East Lane Theatre Club CIO Annual Report
For the Year ending 31[st] May 2023
Background:
East Lane Dramatic Society was established in 1936 , performing in a local school and church hall. They leased some land and a tennis pavilion from Brent Council and developed their own premises to include a 75-seat theatre in 1989. Further developments provided new toilet facilities, costume and set storage. In due course, East Lane Dramatic Society became East Lane Theatre Club.
East Lane Theatre Club (ELTC) became a Charity in April 2019 and has continued to provide open membership to the people of Brent and surrounding areas to stimulate an interest in the theatre and to encourage and instruct members in all facets of dramatic art with a view to presenting productions to the public, or audiences restricted to Club members.
Trustees elected at ELTC AGM Sep 2022
Daniel Popkin, Jennifer Loomes-Vrdoljak, Desmond Gaynor, Linda Hampson, Angela Dimitriadis.
Officers: Chairman: Daniel Popkin Secretary: Desmond Gaynor Treasurer: Jenny Loomes
Productions: 4
Performances: 23 Seat Prices: £15 Membership fees: £30 Bar: Club Premises Licence Charity Reg.No.: 1183134
Summary of the year From 31[st] May 2022 to 31[st] May 2023
We are delighted that we have managed a full year’s use of the theatre with no Covid related issues, and have also had a first, another theatre group using our facilities. This does not mean we are not still having issues: licencing as usual is causing us problems, the local council is being incredibly slow and difficult over our lease renewal, and there is a need to increase our audience.
The financial year started with a production of
Small Mercies written by Melville Lovatt (June 2022) , which was the third and final show of our play season. We also welcomed back a past member to the cast. This was a world premiere of this version of the play and was well received by those who attended. Unfortunately, attendance was down to only 59%.
We started our 22/23 season planning to do a Victorian Melodrama and ended up performing Neighbourhood Watch by Alan Ayckbourn (Dec 2022). The play selection was beset by problems, predominantly the time taken to get permission to perform the play.
We were delighted to have two new faces on stage. Overall, we sold 79% of the seats, and received good feedback from the audience
.
The second play of the season was a Harold Pinter double bill, consisting of THE DUMB WAITER & THE LOVER (Feb 2023). Considering Pinter is perhaps an acquired taste, the 5 night run sold very well indeed at 95% occupancy. Again, we were delighted to have four new faces on our stage.
“Travelling” actors, actors with no affinity to any one Club, are very common these days, and although often essential to being able to mount a production, do very little to actually help with the day to day running of the Club. Striking a balance between what we would consider “proper” members, versus “travelling” members is very difficult, and this is not just an ELTC issue.
Our fourth production , with a large cast of 12 , was THE ACCUSED by Jeffery Archer ( May 2023). Again, we had a new face on stage and, as the audience got to decide the verdict, when the time came there was a lot of discussion and spirited views. (Guilty 2 performances not guilty 5 performances) The audience attendance was disappointing at only 74%.
When comparing our previous productions, it is unfortunately obvious that we do not get the audience numbers for home grown playwrights, not that this will stop us trying to put on as varied seasons as possible and continuing to support homegrown talent.
Over the last few years, even before Covid hit, we were seeing a decline in audience numbers, and although one of our aims is to build the numbers back up again, it seems we cannot fill two Saturday nights, so we have decided to try a different schedule for next season. There will be six performances per production with two matinees.
Considering the period we have been through, we have had a successful season, but this next year is going to be equally challenging: not only are costs rising at a faster pace than we have seen for many years, we need to increase our audience base and our membership.
We are continuing exploring using the theatre more, as increased use should increase the revenue, but the downside is we will need more volunteers to run the theatre, and our current way of working makes it difficult to find suitable slots.
Finally, our lease for the land and one of the buildings is up for renewal and, so far, the council have not offered us an acceptable renewal. Our previous lease was for 30 years, and the renewal has been offered for 5 years, with the option to cancel every year. This would give the Club no security for any future. I am hopeful that we will get to a better place, but progress is slow.
Conclusion
Having due regard to the Commission’s public benefit guidance, the trustees are confident that East Lane Theatre Club is being managed efficiently and we have managed to return to a profitable status this year.
Daniel Popkin
Chairman
East Lane Theatre Club
Vale Farm Sports Complex
Middx
HA0 3HG
eastlanetheatre@gmail.co.uk
| PROFIT&IOSS | PROFIT&IOSS | fiI$t!illE3L{E"AnU!tu | fiI$t!illE3L{E"AnU!tu | ardit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| l | I | lncome | ||||||||
| Bankinterestr | '.lfiE3 98 |
|||||||||
| 1 | r{e[hbouri | |||||||||
| Snall | hood | Ttte | ||||||||
| l | Merciesi | watch; | Pintersl | Accused | ||||||
| lncome | 3914 | 5243 | 5113 | 5765 |
||||||
| __ , 'Expenditurq4182 Profitonshcws -268 ltonshcwsI 5 |
4813 4rA } |
4859 2Y |
6122 -357 357 |
59 |
533 | |||||
| Rentcharged against performances22€!f5tx) | pernight | |||||||||
| balancingrent6 | nights @f50O | pernighti | 14000 | |||||||
| 20221 | ||||||||||
| 32/t4 | ||||||||||
| 1319 | ||||||||||
| 1667 | ||||||||||
| {LBBrent | re-startgrant | - Cavrd} | ||||||||
| Hill | 250 | _ | ||||||||
| income | ?j(J6,67 | 7735! | ||||||||
| rrpenditure | 18821 | 14L | ||||||||
| Sor | ,% | 3239 |