## **President’s Report** 

Welcome to this report for the 2025 Annual General Meeting of the Market Drayton Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society known more colloquially as the AMDRAMS (but perhaps more of that later). 

For those of you who do not know me, my name is Michael Revell and I have the distinct privilege and pleasure of being President of the Society. I became a member of the Society when I took up residence in Market Drayton in 2007. I have enjoyed performing in Panto’s as a Town Crier, a King, a nasty Magician and a silly Monk. I played the German Colonel in ‘Hello Hello’, Uncle Willie in ‘High Society’, a bullying, bombastic, French hotelier who took pride in allowing his premises to be used for illicit romantic liaisons and, more recently as an aged Newspaper Seller leaning on a lampost in ‘We’ll Meet Again’.  As somebody kindly suggested at the time, there was clearly no danger of me being type-cast. I have also occasionally sung with Little Voices but more recently have enjoyed being described as their No1 Fan and supporter. I was invited to become President of the Society in October last year. 

Some years ago I remember asking “what was the role expected of the President” and was told ‘Not much really apart from Chairing the AGM’.   Hmm! We’ll see. 

I have also noticed in past newsletters or AGM notices that the President’s report of the year was virtually identical in content to either the Chairman’s, Secretary’s or Treasurer’s. More a repeat rather than report. I hope to change that. 

We have fortunately, over the years had a succession of first class, hard working committees, with, as is normal, varying degrees of success.  From what I have already observed, and I hope you will confirm today, I believe we are currently blessed 



with a superb committee. Not only that but like all successful Societies, we rely heavily on a host of other roles. Not only the Actors, Musicians, Producers and Directors but also all the ‘hidden roles’ like front of house and behind the scenes. people looking after sound and lighting, costumes and make-up, the programme designers and sellers, the chaperones for the young and vulnerable, set designers and manufacturers to name but a few. We would not and could not exist without them. I commend them all to you with my heartfelt gratitude, thinking also of ‘the Tuesday Night gang’, JTW and Little Voices. 

Back to the role of the President, the Committee quite rightly runs the Society. The President does not. What I hope to do is to perhaps ‘front-up’ the Society’s image and impact within our wider community. It was encouraging, for example, to read the Area NODA Reps observation that he was very grateful to have been warmly welcomed by both the President and the Chairman when he came to see and assess the Panto. It was his first ever visit to Market Drayton. It was a very good report of an excellent Panto. 

Thank you all for your membership of our Society and I look forward to seeing and hearing from you at the AGM. 



## **MDAODS – Chairman’s Report – AGM 2025** 

Over the past 12 months, MDAODS has continued to thrive, bringing entertainment, creativity and community spirit to our audiences and members alike. 

A major highlight of the year was our annual pantomime, Robin Hood. The production was met with a series of glowing reviews from both NODA and the local press. Most importantly, it was enthusiastically received by our audiences, who praised the humour, performances and all-round family fun of the show. The success of Robin Hood was a testament to the hard work and passion of our cast, crew and production team. 

Last summer saw our musical revue Sing Sing Sing delight audiences with an evening showcasing the vocal talents of the society. With a varied programme and strong performances from soloists, groups and Little Voices, it was another memorable and encouraging event for both performers and attendees. 

Unfortunately, our scheduled October show had to be cancelled. While this was a disappointment, we would like to extend heartfelt thanks to everyone who committed time and energy into the rehearsal process and the early stages of production. Your dedication does not go unnoticed and is deeply appreciated. 

Our choir, Little Voices, has continued to grow in strength. membership has steadily increased and the group has enjoyed another successful year, performing at several events across the town and proudly representing the Society in the wider community. 

Since the last AGM, JTW, has flourished under the guidance of its new leadership team. Thanks to a significant intake, the waiting list has been reduced, and the group is more vibrant than ever. We are excited to see JTW members performing in our upcoming summer concert, Here Comes The Sun, and look forward to their October production of Honk!. 

A special thank you must go to our tireless Tuesday Night Gang, who have worked week in and week out on set construction, maintenance, and the ongoing management of Adastra House. Their practical support and behind-the-scenes efforts are vital to the success of all our productions, and we are incredibly grateful for everything they do. 

I also extend sincere thanks to our Committee, who continue to give their time and energy to ensure the smooth running of the society. In addition, we would like to acknowledge the invaluable contributions made by our non-executive volunteers: our Social Media Admin for keeping our online presence active and engaging; our Social Secretary for organising events that bring us together off stage; and our dedicated Wardrobe and Props teams, whose attention to detail and creativity add so much to the quality of our productions. 

Finally, to all members, friends and supports, who have supported the Society this year—whether on stage, backstage, front of house, in the audience, or through volunteering—thank you. Your enthusiasm and commitment keep the spirit of amateur theatre alive in our community. We look forward with excitement to another successful and inspiring year (and years!) ahead. 



## MDAODS 

## Treasurer’s Report for Annual General Meeting 2nd July 2025 

When I took on the role of treasurer, the first order of business was to sort out the issue with our bank account being incompatible with our Charitable Status. Although Graham had warned me that the only success he had when trying to do this was to be awarded compensation after he made a complaint, I was still unprepared for the reality of how difficult such a seemingly simple task would be. At the time of writing, we still have no new bank account and if anybody would like to listen to my rants about this, be prepared for a long session! 

I would like to take this moment to express my gratitude to Graham who has been the bridge between me and the inaccessible bank account, writing cheques and bringing me statements with patience, understanding and good humour. Thank you. 

As well as struggling with the bank application, this year has been a steep learning curve for me in terms of what being a good treasurer involves. I am definitely not there yet but preparing the end of year reports has given me insights into how I can improve. I have done the best I can but I feel that there might be some discrepancies, particularly with the JTW income, which can be solved easily with better communication with Elaine. 

The reports are all available but in summary, we have just shy of 100 members with 50 of these paying the full Adult Membership cost of £25. This income covered approximately 28% of the general costs associated with running Adastra house and the society. Some of the shortfall was made up by gift aid and donations but the rest relies on the society’s profitable activity and fundraising. 

Overall this year, the society has run at a loss of  £2,245. We are in the enviable position of having savings accounts to buffer us but it is not sustainable to dip into it year on year. 

The loss can be accounted for in the following ways: 

- 1) The unexpected expense of £1268 to repair brickwork at Festival Drayton. 

- 2) The investment of £1095 in the Royalty and Rental cost of JTW’s October show HONK!Jr which will obviously not yield any profit until next financial year. 

- 3) The loss of potential box office revenue from the cancellation of the October show and low ticket sales from the Sing Sing Sing show 



Our big financial success this year was Robin Hood. Despite the charge for the sound being higher than expected at over £1500, we made a net profit of £2887. 

JTW has run at a small loss but I may have inadvertently muddied this result slightly by mistaking T Shirt sales for subs. As I mentioned earlier, better communication with Elaine is essential and now I know what it is I need to be “better communicating” about! The big expense for JTW is the cost of room hire at Festival Drayton, this year amounting to £1137.  If we can successfully continue with our overhaul of Adastra House to make a safe and inviting space, it should be possible to bring JTW home. Holding the sessions here would make financial sense and hopefully bring back a sense of belonging. 

Another advantage of the Adastra house makeover would be to create a space where fundraising activities could take place. Currently, our fundraising efforts have consisted of the show raffles and the 100 Club. 

The 100 Club is operating with 31 subscribers. It is the same amount of work with 31 as it is for the full 100 but obviously with less than a third of the return. It is a relatively easy way to keep a small regular income stream and deserves our attention to promote it if we are to continue running it. 

Finally, Little Voices have had Little Impact on the spreadsheets with a small net income of £5.91 but I like to think they have a bigger impact in the community. 

In conclusion, although our excess of expenditure over income is a significant £2,245, deducting the extraordinary expenses of £2,363 mentioned earlier with the brickwork and Honk!, gives us a net income of £118. I feel we are well placed as we enter the new financial year to take our society forward in a way that it can thrive. 

2 

Paula Virgo - Treasurer MDAODS - amended 22/06/2025 



## **2025 AGM Adastra Report** 

The usual safety servicing has been carried out on schedule (fire extinguishers, heater service, carbon monoxide and smoke alarms, and gas safety check). 

An outside security light has been installed over the back door. 

The rubber feet for the tubular chairs have all been re-attached using what we hope will be a more permanent glue! 

TNG have had a quiet year with only the set for ‘Robin Hood’ but are now severely restricted by physical restraints for handling flats etc. - we badly need some new regular recruits to support set building. 

A major and long overdue rationalisation of the furniture store and main hall area (thanks to our new committee and helpers) has transformed our rehearsal space but Adastra still requires some major rationalisation and there are two main areas to consider: 

      - . 

   1. The racking – flats and large props. 

   2. The wood and paint store 

- We should consider cleaning and re-varnishing the floor to avoid deterioration (Sadolin PV67 two pack varnish). 

- We should consider replacing one of the air handling extractor fans on top of the racking which failed last Spring. 

- The outside advertising board, which was badly damaged during the gales, needs replacing with something easier to use, if we still require it. 

- A small area of brickwork under the kitchen window needs repair and repointing. 



## JTW Report 

Following our appeal at last years AGM for leaders to assist with the running of JTW. We have been blessed with not one but two leaders. Ali and Jess have joined the team and bring their huge skill sets to the team. This has enabled us to increase our weekly membership to 30. Our waiting list keeps growing as fast as we can empty the list of eligible children. In the last 12 months JTW has taken part in the pantomime for the first time in many years, to much praise from critics and audiences alike. The children thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the panto and the spirit back stage with the children show week made it all worthwhile. Throughout the last 12 months we have also been unbelievably assisted by the wider society with people helping often with little notice due to various reasons. We are so grateful at the relationship between JTW and the wider society is flourishing as it is. The Children also took part in an end of term recital in July last year. We performed for parents in our rehearsal room. It was a great success and was the start of our belief in providing the children as many opportunities as possible to perform. Since the Pantomime we have worked on scripts and theatre skills in preparation for casting Honk Junior. We have now cast our show which we are so looking forward to putting on at FDC in September. Our thanks to everyone who has in anyway in the last 12 months helped it means so much. JTW only runs because of the team of people I have around me. My thanks go to Elaine, Ali, Jess, Sadie and Jacob. Who have all worked tirelessly these last 12 months, without all of them JTW wouldn’t be what it is today. 

Lynda 

JTW Leader 



## **Little Voices Report** 

Once again, Little Voices have had another successful year as part of MDAODS. Our usual ‘silly season’ from October through to December saw us sing at the Remembrance Day parade, the Festival of Lights, Wollerton Bowls & Social Club culminating in a fantastic day on Saturday 21[st] December singing at the Library Christmas party and then at Woodcroft in the later afternoon (with a few Christmas drinks thrown in between the two gigs at the society Christmas gathering!) 

The new year, as always, brought new songs, fewer engagements and a chance to rehearse together and get to know out new members. We have had a few new members this year, but we still have space for more! 

The start of May saw us perform at a VE Day celebration at the Market Drayton Sports Club, a VE Day beacon lighting and at the Market Drayton 10k, which may take the prize as our strangest venue so far, Lisa and Pete’s front garden! 

Looking forward, we plan to sing a selection of songs for the folks at Woodcroft this summer and are booked to sing at the Sport’s Club 50[th] anniversary celebration in July. We of course are also looking forward to contributing to ‘Here Comes The Sun!’ with a few classics from our repertoire, but also a few new songs for the occasion! 

As always, we thank you all for your support at the events in town and encourage you all to make us knows to friends and family who may wish to join us. It’s a good way to gently bring people into the society and offers a weekly place for people meet to not just sing, but to socialise and get to know each other. 



## MDAODS Charity Commission Income Report 2024/25 

|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||||||
|£|£|||||£|£|£||
||(rounded)|||||||(rounded)||
|||||Donations/Legacies||||||
|1544.50|||||Subscriptions|1615.00||||
|685.98|**2230**||||Donations|276.25||||
||||||Gift aid|552.46|2443.71|2444||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||Charitable Activities||||||
|13968.00|||||Ticket Sales|8854.00||||
|975.30|||||JTW Sessions|1108.00||||
|57.50|**15001**||||Sale of Costumes/Uniform|846.70|10808.70|10809||
|||||||||||
|||||Other Trading||||||
|405.00|||||Prog Adverts|130.00||||
|425.70|||||Prog Sales|172.90||||
|1048.35|||||Raffles|579.10||||
|312.00|**2191**||||100 Club|364.00|1246.00|1246||
|||||||||||
|||||Investments||||||
|391.14|||||Bank|323.67||||
|399.89|**791**||||BuildingSociety|514.03|837.70|838||
|||||||||||
||**20213**||||||15336.11|15336||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||



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## **MDAODS - FINANCIAL YEAR 2024/2025** 

|||**MDAODS**|**- FINANCIAL YEAR**|**2024/2025**||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||
|**BALANCE SHEET**||**as at 31ST MAY 2025**||||
|||||||
|Balance B/F 1st June 2024||||48059.25||
|1st June to 31st May 2025||||||
||Interest-Nat West Reserve A/c|||323.67||
||Interest - Leek|||514.03||
|||||48896.95||
||Excess of Expenditure over Income|||-2244.97||
|**TOTAL**||||46651.98||
|||||||
|||||||
|||||||
|**REPRESENTED BY:**||||||
|||||||
|CURRENT ACCOUNT||||3318.35||
|RESERVE ACCOUNT||||24423.09||
|CONTINGENCY FUND||||19093.46||
|CASH - JTW FLOAT||||20.00||
|||||46854.90||
|||||||
|LESS UNPRESENTED CHEQUES||||-202.92||
|||||46651.98||
|||||||



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||**Income & Expenditure Account for Year Ending**|**Income & Expenditure Account for Year Ending**|**Income & Expenditure Account for Year Ending**|**Income & Expenditure Account for Year Ending**||**31st May 2025**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||<br>2023/24||||||
|||||**INCOME**|||
||1544.50|AnnualSubscription||||1615.00|
||975.30|JTWSession Fees||||1108.50|
||312.00|100 Club||||364.00|
||685.98|Donations||||276.25|
||0.00|Gift Aid||||552.46|
||57.50|Costume and UniformSale||||846.70|
||0.00|Grants||||0.00|
||0.00|Compensation||||0.00|
||13968.00|TicketSales||||8854.00|
||405.00|Advertising||||130.00|
||425.70|Programme sales||||172.90|
||1048.35|Raffle||||579.10|
||0.00|Sale of Scripts||||0.00|
||19422.33|||||14498.91|
||||||||
||||**EXPENDITURE**||||
||41.78|BusinessRates||||125.36|
||1599.42|Insurance||||1732.84|
||633.01|Electricity||||742.99|
||1720.51|Gas||||2023.22|
||247.16|Water||||622.37|
||12496.98|Servicing andMaintenance||||270.38|
||100.00|MethodistCar Park||||100.00|
||60.00|Auditor||||0.00|
||199.00|NODA||||150.00|
||315.00|Donations||||0.00|
||173.96|Safeguarding||||136.98|
||904.90|Stationery/Printing (inc programme printing)||||435.87|
||4015.35|Hire of FDC||||3410.50|
||1572.52|Licences||||1095.00|
||3.80|Scripts||||104.40|
||994.17|Set||||937.85|
||1184.25|Costumes/Uniforms||||1385.48|
||283.72|Props||||253.91|
||2149.92|Sound||||1613.52|
||50.00|Publicity||||28.00|
||0.00|Music||||25.87|
||122.38|Makeup||||47.86|
||160.50|100 Club||||174.00|
||0.00|Raffles||||0.00|
||0.00|Hospitality||||7.00|
||114.03|Miscellaneous||||1320.48|
||29142.36|||||16743.88|
||||||||
||||||||
||**£9,720.03 **|**EXCESS OF EXPENDITUREOVER INCOME**||||**2244.97**|
||||||||
|||Amended by Paula Virgo 22/06/2025|||||



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