Recently we posted the need for more people within the Glassford community to step forward to volunteer to help with Glassford Community Group and its objectives as a charity.
From that post three people have asked for more details on what help is required and two people offered to help out at events. We thank them for contacting us
This follow up is to clarify the level of help needed and to highlight the fact that without more people willing to get actively involved, we will not be able to sustain Glassford Community Group, its events and its objective of completing a community asset transfer of Glassford Village Hall. We have summarised the needs below.
1. The first major issue is that we need a chair to take over from James Newall and continue the superb work he did over a number of years in that role, taking us to charitable status and getting to the stage that an application for a community asset transfer of the village hall was successful. We also need a treasurer and secretary, and although Lisa and Les have said they are willing to continue, they will not be able to do so without significant community support and someone willing to take on the role of chair. Without a chair we cannot fulfil our obligations as a Scottish Incorporated Charitable Organisation.
2. We need volunteers to both organise and support events. This includes identifying and negotiating with acts to appear in the hall, arrange and configure sound and lighting equipment and organise licences and hall hire. We also need a pool of people to take turns at events, running the bar and organising raffles.
3. We need people to contribute to the development of a business plan, detailing how the purchase of the hall will be taken forward and building on the original business plan in terms of income, expenditure, insurance and ongoing costs, events and functions and regular facilities including potentially a shop and café and regular cinema.
4. We need support for the development of a management plan to identify how the hall will be run and managed, including a booking system, caretaking services and key/access management. It will also need to cover facilities management as once the hall is the property of GCG all maintenance will be our responsibility.
5. We need people to develop plans for fundraising, which will be a significant piece of work as we anticipate major costs in renovation to transform the hall from its current state (which would require major work in itself to make it suitable as a long term venue even without making changes to reflect community priorities.) This is a critical element of the project.
6. Lastly we will need a management committee to run the hall once the asset transfer is complete, to ensure that day to day operations including g cleaning, maintenance can be effectively managed.
It is impossible to see how the above can be achieved without a significant increase in the number of active people involved in each of the above. We have had great support over the years from many people who have given time for events and meetings and to plan and prepare for events and the submission of the asset transfer application. However due to many circumstances, many of them are unable to continue to offer their time, which is understandable but leaves us in a position to state that without a significant number within our community willing to get involved we will have no option but to withdraw from the community asset transfer and rescind our hard fought for charitable status.
We have already incurred legal and consultancy costs on this matter and we need to cut our losses now to avoid spending more money unnecessarily.
We therefore have very little time to reach a decision and without positive responses from across our community by February 8th we will have to formally make contact with SLC to advise of a decision to withdra
Glassford Community Group 