Chair's Report to AGM 2018

Patrick Brompton Community Events Committee 


Chair's Report January 2017


This year has been another cracking year for PBCEC. Although unexpectedly I carried on being Chair, I would like to sincerely thank the whole committee for their help and support throughout the year. It has been wonderful to have Mags as Vice Chair this year, Judi J continued a further stint as our ever efficient Treasurer; a huge thank you for ensuring our insurances are kept up to date and also for keeping the coffee morning supplies sorted! This year we had a change of Secretary - Judith C took over the reins and has also done a wonderfully efficient job. Her Town Council knowledge and experience has kept us well informed and on the ball! 
Thank you to Penny for completing most of the year making sure the Newsletters were written and our publicity well sorted.
Pete has been a good link ensuring we are able to work alongside The Parish Council and Judy N continued the important link to our Church. Thank you both, and to Linda for sorting our part of The Patrick Brompton Village Website.
We carelessly lost members this year too! Sue P retired for health reasons. Sue was a keen founder member and her enthusiasm was sorely missed - however she continues to help in any way that she can. We said a sad farewell to Penny and Linda, who moved out of the village in early October, leaving a hole yet to be filled. We did however welcome new member Brenda - who has got stuck in and it is a pleasure to have her on board! 
Helen has been a support to all - and keeps us all grounded as well as visiting Ikea for supplies!


We have continued to organise events that have brought the community together and the vast majority of our community have joined in and thanked us profusely for our hard work. I would like to thank every one of those people for their valued support, some of whom happily help out at our events. 
Our monthly meetings ensure things are well organised and a great deal of thought goes into all that we do. Our committee members give of their valuable time and work hard for the good of our  village community.
Our shared coffee mornings continue to be a great success and it is wonderful to see our village coming together on a regular basis. Thank you to those people who help us by providing raffle prizes, baking and taking a turn to deliver. It is also fabulous to see members of Newton le Willows attending - as well as our villagers attending theirs. 
Pete has organised some fantastic film nights for us, and more people have generally been attending. Film Night advertising continues to be a challenge due to licence restrictions but those who do attend enjoy what they see.
We have had two great quiz nights organised by Woody and Grahame. One in the Old Schoolroom, and one in The Green Tree. Both were very well attended. The last at The Green Tree was packed and we have had requests to do more! We also donated the £100 made on the raffle to Children in Need.
We had a wonderful 70s Night with Patrick Brompton's Eddie Grant providing us with live music! Bryan and Carol were the perfect hosts and I would like to thank them for their help and support with many events.
In March and April we were able to enjoy the fruits of our labours: a wonderful display of daffodils adding to those already in situ. And in October a large group of us planted 1,000 more - kindly donated by Penny and Linda. We look forward to another Spring display!
We worked alongside the Parish Council to provide two new signs for Patrick Brompton, and we instigated and thank Ward's for building us a new stone plinth for the sign at the Leyburn side. This we planted up, and thank you Helen for keeping it looking good! We also cleared all the brambles alongside the wall which tidied it beautifully. We sowed seeds for the summer, though this year they were not as eye catching as the year before. 
We spent a lot of time and effort with our new venture - The Village Show. This was linked with our annual BBQ. Although we learned a lot along the way, we were all thrilled at how well it went. Some earned more rosettes than others!! But it was fantastic fun and many entries were received. The BBQ was once again well attended and it is certainly something that we would wish to continue. We have already planned for 2018!
October saw us putting on a ceilidh! And it was a terrific night -  Hackforth Village Hall committee did us proud and the food was fab too!
I was invited to attend and speak at Rev Chris' Licensing on behalf of the PBCEC.  I also regularly attend the Lower Dales Village Hall Committee meetings which has been very beneficial and helps ensure no clashing dates!
We repeated our Beetle Drive night - this time in The Green Tree and without the help of Hilary this time! By some miracle it went very well but we did miss Hilary's organisation! Bryan cooked a fabulous meal and a good time was had by all!
This year we helped out at the church with St Patrick's Christmas fare and coffee morning, and some of us even helped make Christmas wreaths to sell. Thank you to Avie for her expert help and  advice!
And we are trying to link up with Newton-le-Willows more. Our first joint event being a shared Christmas Afternoon Tea with Carols. Thank you to those who were able to attend and to Ann Brown for her ideas and enthusiasm.


While trying to put together events for the community to share, we are mindful of keeping the costs to a minimum, and not intensionally making profit, and of course we do have obvious expenses. We ask regularly for spending ideas and last year money renovated the Telephone Box. This year our goal was to replace two village signs, and plant more daffodils and summer seeds. With the exception of the seeds we incurred no costs as both were in the end funded by donations! We have plans to replace the sign at the Bedale end of the village which is no longer reflective, and to purchase a domed shelter to use at events. Ideas for spending, and for events are always requested from the community, and are very welcome.
As I come to the end of my two year stint as Chair, I would like to say how much I enjoy working with every one. It's a terrific committee - that works very well together - for a fabulous and appreciative community. And, although very happy to take the reins again in the future, I am eager to hand over now as I firmly believe a change is as good as a rest!
I know that PBCE will continue to thrive in 2018 - we have lots to look forward to!
 Thank you all!


Wendy Shepherd