Blindcrake Wjllage Hall CIO Registered Charity no 1171226 Trusteeg Annual Report for the period l April 2023 - 31 March 2024 Treasurer: Rosalind Berry Holm Farm. Blindcrake, Cockermouth, Cumbria CA13 OQP Introduction: Chairrnan's report The Village Hall has continued to remain active over the last twelve months. The successful renovation of the Hall has resulted in an increase in hirings. We have regular Pilates sessions, and the Bible Study Group continue to use the Hall on a regular basis. Private bookings for parties also seem to have increased. All our usual events. such as the Garden Safari and the Evening Inns, are thrivin& and it is hoped that in the coming year more one-off functions can be arranged for our local community- Perhaps we should be more proactive in promoting such events to tryto achieve maximum interest. Following the AGM we shall begin in earnest to formulate a document dealing with all aspects of running the Village Hall. which will be of great assistance as existing members retire and new members join. Craig Oliver has joined the Commtiee duringthe last twelve months, and we hope that at least one further member can be eletted or co-opted in the near future. The Committee needs as broad a range of ages and ski115 a5 Possible. I would like to thank all Committee members for all their hard work during the past year. Neil Pilling, Chairman Trustees Our CIO constitution requires at least three charttytrustees Icommtttee member51, of whom up to six may be elected at an AGM; up to nine appointed following nomination by a user body; and up to three ciFopted at any meeting of the charttytru5tees. During 2023-24 our Trustees were- Neil Pilling R05 Berry Rachel Hecht Imcconkeyl Cathy Keough Graeme Forrester Marisa Soppitt Craig Oliver Appointed Appointed Elected Elected Appointed Elected Elected Chairman Treasurer Bookings Secretary Secretary From 9 May 2023
Meetings The Management Committee usually meets fourto six times a year. We met on six occasions during 2023-24, with our AGM in May. Sources of advice and support Banking: Cumberland Building Society. Station Road Cockermouth Architects- Day Cummins, Cockermouth Charity: Action with Communities in Cumbria (Acri Objertives of the CIO The objects of the CIO are to establish and run a village hall and to promote for the benefit of the inhabitants of the civil Parish of Blindcrake I'area of benefit"} without distinction of sex. sexual orientation, age, disability, nationality, race or political, religiou5 or other opinions the provision of faciltties for recreation or other leisure time occupation of individuals who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disablement, financial hardship or social and economic circumstances or for the public at large in the interests of social welfare and with the object of improving the conditions of life of the said inhabitants. The Trustees consider these objectives to be consistent with Charity Commission guidance on providing for the public benefit, and these objectives have been pursued in the activities of the charity this year. Structure, governan and lease The Hall was converted from a row of three cottages and given by the Rev Sharpe, Vicar of Isel, to the Church of England Carlisle Diocesan Trust and Finance Association (now Board of Finance) by deed of indenture dated 5 July 1897. Blindcrake Village Hall was established as a charity by a Trust Deed and Lease on I December 1988. It was registered as an unincorporated charity with the Charity Commission on 20 September 1993. The Lease of l December 1988 expired on 30 November 2016, and a new 50 year lease was signed on 12 June 2018. Land Registration was also completed. The charity was converted to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation ICIOI wFth a new Governing Document and registration with the Charity Commission on 20 January 2017 and a formal merger of the two charities at our 2017 AGM. This is the seventh annual report of the CIO. The building was professionally valued in 2016 as a community building by R J Smeaton MRICS at £10,000. The lease is a full repairing lease which means that, although onlv peppercorn rent of £1.00 per annum is payable on demand, the Managernent Committee is responsible for keeping the building in a good state of repair.
Principal artivities The hall is normally in use most weeks for a variety of activities, including Pilates classes, meetings of the Parish Council, and local groups such as Isel Cricket Club, Wigton Motor Club and First Responders. It is used for coffee mornings, concerts, theatre performances, fundraising social events such as Burns. supper, Garden Safari. Christmas carol concert and prize draw, and the Evening Inn quiz, and private hires such as children's parties and funeral teas. Usage and hires have continued at a much higher rate than pre-pandemic, helped by the Cumbria Bible Study Group which holds Saturday meetings. Funding strategy Whilst our objectives are to provide a village hall for the purpose of recreation of our inhabitant5, the revenue budget needs to be managed on a self-financing basis. The hire fees and other contributions made by users of the hall. in addition to fundraising bythe Management Committee. are set to achieve this. The lease allows the Church of England and the Binsey Team ministry to use the Hall free of charge for up to 21 days per annum. There has also been a long standing practice of not charging certain groups wtth a charitable purpose such as the First Responders for use of the hall. Management costs are kept to a minimum by use of Trustees and volunteers to take bookings, ensure heating is set etc. However we do use the services of a self-employed cleaner, window cleaner and local tradespeople for repairs and maintenance. The Hall incurs a number of ongoing costs such as insurance, heating fuel, regardless of the level of income. We keep a reserve of £5,1X)O to cover annual running costs in case of emergencies. Poliaes The Village Hall has adopted a hiring policy. It has updated its Hiring Agreement. which is sent to the hirer by the Chairman when booking. The hiring agreement identifies the responsibilities of each party when booking the hall. During 2019-20 we also adopted an Environmental Policy, an Equal Opportunities Statement of Intent and a Safeguarding Policy for Children and Vulnerable Adults. The Safeguarding Policy has been reviewed and updated. io Licenos The Hall has a Premises Licence for designated entertainments, including the sale of alcohol. The Hall is also licensed by the Performing Rights Society for live and recorded music. We continue to renew our lottery licence annually although we have not made use of it every year.
li Insurance The Hall is insured by Allied Westminster, underwritten by Aviva. We agreed a five year term policy in July 2020: our annual premium in 2023-24 was £972, up from £874 in 2022-23. 12 ReseNes policy Trustees have agreed to hold £5,000 in the bank as unrestricted reserves, this being equivalent to 100% average annual expenditure excluding cost of events. This cash is available for running costs in the event of being unable to raise income from our normal activities, and for unforeseen expenditure eg in relation to building maintenance or urgent furniture or equipment replacement. 13 Investments The M&G Charifund has yielded useful dividends including £658 in 2023-24. This is a small increase on last yearfs dividend of £639. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the value of our stock5 reduced significantly, from £12,700 to £9,200. The valuation during 2021-22 recovered considerably to £12,094 but has since reduced. partly afferted by the impact of the war in Ukraine, with the latest (December 20231 valuation standing at £10.986. 14 Bank accounts As advised by ACT, in 2017 we opened a new building society deposit account for the CIO. This is now our only account- signatories are Ros Berry, Neil Pillin& Marisa Soppitt and Graeme Forrester. There had been some confusion over bank account signatories and it transpired that recent changes had not been enacted, despite forms and required evidence being submitted. This has now been rectified. An increasing number of payees request electronic payments. but the Cumberland Building Society only offer internet banking on business or personal accounts. It is possible to request the CBS branch to make electronic payments from our account. We are investigating options for opening an account with a bank which would offer us the facility to make internet payments with two signatories. 15 2023-24 artivities The closing balance of our current account was £18,655.45, a fall of £198 from the previous year. However as we have now cleared the final retention payment to our main building contractor, thi5 actually represents a good achievement in terms of excess of income over payments. al Building improvements We paid the 2.5% retention on the main contract of £3.206, which now completes all outstanding commitments relating to the building project.
We continue to experience intermittent i55ues with our LPG-powered central heating system. We commissioned A Muir to carry out an energy audit during last year and are considering hi5 recommendations. g and fundraising Our income excluding one-off grants totalled £7,580. Receipts from hires has reached its highest ever level at £2,079, making a quarter of total income. We increased our hire fees slightly from October 2022 to reflect increased fuel costs and the extra amenities we now offer; we will keep rates under review. Around two-thirds of income came from fijndraising events. We held a successful Garden Safari at the end of June. which netted a wonderful £2,144. not including a generous donation of £250 from Breedon quarries towards our expenses. Many thank5 are due to numerous volunteers who helped in the planning and on the day. One of our parishioners organised a Christmas market at the end of November, and £100 income from stallholders wa5 generously donated to us over and above the hall hire. Although we were not currently able to host a local children's carol concert, our annual Christmas prize draw was successful in bringing parishioners together and made £225 on the raffle. The Burns supper was re-started this January and was a tremendous success, due in no srnall part to the culinary expertlse of resident chef Alistair Coe: net income was £780. We held four winter Evening Inn pub quiz nights. which raised £700. We collaborated with local charity Cumbria Overseas Aid Trust to hold a fundraising quiz. and the bar made £170 for Hall funds. Pa ments Our routine expenditure excluding the final contractorfs bill and the energy audit totalled £4.722. We prepare our accounts as receipt and payment accounts, rather than accruals. Our biggest expense was the final instalment of our main contractor's bill at £3.206. Other expenses now reflect routine outgoings- insurance. elertricity, heating. Our insurance annual premium rose by over IO% to £966. We have incurred £750 in gardening and maintenance costs but unfortunately our cheque did not clear before the financial year end. Our 3 year contract for electricity expires in December 2024. Our current electricity charges are 16.39p per KWH and 52.3p per day standing charge. Our new charge will be considerably higher than the rate we have been paying. As the smart meter stopped working in late 2022 and was only replaced in the summer of 2023, our bills for 2023-24 were lower than expected. Due to the settlement of our dispute with BT over our broadband installation and associated charges, we did not start to incur costs until the early part of the financial year. The actual cost has been just under £600: we have now agreed a new contract which will be somewhat better value. We were able to again secure discretionary rate relief from Cumberland Council. We agreed to increase our self-employed cleanerfs hourly rate to £15 from January.
16 Conclusion Without the one-off items of income and payments. but accounting for the bill for annual gardening and maintenance, we would have had a healthy surplus of over £2,000. We are in a sound financial position with a current balance of £18,655. The investment we have made in broadband and audio-visual equipment seems to be encouraging more hirers to use the hall, as well as meeting the expectation5 of local users. Looking forward, we will be considering the options for updating our heating system and the funding implications. We have started to undertake a wide review of Village Hall functions, and document management committee roles and tasks. with the aim of developing an annual plan to support a more proactive approach to our work. Ros Berry, Treasurer 9 April 2024 Declaration The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees, report above. Signed on behalf of the chariWs Trustees Signature Full name NèIL ¢ogfroi PILLINJ Position on Management Committee CH-A-i QMA N) Date
BliThlcrake Willag8 Hal Blirkycrake. Near c¢errmUlh Curnbria CA13 OQP Chanty Commisson Register1 Numt)8r 1171226 Rec81 tsandP ments Account Yèar EndiTr 31st Mah 2024 2023-24 2022.23 Recei Donations Room Hire Inte$1 1ved ChariftwKI Garden Safari Buffls Supp8r Evening Inn Special 8vents Gr8nt fundiro Sundry 145.00 2000.50 639.28 1089.00 0.00 982.(X) 1216.50 2000.00 2079 00 658.42 2433.10 970.50 7.00 629 50 Total Receipts 8330.52 8072.28 caheatIng Electricity Insurance Repairs & maintenance Sundries Cleaning Special events expenses Desy)sils tUrned Professional expense5 Contractor paYts Broadband 867.31 321_91 971_72 331.42 377.46 454.69 $55.27 80.00 765.CM) 3206.31 597.66 873.77 294.96 873.51 1441.65 5958.86 746.75 451.11 165.00 5556. 0.00 Total Payments 8528.75 16361.61 Total Receipts less Payments -198.23 289.33 Movement of Reserves Balance brought forward Total Recespts less paytnents for year ending 3110W23 Transfer froml¢o reseThes 18853.68 -198.23 27143.01 4289.33 18655.45 18853.68 Statement as at ear endin 31st March 2024 Balance at Cumberfand Buildin9 SletY l Bank M&G Investment AccInt brought forward Transfers to current Account Closing Value of Investment 31112123. 18655.45 11250.69 658.42 10986.33 18853.68 12094.31 639.28 11250.69 Accumulated Fund 29641.78 30104.37 Ms R J Berry TreasUr Holm Fam. Blindcrake cockernU¢h, CA13 OQP Shwed: Examined fouThd CCcl.. Swed.. A.y. Pu(iYIS PJS&K FArtrt O&(AAP A13 gss Auditor Date: Z3/?Jzoa