The management committee has known for some years that the time for a major redecoration of the hall, inside and out, is approaching but has failed to accrue sufficient reserves from hirings over several years to be able to pay for the work needed:
- This is not a problem as grants are always available for this sort of thing from various sources including the council, the lottery and so on
- The trustees are responsible for the hall and may have to pay the costs of the decoration themselves if funding cnnot be obtained from elsewhere
- This is not a problem as the community always rally round and help raise the funds needed, especially if it keeps the hall hire charges down for the community groups that use the hall
Please, please tell me you did not take option 1! There is, it seems, an unfortunate grant dependency culture amongst halls. We get requests for funding help for all sorts of things from rebuilding the hall down to buying some chairs. The Lottery Awards for All scheme and the County Council Capital Grants scheme do NOT fund redecoration directly. Assuming grants will be available, especially in a economy where social expenditure is rapidly shrinking is just plain fool hardy!
Option 3 is the one many halls follow. Wait until a lot needs doing and then set about fund raising. This quite often works but often is reliant on grants too. If you let refurbishment and repairs build up then you will inevitably be faced with big money to put it right. That can take a long time and a lot of effort.
The reality is that hall trustees, and that is to say the hall management committee are totally responsible for the hall and maintaining in a state whereby it is 'fit for purpose'. Keeping the hall in good condition should be at the forefront of the any hall committee agenda all the time and funds should be continually be accrued to pay for this work. If that means hirers have to pay more then so be it. If they want a clean and warm venue for their activity then they should expect to have to pay the necessary rate to provide that.
In extreme cases the trustees could be have to meet these costs out of their own pocket if they totally ignored their responsibility to maintain the hall in good condition. The more likely scenario would be that if there was insufficient reserves to pay for the work then hall may have to close.
Option 2 is the stark reality. Think ahead, accrue reserves and be prepared - it's the duty of hall trustees to do this.