APPENDIX 2 Enter SC No. below **SC07865** Enter charity name below ## **Thurso Players** |||||**Receipts and payments **|**Receipts and payments **|**Receipts and payments **|**Receipts and payments **|**Receipts and payments **|**Receipts and payments **|**Receipts and payments **|**accounts**|**accounts**|**accounts**|||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||||||Period start date|||||||Period|||end date|||||| |||**For the period**
**from**||1
Day|April
Month|||2024
Year||**to**|Day
31|Month
March|||||Year
**2025**|||| |**Section A Statement of receipts and payments**|**Section A Statement of receipts and payments**|||||||||||||||||||| |||**Unrestricted**
**funds**||**Restricted funds**|||**Expendable**
**endowment**
**funds**||||**Permanent**
**endowment**
**funds**|||||**Total funds**
**current period**|||**Total funds last**
**period**|**Total funds last**| |||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**|**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**||||**to nearest £**|**to nearest £**|**to nearest £**|||**to nearest £**|**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**|**to nearest £**| |**A1 Receipts**||||||||||||||||||||| |Donations||**£6,045**|||**£58**||||||||||||**£6,103**||**£5,159**|| |Legacies|||||||||||||||||**£0**|||**£0**| |Grants|||||**£1,000**||||||||||||**£1,000**||**£30,660**|| |Receipts from fundraising activities|||||||||||||||||**£0**|||**£431**| |Gross trading receipts|||||||||||||||||**£0**|||**£0**| |Income from investments other than land|Income from investments other than land|||||||||||||||||||| |and buildings||**£336**|||||||||||||||**£336**|||**£141**| |Rents from land & buildings|||||||||||||||||**£0**|||**£0**| |Gross receipts from other charitable|Gross receipts from other charitable|||||||||||||||||||| |activities||**£18,595**|||||||||||||||**£18,595**||**£14,652**|| ||||||||||||||||||**£0**|||**£0**| |**_A1 Sub total_**|**_A1 Sub total_**|**_A1 Sub total_**
**£24,976**|||**£1,058**|||**£0**|||||**£0**||||**£26,034**||**£51,043**|| |**A2 Receipts from asset & investment**||||||||||||||||||||| |**sales**||||||||||||||||||||| |Proceeds from sale of fixed assets
Proceeds from sale of investments
**_A2 Sub total_**
**£0**
**£0**
**£0**
**£0**
**_Total receipts_**
**£24,976**
**£1,058**
**£0**
**£0**
~~————~~|||||||||||||||||**£0**
**£0**
**£0**
**£26,034**||**£0**
**£0**
**£0**
**£51,043**|| |**A3 Payments**||||||||||||||||||||| |Expenses for fundraising activities|||||||||||||||||**£0**|||**£0**| |Gross trading payments|||||||||||||||||**£0**|||**£0**| |Investment management costs|||||||||||||||||**£0**|||**£0**| |Payments relating directly to charitable||||||||||||||||||||| |activities||**£20,813**|||**£8,632**||||||||||||**£29,445**||**£48,611**|| |Grants and donations|||||||||||||||||**£0**|||**£0**| |Governance costs:|||||||||||||||||**£0**|||**£0**| |Audit / independent examination|||||||||||||||||**£0**|||**£0**| |Preparation of annual accounts|||||||||||||||||**£0**|||**£0**| |Legal costs|Legal costs||||||||||||||||**£0**|||**£0**| ||Other|Other|||||||||||||||**£0**|||**£0**| ||||||||||||||||||**£0**|||**£0**| |**_A3 Sub total_**|**_A3 Sub total_**|**£20,813**|||**£8,632**|||**£0**|||||**£0**||||**£29,445**||**£48,611**|| |**A4 Payments relating to asset and**||||||||||||||||||||| |**investment movements**||||||||||||||||||||| |Purchases of fixed assets
Purchase of investments
**_A4 Sub total_**
**£0**
**£0**
**£0**
**_Total payments_**
**£20,813**
**£8,632**
**£0**
~~|~~|||||||||||||**£0**
**£0**||**£0**
**£0**
**£0**
**£0**
**£0**
**£0**
**£29,445**
**£48,611**
~~——~~|||||| |**_Net receipts / (payments)_**
**A5 Transfers to / (from) funds**
**_Surplus / (deficit) for year_**||**£4,162**
**-£7,574**
**£0**
**£0**
**-£3,412**
**£2,431**
**-£5,442**
**£5,442**
**£0**
**£0**
**-£1,280**
**-£2,132**
**£0**
**£0**
**-£3,412**
**£2,431**
~~==5SS~~||||||||||||||||||| |APPENDIX 2
**Thurso Players**|APPENDIX 2
**Thurso Players**|||||**SC07865**|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**Section B Statement of balances**
|||||||| |**Categories**
**Signed by one or two trustees on**
**behalf of all the trustees**
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Investments**
**B3 Other assets**
**B4 Liabilities**
**B5 Contingent liabilities**|**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**£25,027**
**-£1,280**|**Restricted funds**
**to nearest £**|**Expendable**
**endowment funds**
**to nearest £**|**Permanent**
**endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|**Total current**
**period**
**to nearest £**|**Total last period**
**to nearest £**| ||Cash and bank balances at start of year||**£7,470**|**£0**|**£0**|**£32,497**|**£30,066**| ||Surplus / (deficit) shown on receipts and
payments account||**-£2,132**|||**-£3,412**|**£2,431**| |||||||**£0**|| |||||||**£0**|| ||**Cash and bank balances at end of year**
(Agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**|**£23,747**|**£5,338**|**£0**|**£0**|**£29,085**|**£32,497**| |||£0|£0|£0|£0|£0|-£0| ||||**Fund to which**|**Fund to which**|**asset belongs**|**Market valuation**
**to nearest £**|**Last year**
**to nearest £**| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||**Details**|||**asset belongs**|**Total**
**Cost (if available)**
**to nearest £**|**-**|
**-**| |||||||**Current value (if**
**available)**
**to nearest £**|**Last year**
**to nearest £**| ||Mill Theatre||Unres|tricted|||| ||Old Foundry Building||Unres|tricted|||| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||**Details**|||**Total**
**Fund to which li**|**-**|
**-**|
**-**| ||||||**ability relates**|**Amount due**
**to nearest £**|**Last year**
**to nearest £**| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||**Details**|||**Fund to which li**|**Total**
**ability relates**|**-**|**-**| |||||||**Amount due**
**(estimate)**
**to nearest £**|**Last year**
**to nearest £**| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||||||||| ||**Signature***|||**Print Name**|**Total**|**-**|
**-**| ||||||||**Date of**
**approval**| ||||||||| ||||||||| PPENDIX2 Thurso Players Section C Notes to the Accounts SC07865 C1 Nalur• and offwKIts (maybe stated on analyTiS ol nds w0￿s￿••I$) 1. T85co gr•rt frxT£*t C2 Grnnts Totsl C3a Tn*t•• r•mw*ratlon C3b Tn*tso Teniiwieratlon- C4• Tn*ts• •xpnM• Ifrn expwts88 I1￿lee the Fwk)J c¥c66 t#)x c¢￿r*￿ s8c1V￿ 4bl C4bTn*t•• •xp•M••-d•ta IQ Tlattrt of TElatTonshl NatUTP of trans8ttTon C5 Tr•nsadknw wlth th•t¢OS zzz C6 Oth•r Inforniatlon APPENDIX 2 **SC07865** **Thurso Players** ## **Additional analysis (1)** ## **Analysis of receipts and payments** ## **1 Donations** |**1 Donations**||||||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |Membership
Donations
Donations Foundry
**Total**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**||**Restricted funds**
**to nearest £**||**Expendable**
**endowment funds**
**to nearest £**|**Permanent**
**endowment funds**
**to nearest £**||**Total current**
**period**
**to nearest £**||**Total last period**
**to nearest £**| ||**4,287**|||||||**4,287**||**3,843**| ||**1,758**|||||||**1,758**||**1,127**| ||||**58**|||||**58**||**189**| |||||||||**-**||| ||**6,045**||**58**||**-**|**-**||**6,103**||**5,159**| ||||||**-**|||||**reference**| ## **2 Grants** |**2 Grants**|**2 Grants**|||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |||**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**||**Restricted funds**
**to nearest £**||**Total current**
**period**
**to nearest £**||**Total last period**
**to nearest £**| |Stroupster Wind Farm & Watten Wind Farm||||||**-**||**25,500**| |AHF-William Grant Foundation||||||**-**||**5,160**| |West of Orkney Wind Farm- Toilet Refurbishment||||**1,000**||**1,000**||| |||||||**-**||| |**Total**||**-**||**1,000**||**1,000**||**30,660**| |||||||||**-**| ## **3 Gross receipts from other charitable activities** |**3 Gross receipts from other charitable activities**|**3 Gross receipts from other charitable activities**||||||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |||**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**||**Restricted funds**
**to nearest £**||**Expendable**
**endowment funds**
**to nearest £**|**Permanent**
**endowment funds**
**to nearest £**||**Total current**
**period**
**to nearest £**||**Total last period**
**to nearest £**| |Revenue from Theatrical Productions||**18,595**|||||||**18,595**||**14,652**| ||||||||||**-**||| ||||||||||**-**||| ||||||||||**-**||| ||||||||||**-**||| ||||||||||**-**||| ||||||||||**-**||| ||||||||||**-**||| |**Total**||**18,595**||**-**||**-**|**-**||**18,595**||**14,652**| |||||||-|||||-| ## **4 Payments relating directly to charitable activities** |**4 Payments relating directly to charitable activities**|**4 Payments relating directly to charitable activities**||||||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |||**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**||**Restricted funds**
**to nearest £**||**Expendable**
**endowment funds**
**to nearest £**|**Permanent**
**endowment funds**
**to nearest £**||**Total current**
**period**
**to nearest £**||**Total last period**
**to nearest £**| |Admin & membershiprefunds||**327**|







||||||**327**|









|**335**| |Garage Rent||**1,872**|||||||**1,872**||**1,872**| |Production Expenses||**7,791**|||||||**7,791**||**5,217**| |PPL PRS||**310**|||||||**310**||**220**| |SCDA membership||**75**|||||||**75**||**-**| |The Mill maintenance||**3,107**|||||||**3,107**||**1,509**| |Utilities||**4,275**|||||||**4,275**||**7,915**| |Insurance||**2,905**|||||||**2,905**||**2,731**| |Foundry||||**8,632**|||||**8,632**||**28,813**| |Website maintenance||**152**|||||||**152**||| ||||||||||**-**||| |**Total**||**20,813**||**8,632**||**-**|**-**||**29,445**||**48,611**| |||||||-|||||-| APPENDIX 2 **SC07865** ## **Additional analysis (2)** ## **5 Breakdown of unrestricted funds** |**5 Breakdown of unrestricted funds**|||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**Receipts**|**Unrestricted fund**
**1 - enter name of**
**fund below**||**Unrestricted fund**
**2 - enter name of**
**fund below**|**Unrestricted fund**
**3 - enter name of**
**fund below**|**Unrestricted fund**
**4 - enter name of**
**fund below**|**Total unrestricted**
**funds**|**Total unrestricted**
**funds last period**| |Donations|**6,045**|||||**6,045**|**4,970**| |Legacies|**-**|||||**-**|| |Grants|**-**|||||**-**|| |Receipts from fundraising activities|**-**|||||**-**|**431**| |Gross trading receipts|**-**|||||**-**|| |Income from investments other than land and buildings|**336**|||||**336**|**141**| |Rents from land & buildings|**-**|||||**-**|| |Gross receipts from other charitable activities|**18,595**|||||**18,595**|**14,652**| |**_Sub total_**
**Receipts from asset & investment sales**|**24,976**||**-**|**-**|**-**|**24,976**|**20,193**| |||||||-|| |Proceeds from sale of fixed assets||||||**-**|| |Proceeds from sale of investments||||||**-**|| |**_Sub total_**
**_Total receipts_**
**Payments**|**-**||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**| ||**24,976**||**-**|**-**|**-**|**24,976**|**20,193**| |||||||-|| |Expenses for fundraisingactivities||||||**-**|| |Gross trading payments||||||**-**|| |Investment management costs||||||**-**|| |Payments relatingdirectlyto charitable activities|**20,813**|||||**20,813**|**19,799**| |Grants and donations||||||**-**|| |Governance costs:||||||**-**|| |Audit / independent examination||||||**-**|| |Preparation of annual accounts||||||**-**|| |Legal costs||||||**-**|| |||||||**-**|| |||||||**-**|| |**_Sub total_**
**Payments relating to asset and investment**
**movements**|**20,813**||**-**|**-**|**-**|**20,813**|**19,799**| |||||||-|| |Purchases of fixed assets||||||**-**|| |Purchase of investments||||||**-**|| |**_Sub total_**
**_Total payments_**
**_Net receipts / (payments)_**
**Transfers to / (from) funds**
**_Surplus / (deficit) for year_**|**-**||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**| |||||||-|| ||||**-**|**-**|**-**|**20,813**|**19,799**| |||||||-|| ||||**-**|**-**|**-**|**4,162**|**395**| ||||||||| |||||||**5,442)**
**(**|| ||||||||| ||||**-**|**-**|**-**|**1,280)**
**(**|**395**| |||||||-|| |**Nature andpurpose of funds**|||||||| |£5,442 transferred from Unrestricted to Restricted Funds to c|over payment for the||Building Warrant preparations.||||| APPENDIX 2 **SC07865** **Thurso Players** ## **Additional analysis (3)** ## **6 Breakdown of restricted funds** |**6 Breakdown of restricted funds**||||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**Receipts**|**1.Tesco- Toilet**
**Refurbishment**||**2. Foundry**
**preparatory works,**
**new website and**
**display boards.**|**3. Foundry**|**4. West of**
**Orkney Wind**
**Farm- Toilet**
**Refurbishment**|**Total restricted**
**funds**||**Total restricted**
**funds last period**| |Donations||||**58**||**58**||**189**| |Legacies||||||**-**||-| |Grants|||||**1,000**|**1,000**||30,660| |Receipts from fundraising activities||||||**-**||| |Gross trading receipts||||||**-**||| |Income from investments other than land and buildings||||||**-**||| |Rents from land & buildings||||||**-**||| |Gross receipts from other charitable activities||||||**-**||| |**_Sub total_**
**Receipts from asset & investment sales**|**-**||**-**|**58**|**1,000**|**1,058**||**30,849**| |||||||-||| |Proceeds from sale of fixed assets||||||**-**||| |Proceeds from sale of investments||||||**-**||| |**_Sub total_**
**_Total receipts_**
**Payments**|**-**||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**|**58**|**1,000**|**1,058**||**30,849**| |||||||||| |Expenses for fundraisingactivities||||||**-**||| |Gross trading payments||||||**-**||| |Investment management costs||||||**-**||| |Payments relatingdirectlyto charitable activities||||**8,632**||**8,632**||**28,813**| |Grants and donations||||||**-**||| |Governance costs:||||||**-**||| |Audit / independent examination||||||**-**||| |Preparation of annual accounts||||||**-**||| |Legal costs||||||**-**||| |||||||**-**||| |||||||**-**||| |**_Sub total_**
**Payments relating to asset and investment**
**movements**|**-**||**-**|**8,632**|**-**|**8,632**||**28,813**| |||||||||| |Purchases of fixed assets||||||**-**||| |Purchase of investments||||||**-**||| |**_Sub total_**
**_Total payments_**
**_Net receipts / (payments)_**
**Transfers to / (from) funds**
**_Surplus / (deficit) for year_**|**-**||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |||||||||| ||||**-**|**8,632**|**-**|**8,632**||**28,813**| |||||||||| ||||**-**|**8,574)**
**(**|**1,000**|**7,574)**
**(**||**2,036**| |||||||||| |||||**5,442**||**5,442**||| |||||||||| ||**-**||**-**|**3,132)**
**(**|**1,000**|**2,132)**
**(**||**2,036**| |||||||-||| ## **Nature and purpose of funds** Fund 1 and 4 is for the refurbishment of the Mill Toilets Fund 2 is for Foundry preparatory works, new website and display boards. Fund 3 is for the repairs to the foundry building and its conversion to a storage, workshop and rehearsal facility £5,442 transfered from unrestricted funds to cover the cost of building warrent preparation The closing restricted fund balance of £5,338 is given below. Toilet Refurbishment £2 000 Foundry Works £2 940 Unspent Foundry Donations £398 APPENDIX 3 OSCR kottsh Charity ReRulator Inde .J)endent examiner's report on the accounts V2 Report to the trusteeslmembers of Chanty name Thurso Players Registered charity number On the accounts of the charity for the period SC07865 Period start date Month Period end date Month Da Year Da Year 01 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 Set out on pages reff￿rnber to indude the page umbers of additsonal sheets) Appendix 2 Pages 1 to 6 Respective responsibilities of The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordan with the terms of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) 2005 Act and the trustees and examiner I Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). The charity trustees consider that the audit requirement of Regulation 10(1) (d) of the Accounts Regulations does not apply. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts as required under section 44(1) (c) of the Act and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basls of Independent My examination is carried out in accordan￿ with Regulation 11 of the 2006 Accounts examlnerfs statement Regulations. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also indudes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeks explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and, consequently. I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts. Independent examlner's . In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention [other than that statement disclosed on the attached page'] which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements: to keep accounting records in accordance with section 44(1) (a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations, and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulation 9 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations have not been met, or 2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understandin of the accounts to be reached. Date: Slgned- Name: Relevant professlonal qualSficatlon(s) or body (if any): 02/12/20b- Address: 'Please delete Iho words in Ihe brackcts if they do not apply. If Ihe words do apply, set out those matters which have come to your attention on the following page. OSCR will accept digital or typed slgnatures APPENDIX 3 Disclosure section Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material problems. Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose **Thurso Players SC007865** **Trustees’ Annual Report** Period From 30 Mar 2024 to Period End 31Mar 2025 Thurso Players Scottish Charity Number: SC007865 The Mill Theatre Millbank Road Thurso KW14 8PS Telephone number 01847 893572 - Email address https://thursoplayers.org.uk/contact us/ Website www.thursoplayers.org.uk - Facebook https://en gb.facebook.com/Thurso.Players/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thurso_players/?hl=en-gb **2** ~~—~~ Charity Trustees Office Bearers Chairman Vice Chairman Secretary Treasurer Committee Members Elected CO￿pted Wardrobe Manager Junior Section Coordinator Junior Section Coordinator (from 22 May 2024) Publicity Officer Child Protection and Membership Child Protection ## **Objectives and activities** Thurso Players is an amateur dramatic club based at The Mill Theatre, Thurso, in the beautiful Far North of Scotland. The objects of the club are to promote amateur drama in Thurso and the surrounding area. We do this by using the talents of our members, and the resources of the club, for the benefit of community life and the assistance of other charitable organisations in Thurso and surrounding area of the North of Scotland . Our 78-seat capacity Mill Theatre is housed in one of the oldest buildings in Thurso, part of an old Foundry and mill complex that has been lovingly restored and home to the Players for the last 65 years. Every year we produce several shows covering a range of styles including drama, musicals, revues, comedies, and our Christmas pantomime, which is performed in Thurso High School. We have thriving adult and junior sections, with Junior workshops taking place every Friday night during school term time and are regular supporters of the Scottish Community Drama Association (SCDA), appearing in their One-Act Play Festival most years. Adults and Juniors work closely together to produce professional-standard shows throughout the year, and we also run a two-week summer Junior workshop we call Whoops! In addition to a busy amateur programme, when our programme has space, we hire out the theatre to other professionals or organisations to help supplement our income. Where possible, the club welcomes professional touring companies who would like to perform at The Mill Theatre. **4** ## **Structure, governance and management** Type of governing document Thurso Players activities are managed in accordance with our Constitution. Trustee recruitment and appointment The governing body is the General Meeting of the members. This General Meeting elects a Committee to manage the club. The Committee comprises the of a Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and up to five other members. Nominations for the committee are submitted in writing at least seven clear days in advance of any General Meeting of the Society. The Committee has powers to co-opt additional members to the Committee as they see fit. Co-opted members have the same voting rights at meetings of the Committee as elected Committee members. All members of the Committee are Trustees. **5** ## **Achievements and performance** For the third year in a row Thurso Players have been even more productive than the previous year in promoting and presenting the arts in Caithness. A big contributor in this success was continuing to run our annual Pantomime in the High School instead of in the Mill as this enabled us to involve more people on stage as well as off stage and to play to a bigger audience. Whilst we have managed to engage with and involve more members on stage and backstage, we are still slightly short of the audience numbers we had pre Covid. Casting performances has been less of an issue this year as we have had some new members get involved in acting. The Membership numbers are on a par with last year. Moving over to a single annual renewal date has simplified our management system without adversely affecting numbers. This has eased the workload associated with managing the membership and we have taken the opportunity to transition to a new online membership system which should make it it easier for new members to join in future. The current membership numbers are: - 10 Associate Member - 71 Full Members - 71 Junior Members The club staged a full programme this year: Amateur production programme Whilst we now have a well proven capability to live stream all productions performed in the Mill Theatre online, this has not always proved financially viable due to the additional cost of video rights and impact on seat sales. Our online ticket sales have proved popular and convenient for many, and we will continue with this improved service in future. Our online ticket system is now combined with physical ticket sales from G McBeaths the Jewellers in town which helps keep our older audience members and those who don’t like digital ticketing. We continue to be very grateful to McBeaths for providing this service. **6** Thurso Players productions staged this year were: - A George Mackay Brown short story dramatization of The Wheel and Adrina – written and directed by Christina Doake - Memory of Water – directed by Audrey O’Brien - Whoops – Our annual Junior summer 2-week workshop event. - Wyrd Sisters – Directed by John Glen - Peter Pan – our annual pantomime performed in Thurso High School, directed by Sarah Wilkinson Other events supported or staged this year were: - A fund-raising Quiz - Workshop nights for adults - Play readings. - Sponsored Lecture + Live stream for Thurso Rotary Club - Drama workshop for juniors SCDA Thurso Players successfully entered the SCDA One Act Play Festival with the play “Taken” directed by . This came first at the Caithness round of the Festival staged in Thurso High School, then it came first at the Highland round of the festival staged in Nairn and made it through to the Scottish Finals in Kircaldy. Juniors Our well-supported Junior section which is run by a team of volunteer members on Friday Nights during school term time is still popular and has a waiting list. The extra session, that was added last year means that we can now accommodate three age groups to further increase the number that can attend. This has proved very popular and most sections are now fully subscribed but it has meant a longer night for our volunteer helpers which has proved a challenge on occasion. . Professional production programme As reported last year: Our professional production programme is still on hold and we did not stage any professional touring theatre groups this year. Prior to lockdown, this was due to lack of funding and programme clashes as we have to schedule set building, rehearsals and performances in the same auditorium. It is hoped that on **7** completion of the Foundry project we will have more scheduling options and that should help in this regard. We would like to reinstate our professional programme, but this would be heavily dependent on securing adequate external funding. The professional theatre groups that tour this far north, tend to need a guarantee against losses which is out with our budget currently. Wardrobe As previous years, whenever possible, we try and support other organisations, as well as providing costumes for our own productions. We have continued to support the local community with our wardrobe loan service. Going forward we still plan to host events such as a previous wardrobe visit by pupils from one of the local Primary Schools. The Mill As reported for the last few years, maintenance of the Theatre is a significant duty and responsibility of the players. The planned refurbishment of the downstairs toilets has become a step closer due to successful fund raising and grant applications. It is hoped that this project will be ready to start early in the coming year and give these facilities a much-needed face lift. The Foundry Building Renewal of the Planning permission to convert the foundry building into a much-needed support facility for the Mill Theatre has now been received. This along with the listed building planning consent that we received last year will allow us to move forward on the Project again During the year we received the final Ground Investigation Report and this showed that we have no ground contamination concerns. We have continued in our efforts to secure funding but have reached a stage where we need to become a SCIO (Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation) before proceeding. To this end a draft Constitution for the new organisation has been prepared and agreed by the committee and the application to OSCR to form the SCIO is nearly complete. **8** The current aim for this coming year remains to prioritise securing funds to make the building safe, weather tight and prevent further deterioration. This will be followed by a second phase of funding and works to adapt the building to suit our needs and make it as accessible as possible. Other Items On the Financial front, whilst we have used up a small amount of our capital, we still have sufficient funds in our main account to keep the club running and maintain the theatre for the coming year. As reported previously, we have combined our accounts but maintain a separate project fund, which is being used to fund the preparations for the foundry refurbishment project. Any grant funding for specific projects such as the Toilet Refurbishment is also accounted for separately. We have a reserves policy in place to help when making funding applications. We continually review seat sales and the effectiveness of our publicity as a standard committee agenda item for every production. Our, now well established, system of combining online ticket sales with conventional ticket sales from G McBeaths the Jewellers in Thurso continues to be an integral part of our continuing efforts to boost audience numbers. Our online streaming system now has a good quality sound and 1080P Video so we intend to continue streaming of live productions whenever financially viable. As reported previously, Highland Council substantially increased the High School hire fees, and whilst this had an impact it still proved worthwhile staging the pantomime in the High School this year. This is something that we hope to continue as it is our major source of income and helps with the running of the mill theatre. ## **Financial review** During the year the club had income of £26,034 including £1,000 from grant applications and expenditure of £29,445 resulting in a deficit of £3,412. This compares with a surplus of £2,431 in the previous year. The unrestricted funds showed a surplus of £4,162 during the year. **9** The restricted funds showed a deficit of £7,574 due to the payment for work that we had received advanced payment for in the previous year and the cost of preparation of the building warrant submission for which we only had partial grant funding. The club finished the year with a bank balance of £29,085. Following the transfer of £5,442 from the General to the Restricted account, to cover the building warrant work we closed the year with £5,338 of restricted funds and £23,747 unrestricted funds. Further financial breakdown is provided in Appendix 2 ## **Statement of the charity’s policy on reserves** The rationale behind the reserves policy. Thurso Players own a 78 seat Theatre in Thurso, housed in an old Mill Building. The building is listed by Scottish Heritage. The building is used both as our Club rooms and to perform Plays. Because of the nature of the building, its upkeep is expensive, both in terms of routine running costs and potential repair costs. In addition, due to limited space within the Mill Theatre, the charity also rents space to store stage set. The charity relies heavily on the surplus income from Productions. This can fluctuate dependent on such things as the commercial success of the production, the cost of staging a production etc. Because of this it is prudent to hold reserves to cover for both known and unexpected costs. Steps taken to establish the level of reserves. The charity sets its membership fees at such a level that anyone can afford to join and take part in amateur drama. The charity has been successful in staging productions that have returned a reasonable surplus particularly from our annual pantomime that, pre-pandemic, was staged in the Thurso High School. Other productions in the Mill Theatre, perform to smaller audiences and return only a small surplus. This has allowed us to cover the normal running costs of the Charity and to build up a small surplus. The level of reserves required. **10** Post Pandemic, we are noticing that audiences are gradually starting to come back to watch productions, but we have seen a considerable increase in the rental charges for the use of the Thurso High School. These factors are expected to reduce the contribution that can be made to the routine costs of running the club. Additionally, the club has reviewed regular costs incurred in the running and upkeep of the Mill Theatre and rental of set storage space for the last financial year. With the current high inflation climate and uncertainty of income, the trustees are of the opinion that the charity should hold reserves to cover current regular costs for a period of 18 months. This will allow the charity to continue to function should the current financial climate curtail both our membership and surplus income from productions. This policy will also allow the charity to commit a portion of our current remaining funds toward the restoration of the adjacent Foundry Building. Donated facilities and services Thurso Players have a mutual arrangement with the Thurso Youth Club whereby we share our buildings from time to time for our mutual benefit. This was done this year for several productions when we used the upstairs areas in the Youth Club as a changing room. ## **Future plans** The incoming committee have a range of issues to consider when financially planning for the coming year: - Reforming Thurso Players as a SCIO rather than a simple registered charity. - Stabilising the foundry building and making it weather tight to preserve it. - Boosting seat sales for productions in the Mill - Membership subscriptions. **11** Declaration Signed on behalf of the charity trustees: Ptint name Designation Treasurer Date 20 December 2025 12