Chairman, Town Mayor, Honoured Guests, ladies and gentlemen.
The idea for this evening was first sown just over a year ago, when a small number of past and present committee members were chatting, and Anita Marriott suggested it would be nice if we could arrange an evening get together for everyone over a cup of tea. This was raised in committee, whereon the Chairman proposed that we should combine such an evening with a Celebration to mark the end of the three years of Lottery involvement - which terminated at the end of September. And so this evening came about.
Unfortunately Anita, who started the whole thing off, has another engagement tonight, so she will have to try again. Janet Rodgers, who collected your replies to the invitation to be here, has had a number of other apologies - and many comments expressing this to be a lovely idea - we hope you agree that the occasion has lived up to the idea.
This fine building and fittings cost some £400,000, paid for mainly by the Lottery Millennium Fund, but also by other Sponsors, as you will have seen on the plaque in the entrance hall. It is owned by the community through a Registered Charity set up by our predecessors. Compare this £400,000 with the cost of £2,600 for building the original Village Hall in 1958, and a further £540 for the fittings; £3,140 in all. How times have changed. The achievement of the 1958 Committee has to be applauded. Apart from an educational grant of £1,070, their Building Fund was raised a few pounds at a time from coffee mornings, raffles, galas and the like. And we have a representative of that 1958 committee with us tonight - Norah Wheatley, who, together with her late husband Eric, served the Village Hall for many years. We owe a great deal to the dedication and foresight shown by the members of that committee.
Back to the present. The success of any campaign depends upon the right leader being in the right place at the right time - Nelson, Wellington, Churchill - all men of their time - and we had the good fortune to have Ron Hubbard as our chairman and leader, when he was needed.
Ably assisted by committee member Derek Andrews, negotiations started, firstly with the Dronfield Town Council, who gave us wonderful support, in the shape of good advice and financial help. They helped us obtain the services of FOCUS Consultants, who specialise in preparing bids for funding - application forms are complicated; it is vital that bidders understand the questions on the forms, and more importantly, understand how to respond in appropriate language, which will influence the Lottery's decision makers.
Funding secured, we appointed Tony Tranmer to be our architect, Mike Bennett to be our Project Manager, and accepted a tender from Jarvale Construction to turn the plans into reality. Once again we found the right people to assist us.
Ron and Derek spent hours travelling up and down the country to attend meetings on our behalf. And a year after the funding was granted the new Hall was completed and we were open for business. Derek decided to stand down from the committee after the new Hall was opened and we expressed our thanks to him at that year's Annual General Meeting - in verse as I recall, penned by our Poet in Residence, Anne Ellis. And tonight we have the opportunity to formally express our sincere thanks to Chairman Ron.
They say that behind every successful man is a successful woman - I will alter that slightly and say that 'beside our successful man is an indispensable woman'. I speak of course of Helen.
Last week she was in hospital having a hip replacement, and we are delighted to have you here tonight Helen, in your rightful place beside Ron. Many's the time I have been to see Ron at his home to deal with some Village Hall business - and he has depended upon Helen to find a letter, or remind him of someone's name or who said what on the telephone. Or just to make a cup of tea.
Thank you Helen for being a part of the team.
Ron is not only our Chairman - he wears more hats than Tommy Cooper did in his famous sketch. Letters and phone calls come to him as Acting Treasurer, Fire Prevention Officer, Safety Officer, Funding Manager, General Manager, to mention but a few. Last year he was made an honorary member of the Dronfield Band. He spends hours in this Hall dealing with a host of routine matters and he has turned his hand to dozens of jobs from locking up and sweeping out - to unblocking drains, dealing with faulty locks, setting up the heating system, sorting out bookings ... such is the joy of being retired, Ron.
Ron, we cannot adequately thank you for what you have done and we hope you will continue to do, but perhaps with a less hectic schedule. It is my very pleasant duty to ask you to accept a small token of our very sincere appreciation for ALL you have done for the Village Hall - and through the Village Hall for the community as a whole. It is a debt that we cannot hope to fully repay.
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