Fundraising headlines

Anonymous donations

In addition to the previous anonymous donation of £10000, we are also delighted to say that we have received two further donations of £3000 and £2000 from Bromham residents who prefer to remain anonymous. We have been asked to use these gifts to provide “match funding” to draw in additional funds. We are working on which fund is best to apply for.

IT and AV equipment

The donation of £4500 from Carnival 2024 has provided the “match funding” required to successfully apply for an Area Board Grant. The grant of £4000 was agreed by the Devizes Area Board on 17th February and is to be used to provide IT in the building. This will give us full WiFi coverage inside the building and outside on the landscaped areas. This grant and its match funding also gives us all the “techie” equipment in the IT cupboard, electronic tills for the two kitchen and the wired stage lighting bars. We need to install the lighting bars now in order to put the wiring in the correct place - even though we haven’t yet raised the funds for the stage spotlights themselves, we are planning ahead!

Some of our existing contingency fund is being used to make sure we have all the cabling we need installed in the right place for the IT system and the Audio-Visual equipment. This will all be hidden behind ceilings and walls. These were not included in the original contract but they are vital for the building to function as we want it to. Thanks to the ongoing village fundraising efforts, we can install this essential infrastructure now, which is much more cost effective (and tidier) than doing it afterwords. Rigg are also putting in the essential ducting and liaising with OpenReach so that we can apply for a new internet line when the building is sealed and watertight. We still need to raise funds for the projector, screen, stage and sound system but we will get there.

Bike stands

Wiltshire Planning instructed us to provide four bike stands to encourage cycling in the village and these are part of the approved landscaping design. Fortunately for us, we discovered that we are able to obtain these cycle stands from a different department of Wiltshire council at no cost. We still have to build the cycle shelter with its concrete floor to put them in, and construct a bin enclosure, but it is welcome news that the cycle stands are free.