Happy New Year

Last post of 2010. Happy New Year to all who have enjoyed the hall this year.

Hall funds update

Met with Village Hall Fund trustees this evening. Draft minutes have been issued - which outline conditions for access to £38.5k of village funds. Will share the minutes with the hall management committee when trusees have approved them.

Snowy Saturday Party

We cleared a path through the snow leading to the hall front door, in preparation for yesterdays childrens party. Opening the inner front door brought a wave of warmth, indicating the heating was doing its job.

Yesterdays 5 year olds party looked like a lovely event, with one family pitching up with an indoor basket ball net. The Christmas tree and lighting in the hall add an extra something to atmosphere.

The roof does not have gaps in the snow to betray the fact the heating is working (apart from the air vents at the top of the roof). This suggests that the hall is quite well insulated.

We have table cloths with Molly for cleaning and ironing. With Dan helping with the hall cleaning, operation of the hall is less of an effort and feels sustainable.

MP Surgery today

Robert Buckland MP is holding a sugery in the hall this evening from 5:30pm until 8:30pm. Please come along and raise any issues you may have.

Robert Buckland MP - Surgery

On 3rd December 2010 we are proud to be hosting Robert Buckland MP. This is chance to meet your MP and raise issues with him.

Sessions update

Indoor tennis sessions are a feature of late Friday afternoons until the end of the year. We have belly dancing on Monday evenings and Slimming World on Tuesday evenings. In the New Year, we hope to restart Keep fit on Monday evenings. Scouts meet on Wednesday and Thursday evenings (no Beavers or Scouts yesterday due to gravity field pulling Scouts towards Chiseldon Primary Schools bonfire celebration).

Business as usual next week!

Christening this weekend | Overdue update

It is less of a novelty blogging, as we have been in successful level flight operating the hall for well over a year.

This weekend has a Christening party booking. A fortnight ano we had eight (yes 8) bookings over a four day period. Sadly we had to turn down one request for a slot.

We have users delivering Slimming advice, keep fit and even belly dancing. Indoor tennis training starts on 5th November for youngsters in the village.

All is working well, - from insurance to recording rights to the heating working. We even have some help with hall caretaking.

Only two functions have required repairs. One needed some wall painting after tape was used on the wall and we had a small window broken when some younsters hit the window with a ball.

Akela has been invited to meet the village hall fund trustees, so let see what they have to say. Whilst we feel we would like to uyse those funds, we can clearly operate without them for some time. Trouble is we have aspired to improve the hall with new windows and doors, plus sort out the gents toilets.

Holiday time...

Thanks to Mrs Rabbits for taking care of the hall whilst we were on hols... Enquiries and bookings continue to come in and even whilst in Greece, we took a booking!

Trip Hazard?

Reports that a drayman almost tripped over part of the disabbled exit barrier meant action was required. The aluminium pole does protrude into the car park, but has yellow and black stripes on, so shouldnt have been missed...

To make the barrier more visible, the offending area has been sheeted in using white correx and some bright yellow and black notices applied.

Lets see if this helps. The next question is, - how long will this last in the sun?

Care taker

Were giving Dan a go at being the hall care taker. It should take the load off Pete and Leo for hall cleaning and function set up. This afternoon, he did his first 40 minutes of sweeping, hoovering etc. under the direction and supervision of Leo.

Lets see how he gets on. QA checks will be done by Leo and he'll record his time, so we can remunerate him...

Cubs and table measuring

The hype of election day is past. We swing into another half term and Cub's restarted this evening.

Rosie G of Hopskotch fame popped by to measure tables and the hall room size, in preparation for the Hopskotch table top sale on Saturday 26th June. The event runs from 9am to 12 noon. We wish Hopskotch well with the event.

Fire checks were fitted into the above visit, with no issues found.

The wait is nearly over

It will be with great pride that we host the polling station for the 2010 general election.

Today saw English Nature hold an all day meeting in the hall. Stacked on the stage were polling booths and signs (delivered on Tuesday) ready for tomorrow morning.

After Cubs this evening, the hall was swept, hoovered and loos checked ready for tomorrows potentially heavy traffic through them.

The election crew will arrive at 06:30 with polling starting at 07:00. By that time the urn should be hot and a cuppa available for the crew who will work all day!

We wouldn't want to put anyone off voting, so during Cubs, Akela fitted some hooks on the front door, so that the doors stay open even if the wind blows.

Returning officer visit and Hall Mgt Cttee

We are confirmed as the Chiseldon polling station.  6th May 10 is a big day for the hall.  A true community use and we are proud as punch.

Last night saw the hall management committee meet for the first time.  Only five people attended (including Akela) but this is a massive step towards having independent oversight and governance.  Its also demonstrating that we do what we say we will...

An article in the Ridgeway bell should be published in the coming days. Text is below:

1^st Chiseldon Air Scouts – Hall report

After circa one year of discussions to agree a 99 year lease at a peppercorn rent and eight elapsed months of refurbishment, the Calley Memorial Hall reopened for use at the start of September 2009. In November 09 we held a very well supported ‘opening dance’, during the evening I forgot to mention a donation from the Calley lodge of the Buffs, so want to thank them here for their donation.

Our vision has been to establish a social hub for villagers and provide an appropriate venue for Chiseldon Scouting.  The Scout Group developed a business plan that was critiqued by the Parish Council and Trustees of the village hall fund.  Some considerable scepticism was directed at what we felt was a conservative plan, this was based on the experience of the Parish Council running the portable building adjacent to the Chiseldon tennis courts.

It is now April 2010 and it is right to review progress made towards our vision.  In the period 1^st September 09 to 13^th April 10 we had 168 hall bookings and believe we have a success on our hands. Booking numbers by type are below:

Private party	Child party	Scout booking	Wellness sessions	Others
5	9	70	64	20

Our financial strategy has been to cover costs but not make profit and we feel this makes the hall sustainable to operate.  This allows us to set hourly rates of hire from £10 per hour and our uniformed group rates are as low as £5 per hour.  This isn’t the whole story though; some hires are free, where the village will benefit in a social or community sense.  Examples of ‘free hires’ are police sessions and the major public event on 6^th May 10 (see below).  In short, with over six months of operation under our belt, other than our need for capital to pay for large works, operation of the hall is sustainable.  Strong finances have allowed us to replace a broken oven and an ailing fridge-freezer (both of the replaced items were second hand donations).

We are particularly proud that the Swindon electoral team have selected the Calley Memorial Hall to be Chiseldon’s polling station on 6^th May.  Scout and Beaver sessions will give way to this important event.  From our perspective, we think the election will attract a lot of potential new users to the hall and community use of the hall is at the heart of our approach.

On 26^th April the first meeting of the Hall Management Committee takes place.  Delays have primarily been mine, but we are now planning to meet and this is the first step on the way to gain access to village hall funds that are in Trust.  I have to say that trustees took a little while to be convinced of our plans, but they are now very supportive and we thank them.  Due to the Scouts holding the lease, members of the hall committee will have to be CRB checked.

At the moment, upkeep and ‘care taking’ of the hall is voluntary, with members of the Scout Group taking on cleaning, maintenance and recovery from events.  Whilst this will be a matter for the hall committee, our aspiration will be to secure a volunteer from the village to take on this role.

In March, our Cub pack used the hall to stage an ‘indoor camping’ event.  After a night hike and flying model aeroplanes indoors ‘round the pole’, Tents were pitched in the hall.  The morning saw Cubs break camp and cook their own breakfast on portable stoves in the main hall.  When asked to rate the event out of five, a Cub gave a score of one thousand!

We still have work to do on the hall and we consider only phase one of the hall works complete.  We do want to replace external windows and doors.  We also need to apply attention to the men’s toilets by incorporating a disabled loo and moving the cubicles.

Adult parties and family lunches, a wake and children’s parties (including having a bouncy castle in the hall) reflect the genuinely busy schedule of the hall and suggest that we have a village asset would be the envy of many communities.  It’s also great to see Slimming World and ‘Keep Fit’ draw many members of the community to the hall.

We feel our community based vision is now a reality and many villagers have used the hall. We now have external groups using the hall and operate a ‘first come, first served’ bookings model, but will always give discounts to Chiseldon residents.  To book the hall call 01793 741164 and speak to our booking secretary Mrs. Leo Snipe.

Pete Snipe
Group Scout Leader
pete.snipe@gmail.com

Marigolds at Easter

Saturday saw another four year olds birthday party take place in the hall.  Nice people.

Today (Easter Sunday) saw Akela and the Veveri don 'marigolds' and clean out a drain at the rear of the hall.  This involved lots of scooping out gunge from the drain and just when we thought it was never clear, a bucket of water was applied and drained away very quickly.  The down pipe was refitted and rods returned to Akela.

The front door has some damage (from being left open and not being held in place) so our next job is to fir a new hinge and repair the front door.

Happy Easter!

Call 01793 741164 to hire the Calley Memorial Hall.  Bookings are brisk but we continue to make rates very comptetive.

The coming week should confirm the general election date - we are really looking forward to being Chiseldon's polling station.

Speakers and hall clean-up

Two future hirers of the hall were shown round this morning.  I swept up, emptied bins and tidied all the areas the Cub team missed on Saturday.  New loo rolls and extra paper hand towels were placed in the loo.

The Wharfdale speakers that were donated some months ago had a number of faults and one had stopped completely, so some replacements speakers were soldered into place and the DVD / CD player removed (it stopped working some weeks ago).

We now have an amplifier, two (smaller) speakers that work and a jack that will allow ipods to be plugged in.  I guess I need to ask around for a spare audio CD player to leave in the hall (do I have one in the loft myself?).

Over the weekend, it became clear that the fridge isnt cooling too well (the freezer part is fine).  We need to start looking for a replacement.

Leo printed some hall leaflets in heavy weight paper.  I fitted a leaflet pocket to the notice board and our future hirers each took a leaflet as they looked around.

We need to pay attention to the mens loos prior to polling day (the hall is planned to be the polling station for Chiseldon).  I have asked the Veveri to work with Akela during the bank holiday weekend to make the mens loo ceiling good.

Finally, Leo tells me a future hirer found us on the web (via this blog).  The power of the web eh?

Hike Over event

The Chiseldon Cub Scout section slept in the hall last night.  Prior to the sleep over, they walked 4.75 miles in very poor (read wet) weather. Upon arrival back at the hall, they were treated to a meal and then had a go at electric 'round the pole' model flying (indoors).

Many Cubs were still awake a 2am and were upset when they were 'roused' at 6:30 by leaders keen to get on with breakfast. 

The hall was a great place for the event and we look forward to many more Scouts sleeping over as they walk the Ridgeway.

Rates demand!

The annual rate demand for 2010/11 arrived today for the Calley Memorial Hall.  The hall rateable value is £1875.  The charge for the period is £776.25.  Mandatory rate reflief of £621.00 and discretionary top up relief of £155.25 leave a balance to pay of £0.00 (nothing).  This is good news for the future sustainability of hall operations.

With the general election likely to be on 6th May 10, we now expect the hall to be used as Chiseldon's polling station and have an agreement with the election team to this effect.

The weekend saw a swimming awards ceremony (followed by a disco) and a private function held by a village family. 

Update

Another weekend function was held by villagers and Scouts returned from Ferney Croft to a warm hall and somewhere out of the wind to wait for parents.

February 2010 was an impressive month for hall income (our best yet) and word is getting around about the hall being available. 

Sunday saw a Cub parent and Akela set up 'round the pole flying' ((RTP) for a future Cub session. Starting with a pole, by the end of the session an airplane was wizzing round the hall on two very thin wires.... The Cubs are going to enjoy this activity!

Busy weekend in the hall

This morning saw father Roger make use of the (ex Ridgeway Bell) 'Risograph'.  This was a freebie that I was a little sceptical about. Having read the manuals, I was worried we wouldnt be able to use the thing.  In any case, Father Roger fired up the 'printer' and proceeded to show me how to use it.  I was impressed and think that when we have a printing run bigger than (say) 50 pages, I will be using the Risograph. The Risograph is an example of a technology bridge that sits between the old band (messy) machines and  modern day photo-copier.

Goodness knows how many parties we have had in the hall, but this afternoon saw one more, - complete with bouncy castle, music, wine for the adults and loads of Chiseldon young people (very young indeed).  The party looked a great sucess and it underlines the fact that we do have an operational success on our hands.

Tomorrow sees another birthday party ~ I think its for an eleven year old and on Monday we are hosting a reception post a funeral.

Seizing a gap in the weather, the diamond cut slot we cut into the path at the rear of the hall, was filled with mortar.  Combined with some tidying up and the back of the hall is looking much better.

I noticed some paint is peeling off in the hallway (entrance) to the hall.  This may be due to condensation, so an inspection of the wall will be carried out in the next few days.  You never know, I may even paint the wall again!

Polling Station?

This morning we were visited by a member of the election team.  She had a look at the hall (and kitchen) and was very keen to take us up on the offer of using the hall as a polling station.  She took some photo's of the inside and outside of the hall and should be in contact with us in a few days. 

Beavers and Scouts have already been warned that they can't use the hall on an election day... when that might be is anyones guess, - my money is on Thursday 6th May!

Bar and tank

We have a new hot water urn in the hall.  The last one decided to die after too many 'boil dry' events.

The tank was topped up yesterday.  Should be good for six months (subject to a thermostat being fitted).

The bar has been stowed and the kitchen surfaces are once more availabel for use by kitchen users.

Tomorrow is founder day, so the kitchen will be busy as birthday cake is cut, plus burgers and coffee are made.

Tank dipped

Having had 'dip the tank' on my todo list this week, I finally managed to do so and hastily followed this up by ordering more oil...  good job the income is covering running costs!
 

Bar in the hall

Yesterday saw the fitting of a bar into the hall.  By its very nature and anticipated low utilisation, the bar has to be removable.  At the moment its very ugly, but some attention should make the kitchen surface available, the visual impact reduced and setting up of the bar low effort.  We also plan optics to be fitted in the kitchen.

I spent last night worrying about the mess the bar makes of the kitchen, but I have to be patient and let this mini project work through... 

I stress that we do not plan to keep beer, gas or spirits in the hall, as this is simply too much of a 'magnet'.  Six pints of beer were poured yesterday (to set flow rates etc).and the barrell returned to its rightful owner.

Hall operating income ~ viability

With five months of hall operating experience and income under our belts it is increasingly clear that we have firm foundations in place for ongoing operation of the hall.  We opened the hall on 1st Sept 2009.

Income figures so far (GBP):
Sep   Oct   Nov   Dec   Jan
245   155  210    210   240

The average income is £212 per month and this projects to an annual income of over £2500. Hall operating costs should be covered by this, but we have yet to hear about Council tax and water still needs to be split from the Club.

The income figures are in excess of the amounts predicted in the business plan.  For February 10 we already have a provisional income figure of £140. As with any concern, we need to keep our eye on the ball, contain costs but in our case we must stay true to the vision of a community hub that is accessible to all in the village and that (through the cycle) we do not make a profit when operating the hall.

Akela met with Community First (last week) and took advice regarding establishment of a management committee.  Objective must be to draw this meeting into life in the next month.

Keeping it real (clean)

Akela spent over an hour hoovering, dusting, mopping and cleaning surfaces to have the hall ready for hire this evening and Sunday.  Our new Henry came into his own and proved you can hoover the whole floor from one electrical power point...

Business as usual...

With a big 40th birthday party having taken place and lots of bookings into 2010, we are in good shape as far as use and income is concerned.  Rainbows has been suspended (a hall user, nothing to do with the Scout Group) so this will have a very small impact on hall income.

Speaking of income, we are investing a lot into the hall and our intention is NOT to make a profit and just to cover costs. Its seems the people of Chiseldon approve, as they are using the hall on most week days and income is at (or over £200 per month).  Our new Treasurer has rightly requested a revised cash flow and Akela will draw this up in the next week.

The heating has worked very well during the recent cold spell and with no burst pipes, its clear the hall is a warm and useable space.

Akela has been tardy in speaking to Community First to get help with the management committee terms of reference, but this task along with working with trustees should bring about a release of capital to enable phase 2 works (windows and doors replacement with double glazed units) and provide a financial platform for ongoing operation and maintenance of the hall.

A while ago, Akela made a submission to the Borough Council asking for a 100% dispensation on 'rates'.  Whilst the submission has been acknowledged, we dont have an outcome...

Happy New Year

The Christmas tree has been taken down, the new cooker unpacked and Akela is in serious trouble with Leo for getting the tree lights in a mess...  Henry worked well cleaning up the area where the tree had been.

The tree and decs are still to be put up in the loft and a list of jobs is on display on the white board.

A short review of 2009 provides the following:  Over £10K of funds raised and masses of effort applied.  The hall is in use most week days and income is attaining £200 per month.  January should see the cost of rates and this will give us a much better picture of full cycle running costs.

Happy New Year!  A major priority for 2010 is the formatution of the hall management committee.  We have five or six people who are willing to do the job, but overall, the lack of response from the village has been dissapointing.