Risk management

The board has identified the safeguarding of children as one of the key risk management priorities of the charity and regularly reviews its safeguarding of children policy. All policies are reviewed regularly – annually for all key policies or those required by the Charity Commission, and biannually for all others.

3. Objectives and activities

The objects of the charity are for the public benefit to advance education in, and to promote, the arts of drama, in particular but not exclusively to children. We run engaging workshops and stage beautiful, accessible productions, all with a goal of building knowledge and nurturing appreciation of the arts of drama in young audiences. In this financial year, the charity performed three shows of our latest production, Three Little Pigs, aimed at very young children and babies.

The production fulfilled the charity’s objects for the public benefit by promoting the arts of drama to public audiences, particularly children. We were able to reach new audience members at an earlier stage in their lives, building a rapport with them and their parents and helping to foster an interest in theatre from a very early age.

The show was performed at Stanley Arts (formerly Stanley Halls) theatre in South Norwood, a socioeconomically diverse area. The venue aims to increase accessibility for local residents to the creative arts, which aligns with Three Feathers’ objectives.

We also started research and development for our next show.

In shaping our objectives for the year and planning our activities, the trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, including the guidance on public benefit and fee charging. The charity relies on income from performance fees and workshop charges to cover its operating costs, as well as fundraising and donations. In setting the level of fees and charges, Three Feathers gave careful consideration to accessibility for those on low incomes.

We confirm the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.

4. Achievements and performance

Performances

We once again performed our one-woman production of The Three Little Pigs, starring three adorable puppets, at Stanley Arts. All but one production sold out. We reached over 40 children.

“She was enthralled! So lovely to see a local production tailored for her age group, I hadn’t seen anything like it before. I was really impressed with the engaging storytelling and simple but effective staging.

She loved meeting the pigs afterwards too.” - Mum of Lyra, aged 8 months

Audiences were very enthused about the show and we commissioned a video recording, to help promote the show to venues in the future.

The performance at Stanley Arts cemented the charity’s strong links with the venue.

Workshops

Our working method for developing any show is to first run workshops with children of the intended audience age to explore a traditional tale. The children’s reaction to and interpretations of the story then shape the production we present on stage.

This year, we commenced research and development on our new show, The Teddy Bear’s Picnic, an immersive promenade piece aimed at toddlers.

We delivered a series of workshops at a nursery in Croydon to explore the story with children aged 1- 4. We undertook 25 min sessions with children of different age groups (12 - 24months, 2 – 3 years, and 3 - 4 years). Feedback from the nursery managers included: “The children were very engaged” and “They keep asking when you’ll come back again!”

Online engagement

Three Feathers continued to build its online reach with content such as drama games and storytime puppet performances.

The online content also extends our reach to include audience members for whom it is easier to engage online than physically attend a Londonbased venue.

Contribution made by our volunteers

John McGrath is a chartered accountant. He handles our year-end accounts and finance queries in a voluntary capacity . The board has regard to any future conflicts developing, as John is married to our artistic director, Natalie.

Future plans

We will continue to develop the Teddy Bears’ Picnic, seeking further R&D opportunities with both young audiences and arts organisations in this space.

We have also identified an unmet need in local libraries for engaging theatrical content. Library performances would also provide us with an excellent route to reaching audiences who may not otherwise come to the theatre.

5. Financial review

Our income this year

Performing Three Little Pigs at Stanley Halls generated a total income of £300.

Our expenditure

Expenditure for this year was focused on performing Three Little Pigs and initial research for Teddy Bears’ Picnic . Both shows are researched and performed by our artistic director Natalie Imlay, a trained professional actor, who gave her time for free.

Kevin Miles, a senior theatre technician of 25 years’ experience, including the Royal Opera House, has agreed to come on board as Technical Manager for the charity. Kevin was paid a fee for operating the show,

but chose to donate it to the charity.

The production made a small loss.

Our reserves

The charity held £1,142 of reserves at year end (2024: £2,002) in the form of cash in our current account. Reserves are held for the purpose of meeting the charity’s overheads as they fall due, and for funding the development of new productions. The board deems the current reserve level appropriate for these purposes.

6. Further information

Our key aims, objectives and planned activities for the next year

In the next financial year, we plan;

To hold workshops and further develop a new immersive production based on the teddy bears’ picnic rhyme.
To promote Three Little Pigs to more venues and seek to re-run it.
To seek grant funding to cover development of and affordable access to future workshops

In the next five years, we plan;

To conduct regular workshops with at least 10 different schools/community centres/nurseries in the London area.
To develop a production a year.
To perform in off-West-End London venues for children, such as the Unicorn Theatre.

7. Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signatures:

Full names: Alyson McGarrigle_____Natalie Imlay

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SIGN
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Trustee

Position: Trustee_______

29/01/2026

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	Charity Name Three Feathers Theatre Company	Charity Name Three Feathers Theatre Company	Charity Name Three Feathers Theatre Company
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Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary B3 Investment B4 Assets retained for the B5 Liabilities Signed by one or two trustees	Details Cash at Bank (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details None Details None Details None Details None Signature *Total cash funds*	to nearest £ Unrestricted funds
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Period end date 31-Mar-25


	Total funds to the nearest £ - 300 300 - - - 300 200 - 40 - 681 238 1,159 - - - 1,159 - 859 - - - 859	Last year to the nearest £
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