Gay Surrey's 'Club4good' Comedy Club at the Quake
CANCELLED
It is with much regret that I have to inform you all that the Trustees of Gay Surrey have had no choice but to cancel the Comedy Club due for the 31st March 2007. There are a number reasons for this which I have outlined below.
Gay Surrey was started to answer a need for not only the gay community in Surrey but also the greater community that crosses over within our own community. Our mission was and remains to help those members of the Surrey community that requires our help regardless of sexuality, gender, religion, colour or economic background. To be true to our word we had to listen to what people wanted. As it turns out we are in fact helping people throughout the UK and in other parts of the world.
The information we provide on our website really does help people from all walks of life in all age bands and we have received many hundreds of emails thanking us for this information and some of those people that write to us are not even gay. This is proof to us that Gay Surrey is affective in the winder community.
We were asked on the forum boards originally to provide a social club for the over 30's so that guys might be able to form friendships without the loud banging music that goes with many gay venues or the pressure that they face walking into a venue that is mainly full of younger people who may not be as welcoming of older guys. We listened and we delivered. We have done so for the last three years by running the club from Ockham.
We were asked for a Gay parents group and this was also started. As was a LGBT youth group in Guildford called Twister. We are not in the business of blanking what people say to us.
In the last year alone we have been asked to start a number of support groups which we have embraced and taken on board and are working on a way to make these happen by applying for funding.
As many of you are aware Gay Surrey has never asked any member for a membership fee and currently membership to Gay Surrey remains free of charge. What is not known, however, is the struggle that the charity faces in providing most of these services and if it were not for the kindness of our Chairman none of these would have ever got of the ground in the first place.
It takes commitment, drive, dedication, passion and a belief in what we are doing that takes the charity forwards. It also takes money!
So we had to come up with a way of generating an income and we did this by creating the club4good campaign. So many of the gay community had been sending in emails asking us to create a club night for them Woking because some of the community were either students or on low incomes and could not travel into London. We listened to this and took on board the many, many requests. It made sense because as the gay community in Surrey is aware there are so many gay venues now that have closed its doors.
So in September 2006 the White party was born under the banner of the Rumble nights. Thus the small door price of just £3.00 for Gay Surrey and Student members and £6.00 for everyone else would have gone to the charity to pay for the other much needed services that again many of gay community have asked for.
The first three clubs in 2006 were wonderful events and we really believed that club goers understood the concept that the money that they paid on the door went directly to the charity to fund these projects and of course to keep their night going as well. We were confidant enough to put on a Comedy Club for the end of March. The then management of the Quake was really pleased that so many people were coming to these nights and therefore granted us a year's worth of dates.
Yet those hundreds of voices that had asked for this club night did not support the January or February nights.
This of course sent shock waves through the charity because all of us involved and spent many hundreds of man-hours making sure we lived up to our pledge to gay community. You asked and we delivered.
Then we had another set back. The Quake nightclub that had been wonderfully supportive under the old manager had a new manager take over in January. He made it very clear that he did not wish our night to take place. Gone were the warm welcome of the old manager and in its place instead was a very frosty and also most hostile attitude to the gay community and in particular to Gay Surrey.
One of his reasons for not wanting us there was lack of numbers through the door. We were certain that January was just a small set back and gay community that had asked us for nearly a year for this club would be back to support us in February, sadly they did not come back.
The sad truth is that between the new manager and the lack of support from the gay community, Gay Surrey has had to withdraw from the Quake and cease to run its own club night. Further we have also had to cancel the Comedy Club night as stated above.
So may I ask those of you who have bought tickets to contact me directly for a refund or if you wish you may like to donate the money to Gay Surrey.
If you would like a refund may I ask you either to see me at the over 30's night or send your ticket to our postal address and we shall send you a cheque, but do remember to send us your name and address.
It is hoped that those members of gay community that did support us and came to our events will understand the reason for this. The Quake is a commercial company and we are but a small charity that no one currently donates money towards. We are not in a financial position to pay the new fees currently being asked by the new manager of the Quake. What little money we do have in the bank has to go to supporting our projects like the parents group, the youth projects e.t.c.
The honest truth is that without the support of gay community and the greater community, which we serve, we cannot serve your increased demands on us. Thus those support groups you have asked for will have to wait until we secure funding from other sources.
We do sincerely hope that you all understand this and it is with regret that we have had to take this step but we really do not have much choice.
Thank you for understanding, Gay Surrey
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