Committee Newsletters

As May approached the ‘Friends’ activity increased in readiness for our famous Beer Festival.  This year was the 15^th Beer Festival and due to all the hard work from volunteers it was again a resounding success. Both the Friday and the Saturday evening sessions were Sold Out.

This year for the first time, in addition to our Cask Ales, we had a ‘bottle bar’ selling specialist lagers and fruit beers as well as one larger on tap. This was very well received and even the hardened Cask Ale drinkers had to admit that offering more choice means we appeal to a wider customer base.

On Friday night the crowd were entertained by Slippery Hill, a country music band and on Saturday night the crowd were rocking to cover versions of great hits from the past 3 decades performed by No Stamp Required.

We have to give special thanks to Cliff Houghton from Warrington Rotary Club who kindly assisted us this year. He has a wealth of experience gained during his time running the Oktober Fest in Warrington. Thanks also go to club members who offered their services to help behind the bar.

As mentioned in our last News Letter we have been extremely fortunate that the Parish Council have given us 5 hours a week of Janet Richards time to concentrate on obtaining grants.

We were successful in obtaining a grant to assist with the Royal Wedding Event and also to replace the old and worn trestle tables. We also received a small grant for a cooker which was not quite enough to enable us to buy the ‘catering size’ one we wanted, but again the Friends came to the rescue and donated a further sum of money which has enabled us to purchase a Range Cooker for the Olde Barn kitchen and will also enable us to purchase a new sink unit.

Grants were also received from Warrington Rotary to rerubish the Glass Wash area and all the units were kindly donated by Howdens and fitted by volunteers.

Janet is currently working on a large grant application for the replacement of the heating system in the Community Centre.

For those of you who use the Gym you will know that it is in need of a facelift and to this end Janet applied for and has been successful in obtaining a grant from the Big Lottery Fund. The money has not been released yet but as soon as it is we will be obtaining quotations for upgrading the lighting, heating and decoration.

Our new web site www.grappenhall.com is now up and running with details of all the events and sports action taking place here as well as up to date news from the Management Committee and ‘Friends’.

We have continued with our programme of improvements and the windows and cladding have been replaced in the Studio. Other projects have been completed with the aid of either Grants or Donations from other groups.

Alan Gavin has left us after 11 years service and has moved on to work for Landrover Jaguar. A presentation was made to him on his last day and we all wish him well in his new position.

Our new Caretaker/Handyman, John Daley joined us three weeks ago and is settling in very well, having already tackled a number of outstanding joinery projects.

We have another new member of Staff; Mo Johnston has joined us, having previously been the Manager at the Grappenhall Sports and Social Club. She will be Assistant Steward and Bar Supervisor with the Bellhouse Club, but will also be heading up our new catering service. Mo’ is just completing her training as a Chef and has already put together some sample menus for functions.

In March we held a Special General Meeting in the Olde Barn which was well attended by Members.  A presentation was made by the Chairman, Ginny Mair and the Treasurer, Hugh McManus and the Secretary Graham Welborn took the minutes of the meeting.

They explained that the law relating to charities has changed significantly since the GYCA was formed in 1974 and consequently in our current format we no longer conform with the law.

Legal advice has been taken and we have been advised to formally separate the GYCA and the Bellhouse Club. This would be done by setting up two companies: GYCA Ltd, which will be the charity and The Bellhouse Club Ltd, which will be the trading arm of the GYCA. It is very clear that if we don’t do this we will lose our charity status. If this happens the cost of running the GYCA will increase by about £20,000 per year which is clearly not viable.

Members were asked to vote and the resolution to change to a Limited Company was carried almost unanimously with just a couple of members absteining.

This will mainly be a paper work exercise however, one change that has to happen and will affect everybody is that all current membership will cease and everybody will have to join the “new” GYCA. There will be no charge for this and membership status i.e. Life or Annual will not change. It will be just a matter of filling in a new membership form.

The Management Committee are almost ready to make the change over which has been handled by a local Solicitor and further details will be made available to members as soon as the paperwork is finalised.

If you have any suggestions for events you would like to see here please let us know.

Dates for your Diary:

Quiz night in Olde Barn on Friday 24^th June
Strawberry Cream Teas & Tennis on Sat 2^nd & Sun 3^rd July
Village Fete / Craft / Food Fair / Art Exhibition 3^rd September

STOP PRESS: We would like to offer our congratulations to Mike Biggin on his appointment as Mayor of Warrington.

This publication is sponsored by Davidsons Scrap Metal Dealers a downloadable copy is available by clicking here

 

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Christmas has been and gone and I am sure we are all missing seeing our wonderful Christmas Tree outside the club.

The Christmas Tree was very kindly donated by Alf and Pauline Wadbrook from Christmas Tree Farm.

Members of the St Wilfrid’s Choir sang Carols and mince pies and mulled wine were served to keep out the chill.

The Tree Lighting Ceremony was a spectacular community event attended by over 100 people. Councillor Mike Biggin, who helped in sourcing the tree, made a short welcome speech and then Father Christmas magically turned on the lights.

Another First for the Club was Opening on Christmas Day. We opened from 12noon to 2.30pm and are extremely grateful to Kath and Steve for giving up part of their day to work the bar. The atmosphere was superb, with friends and families all coming together, in some cases there were 4 generations of the same family enjoying some festive cheer before lunch.

After 8 years of service, Rose our Accounts Clerk decided to leave us in November 2010 and we have now enlarged this role to encompass the role of GYCA Manager. Our new Manager is Pauline McManus who has many years of experience to bring to the role and also a good working knowledge of the GYCA as a whole having been an active member of the ‘Friends’ and Management Committee for the last 3 years. According to the rules of the association she has now resigned her position on the Management Committee.

A full audit of the User Groups has taken place in the last two months and we have been actively encouraging new groups to use our facilities. We have two new exercise classes starting in January / February to help get rid of those extra pounds put on over the festive period. A list of all classes is now displayed in the entrance to the club and at the rear by pre-school.

We have been extremely fortunate that the Parish Council have given us 5 hours a week of Janet Richards time to concentrate on obtaining grants. To date we have applied for four small grants, two of which have been successful, which will enable us to replace the old and wobbly trestle tables in the Olde Barn.

We have obtained quotations for the updating of the Web Site and have instructed a local company to carry out the work, hopefully we should have a brand new Web Site within the next few weeks. This will enable us to update the information quickly and easily and for the public to see what we have to offer.

We have received sponsorship from a Local Business J. Davidson Scrap Metal for the replacement of the windows in the office and we have also been promised some new office furniture from another source which should arrive this week.  Once this arrives work will hopefully start on modernising the office.

The programme of improvements has continued and the decoration of the Club House Bar has been completed, together with other necessary repairs, which although not visible, were essential.  The cold water pipes have been re-routed to stop freezing and the toilets in the Ladies in the Club House have been replaced as they were found to have cracks in them.

The pre school no longer has to use ‘duvets’ to stop the children getting burnt on the radiators, as they now have very smart made to measure radiator covers.

All this work has been carried out by a small band of volunteers without whom we would be struggling to get these jobs done.

The next major project is to replace the windows on the front of the studio which are rotten and the cladding front and back.  This work is due to be carried out during the February half term holiday.

For all you football and rugby fans, as well as the SKY HD TV which has made a world of difference to the viewing experience for the big matches, we have also upgraded the sound system which has brought many positive comments from our regular members coming in to watch the matches.

The ‘Friends of the Grappenhall Community Centre’ continue to organise events to raise money for special projects.

The Family Halloween party, which has now become an annual event, was well attended and although this is not a money making event, it provides a great community family evening.

Rob the DJ played suitably ‘spooky’ music and prizes for the best fancy dress were awarded.

The ‘Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony’ as mentioned, was a first for the Community Centre and will hopefully become an annual event.

This was followed by a Christmas Market with wide variety of stalls in the Olde Barn. Hot food was on sale in the form of Baked Potatoes with various fillings and Teas / Coffee with home baked cakes were on offer in the Club House. Outside to keep out the chill our special recipe Mulled Wine was for sale.

Our Burns Night celebration was a Sell Out, 100 people sat down to a two course hot meal with a tot of whisky to Toast the Haggis, followed by dancing to the Liverpool Country Dance Band.

‘The 100 Club’ memberships are NOW ON SALE. This is open to MEMBERS ONLY for an annual subscription of only £18.00. Full details are available from bar staff or the Office.

The 100 Club will pay out two prizes a month from January to November, which would amount to £45 and £15 (if all subscriptions are sold, if not all sold then the prizes would be pro-rata). In December the prizes could amount to £105 and £30 (if fully subscribed or pro-rata if not).

All these things and more are not possible without Members support, so we hope you will enjoy the new surroundings and come in for a drink and to meet friends. If you have any suggestions for events you would like to see here please let us know.