Well, today we’re joined by very special guests, the team from Ellingham Village Hall, who recently secured second place in the Village Hall’s Inspiration Awards. Ellingham and Chattel, nestled in the heart of North Northumberland, is a small but tight-knit rural farming community of about 300. Their beloved Village Hall has been at the heart of village life for over 120 years. Originally built as a reading room and witnessing generations come together through world wars, celebrations, and everyday life.

02:57.96

Marc

However, as time passed, the hall struggled to keep up with the needs of the community. By 2016, it had become a cold, difficult space, hosting just the occasional event. But the spirit of the village wasn’t ready to give up on their cherished hall. Today, we’ll hear their incredible story of revitalisation, resilience, and what makes Ellingham and Chathill’s Village Hall so special.

03:23.54

Marc

So welcome. So first of all, we have got Chris Stevenson. Now, Chris, what’s your role in the the the village hall?

03:30.21

Chris

Well, hi. um Hi, Marc. um I am Vice Chair of the Village Hall Committee for my sins. I think I got the job because I didn’t turn up to a meeting.

03:41.42

Chris

ah And there are eight of us on the committee, four gentlemen, four gentle ladies. And we all muddle along together and come up with something to try and help everybody.

03:53.31

Chris

And we have um we seem to have a nice time along the way.

03:53.64

Marc

Well, and also we’ve got Gus McLeod. Now McLeod, are you from, where I’m from, Isle of Skye, where the Mcleod’s are a very popular?

04:06.41

Gustav

You’re right. Both my parents were McLeods, but ah they weren’t from Ireland so recently.

04:12.64

Chris

That happens a lot.

04:14.36

Gustav

they came via My mother’s family came via Australia and my father’s family from Poland.

04:21.60

Marc

Oh, really?

04:22.92

Gustav

Yeah.

04:23.25

Marc

It’s very interesting as right behind where I’m recording this studio is the Cuillin Mountains and they are still owned by the McLeod clan from Dunvegan.

04:30.07

Gustav

That’s right.

04:31.98

Marc

It’s very nice to hear you. so so And what’s your role actually in the village hall?

04:37.07

Gustav

Well, as chair, I’m very much a facilitator and ah supporting the fact that we’ve had to go through considerable fundraising for the new but building a new village hall.

04:53.61

Gustav

And we’re now in the next stage of trying to extend a little bit to provide more store room area. um So both Chris and I have been major factor, major people in the fundraising ah part of the role as well.

05:14.48

Marc

That must be an extremely difficult decision to knock down a village hall. Can you tell us a little bit about what village hall life was like before you undertook all this work?

05:27.29

Gustav

Well, the Village Hall, it was interesting. It was a little sort of green, corrugated timber building that was originally built as a green tabernacle, which was where people could ah worship.

05:43.66

Gustav

um and then of course people referred to it as a reading room, which really reading rooms came after the First World War to support people from the trauma of having gone through that the wars. But so it it wasn’t until about the 1976 that it became a ah village hall, it was adopted for that. And um From that time, it started to function very eagerly with like with the local community.

06:18.72

Gustav

ah It was quite a ah ah an emotional change to go from that to thinking about having a whole new build to replace it, but ah it was definitely so being seen that there were great limitations about the existing building, um which really just couldn’t provide for more present-day type activities and events. ah So there were there was some controversy in the whole ah phase of having to go through that.

07:00.11

Gustav

it It really came out when we started to construct a neighbourhood plan in the area and people said they would ah welcome um development of the village hall. And so we then sent out a survey and it found out that a great majority of people were really in favour of having a new village hall.

07:25.65

Marc

. That’s actually interesting and you say that. So I’ve spoken to a few people on the podcast and they all are using technology now to gather feedback from the community. And that’s really, you know, it’s obviously is the way forward to do it. So what type of technology did you use to gather the feedback from your community?

07:45.30

Gustav

Well, in the first cases, in these surveys and what have you, we provided hard copies to every house, every dwelling, ah so that people could respond to what they thought um about the village hall.

08:02.93

Gustav

ah and we did did And we also had ah plans there in the village hall itself for people to come and look and talk about. So it was very much a person-to-person type setup.

08:23.10

Gustav

The technology really was in data processing um and putting that together, analysing that, and then ah feeding that back out, the results out to people.

08:36.43

Chris

But Gus, when when we actually had the vote in the community for this, put for the new project, did we not have given them the alternative of a voting by paper or online?

08:48.74

Gustav

ah it was No, it was always by paper.

08:50.87

Chris

I can’t remember. Always by paper. Right.

08:55.04

Gustav

Yeah.

08:57.00

Marc

ah So yeah i thought so i I thought you sent out a an email a survey form to your community.

09:04.97

Chris

We did.

09:05.65

Gustav

Yeah, but it had to come back signed.

09:09.64

Marc

Ah, right, right.

09:11.03

Gustav

Yeah.

09:11.23

Marc

Also they had to print it out or fill it in online and then print it out and sign it just to confirm that that’s what they agree.

09:15.00

Gustav

Yeah.

09:15.79

Marc

Ah, right. That makes sense. Yeah. So I mean, were were people in favor of knocking down the hall? Because I mean, it’s a big, it’s a big, well, obviously it’s a big job to do, but also like that commitment to do that. So was everyone happy to go down that route?

09:27.80

Gustav

No, ah I mean, we had about 88 percent. I think that was the eventual result of people in favor.

09:36.39

Marc

Right, right.

09:36.88

Gustav

And we had a couple of abstainers and we had about eight people, nine people against it, um saying that it really it it was perfectly good and adequate, the old tool, and they didn’t like to lose it.

09:54.27

Marc

Yeah.

09:54.34

Gustav

They had so much ah emotional tied to it i think.

09:58.17

Marc

Oh, definitely. Yeah.

10:00.45

Chris

At this stage, on on the ballot sheet was, or we did we put it on the ballot sheet or did we say the alternatives to the project were at one, leave it alone and it would have fallen down on its own.

10:15.51

Chris

Secondly, would it be viable to upgrade it? And thirdly, a complete rebuild. It became apparent that the first option wasn’t an option because it would just fall down. The second option of upgrading wasn’t an option because of the relative cost. But also, we weren’t able to secure a long lease from our landlord.

10:40.93

Chris

on on those grounds, they would the the landlord would only support rebuild.

10:42.50

Marc

Hmm.

10:47.06

Marc

All right. That’s great. Good. So it’s kind of forced your hand there, but it’s in a good way.

10:51.23

Chris

yeah Yeah, I think so.

10:52.27

Marc

. Yeah. So I suppose rebuilding a, the biggest factor obviously is going to be cost. And you, you did, you started this process pre COVID. So did I take it you went out and got coats, a pre COVID.

11:08.05

Gustav

Yes, one of our main supporters was the National Lottery and they wanted to know that we were going through a very careful process. They even provided a person called Matt Smith who um what specialised in ah construction of buildings.

11:29.80

Gustav

And he he insisted that we had six tenders sent out and he wanted to monitor everything that took place, which was absolutely great.

11:36.17

Marc

Right. Yeah.

11:41.47

Gustav

ah And of of the ah tenders that we put out, we actually chose the ah cheaper of them, ah the the cheapest, and it worked out ah extremely well.

11:57.65

Marc

. So you had your pre

11:59.48

Chris

But that’s that that’s just a very great simplification of it though, gosh, isn’t it? Because we put things out in, we got the architect’s plans done, and we then put it out to 10 in about 2019. By the time we actually got the funding completed, we found that building inflation had taken, and that would be in 2020, was it? and We found that building inflation had taken a hold. And whereas the original build cost, I think it was going to be 300,

12:29.02

Chris

The new build cost was over 450 and we didn’t all we had was 300 so we had to go back to basics and pair the project down and then re tender but unfortunately by that time building costs have gone up again. um So we had to find more money.

12:48.85

Marc

So how do you even start to do, you know, you, I bet you were open the moon that you’ve, you’ve, you’ve got your 300,000 originally and then all of a sudden it shoots up to four, or was it, did you see 450 there?

12:59.81

Chris

roughly Do you remember the figures, Gus?

13:00.43

Marc

Yeah.

13:02.09

Gustav

year 462,000.

13:05.15

Marc

So that’s like, is that you’ve done this work. You’re you’re really happy. And all of a sudden, we’re moving the goalposts. It’s now going to cost you a lot more.

13:10.88

Chris

ah

13:12.11

Marc

So what what did you do then? What was the process of, like right, do we just stop or do we do we keep on fighting for this funding?

13:21.21

Gustav

We went back to the funders with a plea and ah plead for more funding. And we were amazed at how generous they were. They said, if everything’s in place, ah we’ll do that. The states, the ah landlords said, OK, we’ll give you a loan um of £150,000.

13:46.93

Gustav

at 2%, and there’s no way we would have got to ah that sort of loan anywhere else. um And the local community trust, who have a there’s a wind farm within the parish, said that they would pay it, but they didn’t have the cash upfront, and they they would but they would pay ah pay the money towards the loan. All we had to pay was the interest rate over 12 years.

14:16.16

Chris

but But prior to this, we blanket begged as many different organisations or individuals as possible. We went for the established trust funders, such as a lot of you are great supporters, but there are other trusts available nationally or or locally who will contribute to towards community projects.

14:36.73

Chris

We crowdfunded. We wrote to local businesses. We accepted individual donations. um I mean, it was down to, you know, little old ladies giving 20 quid for free. We were giving them free firewood in in the community. But they insisted on giving us 20 quid towards the new build. And Gus, they even went to, for some reason, apply to tonic’s tea cakes.

15:03.25

Chris

And we got 100 quid.

15:06.27

Marc

Did you get tea cakes?

15:07.60

Chris

Well, we’re still hoping for that.

15:07.92

Gustav

yeah

15:09.48

Chris

We’re still hoping for that.

15:09.90

Marc

ah Well, hopefully they listen to the podcast and get the tea cakes for the whole.

15:15.18

Chris

so for all we we We tried to be innovative about ah our appeals.

15:15.34

Gustav

It’s all right. I think I’ve bought a hundred quid’s worth because I favour them now.

15:26.70

Chris

When you start these letters applying to trust etc. You tend to but put about three pages of application and the first two pages are woe is me this is the history where we’ve got to now and where it was stuffed and then right at the last paragraph we say please have some money because this will make it better. As you get better at your applications you cut out the first two pages and cut that down to a paragraph And you then say, we’re now in this current situation. And then the next three quarters of a page is all the benefits that this new project will build to to young to old, which couldn’t get into the building before. We have no disabled access. We have no onsite car parking. We have no heater that was effective. We have those electric bar heaters that used to be in the roof. They singed the top of your head, but your feet were freezing.

16:22.79

Chris

And we had no kitchen of any note. So the thing to do if I was advising anybody else starting a project is really amplify the advantages of what this ground is going to do. The current situation is ground zero and we want to get to 10. And this will help and it’ll be better for all.

16:51.89

Marc

Yeah, that’s actually very good advice there. and indeed Chris, we spoke there a couple of weeks ago on the phone before this podcast and you mentioned that you did a video for helping with the funding, which is I’ve not heard done before.

17:03.13

Chris

Yeah. Yeah, um Graham, one one of our committee members, has adapted to computer videos and this sort of thing. And my friend Gordon brought his drone along. So we we concocted a video as a sales pitch, basically. We interviewed local residents or local users and then Patchwork did all together and then sent it off.

17:33.33

Chris

um spen specifically to the lottery, but to ah to other funders as well.

17:37.34

Marc

Yeah.

17:38.22

Chris

Our initial funding for the lottery was 100 grand. We applied for 150 in the increased situation, but after they’d seen the video, I think they gave us 167 because they’d had they hadn’t had a pitch in that manner before.

17:52.71

Chris

Is that right, Gus?

17:54.21

Gustav

Yep, 167, exact spot on.

17:54.84

Marc

.

17:57.86

Gustav

And that, ah they were ah giving applauding the the video, saying it gave a much better message to their committee people than a written piece of paper.

17:58.08

Chris

yeah

18:06.80

Chris

Yep.

18:15.87

Chris

Yeah, the video was originally 15, 20 minutes, but it got edited down to about a 10 minute short and short presentation, and which which is the way you you I guess you your access information and and correspondence these days.

18:21.27

Marc

Yeah.

18:32.20

Chris

So yeah, it worked. And ah you need a bit of technical ability, but I think with the modern technology, it’s a lot easier than a lot of us think.

18:43.40

Marc

Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

18:45.01

Chris

Oh, of course you do this for a living.

18:47.39

Marc

I didn’t know what to say, because i i’ i’m not so I’m not sponsoring this but myself. But yes, that’s what I do for a living. i my My job is a filmmaker and animator. And it does. I’ve spent in the last 15 years.

18:58.49

Marc

And it it it works, because it’s can i I would say it’s concise. And you can it’s like the perfect sales pitch every time, because you’re not rewriting different applications.

19:03.36

Chris

yeah

19:09.63

Marc

you You make this one piece. And once it’s perfect, it’s perfect for every time someone watches it.

19:14.14

Chris

Yes, yes, yes.

19:14.25

Marc

So i i oh yeah, I’m a big advocate for for video. so

19:16.81

Chris

yeah

19:17.41

Marc

But I’ve not only mentioned my business whatsoever.

19:17.81

Chris

And i’ve got I’ve got to say, in your defense, it’s very difficult and the technicalities to make it very professional are only done by professionals. Well done.

19:25.16

Marc

Absolutely. Only hire us professionals, yes.

19:27.81

Gustav

Yeah. but

19:29.79

Marc

So I suppose now you have your new hall. The activities and in the bookings you have in the hall, I assume that it’s increased because it’s a welcoming and place to be.

19:38.53

Chris

Can I take you back a bit, Marc, there?

19:41.41

Marc

Of course, yes.

19:41.78

Chris

Because but with to get things over the line, we actually had to build the hall with minimal fittings. We didn’t have funding for a kitchen.

19:52.47

Chris

We didn’t have funding for new tables and chairs. and we we wanted to We had an under-floor heating system. an air source, but we wanted to make it sustainable.

20:03.37

Marc

Yeah.

20:05.48

Chris

So we wanted ah you know roof panels and we wanted batteries. We had none of that funding. um so But again, we then went into a third charge of funding, which became easier because we’d shown that we were a success and we had something to build on that was already built.

20:13.72

Marc

All right. Right.

20:29.96

Chris

So the the the final £30,000, £35,000, £40,000 actually came much easier than the first.

20:38.55

Marc

um yeah so So it was kind of built in phases and you proved each phase worked. I suppose to all the lenders were like, oh yeah, they can they can do the job. They’ve done it well. a Let’s give you more money.

20:49.28

Marc

i I assume you just went to each one and proved that you’d you’d done the previous phase.

20:51.82

Chris

but and but whenever we we didn’t We didn’t go back to the original funders, but other people who we hadn’t applied to or had turned us down before said, this makes sense now. And for us to get the hall to work to its full potential,

21:11.15

Chris

we needed things, basic things like a kitchen.

21:14.29

Marc

Yeah.

21:14.93

Chris

and and now and now we so So that was the priority. and And then we wanted to get some audio visual stuff because if you know if you need something to project things if you’re having meetings, et cetera, et cetera.

21:32.40

Chris

And that increased the potential use of the hall. So it’s now used for parties, it’s used for community groups and we can also rent it out to local organisations which increases the financial stability of the whole project.

21:47.68

Marc

. That’s brilliant. That was really good. Yeah. I suppose doing it in phases does make does make more sense and it makes the funders more comfortable.

21:52.85

Chris

The yeah the the the final bit I think was getting the panels and the batteries. Once we’ve got funding for that we are now One, it makes green sense, but secondly, it means that the running costs of the hall are substantially less, which which which is – we have some – yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

22:06.59

Marc

Yeah.

22:12.67

Marc

Well, yeah, and you were saying this morning you actually have sunshine today, so you’ll be, you’ll be. stupid

22:18.86

Chris

And I can even look at our map on my phone and I can see the power going into the batteries and then exporting to the grid and what it gets used to. I can waste hours staring at my phone at these eco things

22:31.79

Gustav

ah but We also are a warm hub, so if there isn’t an emergency in the area, and we have had a lock-in from ah snow for four days when you couldn’t get out of the village, and holiday makers, for instance, who’d booked places nearby, ah found that um they couldn’t get to the shops to get food and ah have any electricity.

22:34.07

Marc

that

22:46.94

Marc

Yeah.

23:02.30

Gustav

to cook on.

23:03.66

Marc

Yeah.

23:03.70

Gustav

um That’s right.

23:03.70

Chris

That was the beast from the east, wasn’t it?

23:06.60

Gustav

So they can now we know that we have two or three days ah power ah which can give light warmth and cooking facilities.

23:21.26

Marc

That’s  because you were hit with Storm Arwen and you had was no power did you see Chris for 26 hours.

23:23.93

Gustav

Yeah.

23:27.95

Chris

We were 26 hours, but five miles away, there were 10 days.

23:29.48

Marc

Yeah. Yes. Yeah.

23:32.37

Chris

So there were very long nights from four o’clock in the dark till nine o’clock the next morning. But that was the whole area, 50 miles out of the way, I guess.

23:43.95

Chris

So it was devastating.

23:44.81

Marc

Was it really that big ah an area? Was it right?

23:46.67

Chris

I think so. Was that about right, Gus?

23:48.37

Gustav

Yes, exactly.

23:51.01

Marc

Yeah, it’s good.

23:51.35

Chris

Yeah.

23:51.41

Marc

day nice nice Nice, well and feature proof there a in the hole.

23:54.19

Chris

Yeah, well, hopefully. but Unfortunately, this storm island occurred while we were building and we’ve got some quite large beach trees in on the site and we didn’t appreciate the the one over handing the village hall was actually cracked right down the middle.

24:10.56

Marc

All right.

24:10.71

Chris

And so we subsequently had to get that removed and a made safe, which nothing nothing’s cheap. But we were able to give away a lot of firewood to the elderly after that. So that there’s there is a win at the end of the tunnel.

24:30.84

Marc

Ah, is that where the wood came from for the the the little 10 pound, 20 pound donations?

24:33.39

Chris

It was worth 20 pounds of nation. Yeah.

24:36.56

Marc

Oh, so that’s good. that’s That’s very good. I wouldn’t advise going around and cutting down trees, mind you, but if it needs to come down, that’s one good way to put it back into the community.

24:41.13

Chris

but No, no, no.

24:45.98

Chris

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. we were able I think we were able to give it a load of logs to all the over 80-year-olds in the community, weren’t we, Gus?

24:53.15

Gustav

Yes, that’s right. yeah

24:55.49

Marc

. . So what’s the future for the hall? Have you got any more plans a for for upgrades or additions?

25:03.49

Gustav

Well, one of ah our issues has been that we’ve we had a very successful ah toddlers group in the hall operating midweek every week and um all their equipment has filled up the storeroom with the chairs and the tables.

25:23.30

Marc

Yeah.

25:23.93

Gustav

So now we’re having to look at extending the hall to accommodate all this extra equipment. um ah so So that’s where we’re on at the moment.

25:38.40

Gustav

We’re just getting ah the ah planning to go in for ah extending the building. It was a originally planned to have a store room at the end of the hall, um but that was one of the things we had to cut back on ah to be able to meet the costs of building the new hall.

25:56.49

Marc

Yeah, yeah.

25:58.15

Gustav

So there is a frame in the wall actually for the doors into the the ah potential storeroom.

26:07.31

Marc

Oh, .

26:07.66

Gustav

So yeah, we’ve got to raise money now for that. So we’re just waiting for the planning permission to go through.

26:14.51

Marc

. How many, just out of curiosity, how many children are in the area?

26:20.05

Gustav

ah There’s about, oh, that’s a good one. Probably about 20.

26:27.40

Marc

Oh, . That is really good to hear because our ah COVID babies is…

26:29.42

Chris

think I think that was the lockdown effect, wasn’t it, Gus?

26:34.56

Gustav

I’m not saying anything.

26:37.67

Marc

Well, I have my own COVID baby. And our our community hall, as there’s there’s there’s only two children. And my COVID baby is now way off to nursery. So there’s only one more child left in the village.

26:49.02

Marc

And that’s why our local school closed. So we now have to travel 50 miles on a single track road to to get them to school. So it’s really nice to hear that you have 20. Even though, obviously, some people might not think it’s a lot.

26:59.98

Marc

But I can see, if it’s 20, that’s, in my head, that’s like a you know a crowd.

27:04.18

Gustav

Yeah, so some of their children are older children.

27:04.36

Marc

That really is amazing.

27:04.41

Chris

but But some of them are 70 plus.

27:07.29

Marc

Yeah.

27:11.65

Gustav

Yeah.

27:14.49

Gustav

yeah

27:15.47

Chris

But but prior prior to the rebuild, we didn’t have a toddler’s group. We didn’t have a knit and stitch group. We didn’t have ballroom dancing classes. We didn’t have film shows.

27:27.25

Chris

We didn’t have

27:27.48

Gustav

Art Club.

27:28.97

Chris

art club.

27:29.66

Marc

um really that’s

27:30.08

Chris

um we We didn’t have various bits and pieces that have been been tried. and we did I mean, we even had a rummage sale the other weekend, which was a lot of work, but a major success.

27:40.85

Chris

And got more people just to to see the facilities that we’ve got. And again, we didn’t have weddings in the old village, or we’ve had a couple now, haven’t we, Gus?

27:51.05

Marc

Oh, really?

27:52.09

Gustav

Yeah, we’ve cooked weddings, birthday parties, Christening’s, business meetings.

27:53.43

Marc

.

27:54.58

Chris

So that… Yeah, yeah.

28:00.40

Chris

Yep.

28:01.86

Gustav

Tremendous.

28:02.03

Chris

So so the the the growth is growing steadily.

28:02.52

Marc

Yeah.

28:07.65

Chris

it’s It’s not exponentially, but it’s controllable. And we’re finding out what we can and what we can’t do. But we’re able to expand both its use and its capabilities.

28:18.89

Marc

. Now, this question may be cut depending on your answer, but today how do you, so you’re showing films in the hall. How do you go about being allowed to show films in the hall?

28:29.41

Marc

If if you don’t do, if you don’t do it legally, they will cut this section.

28:29.93

Chris

Legally.

28:32.91

Marc

But if you do, it’d be interesting to hear how you how how you do that because I wanted to do that in our village hall, but I thought ah it sounds like a lot of work to, you know, to go through the procedure.

28:43.66

Marc

Or is it?

28:43.77

Gustav

Yep.

28:44.26

Marc

a

28:44.61

Gustav

but but we have to We have to apply for a license. um And we’ve got a license to show films. And then we we join a group that provides copyright ah provision.

29:00.61

Gustav

So that’s that’s how ah it’s done.

29:00.71

Marc

Ah, , right.

29:06.01

Marc

Well, that’s really good, because a lot of people are putting any of these systems into their halls. And it it would be good ah to see you know like to have that type of thing on. I remember, this is obviously typically Scottish, but I remember in school, we had a big showing of Braveheart.

29:18.36

Marc

I don’t know what they were trying to do to us, but they showed Braveheart in the assembly hall. And I always wondered, did the studio give them permission to do this? But yeah, that’s quite good. So you can easily just a join a aka club, and they they organise the the licenses for you, really.

29:34.71

Gustav

Yeah. but you know I mean, it was it wasn’t done by Chris and I.

29:35.35

Marc

Oh, .

29:36.48

Chris

In addition,

29:40.41

Gustav

It was another person who was doing that and the they’ve actually stopped since then because I think the cost was getting prohibitive, but we’ll we’ll wait and see.

29:51.95

Gustav

we’re It’s yet to be tested in the future.

29:55.34

Marc

All right.

29:56.52

Chris

but We used to have quizzes and and, well, we still have quizzes, and we have sort of the talks, evenings, and people would bring their own refreshments.

29:58.85

Marc

.

30:06.01

Chris

But we’ve now also got ah an alcohol license so we can serve them drinks as well.

30:11.54

Marc

.

30:12.52

Chris

And we had a village barbecue which was attended by 60 or 70 people, I think. in the summer, on the bright Sunday night that we we got in Northumberland. ah And most recently we had a musical sort of jazz evening, which again had about 60-odd people there, didn’t it, Gus?

30:32.91

Gustav

Yeah, yeah were very good as well. I enjoyed it anyway.

30:35.71

Chris

Yeah.

30:37.42

Gustav

Lovely music. And the musicians are local people. They’re not, you know, they’re about 15 miles away. So it wasn’t as though ah it was some specially brought in group from touring or something.

30:54.09

Marc

Yeah, yeah. Oh, actually, yeah. Local is key, isn’t it really? There’s there’s so many talented people around every every area in the UK.

31:01.05

Chris

scary.

31:01.22

Marc

So it’s, yeah, it is, yeah, yeah.

31:03.45

Chris

We’ve got some theatrical nights booked in for the the autumn season. We’ve got arts and craft arts and crafts evenings and weekend days.

31:11.50

Gustav

craft evenings, lino making, wreath making, things like that,

31:16.62

Chris

Yeah.

31:21.15

Gustav

which which

31:22.30

Chris

So there’s something for everyone.

31:24.80

Marc

Yeah. Yeah. . So I suppose before we sign off, I always like to ask, uh, so from both of you, what advice would you give to other ah communities?

31:36.82

Marc

If they’re in the process of deciding whether to knock down and rebuild, what would be your, your, your takeaway from it?

31:41.45

Gustav

which

31:43.18

Chris

Start when you’re young and finish when you’re old.

31:50.51

Chris

but but but yeah but I would say, Gus has been the prime mover and motivator and coordinator in all this process, but it has relied on a team.

31:50.71

Marc

.

32:04.01

Chris

One person can’t do it. The more people who join the team and join together, the better it is because you There’s a lot of work involved and there’s a lot of heartache and you have to accept you get doors closed in your face, but you just have to bang again and some of them open.

32:18.02

Marc

Hmm. Hmm.

32:22.47

Chris

um

32:25.28

Chris

we and but But also you have to have patience.

32:27.28

Gustav

I think the team is very important because ah as a committee we all have our special attributes and they come in so well. you know the The fact that Chris has supported the pursuit of funding, there’s another person who particularly helps with the funding and writing of ah ah papers and documents and policies. And then there are people who are very good at doing the events, ah that we’ve got a retired architect on us who has and ah been um supporting the whole process of the build ah and making sure that we were informed

33:16.17

Gustav

ah clearly as what what was taking place and is great taking the next stage with the planning on with the ah original architect. um So it’s it’s relying on a a team that is going to work effectively um and ensure that everybody else is supported.

33:43.57

Marc

. .

33:44.56

Chris

Team, together everyone achieves more, isn’t it?

33:46.92

Gustav

team.

33:51.81

Gustav

Yeah.

33:52.00

Marc

What that was that? I didn’t realise that was an act was an acronym of team. Everything.

33:56.01

Chris

Apparently, apparently.

33:57.15

Marc

Oh, right. That’s good then. I’ll need to use that in the future then.

34:00.13

Chris

Yep, yep.

34:00.63

Marc

hey . Well,

34:02.41

Chris

I heard it from the Trammiros team manager. There you go.

34:09.97

Marc

well as Well, it’s been an absolute pleasure having you both on on the show. So thank you ah so much for sharing your story with us. And a huge congratulations for coming in second in the the Inspiration Awards.

34:19.93

Chris

Oh, great. We’ve all already spent the money because ah having completed the innards of the hall, we the the externals need some attention. So we initially put some fencing up to make it so safe to control both the young and the old and keep them off the roads and the fields with cattle in it.

34:37.55

Marc

Yep.

34:40.35

Chris

And we’ve also used the money to build ah an outside patio area where we can enjoy things, greater use of the outside and get some more fresh air. So thank you very much for the award and we promise to make full use of it in years to come.

34:50.85

Gustav

Yeah.

34:58.04

Marc

. Well folks, that’s time on another podcast. So thank you very much to you as well for joining us.

35:04.92

Gustav

Thank you, Marc.

35:06.05

Marc

.

35:06.21

Chris

Thank you, Marc.

35:06.61

Marc

You’re very welcome.