Meetings
CHAIR’S AGM REPORT 10/01/25
I am going to start as I did last year as I feel this cannot be said enough. The aim of the management committee is to turn the village hall into a thriving community space by improving facilities and offering the parish ways of coming together. However, we realise that we cannot do this without the help and support of the local community, and so I want to begin by thanking everyone on behalf of the committee who has helped contribute to the success of the hall over the past 12 months. I am aware that many have given up their time to support it and that there is not space to mention all. But a huge thank you to everyone. The hall, like other village organisations, is run by volunteers and its success is dependent on positive community involvement.
The year has been another of renovations and improvements to the hall. Most notable was the replacement of the roof. The old corrugated one was in a very poor state and threatened the fabric of the hall so it has been great to finally replace it and put in plenty of insulation – please note how warm it is in here tonight on what is the coldest night of the year. Organising the work and raising the money for it took a great deal of effort and I would particularly like to thank Red Dog Construction for being so supportive through the process. In the hall itself, we have introduced new furniture and tables to meet requests for more flexibility in seating at the bar and greater comfort for private events. The storage area beyond the bar is being reconfigured as a meeting room and new storage has been introduced behind the stage.
The entertainment committee has been fantastic in organising some great village events. While our quiz nights remain as popular as ever, we have learnt that what people really like is to get on that dance floor. Our 60s and 70s night and Ska and Reggae nights were sell outs, and a huge thanks to Terry for spinning the discs and help bringing in the crowds. Expect more such festivities in the year ahead. In addition, all the stalls at the Christmas Bazaar were sold out and the event well attended. These events take a great deal of planning so a huge thank you for all their hard work to Angela, Jo and particularly Rob for leading the entertainment committee.
However, I think the highlight of the year for the Hall and the village as a whole was the DDay celebrations. It showed what can be achieved through real community collaboration with the Hall committee working closely with the Millennium Green trustees, the Parish Council and the school to provide a great evening of remembrance that close to 150 people attended. A big thank you to Jerry and Nathan for helping to bring everyone together. Meanwhile, all the hall committee gave up a lot of time to help bring it together whether it was Debbie finding actors who had appeared in Dr Who to do readings or Alan serving many, many pints. This collaboration across the village has to be celebrated and we are already talking with the Millennium Green about other joint events that we might co-host this year. To that end, I am delighted that Pam Arrowsmith, who is running The Community Hub so fantastically, has asked to stand as a member of the Village Hall management committee. This will allow for greater coordination between the two community centres and mean a more effective use of our resources.
Regular clubs have continued to play an important part of the hall’s offer. Craft, dancing and yoga sessions can be found here regularly, but it would be great to have some more! The heritage centre has provided a way for the hall to do more with the school by providing classes with lessons on local history and it has been great to see more of the youngest generation here.
The weekly coffee morning and the bar on Fridays and alternate Sundays give the community the chance to come together and so are an important feature of Village Hall life. I would like to thank Lynsey and Ivan and their helpers for running of the coffee morning and to Alan for all his hard work behind the bar and keeping it well stocked and well run.
Thanks again to everyone who has helped over the past 12 months and given up their free time for nothing to support the hall, and I would again particularly like to express my gratitude to the committee here. But before I finish, there are two people I would particularly like to thank as they are standing down after many years helping the hall.
The first is Karrie. Karrie has been working for me for many years and, when I took over as Chair close on ten years ago, she suddenly found herself as the hall’s administrator. It might not have been her favourite job but she has done it fantastically. She helped oversee the rebuilding of part of the hall in 2018/19 and the reroofing last year. She has gone the extra mile in helping decorate, tidy up after events, unlocking the hall at anti-social hours, dealing with a temperamental boiler and making sure everybody is booked in, billed and invoiced. Unfortunately, she has decided to move away from Carbrooke and so I would like to thank her for all she has done to help the Hall run so smoothly. We will miss her hugely.
The other person is Angela Birkby. The hall was in a desperate situation in 2015 - falling down, penniless and with no functioning committee. I remember holding an emergency meeting at the church to try to enlist people to help. Step forward Angela. Angela has worked tirelessly to bring the community of Carbrooke together over the past 10 years. Among other things, she got the weekly coffee morning up and running, organised Christmas bazaars, walked the streets of the village many times selling tickets, putting up posters and generating support for the hall. She has volunteered to decorate, organise the food, unlock, pull pints, wash up, clean up and lock up without a word of complaint. She has been the heart of the village hall for many years. I am glad to say she is staying on the entertainment committee but would like to say a huge thank you for all the work she has done at the hall.
Ed Buscall
Chair