Regular readers will have noted that I've been relatively quiet over the last couple of weeks on the blogging front. Well there has been a good reason, I've been too busy! Last week I was away. Reular readers will know that I volunteer with a charity called HCPT, which takes people who need a degree of assistance to Lourdes in France. We actually stay at Bartres, which is about 2km outside of Lourdes and is in the foothills of the Pyrenees. I've been going with pur group since 2001. In that time my mum, who was housebound following a stroke and my cousin Tessie, who had Downs syndrome accompanied us. ince 2016, when Tessie became unable to travel. I've assisted others. I love going, it puts life in perspective and makes me realise just how lucky I am. Two of my children came as adult volunteers this time, both have been numerous times. They choose to go and I am proud of them for making the commitment and they were brilliant. Having damaged my shoulder recently, my ability to lift people was limited, although I did assist with lifts onrto the plane ( a couple of our VIP's need physically moving from their wheelchairs to their seat). I did a lot of guitar playing. The last night is always party night, where everyone has the chance to do a turn. I did a solo performance of one of the False Dots songs (with a rather long intro). The song is called Brotherly Love and is based on my experience growing up with older brothers, who used to delight in teasing me!
It is a great experience and if you want to do something good and remind yourself of why we should value our blessings in life and appreciate everyone I'd thoroughly recommend volunteering woith HCPT or a similar charity.
As tomorrow is my birthday, yesterday we had a rather special night out with friends. We took a luxury train trip around the Surrey Hills with friends, on a vintage train, hauled by a steam locomotive. We had a blast. We were due to do this last year, but the trip had to be postponed as I was having surgery for cancer. The company Steam Dreams are wonderful. I'd thoroughly recommend it as a special treat.
I must say that the food and drink on the trip is wonderful. It is a great way to spend a few hours with friends. We were sat next to a lovely couple celebrating their Ruby wedding and had a good laugh with them as well. It is a really relaxed environment.
Having taken a week off work, I had a weeks worth of work to do to catch up. My business was devastated by the pandemic. We shut completely for four months and the music scene has only really fully recovered this year. We went from being cash rich in 2019, to a position where we scramble to pa bills. Although the government assistance helped, the truth is that it did not even pay the wages and rent for the period. The comapny has gone from being highly profitable and debt free to just about breaking even and being saddled with debts. The first six months of the year were great, with us starting to pay off the debts etc, but the Euro's and the Olympics have been a major spanner in the works, as many small venues were showing football etc, rather than having bands on. This means less people coming through. Whilst our takings had been 20% up on 2023 for the first six months, they were about 18% down from the start of the Euro's to this week. We have had to invest a lot of money at the start of the year to try and get the business moving, as we did little maintenanace since 2020 and it was starting to show. We now have a new website as well. It seemed the strategy was working, but football tournaments always hit us hard. I'm pleased to say that this week, with the end of the olympics, things have improved significantly, but as we have a VAT bill, it will be a struggle. Micro managing cashflow has never really been an issue before, but there was a lot to be done to keep the show afloat. Our turnover will be around 10% less than it was in 2019 and our bills have gone up astronomically. We've done some sensible cost cutting, but things like electricity are hugely expensive compared to then. To be doing anything more than break even, we need about 35% more trade. It will probably take is two years to get there, even if our cost base stays the same. As we get busier our costs go up, and we will have to do work which has been postponed. It is a different challenge to the one we've had before. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but we have just about reached the end of the road for balancing books by cost cutting. What we do is vital to the UK music industry. No rehearsal facilities = no UK music industry, but we get no help at all from anyone. Having said that, we are on the right track and we have survived a calamity of unprecendented scale. If I'd not had my cancer scare last year, I'd have definitely taken some IT contract work to plug the holes in the budget, but I am glad I didn't and we are getting back on track.
We are really hoping for a strong end to the year from here on in, but if I've learned anything since 2020 it is that man makes plans and God laughs.
But I must add that my work with HCPT has also taught me to appreaciate what you have. This time last year, I still had stitches and a cathetar in. It puts it all in perspective.
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