CHAIRMAN’S COMMENTS AT WVH AGM ON WEDNESDAY 29 MARCH 2023
REPRESENTATIVES OF USER APPROVED ORGANSIATIONS
Jean Alden National Trust Prue Bradley Stafford Folk Dance Club Margaretha De Clercq Walton Tennis Club Di Hinton Chaseside Flower Club John Holt Walton Music Circle Caroline Pearson Berkswich Parish Council Sharon Smith Berkswich Women’s Institute Jeremy Wheeler SWPAC
It has been a year of enormous change for the management of Walton Village Hall. The resignation of Graham Kilford from his roles as Bookings Manager and Treasurer, which he had held since September 2016, ended 50 years of association with the management of the hall. We owe him a debt of gratitude for his selfless contribution to the running of our affairs. On behalf of the Walton Village Hall, it is my pleasure to present Graham with a plaque recognising the outstanding contribution he has made over such a long period of service to the hall and the local community.
We have been fortunate in having within our management committee two Trustees who volunteered to take on these two roles separately. This has marked a significant change in how we operate, with Raj Bandha introducing a more software-based approach to accounting and Darren Francis overseeing the launch of a new internet based booking system operated by Hallmaster. Darren has also managed the development of a new website for the village hall in collaboration with the local software firm DACCAA.
We have recently found ourselves having to come to terms with the resignation of Jackie Bandha from our team. Jackie has effectively run the day-to-day operation of the hall in her roles as Cleaner for the last 6 years and Secretary and Caretaker or Facilities Manager since 2018. Since I became chairman a year ago, I have come to understand just how much we have relied on Jackie for sorting out the multitude of tasks that have arisen, seemingly with a daily frequency. On behalf of the Trustees I should like to pay tribute to
the excellent contribution you have made to the smooth operation of the hall and ask Di to present you with a floral tribute as a mark of our gratitude for all you have done for us and the hall.
In addition, we have arranged for you to enjoy a Vintage Tea at the Old Bakers Cottage Tea Room in the quaint village of Newborough near Burton on Trent. We know that this is a favourite haunt of yours which is famous for its delicious home-made cakes. We have also arranged for you to be accompanied by our illustrious Treasurer who has graciously agreed to join you for this celebration.
Coming to terms with replacing someone like Jackie who has performed such a broad and complex combination of duties, has not been possible although a new cleaner has been found who has started well. Sarah Knight cleans the hall from 7.30 am to 9 am each weekday morning and has been doing this for the past 3 weeks. The additional positions of Secretary and Facilities Manager which Jackie held have been devolved and shared amongst other Trustees for the present. We need to find someone who is prepared to take over the Secretary’s position to satisfy our Constitutional obligations.
The last year has also seen frequent up-dates to the regular users bookings list published in the foyer of the hall, the establishment of a policy statement for the installation of the new CCTV system, a revised set of Terms and Conditions for the use of the hall, together with an up-dated set of Fire Regulations, and a revision of our Constitution to enable more Trustees to be appointed by approved user groups. An important document entitled the Operating Protocol has undergone significant expansion and development over the past year. Unlike the Constitution, which directs how we plan and carry out our obligatory functions within the local community, this 7 page document specifies how the hall is run on a day-to-day basis. Contracts have been signed with Grace Domestic Cleaning for cleaning of the Hall on weekdays and with Bright Horizons Nursery for hire of parking spaces. Terms and conditions for our contracts with DACCAA for website support and Hallmaster for our internet bookings system have also been signed.
The new policy of limiting casual users of the hall to the period 8am to 8pm is having an impact already in that the number of incidents requiring investigation has fallen while the number of bookings at the weekends remains at a high level. In fact, it has become difficult to fit three new regular users into to our schedule. They include the West Midlands Bird Club, the Military History Group and
the Phoenix IT tutorials. It has been necessary to reserve the hall on Friday afternoons for maintenance operations.
The outlook for the hall is optimistic in financial terms as well as in the provision of social facilities for the local community. It remains to be seen how the delegation of secretarial duties and management of the maintenance tasks can be carried out on an interim basis by active Trustees without over taxing their time and energy.
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