Horton and Little Sodbury Village Hall Committee
Chairman’s Report 2016-2017
We’ve had anotherreally busy year at the village hall. Our diary is always pretty full, so book early if you want to hire the hall. We’re becoming well known as a venue for wedding receptions. People like the fact that they can hire the hall for a fraction of the cost of a posh hotel and then have an absolute free rein to choose what they want for catering and so forth.
Now that most of our major refurbishment works have been completed, we've been turning our attention to smaller items such as replacing the emergency lighting which comes on if we have a power cut. We're also about to get wifi at the hall – we all know how poor the phone and data signal is at the hall. We hope this will make us more attractive for business hirers, conferences etc. As with weddings, it's far cheaper to hire the hall than a function room at a hotel.
Our project to improve our storage space is shaping up well. We’re going to put some big sliding doors in the end wall, near the projector screen, so we can put the stage and tables away at the back of the hall but still have them easily accessible. This will also enable the back store to be used as 'backstage' during shows. At present, the only access to the store room is through the door by the kitchen. The access is very narrow and goes round several corners, so we can’t get anything big into the store. We're also going to install a mezzanine floor in part of the store room to make better use of the space.
We're planning on buying some new chairs which are more comfortable and which fold and are then stored hung up on a big rack that we can wheel around more easily than our current system.
We’re having a gravel area put outside the kitchen for hog roasts, so they don’t drip on our nice paving.
We've also installed a commemorative bench outside the hall to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.
As ever,thevillage hall committee has continued to put on numerous events this year, providing opportunities for social gatherings, as well as allowing us the opportunity for much needed fund raising. This year we’ve had, amongst other things,the winter and summer bull runs, summer afternoon teas, a New Year party, a Christmas Chill and a ladies night with a burlesque workshop.
All of these events were extremely well organised, and well supported. Thank you to everyone who helped in any way with these and the many other events.
We’ve also had a couple of training sessions to show people how to use the defibrillator which the Parish Council kindly installed for us.
We were also paid another visit by the Badapple Theatre company, a travelling theatre, who put on an excellent play called Eddie and the Gold Tops, which was a 1960s themed musical comedy. Their stage, set, lights, props and costumes, plus the cast and crew, all fitted into one transit van. The show was excellent and they’ll be coming back again with their next production.
We were also able to host a folk evening with Ninebarrow, a folk duo who were absolutely superb. This was thanks to funding from Rural Arts, who make it possible for music, drama and other shows to be brought to small communities like ours.
The theatre show and the folk evening were very well attended, including many people from outside the local areawho'd never been to the hall before. Several people who came for the first time said what a nice venue it was, how they'd like to hire it and that they'd tell their friends about it.
Forthcoming events for this year include more summer afternoon teas, a Spanish themed music and supper evening, a quiz, another ladies night (this time with a Bollywood and bellydance theme), a murder mystery evening,another Christmas Chill, plus of course the bull runs.
We have also submitted bids for a couple more Rural Arts shows to come to us and have just heard that they’ll be presenting “The Little Matchgirl” for us in December and a folk group in March.
It is also important to remember that the Village Hall provides much needed additional facilities for other local organisations, including the church, the toddler group and the school, and I would like to take this opportunity in thanking them in the part they play in the maintenance and upkeep of the hall.
We need to build on our successes if we are to fund our aspirations for the hall. We need about £15,000 a year just to keep the hall running. Funds for renovation work come on top of that.
We really do appreciate the grants and support we get from the Parish Council and from South Glos Council. Once again, the Parish Council has kindly agreed to pay for our grass cutting in the forthcoming year, for which we are very grateful.
We also appreciate the revenue generated from hall hire, and we appreciate all the hard work done by our fund raisers.
Thank you also to the villagers and supporters who continue to hire the hall.
And I would like to thank all the Village Hall Committee for all their hard work over the past year. Special thanks go to Emma Cordy-Rugman, who keeps the hall in tip top condition and deals with all our bookings. She tells me she's now been doing this for more than half her life! Emma – we couldn't do it without you.
I’d also like to thank Katherine Standerwick for editing our newsletter.
The committee continue to give their time, their commitment, their enthusiasm and their support to ensuring that the village has a facility that it can be really proud of. Thank you.
Katharine Barnes
Chair
Horton and Little Sodbury Village Hall
May 2017