RAGGED EDGE PRODUCTIONS CIO
TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS
YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH 2025
Trustees’ Report
Name and Status
The name of the charity is Ragged Edge Productions and this is the name under which it operates. The charity was constituted as a charitable incorporated organisation on 4th November 2015 under registration number 1164255.
Address
The charity’s registered and operational address is Chapel House, Bassenthwaite, Keswick, CUMBRIA CA12 4QH.
Trustees
Throughout the full accounting year the trustees were: Anne Timpson and Chris Bridgman. Subsequently Gilli Goodfellow became a Trustee in June 2024 and Celia Burbush in December 2024.
Objects
The purpose of the charity is the advancement of the education of the public in the appreciation and understanding of performing arts in all their forms, through the operation and management of Ragged Edge Productions.
Structure, governance, management
The Trustees are satisfied that the charity works within the objects. In this ninth year of the charity’s activity the day to day work has been undertaken by Stefan Escreet, Artistic Director of Ragged Edge Productions. The trustees meet quarterly to receive reports and to review the work being undertaken.
Financial Matters
Income and expenditure accounts and an Independent Examiners report from Caroline Clarke of Counterculture Accountants accompany this report.
The income for Ragged Edge Productions for the financial period was £52,822 and its expenditure was £52,803. Income was derived from a combination of grants from Arts Council England, Historic England, local authority and earned income from our charitable activities. The main area of expenditure was carrying out the charitable objects of the company of which the largest part was spent on fees for professional creatives (£37,976). The Trustees have chosen not to claim any expenses in undertaking their duties in this year of charitable activity.
Benefits to Trustees
No Trustees received any financial or other benefit during this year.
Public Benefit
The Trustees are aware of their public benefit obligations and are satisfied that they have complied throughout the year with the guidance published by the Charity Commission.
Activity and Achievements
During this year Ragged Edge has continued to develop and deliver the Audio Adventures strand of work. Audio Adventures continues to show great potential and the nature of the work is proving of great interest to partners and funders as it originates in an innovative response to people and place. Audio Adventures take place in public spaces, which makes them attractive to members of the public that may feel there are barriers to attending events in theatre venues. These projects are helping us deliver creative work in line with our charitable objects - the advancement of the education of the public in the appreciation and understanding of performing arts in all their forms.
During this year we delivered of a season of Audio Adventure projects around Cumbria:
A revival of Red Riding Hood in Keswick for family audiences during the May 2024 school holiday (in collaboration with the National Trust and Theatre by the Lake). A co-created performance with residents in Barrow as part of the annual Barrow Festival of Transport (in collaboration with Barrowfull CPP, Barrow BID and CandoFM community radio station). ‘Red’ - an Audio Adventure co-created with youth members of Eden Dance in Castle Park, Penrith which responded to the issues of smart phone addiction and online bullying. A heritage-based Audio Adventure in Maryport, working with a group of local residents who came together for a previous Audio Adventure in the town.
Further details about our Audio Adventure strand can be found on our website at: https://raggededgeproductions.co.uk/audio-adventures
We delivered all of these projects on time, within budget and with positive feedback from partners, participants and audiences.
Within this activity three of our Audio Adventures were run as co-creation projects with community groups responding to places of significance to them. As planned we ran weekly creative sessions to generate material for the final performances and stayed true to our intention of allowing the participants a voice and agency in the creative process.
In a first-time partnership with Barrowfull CPP we faced challenges in recruiting participants for our core group and despite considerable support and effort from Barrowfull and Barrow BID, we had a disappointing level of audience attendance for the final performances.
Our revival of our family show (Red Riding Hood) was very successful and there has been encouraging interest in future performances.
Audience feedback on ‘Red Riding Hood an Audio Adventure’ in Cockshot Wood, Keswick:
‘We loved the event, it was beautiful, fun and educational. Thanks!’ ‘Lovely to do something different with the grandchildren.’
‘Absolutely brilliant production!!! Kids and grown ups loved it, so much they wanted to come back again! A great twist on a classic!’
Extract from Case Study response from Creative Group participant in Barrow: “I made new friends! Especially, new friends who understand the process of writing and recording, and who understand the importance of local and relatively-recent history. I feel more confident writing drama now, as well as feeling more involved in a community of which I've been a member only 12 years (I'm not a born-and-bred local).”
Barrow Audio Adventure community co-creators.
Audience feedback on ‘Red’ in Castle Park, Penrith:
‘Brilliant and powerful performance that really related to place.’
‘I was spellbound by the performance, the story was incredibly powerful and the dancers were amazing. Absolutely brilliant. Exceeded any expectations.’
‘I’ve never seen theatre like this with headphones so really enjoyed it.’
‘Red’ – co-created with Eden Youth Dance in Castle Park, Penrith.
We provided BSL interpretation for all our Audio Adventures and all our marketing highlighted this. We also had support from Cumbria Deaf Association in publicising these accessible performances and yet we believe that we had no deaf audience members in attendance. We have discussed this with our interpreter, Rebekah Mills Strawson, and think that the ‘Audio Adventure’ description was a barrier but that there is also a more profound reluctance among the deaf population locally to attend live theatre events.
We consulted with partner organisation Theatre by the Lake on this issue. They had presented a boldly accessible production of Romeo and Juliet in collaboration with Graeae Theatre Co and were disappointed by attendance. We will allow for much more active engagement with deaf groups in the lead up to future events, rather than just finding the resources to provide BSL interpreted performances.
Ragged Edge also continued to tour the rural touring circuit with our theatre production The Mystery of the Blue Moon Saloon. This entertaining and innovative show allows the audience to participate. It is a sociable and comedic event which has proved popular during a challenging time for programming following the loss of audiences due to the pandemic.
We also developed a new production called [NAME OF PLACE] The Puppet Musical! This innovative production involves the audience in the crafting activity of paper-puppet making and their interaction in devising characters and a storyline all set in their community location. Our performers improvise a musical theatre performance in response. This has proved to be a lively and much appreciated event and audience responses have been enthusiastic:
"I loved the references to our community. It really made you feel part of something."
"Great way of making friends - getting to know people."
"The songs were amazing!"
“The Puppet Musical was the funniest event I’ve been to in decades. I couldn’t have imagined what it was going to be but it was totally brilliant and I laughed all evening. Inventive, quirky, astoundingly clever performers and audience involvement from the start, in the nicest possible way. Don’t hesitate to go!”
Birch Community Centre the Puppet Musical!
The organisation continues to receive support from larger NPO organisations in the region – Theatre by the Lake, Rosehill Theatre and Arts Out West. Thanks to ACE funding and with a recently refreshed board of Trustees, our organisation held our first away day dedicated to developing a 5-year strategy for Ragged Edge. Although we continue to be challenged by a limit on our capacity and a lack of regular and unrestricted funding we now have a clearer plan.