What a lovely, satisfying day and I do not mean because Wales beat Tonga 74 to 24, although that helped. I called in on the lovely people at St Columba’s excellent Christmas Fayre and won a prize, that also helped.
No, I mean all the positive comments about the coloured edition of Gatepost; it seems the decision to have it coloured for the one before Christmas was the correct one. Our advertisers were particularly happy.
Why isn’t it always coloured? That was a question heard once or twice? Well, it’s a question of cost. When we applied to Awards for All for funding to run the Media Awareness Course, we budgeted for two coloured Gateposts and four black and white, to keep residents aware of the course. This worked because new faces were continually appearing.
Funding was for twelve sessions but those who attended widened the syllabus as it were, by seeking instructions on many other facets of computer use, and we finished up running eighteen sessions.
We had some leeway. For example, we over-estimated VAT but that was balanced by under-estimating, room hire and refreshments. There were also the extra six sessions. The Black and white copies cost just over £300 which is a lot less than the £528 the coloured copy costs. We will have to look at what is left of the funding when the final invoices come in.
We are already looking at another application to Awards for All. We suspect that there are many residents, of a certain age, in the area who would benefit in many ways if they could master the cheapest means of accessing the internet, that is, the tablet. So, keep popping in to see what’s what.
Banners Gate Neighbourhood Forum 