Latest News & Information
ALCAN CANCEL CRUCIAL MEETING
The meeting on the 25th of April, between the Alcan representatives, Dan Norris and the Social Club Committee was cancelled one week before it was due to take place. Despite the meeting having been planned months ago, Alcan representatives pulled out of the meeting, due to their representative Kate Anthony-Wilkinson having other commitments - fellow representative Mr Simon Swann was unwilling to attend this important meeting by himself.
This comes as a huge blow to the people wanting to see the club continue, we are hoping to reschedule the meeting at the earliest time when all parties are available - but with the lease expiring at the end of June, time is of the essence. Alcan have offered other dates for the meeting (one in July - after the lease expires in which case we were advised that the meeting would be held elsewhere as the Club would be closed). Obviously Mr Norris MP is a busy man, but we are hopefully that the meeting will be rearranged and that Alcan can be presented with the strong case for the Club's future.
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THE CASE FOR KEEPING THE CLUB OPEN
A meeting with Alcan representatives and Dan Norris has been arranged, with a multimedia presentation demonstrating the reasons for the need to keep the club going. Read the Somerset Guardian article here.
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RADIO SOMERSET INTERVIEW
On Wednesday 2nd April Mr Brian Nairn discussed the Social Club's current situation on Radio Somerset. Appearing on the Somerset's Big Breakfast show Mr Nairn spoke of the importance of the club's continuation and told presenter Adam Thomas of his continued optimism for a successful agreement between the club and Alcan.
Click here to listen to the interview - you'll need Real player!
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PLANNING INFORMATION
There is constant speculation and rumour regarding the sale of the factory site, but as far as we are aware the company have yet to find a buyer. In response to suggestions that the land has been or will be purchased and developed for housing, the information below would suggest that this is highly unlikely.
Key B&NES Local Plan policies are ET 2 and ET.3. The Local Plan was adopted in October 2007 and will be saved for at least three years until 2010.
Basically, the Alcan /Mardon Flexible Packaging Factory site is safeguarded for industrial use as a core employment area under policy ET.3. However, a proposal for office development will be supported in principle under policy ET.2(3)(b). Proposals for housing development will be contrary to the current Local Plan.
Information sourced from the Planning Officer, Bath & North East Somerset Council
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MENDIP TIMES ARTICLE
The Mendip Times carries an article concerning the Social Club's future in its April issue. Read the article here.
Visit the website of the Mendip Times and catch up with other local issues here.
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LONG AND FAITHFUL SERVICE HONOURED - as reported in the Guardian
Pensioners from Midsomer Norton's Alcan Packaging company have marked their annual meeting with a presentation to an old friend.Brian Woodland, who has given long and faithful service as a committee member, received a retirement gift at the Alcan Pensioners' Association.
The presentation was made by association president Brian Nairn, who also presented Mr Woodland's wife, Jean, with a bouquet.
The Alcan pensioners held their annual meeting in Mardons Social Club, which they are fighting to keep open.
The Alcan company closed its local factory at the end of 2006 but the pensioners said the social club is still providing a valuable community and social service.
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Cabaret Night was a huge success, not only were the acts particularly good but the night also raised funds for our local charity of choice Dorothy House Hospice Care. A prize raffle was held and was very well supported by all who attended. With over thirty prizes donated from local businesses, the sum of £230 was raised. Local artist Roger Jones donated one of his superb prints which was autioned and raised a further £100.
"With regard to the raffle I was delighted that my print of The Five Arches helped to raise money for such a worthwhile cause.
It would be a tremendous loss to the community should Mardons have to close and I would like to think that I could donate more pictures in the future." Roger Jones
With this donation, we are proud to announce that the club and its members have raised over £5000 for Dorothy House, in the last few years and hope to continue to raise more in the future. Read the article in the Journal here or read the article in the Guardian here.
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The Alcan/Mardon pensioners made their feelings clear as they supported the appeal to save Mardons Social Club from closure. The protest was staged as a public show of their discontent at the unfair way they are being treated. The huge company is refusing to accept that the club was a gift to workers of the factory. Director of Alcan Legal Services, Kate Anthony-Wilkinson, agreed the club provided a social benefit but said it had no legal or moral responsibility to retain the club after its lease expired on June 30.. Read the front page article here!
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On the night of the Cabaret we will be raising funds for our chosen charity, Dorothy House Hospice Care. Some of the donations we have received so far include:
A print of the Five Arches by local artist Roger Jones, £120 valeting gift voucher from Somer Valet, Bottle of champagne from Barons, Vase and candle holder from Out of Asia, CD wallet from Reflections, £15 gift voucher from Headlines, 2 x £10 gift vouchers from James Christopher, £10 gift voucher from Pierre, Teddy Bear from Paul Bond, Paperweight from Serenity, The Works Health Club gift voucher, £10 gift voucher from Performance Sports, Aqua detox gift voucher from The Positive Living Centre, Flowers from Bluebells Florist, Football from Norton Sports and Camping, £5 gift voucher from Midsummer Tanning Salon, £10 gift voucher from Cabellos, DVD from Channel 5, Costume necklace from Island Clothing...and lots more.
We hope you will all give generously and support this worthy charity.
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The plight of the social club has been highlighted once again in this weeks Guardian, this time from the perspective of the pensioners who face having what they see as their club taken away from them. Read the Guardian article here, and check back soon to see the public protest from the pensioners
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Tickets for the cabaret night are selling well, the Guardian and Journal both carried the press release we sent out. Tickets are available from the bar at £8 in advance and can also be bought on the night for £10. Read the Guardian article here
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Happy New Year to everyone, if you joined us for any of the Christmas period events, we hope you had a great time. The new year started well, with a Birthday party on Friday 11th which was extremely well attended. Music came from Sneakers and their guests and we'd like to wish Paul congratulations and thank him for choosing to hold his party with us.
Unfortunately, due to illness, Julie Marie and Alan were unable to perform on the following Saturday night and a replacement had to be found. 'Ruby Tuesday' proved to be a revelation, In their first appearance at the social club, the duo performed music from all era's right up to the massive hit 'Bleeding Love' by Leona Lewis. The singers voice was stunning and all who attended were impressed by the consistently high standard of performance.
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Congratulations to the Eastville Club who are celebrating their victory over Ikea who attempted to shut them down.
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With a new lease, extending the club's future to June 2008, about to be signed, Alcan has now stated in writing that it will not renew the lease again.
"Clearly, this is unacceptable to the pensioners, whose salary sacrifice funded the club in the first place and to the members who have fought for the retention of what they know was a gift from the original owners."
Brian Nairn, former managing director of the factory and now club chairman
As reported in the Somerset Guardian. Read the article here.
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Wansdyke MP Dan Norris (Labour) has agreed to meet with committee officers. It's hoped that with such a large demographic of locals keen to see the club saved, he will look favourably on our fight and be able to offer his backing. Mr Norris has recently negotiated with Cadbury in order to ensure they save the social club and grounds of their Keynsham factory which is due to close in three years time.
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Halloween Night was a great success, lots of strange costumes and superb entertainment from 'Cover To Cover'. Thank you for supporting both the event and the charity. Click HERE for the photos.
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As agreed by the committee an interview was recently scheduled with Wendy Walker of the Somerset Guardian as a first step in raising awareness of the Social Club's ongoing efforts to establish a secure long term future. The article was published in this week's edition, you can read the full story here.
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With news that the Cadbury plant facing closure in Keynsham, is to have it's social club (which occupies a much larger percentage of the factory site) saved for the workers and neighbourhood, the committee is hopeful that a similar generosity of spirit may save our club. Read the full story here
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The Rugby final will now be shown on the Big Screen!
Unfortunately, due to Englands success in reaching the final of the rugby it has been decided that the Quiz night should be cancelled in order to accommodate the requests for the game to be shown on Saturday evening.
We hope that the Halloween Fancy Dress Party will be well supported - again it's in aid of Dorothy House Hospice Care. Entertainment comes from 'Cover To Cover'. They have appeared once before at the club and if you didn't see them, you missed a great night. Covering all styles and eras (even including today's top chart groups), they were one of the most talented new acts to appear at the club for a very long time.
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The Quiz Night is fast approaching - if you haven't already entered your team, please do so as soon as possible so that we have an idea of numbers in order to arrange printing and food requirements.
In the meantime why not test your knowledge. You will find 25 questions online and the answers can be found on the notice board at Mardons Social Club. Also there are 25 more questions on the notice board and their answers can be found online. Follow the links below to go to the relevant page.
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There has been a lot of talk and general complaints that the members of our social club are not kept informed of the developments regarding their club's future. In some ways this was largely due to the fact that negotiations were slow and other than getting the lease extended by 6 months at a time, there was little to report. We understand the importance of the club to the members, ex-employees, pensioners and the general community, and have been trying to achieve an agreement to allow the Social Club to continue. We have devised and presented a sound business plan and are confident that given the opportunity the Social club could prosper. We believe that the investment members and their families have made in this Club deserves to be recognised and preserved. We have an agreement that gives us short term extensions to our lease and whilst this is not an ideal way to proceed it does give us time to explore other options.
After negotiating with the European Packaging Management for over 12 months we are in a position where communication from Paris and our designated contact has ceased. Our last three communications have been ignored, We are now pursuing the matter at a higher level, hoping that this intervention may return more positive results, but as yet there has been no response from the top directors in Montreal. This is very disappointing as we believe we have a valid claim for the continuation of the Social Club.
We have legal options to explore, dealing with our solicitors FDC Law and the use of Pro Bono lawyers who work with the spirit of the law as well as the letter of the law. We are actively pursuing these paths. Along side this we have spoken to our local member of parliament (Dan Norris) and presented him with an outline of our cause, another meeting is due once he has digested the information and initial impressions seem favourable. We have also decided to make our fight to keep the club open public and enlist the power of the press. Initially we have arranged to meet with Wendy Walker of the Somerset Guardian, who seems keen to take an interest.
With this huge company's track record and their claims of community and social responsibility, we are all at a loss why they are unable to look more favourably on our plight.
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For some years now the social club has offered top sporting events on the big screen, both terrestrial and Sky broadcasts. Recently you may have seen the advertising campaign for the new subscription channel Setanta Sports. Setanta will be showing major sporting events throughout the year including 46 Exclusively Live Barclays Premier League games and golf's USA PGA Tour. We are pleased to announce that we now have a years subscription to this service - we hope you enjoy this addition.
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Although contact with the company has been limited of late, we are confident of their extended goodwill. We are therefore continuing to take bookings and arrange events until mid 2008, whilst looking for a mutual arrangement for the long term. This will allow the completion of the winter sports leagues. This year has so far been very successful, attendance has been good and the summer skittles and snooker leagues have proved to be very popular. Look out for some special events coming in October, including the cabaret and the charity quiz and also the charity Halloween party.
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With the smoking ban coming into force on July 1st, the social club has allocated a place to be the designated 'Smoking Area'. This area is at the rear of the club accessed by the doors between the skittle alley and the snooker rooms. Smoking will not be permitted anywhere else on the social club's grounds, including the front of the club and the patio/barbecue area.
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The committee is working hard to secure a long term future for the Social Club and it's members, talks continue with the company and we hope to achieve an acceptable result. The continued support of all members and guests is very important, making the social club financially secure is essential. Entertainment has been booked, including the Christmas and New Year period and we hope to maintain or even improve the club's high standard of acts.
Thank you for your continued support.
