Exciting news! Today we got the official Arts Council letter to say that our Grants for the Arts application to subsidise @ A E Harris has been successful. This is an enormous relief. After two years, paying for the venue from profits other bits of the Stan’s Cafe operation were making, was starting to take its toll and we were bracing ourselves to walk away from it all. Now we can forge ahead. You can read the official press release here.

This Grant doesn’t pay for everything, the venue still has to earn money, but it does allow us to continue to offer a range of organisations and individuals the opportunity to use the space at a range of pricing levels. It allows us to pay some other people to lock and unlock for us and maybe do some cleaning. It also allows us to make a few strategic investments in improving the space.
I spent a good portion of Monday wobbling at the top of the ladder replacing 8ft long fluorescent tubes and starters. There are now no dingy patches in the venue.

A couple of days before our amplifier, which went up in a plume of smoke during the BE Festival, returned after a £300 re-fit. Credit to the good people at the Peavey Repair Centre, they provide a brilliant service.

Today Charlotte, Eve (on half term work experience) and I swept out the new extension – Australia, ready for it to come under the serious attentions of our newly acquired high-pressure water cleaning machine. Watch out dirt!