Regal Trust Report Nov 2015

Regal Trust Report Nov 2015

Attendance figures

Nov 2012 1447 patrons

Nov 2013 1303 patrons

Nov 2014  1433 patrons

Nov 2015  2031 patrons

A good month overall with only three films making a loss. One a supposed blockbuster that completely failed to deliver.

We had a good audience for Raymond Froggatt and for GAGA, reversing the recent trend for live shows.  Our live Children’s show staged after the Christmas Lights switch on was also well received.

The Tenbury Floral Club’s Christmas Show was another successful evening.

We also staged three performances of a Dance show with a cast of 165 children.  This was a fantastic success and we hope they will book their next show with us.

We have seen a marked increase in school visits, with Tenbury Ormiston Academy seeing Of Mice and Men, Orleton Primary and Bayton Primary seeing Hotel Transylvania 2 and Luston seeing Polar Express.

We have now completed most of the wiring infrastructure improvements, which will be utilised for future live shows, and especially for the Pantomime.  The rehearsals for which are now fully underway.  Ticket sales are still strong, but we do have plenty of tickets left for shows after Christmas.

We now enter our busiest period of the year and would like to thank all of our volunteers who will be giving up extra time during December and at Christmas to make the Regal and ongoing success.

Regal Trust Report Oct 2015

Regal Trust Report Oct 2015

Attendance figures

Oct 2012 1293 patrons

Oct 2013 1010 patrons

Oct 2014  1247 patrons

Oct 2015  1323  patrons

A better month overall with only two films making a loss and one live show cancelled due to low ticket sales.  Unusually we were able to benefit from this by scheduling a film that we have missed and this proved to be very successful.

The live Shakespeare production of Much ado about nothing also proved more successful than we had expected, with reasonable audiences for all the performances.

Two of this month’s broadcasts were headlined by household names.  David Suchard in The Importance of being earnest and Benedict Cumberbatch playing Macbeth.  Both were successful, but numbers were slightly down on expectation.  Tony Stockwell also had a disappointing audience of about 50% of his previous visit.

The sales for the Pantomime are doing well and reacted immediately to our large mailshot.  A number of the performances have already sold more than 50% of the available tickets.  We are hoping to appear in next weekend’s Mail on Sunday in their top 100 pantomimes. We also hope that our new look website will launch this week.  As more than 50% of people now look at our website using a tablet or phone, it has been optimised for this growth area.

To address the slightly disappointing audiences of late we are doubling our print run of brochures and having them delivered by a distribution company in Ludlow, Leominster and most of Tenbury.  We will then ask our volunteers to concentrate their efforts in the area’s not being covered.

We have completed the installation of the new “clean power” circuits for the sound system, and have almost completed the installation of the sound circuits.  This should enable us to support smaller shows with our PA system without the background hum & crackle.

The replacement function room fire escape doors have now been replaced making that end of the building more secure.

We have completed the installation of a heat curtain in the box office, which along with the additional radiator should mean that this winter the cashiers can work without having to resort to additional outdoor clothing.  

The application for grant aid to support the internal renovation of the function room has now been submitted.  Hopefully this will be successful as yet again this month we have had random flooding events in the function room toilets, but still cannot ascertain where the problem is.

Regal Trust Report Sept 2015

Regal Trust Report Sept 2015

Attendance figures

Sept 2012 1703 patrons

Sept 2013 975 patrons

Sept 2014  1026 patrons

Sept 2015  993  patrons

A slightly disappointing month.  The final film of the school holiday failed to deliver significant audiences.  Again this was a major blockbuster and the feeling is many families saw the film on release at the beginning of the school holidays.  We had a poor response to our school advertising this summer holiday so have checked with all the local schools and they have all asked us to continue to supplying them with leaflets.

This month we had some interesting live broadcasts, with the Rocky Horror show bringing in a better than expected audience for a Thursday evening, including some in costume.

The Battle of Britain at 75 broadcast and the Romeo & Juliet ballet were also well supported.

Live music events again showed a reduced audience.  The local appetite for this kind of event seems to have waned.

Almost all the cast for Jack and the Beanstalk have now been selected, and ticket sales remain strong.  The marketing effort is being stepped up and leaflets will be delivered to 30,000 local households in the next few weeks.

There will be a lot of effort expended in the next couple of months upgrading the technical infrastructure to enable us to deliver this very challenging production. We are investing thousands of pounds in new wiring and equipment.

We are also converting much of the remaining halogen lighting in the foyer and auditorium to LEDs.  This will return savings in power usage, replacement lamps and labour.

Plumbing problems remain an issue, with some of the taps installed during the refurbishments already having to be substantially overhauled and replacement parts installed.  Random flooding events also occur in the function room toilets.  

Regal Trust Report July/Aug 2015

Regal Trust Report July/Aug 2015

Attendance figures

July 2013 786 patrons

July 2014  898 patrons

July 2015  1287  patrons

Aug 2013 1352 patrons

Aug 2014  1398 patrons

Aug 2015  1117  patrons

Two very different months.  July saw a leap in attendance, with a good number at nearly every event.  The August numbers were primarily affected by a poor choice of new family films this summer and the Blockbuster Minions which was so popular many people had already seen it before it came to Tenbury.  We did have some very successful events during the holiday season.  MiniCineMonkeys attracted record breaking numbers each week, and two Musical Theatre Workshops were well supported and greatly enjoyed.  The Frozen sing along party was also extremely successful.

The Trust has made good progress with plans to redevelop the service block in the function room.  This will provide additional toilet facilities by allowing separation between public and backstage areas.  The upgraded facilities will make the room more attractive to hire and improved sound proofing will enable two events to be held simultaneously.  The provision of two dressing rooms will make the theatre more acceptable to incoming shows and the provision of a fixed bar will allow smaller shows to be booked into the function room, and make it a better facility to use when large audiences are expected.  Additional storage has also been procured so excess tables and chairs can be stored outside of the room

The stage curtain motor has been replaced and will now hopefully give problem free service.  The security shutters that secure the auditorium fire doors when not in use have also had a replacement motor.

The latest programme (Number 13) has just been released and details a very ambitious and wide ranging programme of events for the Autumn.  We have relatively few live shows as we struggle to find good original content, but the variety of Broadcast content continues to grow.  Over the next few weeks we have live feeds from the Albert Hall, the Playhouse Theatre, Biggin Hill, the Royal Opera House, the Donmar Theatre, the Vaudeville Theatre, the Barbican,  the London Coliseum, the Courtyard Theatre Stratford upon Avon, the Garrick Theatre, and possibly Manchester’s Exhibition Centre.

Live highlights are the Here to There productions staging of Much Ado About Nothing and the Baroque Theatre Company’s The Great Santa Kidnap.  Both of which should be great fun and should not be missed.

We are in the countdown towards our pantomime Jack & the Beanstalk.  This year we have twice as many performances than last year and have already sold twice as many tickets per show as this time last year.  This is a major event for Tenbury and with 50% of the performances being matinees this should also have a positive effect on the whole business community.  Hopefully they will step up to the challenge of providing linked shopping, and dining opportunities to capitalise on the increased footfall.

Regal Trust Report June 2015

Regal Trust Report June 2015

Attendance figures

June 2013 1438 patrons

June 2014  726 patrons

June 2015  789  patrons

Another quite disappointing month with low audience figures.

With the exception of Far from the Madding Crowd the film programme this month failed to excite.

During June we hosted the WI National Centenary AGM live streamed via the internet from the Royal Albert Hall.  There were a few technical problems early on in the broadcast, but unlike some other local venues our transmission settled down and most of the broadcast was seen and heard without problems.

We also hosted the volunteer recruitment fair organised by Malvern Hills Volunteering.  More people attended during the first 90 minutes than during the whole event in 2014, but the attendance ceased after mid-day.

A well attended information evening for volunteers was also held this month, where feedback of the trust’s performance over the last six months was shared.  The volunteers also watched some short video clips shot at the Musical Theatre School, which was met with delight and a round of applause.

Regal Trust Report May 2015

Regal Trust Report May 2015

Attendance figures

May 2013 1516 patrons

May 2014 1358 patrons

May 2015 1061 patrons

A disappointing month with audience figures down on previous years.

With the exception of Cinderella the film programme this month failed to excite.  We are of course governed by what is available and there have been complaints across the industry about the large number of very similar 15 rated films which were released in close proximity to each other.  

The national trend is a reduction in audience sizes as we come out of recession and people spend more on large ticket items such as cars and holidays.

Two highlights this month were a ballet from the Royal Opera House and Pirates of Penzance from English National Opera.  The later having broke all worldwide records as the biggest ever “Opera” event ever.

Representatives from the Trust met with the Conservation Officer from MHDC to discuss the proposed improvements to the building. (full details of these will be submitted to the Council later this month)

There have been a number of personnel changes at the Trust recently.

Management Assistant Danni Wiggins has been replaced by Julie Cox.

Play Leader Karen Wallace has been replaced by Leah Williams.

Relief Cleaner Emma Little has been replaced by Danni Fisher.

Grateful Thanks

Dear Ian and all the team

                

                             On behalf of Tenbury Town band I would like to convey our grateful thanks to everyone at the Regal for all the hard work and support given to us towards our annual concert. The evening was once again a great success and it’s clear that everyone at the Regal played an important part from the front of house to the technical staff. This year we needed additional sound and lighting which was delivered professionally and with enthusiasm. We have had so many good reports from our audience that everything came together so well and a good night was had by all.

          We are extremely lucky to have this amazing facility in such a small town and we will continue to support the Regal as I’m sure it will go from strength to strength.

Thanks  to you all and we look forward to our next function in December.

Best regards

Mark

      

Mark Yarnold

President of Tenbury Town Band

Tel 01584 811831

www.tenburytownband.co.uk