2025-05-31-accounts - East Lane Theatre Club

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East Lane Theatre Club CIO Annual Report

For the Year ending 31[st] May 2025

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 re-elected at ELTC AGM Sep 2024

Desmond Gaynor, Angela Dimitriadis

Officers: Chairman: Daniel Popkin Secretary: Susan O’Connell Treasurer: Jenny Loomes

Productions: 4 Performances: 24 Seat Prices: £16 Membership fees: £30 Bar: Club Premises Licence Charity Reg.No.: 1183134

Summary of the year from 31[st] May 2024 to 31[st] May 2025

This last year has been somewhat fraught with challenges. The theatre buildings are on land leased from Brent Council, and the lease which was for 30 years expired. Rather than an open discussion or even properly start a formal rent renewal, Brent decided to ‘go legal’ and issue a Section 25 notice, with an outrageous 5000% increase rent demand (from £1500p.a to £75000p.a) when our total income is only around £26k.

Over the last year we have been attempting to engage with the council, both directly and via our surveyor, to make them understand what our reality is, but so far have had little success.

We have received support from our local MPs and have over 2000 signatures on our petitions, however at present the Council is not engaging in any meaningful discussions.

We have thankfully been able to secure pro-bono solicitor support, which has kept our costs down, but we have had to retain a surveyor to assist in the negotiations.

With the possible threat of closure hanging over the club this has not been the best year, but artistically we continue to thrive, albeit with the difficulty of finding actors. A common theme amongst all the local theatre groups.

The first show in the theatre was Harrow Hill Players returning with a production of The Governess. We were delighted to have the company back, although having a show so close to a previous one puts additional strain on the volunteers

And so to our past season. Our final production of our 23-24 season (our production season runs from September to July) was HANSARD directed by Linda Hampson.

A tense drama about an MP and his wife, harbouring a loss of their son & a great secret. This was an amazing tour de force of our 2 actors and we are delighted that HANSARD received Two NODA awards, one for Ben Morris as best actor and the other for Set Design.

Over the summer some clean up works were completed both inside and outside the theatre. Sadly the threat of the lease renewal did not help inspire confidence in the necessary works.

Our AGM was very well attended, and a decision was taken to start a petition against the rent increase.

In October we ran a workshop on acting by Yvonne Worth. This was well attended by members and thoroughly enjoyable.

Our December production, A STING IN THE TALE was a delightful tale directed by Laurence Conway, of two authors who have a falling out, with one attempting to frame the other for the murder of his wife. Unfortunately a last minute problem meant that Laurence had to go on with the book to perform, and what a wonderful job he did. The Play was well received but sadly only managed 76% sales.

Our next production was an evening of ALAN BENNETT monologues and a one act play directed by Michel Collins. We were greeted by two fabulous monologues from Ben Morris and Sharon Exelby and then a delightful play with Carolyn and Graham Palin who denied that they needed any help from the cheerful if somewhat bemused council worker played by Sarah Rabin. This show was extremely well received by the audiences, and we had 84% attendance.

We then had a real treat, sadly not sold out, but singing duo CODA performed in our theatre. This was our first venture into doing something different, and Mark & Gemma really bought the house down with a rousing selection from West End shows. We hope they will visit again and we are exploring other types of shows that could be performed requiring only a small effort from Club members.

The final show in our financial year was THE REVLON GIRL, directed by Angela Dimitriadis. A poignant play regarding the lives of mothers who lost children in the Aberfan slag heap disaster. The all-female cast brilliantly played out the delicately drafted script with a huge range of emotions that were truly felt by the audience. Sadly only 64% attendance. It is a real shame that more people are not tempted out by plays that explore emotions. It was an amazing evening, and those who came thoroughly enjoyed it, even though the subject matter was sad.

This last year has seen some monumental challenges: costs have increased vastly and so we have had to raise ticket prices to £16.00 to assist in covering these, all the while ensuring we can continue to invest in the fabric of the buildings and fight the significant rent increase from the Council.

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 a profitable status this year.

Daniel Popkin

Chairman

East Lane Theatre Club

Vale Farm Sports Complex

Middx

HA0 3HG

eastlanetheatre@gmail.co.uk

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