June 30th saw the culmination of months of hard work on the annual Village Fete and Fun Dog Show. Our fete relies on the generosity of our residents – whether it be donations of unwanted goods at the doorknock or of their time before, during or after the event. We welcome all offers of help, however small.

Proceeds from the fete are used for the maintenance and improvement of facilities at the Bellingdon & Asheridge Village Hall and Recreation Ground. This year, we’ve refurbished the kitchen and bar area, and repainted the inside of the hall. These are exciting times for our village hall as the current trustees seek to give this vital community asset a firm foundation for the future.

BAVH’s AGM – to which all residents are cordially invited – is on 26th July at 8pm. After this date the BAVH Charity will be renamed the BACA – the Bellingdon & Asheridge Community Association.

What is in a name, you ask? The idea behind this change – which will include an update to the charity’s constitution – is to improve communication and reciprocal assistance between the many different community activities that exist in our villages, as well as ensuring the future of our hall.

Most organisations that rely on volunteers are, frankly, struggling. The time pressures of modern life mean that fewer people have time to help out. We hope that, by pooling resources and expertise we can foster a greater sense of community and ease the burden on the few people that dedicate a huge amount of their personal time to making sure that essential community activities are available.

If you’re interested in joining us, please do get in touch. There are so many things we’d love to host at the hall – Christmas fair, film nights and activities for our younger residents – so please do let us know if you have any ideas you’d like to take forward.

Several of our current trustees have decided that the time is right to step down and we (and the wider community) would like to take the opportunity to thank them for their service and wish them well. Jules Eyles has been Secretary for 8 years, Don Baker has been Treasurer for 7 years and Chris Hood has been Bookings Secretary for 7 years.

The three remaining trustees – Alf Field, Hugh Griffiths and Helen Valvona – are delighted that Nick Richardson will be joining us from July as Treasurer. We’re still looking for a Secretary and a Bookings Secretary.

The Bookings Secretary is a pivotal role for the future of the hall, without which we will be unable to take private hires going forward. These account for 50% of the hall’s annual income and without the revenue generated over the last five years we would have been unable to contribute to the recent kitchen renovation project, the upcoming roof repairs and the planned floor refurbishment.

We’ve worked hard to streamline and simplify the bookings process, which Chris had already updated from a paper based system to a Google calendar and electronic booking forms during his tenure. In the future, we’d like to look into keyless entry to the hall and further automation of the bookings process.