909 Visitors!

When counting the number of visitors to the Grand Pavilion we saw 909 people through the doors.

This was down on last year, but then we did much more publicity. This was expensive and was only done because it was our first event.

The comments from those visitors though were overwhelmingly positive. Here are a selection.

Gregor

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Successful Final Day

On day 3 of Derbyshire Open Arts we had 417 people through the door, taking us to about 900 for the three days.

This is down from 1,350 for the first three days last year. We will need to look at what caused the drop, but relying on DARTS to do all the publicity must have been a factor. Today, having put up more signs and given out flyers, we had the best day of the weekend.

Gregor

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People's Views From Yesterday

This is what they said.....

Gregor

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Derbyshire Open Arts Opens!

We opened for our Members Preview on time and all organised.

One artist had technical problems but, by the end of the evening, was just about set up by the time that we closed.

Today we welcome the public to this great event.

Gregor

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Gift Aid

We have just had £1,565.50 paid into our bank account this week from HMRC, which can only be our new gift aid claim - now that's what I call quick!
Gregor

Andie's Artwork

Here is Andie's door!

This was after the excess paint had been scraped off. Will have to buy some more gloss and repaint it.

Gregor

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----- Forwarded message -----
To: "massongregor.cheverells@blogger.com" <massongregor.cheverells@blogger.com>
Subject: Andie's Artwork

Amanda Penman Visits

Here is Amanda Penman (better known as Hatfield) visiting tha Grand Pavilion to deliver her new publication "Arts beat".

She produces this substantial magazine on her own each month!

Amanda has long been a friend of the Grand Pavilion and we wish her will with her new venture.

Gregor

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Ballroom Nearly Ready

Here is Dave up a ladder fixing the last of the boards ready for the artists. It really is looking smart, improved by the fact that many artists are doing their own painting!

Gregor

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All is getting ready for Derbyshire Open Arts

After Dave's sterling work, we are now in a much better position to host the event. The boards are up and little booths for all the artists have been created.
I helped in the Pavilion organising the Café seating and sweeping it.
You must see the new front door! Andie was the artist painting it.
Gregor
N.Gregor Macgregor

HLF Bid Meeting

We have just had another Bid meeting to discuss our bid-in-the-making.

We are close to appointing a professional helper for our bid application.

We are also clear as to how much work is involved!

Gregor

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Pavilion Dump Runs

This is an example of the sort of stuff that ends at the dump!

In total there were 7 bins like this taken to the dump plus an amount of plastic, wood, bottles and some artificial ivy. From all of this, only the ivy ended in the non-recyclable waste skip!

Gregor

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Friends of the Grand Pavilion AGM

We had a successful AGM on Thursday evening with 35 members attending. We have filled the Friends Committee with 11 members coming forward to join. This makes the committee a much stronger body that we have had in the past.
We have also had six new volunteers coming forward to help us with differing activities; from working with admin to helping with the Pavilion Clean-up.
During the meeting, there was a lengthy question and answer session on or plans and current position. This has helped enormously, giving us a chance to review our thinking.
Altogether a good evening; finishing with cheese and wine.
Gregor

Work starts at the Front Door

We have started the project of improving the experience that visitors have as they enter the building.....from the front door up.

We are painting the front door with another colour, so that we stand out a bit more.

Dave has ripped out the whole of the entrance lobby to make it bigger. It will give a much better feel as one enters the newly painted front door.

Now we have the job of re-plastering and repainting. At the moment it all looks a bit of a mess, but soon we will have it looking great!

Gregor

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Posting Newsletters to Members

There will be a debate at tonight's AGM about mailing newsletter to members without email addresses.
Currently if we have no email address we post our quarterly newsletters to members. We send out 170 newsletters in this way. The cost of postage has gone up to 50p per newsletter and, when we have to get them printed commercially, it costs another 50p for the printing.
This, with the postage of mailing out a subscription reminder, means that we pay £4.50 for a £5 membership.
For memberships where there is an email address, there are no such costs.
Gregor

AGM Tomorrow; Thursday the 16th of May in the Pavilion Cafe at 7pm

Below is the Agenda for tomorrow's meeting.
. Opening remarks
. Presentation of the Accounts (Nick Whitehead)
. Presentation by The Grand Pavilion Ltd (Gregor Macgregor)
. Discussion and vote on posting Newsletters to members
. Election of Officers of the Group
. Election of Nominated Directors (Charles Beresford to preside for both these Items)
There will be cheese and wine afterwards.
Gregor

Responses from Businesses to HMHB Gig

I have now had around a dozen responses and thre are a few examples:
"On the night of Half Man Half Biscuit we had our busiest night for takeaways."
"We had three rooms let to concert guests on the Friday night and were
full. We even had some guests arriving with no accommodation as they
had been let down in their booking, we were able to put them up in our
newly acquired caravan!"
"We got people coming off the train straight into the pub on their way
to the Half Man Half Biscuit concert. It was a busy evening until the
concert started. We also had 3 rooms let to guests who were at the
concert. It was a really great evening."
".....there was a real buzz about the place."
"About two thirds of our residents for the accommodation side of our
business were attending the event and eating with us before they went
down to the Pavilion."
I think we shall have little difficulty in showing that the
refurbishment of the Grand Pavilion will benefit the local economy.
Gregor

Local Businesses Benefit from Pavilion Events

I have, over the last couple of weeks, been talking to Matlock Bath's businesses. I have been monitoring the effect on their business from the Half Man Half Biscuit concert.

The overall response has been "very good". One restaurant had their best Friday night for takeaways ever. One hotel had their best spring Friday ever: "we even had to open our restaurant early to meet demand" said the owner.

The more events like that we can organiser the better. One person saw no benefit however; he closed his chippy early that evening!

Gregor

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Pavilion Clean Up

Here is the pile of rubbish from last night's efforts!

This was hidden in nooks and crannies around the building!

Now we need another "dump run".

Gregor

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HLF Training Morning

Charles and I went to the Heritage Lottery Fund's training session this morning.

It will prove very useful now we have started the process of making our grant application.

One of the main points for us will be Conservation Deficit. This measures the gain in value in the building against the cost of development.

They will only fund the shortfall in gain vs the cost.

Gregor

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Matlock Bath or Skegness?

Yahoo are conducting a survey about which town is better.

The competition is not great as Skegness is so awful!

However, follow this link and vote for Matlock Bath and see what others say:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130506031309AAplP0t

 

Gregor

 

Ashover Carnivall/

A sunny day and not too much wind!

The carnival was lovely, a real community event. This is the new stand layout, with pictures of recent events. A good day for memberships 16 by 3.30.

Gregor

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Start of Heritage Bid

This meeting, with Charles, Laura, Nick, Lynn & Robin, markes the start of an enormous amount of work to apply for our big Heritage Lottery grant. Until August we will. Be busy getting our massive bid together. There are no less than 9 multi_part sections to the form, many requiring significant research. Which will keep us busy through the summer!

Gregor

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Pavilion Goes Up With a Bang

Wood from the Pavilion Clean Up went up with a bang today! It was the centrepiece of a Matlock Bath Party. When it was lit there was a massive bang. The lighter fuel exploded causing wood to be thrown into the air.

The fire brigade was called and reviewed the situation.

The party then progressed normally, but we had a lot to talk about!

Gregor

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New HTC One

I have just invested in an HTC One Phone, and it becomes so much easier to make posts to the Blog.

Before I had to take a photo, transfer it to the comuter, log on and then do my blog posting. Now I can do it directly from my phone.

A long time ago I bought a little keyboard and this helps be to avoid the "Fat Finger" problem!

So expect more posts.

Gregor

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Matlock Bath Bank Holiday Festival

A good event is occurring all weekend in Matlock Bath's Derwent Gardens.

The gardens are filled with stalls selling everything from jewellery to food!

There is music and entertainment. This is what brings people to Matlock Bath and keeps them here.

Let's hope this becomes a regular feature.

Gregor

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