The January Newsletter is due to be delivered over the Christmas period - or see the updated Events and Newsletter pages for your easy-to-find copy.

The Big Thank You to Janet
and WELCOME to Mimi and Jan

After 15 years patient, thoughtful, tireless and constructive work at Greyfriars Janet Dolby has retired as manager.  It was no easy task following Gillian Habbin but Janet put her own stamp on the job and has seen the Centre expand into the one we know today.

Few people realise just how complex a job it is to manage the Community Centre so that everything is in the right place at the right time for the enormous range of members and visitors.  Each of them must feel that they are welcome and belong to the Association.  In the middle of the deepest crisis, or most disruptive building work, the Centre stays open, classes and meetings go on - and it all needs organising.

Thank you Janet for being central to Greyfriars.  Thank you also to her totally supportive husband, Adrian, for fetching, carrying, welding, painting, mending lamp posts whenever necessary, and every other aspect of the work.

Mimi Parry and Jan Determann have taken over from Janet, sharing the hours of the job between them so that visitors still have personal contact with the managers.  

Mimi grew up in Reading with her sister and two brothers before training at the Royal Dental Hospital for her six years as a dental nurse.  In 1970 she married Ringwood man, Johnnie Parry, and in 1975 became his practice manager from the start of his Osteopathic Practice in Christchurch Road.  Her two children introduced her to the Ringwood Primary Schools where Mimi was Governor for 13 years.  Her support for Greyfriars led to election to the Executive Committee in 1994, Chairman of the Minibus committee in 1998 and Vice-chairman in 2005.  Mimi's deep knowledge and appreciation of Greyfriars' aims and possibilities complements the talents which her new colleague, Jan, will bring to the Association.   

Jan has been living in The New Forest for 30 years. In 1983 she and her husband, Freddie, set up a craft and design company at Picket Hill supplying goods to galleries and shops across the UK. In 1995 they moved into the town, Jan took on various new roles including garden design and maintenance. Along with a variety of community arts projects for an organisation in Wiltshire she also took up a part time post as a Registrar of births deaths and marriages at the New Forest Register Office. This post was eventually made full time and Jan has spent the latter part of her time here in Ringwood enjoying the privilege of being a part of the most important times in people lives. Greyfriars welcomes Jan as part of the team for the exciting times which lie ahead.

Mimi and Jan will be delighted to welcome you on your next visit to the Centre.

Mimi Parry, Jan Determann and Janet Dolby on 4 January 2010

Greyfriars Community Centre

Greyfriars, home of the Ringwood and District Community Association, has been a thriving focus of community life in Ringwood for over fifty years.  It has grown from small beginnings in an elegant Georgian House to a healthy complex which nevertheless still proudly maintains that original house as its focal point.

The buildings include three delightful halls each with its own kitchen and a number af smaller rooms used for meetings by a variety of local organisations and educational classes.  Over a hundred local clubs and societies are affiliated to the Association and nominate representatives to its governing Council.  Day to day management is in the hands of an Executive Committee and a full time manager.

The Association relies almost entirely on subscriptions, room hiring fees and the results of special fund raising events to survive financially and to ensure proper care and maintenance of the buildings complex and its continuing availability to the community of the town and neighbourhood.