Hall Project News

note that the latest news is now at the top of the page
news items more than 12 months old can be found in the archive

 

July/August/September 2011

The last few months have proven to be both productive and challenging. Sadly, the committee has lost Fiona Brown, Roger and Sarah Blackwell and Emma Morgan, whilst Sue Morgan has now been appointed chairman of the company. We are seeking to appoint new directors and to that end, would welcome any nominations or volunteers.

A great deal of progress has been made in conjunction with Community Links Scotland and the architects, Benjamin Tindall. Consultations with the community proved fruitful and we are now at the stage of presenting three separate sets of draft plans to those who form our community, in order to determine which of those options might prove to show the way forward. The replies will need to be forwarded to Christine Menhennet at Community Links Scotland, as soon as possible and certainly no later than the 24th of October 2011.

Copies of the plans are available from this link. Plan proposals. These will open in a new window. A copy of the covering letter and response sheet, are available from here. Letter & reply

29 March 2011
The AGMs of both the PDA and PCA were attended by 29 people.
The meeting minutes will be available shortly. At these, it was resolved to (a) ask the charity commissioners to allow the name of the PDA to be changed to the Pennyghael Community Development Association Ltd, and (b) to allow the PCA to be dissolved, with its assets being transferred to the PCDA. Both resolutions were passed unanimously by the 27 members present eligible to vote, so starting the process to amalgamate the two bodies. We welcome Emma Morgan who was appointed as a Director.


The Council's Employability Team have now finished working in the Hall.
We are very grateful for their hard work and are absolutely delighted with the results.
If you attended the AGM (see above), then you will have seen the amazing difference they have made throughout the Hall.

17 March 2011
Following submission of tenders and interviews, Community Links Scotland have been appointed as regeneration consultants, and Benjamin Tindall Architects as the design team.

12 February 2011
Another successful Pennyghael Curry Evening - which raised over £450 for Hall funds.

15 December 2010
Following the awarding of grants obtained with the help of Community Links Scotland, the Hall project is moving forward to the next stage and full details can be found on the revised Hall Project page.

14 December 2010
A split tank in the loft over the kitchen resulted in some water damage in the kitchen, and no water. Repairs and the installation of new tanks are in hand.
The Council's Employability Team who will be taking a well-earned break from the refurnbishment works and resume in the New Year.
Everyone who has been to the Hall recently will have seen the difference that they have made.

19 November 2010
The ' RED HOT CHILLI NIGHT ' was a great evening and raised over £470 for the Hall. Thank you to everyone who helped make the event such a success!

18 November 2010
Renovation of the schoolroom is going well - repairs to the damaged walls, walls ceilings and woodwork newly painted and insulation installed in the roof.
All this work thanks to the Council's Employability Team, who are doing a great job!

25 October 2010
Work on the hall by the Council Employability Team has started - painting and renovating the schoolroom.

16 October 2010
The pre-release screening of the film 'Blooded' played to a packed audience - standing room only! The raffle and donations raised £390 for the Hall funds. We are very grateful to the film-makers for hosting this event.

6 October 2010
The Dutch Coffee morning and Dutch Auction raised £180 for Hall funds. We're very grateful to Mr and Mrs van Puijenbroek for making this event such a success.

23 September 2010
The LEADER-funded Constructive Communities Phase 2 project (see the 18 June 2010 entry below) has provided us with support from Community Links Scotland to undertake community consultation to reaffirm demand and to produce an outline Business Plan. 
This process has confirmed that we have enormous potential in terms of our building and setting and we have therefore applied and been given conditional approval for grants of £9,500  each by Argyll and the  Islands  LEADER Programme 2007-2013 and the BIG Lottery 'Investing in Ideas' fund, which will enable us to:

• Appoint consultants to assess need, demand and alternative options, resulting in production of an options appraisal, comprehensive Business Plan and funding strategy
• Appoint an architect to work with the consultants and produce costed design options in line with the consultants' findings and recommendations and the needs and demands of the local community, and to produce a final, fully costed option to be put forward for funding.

This is likely to involve the complete refurbishment of the Hall (excluding the external elements we have already completed and the work to be carried out by the Employability Team) and surrounding external space, in order to meet the needs and demands of the local community and with a view to generating an income to sustain the building in future, through offering additional services to tourists.

The Garden Party hosted by Trevor and Peggy Roche raised over £420 for us, in addition the Lifeboat stall took over £100 in aid of RNLI funds.
A big 'thank you' to all who took part!

28 July 2010
To all those who participated in the survey, thank you! The results are being analysed and will be applied to the business plan.

The BBQ event was a great success - and we took over £700.

18 June 2010
In February 2010, we applied to be included in the Constructive Communities Phase 2 project, funded by Argyll & the Islands LEADER and the Scottish Government's Wider Role Fund, which offers assistance to community halls. Throught this project we will receive some small-scale building repairs and an Outline Business Plan which will help us to seek funding towards our planned redevelopment of the building. As part of this process we are undertaking undertaking a consultation with the wider community to reaffirm support for the redevelopment of the Community Hall and to determine what facilities and services you would like to see. The home page of this website has a link to an on-line version of the questionnaire which can be completed in a few minutes. Those of you who have received a paper version of the questionnaire are welcome to complete the on-line version instead. Please include the questionnaire number (top right hand corner of the paper copy) on if you do this. Thank you!

30 March 2010
The joint AGMs of the PCA and PDA took place on this stormy evening, with a good attendance despite the wild weather.
Minutes of the meeting will appear shortly. Names of the members of the PCA Committee and the Directors of the PDA can be found by clicking on the links.
It was announced at the meeting that the Hall Appeal has raised £1365 in donations to date.