The Village Hall

[HelenW]

The annual meeting for Martin village hall is at the hall on 22 June 2009 at 7.30 . Please come along.

The hall remains open thanks to the committment of a small team of volunteers who provide invaluable administration, support and fundraising. However the hall is not used to its full potential and in advance of this year's meeting, I spoke to people in 60 households about their experiences and views of the hall and its role in village life.

A summary of people's responses and suggestions, tentative recommendations and potential ways forward are provided in a Word document attached below. I will be going through this towards the end of the meeting on 22 June.

Taking all or any of the suggestions forward will require local people who care to invest time and effort. The current small committee can continue with current levels of activity but are not in a position to take on extra work. One suggestion for bringing an active group together is to use this website to build a ‘community of interest’ online first.

Potential steps for initial discussions could be to
1. Consider facilitating some sort of well-promoted, interactive open day/drop-in quite soon this summer where additional suggestions can be put forward and all the ideas can be discussed further by residents. It may be possible or appropriate to get out-of-village support for this, but it need not be necessary.
2. Do wider and more detailed quantative research on possible providers and consumers of activities in hall, possibly with view to getting funding for taster day or programme to benefit villagers (need to prove interest/demand) and as kick-start to further activity.
3. Find out what has worked in other communities.


Absolutely nothing is decided - in fact nothing new may happen. Please use this forum to say what you think - it is your village.

[Chris]

Thew Village Hall in Martin is a great place from a community point of view, without the village hall, the villages of Martin would have nowhere to hold fares, coffee clubs, events etc etc.

The MartinTimberland Website would take great pleasure in providing the community somewhere online where they can discuss the Village Hall and are more than welcome to add your views to this post.

As an volunteer (if you like) a fair few years ago (be 9 years this year!) at the Village Hall, taking part in the Pantomime, was something I enjoyed - Perhaps we could rally up volunteers who would be willing to organize something in terms of a pantomime again - If the costs allows it to be able to run financially viable.
(The above view is my personal view and is not an official view of the MartinTimberland Website)

[brenda]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chris @ Jun 22 2009, 06:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Thew Village Hall in Martin is a great place from a community point of view, without the village hall, the villages of Martin would have nowhere to hold fares, coffee clubs, events etc etc.

The MartinTimberland Website would take great pleasure in providing the community somewhere online where they can discuss the Village Hall and are more than welcome to add your views to this post.

As an volunteer (if you like) a fair few years ago (be 9 years this year!) at the Village Hall, taking part in the Pantomime, was something I enjoyed - Perhaps we could rally up volunteers who would be willing to organize something in terms of a pantomime again - If the costs allows it to be able to run financially viable.
(The above view is my personal view and is not an official view of the MartinTimberland Website)[/b]

Having attended the Village Hall meeting, I agree that we ought to use the hall more and it would become a more viable asset to the village. Other halls are in use most weekdays and must therefore be taking steady booking fees.
It will always be an uphill struggle against apathy to get things started. As Chris says, once something is under way such as the pantomime, Martin villagers come and help. So some of us need to be the starters..

Suggestions - 1) Ask folk what they want. If they all come to Bingo, would they come to Race Nights? And every hall except ours seems to have Table Top Sales and Auctions regularly.. they queue up to get in. If the Craft Sale is booked up, let's have another one, perhaps in early December.
2) Update this site; with the dustbins dates already known, PLEASE put something current on so it looks like an active website! Perhaps an invitation; "Martin people.. what would you like in your village?"
Thanks!
Brenda

[Chris]

I've added something to the homepage the other day - Was going to do it before Brenda mentioned it, but she reminded me!

I've also archived the bin collection news to a new page, but maintaining the link on the homepage to tidy things up a bit

[brenda]

Thanks Chris.. also, since then.. have you seen the Timberland Village Hall banner showing "What's On" ? A good idea Martin can learn from??
let's communicate, we have a great village but folk need to know what's going on.
Regards
Brenda

[tracy18]

i think a family quiz would be a good idea as you can get the whole family involved, and the pub no longer has them . so there is nothing like it in the village

[HelenW]

Sorry to have been absent for a while. Had a few communication and logging in probs. Now sorted.

As you should be aware if you live in the main village of Martin, last month we circulated a blue sheet asking for your thoughts about what you would like to see happening at the village hall.

THANK YOU to everyone who has taken the time to respond.

In case you missed the request, it is attached as a document below and completed forms can still be dropped in to the Village Hall treasurer, Margaret Lockyer at Chaplin House on the High Street. We would love to hear from you!

To date we have had 35 forms back from the 350 distributed. Could it really be true that these are the only households with any interest in activities?

This questionnaire was planned and circulated by volunteers and we will be feeding back results here very soon.

[HelenW]

As promised, the results of the survey are attached here. The document shows what activities people expressed an interest in and how popular different things were.

If you are a potential provider or co-organiser of an activity we hope it may give you some helpful contacts.

In response to this early feedback, the small team of volunteers who distributed the survey will be organising a tabletop sale in the hall on 13th December - you should see posters around the village soon.

At the sale there will be an opportunity to chat to us about your Hall and share any thoughts or ideas you have for activities or improvements to facilities.

Everyone is welcome, please come along to have your say