2005/6 has been another very busy and highly successful year for both The Old Gym and Crondall Entertainers. I would like to thank all of the CECA Committee for their support and hard work but in particular the Old Gym Management Sub-Committee, Booking Clerk and Cleaner who have all worked so hard planning investments, maintenance and upkeep of our greatest asset The Old Gym. Last year during the AGM we agreed terms of reference for CECA’s aims and overview (enclosed). I believe that we have certainly met and perhaps even exceeded these aims during the last year. One of our greatest strengths within the group is our ambition to produce a wider range of ever more ambitious projects which motivate, challenge and can sometimes stretch us. I believe that this is absolutely the right ethos for our group and in fostering this it is both necessary and beneficial for us to be self critical so as to improve strategic planning for the future of the Entertainers and The Old Gym and to evaluate our progress towards meeting our aims. The Committee works well as a team to identify our strengths and areas for improvement. To support this process, I would like to use this report to celebrate our achievements this year and reflect upon the challenges ahead.

Productions

Run For Your Wife – 16, 17 & 18 June 2005 Gareth Parsons directed this very funny and challenging farce which was a great success. Many congratulations to Gareth and the cast on some strong performances, but particularly I would like to thank our construction and design team for their many hours of hard work to produce such an outstanding set. Being able to rehearse using the stage set up in The Old Gym during the half term holidays enriched the timing and pace of the play and gave the actors much greater confidence. Very well received by the audiences, the production made a very healthy surplus of £764.

Wartime Music Hall – 11 & 12 November 2005 A long time in the planning, this was a huge show involving nearly the entire group. The two performances sold out over 5 weeks prior to the show, a first for the Entertainers. I would like to thank our front of house, bar and meal teams, everyone involved in the excellent decoration of the Village Hall, and particularly our band who worked so hard during the evenings. Costing over £3800 to stage, the show raised a surplus of £1258. The Committee decided to double this figure and £2500 was donated to the Royal British Legion - the largest single charitable donation ever made by Crondall Entertainers. This was in addition to the £174 which was collected by the sale of poppies during the evenings. The wonderful community spirit and balance of celebration and commemoration really showed the Entertainers at their very best. I would like to thank everyone who worked so hard to make this show such a resounding success and particularly Alan Spence of Newsdesk Communications for their generous sponsorship and support.

Laying The Ghost – 16, 17 & 18 March 2006 A very enjoyable comedy with a strong script, this show was directed by Cynthia Awad and Jo Storey and gave a chance to welcome Sue Ovell to the group. With some clever scenes, this was a demanding play to direct and gave a chance for some really very strong performances from the cast. It was a hit with our audiences and, following a slight increase in ticket pricing, achieved a very impressive surplus of £1120. Once again, particular thanks should go to the set designers and construction team for producing such an excellent set complete with conservatory and dead body!

The Old Gym

The building and the facilities it offers the local community continue to improve as a result of the Management Sub-Committee (Bev & Ellen Heslop, Barrie Cheeseman, David & Val Hyde) time and effort invested into maintenance and upkeep. In addition to everyday management, projects that they have undertaken this year include; repairing the main door, decorating the porch, modernising the toilet facilities and clearing the drains! (Thank you Barrie). I would also like to thank Bob Hammond for his hard work as our bookings clerk and Sue Gregory our excellent cleaner. We shouldn’t underestimate the impact that this building is having supporting other local community groups. The facilities are well used by a variety of groups and I am delighted that during the past year we have gone a long way to meet our financial commitment of securing a reserve to cover longer term investments in the fabric of the building (flat roof and doors). I believe that we are now totally fulfilling our commitment towards the Trustees of the building as outlined within our lease agreement and would like to thank our regular user groups, in particular Stepping Stones for their cooperation and support. Refurbishment of the kitchen facilities has begun and this summer the team will be organising a working party to redecorate the function room.

New Equipment

During the year the Committee worked to produce a 3 year plan for investment in our equipment and resources. As a result we have purchased; • A trolley for moving the piano and staging (£160) • 2 new folding display boards for front of house / publicity (£260) • 3 new two-way radio intercoms for FoH / backstage / technical (£539) • A large quantity of second hand folding rostra (£625) In addition we have committed to purchase a new ladder to safely access the lighting bars and 25 chair storage trolley for use in the Village Hall. We are grateful to Suzanne and Gerry Lucas for donating a fridge to improve our bar facilities. Our planned investment in improved sound equipment has been delayed until the Village Hall’s plans for a new ceiling become clear

Social Events

Regular play reading evenings continue to be popular and regularly attract an average of 15 members on Wednesday evenings. As well as being a fun way of keeping the group together between productions they are a useful way of identifying potential new plays and a good way to welcome new members to the group. In addition we have group has support various local events including the Village Hall’s fund raising evening “Hog the Limelight”. At Christmas we held a fancy dress party during which we presented the cheque to the Royal British Legion and the Committee are currently planning a summer petanque evening with a meal. Regular social events reflect the health of our group and I look forward to working with the Committee to organise more activities and visits during the next year.

Our Challenges Ahead

2007 will be the Crondall Entertainers’ 25th year. During this time we have grown into one of the strongest, most vibrant and diverse amateur dramatics groups in the region. We deserve to be justifiably proud of our achievements. Next year as well as celebrating this anniversary, we have the opportunity to perform a play over 2 weekends (a first for the group) and welcome the return of the pantomime. However, the new Committee will be faced a range of challenges not least the ever increasing burden of bureaucracy and administration. With the sad demise of other local amateur dramatics groups recently, our key focus for the future must be to guarantee our continued success and growth through the development of a range of opportunities designed to welcome new members to join in all aspects of our work. We value our good relationships with the Village Hall, Crondall School and the local community in particular the user groups of The Old Gym, we should seek to work with these partners to widen our membership and broaden our activities. Targeting the wider community the Committee has recently produced a draft advertising leaflet (enclosed) and is planning a programme of distribution and recruitment events. Our website www.crondall.com has proven to be an effective method of raising our profile to a wider audience and is generating interest and recruiting new members, I would like to thank Chris Brown for his work to develop and maintain the site. I am confident that we can meet these challenges and look forward to the next year. Matthew Newberry

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Published on: 2006-05-31 (1983 reads)