A Village Brainstorming Session: Part 1
On Saturday morning The Chairman of the Village Hall sent round an email summoning us all to an ‘extraordinary’ meeting.
“We need to come up with some fundraising ideas pronto..” we read, ” a utility bill has just arrived and it’s a horror! Monday, 7.30, Village Hall, Please come if you possibly can!”
The Agent and I had just locked our front door yesterday evening when we bumped into Brown Owl; immediately we were efficiently herded up in case of any dawdling on the way. 
If you had dropped into our Village Hall last night therefore, you would have seen us all (minus the Graf who is still summering in Sweden) sitting round the table, brainstorming like mad to come up with fabulously profitable fund-raising ideas.
Proposed money-making ideas :
- The Chairman of the Village Hall proposed holding a Barbecue and was immediately seconded by the Agent. However, the Floor argued that we’d only just had a village barbecue at the Ox and Moose.
- Sir Plym, having just been to Henley’s Royal Regatta, proposed holding a Boat Race on Coop River.
- Trev the Rev suggested having a sponsored all-day-church-bell-ringing marathon.
- Colonel Pyncheon thought a ticketed screening of ‘Zulu’ would be popular .
- Lord Eftie suggested selling chauffered rides in his Golf Cart.
- Brown Owl argued we need to harness Wimbledon fevour and how about a Castle Coop tennis tournament? The Brownies could all be Ball boys (thereby earning points towards their Athletics Badges) and Brown Owl would be responsible for all umpire and linesman duties.
- Lady Egality offered to organise a village Safari Supper.
- Lady Sebright thought a concert in the Church would be just lovely.
- Lady Lohmann -Brown wondered about holding a Castle Coop Open Gardens weekend.
- The Agent proposed inviting a speaker to give a lecture about WW1 and selling the tickets.
- The Misses Pepperpot were very keen on the idea of arranging a ‘Dog, Flower and Cake show’ with prizes.
- I thought that it would be fun to bring out a Castle Coop Recipe Book which the Village Hall could then sell.
Which ideas shall we vote for?
These ideas have all been written down by the Chairman for us to mull over. Next week, we are to meet up again and take a vote on which ideas we think have legs on. What are your favourite fundraising ideas? If you have any good suggestions, please let me know – Castle Coop needs you! 
Yours wondering whether Colonel Pyncheon would consider screening ‘Notting Hill’ instead of ‘Zulu’ if I were to ask him nicely,
6 Comments
Leave a Reply
Want to join us but don’t live in Perch Fell? You’re in luck ! Yay!
Our crack Editorial Team at The Awesome Hen:
News Reporter
Lady Liberty Hen
WW1 Centenary & Barbecue Enthusiast
The Agent Pastoral Guide
The Rev. Rosecomb (aka Trev the Rev) Film and TV Buff
The Graf von Blommehön Gardening Guru
Lady Lohmann-Brown Party giver Extraordinaire
Lady Egality Maran Sporting Correspondent
Sir Plymouth Rock Author of '101 Ways to Organise Everything & Everyone'
Brown Owl Castle Coop Local Celebrity
Lady Eftie Nudge Perch Fell Resident Tourist
Julia. I'm allowed to be present at editorial meetings so long as I sit at the back & colour in quietly. 
Content Copyright 2021
All original content copyright The Awesome Hen 2021.
All rights reserved.
All the characters you meet in The Awesome Hen live in the virtual hamlet of Perch Fell and nowhere else. They are entirely their own selves and have no alter egos in either the actual or the virtual world.
These are all perfectly excellent ideas. However, why are they being wasted on covering some utilities bill instead of being dedicated to the much more appealing idea of sponsoring Lady Liberty’s ride to Paris? You could also consider screening Breaking Away as more suitable in place of either Zulu or Notting Hill.
(On a side note, I have just finished reading Life is a Wheel by Bruce Weber about cycling from Oregon to New York, which you might find inspiring reading. If you don’t already have it, you might also want to add “It’s All About The Bike” by Rob Penn to your bedside table.)
Dear Billy, you are absolutely right. I shall suggest immediately that we scrub appeasing South East Water/British Gas and concentrate on the important things in Life. &…I shall apply immediately to Amazon to update my kindle with your suggested reading list. What a great mentor you are!
How about a barn dance? or a 70’s night? Perhaps a duck race on the Coop River?
A race night? A car boot sale?
Wish you luck though, it is never easy.
Oh wow! What great ideas! I love the idea of a 70’s dance – we could play all that great music! I’ve enough stuff on my own for a car-boot sale and the races would be great fun, If we did a race night we could have a bar as well and that always brings in quite a lot of profit – we could do it all! Thanks v. much , thinkingofyouandme for your input = much appreciated.
I love the Open Gardens idea and have no idea what a Safari Supper might be. I also think your cookbook idea is a great fundraiser but they do take a good bit of energy and time to bring together. Perhaps you could have a fundraiser that is easy to pull together while getting started on the cookbook. Over here they sell well in the fall at bazaars and Christmas fairs.
Oh Beverly, how lovely to hear from you – hope all is well with you and yours? Thanks so much for your feedback here- I’ll let all the others know. I hadn’t really thought about how much time and energy the cookbook would take – good point!