New Mills Festival Annual General Meeting
Rock Mill Centre
7.30pm 11th November 2022
Attendees:
Patty Doran (Chair), Lyn Bannister, Alex Bond, Alison Vasey, Toby Hardwick, Sara-Jayne Slocombe, Chris (Nature New Mills), Alison Johnson, Kate Badger
Annie Hallam, Deb Pitman, Jamie Bartleet, Russell Hindley, Sophie Mackreth, Steve Davey, Richard BodyHazel Body
,
- MATTERS ARISING:
Minutes from previous AGM 9th November 2021
- CHAIR’S REPORT:
Patty welcomed everyone and thanked everyone for the 100s of hours that volunteers had contributed to the success of the festival this year, and to the people who had put on events throughout the year: Show The Love (Feb) Nurture Nature New Mills (May) Duck Race (June) Handlebards (July) Unthanks at The Art Theatre (May) were all successful and well attended.
Our Partnerships with Schools and local groups in the town is really valued. The festival included a wide range of events for different audiences showing diversity and creativity, and included at least 22 different organisations and venues.
It was felt that there had been an overall overhang from Covid, which has affected sections of the community and certainly affected The Festival’s ability to engage volunteers. It was noted that people were generally leaving it until the last minute to book on to events which meant it was difficult to plan.
It had been particularly challenging this year as some of our strategic volunteers in important project management roles had stood down at the last minute and this impacted the Lantern Procession in particular, which had to be cancelled.
The Lantern Procession is a huge logistical and operational challenge.
It was felt that the model for the festival was not sustainable and needed to be rethought.
Funding bids have been applied for, but have been unsuccessful, however we have had £2K towards a consultancy report which can be shared with the group/wider town.
- FINANCIAL UPDATE –
As of 31 October, New Mills Festival had £16,262.42 on hand (£16,213.56 in the CoOp bank account + £48.86 in the Paypal account). All invoices have been paid, and all but one bill has been paid (it is set up for payment).
We made an overall profit of £2,943.36 this year. The rest of our cash on hand is essentially the profit leftover from last year.
Most of our projects did well this year. Out of 21 in total:
- 12 made a profit
- 6 were within £11 of breaking even
- 3 made a loss
The Lantern Procession 2022 is showing a small profit largely because we were thankfully able to carry forward our toilet booking to next year. Can I suggest noting a special thanks to Toilets On The Go in the AGM minutes for their flexibility in this matter?
You’ll see Lantern Procession 2023 in the reports showing a loss, but of course, we won’t make any income from it until Sept 2023, so this is to be expected.
Here is the project overview:
| Project | Profit/Loss |
| Antiques | £ 1,100.00 |
| Black Umfolosi | £ 197.49 |
| Brochure | £ 92.27 |
| Donations | £ 106.10 |
| Duck Race | £ 500.24 |
| Event organisers’ donations | £ 434.14 |
| Folk Night | £ 1,046.02 |
| Handlebards | £ 811.50 |
| Home Farm (2 yrs) | £ 11.22 |
| Insurance | £ 614.87 |
| Lantern Procession 2022 | £ 132.38 |
| Lazlo Baby | £ 0.40 |
| Membership | £ 9.23 |
| Misc | -£ 557.45 |
| NM Nurtures Nature | £ – |
| One World | £ – |
| Recreate MTCP | £ 750.00 |
| Rent | -£ 1,200.00 |
| Scratch Choir | £ – |
| Show the Love | -£ 23.58 |
| Unthanks | £ 1,768.77 |
| Total of 2022 projects | £ 5,793.60 profit |
| Lantern Procession 2023 | -£ 2,512.31 |
- Discussion about the way forward:
The director team felt that the festival needed a new injection of life, and needed to be handed over to a new group of people.
Volunteers in the meeting felt that the Lantern Procession needed saving as it is such a landmark event and source of pride for the town. Maybe other events should take a back seat
The town needs to appreciate the amount of work that goes into the organisation of the festival as a whole, and particularly the Lantern Procession.
- Election of committee members:
The director team would remain in place to cover a transition period: Patty Doran, Lyn Bannister, Alison Vasey, Toby Hardwick, Alex Bond
Agreement for Darren to continue being treasurer
Agreement for Sarah Jayne to continue being bookkeeper
AOB: The festival will continue and there is still the possibility to support other organisations in the town with marketing their events
Next steps:
Share dates of management committee meetings
Share the consultancy report
Have a conversation with the community about the way forwards and think about the options
Conduct Stakeholder consultation
Conduct Social impact assessment: University of Derby could help with this
Thanks to everyone again