Minutes of the Rose Street Theatre Club AGM, held on 24th October 2024
Rose Street Theatre Club
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 24th 2024 at Wokingham Methodist Church
Approximately 70+ members were present.
The first part of the meeting was a talk with a PowerPoint presentation from Alan Long, the Artistic Director, of Wokingham Theatre. It was a very interesting talk covering the Past, Present and Future of the Theatre and a brief summary of how they produce a play from play selection to the Opening Night.
After a short break, the Annual General Meeting was opened by The Chairman, Tony King.
1. The Chairman’s report: covered a summary of the shows that the club has included in the last year. TK also mentioned that there were rumours that we had advertised the John Rutter Concert in our article that was published in Wokingham Word and Round and About. TK confirmed that there was no mention of the concert in the article and that the rumours were completed false.
2. Tony Weston then spoke about the forthcoming shows and the need to have Special Bookings for some shows where we have to make payment many some months before the event.
3. Judy Jones then talked about the trips that took place this year – the first to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and the Mary Rose in July with a second outing to Bletchley Park in October. Suggestions from the members were sought as we have nothing planned for 2025 yet. The suggestions were The Weald and Downland Living Museum. Battersea Power Station, a boat trip with afternoon tea, Hampton Court which could also include a boat trip, Waddesdon Manor and Rye.
4. Treasurers’ Report: Members were shown slides of a summary of the finances over the last year. Income totalled £54,665 whilst the total expenditure was £55,340. This means that there was a small loss of £675 for the year. There is currently a balance of £14,584 held in accounts with Lloyds Bank. This sum is to cover tickets for London shows which have to be paid for at the time of booking and this can total several thousand pounds.
Lloyds Bank has moved our account to a Community Account and we will now be charged 50p for every cheque that is paid into the account. The Committee has not yet had an opportunity to discuss how we might cover this cost.
The members were also advised that, with the sharp increase in First Class post, postings will now be 2nd Class only as postage is costing about £1,000 year.
Those who pay by Bank Transfer were asked to ensure that the payments had the relevant reference.
5. Acceptance of the Accounts – Approved unanimously
6. Appointment of Officers: The President, Rev Catherine Bowstead, then took over the chair. The appointments were: Chairman Tony King, Secretary Malcolm Souter, Treasurer Gordon Jones, Deputy Treasurer Kay Hammond, Theatre Coordinator Tony Weston, Deputy Theatre Coordinator Malcolm Souter, Bookings administrator and Visits Organiser Judy Jones. All these were appointed for another year. Thanks were expressed to Caroline Starkey for her help in moving the accounts to Xero, stepping in as Independent Examiner when John Drinkwater was taken ill. Caroline was appointed the Independent Examiner
7. Questions and Comments: Appreciation for the work of the Committee was voiced.
Another theatre group to which one of the members belongs adds the bank charge to those paying by cheque.
TW then spoke about the changes that are taking place in trying to book, predominantly for West End but also Woking theatre. These are:
· Only getting e-tickets which we then have to print.
· Shows are now advertised on the Internet several months in advance so the general public are booking earlier.
· We always try to get Band A tickets but most West End theatres are now banding the seats as A,B,C, D and Premium. The Premium seats are where we would normally book and there are no group discounts on these seats.
· Promoters are anxious to get their money and we struggle to get any extension to the dates when we have to confirm our booking. We cannot gamble on buying, for example, 106 seats when less than that number want to go.
Another member pointed out what good value we offer compared to the price paid for anyone booking directly.
The meeting closed at 8.50