Wantage And Grove District Arts Guild

Could Volunteers run the Wantage Civic Hall?

Last Updated on Friday, 09 January 2009 16:15 Written by Bob McLatchie Friday, 09 January 2009 15:57

This idea seems to have been suggested by Cllr Jerry Patterson of the VWHDC. It has been known for some time that the future of both the Wantage Civic Hall and the Guildhall in Abingdon has been under discussion in the Council but this is first time people in Wantage have been asked for their reactions to this particular method for solving the problem of balancing the Council's books. I (and several others) gave the idea a very guarded welcome saying that it very much depends on the exact nature of the deal whether this was good news for the groups or a millstone round their necks. I pointed out that several groups had expressed the view that several changes would be necessary within the Hall to make it suitable including the view that it should be torn down and re-built. These ideas would obviously require capital that was probably in short supply.

Through various contacts in the VWHDC I have established that this is not yet a formal proposal from that Council. But is nevertheless an interesting idea that is worth some thought and I'd welcome you views on it.

You may care to note that the Vale and Downland Museum, which operates on something like this basis (the buildings are owned by VWHDC, leased by the charity at a peppercorn rent, and operated by some paid staff and many volunteers) finds that it needs about 90 volunteers on call to maintain its services (and could always be doing with more). As Brian Webster says in his reaction quoted by the Herald "...you would need an awful lot of volunteers. People are only prepared to give up a few hours a week or a month." And, as is also clear, these volunteers would have to be really committed to making the enterprise work. Is this the case with the Civic Hall? I don't really think so. Could it ever be the case that a substantial number of committed volunteers could be found?

You might also like to note that while the present running cost of the Civic Hall is about £300,000 the total annual budget for the Wantage Town Council is about £120,000 so "taking over the running" of the Civic Hall would obviously be a major project for that Council. Could its staff cope with this - even if a great deal of the work was being done by volunteers?

Taking over the Civic Hall, even if initial conditions were favourable, would be a massive undertaking with all sorts of consequences. Is this community ready and able to even contemplate such a thing?

Please comment below.