POLKA CHILDREN'S THEATRE LIMITED

Registered charity 256979 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as POLKA CHILDREN'S THEATRE, POLKA THEATRE, POLKA THEATRE FOR CHILDREN

Polka empowers children aged 0 to 12 years old to navigate their world through inspirational theatre and creative experiences: improving children's lives, bringing communities together, creating ground-breaking theatre. Since 1979 we have built a local, national and international reputation. Our venue in Wimbledon is a theatre and community hub where everyone is welcome.

Causes: Education/training · Disability · Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that unrestricted general reserves of £787,098 exceed the trustees' stated policy target of £550,000. The charity reported a net surplus for the year, supported by strong box office and fundraising performance, despite facing challenges from rising overheads and declining public funding.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Buzzacott Audit LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Polka Theatre (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Helen Matravers — Joint CEO (source)
• Lynette Shanbury — Joint CEO (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• Arts Council England — “Public Funding Arts Council England” (source page)
• Arts Council England / National Lottery — “Public Funders Arts Council England / National Lottery” (source page)
• The Andor Charitable Trust — “Trusts and Foundations The Andor Charitable Trust” (source page)

Property (HM Land Registry)

7 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (4 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram · linkedin

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~2.8 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (49% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 3.9% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Kalee Susan Talvitie-Brownchair
• Alison Jane Harpur
• Arif Feisal Saad
• Catherine Sally Manuel
• Fiona Louise McLaren
• Helen Elizabeth Clark Bell
• Kellie Louise Williams-Jauvel
• Mark Paul Macey
• Michael Andrew Bradley
• Michael Lord · trustee of 1 other charity
• Victoria Aspden
• Vincent Gerald O'Brien

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Surrey · Throughout London

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE ASSOCIATION OF THE FRIENDS OF POLISH CHILDREN.

• THE ASSOCIATION OF THE FRIENDS OF POLISH CHILDREN income £138k
• Polish Social and Cultural Association income £1.6m
• SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES POLO LIMITED income £123k
• POLISH CULTURAL FOUNDATION LIMITED income £149k
• The Police Children's Charity income £1.3m
• THEATRE PECKHAM income £1.1m

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.