Super Clearout at the Community Centre

It is a well known fact that if you put two bits of 'stuff' at the back of a cupboard and close the door for long enough, they will breed. This is true of the Community Centre and on Saturday 27th the Community Centre Committee carried out a much needed 'stock control' exercise and subjected some of this 'stuff' to a good shakeout. The Committee was assisted in this by members of Ashton Hayes Theatre Club, who use the Centre on a regular basis and store a lot of items there.

Not many people may know that the stage conceals a number of storage spaces that go all the way to the rear wall. It needed the flexible knees and bent backs of a number of brave folk to crawl all the way to the back and retrieve things that had been sensibly stored ' in case they might come in handy in the future'! Many things, of course, were genuinely needed and retained but quite a lot was consigned to the skip and a number of things ear-marked for a 'white elephant stall' at the Village Fete next July.

As well as the under stage spaces, the back stage area was cleared of many pieces of sets, some left over from old Pantomime productions, others from some wonderful Ashton Hayes productions. The state of the stage equipment was checked and the condition of the curtains and backcloths noted. One piece, which has been there for over 30 years, had clearly reached the end of its life and descended on the Chairman in a dusty heap as he tried to move it. The kitchen cupboards were give a deep clean and a count done on the crockery and cutlery – just how did the Centre accumulate such an odd collection of mugs?

Alan Wilkinson, Chair of the Committee said "All organizations, especially voluntary ones, tend to save things 'just in case', but every now and then it pays to take a hard look at what you have and make some decisions as to their value. We are becoming a more professional organization and knowing what you have and where it is, will be very useful in the future. Many thanks to all who took part"
The next major event in the Community Centre is the Horticultural Show organized by the Gardening Society on Saturday August 17th