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NOTTINGHAM AND NOTTINGHAMSHIRE DRAMA ASSOCIATION

Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Council held on Tuesday 9th September at East Leake.

Present: Joan Wildgust (Chairman), Christine Davison (Secretary), Neil Mackintosh (Treasurer), Mike Stewart, Madeline Lord, Jon Jones, Jack Barrett, Roy Ainscough, Hayley Masom, Linda Whitehurst, Christine Chapman, Sonya Oates, Alan Spooner (Keyworth)

1 Apologies for absence were received from Tony Vokes, Mel Reynolds(Burton Joyce)

2 Minutes and matters arising The minutes of the previous Council Meeting held on Tuesday 15th July 2008 had been circulated and these were signed as a correct record.
Jon Jones handed over the Dictaphone
The Play of the Year annual dinner has been booked for Friday 19th June 2009 at Cotgrave Place Golf Club. The Golf Club has been sold for future development but this should not present any problems. Joan asked all Council members to investigate an alternative venue for 2010 and to bring menus and price lists along to the next meeting. Enquiries had already been made at Ruddington Golf Club and it was not considered suitable. An alternative weekend should be considered as June 18th/19th 2010 is the Grand Prix at Castle Donnington.

3 Hon Treasurer's report - (Two months)
Balance = £3918.39
Decrease = £1307.20
(N S & I = £2195.76; Current = £1183.40; On Hand = £539.23)

Since Last Meeting (Two months)
Income
Youth Festival
Refreshment receipts = £5
Operations
Subscriptions:-
Group membership - 6 @ £20 each
Extra newsletters sub - 1 @ £5
Individual membership - 3 @ £10 each
TOTAL = £155

'History of Amateur Theatre' Book
Sales - 3 @ £1 each = £3

Miscellaneous
Merchandise - Sales - 2 x 'Sketches' @ £1 each = £2


EXPENDITURE
Play of the Year
Adjudication - Ian Carr = £560.60
Co-ordinator's expenses - Joan Wildgust = £54.41
Youth Festival
Adjudication - Zachary Houlton = £164
Annual Dinner and A/C 2009
Venue deposit - Cotgrave Place Golf Club = £100

OPERATIONS
Chairman's Expenses = £69.83
Newsletter postage = £20.54
Insurance = £226.14

MISCELLANEOUS
Purchase of dictation machine = £214.24
Open Forum
Refreshment Stock = £30.46; Wine = £25; Name Badges = £6.98
Theatre Book - Ongoing balance (including grant)
Profit = £231.98 (increase)

RESULTS
Play of the Year
Income = £500.00; Expenditure = £615.01: - Loss = £115.01
Youth Festival
Income = £580.35; Expenditure = £337.36: - Profit = 242.99
Gurd Award
Income = £18.88; Expenditure = Nil: - Profit = £18.88
Operations
Income = £636.01; Expenditure = £580.44: Profit = £55.57
'History of Amateur Theatre' Book (ongoing)
Income = £10.00; Expenditure Nil: - Profit = £10.00
Miscellaneous
Income = £6; Expenditure = £553.68: Loss = £547.68

FINANCIAL YEAR 2007 - 2008
Income = 3854.04
Expenditure 4130.49
Loss 276.45

Balance at 31/08/2008 = £4144.53

Payment for the coming year - 2008/9 was due at the end of August.
To date several groups have not paid their subscriptions:-

Recommended that increases for 2009/2010 be as follows:-
Group - £25; Individual £12.50 Newsletter only - £7.50

4 Discussion Item - Festivals
Future plans for the Youth Festival and the One Act Festival were discussed.
One Act Festival
One point to emerge from the Open Forum was a lack of support for the One Act Play Festival. Several reasons for this were discussed:-
Groups not used to producing one act plays.
This year's festival was at short notice so groups had no time to prepare.
Wrong time of year - by June groups are at the end of their season - actors, directors are too tired.
Difficulty of finding suitable material.
However, it was decided that, rather than abandon it completely, which would be a shame, the Festival should be 're-marketed' for 2010. A sub committee would consider various ways in which the Festival could be improved and made more attractive to Groups. It was decided that the sub committee would comprise the following people:-Roy Ainscough, Mike Stewart, Hayley Masom (promotion and marketing), Bob Wildgust (volunteered by Joan Wildgust), Neil Mackintosh. LindaWhitehurst and Christine Chapman will ask Adam Guest to be a member of the group .Bob Wildgust will co-ordinate members and a meeting will be held at Hayley's during November; they will then report back at the December meeting.
Youth Festival
Letters asking for sponsorship have been sent out to various local companies and organisations. Hayley said that there have been few replies so far, and only one refusal. East Midlands Airport had sent a form, requesting further information and costings which had to be filled in as soon as possible. As the competition runs in April/May then planning must start as soon as possible. Any sponsorship NANDA receives may not come in time for the 2009 festival and plans for a larger youth festival may have to be delayed until 2010.

5 Festivals
Play of the Year 08/09 and Dinner
No adjudicator has yet been found. It was decided to look for an adjudicator from the Guild of Adjudicators and to put the price up to £60 per adjudication - to be subsidized by NANDA. An adjudicator will need to be booked by the end of September if possible and Joan will endeavour to do this.

6 Theatre Luncheon
Jack has continued to try and contact various possible people for this event through their agents, but has so far not been able to get a firm commitment from anyone. He is still hopeful that Honeysuckle Weeks may be able to attend, and is trying to contact David Essex's agent for a date next year. The Council thanked him for his continuing efforts in what is a difficult task

7 Newsletter/Website
Drafts of the Newsletter were distributed. Hayley apologised for the lateness, but said that hopefully it would be back from the printers next week and Sonya will distribute it towards the end of September.
Hayley has produced an up to date copy of the membership booklet.
Roy said he was pleased at the new format of the website and thought it was a good idea to ask for feedback
Christine Chapman said that there should be information on which plays had been entered for the Play of the Year and was assured that as soon as a group entered a play it would be put on the website.
The Website will be November's discussion topic.
.
8 Correspondence/Amendments to membership
No Amendments.
The Council had received a letter from Bonington Players, in which the members expressed their concerns at the adjudication of the Play of the Year competition, which they considered to be rather harsh and negative. The Council discussed the points raised in the letter . Joan will send a reply to Bonington Players.

9 AOB
Orchard Theatre Company have voted to move their production of Neville's Island to Chilwell Olympia.

10 Date of next two council meetings
Next meeting - Tuesday 14th October at 7.00pm at Aspley
November meeting - Tuesday November 18th at 7.00pm at Arnold

The meeting ended at 9.30pm