GUNNISLAKE VILLAGE HALL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
Annual General Meeting 2025
Trustees Report
In the year since the last AGM the Village Hall has continued to be an essential venue for the local community, providing a welcoming space for a range of activities.
Regular weekly use includes a number of exercise classes (Athlefit, Pilates, and Yoga), and the Thursday coffee morning. There are monthly groups including Gunnislake Gardening Group, the U3A, and Friends Together have used the Hall for their fund raising Bingo evenings. GLAD now use the Hall for both Rehearsals and Performances. There has been a number of bookings for private parties, although those have again reduced over the last year.
The monthly Village Market continues to be a success. Lorna Baker and Jane Ridsdill continued to organise it, with help on the day from Volunteers, including members of the Hall committee. Whilst Jane is continuing with the Market, Lorna has now stepped away, and Sandy Dobbie has kindly volunteered to take over from Lorna. The Committee is grateful for all of Lorna’s efforts in establishing and running the Market over the last two years.
RB fitness has opened a dance and fitness studio in Callington, and Rhiannon has moved the sessions there. We thank her for her support of the Hall over the last two years, and wish her venture every success. This does mean that the Hall is available for hire by other people or groups on Tuesday evenings.
Despite the regular income from Hall hire, the Hall still faces substantial challenges. After excluding the costs of improvements, our income just about covers the outgoings required for day-to-day operations. Clare will give more details in the Treasurers Report.
As reported last year, the hall faces a number of challenges to its structural integrity. The Lower Hall cannot be used, as the electrics have been condemned, and it suffers from damp due to the broken gutters. The Hall does not have the funds to pay for these repairs, and raising funds for just these repairs will be difficult, as there is little visible “improvement” to the Hall. Following last year’s AGM, attendees had the opportunity to see and comment on the refurbishment plans drawn up by Mitchell Architects in Plymouth. Their fees were funded by a grant from Cornwall Council’s Community Capacity Fund as part of their Good Growth Programme. Between October and January, we held eight Public Consultation sessions, giving some 325 people the opportunity to view them and comment. The final Plans are once again on display, should you wish to look at them.
In May, were awarded further grant from Cornwall Council’s Community Capacity Fund. This was to pay the fees of a Quantity Surveyor to evaluate the cost of carrying out the refurbishment plans. The work was completed in July. It showed the total costs of the refurbishment to be estimated at £681,285. This is a lot of money.
Tracie Martin and Kate Goodman have joined the Hall Committee, and, along with Claire Webber, have started to raise funds from our Community. Various events are being planned, along with some one off activities. It is not expected that these will raise the majority of the funds in themselves, but the more successful these fund raising activities are, the more it helps. The major funders will regard these activities as evidence that the Local Community is supportive of the Hall as a community asset, and as such, be more likely to award the Hall grant funding. Please support these where you can. So far they have organised an Indoor Car Boot Sale, and a Bingo Night, both of which were successful. Next is a Hallow’een Celebration.
Along these lines, if you are a UK tax payer, and you give a donation of any amount to the Hall, please fill in a Gift Aid form. This will allow the Hall to claim an extra 25% on top of your donation from the Government. The forms are available next to the collection bucket by the door.
At present the Hall is theoretically run by two Committees. The active day to day management of the Hall is through this legally registered Charity, The Gunnislake Village Hall Committee. As far as I have been able to determine from the few documents we have been able to find, The Hall is actually owned by a Trust called The Gunnislake Institute, although this is not recorded with The Land Registry. This Trust is inactive. It has three trustees, but a Trust document indicates that there should be a minimum of 10. This Trust has no money. We are awaiting information from specialist solicitors on what options are available to put the Hall ownership back on a proper legal footing. This will be critical to being able to raise the necessary funds for the refurbishment. Funders are unlikely to award the sort of amounts we need when the ownership of the building is not clear. Hopefully we can work together to resolve the ownership as a matter of urgency, as this is delaying any approach to possible major funders such as The National Lottery.
Committee continues to use the Health and Safety checklist in regular walk round checks to ensure that the building is safe and that safety certificates are all in place. The Fire Alarm is tested during these checks.
During the year, the Hall has once more provided support for general Village events. Tables and chairs were loaned for both the VE Day Street Party in Commercial Street in May, and for the Family Fun Day on Foster’s Field in August. The Hall was also used by Father Christmas in December. The Hall has also benefitted from support from the Parish Council, who have strimmed the patch of weeds to the side of the Hall, and have helped with our attempts to cut back the ivy from the front and side of the Hall.
The hall committee is run completely by volunteers who give up their time to attend meetings, open and close for events, write grant applications, carry out urgent maintenance tasks, and much more. It can be a thankless task but at the same time can be very rewarding. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody involved because otherwise the hall would not be able to stay open.
Our treasurer, Clare Palmer has decided to stand down, as she is finding her duties to support another charity are taking up more of her time. Clare has been a great asset, and I thank her for all her time, efforts and expertise in running the finances of the Hall since 2022. Hopefully somebody here is willing to take on the role of treasurer for the future. Clare has said that she is willing to support the new treasurer with a hand over of the role.
I have already mentioned that Tracie Martin and Kate Goodman have joined the Committee. During the year, Charles Mitchell, our Village Post Master,
has also come on board, and we have had help and guidance from Dorothy Kirk, following her retirement from being our Cornwall Councillor.
Once again, we offer an invitation to other members of the community to join us on the committee to help ensure the hall goes from strength to strength and remains at the heart of the village for many years to come.
Ross Hanley
Chairman
Gunnislake Village Hall CIO
Trading Accounts 7th June 2024 to 30th June 2025
| 7th June 2024 to 30th June 2025 Opening Cash Balance Income Regular Events 3948.00 One-off Events 1659.82 Village Market 1339.75 Donations 174.50 Other 0.00 Refurb Donations 188.50 Grant 1920.00 Total Income 9,230.57 Expenditure Water 480.31 Electricity 760.81 Gas 855.34 Phone/Broadband 619.62 Business Rates 491.02 Cleaning 980.00 Insurance 1,000.59 Other Expenditure 441.67 Maintenance 1,024.76 Improvements 0.00 Grant Expenditure 4,392.00 Total Expenditure 11,046.12 Surplus/-deficit - 1,815.55 Closing Cash Balance Cash Balance excluding grant balance In year surplus excluding grant income/expenditure Grant Income 1. 15,612.00 Grant Expenditure1. 15,174.00 Balance Remaining 438.00 Grant Income 2. 1,920.00 Balance Remaining 1,920.00 |
15,915.37 14,099.82 11,741.82 656.45 |
Comparison | 2023/24 14,544.02 3,701.00 1,326.47 1,339.85 715.00 0.00 15,612.00 22,694.32 273.10 971.59 1,260.41 361.48 204.59 910.00 966.81 373.75 885.45 4,333.79 10,782.00 21,322.97 1,371.35 15,915.37 |
|---|---|---|---|
| -3,458.65 |