April 2000 - Editorial

HALL EXTENSION

We have moved on a little more, since the last edition of the Marigold regarding the possibility of building an extension to the Village Hall.

As I mentioned last time, the 3 requirements put forward by the Users of the Hall are,

• a permanent stage
• a paved and fenced play area at the side of the Hall
• if possible, a second large room, that could be used to play badminton in.

We approached an architect, who gave us some initial ideas, which we have taken away and developed. We are in the iterative process now of refining and refining those ideas to come up with the best possible package that man (and woman) can devise. We know it is impossible to satisfy everyone’s wishes, but we will try very hard to do this.

The intention is to approach the Lottery Fund for a grant towards the cost of the development and if this is successful, we will come back with some definite proposals that people can give their views on. There are formal steps to follow, such as applying for planning permission, but we will also make sure that a lot of informal presentations and discussions take place, so that people are kept fully informed of the progress of the project.

There is, of course, no guarantee that it will go all the way to completion and actually be built. There are a lot of stages in the process, and a lot of opportunities for it to fail. One of the earliest of these is if a grant is not forthcoming to finance it. We do not have enough money in the kitty to enable us to build it without a grant.

I will continue to use this Newsletter to keep everyone in the village informed of progress.

LOTTERY

I know that it is only 12 months ago since I last mentioned the Village Lottery, but I make no apologies for raising it again. I explained that Alan Jackson, the current co-ordinator, is looking to give it up after doing the job for over 6 years.

At that time, I asked for a volunteer to co-ordinate the work of the collectors, to make the quarterly draw and to distribute the cheques for those who have won each time. I would like to ask again if there is anyone who will offer to do this. It does not take up too much time, and it does provide the Association with several hundreds of pounds each year.

It would be a pity to lose the lottery now when funds might be needed for an enhancement to the Hall.