Wilstead Jubilee Centre Annual General Meeting Wednesday 13[th] August 2025, 7.30pm
Attendees : Eric Benton, Tim Wren, Patsy and Adrian Northern, Dave Riddle, Emily Woodley (Guides), Vicki Day (Brownies), Tim Braybrook, Emily Watson and Ashley Rick (Little Toes Nursery)
Apologies : Paul Jackson (Football Club)
Last year’s minutes were taken as read.
1. Chair's Report - given by Trustee, Eric Benton
This year (April 2024 – End March 2025) the committee has been chaired by myself. I have been very active with keeping the accounts, organising bookings, invoices and payments and carrying out maintenance duties but the task has been made much easier by the regular bookings - Little Toes Nursery, the Scouts, Guides and Brownies and Football Club – representatives have their own keys to be able to open and close for themselves.
The Centre has continued to be cleaned every two weeks using a Cleaning Contractor who have not increased their fees in all the time we have been using them. However, as the cleaning of the main hall has been restricted by the full-time daily bookings for the Nursery we are looking for an alternative process going forward. This is in place for the new Financial Year.
Bookings from outside have been limited but, with the advent of the Nursery and regular evening bookings, only Friday evenings and the weekends have been freely available. This has meant that we are not dependent for income on outside bookings and will in the next year be a lot more self-sufficient. We continue to hold a balance from grants provided by the Local Council/Government during the Covid Pandemic and our current funds are sufficient to cover foreseeable expenses.
Next year we shall have the financial benefit of a full year’s income from Little Toes Nursery and Holiday Club and will be able to invest in maintaining and improving the premises.
The Nursery has requested and been granted permission to erect a fence to allow the children to play outside during good weather.
Servicing of fire alarms, emergency lighting and boiler has been carried out in line with required intervals but we are overdue in conducting the annual PAT test of all portable electrical devices.
Our high use of gas was a problem but we have learned how to heat the building only for the times and areas required.
Access to the bookings is available online to those who need to know. In order to protect the Nursery equipment, when not in use, we have purchased some screens and propose a wall-to-wall curtain to hide the equipment from view. The Borough Ward fund will cover half of this cost.
During the year we also came to an agreement with the Football Club concerning future bookings based upon the rates paid by (particularly Wixams Football Club) at other venues.
We will also need to continue to attract new hirers as the Jubilee Centre is a Wilstead Community facility.
When discussing the need for the wall-to-wall curtain earlier this year with the Parish Council, it was proposed to investigate an extension to the main hall and kitchen to create more storage space and an extended kitchen with better appliances and greater capacity. Hopefully this is a possibility within the next Financial Year.
2: Treasurer’s Report for the Year ended 31st March 2025
We are indebted this year to Paul Jackson who has audited our accounts and found them to represent a “fair and true view of our transactions for the year”. During the year we slightly increased our annual loss (from £866 to £1217). This was mainly due to the excessive use of propane gas caused by overheating the changing room area of the Centre when it was not in use. This has now been corrected. In total our expense on Utilities increased by £858. Bookings over the year increased by £941. Bookings next year, which include a full-time Nursery and Holiday Club, should mean that we shall be able to hold our own, offset maintenance and utility expense and provide for improvements such as redecoration.
The Centre continues to be rarely used at weekends (other than by the Football Club) and we need to attract further bookings accordingly. At the end of the year we had £16,672 in the bank and £20 in cash. A copy of the Profit and Loss statement for the Financial Year 2024/25 follows at the end of these minutes.
There were no questions on the accounts.
3: Election of Officers
The following officers and members of the committee have been elected:
Chair Patsy Northern Treasurer Eric Benton Booking Secretary Eric to continue to coordinate Secretary There were no volunteers at this time. Patsy and Eric to coordinate between them. Trustees Patsy Northern, Eric Benton, Dave Riddle, Tim Braybrook Charity commission principal contact: Eric Benton
Tim Wren agreed to remain a committee member.
4: Maintenance Issues:
Thanks to Tim Wren for fixing the excessive noise from the toilet cisterns throughout the building.
The wall-to-wall curtain was discussed and, to create room for it to be drawn back to the side of the cupboards in the main hall, the Nursery will move their equipment out of the way on the day of fitting.
5: Football Club, Nursery and Other regular Users
Paul Jackson has been liaising with other football clubs to hire out the pitches and changing rooms at a competitive rate. He was able to transfer £1000 to the Jubilee Centre from funds received.
6: Any Other Business
The Scouts had wanted to locate a 20ft container in the compound beside the Centre for storage of tents etc. However, the Parish council were not happy with this. Instead, they suggested an extension on the field side of hall, as indicated above in the Chairman’s report, for storage of the Nursery equipment. This would create more capacity in the compound to erect a larger shed for the Scouts.
It was agreed that the Committee should meet on a quarterly basis in the future. It was suggested that a Tuesday evening (after Scouts/Cubs) would be a good time.
12 MoThthsEnthd 31 202S I2Month5Ed 31Marth3014 In¢thm• IA15.17 Q531.25 60.00 0.00 250.00 Wllstead factlIaut Céntye Hire-othe UGA Hllt Wild Fund Rocelpt ILEOb•ttens1 1.56).66 5.590.00 (Èntie Hlre-OthÈr Vlird Fund Rttthpt i.$$0.00 250.00 Total lThro ts.256.42 Total IntL 9.0$3 $8 StitneryP0sta1É Atp•lrs &m4lnten&nce sutIDnèry&past4g I.ODD.23 Gis. Eloitfkity 4,385.09 1.708.99 804 70 601 98 1.60S.00 434,68 Ward FuThd PTheIlts Word Frpa7)ent ffl5 .9A73.29 TotsiE¥vThtuM -9.920.06 rplusofkKtyn¢ owerewndltur -88£.40 Mar-24 kh•dUl•A$th1I U•WW•b 16.672.th) C¥sh p01# &G41 PIEP&ld IN¥4&Ga5 -2.7P2.50 Oepos1150Wtd DEptssi1sfj .8SO.W -50.00 15.954.72 Nepieseny ReseNesblfd IApi 1simsfDI PW RpMrve¢l -866.40 IS.98d,72 Ihave p¥amirtdthe boDk&¥CherSllléKUeffttsè1tOwPSttdJUbIleÈcttre and In myvlewthe aboveatEoDDIIMSatTuearé falrviEwofitStiaSiEt15[0TEyeemde03I$t ature Date (f