September 1996 - Editorial
VILLAGE HALL REPAINTING
When the new term starts in September, there will be a new look to some of the rooms in the Hall. We took the opportunity in the summer, when the Hall was closed, to repaint some of the rooms in the building as they were suffering somewhat from the incredible use that is made of the Hall.
The Entrance Hall, the Toilets, the Committee Room, the Kitchen and the Dining Room have all benefited from the application of several coats of paint. A similar colour scheme has been used again, with the addition of one or two pastel shades where appropriate.
The only trouble with painting some of the rooms in the Hall, is that inevitably it makes the other rooms look a bit jaded. So we have decided to operate a rotating policy of having part of the Hall painted every year - a bit like the Forth Bridge, as soon as we finish, we will start the whole process all over again.
SUTTON SIX AND FUN RUNS
The annual Sutton Six and Fun Runs will take place as usual this year. They will be organised by CEPAC ( the Chester and Ellesmere Port Athletic Club) and will be held on Sunday September 22nd finishing at the Village Hall. The first race starts at 11.00 am.
The format for the day will be the same tried and tested formula, with CEPAC organising and preparing the races and the Community Association providing the Village Hall and laying on refreshments, a barbecue, a cake stall and some games. So it is real family occasion, with things to do for all members of the family.
All the usual races are there - the 10K for adults, on a well marshalled course around the village, the three mile race for all members of the family around a shorter course, and the junior race for children aged 7 - 11 on a one and a half mile course around Oaklands. Entry forms for the main run are available from CEPAC members or from Derek Hughes (47 Oaklands). Runners in the 3 mile and Junior races can enter on the day and please remember to turn up in good time.
Just a note for people living near the Village Hall and those going to the shops on that morning. The car park will be closed for the morning and will remain closed until all the races have finished and everything has finally been cleared away. So please have patience with us on that morning and park away from the Village Hall on September 22nd.
CRAFT FAIR
The third Craft Fair will be held in the Village Hall on Sunday November 3rd from 10.30 am until 4.00 pm.
As last year, refreshments will be available all day and a cake stall is planned. All articles on sale will be hand-crafted and, at the end of the fair, a giant raffle will be held with one item donated by each of the 30 or so stallholders. So, there will be plenty of prizes to take home.
Each Craft Fair that we have held has been better than the previous one, with more people attending each time. And we are looking forward to an excellent event with some high class hand made articles on sale.
HANGING BASKETS
Representatives of Village Hall groups agreed to fill hanging baskets again this year to hang around the Hall and to brighten it up throughout the summer. We are grateful to the Badminton, Bowls, Executive, Junior Club, Marigold Playgroup and Players Groups for providing some bright and very colourful displays from the baskets.
It was particularly appropriate that we should be able to put them up again as the village entered the Best Kept Village Competition. The Hanging Baskets looked extremely attractive throughout the summer and brightened the Village Hall up considerably.
FLOWER DEMONSTRATION
The third annual flower demonstration was held in the Village Hall on Friday 5th July at 8 p.m.. It was entitled "Summer Fanfare" and was given by Diane Fair, who has had a lot of contact with the Village Hall and was recently awarded "Best in Show" at the Chester Carnival.
Again, it was a tremendous success and over 80 people were entertained all evening by Diane, who stunned the audience with her displays. Diane’s connections with the Village Hall centre around her daughters who used to go to ballet classes here.
Our thanks go to all the people who helped in any way - preparing for the demonstration, making cakes, selling raffle tickets, serving refreshments and clearing up at the end.
REPORT OF THE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING HELD IN MAY
At the Annual Meeting in May this year, the Association Chairman gave his view of the progress during 1995.
After a hectic 1994, when the Marigold Room extension was built, probably the most important year since the Hall was opened by the Duke of Westminster over 12 years ago, last year was a quieter year. I think the final product we have is a credit to the Hall and to the Association and reflects well on the people who helped to provide it. We have maintained the tradition of the Hall and enhanced its overall appearance, as well as providing a valuable and different extra facility, that is now well accepted by Hall users.
We operate very efficiently and with a low cost base because of our cautious financial decisions and our dependence on volunteers. All Users obviously benefit from this approach, with low rental charges and minimal increases each year. But the User Groups must be prepared to provide the voluntary labour, or we will have to employ and pay for these jobs to be done - something that will jack up our costs considerably.
Running through other matters, the village lottery is in good hands. Again, Alan Jackson has done a very good job by consolidating it and has stemmed the steady decline in income which we suffered for a number of years.
On the social side, we still do not have an organisation in place to arrange social functions. At the moment, we are relying on individuals to organise specific events and keep the money and the social side just ticking over. The Craft Fair was the second of these events to take place last year and turned out to be better than the first. It is essentially a fair selling hand crafted items and there are some high quality products for sale. It was visited by over 500 people last year and is a welcome opportunity to buy some different Christmas presents for friends and family. We intend to have another one this year and I will mention the date later. Thanks to Ruth Hughes for organising this event.
The Flower Demonstration last July was also the second annual event of its kind to take place in the Hall. This is different to any of the other evenings we have in the Hall and enables people from inside the village and quite a large number of outsiders to visit the Hall. Over 90 people came to see David Robertson, a NAFAS Area Demonstrator, and marvelled at the displays.
The Quiz is a regular and welcome activity because it attracts people into the Hall who would not otherwise come here. It seems to have settled down at about 20 teams each year and is a very enjoyable evening. My thanks to Al Christmas, and to Viv Downing and her team of helpers for all the work that goes into it.
The Sutton Six and Fun Runs are another regular event and we seem to have agreed a good balance between us, with CEPAC organising the run, the village providing the venue and the Community Association providing the games and refreshments. The event always seems to go ahead in fine weather (watch out for rain this year) and we receive a welcome contribution from CEPAC towards the Association’s funds. We have worn out the backs of our Barbecue volunteers, so we are looking for some new ones if there are any offers.
John Beavan produced The Marigold newsletter throughout the year and has created an excellent product. I have heard a number of plaudits from several people praising the newsletter. It is regularly printed on three A4 sized pages and is a very professional document. My thanks to John and to the distributors for their work on The Marigold.
On the financial, I believe we are in a strong position, but this is dependant on our being able to do many of the smaller jobs with volunteers. If we have to pay for a caretaker, it will involve us in a lot more expense.
Lastly, as this is the tenth Annual Report I have delivered, let me take you back those ten years to when I was still a lad and when the Hall was still paying off the loans for the original building. It was a time when the Village Fair was booked providing "spectacular entertainment and competitions", including sheep trials, duck trials, archery and pony rides.
This was when Chris Powell was asking for men to help with Junior Club, and Linda Turner was in charge of Playgroup. The biggest problem faced by the Association was something called the "missing link" and the hourly rate for hiring the Hall was £4-80. It was also a time when the car park was unsurfaced and before we had secured over £20,000 in grants for various projects at the Hall. We have made a lot of progress in the last ten years.
