Whilst we always do a formal annual review as part of our AGM (draft minutes for which are published here) we thought it would be good to end the year with a quick synopsis of how things went in 2019 for us here at the Wimbledon Community Association.
We started the year with an internal review of the Wimblecomm service. This was led by trustees, Roger Drage and Bill Lake with support from our staff, Susanne and Genevieve. Roger stood down as a Trustee shortly afterwards and we remain grateful to him for his work with us since 2012 when the old centre had to be closed.
Since March 2019 we have been moving forward with renewed vigour putting many of the review recommendations into place and further developing the Wimblecomm site and brand. We have set a vision to become the on-line community hub for Merton over the next 5 years and further develop our income sources in pursuit of that vision.
Traffic to the site continues to grow rapidly aided by the increased number of community events and articles we are now publishing on the site, as well as an ever-growing number of registered spaces.
In October, after several months of preparation, we relaunched the site and have now put this onto a new server platform enabling us to increase our capacity on the site and provide additional features including a members’ forum and a venue review section. The internal search engine has also been revamped alongside a reworking of the layout across all digital formats. Our social media presence also continues to develop quickly.
Our repeat of the successful Merry Merton advent calendar from last year during December has highlighted many of those events we have reported on throughout 2019.
Looking forward, we will shortly be introducing our newest Trustee to our team and also further new members to our volunteer base. Our new team members will help develop our strategy and our services as we look to expand our reporting on activities across the borough of Merton.
The Wimbledon Community Association charity, which runs Wimblecomm, has been operating now for some 73 years and started out without a venue. The virtual guise we have adopted since setting up Wimblecomm somehow completes that circle. Whilst we do not have a venue ourselves, we hope that our flourishing on-line presence will continue to keep the spirit of the charity’s founders alive and well long into the future!
For much of 2019 the nation has been occupied with the prospect of the B word as it has become known in certain conversations (Brexit of course). We all have different opinions on that, of course, and those will also have been expressed during the recent election.
Whether in favour of that outcome or not, the charity’s constitution specifically restricts us from becoming engaged in party politics and we will endeavour to develop our service over the coming years working with all parties, political or not, for the benefit of our whole Merton community!
May I therefore end by offering my best wishes to all of you for a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year in 2020.
Written by David Hall, Chair of Trustees, December 2019
