legionnaires and other private type community buildings..

Deals_2

i have always been interested in how certain buildings with stage etc were in the hands of committee members and they own the building between them and then can rent out for events etc. i would love to be part of something like this myself. does anyone have any details how these are set up etc. as one of them has been around for years i wonder whether funding even existed. any details appreciated. thanks

fengirl_2

Community buildings have normally existed for many years and been funded either by a wealthy local person, or by fundraising efforts of the community. More recently, buildings have been funded by the Lottery or a combination of local fundraising and grants. The buildings would not be owed by the committee, but by a trust or association and the committee would be elected from the local community and charged with the day to day management.
It is often difficult to get people on to cfommittees, especially those with finacne, etc skills, so if you are interested in getting involved, you should make sure your local community building committee knows you are interested so you can be put forward at the next AGM.
Some buildings are, however, owned by the local authority, so their management structures may be different.

Pennywise

There are still plenty of buildings owned by committee members and club members.

Our local golf club, for example, is owned by its members, all of whom have to buy a "share" as part of their joining fee. In our case, the "share" costs only £1. The club has been there for more than a hundred years so lots of people paying £1 per share in those days was more than enough to buy the land and build on it. The £1 shares have never changed, but now the club uses it's annual membership subscriptions to maintain the grounds and buildings. When a member retires, he "sells" his share back and then a new member can "buy" it - that's often why golf clubs have long waiting lists for membership - you have to wait for someone to leave!

Same with social clubs. One of my clients is a social club - quite a large building that has a bar and a large hall for functions etc. It is owned by its committee. The club never makes a profit and is highly mortgaged. If there was ever a time when it could be sold at a profit, I'm sure the committee would sell it, but basically it is a liability which is why it is hard to get new people to join the committee (they become liable for its debts!).

Also, our local agricultural society own a field. They use it once a year for their annual show, but the rest of the time it is rented out for grazing. The agricultural society members own the land, but most didn't realise that as they never bothered reading the rulebook. There was a lot of activity and interest from the members when there was a proposal from a builder to buy the land at a very high price and suddenly word spread through the membership that they could be looking at a windfall!

These days, I think there are fewer examples. It's not a modern thing to do. Go back a few decades and people generally had a much greater community spirit and were more inclined to put up funds for community purposes. Now with the nanny state, people seem to look to Govt quangos to finance community projects. I suspect as time goes by, there'll be less and less truly privately owned community amenities which is a shame.

katiepoppycat

our local social club is owned by the british legion who rent it to the social club committee. It used to be a peppercorn rent, but apparently a change in the law recently meant that they have to charge to going rate now.

discountmummy

I work for a community centre, the building itself is owned by the council but we lease it off them for a nominal ground rent and pay no council tax. We run as a charity and it has a committee but to be honest they might as well not be there. We have managed without any grants upto now but with the current climate and cashflow so bad we are looking into these.

Are you looking to join a committee and be involved or to start up one from scratch?