Last week a full house of stakeholders in the future development of the Flavel gathered in the auditorium to hear Trustees set out their vision for the future.

In attendance were Staff and Volunteers, who provide a great support network to run the Flavel, along with our Founding Members and Friends of the Flavel.

The presentation was hosted as a workshop style evening which started when those present were encouraged to set out why they supported and liked the Flavel.

There was an opportunity to reflect on the efforts which 20 years ago led to the foundation of what has become a treasured part of our Dartmouth community, people celebrated certain events and the provision of the library which is managed by a partner charity called Libraries Unlimited.

The stark reality of the financial challenges was set out again to dispel the myth that because the Flavel looks okay, it is going to remain for the future without any real efforts to sustain its existence.

Attendees were asked what they would feel if the Flavel were to go bust.

There was a clear feeling that the community would suffer a very sad loss of a cultural hub, part of the glue that can stick our community together.

Sarah Dempsey, a Dartmouth resident and invited representative from the music industry, presented her vision of what the Flavel can be in the future.

Trustees have lead roles covering all the important parts of how a well-run charity can operate on a business footing as a not-for-profit community organisation, run for the benefit of the community. Trustees discussed: programming, community development and inclusion, the need to control costs, how to raise funds from grants and fundraising events, how to better find out what the community wants – market research, how to let people know what they do by marketing better and how to engage better with volunteers.

Eleanor Moss, the regional manager for Libraries Unlimited expressed her gratitude for the way that the The Flavel and the Library are working together in partnership to ensure that the redevelopment of the ground floor would improve access to the Library and ensure that it can continue to provide facilities for all ages, including children to make sure our range of cultural opportunities were sustained and developed.

Ideas were presented for ways in which capital projects can be developed to improve income earnings and to reduce costs, in particular solar pv panels to improve our efforts to help address the climate change initiatives as well as helping to reduce energy costs.

Opportunities for further fundraising were set out with one Trustee speaking of a Tors Challenge, to walk 176 of Dartmoor’s Tors before bringing it back to Dartmouth as a GO FUND ME fundraising effort – please look out for this and support it when it goes live in the near future.

The evening finished with questions and answers and a hugely positive feeling that success was just round the corner but recognition that it relied on a huge community support effort to get round that corner.

This was the first in a series of meetings planned and details will be available in due course.