Goodbyeeeee - We've moved to a new website

And so the final curtain falls on this Blogger website we've called home for 4 years.

It will stay here for archive use. In the mean time I would like to personally thank Rob Chambers and Aidan Parr for their work on the new website with its bells and whistles.

The new website goes live today, Friday 19th September 2014 and can be found at www.ihdc.co.uk

Thank you once again.

Overview from A.G.M. 2014

Annual General Meeting  of the Iver Heath Drama Club

at the Iver Heath New Village Hall on Wednesday 3rd September 2014 at 19:00hrs

If you have any questions regarding the AGM please email carol@ihdc.co.uk or call Sandra on 01753 652 616. This is a brief summary of the AGM – full reports and minutes available on request. 

Our Motto for 2015:

Promote the best, fundraise your best, support your best, 

sing the best, try your best 

and together we can be the best we can be.

Dates for your diary
CARE rehearsal only – no panto : Wednesday 17th Sept

Fundrasing QUIZ Night: Saturday 4th October @ 6pm 

Woking Drama Festival :CARE  - TBC shortly but expect mid October.

Panto Dates (6 shows in total): Sat 31st Jan, Sun 1st Feb,  Fri 6th Feb, Sat 7th Feb.

Links mentioned by Matt – WE NEED TO FUNDRAISE!

•Our website is www.ihdc.co.uk and please LIKE www.facebook.com/IverHeathDramaClub - invite your friends to like too!

• Easyfundraising! Give IHDC cashback from NEXT, M&S ebay at http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/ihdc

• Everytime you search online you raise money for IHDC! Set as your homepage - http://ihdc.easysearch.org.uk/

  Thunderclap! A flash mob on social media! www.thunderclap.it/projects/15683-robin-hood-tickets-on-sale

REPORT by Matt Streuli, Vice-Chairman & Publicity Officer

The 2013-2014 season for our club was fantastic. In 2013 we performed 3 shows, the Adults showed off their Romeo and Juliet, the award winning youngsters performed Alice in Wonderland at the Woking Drama Festival and we had pantomime.

We've been lucky enough to perform four shows this year: Cinderella at the start of the year, and then our two summer shows; a Midsummer night's dream by our our youth team, and then our first Farce in Two Weddings and a conference. Our teenagers are finishing the year with a great play called Care at the Woking Drama Festival. 

Sandra and myself are immensely proud of our club. Most amdram clubs and even theatre schools struggle to perform 2 shows a year and yet we are doing 4 shows giving everyone different chances in the limelight. 

Iver Heath is an diverse community: in Wood Lane there are mansions worth over £2 million and yet there are people living in poverty on benefits just 10 minutes walk away. At IHDC, everyone is equal and it is fantastic to see children & adults from across the spectrum of wealth, culture, skillset and ability working together over the past 66 years HOWEVER we need your help in a BIG way if we are to continue.

Earlier this year the charity which runs the village hall announced they would be increasing our rates. We do still have good rates but our weekly hall rent has almost doubled. I have negotiated with the hall and they have told me that they believe all hirers should pay roughly the same and I of course argued that not-for-profit community groups like us or the Toddlers and Mums club should pay less compared to a business. Either way, we need to raise more money otherwise we will fall hundreds of pounds short of our rent. I am sure those of you who read our website or facebook every few weeks will be aware of this.

So, I can announce that we will be increasing the membership fees for adults aged 16 and above to £3 per week. Under 16s will remain at £2. We are hoping that an extra pound a week will not impact to heavily on our members but will generate a good portion of the money needed to cover the hike. This goes into effect from NEXT WEEK (Wed 10^th).

We will also be increasing panto tickets from £8 for adults, £5 for Concessions and £22 for families up to £9 for adults, £6 for concessions and £25 for families. Considering we have not increased ticket prices for several years and that we are considerably cheaper than our nearest panto competition (Richings Players I believe charged £14 per adult last year) we hope this small increase will not impact on our audience too much. However it means we need you MORE THAN EVER to convince your friends, family, work colleagues and neighbours that we are worth that price. I think the shows we put on here are worth a lot more than that but I need you all to promote it. Last year we sold 550 tickets, I need you to tweet, facebook, email and leaflet so we reach that target again.

We are looking into grants from Buckinghamshire Community Fund, which Carol is applying too, and Sandra Corcorcan our chairman and local Parish Councillor Louisa Sullivan are helping Aidan Parr apply to the Iver Parish Council grant. I am also asking Pinewood Studios for a donation although they have been worried about how that might look over the past few years in relation to Project Pinewood.

We cannot rely on grants, there is no guarantee we will get them which is why I need your help in fundraising.

Emily Ashraf’s mum, Alison, is running the Maidenhead Marathon and has announced she is fundraising for St Margret’s Church and our drama club. She is here tonight with her sponsor form so please if you can donate. The church has supported us for a long time as Reg will confirm so its great to support them at the same time.

I am arranging a fundraising Quiz Night on Saturday 4^th October starting at 6pm. Bring your friends and family. Bring your own picnic and drinks. Under 16s must bring their parents/carers. The prizes will be worth it! Just RSVP and invite your friends on our facebook page. 

Finally three quick points two of which are the easiest way of fundraising I’ve ever heard of.

First, I am sure many of you shop online with very.co.uk or Next, eBay and M&S. Well if you go via the IHDC EasyFundraising page then we get the cashback. It doesn’t cost you anything extra so please for your next tesco shop or with xmas coming up buy via our website.

Number 2 – EasySearch, everytime you search using our search engine we get a couple of pence. It doesn’t sound alot but if everyone here used our search engine instead of Google... well we could hit £10 a week easily... £10 doesnt sound like alot but its money we don’t have.

And finally I am always looking for cheap but effective ways to promote our panto. Social media is key and it is free. But it doesn’t work if you don’t share statuses or retweet. So we’ve found a idea called THUNDERCLAP. Think of it as an "online flash mob." When you click join and support, you and others will share the same pre-determinded message at the same time, spreading an idea through Facebook and Twitter. It takes 10 seconds and will only send this one message. Nothing more. This morning we had 25 people sign up. We need you to sign up and get us to 50.

In summary, 

.

If we all do these little things, donate things we can like a tin of paint or maybe do a cake sale, if we all pull together then we can keep membership low, keep ticket prices reasonable and still be the best.

Thank you all for your hard work and as we enter year 66 I want our motto to be:– be the best we can be.

Promote the best, support the best, sing the best, try the best and together we can be the best we can be.