## ASTON-BY-STONE VILLAGE HALL
## Charity No: 1183768
Charity Commission Report Uplo **a** d informed by content of Aston-by-Stone Village Hall Annual General Meetin **g** held on 11[th] April 2023, 19.30 at Village Hall
## **Chair’s Report (ES)**
Aston-by-Stone Village Hall trustees are tasked with the job of maintaining a community b **u** ilding for the benefit of the people of the locality. The provisions we make aim to provide a safe and serviceable c **o** mmunity space, at an affordable cost, to voluntary organisa **t** ions, casual hirers for private parties and events and to commercial businesses.
This is my first AGM as Chair and Jen **n** y’s first as Treasurer. In our first few months we wer **e** shown the ropes and relied heavily on our Charity Secretar **y** , Erica. Very sadly Erica died last August, Erica was a **b** solutely committed to the Hall and the village and loved by **s** o many people. Having lived in the village for over 5 **0** years and being involved with Village Hall operations **f** or much of that time, Erica’s role was far wider than **c** harity secretary. She managed day to day workings, she kn **e** w everyone and just who to call to sort a problem, she had decades of Village Hall experience which she was always happy to share. Without Erica’s guiding hand Jenny and I have had to take the latter half of this first year sl **o** wly, to really familiarise ourselves with how things **w** ork and check and double check our decisions.
We started the year with two prioriti **e** s, the first to ensure the Hall was running safely and **s** moothly for regular hirers and secondly to establish new **p** rocesses so that we could accommodate casual hire **r** s too. Following Erica’s death we also needed to prioritise re **c** ruiting new trustees, it was essential we have more **h** ands on deck to help run our Village Hall. Alongside these **p** riorities a number of fairly significant maintenance projects emerged which have also been successfully complete **d** and Jenny will mention these in her report.
Where are things now? Well, we are **n** o longer newly formed! Our committee is small but **e** stablished; we are enthusiastic and keen to see the Villa **g** e Hall thrive. We have processes in place to adminis **t** er and manage casual hirers, the Hall is well used by many l **o** cal groups from WI, Toddler Group, U3A, Indoor Bo **w** ls, Table Tennis, Guides and Scouts to yoga and tai chi classes to name just a few. The committee host community **e** vents such as coffee mornings and Christmas gatherings. **T** he Village Hall building is in good condition and we a **r** e actively maintaining it, the Hall is in a stable financial positio **n** . Things are running smoothly and the Hall provides **a** safe and welcoming community space.
I’d like to thank the committee for all of their hard work in moving things forward this yea **r** . We have had a challenging year and we’ve worked s **o** well together – thank you Jenny, Mallory, Jennifer a **n** d Sue – you’ve been great. I’m delighted to report we hav **e** a growing body of volunteers who we can call on to help check hirers in/out, serve teas and coffees, undertake fundraising events, provide bins for recycling (things tha **t** can’t be put into our blue bin), look after and do jobs arou **n** d the site. Thank you too to Mick who was re-appoi **n** ted in November as a trustee to complete the transfer of d **e** eds for the rear car park from the holding trustee’s t **o** the Aston-by-Stone Village Hall Charitable Incorporated **O** rganisation (CIO) and wrap up any outstanding CIO **m** atters which were interrupted due to Covid. And to Lisa **w** ho has been on hand, not just as a fellow trustee, but doing maintenance jobs and putting up the Christmas de **c** orations - your help has been and continues to be very much appreciated. We also have regular hirers who look out for and actively care for our Hall, without their mess **a** ges we would not be able to act quickly to address breaka **g** es or maintenance issues. I would like to say a big th **a** nk you to you all.
So, next year…… In relation to gover **n** ance and administration, we must continue with our aim to recruit new trustees, we need more people to sh **a** re the work in making the Hall a safe and welcoming space and contribute to keeping our Hall looking lovely. We must also do some work around updating our constitu **t** ion.
We have two capital projects to explore which are key development priorities for the Hall. Firstly we would like to get moving with improving the car parks, the rear car park particularly is in a poor state and we need to consider what we will do and how we will fund improvement. Secondly, the children’s play area is currently out of use and we would very much like to prioritise that area so that the Hall has an enclosed, outdoor space for hirers to enjoy.
Without the support from hirers and the community working alongside our trustees and committee members we would not be here in our lovely Hall. Thank you again for all your efforts.
Emma Snowden, Chair of AVH Management Committee and Trustee 11.04.2023
## **Reports from groups and hirer feedback**
1. JW reported on behalf of the **Table Tennis group** which is a private hire, the hall meets all their requirements.
2. JJ reported that **Aston and Little Stoke Scout group** have expanded to include a Squirrels group for ages 4-6. The hall works well for Squirrels, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts groups and continues to meet their requirements. JJ also, commented that following discussions with leaders in the **Guiding section** , leaders in both Scouts and Guides have commented that it would be helpful if the side outside space could be renovated and made useable for children to play.
3. **WI** – report sent by e-mail.
- _We meet in the Village Hall on the second Wednesday of each month at 7.30pm. The hall is a warm, welcoming hall, clean and tidy. There are sufficient tables and chairs for our needs. We appreciate the instructions for the boiler being left out. We appreciate receiving bills every three months._
_We offer the following suggestions of ways to improve the facilities when funds allow:_
- _Internet connection would be greatly appreciated_
- _A microwave_
- _Improvement to the lighting in the rear car park_
_Our new President, PL, is happy to represent the WI at any further meetings._
The committee discussed feedback from groups and hirers at length and agreed that purchasing a microwave for the kitchen was a way forward, ES offered to action. Also to note, several casual hirers and group representatives in passing have requested Wi-Fi connection. JJ has suggested buying a small device which allows a sim card which can be used to purchase a monthly package of data. JJ offered to research this and bring a proposal to the next committee meeting.
**Treasurers Report (JJ)**
**Financial Report for AGM – April 2023**
**This report is based on the financial year 1[st] February 2022 – 31[st] January 2023 – See Appendix 1 for detailed breakdown.**
Current accounts held are: Natwest – Business Account, Balance at 31[st] Jan 2023 = £17,492.17 Lloyds – Treasurer Account, Balance at 31[st] Jan 2023 = £6,598.38 Hanley Building Society Account, High Interest Savings Account, Balance at 31[st] Jan 23 = £10,157.00 CCL Charities Account, Balance at 31[st] Jan 2023 = £477.88
Total Income for the year: £21,674.37 This is made up of: Casual Hirers: £3,469.00 (compared to the previous year £637.00, still suffering covid) Regular Hirers: £14,399.00 (compared to the previous year £2661.00) Donations: £606.37 Grant: £3200.00
Total Expenditure for the year: £15,333.77
We have had made some significant improvements to the hall: New pents due to rotting wood: £2315.00 New kitchen external door, due to broken lock mechanism: £740.00 New carpets (50% deposit paid): £570.00 Insurance for the year: £759.02 New water boiler: £671.96
We have also seen significant increases in gas and electric, however as a charity we have benefited from the government support scheme for electricity, so we have only been paying £50 per month since December 2022. There is a scheme about to be launched in April 2023 for the gas, however we have had a significant increase in gas usage and cost, total for the year: £1662.78
The overall accounts compared to the previous year have made a profit of £6340.60, compared to 2021-2022, where there was a loss of -£5195.50. There was a lack of invoicing towards the end of last financial year, which would have had an impact, and of course the country was still suffering the effects of covid, therefore hirers were unable to utilise the facilities.
As you can see, the hall is in a healthy financial position, and we have plans to improve the outside areas, such as the carparks and the children’s play area, these will require a significant investment, and we are hopeful that grants from a HS2 bid will go a long way to supporting these very much needed improvements.
The online booking portal continues to be a really effective way of managing the hall’s hirers, with a new system of requesting the damage deposit through the invoicing system, rather than previously this was through handling cash with the hall representative for casual hirers. This new system is working really well, and casual hirers will pay their damage deposit with their invoice, provide their bank details through the hire agreement, and then following satisfactory return of the hall following hire, the deposit is refunded within 14 days.
The main improvement to the treasurer function has seen the opening of a treasurer account with Lloyds Bank, this did take some time to get open, but we are now no longer reliant on a business account.
Plans for 2023-2024:
- Close the CCL Charities account, and the monies will be transferred into the Hanley Economic Building Society.
- Create a finance policy to provide clear guidance for the trustees
- Build up of a reserve from profit to support the improvement plans.
Many thanks
Jenny Johnston, Aston Village Hall Treasurer and Trustee 01/04/2023
## **Financial Report Discussion**
In relation to accounting and planning for the future hire fees were discussed by the committee at the April 2023 AGM. Hire fees were previously increased in 2021, but since then utilities and cleaning costs have increased significantly. In addition, the committee will need to explore the possibility of buying in some more help with the running of the hall with things such as health and safety inspections, grounds maintenance and policy management. This will depend on the success of recruiting volunteers and trustees to share the load. More help is necessary to run the hall and if help cannot be sourced internally we must buy in services to undertake work. For the immediate future, effective from the 1[st] September the following was agreed in relation to hiring and related fees:
- Regular fee increase from £12 to £13 per hour – unanimously agreed.
- Casual fee increase from £18 to £19 per hour – unanimously agreed.
- Minimum length of casual hire time of 3 hrs – unanimously agreed.
- Removal of free set up – unanimously agreed.
- Removal of free clean up – 5 for, 1 against. Agreed.
- Removal of discount for village residents, but instead a discount for active volunteers – unanimously agreed.
The committee will continue to discuss the minimum hourly rate in conjunction with exploring new contacts to ensure all regulatory commitments were undertaken. The committee will also think about how to apply a different rate for commercial vs charitable regular hirers.
## **Election of Trustees**
ES has proposed the term of service for trustees be set to 4 years – unanimously agreed.
- **LH, ES and JJ will continue as trustees. ES will continue as chair of the committee and JJ will continue as treasurer.**
- **MJ will continue as trustee until the deeds have been completely transferred and will then retire.**
- LH proposed SBB as trustee and JJ seconded, unanimously agreed. **SBB appointed as a trustee and will continue as casual bookings secretary.**
- ES proposed JW as trustee and LH seconded, unanimously agreed. **JW appointed as a trustee.**
- ES proposed MH as committee member and JJ seconded, MH to continue as minute secretary.
- HS will continue to support the committee and Village Hall activity as a volunteer.
## **Concluding remarks**
The committee look forward to the forthcoming year. We will continue to work with hirers and local residents to keep our Village Hall looking lovely, making it a welcoming space and available for use.
## **Appendix 1 Profit and Loss Accounts for 01/02/22/ to 31/01/2023**
|**Aston By Stone Village Hall**||||Profit & Loss Account For Financial Year|Profit & Loss Account For Financial Year|Profit & Loss Account For Financial Year|s01/02/20-30/01/21|s01/02/20-30/01/21|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||||01/02/21-30/01/22||
||||||||01/02/22-30/01/23||
||||||||||
|**CLIENT**|**Commercial / Non-**
**Commercial**|**Yr End 2023**||**Yr End 2022**||**Yr End 2021**||**Comparison**|
|||**Paid Out**|**Receipts**|**Paid Out**|**Receipts**|**Paid Out**|**Receipts**|**2022and 2023**|
|Art Group|Non-Commercial||1,260.00
£||468.00
£||216.00
£|792.00
£|
|Bowling|Non-Commercial||936.00
£||264.00
£||96.00
£|672.00
£|
|AstonScout Group|Non-Commercial||2,306.00
£||-
£||928.00
£|2,306.00
£|
|Brownies|Non-Commercial||612.00
£||-
£||252.00
£|612.00
£|
|Toddlers|Commercial||1,080.00
£||-
£||160.00
£|1,080.00
£|
|Guides|Non-Commercial||486.00
£||165.00
£||108.00
£|321.00
£|
|WarGames|||||-
£||304.00
£|-
£|
|Rainbows|Non-Commercial||518.00
£||-
£||72.00
£|518.00
£|
|Yoga|Commercial||1,004.00
£||276.00
£||56.00
£|728.00
£|
|U3A|Non-Commercial||1,872.00
£||648.00
£||384.00
£|1,224.00
£|
|Velocettes|Non-Commercial||944.00
£||||221.00
£|944.00
£|
|WIGroup|Non-Commercial||450.00
£||144.00
£||270.00
£|306.00
£|
|Tai Chi|Commercial||540.00
£||168.00
£|||372.00
£|
|Table Tennis|Non-Commercial||408.00
£||84.00
£|||324.00
£|
|Exercise & Recorders|Non-Commercial||954.00
£||336.00
£|||618.00
£|
|Chanteuse|Non-Commercial||54.00
£||36.00
£|||18.00
£|
|Jane Austen|Non-Commercial||72.00
£||72.00
£|||-
£|
|Sing & Sign|Commercial||627.00
£|||||627.00
£|
|Tiny ToesBallet|Commercial||276.00
£|||||276.00
£|
|Hall Hire|Non-Commercial||3,469.00
£||637.00
£||955.00
£|2,832.00
£|
|Casual Hirer Deposits**|||3,238.00
£||||||
|Rebates|||||320.31
£|||320.31
-£|
|**INCOME**|||**17,868.00**
**£**||**3,618.31**
**£**||**4,022.00**
**£**|**14,249.69**
**£**|
|Donations*|||606.37
£||-
£||10,418.09
£|606.37
£|
|Grants|||3,200.00
£||||||
|**TOTAL INCOME**|||**21,674.37**
**£**||**3,618.31**
**£**||**14,440.09**
**£**|**18,056.06**
**£**|
||||||||||
|**Expenses**|||||||||
|Water||121.39
£||77.80
£||||43.59
£|
|Lighting& Heating||3,244.01
£||1,614.15
£||1,696.94
£||1,629.86
£|
|Insurance||825.14
£||620.48
£||590.00
£||204.66
£|
|Solicitors Fees||1,002.40
£|||||||
|Admin/Office Supplies/Post||129.47
£||340.90
£|||||
|Hallbooking.com Fee||120.00
£|||||||
|Licences||271.20
£|||||||
|Maintenance /Equipment||5,831.04
£||4,016.30
£||3,551.50
£||1,814.74
£|
|Cleaning||3,568.21
£||1,742.45
£||295.00
£||1,825.76
£|
|Misc||220.91
£||401.73
£||100.00
£||180.82
-£|
|Casual DepositsRefunded**||2,937.00
£|||||||
|**TOTAL EXPENSES**||**15,333.77**
**£**||**8,813.81**
**£**||**6,233.44**
**£**||**6,519.96**
**£**|
||||||||||
|LOSS/PROFIT||**6,340.60**
**£**||**5,195.50**
**-£**||**8,206.65**
**£**|||
||||||||||
||||||||||
|CCLACharityAccount||477.88
£||473.25
£||473.23
£|||
|HanleyBuilding Society||10,157.00
£||10,057.81
£||9,966.01
£|||
|ClosingBank Balance|Natwest|17,492.17
£||17,537.36
£||22,797.49
£|||
||Lloyds|6,598.38
£|||||||
||||||||||
|Note|||||||||
|* Donations: From Jubilee Garden Party, Village Hall coffee mornings/afternoon tea (various dates), table loan, Diamond Delis
donation,AstonSocial Team Winter Warmerevent.|||||||||
|** Deposits: From casual hirers are damage deposits that are refunded to the hirer following their hire period and satisfactory
returnof thehallandthereforenot includedin the overall income and expenditure.|||||||||