## **Sele Farm Community Centre** ## **Chair’s Report – Adam Leaf** First of all I’d like to welcome Jordan Scott, the Chair of the Management Committee since January when he took over form Rick Hartwig. We’ll hear from Jordan later, and I would like to thank Rick for his service to the community centre and in particular for pushing through the section 106 applications. It’s been a very exciting year at the Community Centre. We’re very proud at this year’s AGM to have heat and that that heat is being generated through our own solar power. We have use the section 106 funds made available from the Blakemore Manor development through East Herts Council. That money has allowed us to replace the old defunct gas boiler with a state-ofthe-art air source heat pump. It has also funded the solar panels that you will have seen on the south roof as you entered and a battery to allow us to store electricity generated until it’s needed. As a result we are no longer dependent on gas and our electricity bill has been significantly reduced. In fact we are now selling excess electricity back to the grid. We have therefore had a warm centre this winter and a robust system that should allow us to keep it warm for years to come. We’ve moved closer to our aim of being a net zero community centre thanks to the solar panels and the sun. We have been able to keep our price increase to well below inflation – and we don’t plan to increase hire fees in the foreseeable future. Once we have a year’s experience of the system we will review our budget based on real world confidence of lower energy costs and pass any benefits back to the users of the centre. Outside, you will probably have noticed the new path to the South of the building. This provides emergency step-free egress from the hall and has opened up an area at the back that we can now use for bouncy castles. I’d like to particularly mention Kevin Fraser for his work in managing these works which is on top of the general day to day maintenance of the site. As you may have seen the outline planning application for Archer’s Spring has been approved but thanks to our intervention, and with help from Sele Ward Neighbourhood Association, we have achieved a couple of significant concessions: first, we have been allocated nearly a quarter of a million pounds in section 106 money to compensate for the loss of the parking spaces outside the gate. We hope to use some of this to create a drop of access from the new development; and second, HCC highways have agreed to get the developer to reassess the bus access through Perret Gardens to look at ways of making it safer and avoiding the potential of 2 double-deckers meeting head on in a 5m wide road. On the booking side, we are now ahead of where we were pre-pandemic. This is a remarkable achievement given the precarity of venues such as this. It is in no small way a testament to Jason and the management committee for operating and maintaining this fantastic space – which one of the best community centres or village halls I’ve seen. To the future, we have a number of projects which we are looking at: acoustic dampening to make the hall less echoey; adding an extra set of doors in the entrance to prevent heat escaping and an upgrade to the kitchen. So thanks to my fellow trustees, to the management committee and to you, our community for a successful year and I look forward to many more. SFCC AGM 29.4.24 Sele Farm Community Centre Income & Expenditure Account for the year ended 31 December 2022 2023 Incotne from lettin45 & Hire Deposit refund5 EHDC Grant Network Housin4 Dep05it5 held 17,854.32 1135.ml 3,426. 22,625.Sl 1290.MI 47,644.92 1,142.85 10.85 21 156.17 362.06 71 485.34 Total Expenditure 9,718.65 3,473.48 1,763.56 4,407.70 998.15 200. 10,013.75 2,003.08 227.69 8,500.34 982.02 46,487.70 359.36 Gard2ning Domestic ilitie5 &Wa5te Phone, Office & Open Day EHDC Grant (Heat pump &SolarPanelsl 619.SS Equipment/Repair5 5,544.27 342.so 2,374.67 236.68 6,000. 128.49 Emergency Exit Pathway Open Day Exp2diture 1,980. 15,791.86 Depreciation of equipment 27 067.86 95 085.64 Surplu5lD&fiutfory&ar 5 911.69 23 600.30 Balanie She&t a5at31 DeiernbBr 2022 2023 A55ets Equipment blfwd 16,20S.91 785.95 1,200. 199.99 bank- Current account 3,871.13 38,869.36 800.64 bank- deposit account 33,931.42 Total balanc&a5 at al 0￿￿mb￿r S9 732.35 36 132.05 Represented by.. Surplu5 blfwd Deficeit foryear Surplu5 Ilfwd a5at31 DBcember 65,644.04 S9,732.35 S9 732.35 36 132.05 F￿￿d A55e5t5 Re￿Ster Item WDV BIFwd AddedThi5 year 2m Strimmer Dishwasher Tables &Chai Cooker 1,2 2m Sele Farm Community Centre Income & Expenditure Account for the year ended 31 December 2022 2023 Incotne from lettin45 & Hire Deposit refund5 EHDC Grant Network Housin4 Dep05it5 held 17,854.32 1135.ml 3,426. 22,625.Sl 1290.MI 47,644.92 1,142.85 10.85 21 156.17 362.06 71 485.34 Total Expenditure 9,718.65 3,473.48 1,763.56 4,407.70 998.15 200. 10,013.75 2,003.08 227.69 8,500.34 982.02 46,487.70 359.36 Gard2ning Domestic ilitie5 &Wa5te Phone, Office & Open Day EHDC Grant (Heat pump &SolarPanelsl 619.SS Equipment/Repair5 5,544.27 342.so 2,374.67 236.68 6,000. 128.49 Emergency Exit Pathway Open Day Exp2diture 1,980. 15,791.86 Depreciation of equipment 27 067.86 95 085.64 Surplu5lD&fiutfory&ar 5 911.69 23 600.30 Balanie She&t a5at31 DeiernbBr 2022 2023 A55ets Equipment blfwd 16,20S.91 785.95 1,200. 199.99 bank- Current account 3,871.13 38,869.36 800.64 bank- deposit account 33,931.42 Total balanc&a5 at al 0￿￿mb￿r S9 732.35 36 132.05 Represented by.. Surplu5 blfwd Deficeit foryear Surplu5 Ilfwd a5at31 DBcember 65,644.04 S9,732.35 S9 732.35 36 132.05 F￿￿d A55e5t5 Re￿Ster Item WDV BIFwd AddedThi5 year 2m Strimmer Dishwasher Tables &Chai Cooker 1,2 2m