Well, I’m still here – the chairman of an ever shrinking band of trustees who are prepared to look after the running of our highly used village hall.
Firstly I would like to say a huge thanks to Myrtle Wells who is standing down as a trustee after many years of supporting and looking after the hall in official and unofficial capacities and we wish her a very happy 80th birthday and many more to come. Myrtle has been an example of good citizenship to us all. With Myrtle’s resignation we are down to four trustees in total.
Thankfully, this year has been somewhat less eventful than last but just to keep us on our toes we had to have the rat catcher in just before Christmas and a recent leak in the heating system has uncovered how difficult it is to find a plumber locally! Thanks to Matt Grist for coming to our rescue.
Our main activity over this last year has been a complete external redecoration carried out excellently by Peter Robinson; redecoration of the lower half of the main hall by Mick Brabrook and redecoration of the rest of the building excluding ceilings internally by Keith Giles. A new barrier mat was fitted in the entrance hall by Alan Prigg, to try and reduce the amount of dirt and grit carried to the main hall. The repainting of internal areas has to be carried out almost annually in some parts of the building because within a fortnight the walls in the meeting room for example, were damaged and marked again.
The Scouts have been pursuing the idea of converting the loft area with external access for storage over the past year but this has gone into abeyance recently as they may have found facilities elsewhere to develop.
The Thurston Under Fives Group has also been disappointed in its hopes to find an alternative purpose built venue so it looks like both organisations may remain here for a while yet anyway for which we are very grateful.
The Parish Council have renewed the lease we have on use of the car park with a substantial increase in annual fee. However this still equates to only £5 per week so it is good value.
The revenue we get from our hirers covers our running cost each year but if we are to keep the hall looking the way we all want it to, we have had to raise our fees again in the coming year to allow for a continuing programme of maintenance.
List of regular hall users:
· Thurston Under Fives (5 mornings and 2 afternoons per week)
· Scout organisation (2 evenings per week)
· two Bridge clubs ( 1 weekly session, one fortnightly)
· Brownies ( 1 evening per week)
· LMA (music and drama squad – 2-3 sessions per week)
· W.I. ( a monthly session)
· Well Foundation
· The mobile barber
I would like to extend my continuing gratitude to Steve Taylor our treasurer, Heather Friend our booking secretary and Kim Carberry our cleaner. All these people carry out their duties exceptionally well and without them the hall wouldn’t be as popular is it is today. Also to Ann Bubear Baker, our minutes secretary and those stalwart few who join us at our committee meetings to help keep the hall going.
PLEASE do your utmost to try and attract other people to join us on the Management Committee!