Small community, big impact: Seaside Centre celebrates success after closure close call

Kristopher Snarby, president of the Seaside Centre in Beach Meadows, says volunteers and the community have helped revitalize the community centre. (Rick Conrad)

Volunteers in the Beach Meadows area have revitalized their local community centre, bringing it back from the brink just two and a half years ago.

When a new board of directors took over the Seaside Centre in Beach Meadows in November 2021, many in the community feared it would close.

But in the time since, the centre has reclaimed its integral place in the community. 

Kristopher Snarby is president of the Seaside Centre. He was one of those new board members. 

“We came into a situation where people were tired and they just couldn’t keep going with the way things were. And we had a group of energetic people step in. The community made it clear they wanted to keep the building. We had a huge turnout at that meeting. It was evident from that that people wanted to make sure that we kept this facility in the community.”

Over the past couple of years, board members and other volunteers have raised thousands of dollars to renovate the centre. It’s now holding more regular community events and even has a couple of regular tenants renting space to help pay the bills.

They have installed new insulation and heat pumps throughout the facility to make it more energy efficient. And they plan this year to install a new metal roof and metal siding to help it withstand the harsher weather conditions on the coast.

They also invested $80,000 in a new generator to make the building a comfort centre during periods like hurricanes or power outages.

“These projects are huge capital projects that in theory should take a long time to achieve and we’ve done a lot in the short term. … That’s almost $300,000 in capital improvements to the centre in two or three years. So it’s been busy and we’re investing in the centre to ensure it keeps on going for a long time and it’s really positive.”

The centre held its annual general meeting this week, where the board highlighted some of the successes of the past year. The facility recorded a $28,842 surplus last year.

Snarby says the Seaside Centre wouldn’t have been able to do it without its group of about 100 volunteers and the community’s support. More than half of its revenue comes from fundraising and individual donations.

“We’ve had huge amounts of support both in terms of volunteer hours but also donations. We’ve gotten donations anywhere from $20 to $1,000 or $5,000. So we’ve had big donations, small donations. It all goes into the pot to make that happen. Without that, none of this would have been achievable. All of our grants have required 20 to 25 per cent contribution from the community. Every event we’ve had people are super generous with donations and coming out to support the centre.”

“The community support it’s allowing to push through and really get this done.”

He said after the work on the exterior of the building this year, the next long-term project may be to update their kitchen facilities. 

“And then also just continuing to put on events and to be a place where people can come and gather. We have weekly groups that get together for yoga, for crafting, quilting. We’d like to expand that into some other weekly groups that attend here and just have more events for the community.”

Snarby says they’re always looking for more volunteers or for people to put on more events at the centre. You can find more information at their website at seasidecentre.ca or by joining their Facebook group.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Astor Theatre board responds to members’ concerns before upcoming AGM

John Simmonds, chairman of the Astor Theatre Society, addresses a members’ meeting on Thursday at the Liverpool theatre. (Rick Conrad)

The board of the Astor Theatre Society on Thursday clarified who can vote and who can be nominated to its board at its upcoming general meeting.

Some members who signed up in the past two months were concerned that the Astor would not allow them to vote. 

About 50 people turned out for the members meeting on Thursday evening at the theatre. Board chairman John Simmonds explained that all members in good standing will be able to vote at its upcoming annual general meeting.

“There’s been controversy over conflicting bylaws and conflicting interpretations and we’ve tried to remain as quiet as we could on those issues. But it was necessary to do a lot of research to make sure we were on good ground in what we were proposing. Every member who is in good standing who is over 18 years of age and a resident of Nova Scotia can vote at the AGM.”

The meeting was held in response to a request from the ad hoc group Queens County Community Theatre Advocates. That group was formed after the resignation of associate artistic director Ashley-Rose Goodwin in March.

The group said it was concerned about recent decisions made by executive director Jerri Southcott and the Astor Board. The group said that as Astor members they wanted  to hold the board accountable.

In an April 25 update to the group’s members, one of the founding members of the group Kevin Colwell wrote that the Astor appeared to be taking a “restrictive” approach to voting at the upcoming AGM. He said that in discussions with the Astor, it appeared they were planning to prevent anyone who became a member after Dec. 31, 2023 from voting.

He called on group members to attend the May 2 members meeting and the May 9 AGM.  

About 50 people were at the Astor Theatre in Liverpool on Thursday evening for a meeting on voting at the upcoming annual general meeting. (Rick Conrad)

The issue over voting arose because of confusion about which set of bylaws was valid.

Simmonds said Thursday that until the board did a “deep dive” into their archives, even they were unsure of the proper voting procedures. So they hired Marjorie Hickey, a lawyer with McInnes Cooper in Halifax, to look into it and give an opinion.

“It outlines in great detail exactly what all the steps were, how the three sets of bylaws compare and contrast, where we stand legally now. And she has confirmed through case law and others that we are in good position now using the 2017 bylaws.”

As a result of that legal advice, the Astor has also changed the date of the May 9 AGM to June 24.

According to its most recent bylaws, the Astor will appoint people to replace three directors who resigned in the past couple of months.

There will be four open spots on the board of directors at the June AGM. Any member can be nominated to sit on the board.

“So hopefully this will set the record straight on where we stand and where we propose going with all of this,” Simmonds said. “It will be a true democratic process at the AGM in terms of nominations. We look forward to having many of you putting your name forward.”

Some members of the Queens County Community Theatre Advocates were at the meeting. But they didn’t want to comment until they could read the lawyer’s report to the Astor.

Simmonds said after the meeting that he believes it addressed many concerns from community members. He said the board believes it’s on solid legal ground.

“We’re very comfortable that we’re in good shape now with our current bylaws. And that allows us to move forward and alleviates a lot of the issues and controversy brought to us by the community,” he said in an interview. 

“It clarified things that we didn’t know ourselves. So it was new to us. So once we digested it all ourselves and came up with a final conclusion verified by the lawyer, … all the rest of what went on in the past is not really relevant now.”

Simmonds said the Astor will announce the new appointed members of the board in the next week. He said it will also send notice about the June 24 annual general meeting to all members and advertise it in local newspapers and online.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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