Droylsden Little Theatre
Annual Report 2022/23
It’s been great to see our little theatre busy again during the 2022/23 season. We’ve been pleased to return to our full schedule of six productions for the first time since 2019. We’ve had the support of many – from talented directors and actors, to set builders, our technical team and front of house volunteers. Once again, our members and volunteers have been there supporting each play, both on stage, behind the scenes and front of house. As always, we thank all of you for your dedication and continued support.
Highlights of the season – We launched our season with ‘The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society Murder Myster’ in October and filled 56% of our available seating. Our next production was a festive one - ‘The Christmas Carol’ in November which reached an amazing 100% capacity. Into the new year, next up was ‘Now and Then’ in January and we saw our audience numbers reach 71%. These increased audience numbers continued into our fourth production of the season ‘Di, Viv and Rose’ which reached 74% capacity in March. ‘Private Lives’ followed in May which saw audiences of 60% followed by our final production, ‘Maggie May’, in July which reached 61%. We have an exciting new season ahead of us from October 2023 and the Management Committee will continue to do what we can to ensure our seats are filled at each production, focusing on marketing and promoting our activity on social media and within the local community.
Financial Results – With the return to six productions this season we’ve seen our income levels rise to £36,364 vs £29,128 last year. But we’ve also seen our costs rise to £38,564 this year vs £27,069 last year. This has left us overall with a small operating loss this year of £2,200 (2021/22: profit of £2,059). We always aim to breakeven, but with rising costs of gas and electricity as well as one off maintenance costs of a new boiler this wasn’t possible this year. The cost of the new boiler makes up the majority of this loss costing us £1,954. This was necessary spend to be able to keep our theatre open and heated and so we took the decision to use some of our reserves to fund a new boiler. We have always been lucky to have a healthy reserve balance and this remains the case at £16,016 (2021/22: £18,216). As we go into next year we will continue to tightly monitor costs. We are aware investment is needed in new fridges for the bar and we currently have a grant application in progress which we are hopeful will help to fund these. We also need to make sure we have strong ticket sales as well as hosting social events as these really help to generate income between productions. These areas have been and will continue to be a focus for the Management Committee going forward.
Membership – During the pandemic we understood it was a challenging time for everyone and, with the theatre closed, we didn’t chase up membership subscriptions. Last year our membership was at 77 and this year our membership numbers were 68. This is still a drop of approximately 30-40 since pre-pandemic levels, but we hope to see that rise over the coming years. We have had a number of new members this year and it has been great to see them get stuck into work nights and helping out front of house. We hope to continue to attract new members, whilst retaining our current loyal members.
Management Committee – It’s always challenging to keep our theatre running – from planning our season, keeping the building safe and compliant, building our sets and supporting our directors and cast members – not to mention volunteering front of house during productions. We are certainly kept busy but as usual we’ve enjoyed every second. We’re excited for the coming season and look forward to working with all of our members, old and new! We’ve had a number of social events this
year, with the return of our Season Launch night, Paint and Plonk sessions, a Booze and Baubles Christmas Craft Workshop, a Casino themed Christmas party and End of Season Awards Night.
As we reach the end of our year, we have a few vacancies to fill on the Management Committee. We’re hoping to appoint some fresh faces at our Annual General Meeting in September. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our loyal members and audiences for your support as we’ve re-opened. A special thank you to everyone who has volunteered for front of house roles to ensure our audiences are greeted with a warm welcome. We’re looking forward to the year ahead and the productions we have planned. For now, our focus is ensuring the continued success of such a great and vibrant asset to the Droylsden community.
This report has been compiled by Trudy Collins (Treasurer) on behalf of the Board of Management (the Trustees). The report has been agreed with the Trustees and signed by Trudy Collins on behalf of the Trustees.
Signed:
Date: 10[th] September 2023
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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent enIne9 report on the accounts Seriion A Independni Fxaminer s Report On xcourrt• th• y••r JI JVLY 2023 Ch•TKy 1 1179 charty (Ihe forthe yeweNled 31 1 D7 121)23. 2011 (Tr Acri. secb(fs IW&Xb) d th¢ Lt Ind•p•nd•nt th• Act or pToFer understandmg of the acct)unts t¢ be r&x**d. 1mW2023 RACHEL MILLER WA4 5QF October 2018