Dickens Heath Village Hall Limited. AGM 22[nd] September 2022 Directors Annual Report for the 12 months ending 31[st] March 2022.
Much of the year from April into November was affected by the Coved-19 situation in respect of our lettings income while outgoings on maintaining the premises continued although where possible were at a reduced level.
At the 4[th] November 2021 AGM following a re-organisation a number of changes were made with previously serving directors Len Cresswell & Cllr. Ken Hawkins stepping down and replaced by Parish Cllrs. Nargis Rashid & myself Trevor Eames.
Councillor Ken Hawkins remains as a Trustee.
After such a disruptive break our existing regular bookings started to return when permitted but some groups were unfortunately discontinued due to lack of support after the long break.
In addition there were some considerable costs incurred for repairs and maintenance including an expensive Boiler Replacement and high energy costs incurred.
In December the Hall again arranged to support the Christmas Light Event with sponsorship support from the Parish Council. At the end of the year the Directors were forced to raise our hire charges in the face of higher costs particularly for heating the building and other service price increases which caused problems for some hirers who were trying to rebuild their existing support.
We were fortunate in that the Hall received Government Grants in cash of £11,667 which after those expensive maintenance costs reduced our deficit to £(552) for the year. In the current half year lettings have continued to improve both for regular slots and for the one-off party type events which make a significant contribution to our income as they tend to be longer hours at our higher rates.
We have had another large expense in replacing a Fire Door this past month while able to support and co-sponsor the village late Queens Platinum Jubillee Celebration Event in June plus the Commonwealth Games Event in July this year that were both very successful.
Providing there are no further major setbacks the hall is now attracting new users for the empty slots and has adequate funds available as we focus on a balanced budget for 2022/23 while meeting the social and community needs of the wider Dickens Heath village community.
We also need to acknowledge the hard work put in over a very demanding year by our small team of Directors, our administrator Yasmeen and Committee Member Martin Gisborne plus volunteers from the community who came forward to help with events when needed. Trevor Eames on behalf of the Board of Directors 20[th] September 2022