2022-03-31-accounts

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Registered Charity Number 1166649

Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements

For the year ending 31 March 2022

	1
Contents	2
Legal status	3
Trustees	3
Registered office	3
Independent examiner	3
Bankers	3
Report of the trustees for the year ending 31 March 2022	3
Objectives	3
Activities	3
Public benefit	4
Organisation	4
Review and progress of achievements	5
Anver Anderson - Chair Report	5
Lisa Robertson - Offspringers Report	5
Sara Mortimer - Membership Report	5
Bethan Anderson - Marketing Report	6
Mat Smith - Social and Fundraising Report	6
Jackie Bates – Treasurer	7
Accounts	7
Quality management	7
Reserves policy	7
Investment policy	8
Risk review & register	8
Annex 1 - Accounts	11
Signed	16

Legal status

The charity is registered and is a charity incorporated organisation governed by its Constitution. Charity No. 1166649.

Trustees

The Trustees during the year under review were:

Registered office

Little Highways 86 Main Road Great Leighs Essex CM3 1NE

Independent examiner

Ross Rogers 33 Byron Road Chelmsford Essex CM2 6EP

Bankers

Barclays Bank plc 40 High Street Chelmsford CM1 1DE

Report of the trustees for the year ending 31 March 2022

The Trustees present their report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022. These comply with current statutory requirements and with the governing document. This report also serves as a Trustees Annual Report as required by the Charity Commission.

Springers Amateur Operatic & Dramatic Society, (“Springers”) was registered on 20 April 2016 as a charity with the Charity Commission.

Objectives

Springers’ constitution clearly states that its objective is to promote the advancement and improvement of general education in relation to all aspects of the art of drama and musical theatrical performance for all in the local community.

Activities

The principal activity undertaken is the performance of two shows a year in the local Chelmsford theatres by our adult group and one show by our youth group, Offspringers.

Offspringers engages children between the ages of 7 to 18 years of age. In addition, performances are made at various events, including corporate carol singing, concert groups and running workshops in all aspects of theatre arts.

Public benefit

The service is a public benefit available for the enjoyment of all in the local community. Both Springers and Offspringers welcome new members.

Organisation

Responsibility under Springers Constitution for controlling its management and administration lies with a Management Board made up of the Trustees, together with the nominated honorary Springers president, who is ineligible to vote on the Management Board but can make submissions. Jackie Bates is the Springers President for 2021-2022. Due to the current coronavirus situation, her term was extended by an additional year. The Management Board is appointed by the membership at the Annual General Meeting. At each Annual General Meeting a third of all Board members are required to retire from office, though all such members are eligible for re-election. The minimum number of Board members is three and the maximum is currently twelve. New appointees are identified as a result of Springers’ members putting themselves forward at the Annual General Meeting, proposed and seconded by two other members.

All Board members are volunteers and they currently meet monthly to receive reports and to monitor progress. The Chair normally deals with any urgent issues arising between meetings and takes decisions when necessary. Committee meetings comprising Board members occur when required; for example, to deal with fundraising or urgent complaints. They report their findings back to the Board. Board members are also often involved in assisting the running of the organisation in a variety of ways. The current Board comprises the following Trustees undertaking the following roles:

Barry Miles - part year; Anver Anderson – part year (Chair) Sharon Scott – part year; Jackie Bates – part year (Treasurer) Jackie Bates – part year; Christine James – part year (Secretary) Susan Corina – Vice Chair Lisa Robertson– Offspringers Bethan Anderson – Marketing Christine James - part year; Steve James [non-trustee] - part year (Production) Mat Smith – Social and Fundraising Sara Mortimer – Membership Kieran Bedwell – without portfolio Colin Shoard – Reading Committee

Several changes occurred mid-term, which brought Anver Anderson in as Chair and the movement of Sharon Scott from Treasurer, taken up by Jackie Bates; and the movement of Jackie Bates as Secretary, taken up by Christine James. Steve James, as a non-trustee, stepped up to manage the Production Chair position.

All Trustees detailed above served on the Board during this reporting year.

Reading, Production, Marketing and Offspringers all have separate subcommittees which are led by the appropriate Trustee as detailed above and meet as often as reasonably required.

The Trustees comply with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities are to be undertaken.

Review and progress of achievements

Anver Anderson - Chair Report

2022 saw the lights come back on in the theatre world – both amateur and professional. Springers return to the stage saw an award-winning production of Little Shop of Horrors . The award, for technical design, took into consideration the use of a ‘human’ plant – rather than the usual ‘puppet’ version of the alien invader as well as the ingenious use of the set to provide the magic of the disappearance of people after the plant had devoured them. The show was well attended, considering the reluctance of theatre audiences in general and the show more than met its costs.

Currently, the Society is in the advanced stages of rehearsals of Kinky Boots which will be performed mid-June 2022. Kinky Boots is one of the largest productions undertaken so far and has required a large budget to produce. The Addams Family is expected to be produced in the Autumn of 2022.

March saw our youth group Offspringers return to the stage too; having had the disappointment of actually putting the Annie set into the theatre and having to close following the dress rehearsal performance, Offspringers came back with Honk! ; a musical retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of the Ugly Duckling . Now the group is preparing for The Adventures of Mr Toad in 2023.

This year marks 40 years of Springers and 25 years of Offspringers and both groups continue to serve all parts of the local community.

Lisa Robertson - Offspringers Report

A great year for Offspringers, as it was so good to be back properly after the disruption of the last 18 months!

Quite a number of new members joined Offspringers as the numbers had dipped with children leaving due to their age and other commitments. The new group mixed well and as the year progressed, have become a tight-knit team who work well together and look out for each other.

The summer term was spent preparing for the production of Honk! auditions and casting the show before the summer holidays. Honk! rehearsals ran well, although they continued to be affected by absences due to Covid, which had some impact on the speed of progress made on the schedule. However, in March, it was fantastic to be back in the Cramphorn for show week and all the Offspringers (and related supporting teams) enjoyed a successful run of Honk!

The Offspringers Committee has returned to face-to-face meetings this year and is looking forward to being able to welcome some new committee members to help with the day-today running of the group, as well as adding extra support once we finally move into the theatre.

Sara Mortimer - Membership Report

Since getting back into the theatre last November for the production of Little Shop of Horrors we have received lots of enquiries about membership – especially during lockdown. It has been fantastic to welcome many new members to Springers over this past year.

There are currently 95 full members,10 associate members and 11 life members and there continues to be lots of enquiries about membership through our website and social media pages. Also this year, we have welcomed new members from the deaf and hard of hearing community. As a result, Springers will provide BSL signed performances of both Kinky Boots and The Addams Family.

Bethan Anderson - Marketing Report

During 2021/22 some normality returned to Springers’ marketing endeavours. Little Shop of Horrors’ publicity day was rained off part way through and Kinky Boots almost met the same fate – rain often accompanies a promotion day it seems. Though inclement, both days went very well and boosted ticket sales by roughly 10% each time (based on sales for the week following), proving that our singing and chatting in the high street is well worth it.

The team has had a reshuffle and we have gained some new members (new to the team as well as the Society). Over the next year the team will be working closely together to develop and evolve our current processes.

Social media engagement with our audiences has been at an all-time high. Our scheduling tool, Hootsuite, is proving invaluable - over 100 posts have been scheduled for our 40th/25th anniversaries taking us through to the end of the year. With this tool we are also able to check our analytics and compare year on year to ensure engagement with our audiences remains high.

Full Society involvement still is, and always will be, the most important part of implementing plans when marketing; not just the shows, but our entire society.

The Marketing Team is always open to ideas/suggestions for promotional activities.

Mat Smith - Social and Fundraising Report

The Social & Fundraising Team & Committee was started 28 years ago when it was realised that Springers needed to raise funds for the Society whilst enjoying taking part in fun events and activities. Over the years, significant funds have been raised at events such as quiz nights, garden parties, safari suppers, theatre trips and days out. Over the past couple of years support for these events has diminished and several events have had to be cancelled, largely due to the pandemic restrictions, but also possibly due to the change in membership, as yet unaware of the events of the more distant past.

All members are encouraged to help plan events and regular calls for members with particular skills in this area are made to the membership. In the last couple of years, these calls have largely gone unanswered, very likely due to the world situation. However, as this is Springers’ 40[th] anniversary year and Offspringers’ 25[th] anniversary year, a whole range of activities have been organised, including a grand ball, a celebratory concert, a 24-hour singing marathon, a coffee morning and an Offspringers’ concert and garden party.

All these events are maintained on the Society calendar which is accessed online via the TeamApp application.

Jackie Bates – Treasurer

Having finally been able to return to performing in November 21 , Little Shop of Horrors was a fabulous, almost sold-out show, making a respectable profit in the Cramphorn Theatre of £1,415.

Premium Bond wins have continued, with £175 received and the missing income from The Essex Lottery was traced with £703 received. A small amount was received from Easyfundraising/Amazon and this could really be increased with members using this option when online shopping.

Thanks to the members who continued paying their monthly Standing Orders during lockdown, these totalled another £385.

The President’s Ball finally took place and raised a wonderful £1,125.02. With Gift Aid this increases by £225. All members continue to be encouraged to donate using Gift Aid, either by manual form or signing up by their Teamapp profile. From the proceedings, £625.02 was donated to our Springers Charity and £500 to the British Lung Society.

Expenditure has continued in line with our usual costs. Scaffolding poles were purchased which have been added as an asset at a cost of £416.46. Meeting venue hire is high this year as payments cover the period from 2019. Going forwards this will be paid on a quarterly basis. The funds previously reported as being earmarked to the Future Planning Pot have now been included within the General fund.

The accounts have been examined and signed off by Ross Rogers having regard to the requirements of current legislation and the Statement of Recommended Practice on Accounting and Reporting by Charities issued by the Charities Commission in March 2005.

Accounts

Annex 1 to this document.

Quality management

Work is continuing on an ongoing basis to ensure that Springers has in place a basic set of documented procedures to ensure that quality standards are met and maintained in order that it can undertake its activities in a professional manner and in compliance with all relevant professional codes of conduct.

Reserves policy

At the present time Springers’ monies that are not immediately required are in bank accounts held with Barclays Bank plc along with an amount of Premium Bonds which can be accessed at short notice should it be deemed necessary. There are no immediate plans to change this and therefore all remaining monies will continue to be held in “risk free” bank accounts.

The Trustees have decided that £30,000 should be ring-fenced as a reserve. This roughly equates to the total cost of one production in the Civic theatre without any income.

Investment policy

Springers currently hold £30,000 in premium bond investments.

Risk review & register

It is the stated policy of the Management Board to conduct an annual assessment of the risks affecting Springers and to prepare and keep updated a risk register. The likelihood and impact of the identified risks are considered as are the controls in place and possible further steps to mitigate them to reduce the residual risk to the organisation. The Trustees can confirm that the major risks to which the Springers is exposed to were reviewed on 17th May 2022 and systems have been established to mitigate those risks as detailed in the risk register below.

LIKELIHOOD of harm being caused - 1=LOW, 2=MEDIUM, 3=HIGH IMPACT of risk - 1=LOW, 2=MEDIUM, 3=HIGH RATING - LIKELIHOOD x IMPACT

#	Nature of Risk	Likelihood	Impact	Rating	Controls in place	Comments
1	Loss of money from bank accounts	1	3	3	Most payments are now made using Online Banking. New Bank requires all payments are dual authorised by a second signatory. The Stripe account is managed by the Chairman with the Treasurer having access and sees the transfers.	Account statements are available to all trustees and anything untoward should be picked up by the auditor, albeit after the event
2	Improper use of cheque books	1	3	3	2 signatures on every cheque required. Only the cheque book is held by the treasurer. No blank cheques to be signed by any signatory.	Anything untoward should be picked up by auditor, albeit after the event
3	Signed acceptance of	2	2	4	Long-standing relationships exist with contractual 3rd	Chairman will sign new contracts with support from the

	inappropriate contracts				parties. With new contractual relationships, contracts need to be double-checked by a competent individual. Where appropriate or high value/risk external legal advice should be sought	Production Committee. Members are advised that they are not allowed to enter into any contractual agreements themselves.
4	Loss of cash	2	1	2	Monies banked at earliest opportunity. Encourage use of electronic banking.	Advise all holders of cash to pass to the treasurer asap.
5	Incorrect claims / payment of invoices	1	2	2	All invoices scrutinised by the treasurer and payments only made against receipts.	Make department heads aware.
6	Loss of membership data – electronic / manual	1	3	3	Springers have a clear policy on the storage and use of data (personal and non-personal) which includes personal storage, backup, security, cloud storage and mobile policy.	Membership details will be downloaded quarterly from Teamapp and stored on Google drive.
7	Trustee negligence	1	3	3	Trustee Indemnity Insurance in place. Major decisions taken collectively by board. Agreement to seek specialist advice when required. All trustees should be competent to fulfil the role with which they are charged. Clear policy on appointment/remo val of trustees is documented. All trustee roles have clear role descriptions to ensure volunteers know what the role	Accept consequences

					entails and what is expected of them. Declarations of interest to be made at the start of each Board meeting.
8	Health & Safety negligence	1	3	3	Risk assessments are in place for the venues we use. A specific one is in place for the Barn which will be reviewed annually . Public liability Insurance inplace.	Any unusual or ‘extreme’ social events may require risk assessments also. PC chair to review Barn RA annually.
9	Injury incurred at rehearsal	1	2	2	Correct clothing and footwear to be worn at rehearsal. Encourage and minimise inappropriate use of furniture.	Accident log is online. First aid boxes held at SPC and the theatres. First Aid box at the barn.
10	Child abuse	1	3	3	Chaperones are always in place at performances and are DBS checked in line with local authority policy. Additional adults are also DBS checked as deemed necessary. Ratio of adults to children at rehearsals is appropriate.	Chaperones are not required to attend rehearsals but everyone to remain vigilant at all times. Our Safeguarding policy details this under 3.1.2
11	Reputational damage from inappropriate external communication via email or social media	2	3	6	Social media policy in place. Teamapp is a closed environment for members.	Monitoring and enforcement essential
12	Show abandonment	2	3	6	Insurance against such risk is in place, although abandonment due to a Pandemic is no longer covered. Limiting financial commitment to mitigate risk.	The circumstances which would lead to this are usually outside our control.

Annex 1- Aeeounts SPRINGERS YEAR END 31ST MARCH 2022 73.455.01 Inc¢m• Gffieral Fund 0l1sprin8ttseral Fund 7231.54 1481 Honk LSOH 5266 18112 32,090.54 105.545.55 Eynses Gener•1 Fund Offspringu5 General Fund Scaffolding pole5asset purchase 12711.45 655.85 416.46 Kinky Boots- net Honk LSOH TheadylUre$oI Mr Toad 6948.32 10004.06 15064.84 51KJ £46,300.98 ao$1 8al•K•s 59J44.57 £14110.44 l•s In th• bx(otsa5t31$t Math 2021

SPRIII6EqS EL574. .£621.75 EL574. .E418.50 latlon PA5isLèm & PAlc's (wK(Mdv1g} latlon S. .El.150. SW. .]7.50 LIS5. .El.J)78S £473.58 .£473 98 473.58 .£47398 5(alfdLg P IwnknEdlty21) £41646 PJJ.86 È5,079.5 OJRAENT ASSErs Cash Inkk 33L64 .528gL 1.33411 E95607 7.29413 .sg45L spnwtt5savlSA(rt 0spnt5sa4¥s(crt mlum B ÉS9.24157 È73.45501 PAÉ.P•XJ EXPEM ddwrn5 FwrnllvEvr4 TheAwerfwe5¢f rTld b)TrkEvn5eS LlttlStrwofpkYr¢w5 Iry 96th) É5th). 96. Étyj. ÉlA.(j E5.(j E7W8.32 É10.444.12 £4.4%.th) E71&8B.F5 E8LOIQ.54 EBL.51 EBI895.70 Trar&tÈr GalFrA. 5Wlrers 6.L760 91 224 ET46.E6 .£5,.8y .E8.391.57 £5,39466 Èl15175 sPai111 .£5.106 047 16 OH È71IXB75 ÉBL03054 É81,054 È72,4&8 75 .£gWi.79 I[elo£31UaxnQtbTdjrqVnnIC1YES1j9IIoI 12

SPRINGERS INCOME MbshIp Dtsnations Prerniurn 8ond wn5 nklnterttt Net CornrnunityL¥d Mpmbffthipfe25 Essex Lottery Rofund Hall Hir 395.fyj L75. 1.50 Is. £ 3,920.00 70a.50 99.fy) 550.00 33.62 Equipmait Hire E&¥FUndran¥ Pre51dents Wl don¥iion CostumeHlre 625.02 Tot¥ profit less£SOOdonJt& to¢he8ritish LungFwndi•n 350.00 Tutkshop Clothingcommi5yon Geral Donatlons 125.56 73.34 175.DJ £ 7 131.54 Nodb5£rIption Stripefo WebgteeKW TM ¥padbtsblockd and2oom L(>ngserviceaw¥d5 Pianostor4e InrInt stionwyandc¥d re•J 235.00 228.72 L35.B2 227.78 L49.(M) 104.79 £ 2,021.80 LIO.71 869.48 card$andfts Show ILwyrefund5-5outh Pxlfic General Hall Hire AuditDf f Gweral bxksiage MÈÈtin8venuehiThl Barn 193.07 312.00 2B.77 50.00 9.25 S40.00 Arnountco%vscostslortholart3yar& Now quart¥. £ 6.098.42 676.B4 660.00 South Pxificshowl•riek translttrod ttsothershowsordonationL 696.13 Pre51denl 2020dSnn Showfptsts £ 13A07SI -E 6.17504 SURPLU5IDEFIIIT £ 7 131.54 13

SPRINGERS INC(IME AND EXPENYMTURE ACC(XJNT FOR ThEYEAR ENDED 315r MAKH 2021 (WSPRII4G GB4ERAL F1Th4D IPK(hME Terffl F*$ 936.00 500.00 Annle xripts damaged 45.00 £ 1481.IX) General Hall Hire DBSchecks T-thirts 208.85 200.00 247.00 655.85 SURPLUSIDEFICIT 825.15 £ 1491.1>0 SPRINGERS IPK(MEAND ErnDITLIREACC<XJNTFL¥ITHEYEAR BL)K131sfMARCH 2012 Rent EILrtricity Business Rate5 Geral Expense5 £ 4.740.00 200.69 373.76 783.97 ty Rxknn8and boxes £ 294.99 ty Step lader £ 120.00 ty WoDd. sprryseic £ 368.98 £ 713.97 £ 6 098.41 14

SPRIPIGERS AN Tshirts Scripts £4C¥J.00 £380.00 £3,500.00 £250.00 £115.00 £266.00 £287.00 £68.00 £i.iio.00 £250.00 £330.00 Donation Pr08ramMtUQrts Programmesale5 Sprint1[rInIer$TltkÉts Photos TheatreThcket S7le5 £414.00 £390.00 £80.00 £15.538.00 £5 266.00 E18 112.00 Libsand xore5 Tshlrts Rehearsal vtnuhir• TheatreHire Publiclty, PrSntlngetc HT & makeup 8¥ksia Directorf mD&d PhotO8raph kund Front of House Props OoxofficefeES Lighting Pro8ramme5 P051age& Pkin Royatie5 W¥drobe Priorytar rencedepo>t 4334.88 4420.00 -£1,065.30 3,611.86 4288.00 480.00 1,5S6.40 4,019.26 444.00 -£17.28 172.84 I,OC¥J.00 1.880.00 -E250.00 4917.00 -£46.90 4869.05 -£2.315.00 260.00 646.80 434.70 -£2S3.80 1,140.38 120.00 306.00 487.43 1,983.30 548.72 -£l,(MJO.00 5TrJ.00 -£10.5Q4.06 -£5,23B.06 £5 266.00 -£16,064.84 £2,047.16 £18 112.00 In¢om*lwttpenditure Note.. Honkincomelrom ticknsae5 not rKeived until after3113 15

Signed

On behalf of the Trustees

Anver Anderson (Chair of the Trustees)

Date: 5[th] June 2022

Auditor

Ross Rogers FCA

Date= 5th June 2022 17