## **CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES**
## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts**
**Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustees/** ' ' ·" ' •,,,,.,, I **On accounts for the year 31[st ] August 2024 Charity no 1182798 ended (if any) PROGRESS THEATRE members of**
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity ("the Trust") for the year ended **31/08 /2024.**
- **Responsibilities and** As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation **basis of report** of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("the Act").
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 the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
- **Independent** I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have **examiner's statement** come to my attention ( other than that disclosed below *) in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
- accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
- the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understa�ding of the accounts to be reached.
- _Pleese delete he words in the brackets if they do not apply._
' .
**Signed:** L .::__---'>4 = -----' **Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any):** ' -- -------- ----------' **Address:**
**IER**
**October 2018**
1
**Section B**
## **Disclosure**
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
**Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose.**
**October 2018**
**IER**
2
|**PROGRESS THEATRE ACCOUNTS**|**PROGRESS THEATRE ACCOUNTS**||||||**Page 1**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|~~**For theperiod 1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024**~~||||||||
|||||**01.09.23- **|**31.08.24**|_01.09.22- _|_31.08.23_|
||||**Nom Ledgr**|**£**|**£**|**£**|£|
|**RECEIPTS**||||||||
|**Charitable activities**||||||||
|Seat sales|Box Office(Cash)||4302|1,259.00||_1,519.83_||
||(Card)||4304|3,514.32||_4,017.68_||
||(Online)||4305|99,035.41||_68,365.67_||
||Seasonspasses||4303|410.00|**104,218.73**|_1,903.00_|_75,806.18_|
|||||||||
|Fees charged|Adult workshops||4403|-||_-_||
||Youth Theatre fees||4406|11,928.00|**11,928.00**|_12,779.00_|_12,779.00_|
|||||||||
|Front of House|Bar & confectionery (Sales)||4201|21,487.61||_16,310.45_||
||Tea & coffee(net)||4202|523.13||_427.11_||
||Ice cream(net)||4203|1,417.72||_547.99_||
||Programmes(net)||4204|1,736.14||_515.08_||
||Merchandising (net)||4205|444.00|**25,608.60**|_200.00_|_18,000.63_|
|||||||||
|Hiring charges|Costumes||4101|130.00||_175.00_||
||Props||4900|-||_-_||
||Equipment inc chairs||4102|-||_-_||
||Jazz at Progress||4909|2,091.73||_2,358.16_||
||Premises||4103|2,080.00|**4,301.73**|_60.00_|_2,593.16_|
|**Donations & Legacies**||||||||
|Membership subscriptions|
Members||4401|5,180.00||_4,502.50_||
||Friends||4402|80.00|**5,260.00**
|_110.00_|_4,612.50_|
|||||||||
|Donations|Donations||4902|6,994.72||_6,544.31_||
||Fund Raising||4904|-||_25.11_||
||Legacies||4911|5,000.00|**11,994.72**|_5,000.00_|_11,569.42_|
|||||||||
|Other|Grants||4903|2,000.00||_2,000.00_||
||Sponsorship||4905|-||_-_||
||Gift Aid||4906|4,062.02|**6,062.02**|_-_|_2,000.00_|
|**Investments**||||||||
||Bank interest||4901|2,463.66|**2,463.66**|_1,172.24_|_1,172.24_|
|**Other trading activities**||||||||
||Advertising||4000|95.00||_-_||
||Commission & Referral||4910|30.29||_166.23_||
||Art sales commission||4907|284.80||_267.40_||
||Equipment sales||4908|-|**410.09**|_-_|_433.63_|
|||||||||
|**Total Receipts**|||||**172,247.55**||_128,966.76_|
|||||||||
|**PAYMENTS**||||||||
|**Productions**||||||||
||Audition notices||7601|-||_-_||
||Royalties||7602|5,660.00||_4,210.80_||
||Scripts||7603|598.36||_754.28_||
||Rehearsal space||7604|3,448.73||_2,975.08_||
||Costumes,wigs & make-up||7605|952.96||_2,756.33_||
||Equipment & special effects||7606|-||_-_||
||Furniture &props||7607|1,625.17||_2,760.47_||
||Lighting& sound||7608|-||_-_||
||Set buildingmaterials &paint||7609|2,154.65||_2,595.38_||
||Special expertise||7610|3,805.00||_-_||
||Cast & crew food||7611|-|**18,244.87**|_-_|_16,052.34_|
|**Front of House**||||||||
||Bar & confectionery (Purchases)||7007|9,457.40|**9,457.40**|_7,766.93_|_7,766.93_|
|**Other**||||||||
||PPCproductionplanning||7701|-||_-_||
||Special Projects||7801|-||_-_||
||Training||8041|-|**0.00**|-|_-_|
|||||||||
||**c/fwd**||||**27,702.27**||_23,819.27_|
|||||||||
3
|**Progress Theatre accounts(1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024)**|**Progress Theatre accounts(1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024)**|**Progress Theatre accounts(1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024)**|**Progress Theatre accounts(1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024)**|**Progress Theatre accounts(1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024)**|**Progress Theatre accounts(1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024)**||**Page 2**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||||
|||||**01.09.23- **|**31.08.24**|_01.09.22- _|_31.08.23_|
|**Payments contd.**|||**Nom Ledgr**|**£**|**£**|**_£_**|**_£_**|
||**B/fwd**||||**27,702.27**||_23,819.27_|
|**Maintenance**||||||||
|Buildings||||||||
||Inspections & surveys||7501|-||_-_||
||Maintenance,repairs & wages||7502|391.46||_678.50_||
||Improvements||7505|3,537.56||_3,456.71_||
||Planningfees & expenses||7503|-|**3,929.02**|_-_|_4,135.21_|
|Cleaning||||||||
||Wages||7521|3,545.69||_2,761.87_||
||Janitorial supplies||7522|178.69||_150.27_||
||Rubbish disposal||7523|1,104.22||_999.43_||
||General expenses||7524|13.50|**4,842.10**|_-_|_3,911.57_|
|||||||||
|Tools & equip|Purchase,repair & hire||7531|220.75|**220.75**|_219.98_|_219.98_|
|||||||||
|Fire||||||||
||Maintenance & testing||7541|204.00||_204.00_||
||Repairs & replacements||7542|78.24|**282.24**|_414.19_|_618.19_|
|||||||||
|Insurance||||||||
||Open Air Shakespeare||7551|224.00||_-_||
||Theatre includingOpen Air||7552|4,595.55|**4,819.55**|_4,567.41_|_4,567.41_|
|||||||||
|Kitchen||||||||
||Equip.purchase & repair||7561|-||_26.98_||
||Consumables - not F o H||7562|71.69|**71.69**|_4.50_|_31.48_|
|||||||||
|Security||||||||
||Maintenance & call-outs||7571|1,350.17||_1,275.00_||
||Telephone monitoring||7572|396.00||_396.00_||
||Repairs & replacements||7573|-|**1,746.17**|_-_|_1,671.00_|
|||||||||
|Storage|Calcot Court||7581|687.50|**687.50**|_500.00_|_500.00_|
|||||||||
|Utilities||||||||
||Electricity||7591|4,070.54||_2,517.04_||
||Gas||7592|2,273.76||_4,773.71_||
||Water||7593|341.18||_248.95_||
||Telephone & Internet||7594|1,046.08||_902.42_||
||Non-domestic rates||7595|99.80|**7,831.36**|_102.40_|_8,544.52_|
|**Maintenance sub-total**||||**24,430.38**||_24,199.36_||
|||||||||
|**Venue costs - Open Air**|||6000|27,779.93|**27,779.93**|_28,146.84_|_28,146.84_|
|||||||||
|**Associations**||||||||
||LTG & NODA subscriptions||6031|315.00||_300.00_||
||Conference & delegate fees||6032|-||_55.40_||
||Publications etc.||6033|135.00|**450.00**
|_135.00_|_490.40_|
|||||||||
|**Front of House**||||||||
||Box office costs||7004|89.60||_-_||
||Displays||7005|180.13||_189.50_||
||Clothingand other expenses||7006|-|**269.73**|_-_|_189.50_|
|||||||||
|**Licensing**||||||||
||Bar & theatre||7101|245.00||_376.00_||
||PerformingRight Society||7102|442.63||_228.73_||
||Phonographic Performance||7103|315.54|**1,003.17**|_284.02_|_888.75_|
|||||||||
|**Lighting & sound**||||||||
||Maintenance & repairs||7151|-||_17.81_||
||Equipmentpurchase||7152|183.58|**183.58**|_371.21_|_389.02_|
|||||||||
|**Marketing**||||||||
||Mail-outs & show advertising||7201|1,702.54||_2,107.95_||
||General season'spublicity||7202|-||_-_||
||Flyers &posters,design &print||7203|1,178.20||_2,095.37_||
||Banners,displays & T shirts||7204|915.63||_1,186.45_||
||Leaflet distribution||7205|417.60||_360.00_||
||Web site costs||7206|-||_-_||
||Other marketinginc Library||7207|951.90|**5,165.87**|_1,609.43_|_7,359.20_|
|||||||||
|**Employment**||||||||
||Wages(PAYE)||7520|8,770.00||_4,790.00_||
||Employment overheads||7504|480.00|**9,250.00**|_360.28_|_5,150.28_|
||**c/fwd**||||**96,234.93**||_90,632.62_|
|||||||||
4
|**Progress Theatre accounts(1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024)**|**Progress Theatre accounts(1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024)**|**Progress Theatre accounts(1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024)**|**Progress Theatre accounts(1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024)**|**Progress Theatre accounts(1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024)**|**Progress Theatre accounts(1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024)**|**Progress Theatre accounts(1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024)**|**Progress Theatre accounts(1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024)**|**Progress Theatre accounts(1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024)**||**Page 3**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||||||||
|||||||**01.09.23- **|**31.08.24**||_01.09.22- _|_31.08.23_|
|**Payments contd.**|||**Nom Ledgr**|||**£**|**£**||**£**|**£**|
||**B/fwd**||||||**96,234.93**|||_90,632.62_|
|Membership|||||||||||
||Curtain Up& Newsletters||7301|||-|||_-_||
||General expenses||7303|||14.00|**14.00**||_-_|_-_|
||||||||||||
|Office costs|||||||||||
||Web site expenditure||7306|||-|||_-_||
||Loan interest||7350|||2,024.69|||_2,592.51_||
||Bank charges & interest||7351|||641.59|||_493.64_||
||Gifts & donations||7352|||-|||_-_||
||Equipmentpurchase & repair||7353|||1,200.15|||_362.96_||
||Computer supplies & software||7354|||-|||_-_||
||Postage & carriage||7355|||-|||_13.57_
_-_||
||Travel,mileage &parking||7356|||174.50|||_249.71_||
||Stationery||7357|||38.24|||_9.24_||
||Legal fees||7358|||-|||_-_||
||General expenses||7359|||35.00|||_109.60_||
||Computer software & subs||7360|||1,423.06|||_1,385.24_||
||Hire ofpremises(not rehearsals)||7613|||119.00|**5,656.23**||_222.59_|_5,411.92_|
||||||||||||
|Progress Youth Theatre|||||||||||
||Leaders & assistants fees||8061|||19,286.26|||_17,405.70_||
||Incidental expenses||8063|||-|**19,286.26**||_243.74_|_17,649.44_|
||||||||||||
|Wardrobe|||||||||||
||Costumes(non-specific)||8051|||50.00|||_9.99_||
||Drycleaningand washing||8052|||-|||_-_||
||General expenses||8053|||303.30|||_79.90_||
||Facilities improvement||8054|||-|**353.30**||_-_|_89.89_|
||||||||||||
|Accounting|Written-off||8100|||-|**-**||_-_|_-_|
||||||||||||
|**Total Payments**|||||||**121,544.72**|||_113,783.87_|
||||||||||||
|**Excess of receipts overpayments**|||||||**50,702.83**|||_15,182.89_|
||||||||||||
|**BALANCE SHEET @ 31st August 2024**|||||||||||
|**BANK**||||||**01.09.23- **|**31.08.24**||_01.09.22- _|_31.08.23_|
||CAF Bank Current a/c|||||16,012.87|||_29,314.90_||
||CAF Bank Deposit a/c|||||41,008.34|||_10,086.74_||
||BigIssue Loan||||||0.00|||_37,128.51_|
||Cambs. & Counties Bank 120 daynotice|||||33,415.32|||_40,472.41_||
||Monmouthshire BuildingSoc Deposit|||||11,326.60|||_11,060.43_||
||Paypal account|||||431.00|||_-_||
|**CURRENT ASSETS**|||||||||||
||PettyCash in bar and box office|||||477.83|||_512.36_||
||Bar stock at cost|||||1,171.61|||_1,003.77_||
|**LIABILITIES**|||||||||||
||Accounts Payable||||||3,527.46|||_4,204.97_|
|**DEBTORS**|||||||||||
||Accounts Receivable|||||1,503.85|||_-_||
|||||||**105,347.42**|**3,527.46**||_92,450.61_|_41,333.48_|
||||||||||||
|**NET ASSETS**||||||**£101,819.96**|+£50,702.83||_£51,117.13_||
||||||||||||
|**BANK RECONCILIATION SUMMARY**|||||||||||
||31/08/2024||CAF Bankcurrenta/c|||||£16,012.87|||
||||||||||||
||Plus Outstanding Payments||none|||||£0.00|||
||TotalOutstandingPayments|||||||£0.00|||
||||||||||||
||Less Outstanding Receipts||none|||||£0.00|||
||TotalOutstandingPayments|||||||£0.00|||
||||||||||||
||31/08/2024||Statement Balance|||||**_£16,012.87_**|||
||||||||||||
|**EQUITY**|||||**01.09.23- **||**31.08.24**||_01.09.22- _|_31.08.23_|
||Current Year Earnings||||£50,702.83||+£35,519.94||_£15,182.89_||
||Retained Earnings||||£51,117.13||||_£35,934.24_||
||**_TOTAL_**||||**£101,819.96**||+£50,702.83||_£51,117.13_||
||||||||||||
|**Carole Brown & Tony Wernham March 2025**|||||||||||
5
## **Progress Theatre Annual Report: 2023/24**
The 2023/24 season has been a year of development, reflection, and growth at Progress Theatre. It has brought with it considerable learning, a number of strategic decisions, and a continued commitment to artistic excellence and community engagement.
## **Artistic Programme**
The in-house season opened with _The Effect_ , followed by the 17th edition of _WriteFest_ , which continued to showcase new writing with imagination and flair. _Blood Wedding_ overcame directorial challenges through the dedication of the extended Progress Youth Theatre (PYT) community, resulting in a powerful final production.
_Hogfather_ marked a return to the Discworld universe and was followed by _Albion_ , set in a beautifully designed English garden. The immersive and interactive _The Last Quiz Night on Earth_ introduced a new audience to Progress and was both humorous and heartfelt. _Under Milk Wood_ followed, and was the theatre’s most accessible production to date, incorporating integrated BSL, performers of all abilities, and creative use of projection and audio. The season continued with _Moles_ and _Dirt_ , two original works staged as part of _Progress Premieres_ , before closing with the annual _PYT Presents..._ showcase and a large-scale outdoor production of _The Importance of Being Earnest_ in the Abbey Ruins, which welcomed record audiences.
The 2023/24 season also saw the regular embedding of relaxed performances and “Come As You Are” nights into the theatre’s programme, continuing its commitment to accessibility and inclusive practice.
## **Youth and Community Engagement**
Progress Youth Theatre continued to thrive, offering high-quality creative and performance opportunities for young people. Many current and former PYT members are now integrated into the theatre’s wider activity, reinforcing the value of Progress as a pipeline for developing the next generation of theatre makers.
The _Open Progress_ initiative was launched this year, supported by grants from the John Sykes Foundation and Berkshire Community Foundation. This scheme enables individuals facing financial hardship to access free memberships and tickets, furthering the theatre’s mission to remove barriers to participation.
## **New Initiatives and Partnerships**
This year marked the pilot of _Comedy in Progress_ , which achieved an average 85% capacity and has now been confirmed for a second season. The theatre continued its partnership with Jazz in Reading and expanded its external hires, hosting events including the Whiteknights Studio Trail and Fourbears Fest, in partnership with Fourbears Books. These hires align with Progress’ strategic goal of building sustainable partnerships with shared values.
## **Capital and Maintenance Projects**
6
The final phase of the capital improvement project was completed this year, including new planters and external landscaping. Additionally, Progress has ring-fenced budget for annual maintenance and infrastructure purchases. A formal summer maintenance period has been introduced to ensure regular, strategic upkeep of the building and equipment. Planning is already underway for improvements in both the theatre building and the technical rig.
## **Governance and Management**
This year saw a number of new appointments to the Management Committee, and strong collaboration across the team. Strategic decisions included the introduction of formal risk assessments and updated policy processes, the ring-fencing of maintenance funds, and the decision to pause open-air programming in 2024/25, with the intention to return in 2025/26 subject to robust planning and capacity assessments.
The organisation has also begun reviewing its membership structure, programming processes, and training offer for members. These will be developed further in the coming year.
## **Volunteers and Acknowledgements**
Progress Theatre continues to be powered by the commitment of its volunteers. Across artistic programming, technical operation, youth theatre, front of house, bar, marketing, maintenance, safeguarding, governance, and countless unseen roles, the contribution of individual members has been critical to the theatre’s success. Special thanks are due to the Management Committee, Trustees, and all volunteers who have supported the theatre this year.
## **Looking Ahead**
As Progress Theatre approaches its 80th anniversary in 2026/27, the organisation is committed to ensuring its continued sustainability and relevance. The past year has been spent understanding the theatre’s current position and preparing for future growth. Upcoming priorities include:
- Formalising a new membership structure
- Expanding training and support for members
- Continuing to build a sustainable programme, with accessible and high-quality work at its core
- Preparing for a return to open-air productions in 2025/26
- Strengthening partnerships that reflect Progress’ values and ambition
With the pandemic now largely behind us, Progress Theatre is embracing a forward-looking approach that honours its past while planning for a vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable future.
7