Chairman’s Report – July 2010
Thank you to all those of you who attended this year’s Fete and Hog Roast which I hope you all felt was a success. The weather was once again kind and this helped to make it one of the best in terms of financial return that we have had in recent years. For more about our social events please see the separate report in this Newsletter.
Phase I of the hall’s modernisation is almost complete. All that is left to do is to tackle the acoustics in the Main Hall and Lounge and we are progressing with that over the next few months. This should be complete by the end of the year (funds permitting!!). All the external lighting has now been connected and we will soon have the noise limiter and loop system in place.
Phase II of the hall’s updating is underway. The annex, as it is referred to, has already had all its windows double glazed and the exterior walls facing the Green have been rendered to match that of the main building. We have recently changed the access to the large store room from internal to external and the new double doors can be seen from the Green. The inside of this store room has also been rendered and will house surplus chairs, the marquees, barbecues and sundry landscaping equipment. The electrics are the next area to be tackled, followed by the plumbing and internal wall and ceiling work. As mentioned in the last Newsletter, the main room, presently being used as a storage facility, will become a meeting/ games room. The old Ladies toilet will be upgraded and become a unisex toilet with a small kitchenette and the old Gents loo will become a small storage facility. External ground levels around the annex have now been lowered to stop the damp getting into the building and landscaping of the whole complex will take place once Phase II is complete.
Booking levels for the new Beech Village Hall continue to be good and, as I outlined in my last report, the bookings have created a need to review how we manage the day-to–day running of the Hall. I said in the last issue that we are not in a position to be able to employ a fulltime caretaker and this is still the case. The Hall is booked nearly every day of the week and has to be checked regularly to ensure that our high standards are maintained. Currently this falls on the members of the Village Hall Committee. The Management Committee have now agreed that we can fund, if necessary, someone, or a rota of people, to carry out this much needed function. Ideally, we would like a rota of volunteers who would check each morning that all is OK and sometimes during the day after an ad hoc booking. This would of course save on the Hall’s expenses. However, we are willing, as stated, to pay for this small but important task if we are unable to cover it from volunteers. So please let me know if you feel that you could spare some time, as it is becoming quite an urgent requirement.
This year’s Annual General Meeting of the Beech Village Hall and Recreation Ground Trust takes place on Tuesday 19 October at 7:30pm in the Lounge Room. This is a change of date, so please make a note in your diaries of this alteration. There are likely to be some vacancies for election to the Management Committee, so please put your name forward to me if you are at all interested in deciding the future of Beech Village Hall and how it is managed. We also need to get more of the people of Beech involved in the social activities that take place at the Hall, so if you are not interested in the management side of the Hall, but would like to get involved on the social side of things, please let us know as we need members outside of the Management Committee to join our sub-committees and have a say in what Beech Village Hall can do for its local community – so call or email me, please.
Peter Cox
Chairman