The Band are delighted to announce that we have had an update from the 2019-2020 Co-op Local Community Fund to say that the final statement has been prepared and the band will receive a total for the year of £2152.12. We have to say, this is beyond all our expectations.
Our original application was for funding towards providing four concerts at the Newton Hall in Chapeltown, these were the 2019 Christmas Concert, the Patrons Concert, the Proms Concert and the Autumn Concert. As you will all be aware we have only been able provide the 2019 Christmas Concert, with the others all being cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
We are committed to providing the concerts and hope these will take place throughout 2021 once guidelines allow non-professional concerts to go ahead in the Newton Hall safely. The Co-op have said due to the restrictions because of COVID, we could use some of the funds for general running costs and we have decided to utilise this to cover some of the additional costs the band has faced in order to hold COVID safe rehearsals. Although we are still allowed to rehearse under the current guidelines, as the safety of all our members and our local community is our priority, from Friday 23rd October the band has taken the decision to suspend rehearsals until such time that the alert levels are eased. We thank the Newton Hall Management Committee for their continued support and understanding in these challenging times.
The Band would like to thank The Co-op for providing the scheme as well as our local Co-op stores at High Green, Bevan Way and the Co-op funeral care on Bevan way, it really is a great boost in this unprecedented time when we have seen the loss of all our income from concerts and performances in 2020. We would also like to thank all our Patrons and supporters in the local community who shop at the Co-op and nominated us as their Local Cause.
More good news is that we have been accepted for the 2020-2021 fund, we will provide more details of this later.
A big thank you to all for your continued support, it is much appreciated.
