We've had more talks this month with Monmouthshire County Council regarding the lease of the hall, playing field and multi-use court. The Community Council has also been involved and we are all looking at the options available and trying to work out the best solution that will suit all of us -it's not an easy task and there's still work to be done on it, but the good news is that the renewal of the roof has finally been agreed.
The tender that was accepted by both ourselves and Monmouthshire County Council came in at over £23,000. However the bulk of this is covered by a grant, leaving us to find around £3,000 to £5,000.
We have been told that when it starts the work will take around six weeks, but that it's all outside work and will not mean any cancellations of hall bookings.
Grant funding is a wonderful thing, we would never be able to afford the constant updating and renewal of the hall and the play equipment without it.

Future Spending
Just to give you an idea of some of the future spending we have in mind - we will have to hold £3,000 for this roof; also at least £2,800 for our share of the multi-use tennis court (this is only 50% of the funding to be found locally, the Community Council have kindly agreed to fund the other 50%).
We have also received a quote for the refurbishment of the scramble net and other parts of the play area. This comes in at just over £2,500 - which is more than we can afford, so we are negotiating some adaptions to reduce the cost.
As well as all this, there are the general running costs plus the rolling programme of replacing the solid tables with lightweight folding ones - at a cost of £90 each! You can see that we are looking at big money these days, and there are so many other things that we would like to do but can't afford to take on, such as the provision of modern disabled facilities and improving the layout and size of the car park. Anyway, we will try to build them in over the next 3 to 5 years as finances allow.

The Annual General Meeting
Our Annual General Meeting will be held in the hall on Monday 5th March 2001 at 7.30pm.
During the evening of the AGM, Monmouthshire County Council will also be holding a Public Meeting to look at the multi-use court, it's set-up, the facilities it can provide and the various options for the siting of the court.
All residents in the community are welcome to come along to the AGM to hear of our activities over the past year and our plans for the future, and also to admire the multi-use court and the facilities it is able to offer.
We will be grateful for offers of help to both the Playing Fields Committee and the Sports Association, and would be especially pleased to hear from people who are interested in becoming committee members on either or both groups.

The 200 Club
The January prize winners are listed on the 200 Club pages and can be accessed from the Start Page.
There are still numbers available in the 200 Club, and it is quite likely that in the near future a committee member that lives near you may try to sign you up. Payment can either be made by direct debit through the bank or annually with a cheque for £12 payable to Caerwent Playing Fields Association.
The annual payments are due now (no need to worry if you are paying by direct debit) and a reminder letter will be sent to each annual member asking for payment to be made by Friday 23 February to ensure that their number stays in the draw.

Hilary Counsell
Secretary
Telephone 01291-421307