## **MANOR MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANY ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 30 JUNE 2022 PRESENTED TO MEMBERS AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON 15 NOVEMBER 2022**
## **Chairman’s Report**
This AGM is for the year ended 30 June 2022 which only included The Sound of Music show. We have subsequently performed Oliver! but that show falls into the year ended 30 June 2023. However, I will also briefly cover it here as I’m sure you’re all interested in how both of these fabulous shows went.
## **Productions**
The Sound of Music
Due to the various disruptions of the pandemic this show was postponed from April 21 and we finally perform it at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall on 27 April to 1 May 2022. For this production we actually performed 4 evening performances and 2 matinees which is a departure from our usual 5 evening performances plus 1 matinee.
For this production we had the continuation of Pam and James Garrington as Co-Production directors, Peter Bushby as MD, Dave Harbord as Stage Manager and Tina Townsend ably in charge of props.
Despite various disruptions to the rehearsal schedule due to the Covid restrictions that were still in force during the lead up to show week we still managed to get the whole show set & well-rehearsed by the time show week arrived. I’m sure the fact that this show did not have a huge amount of chorus involvement helped with this process.
Fortunately, by the time we got to show week all of the Covid restrictions had been lifted & so testing, mask wearing, etc. didn’t have an impact on either anyone in the show or the audience.
We welcomed a new member, Paula O’Hare, to the society who was superb in the part of Maria. The other principals were also fantastic. The main ones being Richard Parry as Captain Von Trapp, Lynne Ridge as Max Detweiler, Robyn Klein-Christoffels as Elsa Schraeder & Sue Bushby as Mother Abbess. All earning high praise from independent reviewers & audiences alike. Well deserved.
We held a children’s workshop in October 2021 which was thoroughly enjoyed by all the children who attended. From that we selected 2 teams of the 6 younger von Trapp children plus also Sasha Marsh was cast in the part of Liesl von Trapp. Needless to say, they were all brilliant & stole the show!
I would like to give special thanks to James Garrington for his hard work with the set. For those of you who aren’t aware we found out 2 days before our get-in & tech that the set had been double booked. We were left with the prospect of having to either doing the show without a set or not being able to do the show at all. James spent a very stressful day with the scenery suppliers finding a suitable alternative set (that would fit the Town Hall stage) plus the various props that usually come with the scenery. I think it’s fair to say that when it came to show week no-one would have guessed that we weren’t using the right set.
For this show we decided to trial having a large number of leaflets delivered to homes in the Sutton Coldfield area. This was partly funded by a £10 levy on each member’s subscription & partly funded by the society. In all, we had 20,000 leaflets delivered & that combined with other marketing activities such as the large poster boards, social media, etc. ensured that apart from 6 tickets on the opening night we had a sell-out run. 1,860 tickets in total! Fantastic. I’m sure it being such a well known & loved show also helped!
## Oliver!
We don’t usually perform 2 musicals in one year but we had the option to perform Oliver as long as it was before ethe end of 2022. The committee decided it was an opportunity not to be missed. It was a lot of hard work by both the committee and the production team to fit 2 such large shows into this year & that didn’t come without issues but in the end we managed to deliver 2 fantastic shows.
In summary, I just wanted to say that this show was extremely well received by the audience at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall. As with The Sound of Music we received excellent reviews and feedback from everyone that watched it. We were completely sold-out for all 6 performances and sold 2,070 tickets in total! I’m not sure we’ve ever sold that many for a show before in our whole 70 year history. The principals, Barry Styles as Fagin, Paula O’Hare as Nancy & Pete Bushby as Bill Sikes were all excellent. Most of the children who took part in The Sound of Music returned to perform Oliver! with us. Some in the chorus but also one of the Oliver’s plus both of the Artful Dodgers & both Bets had been in The Sound of Music.
All in all, two brilliant shows in one year that we can all be so proud of. Well done & thank you to everyone who contributed.
## **Social Activities**
In September 2021 we held our first joint social activity with Trinity Players. This was Summer Ball at Sutton Coldfield Golf Club that had originally been arranged for June 2020. Due to the
Coronavirus pandemic this was postponed to September 2021 and was thoroughly enjoyed by all that attended.
After the final performance of The Sound of Music had finished on the Sunday matinee & the get-out completed, most of the cast, production team & backstage team enjoyed an evening of food, booze & good company revelling in the success of show week.
We did also resume our late Friday night curries during both show weeks which were thoroughly enjoyed by the night owls amongst us.
## **Charity**
The only money that was raised for other charities during the year was a game of Irish Bingo at the joint ball with Trinity Players. A big hit with everyone that took part & raised £103. Tina Townsend was asked which charity she would like the money donated to in Colin Townsend’s memory & she chose Sutton Coldfield Town Hall.
## **In Remembrance**
Since our last AGM we have had the sad news of the deaths of our President, Cecily Gilbert, and Greta Derbyshire.
Up until the last few years Cecily had been a very active member in both the society generally and as a committee member. Cecily was the daughter of Harold Burke, one of the founder members of the society, and she joined the society in 1952 for its first production ‘A Country Girl’. She remained a member of the society throughout and became our President in 1996. Her last on-stage performance was in 2011 for our production of ‘Guys and Dolls’, nearly 60 years on from her first show. That was some achievement! She was a lovely, strong-willed and accomplished lady with a keen sense of community service. She will be missed by all those who knew her. The society made a donation of £250 in her memory to her favourite charity ‘The Red Cross’.
Greta was also a life member of the society. She joined Manor in 1973, firstly appearing on stage and for many years later on she was the society’s producer every year until her last show, ‘The Merry Widow’ in1997. Greta embraced all aspects of amateur theatre and embodied the true theatrical spirit of the society.
Our sincerest condolences go out to all of their family and friends.
## **Committee**
I would like to thank the rest of the committee for their work & support since the last AGM. It takes a lot of work in the background to put on such large shows at the Town Hall that members are not generally aware of. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them on your behalf. Thank you!
## **The Future**
Our next show will be the widely acclaimed & much-loved show ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. This will be performed on Wednesday 25 to Saturday 28 October 2023 at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall. At the moment, we are only doing 4 evening performances plus 1 matinee on the Saturday. With the current uncertainties in the general economy plus other local societies’ productions also due to take place in October 2022 we have decided to maximise our ticket sales potential over these 5 performances. If ticket sales go better than expected we may add in a 6th performance on either Tuesday 24 October or a matinee on Sunday 29 October.
The launch night for this show will be Tuesday 7 February 2023. The following 2 Tuesdays will be available for all potential auditionees to come & practice their audition material. The auditions will be held on Tuesday 28 February with rehearsals starting the following Tuesday 7 March 2023.
Our usual show dates are the end of April each year. After Oliver in October 2022 we decided to leave our show week as the last week of October for 2023 so that we wouldn’t have the 3 shows Sound of Music, Oliver & then Fiddler all back to back. We have decided that for 2024 we will revert back to our usual show week, albeit a week later than usual.
So our next show after Fiddler on the Roof will be the 2022 version of Anything Goes. This will be performed on Wednesday 8 – Saturday 11 May 2024 at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall. As with Fiddler we have decided to only do 4 evening performances plus 1 matinee on the Saturday. If ticket sales go better than expected we will put on a 6th show on Tuesday 7 May 2024.
Our next social activities will be a drink at the Bishop Vesey as soon as this meeting closes! Also, now that all of the Covid restrictions are behind us we’re going to resume our annual ‘Carols & Curry’. This will be on Tuesday 13 December starting at 7.30 in the Bishop Vesey for half an hour or so of singing carols whilst collecting money for the Acorns children’s hospice. This will be followed by a curry at Regards in Boldmere. So that we know how many to book the table for at Regards could you let Kate know if you’re interested.
Overall, this has been a fantastic welcome back to the theatre & ‘treading the boards’ that I’m sure we’ve all missed over the last couple of years. What a way to celebrate our 70th anniversary!
## **Treasurer’s Report**
## **Production**
- Total ticket sales for show were £33,983 and the actual number of ticket sales was 1,860. This is a large increase over our previous ticket sales of 1,129 for The Addams Family in 2019 and 1,098 for KMK in 2018.
- The combined profit from programme advertising & sales and raffle tickets during show week was £1,833 compared to £1,108 for The Addams Family. This was a reflection on the increased size of the audience.
- Member’s subscriptions totalled £2,990 & as we’re a registered charity we were able to claim gift aid on some of these totalling £500. The member’s subscription includes the £10 levy for leafletting that I mentioned in my Chairman’s report
- Total income from the show was £39,306. An increase from The Addams Family of £16,529.
- Production expenses for the year totalled £31,419, an increase of £4,503 compared to The Addams Family. The most notable changes to costs this year were:
- £1,798 more for costumes. The 12 children had 6 costumes each!
- £1,860 more for light & sound. To avoid the quality & reliability issues we had previous encountered we decided to use Going Dark for lighting & Leigh Yeomans for Sound. Whilst using these 2 separate suppliers was double the previous cost the enhancement to the look & feel of the show on the stage was felt to be worth it
- £726 on publicity – this includes the £600 we spent on leaflet delivery plus the additional cost of having the leaflets printed
- £760 less for scenery – this reflected the fact that we didn’t pay for the actual set, only its delivery due to the double booking
- £1,436 more for the Town Hall due to a significant price increase from 2019 to 2022
- Giving rise to a profit on the production only of £7,887 compared to a loss on The Addams Family of £4,138
## **Other Income**
This comprised:
- Donations – the donations from VP’s, patrons & other sources only totalled £4, a significant decrease from the 2019 donations of £465
- Social Functions –the Summer Ball held in September raised £159 for the society.
## **Other Expenses**
Included within these costs is £150.00 audit fee to Tom Cadman which he has kindly agreed to donate to the society & I would like to extend the company’s thanks to him for this generous donation.
During the year HSBC discovered that we are now a registered charity & in the spirit of wanting to support the charity sector in this country have decided to start charging us bank charges. We
have started the process of moving our banking facilities to NatWest who have a different attitude towards charities.
## **Total Surplus for the Year**
The total surplus made by the society for the year was £7,551 compared to a deficit of £3,084 for 2019 when we did The Addams Family. This surplus has increased the society’s reserves from £13,565 to £21,266.
## **Charity Special Reserve**
Other than those fund-raising activities already mentioned there were no other fund raising activities for the Charity Special Reserve
We did not make any donations in the year
The balance in this reserve is now £172.76.
## **Oliver!**
As we have already performed the production we will be staging in the year to 30 June 2023 I’m sure you’re all keen to find out how we fared financially. I won’t go into the same level of detail as for The Sound of Music as that will be covered at next year’s AGM.
The provisional headline figures are: Ticket sales £38,000 Profit from programme advertising & sales and raffle tickets £1,900 Subscriptions including gift aid £3,700 Production costs £36,000 Overall surplus for the year £7,000 Society reserves £28,000
## **MANOR MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANY INCOME AND EXPENDITURE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2022**
|**Production**
**Ticket Money**
Ticket Money: Mailing list
Ticket Money: Members
Ticket Money: Parties
Ticket Money: Patrons etc
Ticket Money: Publicity
Ticket Money: Ticketsource
**Total Ticket Money**
**Programmes**
Advertisements
Programme Sales
Total Programme
Show Raffle
**Other Production Income**
Rehearsal Drinks
Rehearsal Raffle
Subscriptions
Gift aid
Video Sales
**Total Income**
**Production Expenses**
Band parts
Box Office Expenses
Chaperones
Choreographer
Costumes
First aid
Front of House
Insurance
Lighting/sound
Make-up
Musical Director
Orchestra
Pianist
Production Director
Prompt
Properties
Publicity
Rehearsal rooms
Royalties
Scenery
Scores & libs
Show refreshments
Stage Crew
Town Hall
Town Hall Display
Town Hall Staff
Video purchase
**Total Production Expenses**
**Profit/loss on Production**
**Concert**
**Income**
Concert Door Tickets
Concert Tickets
Concert Night Raffle
Concert Night Refreshments
Concert Rehearsal Drinks
Concert Rehearsal Raffle
Donations to Concert
**Total Concert Income**
**Expenditure**
Concert Box Office
Concert MD
Concert Publicity|Sound of
Music
2022
£
0.00
13,293.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
20,690.00|
|---|---|
||**33,983.00**
375.00
570.71|
||945.71
887.40
0.00
0.00
2,990.00
500.00
0.00|
||3,490.00|
||**39,306.11**|
||166.69
183.25
200.00
0.00
2,653.20
0.00
115.14
769.21
3,710.00
0.00
1,500.00
5,040.00
0.00
1,101.99
30.00
164.95
1,284.12
2,083.34
4,157.40
1,520.00
818.30
0.00
125.00
5,796.00
0.00
0.00
0.00|
||**31,418.59**|
||**7,887.52**|
||0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00|
||0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00|
## **MANOR MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANY INCOME AND EXPENDITURE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2022**
|**Production**
Concert Rehearsal Rooms
Concert Venue hire
**Total Concert Expendifure**
**Profit/loss on Concerts**
**Other Income**
Charity collections
Bank Interest
Donations Received
Patrons & VP Donations
Social Functions
**Total Other Income**
**Other Expenditure**
Archive
Bank Charges
Printing, postage & stationery
Donations
Miscellaneous
NODA subscription
Patrons/entertaining
Telephone & internet
Bad debts
Audit fee
Website
**Total Other Expenditure**
**Net non-production surplus/(deficit)**
**Surplus/Deficit for Year**
**MANOR MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANY**
**BALANCE SHEET**
**YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2022**
Accumulated Funds brought forward
Surplus/Deficit for year
Accumulated Funds carried forward
Charity Special Reserve
Represented by:
Cash
HSBC Current Account
Unity Trust Current Account
Unity Trust Deposit Account
Debtors & Prepayments
Sundry Creditors
Donations Proposed|Sound of
Music
2022
£
0.00
0.00|
|---|---|
||0.00
**0.00**|
||0.00
0.00
3.75
0.00
158.93|
||**162.68**
0.00
53.99
3.39
0.00
133.91
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
150.00
158.26|
||**499.55**
**(336.87)**|
||**7,550.65**|
||30.06.22
£
13,542.39
7,550.65|
||21,093.04
172.76|
||**21,265.80**|
||0.00
20,584.18
0.00
0.00
3,150.62
(2,469.00)
0.00|
||**21,265.80**|
## **Manor Musical Theatre Company**
## **Independent Examination of the Accounts for the Society**
## **Year Ended 30 June 2022**
In conjunction with bank statements and other prime records, I have examined the Accounts and associated working papers produced by the Company including any year end adjustments necessarily made.
Accordingly, I am satisfied that the Income and Expenditure and Balance Sheet for the year ended 30 June 2022 are in agreement with the underlying books and records of the Company and with the explanations given to me.
**T Cadman**
**15 November 2022**