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haslemere chamber
CENTENARY LOOK FOR CHAMBER AWARDS DINNER DANCE!
The Haslemere Chamber of Trade and Commerce Annual
Business Awards and Dinner Dance will be on Saturday
20th April this year and takes on a brand new innovative
look for 2013.
For the first time, the Dinner Dance will be held at
Haslemere Hall, which celebrates its centenary this year,
so the whole event will take on a fabulous ‘Victoriana
meets contemporary’ twist!
This popular black tie/formal dress social occasion is not
just for Chamber members, but their guests and the
general public too, and it will involve as many local
businesses as possible, in order to highlight and showcase
exactly what they do.
HASLEMERE HALL – HERE’S TO THE NEXT 100 YEARS!
Haslemere Hall, celebrating its Centenary this year, is not
really the normal business that you expect to find as a
Member of the local Chamber of Commerce - being a
charity and local facility. However, in order to be successful,
it has to be run as a business.
The Hall is owned by the 'people of Haslemere', and is
run as a charitable trust with a turnover in excess of
£450,000. It receives a regular grant from Waverley of
around £3,000 and SCC, Waverley and the Town Council
have helped out in the past with extra donations for specific
purposes.
It became evident a few years ago that the structure of
the building was in urgent need of repair - the roof was
leaking badly and the window frames were rusted
through. A business model was thus evolved to enable
the renovations to be mostly self funding. The business
plan included a ‘repair fund’ which puts money aside
each year to repair and improve the structure of the
building. A fine balance has to be kept, however, as the
Hall's primary focus is to serve the community. Amateur
societies, social groups, etc, cannot afford to pay the full
cost of hiring or putting on a show, so these events have
to be subsidised by ‘trading activities’ such as the cinema,
the sale of refreshments etc.
The business model is based on maximising the people
coming to the Hall and keeping costs to the minimum. To
achieve this, ‘a good value’ approach has been adopted,
keeping ticket and bar prices as low as possible, whilst
providing up to date entertainment and investing in the
latest technology. On the other side of the balance sheet,
30 x R&A HASLEMERE & VILLAGES
Following a lively drinks
and canapes reception,
there will be a delicious
three course gourmet dinner provided by top local
caterers, together with superb wines sourced by local
suppliers.
The new Chamber President, John Orr, will then announce
the winners of this year’s Business Awards and after the
ceremony, party goers can dance the night away to live
music from talented local bands.
More detailed information on this fun event and how to
book will be available shortly from Haslemere Hall –
01428 642161 or www.haslemerehall.co.uk.
maintenance has been brought in-house as much as possible,
using local suppliers wherever possible. The Hall
relies heavily on its wonderful volunteers to keep the
wheels turning by manning the bar, sweet counter, coffee
bar and ushering, etc, without whom the Hall would find
it difficult to survive.
In addition, its corporate sponsors provide goods and expertise
free of charge and they are fortunate enough to
receive help from the Granary Bakery, expertise from
Email Jam, Spedo Engineering, who fix things that need
mending, excellent legal guidance from a local firm and
many other offers of local business assistance.
Haslemere Hall is proud to be a member of the Chamber
of Commerce. It is also proud to be part of Haslemere
and looks forward to giving enjoyment to the community
for another 100 years!
Haslemere Hall in 1914
February 2013