The lockdowns and restrictions of the past two years have had a huge impact on the Memorial Hall which was closed for long periods and unable to support groups and activities. Over the same period, the management committee reduced in size, leaving the three remaining management trustees with a very heavy administrative burden. The governing document for the hall recommends nine trustees to ensure smooth running and effective administration. I am pleased to report that at our AGM on Tuesday 26th April, we were able to recruit a full committee of nine trustees:-
Chair - Simon Hadden
Vice Chair - Olive Lowes
Secretary - Shirley Burnie
Treasurer - Andrea Munro
Bookings - Geoff Osmond
Publicity & Social - Jane Kartupelis
Fundraising - Stephen Greenway
Business Development - Ian Chapman
Minutes - Sylvia Taynton
The AGM was well attended with over 30 attendees, who were pleased to hear about developments, asked questions and made suggestions.
Key actions include:
New website and booking system - a website to promote our facilities and encourage new users. A new ‘easy to use’ online booking system with automated invoicing.
Business planning - development of a five-year business plan to help us develop a much clearer understanding of running and maintenance costs.
Fundraising – we are looking at raising money for the Hall ourselves by events such as wine/gin tasting evenings, quiz nights, coffee mornings and a cèilidh in the Autumn. We are also looking at external sources of funding such as The National lottery, Community Foundation etc.
Hall fees – these do not cover our current day-to-day running costs. Fees have not been increased for some time, so we recognise that these need to be reviewed.
However, we are aware that the hall is run for the good of the community so this important aspect will not be ignored.
Transparency – the Memorial Hall is for the benefit of the whole community, and we want your voice to be heard. As a result we are running a session before each monthly committee meeting for you to bring up any issues or concerns, or to ask questions. This discussion slot will be available before all committee meetings
Our next committee meeting will be in the Memorial Hall on Tuesday 7th June. Please join us with your questions and comments from 19.00 – 19.30. The committee meeting itself will start at 19.30.
Simon Hadden hadden101@btinternet.com
(First published in Fram News Issue 88, June / July 2022)