Harwell Village Hall 2022 2023 Charity Number 1157858
## Chair's report
April 2022 to 2023 has in general been a good year for the hall with a return to usage as per pre-covid levels. Our thanks to Amy our bookings administrator for her sterling work in keeping the bookings coming in.
On the downside, with the unprecedented increase in energy costs the utilities bill was approx. 50% higher than expected and will increase again in 2023-24 when the current fixed price arrangement finishes. There were also issues with the heating system which required multiple engineer visits with the associated costs.
The Trustee numbers remained stable, though it would be good to increase the number of trustees to try and spread the workload, especially as the current Treasurer (a non-trustee) has indicated he will resign from 1st April 2024 and the current Chair has indicated he wishes to step down (at least from the chair role) at the end of 2023. The Trustees wish to recognise the considerable contribution the Treasurer has made to the running of the hall over the years.
With the addition of Giles Barwell to the Trustee group last year, significant progress has been made to realising the goal of the hall being Carbon Net Zero in line with government targets. Phase One of this project has been initiated and should complete by the end of summer 2023.
Other notable activities are that a plaque was purchased put up in the Cherry Hall car park to celebrate the signs designed and crafted by local artist Julie Grose. The Cherry Hall projector system was upgraded and some remedial work was done with the AV system in Orchard hall. The curtains were cleaned and fire retarded and the emergency lighting was overhauled.
The Trustees acknowledge and thank the cleaning team and those volunteers who help maintain the hall and also those who get called out to deal with the occasional user problem.
## Treasurer's Report
## Basis of accounting and special items
The accounts are maintained and prepared on a Receipts and Payments basis.
## Unrestricted funds
These can be regarded as the "operational account", covering all transactions appropriate to the hire and running of the village hall.
## Restricted funds
These are "ringfenced" funds provided for a specific purpose, and include
- deposits for the hire of the hall
- grants and donations granted for specific projects
- monies held on behalf of the organisers of a Safari Supper.
## There are no additional special items.
## Review
Use of the hall, and receipts from hire fees have returned to pre-covid levels and exceeds routine expense so that an excess of about €8,000 was generated in the financial year ending 31st March 2023. Utility costs increased by E5,OOO (N10% of total hire fees received) due mainly to a nearly doubling of electricity costs. Gas costs are constrained by a long term contract and will remain at the same level for another year.
Payments include a deposit payment of Ell,354 for supply of solar panels and an associated battery system. This payment came out of reserves, but it, and the full cost of the solar system, will be covered by the anticipated receipt of S106 money
Trustees have established a designated fund for dilapidations and
improvements so as to forecast each year the costs for specific projects over and above the routine management of the hall premises. This year money was spent on a replacement projector and new speakers in Cherry Hall, as well as the cleaning of all curtains.
Restricted Funds and transfers between funds
Main receipt of restricted funds is €2,718 for a third party event— an April 2023 Safari Supper to be held at the hall. Other Payments is the return of the April 2022 Safari Supper funds.
Transfer between funds of €442 covers the hire of the hall for the Safaris Supper, and the release, with permission from the donor, of a small grant which can now be spent without constraint, but which will be allocated to the solar project.
## Looking ahead
Annual budgeting now includes a five year forecast. Receipts should continue to exceed payments to enable trustees to retain a contingency fund and allocate money to the designated fund for dilapidations and improvements.
During the next year, trustees anticipate receiving further S106 monies which will be allocated to the solar panel project.
Fuel costs have been a major concern, but new three year contracts have been secured for both electricity and gas so that, although much higher than in the past, trustees have some certainty about future utility costs and provided that hire fees hold up, the immediate financial threat to the viability of the hall has been removed.
## Contingency
On 31 March 2023, trustees had total reserves of E63,987 and a mortgage loan amount outstanding of E48,004
The Charity Bank recommend that a balance of approximately six months income is retained as a general contingency fund.
## Assets and liabilities
The Charity Bank loan is secured against the value of the hall and the underlying land.
The hall was valued in July 2016 by Lambert Smith Hampton as follows:
Market Value €700,000 Gross Development Value E950,ooo
The hall buildings are insured for El,591,350 and the contents for E106,090.
For the purpose of this financial report, the value of the assets retained for Village Hall use are:
Fixed assets (building) E700,OOO
The value of the outstanding loan from the Charity Bank, as of 31 March 2023, was E48,004
CIO conformance
No guarantees have been provided by the Village Hall trustees
Outstanding debt, the Charity Bank loan, is secured against a charge on the Village Hall assets, which are valued at E700,000.
David Marsh
Treasurer
Approved by all the trustees, and signed on their behalf
Duncan Chappell Date Chair
## Independent Examiner's Report
## To the Trustees of Harwell Village Hall
On Accounts for Year Ended 31st March 2023
## Responsibilities and basis of Report
As the charity's trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the Charities Act 2011.
I report in respect of my examination of the charitvs accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Charities Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
## Independent Examiner's Statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect:
- accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act or
- the accounts do not accord with the accounting records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
(Independent Examiner) Mr Nicholas Clarke CPFA
Date:
1 Lockton Barns
Church Lane
Harwell oxli OEZ
## Harwell Village Hall. Charity no. 1157858 Accounts - 1st April 2022 to 31 March 2023
||||Accou|nts
-
1st
April
2|022
to
31
M|arch
2023|arch
2023||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|GBPE||||Unrestricted|Restricted|Total||total|
|||||Funds|Funds|2022/23||2021/22|
|Receipts|||||||||
|Grants||||1,550|200|1,750|12,763||
|Donations
(Safari|||Supper)|o|2,718|2,718||1,059|
|Hire
Fees||||51,987|600|52,587
44,719|||
|Bank
interest||||95||95||6|
|Total
Receipts||||53,632|3,518|57,150|58,547||
|Payments|||||||||
|Utilities||||12,372||12,372||6,991|
|Maintenance|
and||repairs|2,470||2,470||2,433|
|Service
contracts||||6,517||6,517||4,235|
|Cleaning||||7,997||7,997||3,362|
|Administration||||5,580||5,580||4,734|
|Insurance||||||2
344||2,232|
|Licences||||717||717||246|
|Purchases||||14,378|1,595|15,973|||
|other
payments||||o|2,324|2,324|||
|Loan
Costs||||4,375||4,375||6,064|
|Total
Payments||||56,750|3,919|60,669
30,297|||
|Excess
of
Receipts
over
Payments||||-3,118|-401|-3,519||28,250|
|Transfers
between||
Funds||442|-442||||
|Opening
balances||||55,524|11,981|67,505|||
|Closing
balances||||52,848|11,138|63,987|||
## Statement of Assets and Liabilities
|GBPE|GBPE|||Unrestricted|Restricted|Restricted||Total|total|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||Funds|Funds||2022/23||2021/22|
|Cash|
Funds|||||||||
||Cash|||||||||
||Current|
Account||13,848||o||13,848|17,462|
|Deposit||
Account||39,000|11,138||50,138||50,043|
|Total|
Cash
Funds|||52,848|11,138||63,986||67,505|
|Debtors||||||||||
|Liabilities||||||||||
||Loan|||48,004|||48,004||49,405|
|Accounb
prepared|||by|Accounts
approved
on||
behalf
of||
the
Trustees||
|David
Marsh
(Treasurer)||||Duncan
Cha
pell
(Chair)||||||