Community Centre AGM – Chairman’s Report for 2021
2021 presented both challenges and opportunities for the Community Centre. For the committee and its users, 2021 started much like the end of 2020 with Covid restrictions still in place. The committee continued to hold its monthly meetings via Zoom, whilst the Centre remained closed. However, this did enable us to install new LED lighting in the Hawkins room. This was especially welcomed by our group of table tennis players who normally play on a weekly basis.
The lockdown continued through January, February, and March. Our focus moved to obtaining further grants from the government to support the upkeep of the building. The committee remained busy, working through several possible ideas and projects, including reviewing all our utilities expenditure.
We also took the opportunity to investigate a few building issues (damp, roof leaks) to consider how best to prioritise the remediation works needed, which is ongoing.
Our regular users were also kept fully informed throughout the lockdown with regular communications.
Easing of the lockdown began during March, so the committee once again put in place the necessary Covid measures to keep our users safe, including hand sanitisers, increased cleaning by our caretaker, and reduced booking schedule to just one a day, which all helped get the Centre opened safely.
On the 12th April, the Centre was officially reopened to the village and bookings were once again taken. It was at this point that the committee decided to uplift the rental for a room session from £16 to £18 to cover the additional cost of cleaning material and sanitisers, that has become the norm in most buildings.
We were pleased to welcome back more regular users in May and maintenance work continued with further roof repairs. We were also honoured to host the village polling station as part of the local elections in May. Although strict Covid safety measures remained in place, it was great to see the building being used properly again.
As the weather got warmer, we commissioned the repainting of the Centres outside railings. A fantastic job was done by the painters, although I not sure they had planned to pick one of the hottest months of the year to do it in!
The committee also started trailing a new online booking system to make it more accessible to book rooms, it is hoped that this could be made available to all our users in the future.
One of our most popular regular events restarted during August, with the return of the Luncheon club. A wonderful monthly event that invites Bishopsteignton residents to come and enjoy a two-course meal for around £6, as well as the opportunity to catch up with friends in the village.
Users of the Centre will have noticed that during the lockdowns, one of our rooms (Robinson Room) had its curtains taken down as a Covid precaution. The
poor state of these curtains was noted, and the committee agreed that these needed to be replaced. Due to the sheer size and scale of the windows in the Robinson room, the committee went to great lengths to ensure that the replacements would be in keeping and last just as long as the previous ones. We look forward to the installation of new curtains by the end of January.
The committee reconvened in person towards the end of 2021 for their regular monthly meetings and we are happy to report that all long-standing regular users are back utilising the Centre.
The maintenance of the building continues to be one of the key priorities for the committee. We have agreed to commission a building conditions survey to ascertain a maintenance schedule, so that it can prioritise current and future funds accordingly. This report is due in January/February of 2022.
Although like 2020, 2021 had its fair number of challenges I must thank each and every committee member for their support and positivity in continuing to keep this wonderful building at the centre of the community. And thank you to our users, who I’m so glad have been able to come back to use the Centre during a very turbulent year. There is nothing like seeing the centre buzzing with activities, from amateur dramatics to flower and garden clubs.
Whether a regular visitor, attend the occasional event, or make the odd booking, I would like to conclude with a thank you to the wider community and local businesses for continuing to use and support our Community Centre.
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