A Charitable Incorporated Organisation
Report and Financial Statements Year ending 31[st] March 2025 Charity Number: 1188662
Palace Theatre Oxford Street Manchester M1 6FT
Sensitivity: Internal Use
Trustees
| Name | Date of appointment |
|---|---|
| Pippa Campbell | 19 July 2021 (second term commenced 01 August 2024) |
| Hollie Coxon | 01 August 2021 (second term commenced 01 August 2024) |
| Thomas Aaron Kirk | 01 August 2021 (second term commenced 01 August 2024) |
| Elizabeth McCarthy-Nield | 30 January 2024 |
| Chloe McMackin | 30 January 2024 |
| Claire Louise Rick | 01 August 2021 (resigned 31 July 2024) |
| Peter Robertson | 01 August 2021 (second term commenced 01 August 2024) |
| Laura Whitehurst | 30 January 2024 |
| Julian Woolford | 01 August 2021 (second term commenced 01 August 2024) |
| Kui Man Gerry Yeung OBE DL 01 August 2021 (second term commenced 01 August 2024) |
Purpose of the CIO
The PT&OH Trust (the Trust) is an independent trust working to advance education, arts and culture by supporting educational and participatory activities inspired by the programmes, history and heritage of the Palace Theatre & Opera House Manchester.
Our mission is to enrich the lives of the people of Greater Manchester through a range of inspirational learning experiences at two of the city’s most iconic theatres.
We believe in the transformative power of the Arts and want as many people as possible to experience the magic of live theatre and performance.
ATG Entertainment is the owner and operator of the Palace Theatre & Opera House. ATG Entertainment supports the work of the PT&OH Trust through providing access to its facilities, producing a Creative Learning programme which delivers on the Objectives of the Trust as outlined in its constitutional documents, and liaising with the Trust through attendance at regular meetings.
Objectives:
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Open up the two historic theatres to local people through increasing daytime access and creating dynamic educational heritage projects.
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Deliver a programme of educational and participatory activities for people of all ages, inspired by the theatres’ touring productions musicals, drama and dance.
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Increase the opportunities for schools, students and young people, to learn more about the business of theatre, the creative and technical production processes and industry careers.
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Build our online presence, to further expand our reach and support the identification of new revenue streams to achieve an unrestricted fundraising target.
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In accordance with our equal opportunity best practice, to optimise the experience for anyone with health, disability or additional learning requirements or for those who may need financial assistance and/or socially accompanied visits
Achievements
Charitable Actvites
This period includes significant growth and development of the Trust in the respect of the recruitment and induction of an additional three new Trustees, who bring with them a wealth of relevant experience that will help take us to new heights in the realms of fundraising, marketing and youth engagement.
In addition to our new Trustees, Ashleagh Williams joined the Palace Theatre & Opera House as Sales & Development Manager, and her arrival will also bring further support to the Trust in the respect of corporate sponsorships and partnerships.
The Trust has been able to continue support for some participation and outreach activities at the theatres in line with its mission. The Trust has also been able to support some subsidised places for young people from underprivileged backgrounds to join ‘Masterclass’ sessions held at the theatres during school holidays. These Masterclass sessions help young people to develop their skills through musical theatre focussed activities.
Following the success of these masterclasses, the theatres also hosted its very first Work In Theatre programme. Work in Theatre is a nationwide careers programme associated with Get Into Theatre, which seeks to improve access to theatre career pathways and information for underprivileged and underrepresented young people and emerging artists across England, Scotland and Wales. The Work in Theatre initiative has been developed in consultation with secondary school teachers across the UK, following feedback that young people’s varying needs across the regions are not being met by the current ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to theatre work experience opportunities. This was hosted in the Easter holidays and was met with huge demand, and funding allowed us to recreate the event on a smaller scale again in the May half term with 10 more students. And the aim is to continue in this merit and look to expand the programme further year on year.
The Trust also continued to cultivate its relationship with Manchester City Council this year. For Manchester Day, the theatres secured a stall and used this as an opportunity to signpost our Creative Learning activity supported by the Trust. Approximately 900 young people were engaged throughout the day.
Some key statistics from the theatres’ Creative Learning Programme for the year are also included below:
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| Overall Number of Partcipants | 4162 |
|---|---|
| Total Number of Sessions | 158 |
| Total Number of Targeted Audience Development Tickets Distributed | 2008 |
| Total Number of Creatve Learning produced Shows | 14 |
| Total Number of Audiences for Creatve Learning Produced Shows | 294 |
| Total Number of Schools engaged | 18 |
| Total Number of Tours/Talks | 38 |
Fundraising
Another major milestone for the Trust in this year was securing an agreement with the theatres to utilise the venues to raise the profile of the Trust and undertake public fundraising with their audiences. The theatres began to pilot fundraising for the Trust at bars and retail points in the last quarter of the year. Additionally, in February 2025, throughout the run of Dear Evan Hansen at the Palace Theatre, the Trust also secured the opportunity to have an on stage call out from the cast post show, directly encouraging patrons to donate to the Trust to fund activities to support the next generation of performers or arts professionals. This proved successful. Furthermore, the engagement from the venue front of house teams was the true testament of our results in this activity. Following this pilot, we have worked alongside venue teams to gain feedback and will continue in this trajectory going forward, looking for further collaborative opportunities to fundraise and also raise awareness of the Trust and its mission.
Governance
Trustees sourced an external facilitator to host a Vision Day on 28[th] January 2025, where we revisited our purpose and updated our mission and vision.
The Trust also undertook the formal process of inviting relevant Trustees to commence a second term and five Trustees agreed to this. Following the resignation of Claire Rick, Thomas Kirk was therefore voted in and appointed as our new Chair.
Note on Finances
This year, we have invested into the future of the Trust to enhance its profile and activities for the future. This included the Vision Day held in January 2025, and the creation of new marketing assets designed and produced to support our in-venue fundraising efforts. Work has also begun on the creation of our own dedicated website. Additionally, our new Chair, Thomas Kirk also undertook Safeguarding Lead training. A grant from Manchester City Council has also been carried forward to support activities in future years.
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We researched several grants provided by the GMCA to support this activity, however we were unfortunately not successful in applications we found suitable at this time. A grant from Manchester City Council has however been carried forward to support activities in future years.
Future plans
Following our successful Vision Day in January 2025, work has continued driving the growth of the Trust. A new annual plan is currently in the works and will be heavily influenced by the Vision Day activity on strategy and planning for the future that was collectively contributed to.
Work has also been undertaken on the Trust website. We will utilise this online presence to further expand our reach across Greater Manchester, sharing case studies of our activity carried out to date, and providing a useful tool to signpost the impact to potential donors.
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| Palace Theatre & Opera House Trust | 1188662 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts andpayments accounts | CC16a | |||
| 1-Apr-24 For the period from |
To | 31-Mar-25 |
Section A Receipts and payments
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
Last year to the nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank interest | 198 | - | - | 198 | 27 | ||||
| Donations | - | - | - | - | 900 | ||||
| Grant - Relaxed YoungCompany | - | - | - | - | 5,000 | ||||
| Grant - Greatest CityProject | - | - | - | - | 7,000 | ||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
198 | - | - | 198 | 12,927 | ||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||||||
| None | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Sub total | - | - | |||||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
|||||||||
| 12,927 | |||||||||
| Bank fees | 60 | 15 | |||||||
| Trustee expenses | 114 | 179 | |||||||
| Trustee training | 78 | 150 | |||||||
| Vision Day | 1,609 | - | |||||||
| Marketing& Comms | 873 | 460 | |||||||
| Grantpaid - Relaxed YoungCompany | - | 5,000 | |||||||
| Grantspaid other | - | 1,340 | |||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| **Sub total ** | 2,734 | 7,144 | |||||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
|||||||||
| None | - | ||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| **Sub total ** | - | - | |||||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
|||||||||
| 7,144 | |||||||||
| - 2,536 | 5,783 | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| 8,733 | 9,950 | ||||||||
| 6,197 | 15,733 |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
1/30/2026
1
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B1 Cash funds |
Details Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) None Held at bank Details |
Details Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) None Held at bank Details |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 8,733 - - 8,733 Agreement Error Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 8,733 - - 8,733 Agreement Error Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs |
Restricted funds to nearest £ 7,000 - - 7,000 OK Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Cost (optional) |
Restricted funds to nearest £ 7,000 - - 7,000 OK Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Cost (optional) |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| OK | |||||||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| Current value (optional) |
|||||||
| None | - | - | |||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
||||
| None | - | - | |||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| Details | Fund to which liability relates |
Amount due (optional) |
When due (optional) |
||||
| None | - | ||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| Signature | Print Name | ||||||
| Date of approval |
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CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
1/30/2026
2