AGM, who's standing for what...

The Annual General Meeting of the Woodhouse Players will be on Wednesday 10 May, 7.30, at the Welsh Church Hall. Please attend this meeting. It is your chance to have your say in how things are run and we need your input to ensure our continued success.

More about the agenda and AGMs in general (including how voting and proxy voting works) at www.woodhouseplayers.co.uk/members_agm.html

As always we're electing a committee. Here is the current list of candidates (will be updated as more details come in):

Chair - Tim Saward (to serve only until end September)

Treasurer - James Goodman

Secretary - Thos Ribbits

"Ordinary Members" - there are four posts available:

Steve Balchin (Deputy Chair, Production Co-ordination, new writing)
Kate Harper (Membership Secretary)
Jackie Withnall & Jennifer Moorby (To work together on publicity)


Both Sonja Wardle and Carla MacLean will be standing down, with our hearty thanks for the help they've given on the committee and in the group generally.

This gives us enough candidates for all the posts, but if you would also like to stand, let us know! (secretary@woodhouseplayers.co.uk)

If you are considering standing for any post, but haven't told us yet, the deadline for letting us know is 7pm on MONDAY 8 MAY.

Notify Thos the secretary on secretary@woodhouseplayers.co.uk


DISCUSSION: Personnel, Cash and Programme for 06-07

It's been a busy year for Woodhouse, with lots of programmed activities, including another brace of one-offs, the regular programme of one-act and two-act plays, plus our first foray into a self-produced appearance at a professional venue, and our first revenue-raising publicity stunt at the Savoy Hotel.

In the coming year, we have scaled up to six regular productions (from four or five) and continued to add opportunities for members to do backstage stuff. As in every year, we've seen an influx of new members, too, bringing the active membership up in number.

The discussion is to set priorities. What should we do more of; what should we do less of? Is there any room for further expansion?

Here are some particular issues that need thinking about:

Recruitment - As discussed at last year's AGM, we have made progress with encouraging people to take time off the stage in order to direct and do other backstage stuff. We have been less successful at recruiting outsiders.

Spring Activities - In response to developments on the festival front, and the fact that we are not really using the hall for a performance in February half term, we could think about the future of our Spring productions. One suggestion is to add a seventh production in the February half term and make the Easter show a double bill. What do people think of this idea?

Money - We're doing OK for money, having raised funds this year quite successfully and had a good profit on some shows. However, we did lose money on Jekyll and Hyde and may not have collected all membership fees. We have also had to suddenly spend a lot on storage. How can we start to make enough money that we can improve our lighting and sound infrastructure?

Venues - We're still enjoying working at the Welsh Church Hall, but it could be that we need to look beyond it to accommodate an upscaled programme. What could we do about finding external venues to appear at or rehearse at?