## **OVH - Annual General Meeting** ## **Chairman’s Report** This report covers the period April 2020 to March 2021. As you all know the main preoccupation of the trustees is with the much needed extension & renovations of the hall & so it was in April last year we were faced with lock down & the suspension of the grant process by our main funder the National Lottery. This was a blow but we determined not to lose momentum & to do any subsidiary work which would prepare the way for the eventual extension. Consequently we engaged with Western Power to reroute the electricity supply and install a temporary meter. Alex Hall of Digidesign was appointed to continue to work on the building regulations specification and produce detailed working drawings. We continued to research materials for the final design spec of the hall. The hall was closed in compliance with covid 19 guidance from March until July after which a few bookings were allowed to proceed until lockdown came again in the autumn. Our grant applications continued. We passed the 2nd stage & then the internal review with Seven Trent application for £150K & got to the final stage but were unsuccessful at the consumer panel stage so the application failed. The application with the Bernard Sunley Trust however was successful & we have a pledge of £10,000 to add to our existing pledge from ACRE for £36,670. Meetings and events planned for the autumn last year were all abandoned as Covid again scuppered our plans & the hall was closed. This included our planning for a fete at Newborough House in May, delayed until September & finally postponed indefinitely. We felt very disappointed but hit on the idea of a Christmas tree on the lawn to cheer everyone up a little & we managed the villagers Christmas lunch as a ‘take away’ delivered by Santa & his loyal Elf! This seemed to go down very well & was much appreciated by the recipients. We weren’t allowed to have Carol singing around the tree as planned but maybe this year? The usual maintenance jobs for this ageing hall were a constant this last year together with PAT testing of electrical appliances & an Electrical Test Certificate, these were all on going expenses although income from our usual hirers was restricted or non existent. In November I was contacted by the Lottery Fund to review our paused application & I submitted a revised assessment of our situation after the completion of the Leys Field development & emphasised the need for a bigger hall with modern amenities & possibly a village hub. It was a great relief that our application was progressed & on 22nd January I had a call to say we were through to the final stage & asking us to appoint a professional Project Manager & Quantity Surveyor. With the help of Andy McDonald we found our ideal helpmate i.e. Juliet Crawshaw a very well qualified PM who was prepared to work for us at half her usual rate & so was appointed along with a QS & a Mechanical & Electrical consultant. So we now have an team of professionals on the case. We have had several meetings to discuss the project & guide the consultants in the finer details. In the meantime we applied for a variation to our planning application under condition 2 of the original approval in order to reduce building costs & this was duly passed on 7th April. This report is a necessarily brief outline of the work undertaken during the year & many of you have helped to keep us going, wether it’s cooking for the Christmas lunch or helping with the essential cleaning & maintenance of the hall or the ongoing financial support of the Parish Council. I would however mention that without Richard Collings’s skills dealing with water leaks & emergency lighting & installing a new water heater not to mention the hours he has spent researching the renovation project & liaising with the consultants we would not have got to this stage and still have a functioning hall. Along with all business rated premises we have received grants from central government, in our case nearly £20K for the year to 31/03/21 and this has enabled us to engage the professionals demanded by the Lottery Community Fund to progress our application. I don’t know what the future holds, I do know that building costs are soaring at the moment & the quotes I had 2 years ago are now very out of date. We can only hope that things will work out & that all the plans we have will eventually come to fruition. As I said last year the need for the hall has probably never been greater than it is now & fingers crossed we will be able to get on with the improvements sometime soon. My thanks as always to the committee for their support during the year & the ‘friends’ of the hall who always turn up to help out when needed. I’d like to propose the adoption of this report: OXHILL VILLAGE HALL INCOME and EXPENDrruRE A C YEAR ENDING 31 03 21 INCOIIE LErriNGS FUNCnONS PLA￿r SALE LESS COSTS XMAS LUNCH LESS COSTS 687.50 360.00 -10.00 420.00 -484.07 350.00 -64.07 PARTSH COUNCIL GRANT HEART OF ENGLAND GRAP 5DC covfD GRANTS 600.00 650.00 19,669.21 DONATONS 280.00 TOTAL INCOME 22 172.64 EXPEIIL)miRE ELEcTricrrY WATERIDRAINAGE CLEANING HALL INSURANCE LEGAL & SURVEY COSTS BUSINESS RATE REFUSE CQLLEcrtoN FIRE E￿. MAINT OTHER MAINTENANCE ELECTRIC MffER mO￿NG/GARDENlNG STATIONERY MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSES R sfocK ADJUStMEI 205.10 513.08 0.00 556.50 2,904.60 0.00 iio,00 13.23 467.42 1.309.19 370.00 7.80 151.34 120.40 TOTAL EXPENSE 6 728.66 EXCESS OF INCOME OVER EXPENSES 15 443.98 SW4NCE SHE￿ AS AT 31st MARCH 2021 OPENING &ALANCE GENERAL PUIIDS LESS TRANSFER TO BUILDING MA[￿. RESERVE ADDIEXCESS OF INCOME OVER EXPENSES 7.131.85 -15,000.00 15 443.98 7575.83 BufLDING MAINT RESERVE BROUGHT FWD ADD Transfer from aeneral ffunds 9,692.00 15,000.00 24692.00 32267.83 TOTAL VILLAGE HALL FUNDS REPRESENTED BY HSBC BANK WC CASH &4R sfrKK & FLOAT 32003.13 0.00 264.70 32267.83 AUDrroRS CERTIFICATION I have exarnined the above Income and Expendtture Attount and Balance Sheet and I certify them to be in accordance with the books.vouchers and inforniatiorb supplled. JANES SYNGE 201612021