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Dancing in the park

In photos: Capoeira and Morris dancing in Brockwell Park, south London


In photos: Capoeira and Morris dancing in Brockwell Park, south London


In photos: Capoeira and Morris Dancing in the sunshine at Brockwell Park, south London
 
editor said:
Just 78 regular volunteers required!

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Lambeth Council match funding £3m+ for Brockwell Hall restoration with private venue hire expected to help recoup the costs

Lambeth Council is going to grant match a fund of over £3m to restore Brockwell Hall and open it up for venue hire and income generation.
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That is a very standard set of functions for heritage volunteers to cover. Support roles that add value but that are not operationally critical and therefore do not replace paid personnel. Running volunteering schemes properly is a real art, given the mix of skills and motivations (and levels of availability) people bring. 78 people, each giving between a couple of hours and a couple of days a week, seems about right to me. If they are anything like the museums, galleries and nature sector they will have a considerable waiting list.
 
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I am a little less convinced that there will be people queuing up to do unpaid volunteering at a relatively obscure venue. I'm assuming the volunteer roles won't cross over with the profit making (private hire) aspects, otherwise that feels a bit exploitative.
 
Cat Fan said:
I am a little less convinced that there will be people queuing up to do unpaid volunteering at a relatively obscure venue. I'm assuming the volunteer roles won't cross over with the profit making (private hire) aspects, otherwise that feels a bit exploitative.
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It's not so much queuing up in absolute terms, more that organisations that use volunteers have an over-abundance of interest for certain slots - such as weekends. 80,000 people live in the wards that adjoin Brockwell Park alone, with another half million across the rest of Lambeth and Southwark. And they'll need maybe six people on a Saturday afternoon.

The usual case for venue hire is for there to be staff employed to sell bookings on a 'dry hire' basis, with the hirer then selecting from a list of approved events management companies (depending on the type of event) and meeting all the direct costs for their services.

The public heritage sector doesn't look at income-generating activities as 'profit'. The goal of trading is to make a 'net contribution' within a business model that is inherently loss-making. Together with the income from philanthropy and grants-in-aid, the aim is to maintain an operating position that doesn't require the drawing down of reserves. A good example is the national museums, who receive c60% of their annual operating costs as revenue grants on the condition that they provide access to their permanent collections free of admission charges. This still leaves a 40% hole for them to fill each year, via everything from pennies in buckets and cups of tea to venue hire and corporate sponsorships.
 
Jimbeau said:
It's not so much queuing up in absolute terms, more that organisations that use volunteers have an over-abundance of interest for certain slots - such as weekends. 80,000 people live in the wards that adjoin Brockwell Park alone, with another half million across the rest of Lambeth and Southwark. And they'll need maybe six people on a Saturday afternoon.

The usual case for venue hire is for there to be staff employed to sell bookings on a 'dry hire' basis, with the hirer then selecting from a list of approved events management companies (depending on the type of event) and meeting all the direct costs for their services.

The public heritage sector doesn't look at income-generating activities as 'profit'. The goal of trading is to make a 'net contribution' within a business model that is inherently loss-making. Together with the income from philanthropy and grants-in-aid, the aim is to maintain an operating position that doesn't require the drawing down of reserves. A good example is the national museums, who receive c60% of their annual operating costs as revenue grants on the condition that they provide access to their permanent collections free of admission charges. This still leaves a 40% hole for them to fill each year, via everything from pennies in buckets and cups of tea to venue hire and corporate sponsorships.
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I'm not completely convinced. The aim is very much to make money, that's a core part of the council Events strategy, no? The idea is to make up for funding cuts at national level, not just break even. Have you seen the numbers in the business case?
 
Cat Fan said:
I'm not completely convinced. The aim is very much to make money, that's a core part of the council Events strategy, no? The idea is to make up for funding cuts at national level, not just break even. Have you seen the numbers in the business case?
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They’re hoping to break even operationally by 2024-5 (though they’ll still be getting revenue support from NLHF until 2026) and for an £83,500 annual surplus from 2027-8.

But Lambeth will still be injecting funding for day to day operations - so the £83,500 net position doesn’t necessarily mean full cost recovery of public funds.

Then there is the £3m capital expenditure being injected for the renovation. There is no suggestion that this is to be amortised against revenue returns.

No matter how Lambeth might be seeking to make money elsewhere, Brockwell Hall isn’t going to be filling the coffers.
 
snowy_again said:
Below the bmx track / meadow and above the field at the deep end of the lido
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That sounds like a reasonable place for it. There are loads of organised games going on all over the park anyway, so don't see the harm in adding a proper, bookable pitch.
 
Except that it’s the only all year round multi purpose pitch thats used for a whole range of things other than football which can’t take place elsewhere.

Also taking a bit of the park and making it pay for use? Putting in floodlights and extending the noise in the park until ten? Football is noisy!

As you say - plenty of other places where football is already taking place. I can see 3 organised sessions out of my window right now. Some using the goal posts, others bringing their own 6 aside They carry on throughout the year.

This proposal takes away multi use, free access and gives it to those who can pay for one specific thing.
 
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