Chair's Annual Report 2024-2025
As last year, our AGM is now in early January 2026 to enable more time for the accounts to be audited. This report covers the two seasons, autumn 2024 and Spring 2025.
Once again, I need to start with the bad news. Before Covid, we were averaging audiences up around the 110 mark for the year, with the largest audiences over 160, whilst Covid brought this down to only 59 average for the season. Well, our audience sizes have grown slightly each year and the year ending April 2025 saw our audiences climb again to a total of 2184, the largest being a sell-out 157 with 4 over the hundred mark, and an average of 81. This does cover up the fact that there were 11 films with audiences less than 70 though, so I have to finish, then, on a down note; although we still have nearly £25K in the bank, this figure is going down and is under continuing and increasing pressure due to rising costs and small audiences.
To the good news then. The decision to make the committee much smaller, basically just the 'officers', leaving most of the weekly jobs to volunteers, continues to be a success, with many new faces volunteering to help - my thanks go to all of them. Please keep volunteering and, if you haven't yet, please consider doing so. It would be especially good if you wanted to introduce a film or even review it for the club; please let me know.
The 25th Keswick Film Festival was celebrated in March, and it was a fine send off for Ian Payne who stood down from the role at the end of the Festival. Our huge thanks go to him for his years of hard work keeping the Festival a success through the years since 2016 - thank you Ian. We should also take this opportunity to welcome Julia Vickers into the role. As we meet, she has been working at it all year and we look forward to the 26th Festival under her leadership.
I will finish with my usual thanks to the Committee and to the many helpers who keep the Club and the Festival running. Thank you all, and thank you too for your continuing support; we only exist because of you, so please keep coming...and bring your friends! Let's make the coming seasons successful and fun!
Vaughan Ames, Chair