## **Preston Village Hall CIO Annual Report March 23 – November 2024** I want to start my report by thanking all of the Trustees for their support, goodwill and commitment. I would like to thank Karen Wright for her positivity and hard work as Treasurer in controlling the finances, seeking the best deals from our suppliers and in producing our audited accounts and Mandy Kemp who keeps the day to day account management so efficiently. I would like to thank Kath Marsden for her excellent management of the hall bookings and her role as key-holder, Mona Hodgetts who takes the minutes of our meetings and Colin Cross for his support as Vice Chair. I would also like to thank Jan de Pledge for her valuable contribution as our cleaner and Richard de Pledge, who steps in when Jan takes her holiday break and who opens up extra early and closes up late at night when we operate as a polling station. ## **Trustees and Management Committee** ## The current trustees are **Colin Cross** was elected as Vice Chairman **Karen Wright** has continued in the role of Treasurer. **Kath Marsden** has continued to act as the keyholder and booking secretary for the hall. **Susan Marsden Garrett** keeps the community informed of events through Facebook and other social media. **Mona Hodgetts** acts as secretary. **Janet Jeffrie** **Peter Smith** ## **Jan Cross** ## **Jill Matthews** In the meeting following the last AGM, I was re-elected as Chair. Following the last AGM, Diane Johnson resigned as a trustee. At this AGM, Pam Donaldson and Alwyn Pidgen have also resigned as trustees. Jan de Pledge, our cleaner for over ten years, has also handed in her resignation, effective from 22 November. I would like to propose that we acknowledge formally their support over the years. I would like to welcome Janet Jeffrie and Peter Smith, both from Stourmouth, and Jan Cross who have since been co-opted to act as trustees. Graham Heathfield audited our accounts for the last time in the year ending 31 March 2023. This year the accounts to 31 March 2024 were audited by Steve Booth. We would like to recruit more trustees from the wider “area of benefit” i.e. Stourmouth and the surrounding hamlets and more trustees representing users of the facilities. Other residents of Preston and Elmstone, who would like to become a trustee should contact Mona in the first instance. ## **Aims and Objects** The objects of the CIO are to establish and run a village hall and to promote, for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Parish of Preston Kent and its neighbourhood ,the provision of facilities 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. ## **How we have achieved our objectives** Our main income comes from the hire of the hall. Residents can take part in yoga and chair yoga sessions on three different days, either morning or evening sessions are offered. A new Pilates class has started and take up has been promising. The Art Class has restarted on a Monday afternoon and uptake has been very good. We are pleased to see that Preston Tots,a weekly toddler playgroup is doing well and seems to attract parents from the parish and the wider community. The hall is booked on most evenings by village clubs and societies. These include the Short Mat Bowls Club, the Table Tennis Club, with weekly slots. Monthly bookings are made by the Preston Parish Council , the Preston, Elmstone and Stourmouth Horticultural Society, a local band for a practice session and The Tuesday Club books occasionally. The Cricket Club uses the facilities when there are home matches. There are a pleasing number of weekend bookings for children’s birthday parties. ## **Community Fund Raising Events** Although we have not been able to commit to large community events, we continue to raise funds to contribute towards the maintenance of the current hall and the project towards achieving a new village hall/ community centre. The monthly Big Breakfast is well supported and provides residents with an opportunity to meet up and chat. The team of Breakfast Beauties does a great job by cooking and serving the breakfasts and the event runs like a well-oiled machine. Regular events such as the Preston Christmas Craft Fair, the Spring and Autumn Walks with tea and cakes and the Bingo Evenings are popular providing useful income and are established as part of the village tradition. The Horticultural Society has taken over the running of the Annual Plant Sale. It would be great if we could recruit volunteers, who would be prepared to organise community events or run small social activities in the hall, particularly in the afternoons. A recent suggestion has been an afternoon chess club for example. ## **Other Fund Raising** We signed up to Dover District Council’s Lotto last year. For every £1 ticket purchased on line, the hall receives 50p and a further 10p goes towards grants to deserving causes. The hall has received financial aid through this mechanism. To date we have raised £1370 since we joined. Funds have also been awarded to some of the clubs and societies through grants from DDC. Crystal Evans has organised two very successful Art Exhibitions in aid of charity with local artists displaying and selling their work. Crystal has donated significant sums to the Preston Village Hall from the commission raised. ## **Maintenance** Regular maintenance has been undertaken by Ed Matthews. New LED lighting has been installed. A major leak in the old pre-school cupboard has been fixed and the flat roof recovered with rubber. The old changing room has been converted with shelving to house our stores for the monthly Big Breakfast event and the equipment for the Preston Tots group. The outside drains have been regularly cleared and Southern Water have been called out to deal with blockages to the sewer pipe. Boarding has been affixed to the stair case to the stage to prevent toddlers exploring the stage unsupervised and one of the doors entering the hall following accidental damage by FOPS. Other minor works have been undertaken but we are waiting to see what progress is made towards the new Village Hall development before committing to any significant expenditure. ## **The New Village Hall Project** **T** he original planned development has been shelved The Preston Parish Council are in discussions which may enable the purchase of the Preston Garden Centre and Coppers restaurant, with a view to converting these premises as a new community centre. As yet, the outcome is unknown. Applications for smaller grants supporting community social amenities may be successful and we intend to follow this path in the coming year. We would like to recruit more trustees from the wider “area of benefit” i.e. Stourmouth and the surrounding hamlets and more trustees representing users of the facilities. Other residents of Preston and Elmstone, who would like to become a trustee should contact Mona in the first instance. Jill Matthews 7 November 2024 ## **Preston with Elmstone Village Hall** |**Period From:**|**Period From:**|**1st April 2023**| |---|---|---| ||**To: **|**31st March 2024**| |**Income and Expenditure Account**||| |||**£**| |**Income**||| |Hire Charges||7,801.44| |Interest received||1,202.68| |Other Income & Donations||10,133.39| |Stourmouth Donation||1,149.45| |**Total Income**||**20,286.96**| |**Expenditure**||| |Cleaning & Repairs||6,677.33| |Wages & Honorariums||416.57| |Utilities||10,117.93| |Insurance||1,139.71| |PPL/PRS Music Licence||187.34| |Legal & Professional fees||1,431.18| |Fundraising Event Costs||4,916.90| |Printing, Postage & Stationary||133.22| |Telephone & internet||346.19| |**Total Expenditure**||**25,366.37**| |**Total Surplus (Deficit)**||**-5,079.41**| |**Closing Bank Balances 31st March**|**2024**|| |PVH Treasurers Account||2,555.33| |PVH Renovation Account||67,107.52| |PVH Recreation Account||609.83| |PVH Benefactors Account||40,133.30| |**Total bank Balances C/fwd**||**110,405.98**| |**Cash in Hand c/fwd**||**50.00**| I have prepared the above Income & Expenditure Account from the bank statements, and records provided by the treasurer. Steve Booth Rosemary Bookkeeping East Kent