To receive the annual report for The Old Court.

Suzie Parr, Museum and Arts Team Leader, introduced the report and informed the Panel that Martin Denny had managed The Old Court since 2017. It had been a challenging and interesting time as reopening in December would be the fourth time that The Old Court would have been opened since Martin Denny had taken over. Suzie Parr informed the Panel that the funding from the grant from RBWM had been reduced and The Old Court was now looking at ways in which to fill the gap such as additional corporate hire.

Councillor Bowden added that The Old Court supported the local brewery too and they supplied the alcohol to the bar attached to The Old Court.

Councillor Del Campo found the presentation very inspiring and could see the effort and love that went into The Old Court. Councillor Del Campo suggested that it would be useful for the Panel to see the number of attendees against the required numbers in tabular form for future updates. Councillor Del Campo thought it was worrying to see the negative capital figure.

Councillor Del Campo commented on the SWOT analysis, she had assumed it had been prepared by an external company. The strengths and opportunities were very clear but the weaknesses and threats seemed quite woolly, she felt it needed to include the pandemic and the country’s security threats, both of which were a concern. Councillor Del Campo asked if The Old Court had any links with Norden Farm where they shared good practice and supported each other through the crisis. If there were none, would this be something that would be of interest to The Old Court?

Martin Denny informed the Panel that the negative capital figure on the published accounts was a concern but they were working to improve it and believed that they would have improved it this year, partly because of the Arts Council support directed at covering ongoing costs that could not be mitigated during the lockdown. In the year in concern, the deficit was in part covered by Martin Denny Management as the linked organisation through support of investment that was being made in the building that over time would balance out so the overall picture was not as much of insecurity as the deficit number may have suggested.

The SWOT analysis had been prepared by Martin Denny and related to the year being reported on.

The Old Court and Norden Farm had many informal conversational links and information was shared between both organisations but there were no formal partnership links at present.

Suzie Parr informed the Panel that the accounts in Part II were in a tabular form showing performance against KPI’s.

Councillor Davey complimented the brilliant job that Martin Denny had done with the Windsor Festival. Councillor Davey continued to talk about the Green Room and the fantastic things they were doing. Councillor Davey had also had conversations with The Theatre Royal and suggested that Martin Denny should speak with them and the Green Room about activity that may generate revenue. He had been advised that there was the capacity to do this.

Councillor Greg Jones complimented Martin Deny on the venue. Councillor Jones commented that he felt that the corporate bookings were very low especially with all the technology, marketing and media companies on their doorstep, Councillor Jones that it was a funky venue for corporate events. Were there ways to explore to get more business from this avenue. Martin Denny commented that they were ready for these kinds of bookings now. In the reporting year, the venue was not quite ready to advertise for this. The Old Court would now be pursuing this actively.

Councillor Rayner thanked Martin Denny and complimented him on the job he had done. Councillor Rayner said that Martin Denny had managed to capture a great audience of different ages doing so many different activities. Councillor Rayner informed the Panel that Martin Denny had been brave and ambitious, trying new ways of working and introducing new things and had really let the Friends of The Old Court get involved. The Old Court had played a large part of the cultural offer to the residents in the borough, along with Norden Farm.

Councillor Davey pointed out that the Friends of The Old Court seemed only to be Conservatives and no other parties. It would be beneficial to include all as there was a lot of thoughts and benefits to offer.