Petherton Arts Trust
The David Hall hardly receives any external revenue funding. It costs Petherton Arts Trust about £38,000 a year to run the venue (before artists fees). Box office profits alone are not sufficient to run the Hall, so a considerable amount of our activity involves fund raising. We always need more cash!
Board of Trustees
Management of the hall is done by an unpaid ‘Board of Trustees’ who meet bi-monthly, with sub committee meeting in the intervening months.
Paid staff
PAT now has less than one (equivalent) paid post. 30 hours a week by three part time staff – Emma Westerman, our programme manager; Anne Brown who looks after the finances and Penny Bool who is our Communications Officer.
Volunteers
Everybody else involved with the running of the Hall – taking your tickets, supervising events, serving behind the bar, fund raising etc. are unpaid volunteers.
The Board
Following our recent “virtual” Board meeting, I am pleased to confirm to
all that the Board of Trustees have made the following appointments on
an Acting basis from the present until the October AGM (5th) of the
Trust:
Cliff Keating – Acting Chair
Pete Wheeler, Acting joint Vice-Chair
Chris Latham – Action joint Vice-Chair
These changes have been notified to the Charities Commission and strong
support for these individuals at this difficult time is most
appreciated.
Menu
Meet the Trustees
Tom Davies
Chairperson
Chris Latham
Vice-Chairperson
My professional life has been in a range of educational settings, from schools and Further Education to Adult / Community education and training. Personally, I am interested in a wide range of performing arts and am an occasional musician. This is my second term as a trustee with PAT with a gap of nine years between the two.
Glad to be back and enjoying the challenges.
Mick Connon
Vice-Chairperson
I have a BA in Audio-visual Communication, Drama and Theatre Craft and after college spent time working in stage management in theatres around the Northwest culminating in 2 years at Liverpool Playhouse as a stage electrician. My later career was in the IT industry starting as a Developer and transitioning through most roles and ending up as an IT Service Management Transformation Consultant. My passion is music and I play guitar and mandolin (badly). Now I am not working it is a privilege to be able to flex my theatre muscles again as a technical volunteer at the hall for events, developing our technical capabilities and assisting on the board of trustees at this marvellous venue.
Emma Westerman
Administrator
I have been the Administrator of The David Hall since October 2012 after volunteering to support the revitalisation of Petherton Folk Fest. Previously, I worked within education, teaching Dance and Event Management. With the support of the Board, I love planning and programming events for ‘the small Hall with the BIG reputation’
Pete Wheeler
I have been involved in music in various guises all my life.
Being a member of Bath Folk Club in the 1960’s cemented my love for this type of music. I was lucky to see many of the top artists of the day including the Stones and the Beatles and this started my love affair with live music. I attended the very first Glastonbury Festival in 1970 and from then on, my love for music took me in various directions throughout my 30-year Police Career.
Soon after retiring in May 1997 Margaret suggested I answered an advert from The David Hall asking for new volunteers. This I did and soon after got involved on a regular basis on Bar Duties. I immediately felt at home and in 1999 was pleased to be asked to join the Board.
In 1997 the music was being organised by Simon Clifford. Simon soon realised I had knowledge and interest in the type of music that was being provided. My plan from day one was to get a varied programme of the highest quality acts available. It was not always easy as we went through a period of serious financial difficulty due to a loss of funding and grants. This resulted in an ‘Extra Ordinary’ meeting where my wish to ‘up the ante’ and increase the number of gigs and further improve the quality was accepted.
This resulted in a number of concerts by artists including Gordon Giltrap and Reg Meuross helped us not only to survive in the short term but to secure us a long-term future. My long-term friendship with many artists including Dave Pegg of Fairport really paid dividends and gigs that had in the past been just a dream became a reality.
It is sometimes all too easy to forget that where we are to-day is the result of a lot of hard work by many and without our wonderfully supportive artists, our fabulous punters and last but not least our amazing Volunteers and all members of the board none of this would have happened.
Anne Brown
Finance & Fundraising Officer
Penny Bool
Communications Officer
Penny Bool is PAT’s Communications Officer, so is responsible for ensuring that the relevant local media is kept informed about performers coming to The David Hall, as well as news events – such as recent grants and important repairs to the building. Penny has a background in marketing communications and enjoyed an international career that took her to Brussels, Geneva and New York, working for companies such as ICI Fibres and the textile fibres division of Du Pont, as well as the governing body of France’s Champagne region.
Derek Boles
I am a retired mechanical design engineer but have been a singer and
musician all my life in one genre or another. Several years ago I was
asked to help at the monthly acoustic performance night at the David
Hall and as time passed I found myself taking a bigger role in the event
and getting involved with other activities at the hall and with the
Petherton Arts Trust. I was invited to be a member of the board of
trustees in 2018 and now, as well as organising and MC’ing the
acoustic night I regularly enjoy working at events as board member or
steward and trying to get involved wherever help is needed.
Angie Keating
Board Member
Janet East
My career started in biological research, I qualified in accountancy and worked in the administration of education. My particular interests are fibre arts and crafts, art (drawing and painting) and wildlife watching. I enjoy live folk music, and I have been a patron of The David Hall for many years.
I hope I might contribute towards greater day time use of the Hall, and that my finance skills will be helpful in the administration of PAT.
