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PRESIDENTS ANNUAL REPORT 27.10.11

It is my pleasure to present  the 51st Annual report of Variety Theatre Ashburton.   The year began with Dianne Favel, Yvonne Harrison and Val Farr attending a very successful zone meeting in Oamaru.   Zone meetings are very informative and our thanks goes to these members for representing our Society.   At the end of October 2010  we staged “I Love You, Your’re Perfect, Now Change”  in the Ashburton Trust Event Centre, directed by Peter Taylor with Sarah Templeton as Musical Director.  As you can see by the Balance Sheet this show was not a financial success.  It  was probably a bit different from other shows we have staged  and it just didn’t get supported by the public of Ashburton.  We now struggle to get both cast and audiences  for our second show of the year.   At the beginning of February auditions were held for “Joseph”.  We were pleased  to welcome back David Williams as Director and Madison Thew Keyworth as Choreographer.  They were joined by Jo Castelow as Musical Director.  We had an amazing response and actually had to turn both males and females away.  Right from when we announced that we were staging “Joseph” there was huge interest in this show.   This interest and support continued right through until pack out day.   This was an absoultley fabulous production and thanks goes  to everyone involved.   No matter how big or small your contribution was, it all added to a very successful production, which made probably the biggest profit we have ever had.   Four members attended the Musical Theatre New Zealand conference held in Nelson in March.  They attended workshops available and all had an enjoyable and informative weekend.  First time attendee Kim Brenton thought it was a really worthwhile event.  Thanks to Kim, Peter Muir and Derrick and Margaret Cullimore for representing us.   Conference is now known as a “Training Weekend” and this will enable Societies attending to apply for grants to help with expenses.   Party People Costume Hire, under the management of Jo Hooper, continues to be a major source of income for our Society.    Jo is constantly sourcing new costumes and the purchase of these is proving to be very successful.    They are extremely popular and do not stay on the racks for long.  As a volunteer at Party People myself, having Jo there every time it is open means that she knows exactly where everything is and I believe this has improved the service we provide to the community.  Congratulations and thanks go to Jo for the way she is managing Party People.  I would also like to thank all the volunteers for the time they have put in over the last year.   As we all know on September 4th 2010 we had a large earthquake.   At the time neither premises appeared to have received much damage, but with ongoing shakes it was decided we should put in a claim for Party People as the Scotia  board was parting with the wall at the top in the entrance and kitchen areas.   We lodged a claim with the insurance company and when it was inspected they found  much more than that wrong with the front half.   However we were given a yellow sticker and able to continue opening.   About a month after that we noticed a large crack in the facia board on the front of  the rooms and lodged another claim.  Both buildings have been inspected, but after 13th June event Jo and I were very concerned about the state of Party People and I harped at the Council until they came and had another look and deemed it safe to remain open.  After a long wait Hawkins Construction have now been appointed Project Manager for the earthquake damage.  A large piece of the lining of Party People has been removed so that Hawkins could see the extent of the damage. The front half of Party People has to come down and be rebuilt and the front wall of the rooms has to come off and they will go back as far as they have to, to find something secure to fit the new front to.   At the present time we are waiting for Bradford Construction to quote on the repairs.   The building sub committee has had a couple of meetings and a decision was made to get a feasibility study done for both our properties, with the idea of building straight through and having space for our set construction and perhaps some storage.  However the earthquakes have put that on hold at the moment.    Our thanks go to to the owners of the old Hunts Honey factory where we store all our sets for our continued use of this building.   We continue to receive valuable support from many businesses in the community, as well as sponsorship and grants.  The Ashburton Trust, The Lion Foundation, The Ashburton District Council and the media of Ashburton all contributed the to successful production of Joseph.   Thanks are also extended to our Patron, Mona Reddecliffe, who always supports us, to Derrick Cullimore our custodian, whose assistance I have asked for and also to Susan Spencer our Librarian, who continues to do a magnificent  job and knows exactly what we have in our Library.   To all our volunteers who have helped over the year, a big thank you.   We would not be able to put on shows or run Party People without you.   Finally a big thank you to Wendy and the committee for their time and effort this year.   Also thank you to all who have supported me in my time as President.  I have at all times had the interests of the Society at heart.  As a member who has been on the committee for many years and done a lot of fund raising towards the Event Centre I have at all times been against having a production at other venues.  The Event Centre is a wonderful facility and I hope the next committee will continue to use the Event Centre for large and small productions.   Thankyou.   Faye Johnston


Membership is now due!

Becoming a member of Variety Theatre Ashburton, is quick and easy to do.  Membership subscriptions:  $15 single / $20 couple per financial year. 

Click HERE to download a copy of our membership form.

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Library

A very extensive library of sheet music is available to members and can be sourced by contacting the librarian, Susan Spencer at 308 1777.