THE Drill Hall Committee of Chepstow Town Council held an ordinary meeting at the Council Chamber on Wednesday, July 2 at 7pm.

In attendance were Mayor Jim Mactaggart, Cllr Martin Perkins, Cllr Joy Rosser, Cllr Olivia Amphlett, Cllr Vanessa Badderley-Potter and Town Clerk Lucy Allen.

The meeting was led by Cllr Martin Perkins, Vice-Chair of the Drill Hall Committee, leading the meeting in the absence of Cllr Paul Griffiths and Cllr Marc Le Peltier.

The first item on the agenda the councillors discussed was the paint issues with Drill Hall. It had been experiencing issues with peeling paint, which prompted a discussion between councillors and the Arts Administrator with the contractor.

Councillors deferred the update until the return of Cllr Deb Wilkes, as none in attendance had heard anything new.

Another item on the agenda councillors discussed was the change of Drill Hall’s gas and electricity provider. It has secured a three-year contract for both energies, moving from Scottish Power to Valda Energy, effective as of July 1.

Lucy Allen said: “This should save us just under £2,500 a year. We tend to take regular meter readings once a month, so our invoices are fairly true to what has been spent. I’ve also tasked Matt with looking into the solar panels which are on the roof, as it would be interesting to get some figures as to how much that is generating.”

Cllr Martin Perkins noted an issue with booking forms for Drill Hall, that while the booking form is fit for purpose, there is some concern that it isn’t available online.

Currently, there is no booking form online as such, but the Drill Hall website has an area whereby you can fill out an online contact form, which can outline what you are looking for. Cllr Perkins tasked Lucy to raise the problem for review next week (w/c Monday, July 6).

Councillors also discussed Drill Hall’s publicity, using social media and other advertising methods. Lucy noted advertising through community pages on Facebook can be difficult as the groups have to accept and approve the post.

Cllr Joy Rosser said: “It has gotten better since our last meeting. It was said that messages were not going out soon enough, with residents saying ‘I might have done that if I’d known sooner’, as people can save the day on their calendars. However, since then, I have seen them more.”

The committee noted it continues to use the What’s On Guide and discussed the idea of extending their reach through Facebook with local Tidenham pages, and utilising Instagram.

Councillors concluded the meeting with items for the next. Cllr Jim Mactaggart raised that the committee should review the revised business plan, and should also have received an update on the maintenance work which has been done in Drill Hall.

Cllr Martin Perkins proposed an interim meeting before the next to review how the operational matters went over the summer. This will be confirmed at a later date, but currently the next meeting is Wednesday, October 8.