## Buckhorn Weston Village Hall Trustee’s Annual Report ## 1[st] April 2020 to 31[st] March 2021 ## About us Buckhorn Weston Village Hall Buckhorn Weston Dorset SP8 5HX www.buckhornwestonvillagehall.com bwvillagehall@gmail.com Charity number: 1003226 Our volunteer trustees Beverley Osborne – Chairman Pat Read – Vice Chairman Sandra Mackintosh – Treasurer Alison Berry Anne Ledgerwood Audrey Burt Jill Elsworth Dawn Wilton ## How we operate In 1962 the land, together with the old wooden village hall, was donated to be held in trust for the purposes of a Village Hall for the use of the inhabitants of Buckhorn Weston and the neighbourhood. The document drawn up at the time, the Conveyance, is the governing document and it states: _The property hereby conveyed shall be held upon trust for the purposes of a Village Hall for the use of the inhabitants of Buckhorn Weston and the neighbourhood, without distinction of sex, of political, religious or other opinions, and in particular for use for meetings, lectures and classes and other forms of recreation and leisure-time occupation, with the object of improving the conditions of life for the said inhabitants._ The Buckhorn Weston Parish Council are the custodian trustee, and the charity is administered by “The Committee of Management” (known as the Village Hall Committee). The committee consists of up to 12 elected members, with the option to co-opt a further 4 additional members. Committee members (Trustees) are appointed annually at the Annual General Meeting and applications are encouraged from residents in Buckhorn Weston and the neighbourhood with leaflets, posters and notices on social media and websites. The Village Hall Committee meet regularly (at least twice a year) to manage the operations of the hall (hiring out the facility), plan and carry out maintenance work and improvements, and fundraise. Where possible, these meetings take place in the hall, but during this financial year were held in a live virtual environment due to the COVID pandemic. In all activities, the Trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit. ## Our activities In a normal year, our hall utilisation is just over 50%, and our regular hirers include: - Dog training - Pilates classes - Short mat bowls sessions - Toddler group - Ladies group - Parish council meetings - Church coffee mornings - Tai Chi classes - Art group - Dance classes - Church soup lunches - Benefice services In addition, we are also used by couples looking for an affordable alternative wedding reception venue, as well as numerous birthday parties, family and life events; and the hall is also used on occasions by local businesses for meetings and conferences. These activities fully support the vision set out in the conveyance document that the hall would be used for all forms of recreation and leisure-time occupation, with the object of improving the conditions of life for our residents. In particular, it should be noted that many recent studies have highlighted concerns regarding rural isolation particularly amongst the elderly, and we are extremely proud that our hall supports such a diverse range of activities that local residents can access. However, in this financial year, our utilisation, and income from hiring, has fallen by 77% due to COVID-19. ## COVID-19 On 31st December 2019, the World Health Organisation office in China picked up a media statement by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission from their website on cases of “viral pneumonia” in Wuhan. In the months that followed, this disease (named coronavirus disease 2019, abbreviated as COVID-19) would go on to affect almost every country in the world, and leave many thousands of families grieving for loved ones who have died as a result of catching the disease. On 23rd March 2020 the UK went into lockdown, with the public being told they could only leave their homes for limited reasons (food shopping, exercise once per day, medical need and travelling for work when absolutely necessary). We closed our Village Hall following Government advice in March 2020 and all income stopped. As a committee we felt it was important to ensure that anyone who had booked the hall was offered the chance immediately of a refund or the option to roll forward to future dates any monies pre-paid for bookings that then could not take place as a result of the lockdown and any refunds were repaid by BACS promptly in order to support individuals and organisations who may have been struggling financially. The Chairman and the Treasurer, with the full support of the village hall committee, then set up Buckhorn Weston Community Volunteers to provide support to anyone who needed extra help with shopping, collecting prescriptions etc. etc. We quickly established a network of 30 volunteers and as requests came in, they were matched with volunteers to complete the tasks. It has been a real success, with every member of the community knowing that there was always someone they could ask for help, or just have a chat to. Any payments for goods have been managed through the Village Hall accounts to ensure transparency and prompt payment. Community volunteers have provided copies of receipts to the treasurer for reimbursement, and those using the service have paid the Village Hall for their goods. When restrictions have been eased, the Committee have worked hard to enable hirers to once again use the hall for permitted activities – however many of our regular hirers have been unable to return during this financial year due to the underlying risks to their participants, or due to Government restrictions. ## Improvements to the facilities As the hall has been closed for much of the financial year, we have made limited improvements to the building and facilities. However, we were awarded a grant in October 2020 from Dorset Council as part of the COVID Recovery project. This enabled to install broadband and audio / visual equipment to enable vulnerable members of our community to remain engaged with community and social activities even if they are shielding or selfisolating. A mobile video conference system has enabled us to open up meetings and activities to remote participants and even remote presenters. The addition of broadband into the village hall will also enable other clubs and organisations, such as "silver surfers", who require a viable broadband connection for their services to look at using the Village Hall which in turn would provide additional information, advice, support, and leisure activities for the community, especially the elderly. ## Our finances The Village Hall finances remain in a good position at the end of this financial year, largely due to the grants received from the Government to support those paying business rates who were forced to close. Our operational costs and general maintenance activities have been kept to a minimum, and these have been funded from monies in the current account. This has enabled the grant monies to be set aside to use for future improvements to the facility. The COVID-19 Grant Income is summarised below: May 2020 £10,000 November 2020 £4,739 for the provision of audio-visual equipment November 2020 £1,334 January 2021 £2,001 + £4,000 March 2021 £967.36 + £2,096 The committee reviewed the hall hire charges and agreed that they should remain unchanged for the 2021-2022 financial year to support the community recovery. ## Reserves policy The Buckhorn Weston Village Hall (BWVH) reserves policy has been developed to allow the Village Hall Committee to properly manage its resources, and to help it match its resources to its requirements and objectives. BWVH funds are divided into three categories to allow them to be more easily managed: - Operating funds – these are monies used in the day-today running of the Hall. - Improvement funds – monies accumulated for specific projects associated with the BWVH or the facilities it provides. Where these projects are considered mandatory, the associated funds are considered designated and are excluded from reserves. - Contingency funds – monies set aside in case of emergencies such as complete loss of income or other unexpected incident preventing provision of the BWVH’s facilities. The reserves policy is to maintain the reserves at a level which is at least equivalent to 50% of annual operating costs (less transfers and deposit repayments). The annual operating costs for 2020/2021 were £4,255.92. This figure excludes any costs associated with fundraising activities and events, capital purchases and improvements, COVID-19 reimbursements and refunds of hire fees and damage deposits. The total free reserves (excluding bar stock) at 31 March 2021 is £25,640.81, which is 602% of annual operating costs. The charity has no long-term investments. Our cash reserves are held in UK banks and any interest gained is identified separately in the accounts. BUCKHORN WESTON VILLAGE HALL Accoumfs FOR THE YEAR ENDED 315T MARCH 2021 I have examlned the books and voucher5 of the Buckhorn Weston Village Hall Committee for the year ended 31" March 2021 and certlfy the accounts attached are in accordance therewith. Independent Examlner: Signed ................. Print Name: Chalrman: Signed .. Print Na Beverley Osbjrne Treasurer. Signed ... Date.-.-.... £..i..l. s/£.j..... Print Name. Sandra Macklntosh ## **Accounts Summary for Year Ended 31st March 2021** |**Receipts:**
Bar licence fee
Booking payments for 2021/22
Cov Shopping
Damages Deposit received
Donations / Grants received
Event Income Banked
Hire fees
Hire of equipment
Other Income
PRS Charges
Refund|**2020/2021**
0.00
31.25
1122.01
100.00
25202.36
0.00
2623.75
0.00
11.47
86.00
234.58
29411.42
2.73
29414.15
0.00
234.58
4978.43
1176.75
64.17
1122.07
100.00
355.33
0.00
608.73
9.88
1030.75
673.30
180.00
472.90
0.00
138.00
8.99
174.06
169.11
0.00
11497.05
17917.10
277.37|**2019/2020**| |---|---|---| |||180.00
196.00
302.11
1200.00
7810.00
3119.85
11404.37
0.00
666.65
157.75
96.00| |Sub Total||25132.73| |Interest earned||4.15| |Income:||25136.88| |**Payments:**
Bar stock purchased
Business Rates
Capital Purchases/Improvements
Cleaning fees
Cleaning materials
Cov Reimbursement
Damage Deposits repaid
Electricity
Equipment / other hire
Equipment Service
Event expenses paid out
Hire monies refunded
Insurance
Licenses & Subs
Oil
Other
Repairs/Replacements
Stationery
Waste
Water
Website||668.94
201.95
14322.45
2833.50
275.52
295.52
1393.13
728.29
0.00
491.96
518.07
304.50
666.44
593.64
1133.22
20.00
766.72
14.99
251.42
446.39
71.99| |Total:||25998.64| |||| |Net surplus/loss Yr End||-861.76| |Bar stock carried forward 31/3/20||240.83| |Bar stock purchased 20/21
0.00
Bar stock consumed 20/21
0.00
Bar stock value remaining
277.37
**Bank Balances**
**at 31/3/21**|668.94
632.40| |---|---| ||277.37| ||**at 31/3/20**| ||5610.77
3207.14
818.56| ||**9636.47**| ||123.00
277.37| **Reserves increased by: 17921.34** ## Declaration The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees ## _Beverley Osborne_ Beverley Osborne Chairman, Buckhorn Weston Village Hall 28[th] October 2021