Nanda - AGM Minutes 13Jan08

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NANDA

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 13 January 2008 at the Nottingham Arts Theatre, George Street, Nottingham.

Those present: Sonya Oates (ELAPS), Madeline Lord (ELAPS), Mike Stewart (VP), Douglas McDonald (LMT), David Supper (NAT), Roy Ainscough (President), Maggie Andrew (Secretary), Tony Vokes (WBDS), Martin Rymel (WBDS), Andrew Chadwick (NAT), Neil Mackintosh (Treasurer)

Apologies received from Jon Jones (ROT), Hayley Masom (ELAPS), Christine Harbidge (ROT), Arcade Players, Joan Wildgust (Chairman), Shirley Bradshaw (VP).

It was with deep regret that the recent deaths of Alan Berridge and Leslie Orton were recorded and the council members held a minutes silence in respect of this. Both gentlemen had given over 30 years service to NANDA.

The President, Roy Ainscough on behalf of the Chair who had sent her apologies, welcomed members to the meeting. Attendance, it was agreed for this meeting, was low. Some members welcomed meeting on Sunday evenings, but felt the city centre was not an ideal venue.

Roy read the Chairman's remarks:

Youth Festival - The past year has been a mixed one with highs for some groups and lows for others. The fIrst of our festivals this year was the Youth Festival held at the Dukeries Complex in Ollerton; an excellent day with some fme young talent on show. Thanks to Sarah Kerry for taking on the job of organising the festival from Jean Lebeter; a hard act to follow, but very well done Sarah. Thanks also to Jean for her 12 years of dedicated youth work.

Play of the Year - The Play of the Year Competition attracted 13 entries of high quality; ably adjudicated by GeoffReadman. In the end, the awards were well spread out over the groups with Bonington Players, Nottingham Arts Theatre and the Keyworth Dramatic Society fighting it out for top place. It would be really good to see some more of our member groups entering their productions as a lot can be learned from the adjudication and taking part in the Competition.

Annual Award Dinner - Our Awards Dinner saw a record attendance for an excellent meal and entertainment provided by Co-optima of the Nottingham Arts Theatre. Geoff Readman gave us food for thought in his address prior to announcing the awards. The Play of the Year was awarded to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" performed by Bonington Players. Our grateful thanks are also due to Madeline Lord for organizing the dinner.

One Act Festival- The One-Act Play Festival attracted fewer entries this year, as we had a very short lead up to the event. The best overall play was awarded to the Robin Hood Theatre for "Drinking Companion." Thanks are due to Neil Mackintosh for taking on the organisation of this Festival at such short notice. Next year, Neil hopes the number of entries will be back up again.

Playwriting Festival -The Playwriting Competition takes a long time to organise as once the plays have been written, submitted and judged, they have to be cast and rehearsed in time for the event. Many thanks this time are offered to Maggie Andrew for making it happen and to Barry Heath for adjudicating the entries and leading the workshop. The winning play was "Early One Morning" by Gerald Lee from Nottingham and the winning sketch was, "A Routine Check" by David Whitney, a local man now living in Spain. Other entries for the competition came from as far as London, Bolton and Manchester.

Theatre Luncheons - There have been no Theatre Luncheon recently but we await news, as Douglas MacDonald keeps up the pressure on the agents to fmd us a suitable celebrity to dine with. Unfortunately, it is difficult to get them to commit to specific dates.

News Letter - Hayley Masom continues to edit our Newsletter, a thankless task, as we all (well almost all) are late with articles. We could always do with some more from the "floor" of our organisation, so if you have anything to tell us about yourselves as a group, special people in your group, or activities to share with others, we urge you to put pen to paper or fmgers to keyboard and send in your contributions. Thank you Hayley for all you do.

Website - Similarly our Website; Mike Stewart updates this, but surprise, surprise he can only do this if he is given updates. So please oblige and also ensure that Member Group websites have links to the NANDA site and vice versa. Please liaise with Mike as a matter of urgency. Communication is essential to all organisations, non-more so than NANDA which cannot survive as a body without the commitment from all its widespread members. I know you will join with me in offering Mike a sincere thank you for all his work on the website.

Publicity -This leads me on from communication to publicity. By now, you should all have received our new Information and Publicity Leaflet. Please pass them on to non-member groups and help us build a stronger, more influential NANDA. Remember - that our organisation is not only about members and Festivals but is also involved in playing a key role in shaping amateur theatre in our area.
For example some of our members are involved with SHUG (the Stanford hall Users Group) in a bid to keep the Stanford Hall Theatre available for productions.
A letter was sent to the Nottingham Evening Post from NANDA in the campaign to save the Nottingham Arts Theatre and in March 2007 groups were involved in forging friendships with a theatre organisation in Poman, Poland. We can and should be far more wide ranging and influential than we think.

Membership -Every year membership changes as groups come and go. Last year we were joined by the Dukeries Dramatic Society, Nottingham Arts Theatre and the Spotlight Theatre School. Regrettably we have lost Dukeries this year, and sadly Edwinstowe Theatre Group have gone dark. We hope they can regroup in the future, as they will be badly missed. Sadly also we have lost two of our leading stalwarts; Leslie Orton and Alan Berridge. It is difficult to envisage how they can be replaced: Leslie wrote, performed, gave talks and adjudicated. Alan directed, stage-managed, designed and worked tirelessly for NANDA especially with his wife Roz when she was the Play of the Year coordinator. We send our sympathies to both family and friends.

Despite going on at length I cannot leave without thanking Roy for not only presiding tonight but for all his work and that of my fellow council members. Thank you for dedicating so much time to NANDA, despite heavy responsibilities to your own Groups. I would also like to thank Maggie Andrew for being such a dedicated Secretary, a post, she is now to relinquish. Thank you Maggie and good luck in all your future ventures

On a final note, the Executive Council would like a few more Groups to send a representative to the meetings to help steer NANDA through the 21st Century and keep us strong as a corporate group, so as to exact our influence on all aspects of drama throughout the county. Drama teaching, youth groups and venues are all vital to our survival and NANDA, as a corporate body, can have an influence as we have seen. Please think about it.

Following on from this report comments raised: Hopefuls for Luncheon - Anita Dobson, William Roche, Robert Lindsay, Joanna Lumley all still in the pipeline. Leaflet - hoping to distribute this far and wide to encourage more groups to become members. SHUG - actively awaiting latest developments.

Treasurers Report - Accounts had been sent out with AGM notices. A round up - Page 5, £450.62 profit. £4420.88 Balance as at end of August 2007. Play of the Year - more entries this year, NANDA continue to subsidise costs. Youth Festival- 2 less entries this time, with more expenses than usual. Neil

to phone venue regarding this. One Act - very poor attendance at this. PWC - £158.58 - previous years was taken into account when this lost £700.00. Gurd Award - not paid this year. Theatre Luncheons had attracted large attendances. No Drama Courses had been held. History book £ 17 sales. A vote of thanks was given to Neil for his continued hard work. The auditor had been reinstated - J. Anthony which the Council were delighted with.

Appointment of Officers.

Hon Secretary - No nominations had been received, therefore this post was vacant.
Hon Treasurer - Nomination received for Neil Mackintosh, proposed by Douglas MacDonald, seconded by Tony Vokes and therefore accepted.
Auditior - Jean Anthony was proposed to continue as the Auditior and the floor accepted this.

AOB

All letterheads that go out should have the same information on them i.e. Vice Presidents. It was queried whether any more people need to be approached to become VP's.
Losing Edwinstowe Theatre has been a big loss to amateur theatre. Hoping that they re-group soon.
We currently have 29 member groups and 8 individual members. Need to have more attendance/involvement from some groups, Nanda under-represented on Council.

Meeting closed at 7p.m. with thanks to Maggie and Nottingham Arts Theatre for hosting this meeting.