2022/23 Chair’s report;
Thank outgoing committee - Rod, Steve, Marie and Annabelle, all of whom are still giving their time to the community and the Canolfan in their various ways.
Thank new committee/trustees - Claire, Paul and Holly started our roles in April 2022 along with Karen Morgan who saw us through the summer before retiring in the winter, at which point Michelle and Jason joined as committee members.
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It was from April 2022 that the committee decided to use the financial buffer gained from Covid grants to offer the use of the hall for free to not-for-profit organisations.
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In 2022/23, Cwm Arian Renewable Energy/CARE were in their 3rd year as tenants, now inhabiting both the small rooms, which they use as offices for their ever expanding staff team and project work - the Canolfan has very much become CARE’s home and the organisation brings a multitude of people across the threshold for meetings and activities.
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The mutually beneficial relationship with CARE has meant the Canolfn benefited from monitoring of the building over the winter by CARE’s energy advisors, leading to adjustments to the heating regime to save energy and keep all users comfortable as well as us receiving a report with recommendations for what to focus on in terms of building maintenance to improve energy efficiency
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The Lunch Club and Te am 2 coffee afternoons are still going strong, with a huge thanks to the volunteers who give their time for free, which means, for example, the lunch club donates between £40 and £60 a month to the Canolfan and dozens of people continue get a good feed and a chance to meet their friends and neighbours.
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The Tegryn Welfare Committee and Ysgol Clydau both continue to be regular users of the Canolfan for regular activities and seasonal events - and we are grateful that we enjoy such a friendly relationship with both of these crucial community organisations
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The hall was used as a polling station for local elections in May 2022, and we also enjoyed visits from many support organisations such as PAVS Community Connectors and Pembrokeshire Community Hub staff, the Community Energy Wales team, and the Helping Halls project.
From summer 2022, the new committee started proactively trying to invest time and money in raising awareness of the Canolfan’s existence, getting more people using the facilities, and different groups to run activities here. The following month by month summary shows some of the results of that strategy;
August - we held a taster fortnight which attracted dozens of people to try out a wide variety of free sessions from yoga and gong baths to scything and salsa. This kick started the many active classes that now fill the hall most nights of the week..
September - the design for the community garden was finalised with the help of Cwm Arian’s Feeding Our Community project, and we began to plan how to spend the funding that was given as part of that project. Jason also started one of his weekly activity sessions, which he now
runs 3 nights a week here, and we hosted a popular apple day with Cwm Arian’s apple pressing service.
October - the shipping container was purchased, allowing us to move much of the bigger equipment and spare chairs out of the hall and giving space for the sofas which created the warm space we have on offer throughout the year but especially for the colder months. November - TWC hosted another popular christmas fair in the marquee on the garden, and CARE hosted a family cookery workshop.
January - Peter started as Centre Coordinator and has been instrumental in helping the Canolfan run smoothly by running the bookings and managing maintenance of the building, plus the the series of 10 community cook-ups began with the Canolfan partnering with CARE to apply for grant funding from various sources to allow us to offer free meals throughout the winter, which attracted an average of around 12 volunteers and 55 diners each week to cook and eat great meals together
February - community freezer arrived, which has proved very popular with CARE staff, people attending the regular classes, and people from the community too. We also held two community work days in the garden and a group of hardy volunteers planted the hedge and the forest garden border, and installed the picnic benches.
March - work began on the bike shed in the car park
All this, alongside regular bookings from Alan James & Sons, bookings for private parties and funeral teas, first aid courses and Merched y Wawr meetings. I think we can safely say that Canolfan Clydau has turned the corner and is now a pretty busy little community hall!
Financials;
Bank balance at 1st April 2022 = £24,702.37 Bank balance at 1st April 2023 = £27,468.77
The cost of electricity and water is more than double in 2022/23 compared to the previous year; this is partly due to price rises but there has also been a significant increase in usage of the building. For similar reasons, maintenance costs have increased as we now employ a cleaner who visits once a week to keep the place spick and span. Around 10 times the amount was spent on events in 2023/23 compared to the previous year - more than half this cost was for the community cook-ups and was grant-funded, the rest came from reserves, which the committee feels has been worth the investment given what I’ve outlined above about increased use.
Rental income has increased by around 60% compared to last year, thanks mainly to CARE renting both offices for the full year and Jason’s classes becoming regular fixtures in the calendar. We have been successful with grant funding bids with the total coming from 4 sources - PAVS Warm Welcome grant for the community cook-ups, PAVS Outdoor Connections grant for the garden furniture, CARE’s Feeding Our Community grant for the plants and compost, and PCNPA’s Sustainable Development Fund, which has funded the vast majority of the container and bike shed development in the car park. The significant amount of donations -
£520 - have come almost entirely from the Luncheon Club. The Canolfan also earns a modest income from the electric car charging point, which CARE uses for charging the company vehicles it leases, and from Feed in Tariffs from the solar PV array.
You can see that we have stripped out running costs and compared them against rental income, to find that we ran at a loss of around £1,600 (compared to a running loss of £1,100 the previous year). Whilst we have a comfortable buffer still in the bank account at the end of this year which has meant we can continue to offer use of the hall for free to not-for-profit groups, we can’t be complacent as current rental rates do not cover what it costs to keep the building going. Taking into account the grant that we held unspent at the end of March, what we owed to CARE for Pete’s wages, and the creditors still to pay us, we ended the year with an overall loss of £4,065.88.
2022/23 Summary
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Expenditure
Electricity -£4,935.18
Internet -£954.48 Running costs -£8,725.54
Deficit (running costs minus rent,
Water -£316.13 donations & 'other' income) -£1,624.85
Maintenance -£1,693.14 Alarms, extinguishers, mower incl fuel, cleaning
Refurbishment -£8,159.26 Shipping container, garden, shelving, furniture
Insurance -£767.99 Policy for renewal in June
Consumables -£58.62 Loo roll, cleaning stuff
Events -£4,034.89 Taster fortnight, community cookups Grants 'in hand' at end of year £6,011.80
Other -£349.60 consultancy help, wheelie bin, ICO registration Creditors (FiTs, EV charging, rental) £390.72
-£21,269.29 Debtors (Pete wages) -£1,211.20
Income
Room hire £5,352.23
Grants £16,935.00 Expenditure adjusted -£22,480.49
Donations £520.00 Income adjusted £18,414.61
Other £1,228.46 EV charging, FiTs, refunds Profit/Loss for 2022/23 -£4,065.88
£24,035.69
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