ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31[st] AUGUST 2025
25[th] November 2024
FOUNDED IN 1902. REGISTERED CHARITY NO 1208164 www.sadc.co.uk
PATRONS
Lord and Lady Tope
PRESIDENT
Mr Dick Bower
VICE-PRESIDENTS
Mr Ian Akhurst Mrs Diana Calvert Mrs Jean Manning Mr Andrew Plumb
COMMITTEE MEMBERS SERVING IN THE YEAR 2023/24
Mrs Ira Murray (Chairman) Mr Dick Bower (Hon Treasurer) Mrs Diana Calvert (Hon Secretary) Mrs Kimberley Alfred Miss Joanna Lumsden Mrs Ella McDonnell Mrs Elizabeth Plumb Mrs Laura Sutherland
THE CLUB’S AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
Sutton Amateur Dramatic Club (registered charity no.259484) is a community drama group that aims to promote understanding of and participation in theatre. Its classification with the Charity Commission is education/training (102) and arts/culture (109), helping the general public/mankind (207). It operates by providing services (306) and advocacy/advice/information (307). Its specific area of operation has been the London Borough of Sutton. However, because Sutton had no viable theatres for a few years and, as a consequence, we changed the venue for the majority of our productions to Ewell, we have added Banstead, Ewell and Epsom as sources of our audience.
CHARITABLE STATUS
As stated in the Annual Report for the year ending 31[st] August 2024, Sutton Amateur Dramatic Club was registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) by the Charity Commission for England and Wales on 8[th] May 2024. This Annual Report is made on behalf of the new CIO.
FOYLE FOUNDATION
The Club gratefully acknowledges the generous grant received from the Foyle Foundation which enabled us to replace the roof of the Thorncroft Road scenery store on which we have now been granted a 30-year lease at a peppercorn rent by the London Borough of Sutton.
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CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Your Committee has met on eight occasions during the year. The Committee/Trustee members are: Ira Murray (Chair), Dick Bower (Hon Treasurer), Diana Calvert (Hon Secretary), Jo Lumsden, Ella McDonnell, Kimberley Alfred, Liz Plumb and Laura Sutherland and I will firstly thank them for all their work and input over the past year.
Our programme of shows consisted of The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams, directed by Dick Bower and performed at The Adrian Mann Theatre, Ewell; Carshalton at War , written by Ella McDonnell and David Thompson and performed at St. Mary’s Church, Beddington: Big Big Sky by Tom Wells, directed by Karen Broadbent and performed at The CryerArts Centre in Carshalton.
Our backstage support led by Andy Plumb along with Liz Plumb, Dave Korman, Jon Davey, Richard Williams and others, produced a spectacular set for our November show, The Night of the Iguana , at The Adrian Mann Theatre. Andy and Liz Plumb’s sets are always good but this one was exceptional. Regrettably, it was marred by an accident during the get-in when one of our most experienced set-builders missed his footing on a step ladder, fell and broke his hip. This really brought home the potential dangers of working at height for our backstage team. Although we had a robust Health & Safety Policy, including a comprehensive assessment of the risks of SADC’s activities before the accident occurred, we have decided to go further. We have now produced a procedure for managing the risks of working at height which includes a mandatory ladder safety course for all those who need to climb ladders for SADC. Most of the backstage team have now successfully completed a ROSPA approved course and the procedure was implemented for the November 2025 production.
Carshalton at War , performed in March at St. Mary’s Church, Beddington, was hugely supported by our members and the general public in and around Carshalton – no doubt due to the subject matter and the celebration of the end of World War II. It was the creation of two of our own members, Ella McDonnell (who also directed the show) and Dave Thompson, who jointly wrote the piece. Pam Akhurst was Musical Director. Andy Plumb and his team created a small stage which accommodated the 18 cast members (not all at once) and Dave Korman provided the evocative sound. With her first production with us, we welcomed Sharon McElroy as our new wardrobe mistress. This was a very demanding project and she coped amazingly well, supported by Kimberley Alfred and cast members. The production is being sound recorded and copies will be available when completed. This production was in support of The Fight for Freedom, Carshalton and Wallington’s War project.
Big Big Sky , which followed in June, was a charming play in modern dress and performed at The CryerArts Centre in Carshalton. Richard Williams led the backstage team, along with Dave Korman, Alfie Morris (CryerArts lighting technician) and Andy Plumb.
Our productions also rely very heavily on props and in her usual efficient and detailed way Janet Harris came up trumps. Her attention to detail is unsurpassed. (She even brought hot baked beans and pasties to the performance table each night for Big Big Sky ).
Nine Let’s Act! workshops were booked at CryerArts from September 2025 through to June 2026 and continue to be well attended. Recently we have taken the opportunity to include a ‘read through’ of the up-coming production, which gives new (and existing) members a chance to see what the plays are all about. We have welcomed several new members to the Club via this route. Thanks to Ella McDonnell for arranging these events and also to the presenters.
Dick Bower, supported by other members of the Club, ran a stall again at The Cheam Charter Fair, which proved very successful.
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This year we finally reached completion of our scenery store roof lease negotiations with Sutton Council. All furniture and flats are now housed there. The tragedy is, we have lost The Adrian Mann Theatre. Nescot College, which owns the theatre, has decided to convert it into a lecture hall and by doing so the stage will go. It will no longer be available to outside users (which obviously includes many other drama groups who also enjoyed the venue). The theatre has been our theatrical home for a decade and obviously this is a huge blow to the Club. We are actively seeking a new home but it’s proving extremely difficult. We have explored other venues in the surrounding areas including schools but they are prohibitively expensive and only available for use out of term time. Other venues investigated hold their own regularly attended events during the day and in the evening and refuse to interfere with their bookings and so are not an option. We make a plea to all our members to try and think of a space we could use where we can have a proper set. SADC will continue to use The CryerArts Centre but the stage there will not accommodate a fixed set and the number of actors is restricted. This has resulted in difficulty in play choice.
Sadly, we are losing Liz Plumb who has decided to step down as a Trustee/Committee member. Her knowledge and input relating to the Foyle Foundation grant and the Council’s store lease have been invaluable – along with all the other duties she has overseen, especially in relation to publicity. Fortunately, she has agreed to continue to help until we can find people to take over.
Thank you to the play reading committee for their contribution; our members who assist with the set painting pre-performance; Will Harris who continues to produce TABS and to everyone who has participated in our productions throughout this year, including the volunteers who help with Front of House led by yours truly.
Finally, a huge ‘thank you’ to all the casts who have devoted their time to appear in our productions and to all our Members, Associates and Friends for their continued support. We need you.
FYI
We have a full programme of plays for this coming year 25/26
November 2025:
ANNE BOLEYN by Howard Brenton - directed by Peter Bramwell (a new director to SADC) This is our final production at The Adrian Mann Theatre, Ewell
March 2026
SINGLE SPIES by Alan Bennett – directed by David Page at The CryerArts Centre in Carshalton
June 2026
HONOUR by Joanna Murray-Smith – directed by Sheila Carr at The CryerArts Centre
Ira Murray Chairman
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HONORARY TREASURER’S REPORT
This, like the Covid years, has been a little abnormal, although not for such an unfortunate reason. As you will see from the Club’s audited accounts on pages 11 and 12, the deficit for the year was a very significant £6,719. However, the underlying performance is rather different. The deficit, and more, is entirely accounted for by the cost of replacing the roof of our scenery store, in return for which we won a 30-year lease from the Council on the building at a peppercorn (ie zero) rent.
Please note that the figure against ‘workshop costs’, shown as expenditure in the Income & Expenditure account, is net of the £20,000 charitable grant from the Foyle Foundation and the income includes large and very generous donations totalling £10,000 from seven benevolent members of the Club. Extracting the income and costs associated with the store roof, including the Gift Aid on those large donations – so, the ‘normalised’ figures for the running of the Club – the income for the year was £4,892 and the expenditure was £1,801 (including the remaining rent on our garage – see below), resulting in a surplus for the year £3,091, which is healthily positive. I have used these latter calculations in my analysis below to keep the outcomes consistent with other years.
| Year1 | Profit/loss |
|---|---|
| 2015/16 | -£814 |
| 2016/17 | £2,482 |
| 2017/18 | £346 |
| 2018/19 | £1,417 |
| 2019/20 | -£1,049 |
| 2020/21 | -£395 |
| 2021/22 | £8 |
| 2022/23 | £3,554 |
| 2023/24 | £7,606 |
| 2024/25 | £3,091 |
| Average | £1,625 |
1Since moving to AMT (excluding As You Like It )
I indicated last year that the Committee had pledged some of our reserves, which stood at over £28,000, to the store roof replacement. The investment of this money (together with our surplus for 24/25) has still left us with over £21,000 in assets. And we now have a strong, durable store in which to keep our scenery and furniture safe and dry for the long term.
Productions & audiences
The table overleaf summarises the financial outcome for productions in recent years (there was none in 2020/21 because of Covid).
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| Year | Show | Season | Income | Expenses | Profit/(loss) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/251 | Big Big Sky | Summer | £3,784 | £3,141 | £643 |
| Carshalton at War | Spring | £7,171 | £3,649 | £3,522 | |
| The Night of the Iguana | Autumn | £5,145 | £6,634 | (£1,489) | |
| 2023/241 | Two | Summer | £2,724 | £2,350 | £374 |
| Alys, Always | Spring | £7,511 | £4,881 | £2,630 | |
| The Unexpected Guest | Autumn | £9,677 | £5,677 | £4,000 | |
| 2022/23 | Art | Summer | £2,843 | £2,028 | £815 |
| A Bunch of Amateurs | Spring | £7,634 | £5,002 | £2,632 | |
| Arsenic & Old Lace | Autumn | £6,133 | £6,387 | (£254) | |
| 2021/22 | The Importance of Being Earnest |
Spring | £4,504 | £5,375 | (£871) |
| _The Diary of Anne Frank_2 | Autumn | £4,398 | £4,043 | £355 | |
| 2019/20 | We Happy Few | Autumn | £3,589 | £4,139 | (£550) |
| 2018/19 | Hamlet | Summer | £2,005 | £1,512 | £493 |
| The 39 Steps | Spring | £7,412 | £4,684 | £2,728 | |
| A Man for All Seasons | Autumn | £2,354 | £4,488 | (£2,134) | |
| 2017/18 | Macbeth | Summer | £2,866 | £1,679 | £1,187 |
| Present Laughter | Spring | £3,770 | £4,647 | (£877) | |
| The Ash Girl | Autumn | £2,665 | £3,804 | (£1,139) |
1 To make comparison with previous productions valid, the ticket commissions have been deducted from sales. There is, therefore, a difference between the figures above and those in the accounts below.
2Hybrid figures based on the finances of the aborted production in March 2020 and the performed production in November 2021, including the cancellation insurance payment.
In this year, Big Big Sky was staged at CryerArts, Carshalton, Carshalton at War in St Mary’s Church, Beddington and The Night of the Iguana at the Adrian Mann Theatre, Ewell.
May I draw your attention to the unusually high income and expenditure numbers for a production at St Mary’s Church, Carshalton at War ? An important part of the success of this show was its authentic period costumes, which were made possible by a generous grant from St Helier Charitable Foundation’s Lottery-funded Fight for Freedom, Carshalton and Wallington's War project. Our performance helped the project fulfil its obligation to make the results of its research public.
----- Start of picture text -----
AMT shows - total revenue
£12,000
£10,000
£8,000
£6,000
£4,000
£2,000
£0
Revenue
----- End of picture text -----
This chart illustrates the income for all shows at the Adrian Mann only. The trend line demonstrates that there has been steady and significant increase. On it, the income has trebled
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since As You Like It , our first show after moving from Sutton. Although it could be argued that it is probably unfair to start at the first inevitably difficult show in the new venue, three later shows, when we were established ( The Accrington Pals , The Ash Girl and A Man for All Seasons ) were not markedly more lucrative. There are several reasons for the increased income, including price increases and play selection, but a key one is more sustained and effective publicity and we are grateful to all the colleagues who have made this happen.
We now have a very active social media campaign, imaginatively and, most importantly, consistently driven by Laura Sutherland. However, mailings to members, friends and potential audiences are probably the most effective element of our campaigns for each production, especially now that we have a planned and structured schedule of mailshots leading up to each performance. We currently (November 2025) have 739 active contacts in our full mailing list (up from 675 at the same time last year). Engagement with the mailers (i.e. those who open the e-mail) is mostly between 65% and 70%, which is quite high for marketing emails. We also have a ‘Members & Friends’ list, consisting currently of 211 people (up from 177 last year), who are members, potential members or others interested in being or getting involved with the Club other than as audience. Their addresses will also be on the full mailing list.
Once again, the chart below, in which the expenses line is added, shows that, although costs do continue to increase, the financial outturn is very dependent on audience numbers. You will see later on that the audiences were not as we had hoped for The Night of the Iguana . It was an especially expensive show to stage and I’m grateful to the Club for allowing me to direct it for my fiftieth anniversary with SADC. I have to register my gratitude to Andy and Liz Plumb for providing arguably the most beautiful, albeit the most expensive, set for my cast to perform on.
----- Start of picture text -----
Revenue and expenses
for AMT shows
£12,000
£10,000
£8,000
£6,000
£4,000
£2,000
£0
Income Expenses
----- End of picture text -----
The audiences for our shows over the last three years were as follows:
| Season | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autumn | The Night of the Iguana | 316 | The Unexpected Guest | 605 | Arsenic & Old Lace | 397 |
| Spring | Carshalton at War | 363 | Alys, Always | 466 | A Bunch of Amateurs | 480 |
| Summer | Big Big Sky | 260 | Two | 190 | Art | 192 |
| Totals | 879 | 1,261 | 1,069 |
Sales for The Night of the Iguana were disappointing – it’s a difficult work by an author not to everyone’s liking – but, nonetheless, it came in ninth out of the 18 productions performed at the Adrian Mann. Carshalton at War was a sell-out at St Mary’s and Big Big Sky well out-performed
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the other two of our shows at CryerArts. So, I think we can say that our audience development has continued successfully; the trend line in the graph below shows something like a 50% increase in audience numbers at the Adrian Mann over the period.
----- Start of picture text -----
Seats 'sold' at AMT
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
----- End of picture text -----
The net revenue per ticket sold for the season’s three productions compared to recent previous shows was as follows:
| Production | Venue | Gross price |
Nett price |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Man for All Seasons | AMT | £12-£13 | £11.61 |
| The 39 Steps | AMT | £13 | £11.11 |
| Hamlet | St Mary’s | £10 | £9.70 |
| We Happy Few | AMT | £13 | £11.85 |
| The Diary of Anne Frank | AMT | £14 | £12.50 |
| The Importance of Being Earnest | AMT | £15 | £13.46 |
| Arsenic & Old Lace | AMT | £15 | £13.53 |
| A Bunch of Amateurs | AMT | £16 | £14.38 |
| Art | Cryer | £15 | £13.08 |
| The Unexpected Guest | AMT | £16 | £14.71 |
| Alys, Always | AMT | £16 | £14.46 |
| Two | Cryer | £15 | £12.73 |
| The Night of the Iguana | AMT | £16 | £13.79 |
| Carshalton at War | St Mary’s | £14 | £12.54 |
| Big Big Sky | Cryer | £15 | £13.12 |
The total number of acting parts offered to members in the year was 35 (19 male, 16 female): 14 for The Night of the Iguana (8 male, 6 female), 17 for Carshalton at War (11 male, 6 female) and 4 for Big Big Sky (2 male, 2 female). We have a talented and able backstage team who have attracted new helpers willing to learn the ropes. I am particularly pleased that the team has been joined this year by Sharon McElroy who has enthusiastically and efficiently stepped into Kimberley Alfred’s shoes as our wardrobe mistress.
Membership
The growth in membership has continued. Our very appealing website, created and managed by Liz Plumb, attracts considerable interest and we now have the Let’s Act! workshops which are successfully capitalising on that interest. We are especially pleased that several workshop attendees
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with little or no prior experience of the stage were bitten by the bug and stepped up to join the cast of Carshalton at War very effectively. We ended the year with a new cohort of enthusiastic members, who give us confidence that SADC will still thrive, despite the issues we face by losing the use of the Adrian Mann Theatre as Nescot repurposes the venue as a multi-media space. In addition, there is some small indication that Let’s Act! is beginning to attract some of our more established members. It was always the intention that these sessions would enable experienced actors to develop their skills.
| Year | Full | Associate | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007/08 | 47 | 15 | 62 |
| 2008/09 | 25 | 10 | 35 |
| 2009/10 | 41 | 12 | 53 |
| 2010/11 | 37 | 12 | 49 |
| 2011/12 | 40 | 13 | 53 |
| 2012/13 | 31 | 7 | 38 |
| 2013/14 | 32 | 10 | 42 |
| 2014/15 | 35 | 8 | 43 |
| 2015/16 | 37 | 9 | 46 |
| 2016/17 | 40 | 11 | 51 |
| 2017/18 | 33 | 15 | 48 |
| 2018/19 | 29 | 10 | 39 |
| 2019/20 | 31 | 7 | 38 |
| 2020/21 | - | - | - |
| 2021/22 | 30 | 7 | 37 |
| 2022/23 | 35 | 7 | 42 |
| 2023/24 | 39 | 10 | 49 |
| 2024/25 | 46 | 8 | 54 |
NB The numbers shown are paid members only and therefore do not include Technical Members.
Interest
The interest paid on our deposit account has decreased with the fall in bank rates.
Rent & Rates
You will see that this category of cost is replaced by workshop costs because we ceased paying rent on the garage in Nettlecombe Close, as predicted in last year’s report. Our lease there ended in April, when we had paid £505 to Sutton Housing, which is included in workshop costs.
Administrative costs
A variety of small expenses, including card-reader fees and IT expenses of various sorts are covered in admin.
Ashworths
We must finally express our immense gratitude to Brendan Dean of Ashworths Solicitors in Wimbledon for all the work he did on our behalf in negotiating the lease for our scenery store. All this – and there was a great deal – he carried out pro bono .
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The future
It seems as though I say most years that ‘we may be facing another challenging period’. I usually turn out to be right, at least on this point. And, true to form, we are yet again embarking on a perilous journey. We have, for the third time in our history, lost our ‘theatrical home’, as Ira called it. (The previous occasions were when Sutton Public Hall was physically demolished and when the Sutton theatres were administratively demolished.)
We will continue next year to perform at CryerArts. We have staged three successful productions there recently in the venue’s new format but, unfortunately, the stage is so small there is little or no space to include a set. We have built a reputation for beautiful and exciting settings for our shows and, without them, we run the risk of losing both that reputation and the technical team that created it. More urgently, the stage can really only accommodate up to six actors. If we are limited to only offering 18 acting parts a year to our membership, that majority who don’t get parts will drift away, negating all the efforts we have put into growth over past years.
We shall carry on come what may but, unless we can find another ‘theatrical home’, it may be in a diminished form. That would be a huge pity after the success the Club has been building over several years. The Committee is determined to pull out all the stops over the next year, and beyond if necessary, to find a suitable venue. We make a plea to all our members and friends to try and think of a space we could use where we can have larger cast plays and a proper set.
Dick Bower
Honorary Treasurer
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surroN AMATEUR DRAMATIC CLUB 2024-25 INCOME AND EXPENDI RE ACCOUNT Year to 31Au ult 202 Year to LIICOME Subseription5 Interest Oonatx)ns Grft Aid 1.930 132 10.015 2,639 1,750 209 14.718 1,961 EXPENOITURE Workshop costs le55 grant received Gèneral administration Insuranc8 Soci81 events 22.815 242 524 530 335 257 412 354 -24.111 -1,359 PRODUCMON Productions surplus 2,676 7,004 D8ficltlSurplu• for the .719 7.608 ALANC ust 2024 A$8ET$ Cash at bank Future shows 21.193 27,1Cfj 21,837 490 28.066 Less-subscriptions in advance 21.347 28,066 ¢APITALAC¢CIJNT Opening balance DeficiVSurplu5 for the year 28,C66 ,719 20,460 7,606 21.347 28,066 SIGN 80 HONORARY TREASURER DATE. I REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT EXAMINER l eertfy the above In¢orne and Expgndrture kcount and Balanca Shtèt lo ba in accordance with the books, aceounts and vtsuchers whic have been presented to me. SIGNED.. R. J. BURGESS INDEPENDENT INER DATE.. li
surroN AMATEUR DRAMATIC CLUB 2024-25 PRODUCTION ACCOUNT The Night of th• Iguana Carshalton at War Big Big Sky INCOME Ticket sale Fmnt of house Show SL¢bs Grant 4,661 507 4.888 893 320 1,405 292 5.448 7.506 4,036 COSTS Theatre hire Rehearsal rooms Scripts Perfom)ing ryJh¢s Production Adverti3in9 Front of house Ticket commission 2,185 972 192 744 2,219 179 143 303 350 1,320 914 79 308 298 159 1,914 177 308 335 252 6,937 3,984 3,393 SURPLUSIILOSSI -1.489 643 2.676 12