Beg, Borrow, Steal: Making it happen!
Ok, so let’s start with the point that we don’t actually steal, but carry on reading this post and you’ll understand what we’re getting at!
Being a charity and community organisation means that behind the scenes we often do a lot with very little. We are privileged to live in an amazingly supportive community where local schools, businesses, organisations and individuals all frequently muck in to lend a hand to us…and where we can, we reciprocate the gesture. For instance by lending out equipment, providing emergency spaces and arranging last-minute events when things haven’t quite gone to plan at venues elsewhere.
The ability of Hebden Bridge’s people to ‘beg and borrow’ (maybe not steal!) extends to HBCA, and it’s one of the features of the community that extends to the people at HBCA. This quality not only fosters a sense of community in the locality but also means we play our part in circular economies. Reusing, swapping, borrowing and recycling benefits as many people as possible, with as little environmental impact as possible.
Now, this all sounds very sensible, - and it is! In reality, however, the ways in which ‘beg, borrow and steal’ are brought to life at the Town Hall are often far from it. In fact, it usually results in some very funny, if not hilarious behind-the-scenes shenanigans!
Here are just a few examples from the last few years…
Handmade Parade held an exhibition in our Reception space and turned up with a huge and quite fabulous model of a camel. They had wheeled it down Valley Road on a bike causing quite a spectacle in the process! The camel helped lighten the mood of the polling that was also happening that day!
Riverside School once lent us their wooden benches for a theatre performance in the Courtyard. It involved us walking to the Town Hall and back with them, forming a duck line of long benches that weaved its way through the centre of Town. We soon realised that turning corners was a bit of a challenge!
We’ve lent our stage out to lots of organisations and events, for example, Mytholmroyd Gala \=and the Trades Club. It sometimes comes back muddy from outdoor events - but we don’t mind too much!
We’ve hosted numerous school visits for lunch breaks over the years - most recently Old Town School for instance. It’s always nice to see a gaggle of school children enjoying our building. We have also benefitted from using school spaces ourselves! Like the time we used Riverside School playground for the Christmas Re-run event in Summer 2017.
We’ve happily provided Green Rooms too for numerous groups over the years. From Arts Festival Street Saturday / Sunday performers in colourful costume and diva-ish Piano Festival pianists, to the more serious business of counting thousands of rubber ducks for the Rotary’s annual Duck Race event.
And many, many more!
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