I had intended to write this blog yesterday, but events at Hadley meant I had other things on my mind. The weekend didn't really turn out how I envisaged. Friday night was awesome, with my band, The False Dots playing a great gig up at the Dublin Castle and the headliners Skaface royally entertaining us. When punters turn up and watch a gig, they only see a small picture of what actually goes on. It's like a romantic restaurant, where you are on a date. The lights are low, the waiters are polite and serene, the wine is chilled and the food is excellent. You don't see the other side of the door to the kitchen, where chefs run around frantically, people wash up plates and pans, etc. Or the office at the back where someone counts the money, pays the tax and electricity bills and wages. Or the cleaners who will be in first thing to make sure it is all spic and span for the the next bunch of romantic sweethearts.
When a band does a gig, you turn up ridiculously early at an empty venue. A pub like the Dublin Castle, which is open all day does have a few drinkers in the front section, but the gig room will have a sound engineer and members of the various bands. For bands like us, who know the sound guy, we say our hello's, set up, do a sound check then hang around for hours, waiting for our allotted slot. On Friday, this was rather complicated by the fact that there was a fire on the Northern Line and all tube trains were suspended. This meant that our bass player, Fil, was nearly an hour late. We had no idea what was going on, save a text that "there was a problem on the tube". It turned out he had to get a cab. Being a sound person is thankless. People only know you exist when there is a problem. If there is feedback or something breaks. The guys at the Dublin Castle are excellent and we always get a good sound. Then there is person on ticket duty, who's job is to collect the money and pay the bands. Again a bit of a thankless task. It always irritates me that some people seem to resent having to pay to watch a band. If you look at a band like The False Dots, we've probably had ten rehearsals so far this year and Friday was the fourth gig we've performed. The average cost of a rehearsal for a band like us in London is around £40-£50, so just to keep ourselves up to speed, we've spent £400-£500 so far. Add in a few quid for petrol for non local members getting to rehearsal and gigs, say £50, plectrums/drumsticks/strings at another £50, we are at £500-£600 out of pocket. Now don't get me wrong, I love playing in a band. I don't do it for the cash. But when people see The False Dots, they get their moneys worth. The band on with us, Skaface were a nine piece set up and they'd come down from Blackpool to play. They had to stay in a hotel in Watford after and were playing in Derby on Saturday. I've no idea what their costs were, but playing a 145 capacity venue such as The Dublin Castle will never make them rich. Like The False Dots, they do it because they like playing an iconic venue.
Lets say, for arguments sake, that 100 people went on Friday and they paid £15 each to get in, then that was £1,500 to pay a nine piece band, a three piece band, the person on the door, the engineer and the engineer's assistant. On top of that, there is the promotor, a big shout out to Mr Tony Gleed, who put it all together. Tony puts a huge amount of work into putting the whole thing together. After the bands are on, he DJ's until 3am. I have no idea what his deal with the pub is, but whatever it is, it is great value for money for them. The pub also has their costs. The bar people, the door security, electicity, beer, rates, cleaners, keeping the place decorated, etc. Sometimes people say "How can they justify charging £7 for a beer, when you can buy a tin in Tesco's for a quid?". Well the answer is simple. The £6 on top pays for the the costs mentioned. If you want to watch a band at a venue like the Dublin Castle, then all of those things need to be paid for. When you play in a band, you get a far greater appreciation of all of this.
As I mentioned above, I also went to watch our local football team, Hadley FC. They play in the Southern League Central Division One. The official attendance on Saturday was 187. A goodly number of those people are season ticket holders, who like me, pay £50 a season to see all of the home league games. To get in without a ticket costs £10. So, you get to see eighteen home games for the cost of five. My preferred tipple at the ground is Whitstable Ale, which I pay £4 a bottle for. As with the Dublin Castle, there is a whole behind the scenes team, making sure that we all have a pleasant environment. Putting the actual team and the management around them aside, there are just about all the jobs that you have in a pub to be covered, as well as stewards ensuring the car park is managed, people who sort out the sandwiches and teas for match officials, the people who run the burger van, the grounds team, who have done an amazing job ensuring Hadley have one of the best playing surfaces in the league. The team only had one home postponement this year, due to a frozen pitch. Some teams had half a dozen postponements. Then there are the people who sort out the commercial side, sponsorship etc. There are probably a whole host of other roles not mentioned here. At Hadley the President Tristran Smith does a great job running the bar and doing a whole host of other jobs you never see. Steve Gray, as chairman also does a fantastic job on the pitch. You can see the whole team here. Nearly everyone associated with club works as a volunteer. They do it because they love football. At this level, there is not the big money that we associate with the Premier League. It is a community club and there is a community that supports it.
After I attended the game, I went for a pint at The Mill Hill Services club. Until yesterday, I was involved with the management, being a member of the management committee. I stood for the role of Vice Chairman, but was beaten by Alan Thomas by seven votes, so I am off the hook. Alan is a good guy and I'm not upset. Outgoing chairman Gary Topp had asked me to stand, as at the time,the job was vacant. Incoming chairman Vince Howley had asked Alan to stand for election, and the members decided that Alan was the man for the job. I have quite a lot on my plate at the moment, so I'm happy for a good guy like Alan to take the reigns. Being the chairman or vice chairman such as Vince and Alan is a thankless task. The role is not paid and there is little thanks from members. Too much of the time is spent on petty tasks, such as keeping order and sorting out disputes by members. On occasion, I've just wanted to say "You are grown ups, why are you being so stupid", but in this day and age you cannot upset anyone, so you have to be objective, even with the most ridiuclous behaviour.
The last year has been incredibly challenging, with high energy prices devastating the finances of the club. The committee took serious action to try and manage, but seeing the strains made me realise that both The Dublin Castle and Hadley would have faced similar challenges. When you are running a tight ship and your energy costs treble, there is almost nothing you can do except put up prices and hope people understand. As your customers are also being squeezed, it puts a real strain on us all. When you run a bar, with draft beer that needs chilling, it is a big cost.
The club is an incredibly important institution in Mill Hill. My Dad was a life member. I am actually quite proud that even though I didn't get the role, over 47% of voting members thought I was the right person. Being on the committee for the last four years has really brought home to me just how much work is done behind the scenes and has made me far more appreciative of the efforts put in by those who keep the places I love, such as The Dublin Castle, Hadley FC and the Mill Hill Services club going. No one I've mentioned here does it for personal gain, they do it out of a love of music, football or the local community.
You may wonder what prompted this blog. I am involved with putting together the music programme for the East Barnet Festival. This is another event run by volunteers. It seems that the local Police are piling on the amount of paperwork which the committee needs to do and asking for all manner of changes, that add huge costs that simply cannot be accomodated in the already tight budget. Now of course they have a responsibilty to ensure the safety of all concerned, but there seems little understanding on the part of the paid bureacracy, that community run events, put together by vounteers and small teams of people can only do so much. There was a time when the police would actually step in and help, rather than throw spanners in the works. It can be a little bit demoralising for all concerned, when you spend months working on things and then someone who is paid a small fortune for a full time job comes along and puts the boot in. They never say "How can we help, is there anything we can do to make this run better" or "Your safety policy needs some work, can I make a few edits and see if that works", or best of all "Here's a few quid to assist with the extra costs". It just doesn't work like that.
So next time you go to a grassroots gig, a grassroots football match, a community festival, or anything else where people do it for the love of it. Show the people who keep it going some love.
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Oh and by the way, I write this blog for the love of it. If you enjoy it, there is one little thing you can do, if you'd be so kind. Would you mind watching the new video by my band, The False Dots and perhaps clicking the like, leaving a nice comment or maybe even both. It would mean a lot to me and would show that there are actually a few people out there who appreciate the efforts I put in.
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