Keeping the balance
During their stay, most of our visitors to Letton Hall are very focussed on their own activity or event and rightly so. The buildings and grounds, whilst they are much loved and appreciated, are perhaps not the most important thing to them. Time together, growing and learning, Christian fellowship, fun, laughter and good food – all of these help to make up the Letton experience, and the place itself offers a lovely setting for these.
For the team, it can often feel the other way around! The issues involved in maintaining and managing Letton Hall can easily dominate our thoughts and energies. Each week there is the usual round of cleaning up after groups have left and preparing for the arrival of our next guests, but on top of all that is the never ending hidden task of repairs and improvements to the Hall and Stables that make the ministry of the Letton Hall Trust possible.
The challenge for us is keeping the balance. Whilst we do all we can to make our guests feel welcomed and appreciated, we also take seriously our responsibilities for health and safety, compliance with ever increasing legislation, management of risk and, of course, our stewardship of a very important Grade 2* listed building.
It helps us if we remember a couple of things; Firstly, the Letton Hall Trust came into being primarily to enable and facilitate churches, youth groups schools and others to enjoy these very special times away. That is our fundamental reason for existing. Looking after the big house is an inevitable consequence of that vision, but not the heart of the vision! So, every morning during the week, when we start our working day, we pray especially for our guests and remind ourselves that their blessing and encouragement is the most important reason for being here! Secondly, most of the groups who come to Letton Hall would find it very difficult to enjoy their events without a large and wonderful place like this to meet, sleep, eat and play in. So we remain fully committed to keeping these old buildings in the best shape we can and, wherever possible and as resources allow, to improve them for the continued enjoyment of our friends and guests into the future. That takes a great deal of thought, time, effort and money!
So. we try to keep the balance; which may explain why sometimes, when you are here enjoying your special time away from the ordinary, in the beautiful surroundings of Letton, you may come across furrow browed staff lifting a drain cover or climbing a ladder, wielding a paintbrush or power tool or otherwise occupied. If you do, please encourage us, it’s all part of making your time here possible!
