I am very sad

[Willy]

Good suggestion from Michael ...

A firm may not be able to let you have a permanent room of your own but it MIGHT let you have a room when needed and the use of a locked cupboard for equipment.

Dave

Many thanks for your support and suggestions, dear friends. Normally we must leave our clubhouse by 1st July. Time is very short now. I have heard that there is some tension in the Mayor's party which is also mine. I wrote a letter to the Mayor's secretary and asked him to send me a written confirmation of the decision that has been taken. It's always possible that too many clubs protested against the new rules and that they changed their minds. Imagine.

However, Freddy, the secretary of our club, who attended the last meetings in the town hall said that he felt hopeless and that the alderman who is in charge of cultural affairs seemed to be very severe.

So, we'll see. Tomorrow (Wednesday) I'm leaving for Guernsey and the smaller islands Herm and Sark. Perhaps you already know that Peter Rouillard and I are making the film "Guernsey, I Love You", but not for the Guernsey Festival of course. Then I'll be back home for about 5 days. After that I will make a new trip to Alderney, the island which is not so far from Cherbourg. Freddy, the secretary, is in Austria at the moment. We already thought of "parking" our club in the nearest filmclub until we have found a new room in our own community. Your suggestions are very useful, dear friends.

[Willy]

Good suggestion from Michael ...

A firm may not be able to let you have a permanent room of your own but it MIGHT let you have a room when needed and the use of a locked cupboard for equipment.

Dave

The End is Near !
"The End is Near". I remember that I read something like that on a board when I was walking in "Speakers' Corner" some years ago. An insect has bitten in the beams of our clubhouse and now it is falling down. The end is near for my club.

The mayor and his accomplices are too proud to change their minds. An other club, which is only 5 miles from us, has suggested the following thing. We can "park" our club in their club. It means that we can take part in their activities, but at the same time we can still make films under our own name "Focus Vaartland'. That's very kind, isn't it ? The time limit, however, is one year. In the mean time can still try to find a room in our own community. Tomorrow evening we will take a decision. After one year we must have found a solution or we must join their club.

[stingman]

I would take up there offer! I would also hunt around like crazy to still find a place. This has just bought you a bit of time. Don`t waste it!
I`m sure it will all work out.

Be good.....

Stingman

[Willy]

I would take up their offer

Stingman

I have heard that some British clubs face with similar problems. Therefore I just want to tell you what happened last week.

Strangled !
There was a council meeting on 24th June. The local authorities took the decision to impose very high tenancies for all cultural and sports clubs in Willebroek, the town where I lived before. After having strangled clubs like mine, they invited us for a chat. Of course that was useless. They need money. I myself could not attend that meeting. I was on the Channel Islands also to forget everything. My club was represented by the secretary, the treasurer and ... the former mayor of Willebroek, by Elsie who is a member of my "former" club. Even her plea did not have a positive result.

Just before the summer holidays !
It is irritating that the decision was taken just before the summer holidays in Belgium. This is the best period for politicians as they fear replies in the press and other media. Many people are on holiday in July and August. Of course they forget that I was a politician myself and a free lance journalist. I will write articles for the newspapers in the beginning of September and in the mean time I have contacted the Minister of Transport who is also president of my Party on a regional level. I have formed a group of delegates. The Minister looks forward to that meeting. It can't change the situation anymore, but in my opinion politicians must think twice before taking a decision.

"Friends of Focus"
Most filmmaking members of "Focus Vaartland" will join an other club called "Bocam Boom". One is even very happy as most members of that club work with an Adobe editing system and they can help him when he has problems. "Focus Vaartland" will change into "Friends of Focus". Together with the secretary I will make a list with activities and events. We must still keep our promises : film shows for other organisations that we had already planned, etc... We hope that we can come together once a month instead of every Tuesday. We still have some money, but instead of giving it to the local authorities (rent etc.) we would like to spend it on more pleasant things. Of course we could offer our members a trip to the Guernsey Film Festival like the Orpington Club, but we can't afford it with the money we still have. Maybe a trip to Passchendaele as I have to show my film there on 27 September. We could offer them accommodation. The distance from Passchendaele to Willebroek is about 80 miles. We could also offer them a dinner...

Cupboard with old trophies and awards
Anyway it will be hard to move everything that is in our clubhouse : chairs, tables, cupboards, etc... Of course we will keep our projectors. Some are already good for museums. There is also a cupboard with precious cups and other trophies. I am not such a "trophy man", but there are still awards in that glass cupboard that we received in the "Golden Sixties", the beginning years of "Focus Vaartland". We started in 1960 !What are we going to do with them ? What would you do ?

[Brian Saberton]

It sounds as if the Council might be trying to price local clubs and societies out of their premises so that the Council will then have rooms available that they can rent out to commercial organisations at much higher fees.

[Willy]

It sounds as if the Council might be trying to price local clubs and societies out of their premises so that the Council will then have rooms available that they can rent out to commercial organisations at much higher fees.

Too expensive
Maybe you are right. I also think that they want to rent out their rooms to as many clubs as possible, Brian. That's what they pretend and that is very naive. I can't imagine that clubs are willing to pay so much, not even 25 % of the fee. As you know we are asked to pay 2,880 euros every year.

Political game
I just think it is a political game, but of course it is difficult to explain all this. "It's a scandal that some clubs have a clubhouse and that other ones don't !", the former opposition leader always says.

In reality this is nonsense because there is only one club that complained about this. His own club.

He hoped to become Mayor in the ninetees. At that time I was the hard working secretary of the Party that won the overall majority... However, also sports clubs are also asked to pay. They are furious. My club is not the only victim.

Extravangant projects
The Mayor has launched new prestigious and extravagant projects and he needs money for it. The financial situation is sound he said some months ago, but now he needs more money. "Our clubs have been spoilt for many years", he said "but it's time to stop all this !". I think it was not very wise to say such a thing.

Defeat but flag flying
After the local elections he asked his followers to hang out the flag and to sing songs to celebrate the fact that he would be Mayor again. His Party (= my Party) lost for the third time in a row. It was even a disaster : - 3% Pictures of this strange celebration appeared in the newspapers.

I also think that the former opposition leader has started a come back because he feels that the present Mayor is very weak. I think he wants to seize a new opportunity. I think that the present Mayor and his Aldermen are not able to put their feet down. The members of the former bench of Mayor and Aldermen always took a view on many things. Preparing a council meeting took hours and hours. Now it only takes half an hour. That's what one of my friends told me. He is a member of my club and a former alderman. Two former Mayors are members of my club. It's a pity that club life is the victim of a political game.

[stingman]

It sounds as through you need to make that film! It looks like you have plenty of people there affected by it! When you have filmed the people, you could ask the mayor for an interview about his desisions. It could be a good documentry.

Our cub is lucky. Our membership is getting lower, or dieing! but we have enougth money in the bank for at least 4 years of no money coming in.

I do think you should make this film Willy.

Be good and take care.

Stingman (Ian)

[Willy]

Unbelievable !
In fact it's unbelievable. Maybe you know that I am also a member of a second club. I'm just a member there. Not the president or secretary ... Last week the president of Videoclub Deurne, as it is called, received a letter telling him that he had to leave his clubhouse. It was on the first floor of a pub with restaurant. It was run by a young couple. Unfortunately their business became bankrupt. Believe me or not : in five years Videoclub Deurne had to move five times !

Sticker and chatterbox
But how lucky they are now ! They found a new room in the Royal Antwerp Tennis Club. They must share that room with other clubs, but adjacent there is a very small room where the filmclub can put all its machines and other things. It's totally free and moreover the drinks in the cosy bar of the Royal Antwerp Tennis Club are very cheap. As I am a chatterbox and sticker I fear that I will stay there every Monday until early in the morning.

For sale
My own club, however, has a meeting tomorrow. We're goling to sell everything except our projector and screen. If you wish you can buy the following things : about 70 chairs, 15 tables, a cupboard for your trophies, a blackboard, special curtains, very old projectors (Bauer) and other old things good for a museum. Even a machine to cut 8 mm film strips and to stick them together; 4 cupboards, 2 pairs of loudspeakers, etc. etc. Many things are even free, but my club doesn't pay for long and short distance transport. If you are interested in something, please call me then or send a message. After all, it's very sad, isn't it ?

[stingman]

It is Willy. As I said, as a club, we are financilly sound and have coffers for four years without any income. We`ve just been lucky, lucky, lucky. But as members go, our numbers are getting lower. My wife says....` Are you going to the old mens club tonight!` `Yes`, I have to answer. I`m the youngest.

Be good.

Stingman

[Chrisbitz]

About OVFM... (50 years young, and still growing strong!)

I think the big thing (in recent times) is our website, and we have a great press secretary, that always seems to get a mention in the local paper, with a mention of our website at the bottom.

I guess the internet is great at attracting younger (<40) aged people, and our new members in the last 4 years reflect that.
http://www.ovfm.org

Equally, when new members come, and see other young members, it helps very much too.

It's really hard with the first few new young members, as you have to give them special treatment (without being creepy) as they'll in-turn help to retain other young new members and after all, younger members are the future!

It's a HUGE mistake to get a well-meaning but fairly inept member to do your website too - If you're lucky, and do have someone who can do professonal looking websites, then great, but better to pay a few hundred quid for a decent website, rather than have one that looks rubbish and amateurish.

Young people want to be involved with a modern and dynamic organisation, not an old-ladies coffee morning!

[stingman]

Young people want to be involved with a modern and dynamic organisation, not an old-ladies coffee morning!

Here Here! I`m 41 and feel like a teenager still. I`m the youngest in the club. I better note say to much about the other members and there ages, otherwise people will think that I have a problem with old people. I don`t! But for things to survive and last, you need new material and people. If you don`t get new people then all the films will start to look the same. New blood, new ways of doing things and styles to our films.

Be good....

Stingman

[Willy]

I was absent on this forum the last few weeks because of several reasons. First I had to finish my film "On the Road to Passchendaele" which will be screened in ... Passendale on 27th September. I was in a hurry because I am a member of the judging panel in Holland next week. One of the other reasons is that I had to organize many things to dissolve my film club. Perhaps you remember that we had our own clubhouse. We didn't have to pay for it because we often made films about life in our community. Unfortunately our Mayor asked a firm to make a new film about his community. Price 8,800 euros. Now we are useless and the mayor even charged a lot of money for our clubhouse : 2,880 euros per year.  Most members have decided to join the film club in the nearest town. On the 23rd September we will be in our clubhouse for the last time after more than 22 years. An emotional moment.Now we have sold most old machines like Bauer and Elmo projectors. In fact you can only display them in museums. We also sold our cupboards,  chairs and tables. Our clubhouse is almost empty now. Last night we were in our clubhouse to talk about everything. Most members and their partners were there. In fact it was  was the annual reception to celebrate the beginning of the new season, but the feeling was very strange. Most members stayed until 1 am ! We are all very sad and furious. In the mean time tje Mayor has decided to give  33,000 euros eacht year to renovate the clubhouses of youth clubs. A veyr good initiative, but the older people like us must pay for it.M

[Willy]

In the mean time the Mayor has decided to give  33,000 euros each year to renovate the clubhouses of youth clubs. A very good initiative, but the older people like us must pay for it.

On the roof of our own clubhouse trees are growing. We even think that the Mayor will pull down the whole building and build new blocks of flats. He also thinks of a new project in the town centre. Anyway, we are all very disappointed. We are one of the best clubs in the Flemish parts of Belgium but our activities are not appreciated. In our club magazine I had written that up to now not even one alderman has seen my film "Breendonk". "Breendonk" is the most visited 'tourist attraction' in our town. The Mayor was angry with me. Apparently he is also in favour of censorship.

Douglas Boswell, who was winner of the Guernsey Lily some years ago was one fo our members. Last year he moved. Douglas was young, but now we have Samuel Faict who is second in Guernsey. Also a very young man. Only 23, but what a talented filmmaker ! Have a chat with him in Guernsey next month and you will see how enthusiastic he is. He will also join the other club. Our oldest members, however, have decided to stop filming. Also a few friends who are still in their fifties. Ludo, for instance ... he was in Bedford for BIAFF some years ago. Now he has decided to play billiards and to go to his cottage at the Belgian seaside.

Our Mayor is very stupid. he will pay for his bad behaviour next year. Then therfe will be new elections.

[Stephen]

Hi Willy

Sad times indeed.... have you thought about using the internet to escalate this ?..... petitions etc... I am sure you have ... but your greedy mayor (who is put in position by the people!!) needs to be shown the door!

elections will hopefully sort that out ...


Trees may indeed be growing on the roof of your old clubhouse Willy... but they will be sowing seeds for future film makers.....



good luck ...

[stingman]

Hi Willy

Sad times indeed.... have you thought about using the internet to escalate this ?..... petitions etc... I am sure you have ... but your greedy mayor (who is put in position by the people!!) needs to be shown the door!

good luck ...

I`ve mentioned to Willy about making a film to discredit the Mayor, with local interviews. It would not be worst then our local news reports! I don`t think Willy liked this idea!

Be good....

Stingman