Information for Members
Newsletter October 09
Last Update 06-Oct-2009
AGM
The AGM took place on Sunday 4th. Thank you to all of those who turned up.
The committee members are:
Executive Officers
Chairman Paul Cutland
Honorary Secretary Ted Chrurchett
Honorary Treasurer David Wakeman
Artistic Director Do Evans
General Committee
Vice Chairman Bob Graham
Members representative 1 Murray Bridges
Members representative 2 Geoff Cooke
Members representative 3 Martin Copland-Gray
Members representative 4 Keith Higgins
Members representative 5 Mike Lawrence
Executive Managers
Bar Manager Kieran Marchant
Club Manager Vilma Watson
F.O.H Manager Kath Lawrence
Maintenance Manager Les Law
Publicity Manager Karena Taylor
Stage Director Derek Taylor
Wardrobe Manager Carol Wright
Box Office Manager Thelma Lawson
Business Plan
The following is a quote from my speech at the AGM
Our Society is unusual in that we own our theatre and run it without subsidy and with little sponsorship. That gives us a freedom to do what we want but it creates the risk as there is no safety net if we get it wrong.
Over the next few years we must replace more of the core infrastructure of the theatre. New legs are required, more decoration will be needed, new dimmers and in the not too distant future a new roof. Those are items that we have now that we cannot do without.
Do we have the resources to maintain these?
But what about the desirables like air conditioning, better disabled access, hearing loops, and improvements to existing systems. Can we afford these?
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It is your Society!
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What do YOU want?
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But what about our patrons who actually pay for our hobby, what do THEY want?
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What can we do?
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Where will the money come from to do it?
I do not know the answers, neither does your committee!
Your committee has agreed to launch a Business Planning Process, the first phase (The Discovery Phase) will start next week. We have a brainstorming meeting planned for daytime on Wednesday 14th October. More details will be sent out in a newsletter next week and you will be invited to indicate if you would like to join in for part of that day.
We will be setting out to discover:
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the work that is needed,
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the ideas for development,
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the current and potential uses and users of the theatre
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potential sources of funding.
The process will be to invite you our members plus our friends and patrons to put forward ideas
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at meetings,
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in writing
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via the web site.
Everything will be open and visible
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via the web site
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at the theatre in print
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in summary in the newsletters.
Initially nothing will be ruled out, only when we have all of the ideas will we start to place them in an order of priority.
Once we have pulled everything together and have proposals we will call an Extra-Ordinary General Meeting for all members to hear and vote on the proposals. We hope that the EGM can take place in early in January 2010.
Have Your Say
The first meeting of the Business Plan will be on October 14th. We will be holding a number of sessions during the day. If you are available and would like to have your say please let me know (chairman@rosetheatre.co.uk 0797 004 8259).
We will have brainstorming sessions on the 14th at 11:15 and 14:00 each for about 1½ hours. Also we will have a session in the evening starting at 8pm.
We want to know what you think, how you would like to see the theatre develop, what shows you would like to see, do you want us to do something that we do not do now? I hope that you will join in, after all it is your society.
Web Site
In the quote from my speech you will see a couple of references to the use of the web site to give information about the Business Plan. The vehicle for the information will be a Wiki system.
Some of you will be familiar with Wikipedia, a web based knowledge system that is maintained by the public and then moderated.
The Rose wiki system will be slightly different to Wikipedia in that the public will be able to view the text but not add or amend. The public will have moderated forums associated with the site so that anybody can make comment, request additions or suggest amendments.
All members will be able to access, to add and amend under the control of a user name and password. Any abuse of the site will result in the persons access being blocked. We will be offering training sessions later this month to anyone that wants to join in.
To ensure that those who do not have internet access are not disadvantaged we will make the information available in printed form on request to the office.
Here
I am sorry to have to announce that our second main house play “Here” has been moved from the main stage to the studio and will now be performed as a rehearsed play reading.
The price of tickets has been reduced to £6. There are seats available for all who would like to see this play and support your fellow members.
Incident Handling
We have not had a major incident at the theatre, but your committee has considered what systems should be in place should anything happen. After much discussion it has been decided that we will provide a short training/discussion session for all members.
The session will not last more than an hour and will be led by one of our members, Sheelagh Cooke. Sheelagh will explain what we should or should not do if there is an incident, how to recognise some of the more serious conditions, and discuss any questions that you raise.
We are looking for 8 to 12 people at each session which will run for about an hour between the start and the interval of a play. The first dates are 22nd and 23rd October. The people that are doing FOH, bar and box office will form the core of the session so we will need up to 6 extra people.
If you are available on either the 22nd or 23rd October please let me know so that we can fill the places.
Please understand that this is NOT first aid training.
We consider that it will of benefit to all members to attend one of these sessions. The training sessions will be spread over a number of months so there will be plenty of opportunity for you to join in.
Comments to your Chairman
Paul Cutland
0797 004 8159