Wombourne Players
Annual Report
and
Financial Statement
for
The Year Ending 30[th] November 2023
Introduction
This annual report and financial statement have been prepared in good faith by the Trustees of Wombourne Players.
Chairs Report
An excellent year for the Wombourne Players with two very successful productions which were very well received by the Wombourne Community, ensuring they were both profitable.
Our Committee and Membership can be rightly proud of all of the work undertaken during the year to support the continued success of Wombourne Players.
Structure, Governance and Management
Wombourne Players, heard back from the Charity Commission with regard to our application for charitable status in February 2023 recommending a couple of changes to simplify our charitable aims in order to successfully become a charity. An EGM was convened in February, at which the Membership agreed to these changes, our application was re-submitted and approved a short time later. Since when Wombourne Players has been operating as a registered Charity and I would like to place on record my thanks to all of the Members who worked hard on that application process to achieve a successful outcome.
Work on our Governance and Policies has continued during 2023 to update policies for Safeguarding and an overarching Code of Conduct and Behaviour guidelines for Members. These have been set up in line with best practice advice from NODA. These new policies and Guidelines have been submitted for Membership approval and adoption.
There was a successful election of two new Committee Members, to maintain our committee structure of three Trustees and four members.
Objectives and Activities
We revised and simplified our aims and objectives in our successful application to the Charities Commission back in February, so these are now summarised in our constitution as follows: -
“To promote the advancement of dramatic arts and culture through the production and performance of live theatre in the Wombourne Community and surrounding areas.”
During 2023 our main activities remained focussed on delivering the production of two plays of artistic merit at affordable prices, something that continued to be important to our local community as the cost-of-living crisis continued throughout the year. In 2023 our productions have been “The Final Test,” by Chris Paling in May and “The Vicar of Dibley” by Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer in October.
Both productions were successful, receiving good notices and feedback from NODA indicating they were considered to be of a high standard.
Concern on reducing numbers of ‘active’ Members remains so in 2024 we will need, as a Group, to focus no little attention on the aim of recruiting more acting and non-acting Members to our Group.
Financial Review
The Players have had a good year financially and our position has strengthened. Both productions made a profit, to differing levels, and we also had a very successful fund-raising event with the Barn Dance in September.
The Players did have one major issue to manage in 2023, with Barclays closing our bank account with no notice. This effectively froze our assets and meant we could not undertake any financial transactions, which was very worrying and required significant action by the Treasurer and the Committee to ensure we did not default on some payments. This took over three months to resolve and get Barclays to re-instate our Bank Account.
Whilst we do not intend to suggest any changes to our Ticket prices for 2024, so that we continue to support local access to drama for our audience, we are proposing increasing bar charges, to cover the increasing costs already experienced.
Graeme Lockey
Chair of Wombourne Players (2023)
Wombourne Players Accounts to 30 November 2023
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Total Funds Previous Year
A1 Receipts Unrestricted 2022
(£'s) (£'s)
1 Patrons £612 £50
2 Membership Fees £270 £375
3 May Production £4,053 £3,113
4 October Production £4,867 £4,049
5 Fund Raiser £1,160 £836
6 Sponsorship Income £170 £130
7 Donation £20 £20
8 Sub Total £11,151 £8,573
9 A2 Asset & Investment Sales etc. 0 0
10 Total Receipts £11,151 £8,573
A3 Payments
11 Room Hire £4,960 £2,368
12 Insurance £417 £459
13 Software Licences £317 £341
14 NODA Subscription £84 £72
15 Production Licences £631 £728
16 Scripts £125 £253
17 Promotion & Programmes £964 £818
18 Scenery £335 £449
19 Costumes £255 £936
20 Administration £250 £243
21 Bar Refreshments £1,120 £749
22 Fund Raiser(s) £501 £515
23 75th Anniversary Celebration £0 £217
24 Gifts and Donation £100 £80
25 Sub Total £10,060 £8,225
A4 Asset & Investment Purchases
26 Theatre Spotlight £- £987.84
27 Total Payments £10,060 £9,213
28 Net of Receipts £1,092 (£640)
29 Profit Adjustment Last Year Accruals (£786) (£511)
30 Profit Adjustment Next Year Accruals £1,508
31 Cash Funds Last Year End £9,607 £10,758
32 Cash Funds This Year End £11,421 £9,607
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Section B: Statement of Assets and Liabilities at the end of the Period A1 Receipts
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Unrestricted
Funds
(£'s)
B1 Cash
33 Cash at Bank £9,808
34 Petty Cash £106
35 Total Cash Funds £9,913
36 B2 Other Monetary Assets £0
£0
Cost Current Value
(optional) (optional)
B3 Investment Assets N/A N/A
B4 Assets retained for charity's use including
Accruals (next year)
37 Theatre Spotlight (5 yr amortized) £988 £593
38 Bar Stock £192 £192
39 Event Deposit (Accrual) £253 £253
40 Production Licence (Accrual) £331 £331
41 Scripts (Accrual) £115 £115
42 Room Hire (Accrual) £24 £24
43 Total £1,903 £1,508
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Brigitte Brown (Treasurer)