Water Lane Hall Has Been Saved. Now The Real Work Starts - Dr Graeme Smith
Show notes
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Dr Graeme Smith is part of Friends of Water Lane Hall, the group campaigning to save and restore the old hall tucked behind Waitrose car park in the centre of Bishop’s Stortford. After years of uncertainty around the site and the threat of demolition as part of the Old River Lane development, the project has now moved into a new phase.
Following a public vote in which more than 80% of respondents backed saving the hall as an arts and community venue, East Herts District Council has indicated it is prepared to transfer the building to the group, subject to conditions around progress and fundraising. That means the campaign has shifted from protecting the hall to proving it can be brought back into use.
Graeme and the Friends of Water Lane Hall are looking for volunteers prepared to roll their sleeves up in:
- Fundraising - large and small - to help us get to our funding targets of over £3M
- Project Management - planning, tracking - strategic, and also from a construction perspective to help us organise ourselves and our renovation project
- Architects - to help vision and plan our future Arts Centre
- Surveyors - to help plan and sequence the building work
- Tradespeople - to help re-wire, re-plumb, fix the roof, fix the drains etc
- Web Support - to develop and host a new home page and updates for the hall
- Social media support - to help us on our communications and messaging
- Lawyers - to help us form the CIC / CIO, set up our purchase agreement with EHDC, set up hiring contracts with users of the hall
- Accountants - to help us pull the books together, track income/costs, set up bank accounts
- Book Keepers - to help us keep on top of our finances
- Business Planners - to keep and maintain our business plan up to date and ensure we are following the plan
- Compliance - to ensure that we are doing things by the book and have the necessary controls in place to manage multi-million pounds of funding.
- Designers - for leaflets and posters and a new logo
Stortford Spotlight
Local Business I’m Rooting For
Bishop’s Stortford Independent
Graeme says he is rooting for the Bishop’s Stortford Independent and encourages more people to support it. He talks about the value of local independent journalism and why communities often only realise what they have once it is gone. https://www.bishopsstortfordindependent.co.uk/
Community Project, Club or Cause More People Should Know About
Thorley Lane East Woods Action Group
Graeme highlights the group for protecting local woodland from development pressure. He points to their success in pushing back against planning applications and says these kinds of small, community-led action groups matter because they stand up for places people care about.
Two Local Legends We Should Interview
Jill Gill
Thorley Lane East Woods Action Group
Paul Winspear
Bishop's Stortford Independent