www.saintmarysharborne.org.uk

PARISH CENTRE UPDATE

October 2003:

SAINT MARY'S PARISH CENTRE MANAGER.
St. Mary's Parish Centre needs a part-time Manager to take responsibility for running the centre, with the assistance of the Caretaker and other staff. A particular duty will be the management of functions in the centre, including the running of the bar. Hours of work are variable, according to demand but will entail weekend evening work. Experience of bar work is essential. Please contact Adrian Buckley via the parish office for further information.

November 2002:

At the last meeting of the parish Centre Management Group we decided that now would be a good time to bring parishioners up-to-date with all that has been happening in the Centre over the last few months.

Mike Walsh has recently retired as the Centre manager. He has given unstintingly of his time and most certainly has enabled the Centre to remain not only open during some difficult times but also to be a very valuable and well-used facility to both our parish and the wider community beyond. We shall be making a presentation to Mike after the 11.00am. Mass on Sunday 3rd. November.

We are now very pleased to welcome another parishioner, Brian Postlethwaite, as our new manager. Brian brings lots of experience and many skills to the post and is already getting to grips with the task ahead.

Des Rutledge continues to work as caretaker and now is a good opportunity to thank him too for all his efforts.

So, the Centre continues to grow from strength to strength. We have a regular pattern of usage in the daytime and evenings, including formal and informal meetings, childcare, parish group activities and social events.

However, most of our income comes from private bookings covering every type of function fromparties to political meetings!

Financially, the Centre is 'in the black' and has been consistently for the last four years. Financial proceedures and systems have been formalised and regularised.

We are indeed indebted to all of those who have served on the Management Group over the last four years and who have ensured that the Centre has continued to exist as a viable, self-supporting, yet integral, feature of St. Mary's.

This all sounds very rosy, doesn't it? Yet there remains a huge amount to be done to even maintain this happy state of affairs, never mind making the improvements to the fabric/furnishings that we would like.

How can you help? We do need people who can be available at short notice, to work as [paid] Bar Staff, particularly for functions on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons/evenings. We also need to ensure that there are always volunteers for the refreshments rota after Masses on Sundays. If you are able to help out with any of the above please see Brian or ring 427 5386.

But most of all,spread the word about the Centre. We do need to keep those private bookings coming in.

Thank you all very much for your continuing support.
The Parish Centre Management Group.