SKILLS FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

LIFELONG LEARNING NETWORK

SSCLLN BEST PRACTICE GUIDES : GUIDE TWO

Developing a Theatre Company

Business within a FE/HE Environment
Author:
Sector:

BG Touring Ltd
Creative Industries

Creating opportunities for vocational learners

SSCLLN Best Practice Guides

Introduction to SSCLLN Best Practice Guides

About the Guides

Lifelong Learning Networks were established
across England to develop and promote
opportunities for people with vocational
qualifications and/or experience to progress
more easily into and through higher education.
The networks are made up of partnerships of
educational organisations such as universities
and further education colleges who are
working together to streamline access to
higher education, and open up routes to
graduate and post graduate levels.
The Skills for Sustainable Communities
Lifelong Learning Network (SSCLLN), hosted
by the University of Leicester, was established
in 2006. The Network covers a sub-region
of the East Midlands across Leicestershire,
Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Rutland.
The Network is funded until December 2010
by the Higher Education Funding Council for
England (HEFCE).

SSCLLN BEST PRACTICE GUIDES: GUIDE TWO

Developing a Theatre Company

Business within a FE/HE Environment
Author: BG Touring Ltd
Sector: Creative Industries

SSCLLN has worked in partnership with BG Touring to promote and encourage the
development of innovative activity that provides vocational learners with industry
relevant skills and experience and inspires them to progress in their future career.
This guide aims to provide staff working in Network partners with a model of best

practice that, could be applied and adapted for their

organisation and to benefit current and
potential learners.

This best practice guide is part of a series

of guides produced by the SSCLLN. These
guides aim to share best practice used by
partner colleges and universities to enable
progression for vocational learners. Other
guides in the series include:

Delivering/developing the University

Certificate in Professional Development
In Practice:Blueprint for Curriculum Development
Targeting vocational learners
Developing vocational curriculum
Constructionsite: Developing a shared resource
Developing Progression Agreements
Developing APEL: A unique approach

If you would like any of these guides please contact us.

T: 0116 252 3693 E: ssclln@le.ac.uk

Website: www.le.ac.uk/ssclln

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Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln

1.0 Background

2.0 NExt steps

1.1 History

2.1 the need for change

Bishop Grosseteste has a long history of both teacher education and arts and humanities courses.
This small university, originally a Teacher Training College until 1994, when a small suite of diversified
degrees were introduced to the portfolio. One of these degrees was Drama in the Community and as part of
the course students had an opportunity to visit the Edinburgh Festival which was funded by the University.
Although they did not perform a play, they took street theatre and community workshops to the Festival.
During the first eight years that students on the Drama in the Community degree programme attended
the festival, they performed Street Theatre and junk band work. Strolling Street Theatre in Princes Street
Gardens also proved to be very successful, as were performances on the Royal Mile. They also provided a
Childrens Festival at Harestanes Visitors Centre in Jedburgh on one day each year, and up to 200 people
regularly attended. Other activities included several visits to the Edinburgh Blind School and workshops in
schools, old peoples homes and centres for people with learning disabilities.

BG Touring had been reliant on a mixed package of funding to undertake its various activities since
its inception. Approximately 60% of its annual budget was taken from various elements of public
sector educational funding, though chiefly the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF). The remaining
40% had traditionally been generated through individual contributions by the students themselves and
through earned income via performances at a broad range of venues / activities. As the popularity of
BG Touring grew amongst students so, inevitably, did the costs involved with their activities, particularly
those associated with performing at the Edinburgh Festival. However, because of increasing pressures on
budgets that were shrinking in real terms, the long-term sustainability of BG Touring was in serious doubt
by the start of the 2007/2008 academic year, with a forecast cost of attendance at Edinburgh in August
put at around 13,000.

1.2 A Change in rationale

It gradually became more and more difficult to offer an experience as part of an HEI programme during
August. This was well outside the semester and it was not clear whether the experience belonged to
year two or year three. The benefits needed to be maintained but with a more transparent rationale. Tutors
were aware that throughout the year the students on this and the other Drama degree (BA Education
Studies and Drama) were undertaking a range of volunteering and extra-curricular activities. It was decided
to try to develop an enterprise culture which could bind together all of this work and give students greater
autonomy.
Therefore, a Theatre Company was set up in 2005, under the auspices of Young Enterprise. There was
a Managing Director and a team of students with posts of responsibility, all of whom came from Year 2
of either drama course. The first few years of the company were successful, but constant adjustments
were needed to ensure that the work was achieved and communication with local sponsors maintained.
A particular difficulty was that the students leading the company were new each year and continuity was
especially challenging. The students developed their skills and took part in a wide variety of activities
each year across the campus and the wider region. Skills learned during the programmes were taken out
and developed in their own time. A feature of this is the Samba Band, learned during a module but then
practiced regularly, so that it was professional enough to be presented at a variety of events in Lincolnshire.
A grant was made available and this was spent on some Samba Drums so that the company was able to
use its own equipment rather than having to rely on the generosity of other providers.
In order to raise funds, students began to attract regular sponsorship from local business and the City
Council, attending meetings to set up contracts of work at local festivals and events, including those
during the summer break. It was gradually accepted that the work they did as an extension of their degree
programme would attract a fee, to contribute to their funds. Other fundraising events were set up by the
group, including car washes and cake sales.

The arrival of a new Business Development Manager (BDM) in June 2008 was seen as the ideal
opportunity to review how BG Touring was funded, governed and managed and deciding if BG Touring
could continue.
The BDM first of all identified that although frequently referred to as a company, this wasnt in fact correct
except in the sense of it being a type of Theatre Company. What this meant in simple terms was that all
activities were being delivered under the umbrella of BG as a registered charity and Limited Company and
gained protection through measures such as the institutions Public Liability Insurance. This was okay to
a point but individuals were potentially liable when entering into contracts on behalf of BG Touring and
having no independent bank account caused innumerable problems with regards to holding cash and
making payments to suppliers. Virtually all key management decisions and administrative functions were
being delivered by one person, the Head of Department, and had been since BG Touring was first formed.
Although this simplified matters in terms of communication and decision making, it was unsustainable
given the internal reorganisation that was taking place within the Department and School resulting in a
significant additional workload for the Head. No plans were in-place for succession and the loss of that
individual at any point would have had potentially catastrophic consequences in terms of planning and
the delivery of BG Touring activities.
It had been identified some time previously that more responsibility for the management of the Company
should pass to the students involved, as a means of both spreading the load and offering a chance to those who
wanted it to develop alternative skill sets potentially relevant to their future careers. The question was how?
Developing student ownership and second tier management of the Company appeared to hold the key but
a mechanism was needed by which this could be achieved. Fortunately, the BDM came from a background
of providing advice and support to third sector organisations and in particular to social enterprise
businesses, and those wishing to become one. This appeared to offer the greatest potential and best fit
with the ambitions and needs of BG Touring and the ethos, beliefs and values of BG. To that end, the BDM
was tasked with exploring a social enterprise model appropriate to the needs of BG Touring and its key
stakeholders.

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2.2 What is Social Enterprise?

2.3 Types of Social Enterprise

The economy can broadly be divided into five parts: private businesses, socially responsible business,
social enterprise, the voluntary and community sector, and government. Social enterprise shares
some characteristics with the other forms of organisations. With other businesses, social enterprises
share dependency on the market and sales for income. With the voluntary and community sector, social
enterprises share both social ownership structures and a sense of social mission.

Employee-Owned Businesses create and preserve jobs as part of economic development strategies.

Co-Operatives are associations of persons united to meet common economic and social needs through
jointly owned enterprises.

Social Firms are small businesses created to provide integrated employment and training for people
with disabilities and disadvantages.

Intermediate Labour Market Companies provide training and work experience for the long term
unemployed.

Community Businesses are social enterprises that have a strong geographical definition and focus on
local markets and services.

Charity Trading Arms enable charities to meet their objectives in innovative ways.

Social Businesses are non-profit businesses, often set up to support the work of a charity or non
governmental organisation.

Credit Unions and community finance initiatives provide access to finance.

Development Trusts focus on community based regeneration.

Housing Associations focus on providing social or low cost housing to people in need.

Social enterprises tackle a wide range of social and environmental issues and operate in all parts of the
economy, including health and social care, arts and design, childcare, sport and leisure, finance and transport.
By using business solutions to achieve public good, the Government believes that social enterprises have
a distinct and valuable role to play in helping create a strong, sustainable and socially inclusive economy.
A social enterprise is, first and foremost, a business. That means it is engaged in some form of trading,
but it trades primarily to support a social purpose. Like any business, it aims to generate surpluses, but it
seeks to reinvest those surpluses principally in the business or in the community to enable it to deliver
on its social objectives. It is, therefore, not simply a business driven by the need to maximise profit to
shareholders or owners.
What social enterprises have in common is a commitment to meeting both their social aims and their
business objectives in order to achieve financial stability (sometimes referred to as the double bottom
line). Many add environmental aims and refer to it as the triple bottom line.
A social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for
that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for
shareholders and owners.

- Social Enterprise Action Plan: Scaling New Heights. Office of the Third Sector, November 2006
Social enterprises are a special type of business, and just like any business they need to be well managed.
On the practical level they share many problems and factors for success with business in general, especially
as regards market and financial conditions; but there is more to them than that.
Their distinctiveness comes from their values: the reasons they are
set up, the needs they meet, and the principles by which they work.

Social enterprises are mission driven, and are often established in reaction to a social or economic
problem such as the closure of a factory, social exclusion, the decline or absence of an important service,
or the lack of employment opportunities. Some social enterprise leaders may have a wider perspective, but
members sign up to support social enterprises out of a desire to meet a real need.
Social enterprises are value-led organisations. The values and how they are understood will vary between
social enterprises. In its statement of identity, the co-operative movement sets out its common values as
follows: Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity
and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of
honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others. Other social enterprises speak of values
related to social justice, fair trade, concern for the environment, social inclusion, gender and community.
For BG Touring, the founding values were democratic ownership and management, inclusion, ethical
trading and a commitment to uphold the values and ethos of Bishop Grosseteste University College.

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2.4 Choosing the Business Model for BG Touring

A great deal of thought was given to choosing the correct model. We wanted to encourage ownership
and involvement yet wanted something as simple as possible that everyone could understand and
which could be set-up relatively quickly and inexpensively.
Serious consideration was given to establishing a co-operative but the time and cost proved a barrier
and the governance was overly complex for what we wanted to do. Instead we took advantage of a grant
funding scheme operated by Social Enterprise East Midlands and funded by the East Midlands Development
Agency to secure 1500 with which to buy-in some dedicated and expert advice to supplement that of the
BDM. As a result, we were advised to create a Company Limited by Guarantee administered by Companys
House. This simple model would be well understood by all who we needed to contract with, was flexible in
that we could amend the governing documents relatively easily and quickly to reflect change and it could
be delivered for minimal cost.
The suggestion was taken to the staff and students who had expressed an interest in BG Touring during
the academic year 2008/2009. Perhaps surprisingly, even though it promised more work, the idea was
exceptionally well received. The underpinning ethos and values of social enterprise appeared to strike a
chord with virtually everyone as a non-exploitative way of delivering a sustainable business model and
was insightful with regard to the values held by young people in particular. For those who wanted to it
also provided a fantastic opportunity to experience the decision-making processes, pressures and tensions
involved in running a real Theatre Company as a number of key roles would need to be filled by students.

2.5 The Mechanics of Registering the Company

Producing the necessary governing documents and establishing the legal/business model for a
social enterprise is a specialised undertaking fundamental to creating a successful and sustainable
business. Getting the necessary advice and support was largely funded by the SEEM grant identified in the
previous section and was provided by Lincolnshire Co-operative Development Agency, a dedicated body
that supports, promotes and develops all forms of social enterprise across Lincolnshire. There are many
equivalent bodies throughout the UK.

With this in-place it was now possible to formally register the business. To do this requires a minimum
of two directors. The BDM and The Students Union Development Manager volunteered their services as
both had prior experience and were already actively involved in developing the business. A third volunteer
took the post of Company Secretary though this is no longer a mandatory requirement. In the future,
further Directors will be recruited from members of staff, and external volunteers, as required to provide
the breadth and depth of experience necessary to develop the business.
The registration process was relatively straight forward with the forms available on-line from the Companies
House website: http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/infoAndGuide/companyRegistration.shtml
The standard registration fee is 20. They will incorporate the company in eight to ten working days after
receipt of the documents. As we needed to form the company quickly, ahead of Edinburgh 2009, we took
advantage of the Same Day Incorporation service, the registration fee for which is 50.00 and must be
correctly received before 15.00 hrs on the day in question.
Before we applied to Companies House for registration, we checked to ensure that the BG Touring Ltd
name was available for use. You can do this by either calling the Contact Centre on +44 (0)303 1234 500,
or by using the WebCHeck service. We chose the latter and confirmed availability within minutes.
Note: You should check your name on both, the Current and Recently Dissolved register and the Proposed Names register.

There is also a requirement to have a solicitor, JP or notary (and not one that has already advised you)
to countersign the paperwork; they will usually charge 5-10 for this service. We used a local solicitor
recommended by the institutions solicitor who charged just 5 and completed his checks in 20 minutes.
BG Touring Ltd was incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee on the 29th July 2009, some nine
months from the inception of the project to create a sustainable BG Touring.
Once the enterprise was registered it meant that it was able to enter into legal undertakings and provide
protection for its directors and members, without which it would be dangerously liable in trading.
Furthermore, by having a requirement to report to a regulatory body and having its key details in the public
domain, it encourages both investment and trade by being recognised as a bona-fide business adhering to
social enterprise principles and being transparent and open to public scrutiny.

The Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&A) is the governing document used for a Company
Limited by Guarantee with the Memorandum effectively establishing the purpose and nature of the
business and the Articles detailing how the governance will be delivered (such as Annual General Meetings,
membership, appointment of Directors etc). These can be amended as necessary, in the case of BG Touring
Ltd by a vote of 75% of the eligible membership.
Standard (Model) forms are widely available, many free of charge via the internet that require a minimum
amount of information to be inserted. However, if the business is unusual or complicated these may not be
appropriate; professional advice should always be sought as it is much easier to make changes before being
approved by the regulator. For BG Touring we were able to use a standard template for a social enterprise
business incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee. Once completed the institutions solicitor looked
in detail at the M&A to ensure that we were both legally compliant and had addressed all of the areas required
by Companies House. It is worth noting that many solicitors offer these services on a pro-bono basis for social
enterprise start-ups through the Pro Help programme administered by Business Champions.

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2.6 Banking and Tax

3.0 Conclusions

The next most important step was to open a business bank account. We had already approached a
number of banks to establish who could offer the best terms and most appropriate type of account.
Ultimately we settled on Barclays Community Account which offers us free banking provided we dont go
into the red or exceed any agreed overdraft limit. We have a cheque book, up to 6 debit cards and access
to free business banking advice. There was no set-up charge and the process took ten working days.

3.1 Achievements

Although our finances are currently straightforward and our annual turnover is likely to remain below
20,000 for some time, we nevertheless opted to engage with an accountant as recommended by our
Finance Office. For 500, including set-up fees, he will act on our behalf in all tax matters including
preparing end of year accounts and returns to Her Majestys Revenue and Customs for Corporation Tax
purposes.
One additional point to note is that all those acting as Directors of the company will in future receive a
Self-Assessment Tax Return with regard to their personal earnings. It is worth noting as many people feel
uncomfortable when faced with the prospect of completing the annual return despite it being relatively
straightforward.

2.7 Continuity
One of the key failings of the original BG Touring model was the need to almost re-invent the wheel
every year with regard to explaining to students what BG Touring was, its history, how it worked and,
most importantly, identifying and developing individuals with the desire and appropriate skills to assume
the various roles required to make the organisation work. The pool of experience was lost after each
Edinburgh Festival as the Year 2 students moved into Year 3 and had virtually no opportunity to pass on
their hard won experience.
This was clearly something that needed to be addressed if we were to establish a genuinely sustainable
business that was as professional as it could be. The decision was taken therefore to extend the offer of
membership of BG Touring Ltd to Years 1 & 3 students and alumni who had been involved.
In order to solve the problem of continuity we identified the three most influential (and hard working)
students involved in 2008/2009 and invited them to act as the lead individuals for their relevant areas of
responsibility. They report to, and work with, the Directors and other staff members to ensure key milestones
are achieved and act as peer mentors in developing the Year 2 student office holders whilst Year 1 volunteers
shadow both and gain valuable insight and experience ready for Year 2, so that they can hit the ground
running as they assume office. In return, the Year 3 mentors receive a free week at the Edinburgh Festival
and a welcome boost to their C.Vs. All three approached thus far have welcomed the idea.
As indicated, it is intended to offer membership to include alumni. By doing so we hope to maintain and
extend the pool of experience of BG Touring Ltd, supplemented by the experience they gain in whatever
field they are engaged in whilst also, hopefully, bringing new ideas and opportunities to the company
through their own networks.

The business objectives were, in the first instance, to create a sustainable business made up of staff
and students operating as a wholly independent entity to Bishop Grosseteste University College. It
was intended that it should be fully self-financing by the end of Year 3 and that the number of members
will have grown from the initial 35 to 60+. We have created a model that is sustainable, independent,
democratically governed and transparent and is currently trading in the black.
As part of the sustainable development of BG Touring, it was decided to create a social enterprise business
to maximize its earning potential and sustainability through the ability to enter legally into contracts
for the first time and to apply for funding in our own right. It provides real exposure to business and
enterprise activities for both students and staff thereby enhancing their employability; their awareness
and understanding of social enterprise will grow immensely and the social enterprise way of doing business
will become more widely publicised and understood through our interactions with schools, colleges, peers,
other businesses and the wider community.

3.2 Recommendations
The following are the key recommendations formed as a result of undertaking this project:

Dont rush in; becoming a business isnt for every organisational situation/activity and certainly
isnt a panacea for all problems.

Allow plenty of time; the decision-making process can be very protracted. The process of consulting
with everyone in a genuinely democratic way takes time. The problems faced in just getting people
together in one place were a constant challenge given the busy lives we all have.

It is essential to consider very carefully the business model you wish to adopt. This investment
of time at the start avoids delays further down the line and the potential need to reconfigure the
business model and/or the governing document. In doing so you save confusing members and
other stakeholders and reduce the risk of people disengaging through frustration over constant
change.

Get help. Although setting up a simple incorporated business is pretty straightforward, doing it
as part of a FE / HE institution brings additional considerations.

Be clear about why you are doing it and what it will deliver. Its all too easy to lose sight of this
when you start to get involved with the detail.

Give students responsibility. If you have chosen well they will thrive and repay the trust you
have placed in them a hundred fold.

Dont forget that getting the company registered is just the start, thats when the work really begins.

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Appendix A
On the Fringe of the Student Community
the student perspective in 2007 & 2009

marketing and sales manager (2009)

For over a decade, BG Year 2 drama students have enjoyed visiting the annual Edinburgh Festival to
perform on the Royal Mile, take part in local festivals and work with the neighbouring community.
In 2005, this experience acquired an exciting new dimension when BG Touring secured the chance to stage
a full-length production as part of the internationally acclaimed Fringe Festival. To everyones delight, their
presentation of The Flood was a great success, receiving the high accolade of a four (out of five) star review
in the Three Weeks newspaper.

Hello, my name is Daniel and I was the Marketing and Sales Manager for Edinburgh 2009. I am
currently a 3rd year Drama in the Community student. My main role in this company was to advertise
the show, both in Lincolnshire and in Edinburgh. This involved me creating posters, flyers, bugs, banners
and the Final Report on the activities undertaken. For this role I also had to liaise with the director and
the CEO to see if the poster and banners upheld the correct image the show wanted to portray. The main
issues which I would have to look at is how to make our show stand out compared to all the other publicity
that is around in Edinburgh. If I put it into context; each day there are over 2000 shows and on every metre
of ground there are flyers for different shows. Obviously, as the Head of Marketing and Sales I had a team
which worked under me which helped me with little issues that I had throughout the whole experience.

Inspired by this success, the following year BG Touring revisited the festival with The Voyage of the Dawn
Treader. Again, the show was a triumph and was awarded sell-out status by the festivals organisers; quite
a coup since, as then Managing Director Kate enthused, with the average Fringe audience being just six
members, to have 96 people in attendance was an amazing achievement, and testament to the skill and
stage presence of these young actors.
It was the management of the company that appeared to be more of a challenge, and a rather daunting
prospect for the students delivering the 2007 production. Wed never done anything so professional before,
said Sarah and its a big responsibility; it has to go right continued Gemma. The difficulty, added Rosie, is
the fact that on top of it being a new experience in terms of developing the production, BG Tourings members
have never been to the Edinburgh Fringe, so its a voyage into the unknown on all counts.
Despite struggling to juggle so many tasks, the team agreed that it is a remarkable and beneficial
experience, unprecedented in the opportunities routinely offered to performing arts students. As Sarah
explained its not just something to put on your CV; thats not why you do something like this!. For Rosie, it
was a confidence builder in terms of discovering that a group of previously inexperienced students can,
together, succeed in such a venture, whilst Gemma regarded the opportunity to perform at this level as
the chance to live out a dream. Sharing this sentiment, Nikki felt that after performing at the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival she had credentials to parallel respected professionals, who cite appearing at the Fringe in
their own achievements, such is its acclaim.

The biggest issue for me was incorporating a child like feel for the poster which would attract children
whilst using the given stimulus from the director of an apocalyptic nightmare for children. The main
issue which had this year was that of the banner. Now (as far as my knowledge serves me) BG Touring has
never had a banner used before. I thought this would be a brilliant idea to grab attention up in Edinburgh.
This was mainly used at the cavalcade, a massive event with over 10,000 people; it was also put up as an
advertising banner as the street theatre played on The Royal Mile to attract potential customers.
From this experience I have taken away the importance of delegation, organisation and most importantly
how to design eye catching flyers. It has improved my confidence in what it is possible to achieve.
The only advice I can give to next years Marketing and Sales manager is:

1) Use the staff to their full potential, they have some good advice which can help
2) Be organised
3) And mainly enjoy it!
Daniel, 2009

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stage manager
My name is Stephanie and I am studying for a degree in Drama in the Community. I was the stage
manager for The BFG the childrens show produced by BG Touring Company for the Edinburgh Fringe
festival. My role as stage manager began at the start of 2009; so I have had front row seats to witness
the production grow from the initial ideas stage to become the sell out show it is now. It has been a year
involving lots of challenges, lots of rehearsals but most importantly, lots of fun.
Being the stage manager, it was important for me to attend all rehearsals. When in rehearsals I was assisting
Karen Dainty the director with creative and practical ideas and chiefly I was responsible for motivating the
production staff. I even had the opportunity to run some of the rehearsals myself when Karen was unable
to attend. This provided me with the valuable opportunity of facilitating rehearsals with my peers, which
was both a new and rewarding experience. My responsibilities didnt begin and end with the rehearsal
process. I was also responsible for the set building team and it was as a team that we designed and built all
of the set; a set that looked visually effective and aided the flow of the production. We worked closely with
the director to ensure we created a visually interesting set that was in-keeping with the directors vision for
the production. The people who made up BG Touring worked as a company, we were given different roles
and responsibilities but we all helped each other to achieve our goals.
BG Touring has given me lots of opportunities to develop my skills to work in challenging and rewarding
situations. Taking the show to Edinburgh was exciting enough, but I was not prepared for how brilliant it
was to become. I feel no matter what your role is in the company; Edinburgh is a mustso get involved!
Stephanie, 2009

Logistics Manager
Hi all! My name is Elizabeth, Im a 3rd year Drama and Education Studies student and I was Logistics
Manager of BG Touring Ltd 08/09. As Logistics manager it was my role to make sure that the relevant
people knew what they needed to do, and when and where they needed to be. For example, letting people
know what transport they were on and making sure that they knew when and where meetings were so
that we worked smoothly and efficiently as a team.
Being at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is a hectic but fantastic experience; it can be one of the most
stressful times of your life, but also the most enjoyable. As we were there for such a short period of time
and we had to fit such a lot in, it was difficult making sure that everyone knew what was happening,
but working as a group meant that messages could be passed on through various people and in the end
everyone was on time and where they needed to be Phew!

Head of Sponsorship and Fund Raising

My name is Becki, a 3rd year Drama in the Community student. My role in the company was head of
Sponsorship and Fundraising.
My role was to organise fundraising events with all the members of the company involved to make people
do crazy things for money and to find different ways of getting as much funding as possible for BG Touring
and the trip to Edinburgh.
My experiences within my role in the company were quite crazy at the best of times. Due to the size of
the group and the variation of ideas people had, it was quite chaotic at the start with the vast number of
great ideas. To get them all written down and made into reasonable plans was a challenge. My group and I
organised many fundraising events including many yummy cake sales, a pudding party (I can see a slight
pattern emerging here) also car washes, raffles and sponsored events. We also worked in collaboration with
people within BG to organise the samba band, being paid for events where they were asked to perform,
such as graduation, open days etc. The main difficulty was that with the big number of people and all
the ideas flying around it proved quite a problem to fit them all into the short time frame we had for
fundraising.
The things I will take away from this project were learning how to get money out of thin air and using
very little time to make as much money as possible. I have also perfected my cupcake making skills. I
have really enjoyed writing formal letters and working with people within the university to make a vast
difference to the funding budget for the trip to Edinburgh. Even though I didnt get to go to Edinburgh in
the end because of a back problem I had so much fun with all the fundraising and organising events that
I will remember for a lifetime.
Becki, 2009

Fringe Liaison Officer

I have thoroughly enjoyed being Fringe Liaison Officer this year. Working under the pressure of deadlines,
is something that motivates me to complete the job to the highest standards. The organisation skills
that are required for this job, will always stay with me, and of course help me with my studies and with any
employment. One piece of advice, Id like to hand down to the next Fringe Liaison Officer, is to ensure you
have all the correct deadlines for all of the application forms and to work closely with the tutors, as they
will make sure youre on the right track.
Cherie, 2009

The organisational skills and communication skills I have learnt in my role, while in Edinburgh and building
up to Edinburgh, have already helped me to be more confident in myself, also, working so closely with
the other members of BG Touring has really brought the group together and helped to form stronger
friendships which meant we were able to be more supportive of each other.
My advice for the future members of BG Touring is to hang in there its worth it! You will come out of the
experience a better person and a closer group and with some fantastic performances under your belt I am
sure!
Elizabeth, 2009

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Being able to go to, let alone perform at, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was an amazing experience
that will stay with us all forever. At times the workload was stressful for everyone but the group
really pulled together and were able to work hard as a team to produce a sell out show. Personally, I
feel that belonging to a company such as BG Touring Ltd has built my confidence and I will be able
to use the skills and qualities I have gained throughout the next year and ultimately in the career
path that I choose.
Amy, 2009
To me, being part of BG Touring and having the opportunity to take a production up to the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival is one of the most valuable experiences that this university offers.
The days of rehearsal are long and sometimes make you question if its worth all the effort, but
nothing can prepare you for that amazing moment when you are on stage in front of audience and
critics alike. And if that wasnt enough, the opportunity to experience the festival itself is one that
shouldnt be missed. If I hadnt gone with the university, I think it probably would have been one of
those things that I told myself Ill do that one day, but never really got around to doing, but now I
just cant wait to get myself back there! It is a fantastic opportunity to work alongside your peers and
produce a performance that you can be proud of for the rest of your life. I am so grateful to the tutors
and to all involved in providing this experience because it is one that will impact the rest of my life
and will be invaluable when teaching a class of my own.
Claire, 2009
For more information about BG Touring please contact:
Business Development Manager
Bishop Grosseteste University College
Newport
Lincoln
LN1 3DY

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Guide Two