Seend Community Survey - If you live in the Parish of Seend, please complete this survey by 14th April 2023.  Thank you.

    Introduction - the reason for this questionnaire

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    ​Our Parish organisations seek your thoughts and opinions regarding our community facilities, how they are currently used, how they might be used in the future and how important they are to you and your household.  The results from this survey will be used in decision making concerning the future of your community-owned facilities, the Seend Community Centre/Club,  and the Seend Lye Recreation Field.
     
    ​The 2021 National Census shows that we truly are a retirement parish.  In common with most of rural England, the age profile of our community is weighted north of age 65 years.  We have more people in the older age ranges than the English national average.  Conversely, as we might expect, our population is well below the national English average for all age ranges 0 to 50 years.  Whilst our age profile may have shifted north, the total number of people in our population has hardly changed across many decades.  320 of us live in Seend Cleeve and 780 in the remainder of the parish.  Together we are the 1100 of the Parish of Seend.  We are both living and working longer with more than 42% of our working population working from the 500 households we call home.  Interestingly, these facts present us with an opportunity to solve this local dilemma.  

     
    Why do we have so much difficulty in finding people to voluntarily help operate our excellent, yet seemingly undervalued, community facilities?
     
    Here is what we know about the present situation.

    • Our excellent community facilities were not provided for us by the local authority or the Parish Council, though we must acknowledge the welcome historical support from these bodies we have had and continue to enjoy.  Our recreational facilities are held in trust for our community by long-term custodians who are our wise and valued friends.
     
    • Our Community Centre, Seend Lye Field and Irene Usher Memorial Pavilion were created through sustained voluntary work of local people who recognised a need in our local community, the Parish of Seend.  It is perhaps a lesser-known fact that the WI Hall continues to play a part in serving us too.
     
    • National social change in Britain has changed the demand for our facilities and the way we use them.  Many of the small clubs, societies and social activities associated with all age ranges of the Seend population have disappeared, whilst expanding local populations in Devizes, Melksham, Trowbridge, and Westbury marginally increased user demand for our more attractive rural facilities to replace that usage lost through the cultural change.  This revenue, coming from users outside our parish, along with some grant funding for capital works, has allowed us to remain solvent whilst keeping our facilities in fair condition.  The bottom line is that a diminishing number of unpaid volunteers are working tirelessly to generate income to keep facilities operational for the use of our community AND the many nearby individuals and user groups who do not live in our community.  This may prompt you to think about any possible inequity in this situation.  Is this feature of the way our community facilities are run any different to say a charity shop, the British Red Cross, Wiltshire Air Ambulance, the RNLI etc? 
     
    • Towards the end of the last century, our Seend Community Centre came very close to closure and disposal.  It was a tricky period to say the least.  Some of those who worked hardest and longest to save it are no longer with us, though their names live on.  With much help from the local community the ‘Seend Centre’ was upgraded and saved for us and for future generations.
     
    • For several years, the Seend Lye Recreation Field Trustees have been defending a long-running legal battle over a claimed right-of-way across the sports field.  Granting consent to the claimed right-of-way would leave the sports field with diminished sporting utility and devalue the community asset.  The Trustees are legally bound to preserve both the utility and value of our asset.  So far, the legal defence has cost many tens of thousands of pounds, and this is has been a direct cash loss to our community.  Such significant sums of prudently invested income, much needed for repairs and renewals and improving facilities to make them more energy efficient, might otherwise have been used for those purposes.  The Trustees recognise this case has been a long-running blight on the prospects of the Lye Field organisation and a possible deterrent to community involvement.  The legal case is expected to be settled this year.
     
    • Over the past 12 months several Spotlight, social media and in-person appeals have been made to the people of Seend to get involved in supporting our community facilities.  Overall, the response has been truly disappointing.  Apart from the Management Committee, there was just one member of the public in attendance at the 2022 Seend Lye Field AGM and many spare seats also at the last Community Centre annual meeting.
     
    • With the absence of sufficient community volunteers the respective Trustees and Management Committees will soon face some tough decisions that will affect the future of your community facilities.  To help them make these decisions we ask you now to fill out the following questionnaire, so you and your household members have an opportunity to tell the few remaining people managing our facilities what they may not know.
     
    For purposes of accuracy in your answers it might be useful to first read all the questions before completion.  Please ensure your questionnaire is completed by Friday 14th April 2023.  

    The deadline date will allow sufficient time to collate and analyse responses and to produce a report on the results.   This provides an option for the presentation of results at the annual Parish meeting at the Irene Usher Memorial Pavilion at 7:30 pm on Tuesday 16th May 2023.

    All electronic and paper questionnaire responses will be securely destroyed (not recycled) once the anonymised data has been collected.  Your house number/name, postcode and email address are requested to ensure you have an opportunity to respond and are not missed out.  However, your response is valued and important decisions about our community facilities WILL be made based on responses received.  In the interests of community inclusion and consultation, we will of course hound you to the ends of the Earth if we don’t get any response at all from your household.  
     
    Thank you for your assistance.
     
    Trustees, Chairs and Management Committees of Seend Community Centre and Seend Lye Recreation Field.

    A downloadable copy of the questionnaire below, including return instructions, is available here [MS Word] or [PDF].  Scanned and emailed copies and electronically filled out copies are acceptable.

    About you/your household

    This section of the questionnaire seeks your views on Seend Community Centre and Club
    5. Please now look at the boxes you ticked at questions 2 or 4.  Please rank your TOP 5 activities which you consider are most important to you and your household.  Rank them, with the most important first, by writing the numbers in brackets in the box below.  
    The next section of this questionnaire is about your views on the Seend Lye Recreation Field (SLRF) facilities, including your use of, and views on, Seend Tennis Club, the tennis courts and the Irene Usher Memorial Pavilion.
    20. Please now look at the boxes you ticked at questions 18 and 19.  Please rank your TOP 5 activities which you consider are most important to you and your household.  Rank them, with the most important first, by writing the numbers in brackets in the box below.  
    23.  In the introduction to this questionnaire, we said many regular Seend Community Centre/Club and SLRF bookings serve the wider Wiltshire community to a greater extent than they serve the Seend Community.  Some events are organised by people and organisations outside our community, and some generate few, if any, users from within our own community.  Knowledge of the spectrum of community users convinces us that, generally, our venues are chosen because they are attractively set in an attractive rural environment, are accessible, cost effective and convenient with adequate car parking and alternative open space(s).  Considering these statements, and your understanding of what skill and knowledge it might take to generate, not only the revenue but also the paid and unpaid volunteer skills and labour, to viably and safely administer and operate the facilities in a good and attractive condition, do you believe it is equitable that we continue to offer our community facilities to the wider community of Wiltshire?
    24.  This frank and honest question is not included as a means of blackmail, or as a pin prick to your social conscience.  The truth is that very soon there may be no one left who can candidly ask this question, as the next time it may be asked is at the required whole parish meeting, a prelude to the major decisions necessary concerning the future of our facilities.  Would you accept the winding up of the charitable organisations charged with administering our Community Centre and Lye Field facilities, and the disposal of the community assets in accordance with their respective constitutions and community wishes? 
    28.  How many additional persons in your household are represented in the views and answers you have kindly provided for this questionnaire?