Yorkley Festival – How did we do?
The purpose of the
Festival was first and foremost to bring the Village together to celebrate
Yorkley, and this we did really well. The interest in the Forest and
Yorkley itself was well above what we had expected and the Proms in the Park
on Saturday evening, 30th August, saw over 400 people in the
Recreation Centre having a wonderful time. Dr Bob’s Band got the evening off
to a great start and Forest of Dean Brass gave us a “Last night of the
Proms” to be remembered.
Everyone pulled together
even to the extent of concert goers helping to clear the recreation ground
after the event – thanks for that.
The whole four days was
put together in a very short time and by a very small group of people under
the leadership of Sharon Freeman, with some help from “Friends of the
Village Hall” a very important group, and one which we hope will continue to
grow.
Our local businesses and
pubs supported us well with sponsorship and in other ways, and we are very
grateful to Mike Willetts and to Yorkley Health Centre for their support in
allowing us to use their parking areas.
So, how much did we
make? After we take out the costs, we made some £2,259.26. A superb effort
and a target for future events.
What are we doing with
it? Some has already been spent in getting the electrics in the hall
upgraded, inspected and certified. A not inexpensive exercise. We have
also a big insurance premium to find, over £1,000. The Skate Park costs
some £450 per year for inspection and certification. Any maintenance it
incurs has also to be covered. We have been fortunate this year in that the
Co-operative Community Foundation gave us £250 towards this.
The hall itself is being
refurbished and although the labour is free, the materials have to be
supplied by us.
However, we do have
other irons in the fire and hope that by Christmas we will have a much more
welcoming building and also we hope to see a return of as many of the
previous users as possible.
Ann Hibberd - Hon Secretary, Yorkley Village Hall.
