2020-12-31-accounts - Grassington Devonshire Institute

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

GRASSINGTON DEVONSHIRE INSTITUTE

(A Charitable Incorporated Organisation – Registered Charity no. 1185815)

Annual Report for 2020

Legal and administrative details

The objectives of the Institute are laid down in paragraph 3 of the constitution. They are to ‘manage and control the Town Hall at Grassington’ and ‘to provide facilities for recreation and other leisure-time occupation of the inhabitants of Grassington and its immediate neighbourhood with a view to improving their conditions of life’.

Address of the Institute	The ‘Town Hall’	Telephone
	48 Main Street	(Caretaker)
	Grassington	01756 752637
	North Yorkshire
	BD23 5AA
Chairman	David Wood	01756 751801
	Browfield, Raines Lane
	Grassington
	BD23 5NJ
Treasurer	Miss Penny Clover	01756 229254
	Four Leaves Cottage
	Grass Wood Lane
	Grassington
	BD23 5DF
Independent Examiner	Andrew Walker	01756 799577
	Arthur E. Walker & Co.
	6 Water Street
	Skipton
	BD23 1PB
Trustees	Mrs H Barton (Deputy Chair)
	Mr B Doyle
	Mrs M Field,
	Mr S Parry
	Mrs J Slater

Grassington Devonshire Institute, Town Hall, 48 Main Street, Grassington, North Yorkshire BD23 5AA Email david.wood@grassdevinst.org www.grassingtondevonshireinstitute.org Bookings THbookings@grassingtonhub.com Tel 01756 752222

GRASSINGTON DEVONSHIRE INSTITUTE

(A Charitable Incorporated Organisation – Registered Charity no. 1185815)

Trustees are formally elected at the Annual General Meeting, which is held each year before the end of April, details of which are communicated directly to members, or co-opted during the year.

Changes to the Trustees Resignations – Ms A Clover, Miss P Clover, Mr D Tierney during 2020 Dr A Jackson Additions – Mr B Doyle (elected April 2020), Mr S Parry (coopted February 2020 and elected April 2020)

GRASSINGTON DEVONSHIRE INSTITUTE

(A Charitable Incorporated Organisation – Registered Charity no. 1185815)

Trustees’ responsibilities

The ‘Town Hall’ is the property of the people of Grassington. Ownership is vested in the Parish Council, which is responsible for the maintenance of the exterior and for the insurance of the building. The Council, in turn, has a long-standing agreement which allows the Grassington Devonshire Institute, a ‘Charitable Incorporated Organisation’ and registered charity, to take responsibility for the maintenance of the interior and for the upkeep, renewal and improvement of all of the facilities therein. The Institute also pays the care-taking, heating and lighting costs.

The facilities include a main hall, capable of accommodating 300 people. The hall is large enough to be used for activities such as badminton, indoor bowling and children’s roller skating, as well as providing an auditorium for theatrical and musical events. It has a raised stage with sound and lighting equipment, which is continually updated. An octagonal theatre/lecture room, known as ‘the Octagon’, was added in 1998, seating up to 100 people, also with sound and lighting equipment. Equipped with banked seating and recently-renewed seats, the room is ideal for large meetings as well as theatrical and musical events. There are two dressing rooms, two smaller meeting rooms, a kitchen and a snooker room. There is also access to the Parish Council-owned playground. The foyer is host to a purpose-built and fullylicensed bar, which is used for specific events during the year. An area to the rear of the building, formerly used as a Playschool, is intended for conversion to a new Caretaker’s flat.

The Institute is responsible for fulfilling the objectives set out in the opening paragraph of this report and for complying with statutory requirements and local regulations. In order to meet the considerable cost of this, in excess of £35k per annum, the Institute raises funds via four principal methods:-

Regular events such as the ‘Indoor Christmas Market, run in conjunction with the village’s Dickensian Festival and ‘staffed’ by Trustees and volunteers.
Sub-letting the premises to commercial organisations for various purposes at higher rentals than are charged to local people, clubs and non-profit-making bodies who are the beneficiaries of the charity.
Other events organised and run by the Trustees and volunteers.
A membership subscription scheme.

Other amounts are raised by fees for the use of the snooker table, table tennis tables, indoor bowls, dance and fitness classes and sales of refreshments to people attending events organised by hirers of the hall.

The funds thus raised enable the Institute to provide accommodation and facilities to local people at reduced prices, effectively subsidising these activities from funds raised from events and corporate/commercial use of the Institute. This encourages use by many local groups for a variety of social, artistic and sporting activities, as well as individual bookings for private functions. The main hall is used for the village pantomime, amateur dramatics, musical

Grassington Devonshire Institute, Town Hall, 48 Main Street, Grassington, North Yorkshire BD23 5AA Email david.wood@grassdevinst.org www.grassingtondevonshireinstitute.org

Bookings THbookings@grassingtonhub.com Tel 01756 752222

GRASSINGTON DEVONSHIRE INSTITUTE

(A Charitable Incorporated Organisation – Registered Charity no. 1185815)

events, the 40’s weekend, Wharfedale Beer Festival and is now the main venue for the Grassington Festival. The Trustees regard service to the community as being of the utmost importance; fund-raising is extremely important, but only as a means to an end.

In consideration of their legal duties and responsibilities, Trustees decided to make an application to the Charity Commission to transfer the status of the Institute from ‘unincorporated charity’ to ‘Charitable Incorporated Organisation’. The transfer was approved on 15[th] October 2019 and Trustees transacted the necessary business and formally adopted the new constitution with effect from 1[st] January 2020. As such, this is the first annual report of the new organisation. The charity’s name, ‘Grassington Devonshire Institute’, was formally adopted and carried forward by the new organisation.

Reserves Policy

The Trustees seek to hold a financial reserve equivalent to one half of the annual costs of running the Institute.

Restricted or Designated Funds

The Trustees can confirm that none of the Institute’s funds are restricted or designated.

David Wood Chair of Trustees March 2021

GRASSINGTON DEVONSHIRE INSTITUTE

(A Charitable Incorporated Organisation – Registered Charity no. 1185815)

Chairman’s report

It has been my pleasure and privilege to continue to serve as Chair for the past 12 months. I have been well-supported by the Institute’s Trustees, pre-existing and new, and it is clear that they, together with the many village organisations and volunteers, take tremendous pride in providing an amenity, the ‘Town Hall’, which is so cherished within our local community.

Trustees make a huge contribution to the work of the Institute and I am indebted to the efforts of Mandy Clover, Penny Clover, the late Andrew Jackson and David Tierney, all of whom stood down as Trustees in 2020. I am hugely grateful to Penny Clover, who has continued in the Treasurer’s role, without remuneration. Each of the current Trustees has willingly taken on more work, over the past 12 months, in order to progress schemes and improve facilities at the Town Hall for the community.

As a charity, the Town Hall relies heavily on its volunteers, members and customers to ensure that it continues to be an important community focal point and I thank all of them, plus our care-taking team of Derrick Lee and Richard Lee, for their continuing efforts and contributions.

2020 has been a difficult, yet strangely-productive year for the Town Hall. The coronavirus-related restrictions forced the closure of the building for 8 months of the year, which resulted in the loss of 11 GDI-organised events, as well as village events including Grassington Festival, the 40’s Weekend and the Dickensian Festival. Added to this was the cancellation of the Wharfedale Beer Festival and the events and activities of many of our local charities and community groups. We were saddened at the permanent closure of the Dales Playschool, with which organisation we enjoyed a long and mutually-beneficial relationship. Despite all of this, huge efforts by volunteers and Trustees brought about a new-look, socially-distanced re-opening of the Main Hall, with the ballet ‘Giselle’ on 22[nd] October and further closure was followed up with a screened performance of ‘The Nutcracker’ on 10[th] December, both of which being well-supported by the community.

Fig 1 shows the Main Hall set out for ‘Giselle’ on 22[nd] October 2020. Social distancing measures were applied, initially using the Ticketsource system, and customers were shown to their seats. Refreshments were served to the customers in situ, by a fantastic team of volunteers.

Closure has enabled completion of a £20,000 repair and improvement scheme to the stage in the Main Hall, which also saw its curtains replaced and the whole space re-painted at a further cost

Grassington Devonshire Institute, Town Hall, 48 Main Street, Grassington, North Yorkshire BD23 5AA Email david.wood@grassdevinst.org www.grassingtondevonshireinstitute.org

Bookings THbookings@grassingtonhub.com Tel 01756 752222

GRASSINGTON DEVONSHIRE INSTITUTE

(A Charitable Incorporated Organisation – Registered Charity no. 1185815)

of £6,000. Donations by local organisations and individuals contributed significant and very welcome resources to the appeal fund. With the exception of the electrical work, the whole scheme was planned and executed by the Town Hall’s ‘Team ‘M’, a team of Trustee-led volunteers which continues its fabulous work throughout the Town Hall into 2021.

Fig 2 shows the work well underway to improve the safety and functionality of the stage in the Main Hall. A structural engineer’s report had advised that the old gantry and plaster work to the rear wall was unsafe, hence the need for its removal. The hoists and winches were made redundant by the new scheme which installed new track for curtains and backcloths and fixed the new (mainly LED) lighting in place. The rear wall of the stage was cleared of plasterwork and the original stonework sealed and left on display from around 3 metres up to the ceiling.

Fig 3 shows the final stage set up. New stage curtains (‘reds’) completed the new look. The myriad of lighting options can be controlled through a new, ‘stage-level’ lighting desk.

Prudent financial management, by successive groups of Trustees over the past 10 years, meant that the GDI was able to survive the closure of facilities and deliver the repairs and improvements previously mentioned. Seven formal applications, for grant funding or donations, were submitted during the year, including to funds set up by the Government and administered by Craven District Council, to support village halls during lockdown and beyond. Of the seven, four were successful by year end, attracting one-off income of almost £30,000. We are indebted to the following organisations for their contributions:-

Linton Parish Council Upper Wharfedale Field Society Grassington Players Several private individuals whose donations totalled over £3,000.

Grassington Devonshire Institute, Town Hall, 48 Main Street, Grassington, North Yorkshire BD23 5AA Email david.wood@grassdevinst.org www.grassingtondevonshireinstitute.org

Bookings THbookings@grassingtonhub.com Tel 01756 752222

GRASSINGTON DEVONSHIRE INSTITUTE

(A Charitable Incorporated Organisation – Registered Charity no. 1185815)

The Town Hall’s Caretakers spent much of the year on furlough, with the Institute topping up their salaries to 100% of normal earnings from 1[st] June 2020. 80% of normal salary was claimed from the Government’s Job Retention Scheme throughout the year.

Whilst a deficit for the year of £8,012 was recorded, this was considerably lower than forecast mid-year and is a remarkable achievement, given the expenditure, necessarily incurred on repair and improvement projects. It should be noted that the recurrent cost of secretarial and treasurer support was reduced to zero in 2020. The roles relinquished by the long-standing Secretary and Treasurer in 2019 were ‘willingly’ taken on by others and these responsibilities are now fulfilled entirely on a voluntary basis.

Financially, the GDI enters 2021 in good health; the business plan (2020-2023), published at the end of the year and offered to members for their comments, set out a clear direction of travel which will be the focus of the charity and its Trustees for the foreseeable future. With projects continuing in the absence of any self-generated income, a further deficit is likely for 2021 with the predicted shortfall being met, once again, from the Institute’s reserves.

It was during the summer closure that a new ‘Membership Scheme’ was devised and launched. By year end, 132 local people had subscribed to the scheme, thus providing the potential for the Town Hall’s work to be promoted much more widely than before. Several newsletters were produced during the year and these were emailed directly to subscribing members. We look forward to developing the scheme further in 2021 and to investigating the potential for a ‘corporate membership’ scheme, following interest expressed by local organisations.

Our booking system has continued to be developed and we have reviewed and published our ‘terms and conditions of hire’ and ‘rates of hire’ documents. We remain indebted to Andrew Wilson, a former Chair of the Institute, who has continued to manage our website from afar. All notes of the meetings of Trustees are published on the website, immediately after their verification at the following month’s meeting. Our constitution and other key documents are published on our website www.grassingtondevonshireinstitute.org The new booking system, conditions of hire and rates for hire are now in the reliable hands of ‘Team B’, again a Trustee-led team of local volunteers which has converted the system from an entirely paper-based process to one which now allows any potential ‘hirer’ to check availability online before booking.

2020 saw a year of organisational change too. The Charity Commission’s approval of our application for ‘Charitable Incorporated Organisation’ status, in October 2019, meant the end of the unincorporated charity, originally established almost 60 years ago. The new legal rights of the ‘CIO’ allow the charity formally to employ staff and enter into contracts and leases as an ‘entity’, as opposed to a management committee comprising named individuals. All financial assets were transferred to the new ‘CIO’ and a new Constitution was developed and enacted from 1[st] January 2020. The Charity Commission asked the ‘CIO’ to ensure its proposed membership scheme was established and to conclude its discussions over a lease or other long-term interest in the Town Hall. It is disappointing to report that there remains no formal agreement with Grassington Parish Council over the lease or operating rights and responsibilities for the Town Hall, despite two meetings with Councillor representatives making progress during the late summer. There remains much to do if we are to develop an agreed understanding which will act as a safeguard for the

Grassington Devonshire Institute, Town Hall, 48 Main Street, Grassington, North Yorkshire BD23 5AA Email david.wood@grassdevinst.org www.grassingtondevonshireinstitute.org

Bookings THbookings@grassingtonhub.com Tel 01756 752222

GRASSINGTON DEVONSHIRE INSTITUTE

(A Charitable Incorporated Organisation – Registered Charity no. 1185815)

future of the Town Hall, but informal discussions regarding partnership working have produced some positivity early in the new year.

Grassington Devonshire Institute has now determined a new look, its brand for the future, which gives a much more modern look to the charity’s documentation including event brochures, newsletters and formal correspondence. We are grateful to local volunteers, once again, who have worked with us to develop the logo and letterhead design.

2021 promises to be another turbulent year, especially so until the coronavirus vaccination campaign can deliver a significant impact on the spread of the virus throughout the country. Nevertheless, Trustees remain optimistic that the Town Hall will retain its position at the very centre of the community, providing facilities, activities and events for the education and enjoyment of local people and visitors alike.

David Wood Chair of Trustees March 2021.

Grassin on Devonshire Instltute Re irtered Chari No 1185815 Recei ts and Pa ments for the nod 15 Ortober 2019 to 31 December 20ZO Notes Receipts (i) 68,912 Pa ments Dlrect Charitable expenditure Other expendlture 63,303 13,621 76,924 13) Net Payments for the perlod Add Cash funds transferred from unincorporated charity 18.0121 103,751 Cash funds at 31 December 2020 95,739 Ststernent of Assets and LlabllStles as at 31 December 202 Sklpton 8uildins Society Account Santander current account Membership and Lucky Dip account (Barclays) Cash Cash float 79,688 11,537 4,359 55 95,739 377 96,116 Debtor.. ficket source Creditors 96,116 17 OZI Approved on.................................... ..........................................--........ AfJ Dwoo Chairman For and on behalf of the Trustees Clover Treasurer

Grassln on Devonshire Institute. Re 15tered Chari Number: 1185815 Notes to the accounts for the nod 15 October 2019 to 31 December 2020. 111 Ana sis of Recei ts Donations Grants Rent of Hall etc Local Organlsatlons Other Rents Membership and Lucky Dip account Fundraiser5 includlng refreshments Subscriptions Institute actlvities Investment income Other recelpts Glft Aid Coronavlrus Job Retention scheme Craven District Council rates refund 7,047 27.(KKI 7.272 550 2.597 8,651 1,898 256 677 1,939 10.149 870 68,912 iture Sta8e Project Repairs and maintenance Light and Heat Electrlclty Gas Water Caretaklng staff costs Trade waste Licences. fees and insurance Dickensian costs Event fees Event stock 20,735 6.668 2,571 4,476 981 19,249 1,205 2,320 108 4.552 438 63,303

Grassin on Devonshire Inrtrtute. Re IstÈred Chari Notes to the accounts for the eriod 15 ber 201 Number. 1185815 to 31 December 2020 continued 131 her ex nditure Stationery Telephone & WIFI Purchase and replacement of equipment Consumables Advertisin81photocopying Contribution Commitment Miscellaneous expenses 386 718 8.913 939 1.115 467 83 13.621 141 Non-m neta Ownership of the Grassington Devonshire Instltute (the Town Hall) Is vested In Gra55in8ton Parish Council. The parish Council allow5 the Trustees to operate the building and to take responsibility for the maintenance of the Interior and for the upkeep, renewal and improvement of all the facilities therein. Under the cUrnt terms of the a8reement wlth the Parish Council all furniture and equipment purchased by the trustees for use in the buildin8 becomes the property of the Parish Councll. The trustees therefore have no non- monetary assets.

GRASSINGTON DEVONSHIRE INSTTfLrrE INDEPENDENf EXAMINER'S REPORT FOR THE PF.IUOD 15 ocfoBER 2019 TO 31 DECEMBER 2020 Inde endent Examiner'5 Re rt to the Trustees of Grassi on Devonshire Institute I report to the Trusiees on my ammination of the accounts of the above Charity ('*he Trust") for the TIOd ended 31 December ?020. nslbilltles and bllsls of Re A5 the Charity's Tru¢¢& you are resjxinsible for the prep8rntion of the accounts in accordance with ihe requirements ofihe Charities Act 2011 ('Ihe Acf). I report in respect of m), eKgminalion of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the ?01 l Act and in Larrying out my e.xamination, J have follow¢d the applicable directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5Xb) of the ACL Inde ndelli Examiner's Statement I have completed my examination. l Conftrni that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with th¢ examinaiion which giv¢s rne cause io believe thal in any material respect.. - Accounting records were not kept in COrdanCe with section 130 of the ACL or: - The accounts do not accord with the accounting Tecords. I have no concems and hav¢ Come across no other matters in CL)nnection with the examination io which attention should be drawn in order lo enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. IQ. 1.11 AndRw Walker Bsc FCCA Arthur F. Walker & Lo 6 Water Strcet Skipton BD23 IPB