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 Register￿1 Numt)8r 1171226
Rec81
tsandP
ments Account Yèar EndiTr
31st Ma￿h 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
ca￿heatIng
Electricity
Insurance
Repairs & maintenance
Sundries
Cleaning
Special events expenses
Desy)sils ￿tUrned
Professional expense5
Contractor paY￿￿ts
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 S￿letY l Bank
M&G Investment AccI￿nt 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 TreasU￿r
Holm Fam. Blindcrake
cockern￿U¢h, CA13 OQP
Shwed:
Examined fouThd CC￿cl..
Swed..
A.y. Pu(iYIS
PJS&K FArtrt
O&(AAP
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Auditor
Date:
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