Future Plan – Feb 2015

The hall committee has come up with an ambitious Future Plan the intention of which is to turn the hall into a high value community asset that will be very relevant for a long time into the future.

This is a major up-grade of its capacity and facilities. Storage rooms, sound system, better disability access, a deck on the northern side for indoor/outdoor events and a whole lot more. Read the next section for all the details.

We estimate that the Future Plan will cost $250,000. We have designed it so that it can be done in modules. This means that we do not have to have all the required capital to start the Future Plan.

We are appealing for donations from individuals and business in the community to assist us obtain enough seed capital so that we can leverage the required grant funding.

Every $1.00 that we can raise will enable us to win another $3.00 in grant funding.

We need to raise $30,000 cash paired with $30,000 worth in kind . By that we mean time and effort put into the project by hall committee members and supporters. We already have $10,000 set aside in a savings account for The Future Plan.

To donate please contact Paul Versteden 0429 352373or John Buxton 0407 472403.

• The proposed improvements will provide much better all abilities access.
• To do this we want to add storage rooms on the southern side of the hall. This will free up the supper room and along with refurbishing the interior of the supper room and getting a Wi Fi facility it will become much more attractive for people to hire it.  It will also appeal to a wider market.
• Shifting the stage from the Western end of the hall to the Eastern end will gain us about 15% more floor space.
• Changing the main entry point to the western door will greatly improve traffic flow, crowd control, access to the toilets and safety. Currently if you want to go to the Kitchen to purchase tea or coffee you have to make your way through the crowd at the front of the hall.  Changing the traffic flow will make it much easier to access the help drive sales from our kitchen.
• Part of the stage relocation project will include sound proofing the eastern end of the hall. This will limit the road noise, further enhancing the acoustic environment in the hall and its desirability as a venue for hire.
• The new stage will be bigger allowing more space for bands to set up.
• The sound system will be further enhanced while it is being shifted.
• Addition of a verandah and deck on the Northern side of the hall. This will accommodate and allow outdoor events by providing shade and shelter.  There will also be a verandah added on the Western end of the hall which will become the main entrance.

This plan came about as a result of a Hall Committee strategic planning meeting on the 13^th December 2016.  As a result of this meeting we developed a future plan. The preliminary plans for the hall upgrade project can be viewed below.

The storage room on the Southern Wall of the Supper room is the highest priority in our future plan.  This is because this will give us the best business return on capital invested.  The storage room removes the main blocker to us increasing our self-generated income.  The business case for the storage room is at the end of this document.

The main elements of the Business Plan are as follows.

• We need to increase the amount of income that the Hall generates from its own activities so that we are less reliant on grant money for on going running costs and up keep of the hall.
• The best opportunity to increase self-generated income for the hall is from hiring the hall more often. We are getting more enquiry but the fact that our supper room is doubling as a storage room is limiting our ability to hire it out.
• As a result of our hall now being recognized as a First-Class Music and Events Venue, this is a strength that we can build on. We can further improve the hall as a community venue for these events.
• The proposed improvements to the hall will assist us in attracting well known music acts and bigger crowds to the events.
• The cost of the whole project will be around $250,000 but the project can be done in sections if we cannot raise the initial funds to do the whole project at one time.

For more details or to discuss the plans or your donations, please contact our president John Buxton on 0407 472 403  or our treasurer Paul Versteden on 0429 352 373, or you can email them 0n