At the PCC meeting this evening we have at last discussed and made a decision on the future of the church building here that has stood "empty" since parts of the ceiling were declared unsafe 8 years ago

We are going to approach the University music department as our preferred option, and I have volunteered myself onto the steering comittee to oversee and manage the project.
It is the largest space of its kind in the city and could be so valuable as a performance space. They intend to use it for orchestra rehearsals/recitals and have many other excitng ideas about live performance. The project means also that the internal space is retained and we, as a church, get an opportunity to fund not only repairs but also other projects of our own. The building has been discussed at Diocesan level, and in principle the new regulations about co-ownership of churches work in our favour, although we are a little reluctant to become a "test case". Having taken this important step tonight tho it seems we almost certainly will be.
Fascinating times ahead.
We ended the meeting by standing togetehr in the old building for a prayer before looking around, and I used the opportunity to ask the vicar about playing Cathedral Oceans in there. He wants to hear a piece first, but otherwise has no objection to me rigging up a computer in there with Kink's amp and speakers. It will have to a "private" session of course but I can hardly wait now. It will be wonderful to hear this huge music in a more appropriate setting…
The metamatic update last night was quickly discovered (good. more people visit the site than is generally thought) and I spent an hour looking over it today. Brilliant! Unsurpassed as an information archive at the ery least. Lacks a little in terms of graphics and general sex appeal, but its clean, easy to read and works. A great new start.

I was thinking about starting a new book tonight, but I have a business plan and a pile of stuff about employment law to read. D and I are meeting Wednesday to sign the plan off and start looking for some serious funding and investment, which we will need if we are to grow in the next couple of years and get the best value from Jo when she starts in the New Year. We need to manage the next six months very carefully because things are really starting to move for us now. There was another piece in the Echo on Friday about our 'rescue package' for Hamble Valley Tourism. from our point of view, it was potentially successful, but poorly run and lacking insight; from the council's position their department has done a brilliant job setting up a service that is attractive to a private business looking for investment opportunities. D and I do live in such totally different world's its a wonder we make the business work at all sometimes. We need to pull together more than ever now, and work out some difficult compromises.