Save The Matlock Bath Pavilion

Derby Telegraph Article

2012-05-18T13:09:00.001+01:00

Great article in the Derby Telegraph;

http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/Historic-pavilion-opening-doors-public/story-16118369-detail/story.html

Thanks for all your help that members have given towards Derbyshire Open Arts so far.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Pavilion AGM

2012-05-16T18:34:00.001+01:00

Last night the Friends of the Grand Pavilion had its AGM and re-elected it's committee for the next 12 months.
As promised, when people joined, I did a presentation on the past year and our expectations for the year ahead.
Two comments we made, one was the lack of Young People involved in the campaign and the other was about charging for Friends' events.
We have not addressed the issue of young people properly. We actually have a lot of younger people (say under 40) who are members. It is probably because older people have more time that we have not managed to attract many younger people to events and other functions. We agreed to put more work into this area.
We do not charge for Friends Group events as a rule as it creates much more work. The money raised will in no way help towards our £2.6m target and we want as many people to join the Friends Group. People performing, or talking, charge us nothing so it is reasonable that we do not pass on a charge to the members.
After the meeting we took about thirty members around the newly cleared areas of the Pavilion and the rest enjoyed a glass of wine and some cheese.
Gregor
N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd
See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &
Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Grand Pavilion to Reopen!

2012-05-15T11:22:00.001+01:00

For the first time since the “Pav” closed in 2008, the Grand Pavilion Matlock Bath is to re-open, this time as an arts venue. From the 2^nd to the 5^th of June the Pavilion will be the largest venue in the county for the Derbyshire Open Arts exhibition, featuring 11 artists, as well as music, dance and audio-visual displays.

The Pav closed as a nightclub in 2008 and up until now the “lights have been out” at the Grand Pavilion, with the future of this key local landmark in doubt. However, the local charity The Grand Pavilion Ltd put forward a persuasive business case resulting in Derbyshire Dales District Council awarding them a three year lease. The charity is currently applying for grants to fully renovate and modernise the Grand Pavilion as a 400 seat theatre, arts and community venue. Part of the plan also includes creating a Heritage Centre for Matlock Bath.

This first event, Derbyshire Open Arts, is a countywide project to display contemporary arts in unusual spaces all over Derbyshire, from cathedrals to village halls, free of charge to visitors. The Grand Pavilion has been chosen as a venue and has the greatest number of artists under one roof, in all of Derbyshire. As it is Jubilee weekend, the Pavilion will also be providing music, dance, poetry, storytelling and video to visitors, along with a display about the renovation, refreshments and a bar.

Exhibition organiser, Mark Crowfoot, said; “this is a tremendous showpiece for what the Grand Pavilion can do. We will offer visitors a whole range of arts, that you can look at, hear and watch. I hope that our venue will become the flagship for Derbyshire Open Arts in the future.”

An enormous amount of work has been done to get the Grand Pavilion ready for this event. Grand Pavilion Building Officer, Dave Mowle, said; “this has been a tremendous commitment from people who really want to reopen the Pavilion and restore the venue to its central position in the Matlock area. Over 500 hours of time has been devoted to this by over 50 volunteers. We have done all the necessary work without having to spend any money on skips. All the surplus materials that we have taken from the building have been sold for scrap. We have actually made a profit from recycling old iron and wood!”

Grand Pavilion Ltd Chairman, Gregor Macgregor, said; “When the proposal to host Derbyshire Open Arts was first made I had some doubts as to whether we could pull it off. Now with just a few days to go before the event, we have shown what hard work and good will can do. Thanks again to all those who have given time. We now have a fantastic venue that is attracting attention from all over the Region – look out for us in East Midlands Today!”

Andie Brazewell, the Chairman of the Friends Group supporting the renovation of the Grand Pavilion said, “We are delighted to throw open the doors to the public for this amazing event over the Jubilee weekend, which will be completely free for everyone to enjoy!”

The Grand Pavilion Programme: https://www.dropbox.com/s/h4en1tq4rrzzvja/Programme.pdf

Derbyshire Open Arts website: http://www.derbyshireopenarts.co.uk/about

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Matlock Civic Association

2012-05-14T22:00:00.001+01:00

I gave just done a presentation to the Matlock Civic Association. It went well and there were about 30 people there. There were some informed questions, as you would expect from such an organisation.

Many of the 30 were supporters of out Grand Pavilion campaign and a number were members of our Friends Group. I think we will get a few of the rest to join as a result of the presentation.

Gregor

Derbyshire Open Arts Brochure Published

2012-05-13T09:06:00.001+01:00

The Grand Pavilion’s Brochure for Derbyshire Open Arts is going to the publishers early next week. The Front pave is visible with this post.

It will be given to everyone who arrives and become a souvenir that people can take back with them. It will list all the artists and musicians who are playing over the weekend.

We now have 20 adverts in it and they have gone a long way towards paying for all the printing that we have done for the event.

We are now starting to paint some of the interior of the building ready for the artists to set up inside. This will take much of the three weeks left before we open. Anyone wanting to help; please contact me to give some time towards this.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

John Gill Ignites the Temple

2012-05-12T19:09:00.000+01:00

A fantastic night was had by all at the temple last night. John Gill and Please Y'self finished off an evening of great entertainment which included Basement Jack Gill (photographed) and a number of other performers of all ages.
Performers ranged from Mitch, aged 12, to Basement Jack who will be 90 this year. All of them have been trained by John Gill and what we provided was a proper concert audience, rather than the small audience they get in the Pub. If you want to see them, they are at the Princess Victoria every 2nd and 4th Sunday in the month.
We filled the Panorama Room and had a successful Raffle, which enabled us to show a good return for the evening. We also signed up 8 members on the night and took one guest fee on the door.
Gregor
N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd
See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &
Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Derbyshire Open Arts Advertisements

2012-05-11T10:50:00.001+01:00

I have just finished the adverts that I have collected and the Mining Museum’s one that I ended up designing. There are attached to this Blog post, please use these supporters of the Grand Pavilion when you visit Matlock Bath.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

49 Reservations for John Gill!

2012-05-10T17:30:00.001+01:00

I have just received a further 10 reservations and this evening is going to be a big one!

John is a great performer and with his young musicians, he is sure to produce a great evening.

I can also confirm that Basement Jack will also be there, so it will be an all-age event.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Kylie Pentelow

2012-05-09T20:40:00.001+01:00

This afternoon I went on to Nottingham Castle not to see the Sheriff but Kylie Pentelow! Kylie is our newest Patron and was really positive about our plans for the Grand Pavilion. She has a number of ideas of thinks that can help us. For instance she thinks a film production group she knows may be interested in following our progress towards getting the Pavilion re-opened. I think we have made a great decision by making Kylie one of our patrons.

She has just returned from a 14 day holiday treck in the Himalayas. This means that she has another interest in common, I will be off to the Alps this summer for the third leg of a tour of Val D’ Aosta, all-be-it nothing to do with the Pavilion.

We will keep in close contact from now onwards and maybe we will see her at Derbyshire Open Arts!

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Simon Fitch from the Arts Council

2012-05-09T20:40:00.000+01:00

This morning we had a visit from Simon Fitch of the Arts Council. He is the Senior Manager, Funding Programmes of the Arts Council England, based in Nottingham.

He arrived at 11am and gave us an hour and a half of his time. We showed him the inside of the Grand Pavilion as well as Charles Beresford’s presentation of the history of the Pavilion.

We had a long talk about organisation and operation of the Grand Pavilion. I think we were able to impress him that this plan is viable and will happen, with help for some of the funding bodies.

We will talk again soon and I hope the outcome will be the start of an application for finance from the new fund being launched in the next couple of months.

Thanks also to Les Small and Laura Smith for helping to add to this successful visit.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Theatres Trust Conference

2012-05-08T22:21:00.001+01:00

I have just booked a place for the Theatres Trust Conference on the 12^th of June.

The conference Blurb says:

“Delivering Sustainable Theatres

The challenge of achieving the triple bottom line

Conference 12 looks at the sustainable design, development and operation of theatre buildings in relation to environmental, economic and social disciplines, and the challenges of delivering sustainable theatres for future generations.

We will explore how theatre buildings have addressed the sustainability agenda and introduced new technologies and adapted to meet rising energy costs, tougher environmental building standards, economic constraints and the expectations of audiences – and see what lessons have been learnt.

And we will be sharing the experiences of the 48 London theatres on The Theatres Trust ERDF funded ECOVENUE project.

We will look at what sustainable development now means for theatres, what opportunities exist for theatre buildings in the new National Planning Policy Framework, how funding programmes are now promoting more sustainable capital development of theatre buildings, and what is needed to ensure theatres can meet the triple bottom line head on and continue to thrive.

Conference 12 will be of interest to those trying to maximise economic, social and environmental returns from their theatre buildings through redesign, adaptation or new builds. It provides the opportunity to discuss these issues with other theatres, government and arts policy makers, theatre consultants and architects and take part in the debate.”

I think the Grand Pavilion will benefit because it will give us a great chance to see what other Theatres are doing.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Ashover May Day Carnival

2012-05-07T22:04:00.001+01:00

Today I had the stall at the Ashover May Day Carnival. To be honest I was not expecting too much, it was some distance from Matlock Bath and I had no idea how well organised it would be. I certainly had to arrive early; we had to be there at 8.30am!

It has turned out to be one of the best Carnivals / Fetes / Fun-days that we have visited, it was well organised, there were lots of lovely stalls, the food was good (well done Duncan Davies) and there were lots of fun events. There was the carnival procession, tug of war, live entertainment and a fun-run.

We did well and signed up no less than 15 members on the day. I feel sure that there will be as many again, in the post, as people complete the forms that I have given out.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

D'ARTS Brochure Advertising

2012-05-06T23:49:00.001+01:00

I have just sold £560 worth of advertising for the D’Arts Brochure!

Attached are a couple of the advertisements that I have created for people who have paid.

This enables us to put on a 12 page brochure rather than a limited 8 pager.

Derbyshire Open Arts 2-5 June in the Grand Pavilion is going to be a success!

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

John Gill & Friends on Friday

2012-05-05T15:41:00.001+01:00

Our next event at the Temple Hotel is John Gill and Friends, it will be a great event introducing some of the young artists that John has been coaching.

Even John’s father will be there!

The event will start at 7.30pm on Friday at the Temple Hotel. Arrive early if you want to eat before the event.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Christina Massey from the Matlock Mercury

2012-05-03T12:23:00.001+01:00

I have just met Christina Massey from the Matlock Mercury. She is the new reporter for the newspaper and has taken an active interest in the development of the Grand Pavilion.

I took her around the building and explained how our plans will work out.

She admitted that she had visited “The Pav” in the old days, so she remembered some of the features in the Ballroom.

The Matlock Mercury has long been a supporter of the Pavilion, With Christina now on board at the Mercury we hope to take this to a new level.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Pavilion Clean-up

2012-04-30T22:47:00.001+01:00

We have done a substantial amount of work and this weekend we had no less than 15 helpers!

So far we have received help from 45 of you and between us we have done 364 hours!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH to all who have helped already.

Until the Derbyshire Open Arts, we will be in the Pavilion Saturday and Sunday from 10am, getting the interior ready for use.

Please come for as long as you can spare on any day between now and then.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor

Accounting and Controls Specialist; CCS

Mathisen Way, Poyle Road, Colnbrook, SL3 0HB, UK

(0) +44 1753 766260 (Colnbrook, UK)

(M) +44 777 1717 086 (site rules demand that mobile phones are switched off during UK working hours)

P Help save paper - do you need to print this email?

Matlock Bath Fell Race

2012-04-25T08:38:00.000+01:00

Over 120 competitors arrived at the New Bath Hotel for the fell race and all bar one finished in between an hour and five minutes and 30!

The winner was a junior who did, what I would take half a day to do, in 30 minutes and 8 seconds.

I organised the stand and had some interest and a £1 donation. Hopefully we will get some memberships from the application forms that I handed out to anyone who was interested.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

The Friends of the Grand Pavilion AGM - 15th May

2012-04-23T22:52:00.001+01:00

Our AGM will be on Tuesday the 15^th of May at 7pm, in the Pump Room of the Mining Museum. Please let me know if you can come, as we will need a bigger venue if everyone comes!

After the meeting there will be Cheese and Wine available.

The agenda will be:

· Opening remarks (Andie Brazewell)

· Presentation of the Accounts (Nick Whitehead)

· Presentation by The Grand Pavilion Ltd (Gregor Macgregor)

· Amendment of the constitution (re-nomination of Directors) (Andie Brazewell)

· Election of Officers of the Group (Charles Beresford to preside)

· Election of Nominated Directors (Charles Beresford to preside)

Please could nominees for either the Friends Committee or Nominated Directors (who will have to also serve on the Friends Committee) please let Andie of I know. Nominations will close at the meeting.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Farenheit raise the Roof

2012-04-22T21:14:00.001+01:00

We had a good sized audience for an amazing show at the Temple Hotel last night.

Farenheit put on a fantastic show singing, in their barber’s shop style a number of well known songs. They included sings from Alison Moyet, the Steriophonics and other artists of from the 80s and more recently. They also fid fantastic renditions of classics, including “The Boogie Woogie Trumpeter from Company D”!

They also showed how the harmonics of Barber’s Shop works and more importantly how it fits together.

The audience were entertained by the whole show and wouldn’t let them go without two encores!

We wish them well in the final of Britain Does Variety, which will be on the 23^rd of June in Watford. Anyone wishing to take the coach and see the show, email Ally at ally@farenheitquartet.co.uk for a ticket.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Floral Hall Hornsea

2012-04-21T23:17:00.001+01:00

I have just received a call from Keith Twig from the campaign to save The Floral Hall in Hornsea. They are a group set up to save the hall only six weeks ago. The Floral Hall was going to be demolished under council plans and turned into a car park at a cost of £1.2m. But following objections, the plans were rejected and residents were given time to come up with a plan for turning it into a community-led trust. Does that sound familiar?

I was able to give them some ideas from our campaign and wish them well. I hope to meet them in the summer. They are fortunate in that the hall, currently in a poor condition, is still open.

I wish them well with their campaign.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

35 help with Pavilion Clean-up

2012-04-18T22:29:00.001+01:00

A total of 35 people have helped with the clean-up of the Grand Pavilion. Together we have put in over 220 hours of work towards our objective.

We are getting the building ready for the Derbyshire Open Arts Festival in June at the moment.

This is only the start, as our objective is to get the building back to where it was before the discothèque added all the balconies and stage changes.

This open space will be much easier to develop as no preliminary work will be needed.

Well done everyone, it is a great job that you are doing.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Farenheit Rises

2012-04-17T11:17:00.000+01:00

This will be on Saturday, 21st April Temple Hotel, Matlock Bath. Please be seated by 7.30pm.

Matlock Bath would like to claim Farenheit as our own. They are a fun female quartet who sing a diverse range of acappella songs.

All four women are proud members of DaleDiva, the award winning Derbyshire chorus who were winners of the Channel 5 show Don’t Stop Believing. And they are no strangers to high achievements themselves, winning 1st place at the Derby Music Festival and a 4th place medal at their regional Sweet Adelines competition.

We are now up to 23 reservations for Farenheit so this is a good support so far. Each day is bringing in another dozen or so, since I sent the flyer to the members.

There is no charge to members for the event though donations for the raffle would be greatly appreciated. Guests will be welcomed, subject to availability, at £5 per person.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Front Page of the Matlock Mercury Again!

2012-04-14T21:16:00.001+01:00

It’s not often we hit the Front Page, but when we do it is a cause to celebrate.

Last week we put in our application for our first Heritage Lottery Grand and, unbeknown to us, so did Masson Mill!

This made a good front page story for a press release that I had feared would disappear without trace. I had a hint that something may have been published, when Christina phoned me to confirm that Charles Beresford was indeed the Vice Chairman, but I had no idea that she was writing a local scoop.

Well done again Charles for your hard work and the front page article is well deserved.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Pavilion Clean-up is Progressing Well

2012-04-14T19:10:00.001+01:00

We are making good progress with the Pavilion Clear-up.

Today we went a long way to clearing up the old Tourist Information Centre. This is going to be used for two exhibitions in June and July /August. The attached photo is of those helping with today’s work.

We met each Saturday and Sunday at 10am, if you would like to join us please let me know and I will tell you what to bring.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk

Cash Machine boost

2012-04-12T10:41:00.001+01:00

The number of transactions in March was 5,423, narrowly missing the 5,500 threshold; when the rate goes up.

This is an increase of 28.9% on the transactions last year!

April will be more of a challenge…..because of the good weather then the number of transactions was 6,055; so we will have to use the machine much more to get the number above that.

Friends Group membership now stands at 1,022.

Gregor

N.Gregor Macgregor
Chairman, The Grand Pavilion Ltd

See our Progress: www.savethepavilion.co.uk &

Support out vision: www.thegrandpavilion.co.uk