A Village Brainstorming Session: Part 2
A Village Brainstorming Session: Part 2
At 7.15 the night before last, the Chairman of the Village Hall was to be found once again chairing a meeting of the Castle Coop fund-raising team. “We’ve been mulling over our proposed money-making ideas for a week now’, he told us, ‘ and need to reach a consensus of opinion asap as to which ones to run with, so that we can get cracking.’
It was pretty clear that ‘asap’ actually meant 8.00pm because he’d put out a little clock next to his pen on the table top in front of him, with the alarm set to signal the end of the meeting in 45 minutes.
What do a scaffold and an alarm clock have in common?
Back in the 1770s Samuel Johnson said,
“When a man knows he is to be hanged…it concentrates his mind wonderfully”. Luckily, our minds were focused by the ticking clock and no scaffold was needed. We put on an impressive display of concentration and simply zipped through the agenda.
In a jiffy we had our outline plan.
Six months’ worth of proposed fund-raising Entertainments:
July: Race Night at the Ox and Moose – to be organised by Colonel Pyncheon
August: Fete weekend featuring Open Gardens, Tennis Tournament/Duck and Boat Races/ Chauffeured Golf Cart Rides/ Dog, Flower and Cake Show – to be organised by Lady Lohmann-Brown, Brown Owl, and the Misses Pepperpot
September: Safari Supper to be organised by Lady Egality.
October: Halloween Barbecue to be organised by the Chairman of the Village Hall and the Agent
November: Quiz- to be organised by the 2013 winners -Hurrah! Sir Plym, Lady E, the Agent and I only came 4th last year (see report here) & so don’t have to lift a finger for this event.
December: Church Bell Ringing Marathon and Concert in the Church for the lead up to Christmas – to be organised by the Reverend Rosecombe and Lady Sebright
New Year’s Eve: 70’s Dance in the Village Hall – to be organised by Sir Plym, Lady Egality and me (which is brilliant as Lady E and I have already designed Sir Plym’s costume and the prototype invitation as we were hoping to hold a fancy dress party for the village in August (see report here). We just have to change it from being a summer extravaganza to a winter one!)
Time is called:
At this point the alarm clock went off. As the Chairman of the Village Hall doesn’t believe in mucking about, the meeting was swiftly terminated and the Village Hall fund-raising team promptly and happily adjourned to the Ox and Moose.
The Safari Supper:
Lady E doesn’t muck about either. By this morning she had a flyer for her Safari Supper ready to go: CASTLE COOP SAFARI SUPPER! Saturday, 13/09/14
The Village Hall Committee is planning a Safari Supper for Castle Coopians! It will be an absolutely fab event; we will be travelling all around the village eating each of the three courses of our suppers in different homes and with different sets of fellow guests. You eat your starter at House A, main course at House B and pudding at House C. At each different house, you will sit with different dining companions! Offer to Host a course and get your tickets for only £10 Go to all three courses as a guest and buy a ticket for £25!
Beverly from America commented last week that she hadn’t come across a Safari Supper before. Lady E has asked me to say she hopes her flyer explains the concept properly. We are also very grateful to both ‘thinkingofyouandme’ and Billy for their great fundraising ideas.
Yours, looking forward to Race Night at the Ox and Moose!
Read MoreA Village Brainstorming Session: Part 1
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,
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