Friends benchmark their business plan for Pevensey Bay Community Library
The Friends of Pevensey Bay Library are preparing their business plan which is to be presented to Pevensey Parish Council at the end of this month.
For the documentation a cover shot has been created with a number of friends of the library invited to be the bench markers.
Talking to Bay Life (14 January) in the cold, bright Sunday morning sun, a beaming Margaret Martin rubbed her hands to keep warm as she welcomed the people invited to participate in the photograph. “lovely to see you all”, she said. “and the sun is out”
Bay Life understands that a number of potential trustees have come forward to support the Friends Pevensey Bay Community Library plan.. The people include a library assistant, a care worker, an NHS nurse, a retired policeman, two teachers, an engineer, a local historian, two local businesses and a group of commercial artists.
Simon Montgomery, who is also editor of Bay Life and the broadsheet newspaper, the Bay Life Journal (pictured second row, left) said, “my view is that without the Friends of Pevensey Bay Library working so hard over the last two years, the picture would not have taken place. The library would have been closed following the flood and would have stayed closed.
“What is exciting to see is the strength, quality and commitment that comprises the framework to the Friends business proposal”
“It would appear that there is an exciting cross section of people, representative of the local electorate, people from all walks of life with relevant skill sets to offer in relation to management support for the plan”.
He added, “in my view setting a clear path to charitable and trust status is a sustainable path for the Friends libarry plan, along the way the principles and process that have guided the Friends of Pevensey Bay Library are continuing to guide them”.
“Charitable status, and trust status and a management committee representative of principal and process, as well as local people that understand something about the context here with regard to libraries are all touchstones”.
“In my view, whatever happens with our library, embedded in any strategy must be an understanding of the principles behind the 160 year public library service in this country,
“it is the Friends of Pevensey Bay Library that have taken us successfully down this path over the last two years.
“But also, what is critical now is that there is an understanding of how to connect this notion to an appropriate and contextualised business plan that will work in 2018 .
“An income generation model based on core subscription and patronage, both principles that have been there since the beginning with the library movement in this country, are the belts and braces that hold the framework of the plan together.”
“Whatever happens over the next three to five years, what we need delivered for Pevensey Bay is a community library fit for the 21st century.”
