Team Meet & Greet: Mary
Mary / Centre Manager - St. Andrew’s Community Centre
We recently caught up with Mary, our Centre Manager here in St. Andrew’s - read on to learn more about her role in the centre!
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and what your role is here at St. Andrew’s?
Hi, I'm Mary Kinane and I have been in the role of Centre Manager of St. Andrew's since 2009.
What does your job entail, and how do you support the work of the centre?
A bit of everything! My job is managing the building that is St. Andrew's and ensuring that it meets the needs as far as possible of the projects that are based in the centre and the wide variety of groups that rent rooms here right throughout the week and weekends. This means I also have operational and staffing responsibilities. My day can vary from being in the boiler house one minute looking at pumps, then dealing with someone who wishes to book our hall, applying for a funding grant, preparing reports for the board and/or having to go up on the roof to inspect a possible leak. Since I started working here, I also developed an events programme for the wider community to access good quality affordable entertainment in the centre and more recently, I have become involved in the Rialto Community Arts Festival. This has widened my role but it all comes back to making the best use of the centre for the wider community.
What have been some highlights or challenges in your role recently?
The main challenge is the fact that St. Andrew's is an old building. It started off as a Methodist church and school in the early 1900s and has had a few extensions over the years. But it is always in need of maintenance and improvement works you never really know what's going to go wrong or break down next. And whether or not we have the funds to get the improvement works done. But of course, there are plenty of highlights too. The job is never boring and we get to meet so many people in the centre. Meeting actors and musicians who are passionate about their work is always interesting. I've particularly enjoyed meeting different cultures, like the Jamaicans when they book to celebrate their independence day or seeing how women, originally from India or Pakistan, dress up for a celebratory event in our hall. We recently had this guy book a meeting room on Saturday February 14th to propose to his girlfriend. Hearing from the caretaker that she said yes, was a highlight! Another recent highlight was presenting a raffle hamper to the winner and seeing how delighted she was when she came in to collect it.
Finally, do you have a fun fact, favourite moment, or something inspiring you’d like to share?
Some favourite moments have been seeing through the successful completion of a project like the new hall floor and the acoustic doors for the training room. There's been a few funny moments over the years too. The day we found a cat in the attic was certainly unexpected and re-housing her kittens is not something I ever imagined would have been in the job description! Like I said the job is never boring.