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4. Chairpersons Report
(Clare Buckland: text reproduced below)
First of all, I would like to
welcome you all to the 25th AGM of The Cissbury Players, and
to thank you all for coming on such a night.
As Chairperson, it is always pleasing to know that even in this age of
high speed Broadband and hand-held games consoles, there are still a few
of us that value human interaction over a world of virtual reality.
Speaking of reality, it falls to me to review the past year of The
Cissbury Players and to thank you all for making such a huge
contribution.
Our year started well with a production of "Wanted - One Body", produced
by Mike Liassides, which introduced us to a very active new member,
Clare Mitchell.
This was followed by an extremely well received production of (big
breath) "The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic
Society production of We found Love and an Exquisite set of Porcelain
Figurines aboard the SS Farndale Avenue", with yet another new member –
Daphne Proudfoot. This as many of you will know was ably produced and
directed by our resident Farndale expert – Mary Frost. The Farndale was
a request from a patron and I hope that he was satisfied with the
outcome.
Rather less well received was the November production of Curtains,
produced and directed by myself, which was not a huge hit with audiences
or critics alike, but I still whole heartedly stand by my decision to
stage it. This was a difficult play to produce and I imagine to act in,
but several cast members gave what I thought to be outstanding, or in
some cases, out sitting performances which should not have gone
un-noticed. Can I also at this point publicly thank Daphne’s daughter
for providing an excellent raffle prize for the group during the last
production. It was a fabulous gesture and highly appreciated.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the committee for
the hard work that they put in over the year that is always unseen –
without them and the decision making process they go through, The
Cissbury Players would not exist in its present form. Big thanks to all
of those who have made their homes available to the group over the
years, for committee meetings and for social events.
I hope that you have all had an opportunity to look at our website which
is fantastically maintained by Mike and now not only includes member
biographies but also reviews and photos of productions since the
inception of the group and stage lay outs and lighting plots for some
past productions. Another excellent thing that has been instigated by
Mike is what started life being called The Prod Blog. This in its very
simplified explanation is a production diary whereby the producer talks
a little about the play that they are currently producing and various
cast members are invited to offer their thoughts about the rehearsal
process. This page can be viewed by any one on the website and might
give people an idea about the process of getting a production to the
stage. I hope if you have not previously looked at this section of the
website, you will have a look after tonight. I am sure that Mike will
agree with me, but if anyone has any ideas about the website, please
feel free to email the webmaster with them.
After discussion at committee, it has been decided to leave
subscriptions at their current level for the forthcoming year, which
quite frankly I think is a bit of a bargain. Where else can you as a
patron, get three nights of live theatre for £15.00, and as a member, I
am happy to pay £20.00 to have a producer look disappointingly at me as
I am still carrying my book with 3 weeks to go!!
Rehearsal costs have however continued to rise unabated, and the cost of
putting on a play rises almost production by production. However, we are
in the fortunate position to be able to rehearse one day per week in our
production venue which I believe has proved beneficial.
I would like to give everyone involved in any production a gentle little
reminder about the commitment needed in a play. Most of you have been
doing this considerably longer than I have so I may be teaching some of
you to suck eggs, but as I have already said, rehearsal costs are rising
and we do need to make full use of the time that is available to us, so
can I remind everybody that if you are involved in a production to try
to be there on time to start at 8. I realise that a lot of people work
and travelling makes timings complicated and as a mother of a young
child I fully understand the difficulty sometimes in arranging
childcare, but I would ask you all just to think about leaving the house
of an evening 5 minutes earlier if you can so we can try to start as
close to 8 as possible to allow us as much time to rehearse as possible.
I have decided to step down as Chairperson of the group and give
somebody else the opportunity to drive The Cissbury Players forward in
the start of their second 25 years of existence.
I would like to thank all the members and officers of the committee for
giving me help and support throughout the past year and I wish the group
well for the coming year. |
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6. Secretary’s Report
(Lyndsey Kite: text reproduced
below)
I would like to thank all of the Committee members
for their input over the last year with particular thanks to Clare and
Mike.
We have continued to meet regularly every month to discuss group
matters. Thanks to all committee members who have opened up their homes
to us and provided us with tea, coffee and biscuits!
Newsletters have been sent throughout the year to members and patrons
informing you of news, activities, productions etc.
A lot of work has gone in this year in improving our website and this
has been down mainly to the hard work of Mike, so thank you for that.
Please do visit the site regularly as it is interesting and very
informative. It is a group website so please let us have any
suggestions, comments etc.
We joined the local amateur dramatic liaison group. It is made up of 12
local groups and has been running for 5 years. They meet 4 times a
year. We attended the meeting in September unfortunately the next
meeting is tonight!
Mike has produced a producers guide and checklist. It is a very
informative document for any aspiring new producer. Mike is also in the
middle of producing a member’s booklet, which will be very useful for
any new members.
We have produced a patron membership card this year instead of sending
tickets. We will also have a member’s card as well.
One of our members, Stuart, was married in May and many members attended
the reception to help them celebrate.
We again ran a stall at the Findon Village Fete, this time we ran a
coconut shy which was well received and we actually made a profit!
Tim and Linda hosted a summer barbeque for members.
We held an afternoon for patrons in early December. A small group
attended but was enjoyed by all. We plan to host it in the summer this
year. Thank you to Mary for the catering.
Mary and Ken opened their house to us for a Xmas get together and Dave
provided a quiz for us to keep us all amused.
The year ended with our annual Xmas meal that was held at Sunny’s and
was enjoyed by all who went.
The dates of
our next productions will be:
2, 3 & 4 April 2009
16, 17 & 18 July 2009
19, 20 & 21 November 2009
The Parish
Council now own Glebelands and have plans to build a new Village Hall,
but don’t hold your breath: it will take a long time. Thanks to Peter
and Ann who are our representatives on the Findon Village Hall
committee. |
8. Any Other Business
(Meeting opened to the floor: summary
below)1. Following
the departure of founder member Cheree Buckler and husband, member and
all-round help to the group Steve, it was decided that both should be
awarded honorary Life Membership
2. A vote of thanks was given to Peter and John for rebuilding and
reorganising the scenery store
3. This year a number of innovations to membership are intended, such as
membership cards and booklets
4. Also for this coming year, it was decided to try and manage more
social events - although that, to a certain extent, is still dependent
on members and patrons asking for them |
