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NOTTINGHAM AND NOTTINGHAMSHIRE DRAMA ASSOCIATION

Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Council held on Tuesday 11th May 2010 at Arnold.

Present: Joan Wildgust (Chairman), Linda Whitehurst, Mike Stewart, Neil Mackintosh (Treasurer), Jack Barrett, Mel Reynolds, Jon Jones, Isobel Griffiths (ELAPS), Liz Hagan (Prospect Players).

1 Apologies for absence were received from Tony Vokes, Christine Davison, Roy Ainscough, Madeline Lord, Donna Atherton. Howard Whitehurst.

2 Minutes and matters arising. - The minutes of the previous Council Meeting held on Tuesday 13th April 2010 had been circulated and these were signed as a correct record.
There were no matters arising.

3 Hon Treasurer's report - as at 13th April 2010
Balance = £4432.82
Current = £1335.51
NS & I = £2262.57
On hand = £834.74
Increase= £120.00

SINCE LAST MEETING
Income
Play of the Year Competition
Entry - 2 @ £60 each = £ 60
Expenditure
None

4. Discussion Item - NANDA Website
Jon Jones reminded the meeting that he and Mike had spent quite a bit of time putting together a proposal including revised fresher design and other ideas based on the NANDA questionnaire. For various reasons these changes had not been implemented. Jon went on to remind the meeting that we owe an awful lot to Mike for the informative site that has been created but the world has moved on and we must now acknowledge that people want more than just good information and the site must attract users and be easy to navigate and to use. With Mike's technical skill and Jon's design skill they should be able to work together to make the site special.
Jack Barrett said the site needs to change - it must be clear, fresher and give a good impression. The front page is not inviting and parts were not up to date, eg the Newsletter section.
Joan Wildgust had taken a real good look at the site and following Mike's explanation of how the site was laid out she had found it easier to navigate.
It was suggested that parts of the site were well out of date and that one group had raised concerns that the rules for the One Act Play on the site were not the current rules. Jack asked everyone to let Mike know if they found information on the site that was incorrect.
Isabel (ELAPS) said she had taken a look at the site in preparation for the meeting. She had never looked at it before and found the home page dreary and said it did not encourage her to look further.
Jack said that what Mike & Jon had proposed last year looked good and asked if together Mike and Jon could make the site address some of the concerns raised. With Mike's technical skill and Jon's design skill they should be able to work together to make the site special.
Joan suggested that we address the Home page first to show that things were changing and asked if the 'swap shop' idea could be incorporated as requested by members in their questionnaire response. Jon suggested that the Newsletter could be used to launch the new website and the website could support the newsletter - to the advantage of both.
Joan asked if we might be able to come to the next meeting with enough to give an update. Jon said he would try to do some work on a fresher design and then Mike and he could look at the site navigation to improve ease of use.

5. Festivals
a) Play of the Year
Joan said she had nothing to report on this other than to report that two more adjudications had been completed. She reminded the meeting that she needs the trophies back urgently from last year's winners and asked everyone to remind current winners to return them to her by the end of May.
Dinner - Linda Whitehurst said all the e-mails regarding the dinner have gone out and Joan said she had been contacted to ask about tickets. Joan said the programme has been proof read and needs a few more bits of information. She went on to ask Liz Hagen if she would ask a member of Prospect Players to propose the toast to NANDA. Liz will check and report back.
b) Youth Festival
Nothing to report. Sonia was to write out to explain the decision to stop the festival for a year. Has this happened?
Joan said she had received an e-mail advising her that Ravenshead Youth Theatre Group had decided to cancel their NANDA membership due to the cancellation of the Youth Festival this year.
c) All England Theatre Festival 2010 English Semi Final
The English Semi Final of the All England Theatre Festival was held at Evesham on the 8th May with five teams competing.
Simon Carter's play Limbo the entry from our own Division was sadly unplaced but Simon gave an excellent performance and the play was listed as one of the nominees for an award.
The adjudicator was a Scott Marshall of GODA who gave one of the most informative and constructive adjudications of each of the five plays heard for some time. The winning play The Mother Tree by the Total Arts Community Theatre of Tamworth was visually stunning with good acting performances. The adjudicators special award went to Market Harborough's 'Effie's Burning' ( The Nottingham Nanda winner) for 'acting strength' with Simon Carter own performance and the play "Bar and Ger' receiving acting nominations.
The English Final will be held at the Brewhouse Arts Centre Burton on Trent on Saturday 5th June 2010.
d) NANDA ONE ACT PLAY FESTIVAL 2010
Following the success of the NANDA Festival held in March this year arrangements are being made for the for the staging of a NANDA One Act play Festival in 2011 on a date to be confirmed in mid March 2011. The prospect of such a festival has already aroused the interest of some Groups involving a potential three entries recorded at this early stage. It is hoped that NANDA member Groups will record this time frame in 2011 to enable them to enter and perhaps make a two day Festival in March 2011. The Festival would be linked to the AETF National Competition with Bob Wildgust again acting as Festival Coordinator.
Neil mentioned that the lighting system is very poor at Chilwell and needs some work. Mike Stewart confirmed this.

6. Theatre Luncheon
Jack reported that he had chased the theatre in Derby regarding our request for Robert Lindsay to attend our luncheon. They advised that the request needed to go via the agent but they felt it was too early to send it on as RL was very busy at the moment. Jack has replied explaining that unless we get some undertaking fairly soon it would be too late to organise the event and asking them to forward the request.
Other names were suggested if Robert Lindsay cannot make it - Norman Pace, Billy Ivory and Amanda Whittington.

7. Newsletter
Joan asked Linda Whitehurst to thank Howard for the excellent Newsletter. Jon said he had had a number of Radcliffe group members contact him to ask why the next Radcliffe play is not included which shows they are reading it. Jack said he would not be able to send it to his group for the same reason. Both Jon and Jack assumed that advising Mike to include their items on the website meant they would be included on the Newsletter.
Joan asked those present to ask their group members to send articles to Howard for inclusion in future editions.

8. Correspondence
Neil had received an e-mail from the secretary of Ravenshead Theatre Group in response to Christine Davison's reminder e-mail about paying their subs. Neil had spoken to the treasurer who seemed to believe that the only reason for joining NANDA was to enter the Youth Festival. Subsequently the e-mail confirming they would not be rejoining had been received (see Youth Festival - point 5b.) Joan will contact Ravenshead Theatre Group to discuss their decision.
Three other groups who were sent the reminders have not responded.

9. AOB
Joan Wildgust proposed that we should not host an 'Open Forum' this year and after some discussion this was agreed. The idea could be reintroduced next year or the year after and we should consider running an appropriate workshop as long as we find a good topic and date and give plenty of time for group members to respond.

10. Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 15th June at Aspley

The meeting ended at 8.28pm