At the White Elephant Enclosure.
This month SomersetClive has asked local mathematics expert, Karen Vorderbum, to give us her opinion on the White Elephant Enclosure’s schedule of events and to calculate whether or not the venue offers value for money.
I’m absolutely delighted to have been invited to share my calculations with you and to do some simple maths to illustrate the point that Maths is Fun.
With expenditure for 2023/24 estimated at £240,000, I can immediately see that the WEE costs £658.00 per day to keep open.
The expected income for 2023/24 is £68,550, which equates to £5712.50 per month. Council Tax Payers will be expected to make up the difference between income and expenditure, which is why Smalltown and Dullbridge Town Council are putting in a subsidy of £170,000 and the reason why your Council Tax has gone up.
So let’s see how the figures are looking for April, the first month of the new budget.
Kicking off events this month we have a showing of a classic film – Cabernet – a musical extravaganza featuring a trip to a vineyard. So far ticket sales total five, which equals £25
To celebrate the Easter half term holiday, the WEE will be hosting a musical story time for children on Thursday. As this is a ‘sit on the floor’ event it is not possible to see how popular this event is, but with tickets priced at £25 for a family it is unlikely to be a sellout, especially as the following week sees another event for children.
Three Little Goats tells the story of three little goats as they set out on an adventure. Originally booked for two performances, morning and afternoon, the WEE website previously declared that the morning performance was ‘Sold Out’, before removing all reference to it and moving any bookings to the now single afternoon show.
Combining the two shows into one means that a total of 64 tickets have been sold. With a family ticket for four costing £25, this could mean sales of £400.
Saturday 15th April sees another classic film screening. This time it’s Nana’s Kneea, a story about one woman’s knee problems, enhanced by the music of BABA. Even the offer of a free glass of Prosecco has failed to increase ticket sales, which currently total two. That’s a whole £19 into the coffers (less the cost of the Prosecco).
Faring much better is a live screening from the Theatre National of a jolly serious play starring Doctor Whom. 18 tickets have been sold, making a total of £288.00
That’s it for April. Five events.
The usual clubs and activities will also be running this month, with the normal rental income as detailed in the monthly WEE accounts set to add an extra £180 to the income stream.
So now that we have all the figures we can use our calculators to work out if the WEE will meet that monthly income target of £5712.50.
I don’t know about your calculations, but I make the total less than £1000 for the month (and I should mention that this is being generous – some of the income from ticket sales may actually be split between the WEE and the performers). Enough to keep the WEE self-sufficient for a day and a half. However, this means that the WEE enters the month of May with a deficit of £4712.50 to add to May’s monthly income need of £5712.50.
Value for money? No.