Convener’s Chat & Gala Report – Summer 2009
This is the first FORK News presented in electronic form instead of being printed as the magazine we have come to love so much. The new format is much greener because it will use less power and less paper, and of course will save massively on postage costs.
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I have just seen our Gala figures and I am delighted! Not only was it a lovely day from all points of view but we did not do badly financially either. We are paying £869 into the bank, which is net of the floats. I must congratulate Cliff Giddings especially on the canoes, which made £297. Quite extraordinary!
A few things that have come up from comments made to me about the Gala: The people who provide the bouncy castle, slide and roundabout told me they could not come on Friday afternoon because himself had a bad back. As a fellow occasional sufferer, he had my sympathy, but I heard no criticisms but only delight because of the absence of the noise which otherwise would have competed with the beautiful live music. Some dads thanked me because they did not have to pay out so much! It is decided not to ask them again.
The Food for Thought people who fed us, or whoever feeds us next year, will be asked to provide tea and coffee. They did not bring sufficient hamburgers, so ran out of them, obviously. Do any of you have comments about any of this? It has been suggested that the bar should remain open for another hour or two in order to supply the people sitting on the grass listening to the perfectly wonderful music – and that the music should also go on for more time. This assumes a lot – first that our licence would allow this and the music makers would not mind. Free drink for them perhaps?
Any comments? We had five new households of new members (or seven new FORKs) plus one complimentary one. This last was Nicola MacArthur, from Cardonald College, who won the design competition, of which we have written before. Nicola also brought a large box of delicious home-made fairy cakes for us to sell, which we did without too much problem at 30p each.
Summer 2009 edition of FORK News