Fermanagh BrightStarz Trustee Annual Report 2022/23
Report of the trustees for the year ending 31[st] March 2023
Financial Review
Our accounts have been examined by Crudden Accountants and present an income in the period of £21,272 and expenditure of £19,421. Our expenditure is across the areas of room hire, professional director costs, costumes, set, technicians, theatre hire and general office administration. Our income is the subscription that members pay each week and fundraising activities and donations which support us.
Trustees, Structures, Governance and Management
We have 7 trustees who direct the charity, they ensure we fulfil our purpose for the public benefit and manage our resources responsibly and effectively and ensure that we work in accord with our constitution and manage all risks associated with delivering our programme.
As a very small charity, the trustees have more than one role. In addition to being trustees, they also carry out the day-to-day tasks in running the group and deliver the activities on a Tuesday night with the directors in a volunteer capacity. Our trustees are very hands on in their involvement and support in every way from bag packing, to washing costumes. They are also the first aid officers, safeguarding leads, data handlers of the group. They manage the accounts, carry out all fundraising activity, manage all communications and PR, and work with directors to produce the show.
We have a small trustee committee made up of Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and other committee members. The skill set around the table is diverse with family members, carers, cast members. The trustees bring administrative, creative and other skills. The committee meets quarterly and elects members at the AGM.
Advisors/Professional Input
We engage professional artistic directors and technicians to deliver our shows and develop our cast. We engage accountants to examine our accounts each year. We seek advice as appropriate on any matter that the trustees cannot manage.
Community Connections
We are fortunate that our work is well regarded in the local community and as a result this year has seen us nominated as the charity of choice by the Erne Vintage Car Club for their rally in August which resulted in us raising £6,700 and we are very grateful to the club for their support and for selecting us. We had a truly wonderful day. We were also approached by Focus Gym a local business who also fundraised for us and raised £210. We were approached by the PTA at the Model School, Enniskillen who wished to make us the beneficiary of the inaugural Shirley’s Run at their school in memory of Shirley Rowland, this was a truly special day for us, and we very much enjoyed joining the runners that evening and were amazed to receive £3000. We were approached by the editor of the Impartial Reporter who wished to put our charity forward for the Newsquest Media Group for Scotland and Northern Ireland’s charity fundraiser. The readers of the Impartial Reporter could photo for their preferred charity, and we were delighted to receive the grant for this of £1061. We were also invited by the Community Champion at the Asda Store in Enniskillen to be their nominated charity and received £300. We are also very lucky to have received a very generous anonymous donation from 2 residents in Fermanagh totalling £200. The Ladies Captain at Enniskillen Golf Club made us her chosen charity and raised £865 for us which was wonderful. It is true to say that the people of Fermanagh have hearts as big as mountains and we are truly indebted to all these fine organisations for their support.
We are so very grateful to everyone who supports us in the community. We not only received all these funds, but we also receive that very precious commodity of time. Our volunteers who give their time endlessly to us all year round. The seasonal volunteers who step in at show time and take time off their day jobs to come and work with us. The hair and make up artists in the town who give their time so generously.
Membership
Our membership in the year was 26 members. We still have a waiting list to join however we manage this carefully in terms of capacity and ability to manage ratios of volunteers to members and to manage shows safely on stage.
Achievements
We successfully appointed our artistic team in the year and were delighted to have Nadia Stenson and Moya Sweeney join us for our production of A very Blues Brother’s Sister Act! We sold out our show for two nights in June and the audience loved it. There was a significant degree of trepidation for the cast as they had not been on the stage since 2019 because of the pandemic and we worked hard with them on rebuilding confidence after the hiatus.
In the autumn our cast were delighted to finally get back to the red carpet at the Killyhevlin Hotel for the gala ball and the launch of their DVD.
As a committee we were delighted to just be back together fully again and doing what we love best working with our BrightStarz and watching them shine. The pandemic years had certainly taken their toll on all of us, but we had stuck together, just kept going and got through it and our cast were back treading the boards of Ardhowen once more.
Looking forward
As a committee we decided that in the year ahead our approach would be steady as she goes, building up the confidence of the group again, appointing the new directorate team. Identifying the next production to be done and working on our fundraising activities. If time and resources permitted, we will look to apply to the Big Lottery for funding. We still aim to have a place of our own that BrightStarz can call home where we can rehearse, manage our set, our costumes and props and our administration. We remain grateful to Barry Goan for giving over his home as office space and storage centre. We realise we need more handson deck and will work to get more volunteers on board to support us and share the load. We are very conscious that we could not exist without the volunteers who make BrightStarz happen.
Patricia Goan, Chairperson
On behalf of the Fermanagh BrightStarz Committee
January 2024