Subs are due this week, £20 for the next three months.

I have been in discussion with an alternative venue, and had intended to
put a 'report' here about it, but the problems with our computers have
put a stop to that!

The short version is that with a bit of adaptation we can have more
space, and different opportunities, combined with a supportive
'leadership' of the venue.

Cost is the same, time will extend by half an hour to 11 - 3:30
lots of different spaces :
a carpeted room the same sort of size as the main hall at Hayes
A coffee lounge , carpeted and has lots of sofas, by the way in, in
front of an open plan kitchen that has a gate to stop kids.
an outside, fenced in, garden perfect for toddlers / younger kids.
an upstairs room the same size as the coffee lounge,
an enormous room that is currently being worked on, has pool tables and
table tennis tables in, but these can be packed away if it turns out to
be an issue.
outside there is a park with multi-sports court, climbing frame and
swings. Not actually part of the church grounds but a place where the
older kids could go and just have one adult keeping an eye on them.

I would see us having the toddler type toys out in the carpeted room,
adults chilling in the coffee lounge, more organised things going on
upstairs - craft table in the second smaller room, science stuff and
co-operative games in the larger room.

NOW . . .the problems . . .

there is a nursery that uses a another room (I've not listed it above),
which should be no problem (they will probably use the kitchen at some
point) but they do use the back garden sometimes. I don't think that
would be a problem, we would just have to make sure 'our kids' were
being vaguely supervised by one of us.

There is also a very poorly attended career and toddler group that meets
in the carpeted room - apparently about four children - I don't think
that would be a problem as we would have the toys out anyway, and it's
not a large number of people, and it's from 2:30 - 3:30.

NOW . . . the best bits . . .

Ken (the pastor) has home edded various of his children in the past, and
as such is VERY supportive.

Val (pastors wife) is a qualified tutor, and currently tutors maths in
the Manse (next door) at various points, she is also extremely
supportive, and is happy to tutor HE'd kids (aged 10+) if anyone is
interested.

Ken in hoping to extend the educational functions of the centre, by
including adult education along side the nursery, us, and possibly some
sporting stuff in the huge room at some point. He is very enthusiastic
about advertising it all under the banner of CREDO - creating real
educational opportunities - and that would involve an external sign, and
all sorts. The upshot of this is that we will not have the same hassles
of no-one knowing we are meant to be there and leaving tools etc out,
also it may make more HE'ers in the area aware of our existence.

The street outside the church (centre?) is good for parking! No more
car chess when trying to go home!

Soooooo some good, some not so good, but overall I think it's a good
venue. I'll print this and bring it along tomorrow, but it would be
REALLY GOOD to get feedback here. The last thing I want is to move the
group to a place everyone else hates!

See you soon,
--
Jenn