Avalon at Chadlington October News

Thankfully as the village mainly sits on top of a hill it has not been so effected by the recent heavy downpours as other nearby settlements. That said one area of the village is called Brook End and as the name implies it is slightly lower lying and as such you will always get water across the road but luckily rarely any in the properties in the area.

We now have a period short period of "Mellow Fruitfulness" and the talk from the allotments is of crops that did well and not so well this year and of course plans for the next year. Greenery is being taken down and composted and "muck" laid on the soil, maybe with a little forking, ready to be broken down by the frosts of the next few months.

Around the village all of the hedgerows and trees are laden with berries and the such, which if we believe such things is a harbinger of "hard" winter to come. The sloes are looking good but still a little too early to pick and pop into a bottle along with some gin.

People are starting to get their deliveries of seasoned wood for their burners and the football season has well and truly arrived with lots of youth games (of all ages) being played on most weekends. Likewise, the outdoor bowls green is now being "put to bed" for the winter and the members have now moved inside the club house to play short mat bowls, crib and reminisce about that fantastic wood they delivered in that crucial game this summer.

The pace of the village is starting to slow down and looking more inwards over the winter months all, this is, apart from the dog walkers who will all be out in the few short hours of daylight no doubt with heavy coats on and hoods up !

Life at the nearby, internationally famous Diddly Squat Farm seems as busy as ever

Chadlington Village Hall uses the Avalon Cloud Hosted Bookings Program to manage its busy program of bookings.

Avalon at Chadlington August News

"Well here we are into August and most of the local farms are now well into the long hours behind the wheel of the combine and tractor.  We are lucky in that there are still a few local farms where collecting the harvest is a multi generational family affair.  While others just book the contractors and hope that the weather is set fair for when they turn up. Either way August is the month of the constant hum of the dryers working in the grain barns and heavy machinery moving from field to field and back to the farm. 

This year it was notable that we had fewer bright yellow fields of oil seed rape along the river valley slopes but instead the purple blue of Flax was visible around the village. 

Although the village can no longer field a senior cricket team, the bowls club has had a good season so far, winning a local inter club tournament and managing to fulfil the majority of their fixtures. 

  So as we move towards September and the the Harvest festival in the local church, another farming cycle comes to a close and another begins, as it has in the village for generations and long may it continue."

Bookings at the Village Hall remain steady even through the holiday season. The Bookings Secretary remains calmly in control thanks to the Avalon Bookings Manager system we have in use.

Avalon at Chadlington News

The Life and Times of Chadlington Village, Oxfordshire.

We thought it would be fun to bring you some occasional news from Chadlington.

Why Chadlington?  Well, it is where Avalon Software (UK) Ltd. has been based for many years.  It is a typical small village high on the Cotswolds and not known to many who are not from the area. The village is home to approximately 900 people and is a classic Oxfordshire linear configuration, originally formed around three local farms.  Over the years the village and the surrounding area has been the home for many “famous” people, from much loved comedians to ex-prime ministers

All that changed a few years ago when a well know TV and Media personality took up farming on the edge of the village and went on to produce a series of television programmes featuring life on his farm. Now the village has international fame thanks to the TV Farm with huge numbers of visitors coming to this once tranquil village.

Central to village life is the Chadlington Memorial Hall. They use the Avalon Software Cloud Hosted Bookings Manager system to manage their hall bookings and all of this is run by Avalon Software Ltd Director, Julian Horsey.

As with many such halls the majority of the bookings consist of regular keep fit group (Pilate’s and Yoga), Youth groups and Parish council meetings.  In addition the Hall was the site of the recent very successful 20th Village Beer festival organised to raise funds for the village primary school and a production of the play “The Inspector Calls” performed by the local amateur dramatic group.

Avalon Bookings Manager online enables the activities that take place at the Memorial Hall to be shown on the village website in real time

https://chadlington.com/village-hall

Not only that, it also enables the Booking Secretary, Treasurer and other Committee Members instant access to the bookings and invoices, without the need for all to be together in the same location. It also loads of emails and bits of paper flying around the village.  

Over the years that Avalon Software has been in business we have learnt all about the trials and tribulations of running community halls of all types and the Avalon Bookings Manager programs helps many keep on top of their entire bookings process.

For those who require the flexibility of running an internet based system, the Avalon Bookings Manager On-Line is the answer.  

https://app.screencast.com/QnvkoH5NuvzAp

Is a Cloud Hosted Bookings System Right for Me?

Is a Cloud Hosted Bookings System Right for Me?

Since the launch of the Avalon Bookings On-Line system (ABOL) it has become increasingly apparent that for some users Cloud Hosted system does not provide the right solution for their requirements.  In some cases, the right solution is simply to make better use of what they already have, but this has only been realised after time and effort had been spent trying to make an on-line system work.

So how can you avoid this? 

Our advice is to spend some time defining your requirements from a booking system, who will be using it and what benefits you really need the system to provide.

Having defined those requirements and agreed with all who will be using the system, whether that is for day to day managing the bookings, or the finances and invoicing, or making policy decisions based on the data the system must provide, then examine why your current system cannot deliver that.  If you cannot easily answer those questions then it might be worth speaking with your current supplier.

In the case of the PC based Avalon Bookings Manager, we frequently find that even customers who have been with us for many years do not realise what this system can deliver.

In some cases, we find that the driving force for change to a cloud hosted system is purely to have the flexibility for several people to have access to the program away from the office. 

On a recent visit to a customer, the more we looked at this, the clearer it became that only two people needed occasional access to their bookings program away from the office.  For others the information they needed could automatically be uploaded to a secure area on their web site, or by the simple expedient of a couple of reports being emailed each month.

Cloud-hosted systems deliver a very different experience from PC based systems and offer great opportunities to develop your business or center, provided you are ready to change your ways of working and embrace what these systems can offer.

PC based systems, such as the Avalon Bookings Manager, are based around the diary screen and everything flows from there. They are designed to be used in the office.

Cloud hosted systems such as ABOL can be run from wherever you have good Internet access and are based around the customer. They open the way to online bookings, payment gateways and many other benefits which can greatly reduce the administration load for busy centres or businesses.

So are cloud hosted systems the future?  For many yes, but not for all, so the PC based systems will be here for many years to come.

If you would like to discuss your booking system requirements call us on 0330 900 0125 (standard UK land-line charges apply) or drop an email to roger@avalonsoftware.co.uk.

Roger Burfitt.

Avalon Book On Line for Community Spaces and Venues News

Many of our customers who manage halls, community spaces , rooms and venue hire have been reviewing how they will operate during the current Covid-19 emergency and maybe after that.

Working from home is the message we have all been given, so how can this be achieved when it comes to managing the bookings administration of your facilities for hire.

More and more are turning to the Avalon Book On-line or ABOL system as the solution. ABOL can be run on any internet enabled device so the need to be in the office is removed. ABOL can be configured to work in the way which suits your organisation best. For some their requirement is everything provided in the PC based Avalon Bookings Manager system:- bookings diary, customer database, invoicing and payment tracking for example, together with their diary uploaded to their web site. For others, the optional facility of customers being able to submit their bookings requests and payments on-line is a big attraction.

If you are considering whether an internet hosted system is right for you give us a call on 0330 900 0125 to chat over your requirements or drop an email to roger@avalonsoftware.co.uk We have recently uploaded a revised overview and price guide document which you can view from the Community Spaces and Venues page of this web site You can also view a short demonstration of ABOL and if you would like an on-line demonstration of the system this can easily be arranged.

Business as Usual at Avalon Software

Hello everyone. We hope you are all keeping well despite the current Coronavirus concerns.

Working from home is something we have been well used to over the years at Avalon Software so it is very easy for our business to continue as usual, which means we are here if you need help or support with your Avalon Bookings Manager or Avalon Book On Line systems. We are also able to progress new installations for those of you looking to install either of our bookings software programs.

We shall be restricting on-site training visits for the time being, but our popular remote training and software support service continues as normal. We have some new software which enables us to make short tutorial videos very easily and we can send you links to these if you or your team need any refresher training.

Many of you may be considering if it is possible to manage your bookings and customer invoicing from home even if you are running the PC based Avalon Bookings Manager program at your office. it is possible depending on how to need to manage things. Rather than post a range of suggestions on this page we suggest that you pick up the telephone and give us a call on either Roger Burfitt 0330 900 2125 or Julian Horsey on the help line 0330 999 0125 and we can chat through your options.

I have been speaking with one of our community hall customers only this morning and we have come up with a simple and inexpensive solution which will work well for them, and I suspect, for many of our other customers.

Julian and I send you all our very best wishes

Stay Safe, Stay Healthy

Avalon Book On Line - a hit with Apple Orchard Caravan and Campsite - Gloucestershire

Moving to the on-line system has been a positive experience for us at Apple Orchard Campsite.

The old system meant that in order to administer all our booking requests we could only do this on site. Going on-line means that we can manage our bookings remotely so from a customer perspective we get to respond to their booking requests quicker, as a business owner we get precious time back by not having to be on site all the time.

The system is easy to use and the customer service from Avalon has been great. They’ve been flexible when tweaking the system for some of our more specific needs.

Dave Jones
Proprietor
Apple Orchard Caravan and Camping Site

https://appleorchardcampsite.co.uk

A satisfied Aussie

Not only are our Australian cousins giving us a tough time at the cricket, but this particular long standing Avalon Software Customer continues to be pleased with their Avalon program

   The Avalon Halls for Hire software has saved us so much time when sorting out room hire at our centre. It has simplified what was once a manual and tedious task where errors could easily be made to a more efficient system of managing multiple small and large spaces within our complex of buildings. We highly recommend Avalon software. – Drew – Pottsville Beach Neighbourhood Centre, NSW, Australia 

Drew Stevenson

Community Capacity Worker
“Linking People and Strengthening Our Community”

Location: 10B-12A Elizabeth St (PO Box 54)      

Pottsville Beach NSW 2489                

T: 02 6676 4555

W: www.pbnc.org.au

Member of the Consortium of Neighbourhood Centres – Far North Coast www.conc.org.au.

See The Avalon On-Line Bookings Program in Action

For the Swanage Town Council this is an especially busy time of the year when it comes to managing the bookings for their beach huts.

In previous years this has been managed through their Tourist Information Office over the telephone with the actual bookings and customer invoicing being administered through their PC based Avalon Bookings Manager system.

Working closely with Avalon Software Ltd. Swanage Town Council has this year implemented their new Avalon Book On-Line System, or ABOL for short. This has enabled them to manage the entire bookings process from first enquiry through to customer invoicing completely on-line and with much reduced administration required on their part.

ABOL is now available for any business which has facilities that are booked by the day and if you would like to see program in action please visit their web site at:

https://www.swanage.gov.uk/Booking-Hut.aspx

If you would like a full demonstration of the Avalon Book-On line program, or more information about the program itself drop us a line via the Contact Us facility on this web site, or email roger@avalonsoftware.co.uk or telephone 0330 900 2125 (standard UK rate)

The new Avalon Bookings On-Line program for our Kennels and Catteries Customers

Avalon Bookings On-Line or ABOL is now ready for installation in our boarding kennels and cattery customers .

Regulation changes that were introduced in 2018 require those offering animal boarding services to hold much more detailed records about each animal they are looking after.

Our long standing PC based Avalon Bookings Manager program can hold this additional information but not always in dedicated information boxes. Some information has to be entered into text boxes. For those running smaller kennel and cattery businesses this is not a problem for those running bigger and very busy businesses something more flexible may be required.

This is where ABOL can offer a significant advantage. With ABOL additional data fields are easily created and can be customised to each users preferences. This means that the data that is required to be recorded against each animal can be done quickly, accurately and efficiently.

Because ABOL is a Web Hosted application it can be accessed from any Internet enabled computer that has access to the web

With set up costs from £100 and monthly charges from £20.00 per user ABOL is an affordable way to run your business taking full advantage of modern and flexible technologies.

For more information about ABOL click on the link below and to arrange an on-line demonstration of the program please call our support line on 0330 999 0125.

Welcome to the new Avalon Software Ltd website

The old Avalon Software web site has served us very well for many years and without it we would not have all the wonderful customers who continue to benefit from the Avalon Bookings Manager (ABM) program.

The time is right now for us to commission our new web site, which we have been very pleased to do with Clare of Owl & Bear Marketing.

One of the important reasons for this being the right time to implement the new web site is that we are progressing towards the launch of our new Avalon Book On Line (ABOL) program.

ABOL is to be offered alongside ABM and not as a replacement. ABM continues to meet the needs of a wide range of customers as it always has done.

Avalon Bookings On-Line (ABOL) is a significant new development of the well-proven Avalon Bookings Manager (ABM) System.

ABOL is cloud hosted application. This means it will be hosted on servers in a secure London Data centre and the ABOL program is accessed over the Internet.

It can be accessed via any web enabled computer and from any location with an Internet connection.

ABOL will retain the key features of the ABM program that we know our customers value. In addition, it provides us with the opportunity to incorporate many new features which are simply not possible to design into ABM and which customers have requested over the years.

Key amongst these new features is the option to offer your customers the facility to make bookings with you on-line and, as a further option pay for those bookings, if you wish to offer that facility.

We have recently completed the pilot installation of ABOL with one of our major ABM customers and we plan to install the program with further selected users during the course of this year.

If you would like more information about ABOL please send an email via our contact us page.

On the other hand if your needs are more likely to be met by the PC based Avalon Bookings Manager program please drop an email to roger@avalonsoftware.co.uk or telephone 0330 900 2125 – (standard UK land line rates apply)