Town Hall needs YOUR help to survive into 21st century

The £35,000 to Thrive, £60,000 to Survive campaign, which is gathering massive community support, needs to see them secure pledges for at least £35,000 to stop the doors closing by the end of June – now just four weeks away.

“What we’re looking for is called core funding, cash which lets us balance our books because of the gap between our earned income, now we no longer have an Arts Council grant, and the Hall’s running costs,” explained treasurer Pete Smith.

Mr Smith, the retired manager of the Nestle factory in Staverton, where he successfully ran multi-million pound budgets, added: “Core funding helps pay for the overheads, including some of the staff costs, and expenses like rates and running costs. £35,000 is nowhere near our total overheads, it is the gap at the moment.

“As we increase earned income, that gap narrows – and that’s why we are saying we need £35,00 a year to Survive and continue to offer an arts, heritage and community programme, although not as extensive as the one we currently do. £60,000 a year would enable us to Thrive, and work harder to bring in more income until the gap no longer exists.”

Pete Gavan, editor of the Wiltshire Times which is backing the campaign, added: "We cover far too many stories like this one, where a charity, local or national, which is doing its best to make sure towns across our area remain vibrant healthy communities find they need the backing of local businesses to do so.

"Some have begun on a small scale and gone on to become major players in providing social or health care, or housing.

"Others, like the TTHT, are trying to make sure history and culture are not forgotten as our councils struggle to balance their books."

The Town Hall Trust currently employs the equivalent of four full-time staff, three working a five-day week and others on part-time hours. It is committed to paying a Living Wage, following Government regulations, and the average salary is £18,000. “I’d like to point out that our Director Tracy Sullivan volunteered to take a 20 per cent pay cut when we did a spending review as part of our plans to keep the Hall open,” Mr Smith said. “Like many organisations, our staff are one of our greatest assets: how many people would do that?

“As an organisation, around 70 % of our expenditure is staff costs, including our contributions to their NI and pensions. That’s about right for a professionally run organisation, because if your staff cost is lower then you are spending too much on other things which don’t bring in the same benefit.”

While the immediate need is for £35,00 to keep the Hall open a further year, the Trust is hoping to secure Survive and Thrive funding pledges from local firms covering the next three years, which they feel will be long enough for them to put into place projects like the one staff are currently exploring to Licence the Hall as a wedding venue.

In 2017/18 over 500 people a week came into the building, and there were 8,627 audience members, 5000-plus visitors to art exhibitions. 3,684 tickets were sold; 1,148 people participated in workshops; there were over 600 external hires; 12 artists rent studios there, over 40 artists sell their works in the shop and over 40 active volunteers help keep things going – adding value to their own lives by doing so.

When the Town Hall Trust was created, its vision was to re-open the Town Hall, restore the building to its rightful place at the heart of Trowbridge society and do that by using it to provide affordable, accessible community space and arts for all.

The current funding crisis threatens to bring that to abrupt end, plunging the Hall back into darkness and the risk that it will quickly deteriorate again.

“It would be dreadful for Trowbridge if the Hall were to have to close again,” Glyn Bridges, chairman of the Trowbridge Civic Trust, which is well used to fighting its own battles to maintain the town’s cultural and historic heritage.

“It’s such an important asset to Trowbridge, both in terms of its history and in what it can create for the town for the future. A huge amount of restoration work has already been done, things like repairing the beautiful stained glass windows, basic jobs to help make it weatherproof and stop further damage to the fabric of the building, extensive decorating work and the recent restoration of the Supper Room upstairs, which has wonderful views over the Sensory Garden and the Park.

“Our fear is that Wiltshire Council could just lock the doors again and leave it. They cannot afford to maintain or restore it, and it’s not going to be one of their priorities, because we all know councils these days are working to very tight budgets and do not have spare money for this sort of thing.

“Worse still, they could decide to put it up for sale and then it would be lost to the town and the community forever. The Civic Society is totally behind the Trust and their long term aims for the Hall, to restore it fully and recreate the original ballroom upstairs as a magnificent venue for live events in Trowbridge.

“We very much hope local companies will come forward with pledges to help them now and for the future.”

“We’ve done so well so far,” Board chairman Colin Kay said. “You only have to look at the difference we’ve already made to the building itself, and to people’s lives. All our current staff started working for us as volunteers and are now developing their careers here; we’ve brought the arts to people who have found them a revelation; we’re home to community groups who want to keep working in Trowbridge and to local artists.

“We are very grateful to Wiltshire Council, Trowbridge Town Council and the Area Board for the support we’ve had, which we have used to help us grow – for example, an Area Board grant paid for our kitchen, which has meant user groups can develop their activities, and we’re more attractive to hirers.

“Now we need the support of the wider business community, which recognises that having a thriving Town Hall and arts centre right on the High Street benefits the town as a whole. Arts Council England has done research showing that for every £1 invested in the arts in an area £7 is added to its GDPR. That means last year the Town Hall added £700,000 to local income because people work here, live here, visit us, send money in local shops and so on.

Companies wanting to know more about how they can get involved should contact THA Director Tracy Sullivan on director@townhallarts.co.uk or call 01225 774306.

People who want to make a one-off or a regular monthly donation to help ensure the long term future of the Town Hall, can do so through LocalGiving.org, by searching for Town Hall Arts.