February 1999 - Editorial
THE LOTTERY
No, not that one. The one in Guilden Sutton, run by the Community Association.
As many of you will know, we have a very thriving lottery in the village, which people come around every month and collect contributions for, and then come back later with your winnings - if you are lucky.
The lottery is run by Alan Jackson, who in turn has a group of collectors who go from house to house and collect money every month for the lottery. There are over two hundred people in the lottery in the village, and, as well as giving each person a chance of winning the £100 jackpot, it also provides quite a lot of needed funds for the Community Association.
Here’s where we come to the downside. Alan has been running the lottery for over six years, and has decided, not unreasonably, that he has done it for long enough. He would obviously like to hand it over to someone else to look after, but feels that if this is not possible, then it may have to fold.
So, I guess, we are looking for a volunteer to take it over. If you would like to pick up from Alan and co-ordinate the lottery for the village, please contact Alan or myself (telephone numbers are in the Marigold elsewhere). This would be much better than the lottery folding altogether.
The lottery was started many years ago as a fund raising activity to generate money to first build and then to look after and expand the Village Hall. It raises quite a lot of money each year for the Association, to the extent that we would have to raise booking rates by something like 10% to balance out the money lost from he lottery. This would be in addition to the modest increases we have each year to pay for increases in gas and electricity costs. So there is another reason for Hall Users to thank Alan and the lottery collectors - it has kept the Hall rates down for the many years that it has been running.
MILLENNIUM
What plans for the Millennium, then? Will you be wining and dining at the Grosvenor that evening, at whatever cost is being charged, or will you be flying Concorde and sipping Pimms, when Big Ben strikes (you are a braver man than me, if you are)?
We have been wondering what to do with the Village Hall on that evening. Some years ago, we booked the Hall on behalf of the Association for the whole evening, expecting to have a village party of some sort to celebrate and welcome the new Millennium. However, so far, we haven’t arranged anything for 31st December, and we don’t have any definite plans. We are just discussing the best way of using it. Should we release it to the first, or possibly, the highest bidder, or should we keep it for a village activity.
If baby sitters really are going to charge £200 an hour for that evening, and taxis are going to be scarcer than a User Group at Maintenance Day, and the ones you do see are going to charge astronomical fares, then perhaps we are all better off staying at home, or in the village at least. Will this mean that as soon as people realise, they will be beating a path to our door to book the Hall for the 31st?
So have a think about it, and see what you think. But don’t leave it until December before you do something, because by then, it will be too late. If you have a definite requirement, then come along and talk to us about it. We want to use the Village Hall in the best way for the village, and I am using this article to fire a shot across your bows.
If you want to use the Hall for Millennium evening, put your suggestions to us now, because if you leave it too late, it might be booked up, and you will have missed your chance.
VILLAGE QUIZ
For those of you who went to the Village Quiz at the end of February, you will not need me to remind you what a cracker it was. Al Christmas set us all going with his usual high standard of quiz questions, and there was plenty of good quality beer and wine to help you think. Just about half way through, we stopped to recharge our batteries with an excellent supper.
It is a really good social occasion, and a first class way of nattering to your friends and neighbours in the village. We allowed Al his one deliberate mistake with one of the answers (a rare event this), and for the first time there was a team who answered all questions in one round correctly, and managed all 20 marks. Al’s response to this, was that he must be making the questions too easy. Heaven forbid.
We are hoping to do the same next year, when it will be the 14th Annual Village Quiz.
HALL BOOKING ARRANGEMENTS
If you would like to book the Village Hall for an event, please contact Judith or Alan on 301835, on a Monday or Thursday evening between 7pm and 8pm.
