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NOTTINGHAM AND NOTTINGHAMSHIRE DRAMA ASSOCIATION

Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Council held on Tuesday 7th April 2009 at Ruddington.

Present: Joan Wildgust (Chairman), Christine Davison (Secretary), Madeline Lord, Tony Vokes, Mel Reynolds, Jon Jones, Sonya Oates, Mike Stewart, Alan Spooner, Hayley Masom.

1 Apologies for absence were received from Jack Barrett, Neil Mackintosh, Christine Chapman, Linda Whitehurst, Roy Ainscough.

2 Minutes and matters arising The minutes of the previous Council Meeting held on Tuesday 17th March 2009 had been circulated and these were signed as a correct record.
Re the Celebrity Luncheon, held on 7th April. Joan has sent letters of thanks to Bill Kenwright Productions, Simon Shepherd and Jack Barrett. Joan delivered the letter of thanks personally to Simon Shepherd; he said that he had enjoyed the event and promised to keep in touch.
Joan has not yet been able to contact Carmen Cameron (a Rushcliffe Councillor) regarding possible grants.


Hon Treasurer's report - as at 7 April 2009
Balance = £4411.41
NS & I = 2195.76
Current = 1695.53
On hand = 520.12
Decrease £418.20


SINCE LAST MEETING
Income
None
Expenditure
Theatre Luncheon - Simon Shepherd
Venue bill - the Welbeck Hotel £377.00
Operations
Secretary's expenses £41.20
Theatre Book
Ongoing Balance (including grant)
Profit £239.98 (no change)

Neil had three questions relating to the accounts: two relating to outstanding money with regard to the Luncheon and the Voice Workshop. These were resolved as Joan had received various cheques in payment. The third query related to the cancellation of the Costume and Make-up Workshop, and whether the deposit of £40 paid to the Lace Market Theatre was refundable. This amount has to be paid, however, Jack will try to negotiate a refund or reduction.
As a result of these queries, Neil had left the results of these events undeclared.
Sarah Kerry has received an invoice from the Dukeries Centre for last year's Youth Festival. When this invoice is received by the Council a decision will be made about payment as there were several complaints about this venue.
4. Discussion Item - Open Forum/Fundraising
Open Forum
It was agreed that another Open Forum meeting should be held. Provisionally, this will be on a Wednesday evening in late June or early July, after the Dinner. The venue will be Nottingham Arts Theatre. The Open Forum will be discussed in greater detail at the next meeting, when an agenda will be decided.
Fundraising (discussed after item 7 in the proceedings)
It is especially difficult to obtain sponsorship in the current economic climate. Businesses (eg East Midlands Airport) are more likely to sponsor tangible things, like equipment rather than events. Obtaining funding (eg from local councils) takes a long time. We therefore need to target potential donors as early as possible for next year's youth festival. To this end, the Youth Festival needs to be organised as soon as possible; a date, venue and adjudicator needs to be arranged so that groups can make plans. Sonya volunteered to take over the organisation of the Youth Festival if Sarah Kerry was unable to continue.
Nottinghamshire County Council does give money to various voluntary groups and Joan will find out more details.

5. Festivals
a) Play of the Year 08/09 and Dinner
There are 14 entries - Mike will put details of the entries on the website.
Carolyn Drury is now able to continue with adjudicating. She will have a discussion with Jill Gautrey, who has adjudicated three plays (the entry by Keyworth was seen by both). Joan has asked them to do a marking system this year for 'Best of……' as this seems to be a fairer system since there have been two adjudicators.
Dinner
Jill Gautrey and her husband have been invited. Carolyn Drury will make the main speech; Jill Gautrey will make a short speech.
A letter of thanks will be sent to Jill after the dinner.
Invitations, menus etc are in the process of being printed and will be sent out to groups soon.
b) One Act Festival
Bob Wildgust had adjudicated the Leicestershire One Act Festival, which was very good. He is shortly to have a meeting with the organiser of the All England Festival and with Harry Bladon about developments.
c) Youth Festival
The closing date was Friday 3rd April - only four entries have been received, from Burton Joyce, ELAPS and two from the Lace Market. Joan had received no replies from the 18 information packs which were sent out to schools. Sonya offered to contact schools asking for feedback on the lack of interest.
As the Burton Joyce group can only attend on Friday, it was decided that the Festival would be held on Friday only. To allow time for 4 plays, changeover time and adjudication the event will start at 6 00pm and finish at approximately 10.00pm Bob Wildgust will be the adjudicator. Joan will inform Chilwell Olympia of the change of booking (now Friday only). Mike will liaise with Patrick McDonough, Ted Trasker (sound and lighting) and Angela Bickley (Finance Office).
Joan, Madeline and Chris will visit the venue beforehand to check facilities and will arrange to buy refreshments..
Admission prices will be £1.50, £2.50 and £3.50.
Sonya will contact Sarah Kerry to discuss details.

6 Theatre Luncheon
Following the recent successful Luncheon, Jack has said that he will make enquiries about future Theatre Royal productions, in the hope of securing another speaker.
.
7 Newsletter/Website
Newsletter
To date only two articles have been received, so the deadline will be missed. Hayley has not received any information yet on groups' future programmes (May - September); she suggested that each group should appoint a publicity officer to be responsible for sending information to her for inclusion in the Newsletter.
Website
Jon and Mike presented their views on improving the website in the light of questionnaires received. The Council discussed various ways in which the site could be used to help groups, encourage more interaction between groups and improve communication between groups and NANDA. Jon and Mike will proceed with the development of the site as discussed. Joan thanked them both for their work.

8 Correspondence/Amendments to membership
None

9 AOB

10 Date of next council meeting.

The next meeting will be at 7.00pm on Tuesday May 12th 2009 at Aspley

The meeting ended at 8.30 pm.