Well we are now nearing the end of a very eventful year at the Thwaites Empire Theatre.
The bookings and hire revenues have been growing steadily on a like for like basis throughout the year and we are in a much stronger position that we were at this time last year.
On the whole we have had good attendances and according to our audiences most shows were of good quality and we continue to present both professional and amateur shows successfully.
We have also had both ends of the age range using the Theatre from the ever popular Go’s on tour group, the young dance groups and not forgetting Age Concern the youth group and a newly formed group of our own players who have just completed four performances of the Twits so well. The local amateur groups feature prominently too.
We have had a couple of disappointments during the year with some artists letting us down as well as themselves and their fans. To name a few, we had the Freddie Star fiasco when he cancelled the day before his show, Rose Mari who felt she was worth a larger audience and cancelled officially to us the week of the show and finally Joe Longthorne who’s management didn’t even let us know of his cancellation and we had to find out off twitter. His agent still hasn’t contacted me yet. This puts us in a shadow that we cannot help and don’t deserve.
We also lost one of our original volunteers who passed away a couple of weeks ago. Many of you will remember Betty Wilkinson, a loyal and dedicated worker for us. She will be missed.
Many of you will know that we have had a spate of vandalism on the car park across from the Theatre and we have had a meeting with the police, corporation and the users of the Theatre and plans are in place for extra security cameras and lights to be provided almost immediately.
Other than the above disappointments we have had a great year and the bookings for November are strong and once again the forward bookings for the Pantomime are absolutely brilliant.
We are fortunate at the Thwaites Empire Theatre in that our two employees, our office administrator and Technical Manager are outstanding in dedication, skill and professionalism.
Our army of volunteers are always surprising me by their loyalty and excellent skills in all departments and we receive many letters and emails from members of audiences and performers praising the wonderful atmosphere that they provide.
Our Directors are of the highest quality and continue to help plot strategy and in the group the range of their skills and professions is great.
Lastly but not the least, thank you again this year to you the audiences, you have assisted greatly by your attendance and generosity with our roof appeal and to private donors who really are wonderful.
As the Chairman of this incredible Theatre and community centre, I am so proud of you all and consider it an honour to represent you as a volunteer myself and I thank you for the affection, love and confidence that you give to me personally in the work that I do on your behalf.