Perivale Community Hive Horsenden Lane South Perivale Greenford UB6 7NT https://www.perivalehive.co.uk perivalehive@yahoo.com Charity no. 1186587
Perivale Community Hive Annual Report
A report for the Trustees, the London Borough of Ealing Council and the Charity Commission for Financial Year End: 31 March 2023
Charity Commission Reference: AR22-CIO-REM-10b
Prepared by and submitted by the Trustees of Perivale Community Hive – a Community Managed Library.
INDEX
| KEY POINTS AND CURRENT STRUCTURE 3 |
|
| LIBRARY PERFORMANCE 4 |
|
| ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS 5 |
|
| COMPLAINTS AND COMPLIMENTS 6 |
|
| RISK MANAGEMENT 7 |
|
| VOLUNTEERS 8 |
|
| FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE 9 |
|
| SUMMARY OF INCOME GENERATION AND EXPENDITURE 10 |
|
| LBE SUPPORT AND WORKING RELATIONSHIP 11 |
|
| GALLERY OF PICTURES 12 |
PCH Annual Report
FY Ending 31 March 2023
Page 2
KEY POINTS AND CURRENT STRUCTURE
Perivale Community Hive (PCH) was constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) in 2019 by a group of local residents living in and near Perivale, London Borough of Ealing, to prevent the closure of the Council-managed library, and to improve amenity provision, quality of life and well-being in the area. PCH was appointed custodian and manager of Perivale Library following its successful bid in response to a tender for expressions of interests put out by LBE Council to local community groups to take over management of smaller libraries in the Borough.
Covid-19 delayed opening by a year but Perivale Library finally re-opened under PCH community managed library (CML) management on 17 April 2021. Initially our opening hours were limited by Covid restrictions however as the Covid restrictions eased we were able to open on additional days for additional hours and develop a broader offer for the local community. Since our opening the number of activities and visitor numbers to Perivale Library has slowly but steadily increased.
This report covers the period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 and outlines details of our activities and broader offer to the Perivale community in this period.
We would like to thank the Perivale community and our volunteers who have consistently and reliably shown up and dedicated their time and ideas, without whom the CML could not operate. Our gratitude also extends to employees of LBE for their assistance thought the year.
The Trustees of Perivale Community Hive
PCH Annual Report
FY Ending 31 March 2023
Page 3
LIBRARY PERFORMANCE
| 2022 – 2023 | BOOK LOANS |
NEW MEMBERS |
VISITORS* |
| 824 | 15 | 672 | |
| APRIL | |||
| MAY | 867 | 16 | 826 |
| 615 | 27 | 884 | |
| JUNE | |||
| JULY | 1108 | 30 | 749 |
| 764 | 16 | 436 | |
| AUGUST | |||
| SEPTEMBER | 819 | 19 | 623 |
| 886 | 24 | 689 | |
| OCTOBER | |||
| NOVEMBER | 954 | 15 | 739 |
| 601 | 13 | 468 | |
| DECEMBER | |||
| JANUARY | 904 | 13 | 779 |
| 846 | 20 | 890 | |
| FEBRUARY | |||
| MARCH | 1022 | 28 | 939 |
| TOTAL | 10,210 | 236 | 8,694 |
- From April 2022 PCH began to keep a record of visitor numbers to Perivale Library. Please note these numbers accounted for visitors to the library during our core library opening hours (Tuesday 9am-5pm, Wednesday 9:30am-5pm, Thursday 9:30am-2pm and Saturday 10am-2pm/4pm) and do not include visitors for activities run by our licensees outside our core opening hours.
PCH Annual Report
FY Ending 31 March 2023
Page 4
ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS
| NEW ACTIVITIES | EVENTS | |
| APR 2022 | Weekly yoga | Perivale Hive opening anniversary event |
| MAY 2022 | Knit & Natter (knitting circle social group) |
A Century of Boatwomen presentation and performance; presentation on diet and nutrition; Perivale Library acted as a polling station in local elections |
| JUN 2022 | Monthly arts and crafts for children |
HM The Queen Platinum Jubilee community event |
| JUL 2022 | Weekly social dance classes | |
| AUG 2022 | ||
| SEP 2022 | Weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meetings |
Launch of Perivale Artist in Residence (PAiR) programme |
| OCT 2022 | Launch of new PCH website www.perivalehive.co.uk |
|
| NOV 2022 | ||
| DEC 2022 | Christmas event for volunteers | |
| JAN 2023 | Monthly parent home-schooling meetings |
LB Ealing Local Plan consultation event; local primary school library visit |
| FEB 2023 | Weekly coding classes for Key Stage 2 children |
LB Ealing organised resident engagement event |
| MAR 2023 | Monthly ‘Silver Screenings’ cinema (black and white films) to add to our monthly Perivale Film Club events |
Art display private hire event |
In addition to the above, Perivale Library continued to host local resident meetings.
PCH Annual Report
FY Ending 31 March 2023
Page 5
COMPLAINTS AND COMPLIMENTS
Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 PCH registered a small number of complaints, mainly pertaining to the issues related to managing building maintenance, library stock and the application of fines for Perivale Library, responsibilities:
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Fines applied to user accounts generally;
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Users returning items but system failing to record the item returned;
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Visitors and volunteers reporting problems with heating in October 2022;
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No WIFI in Perivale Library for 2 months in January-February 2023.
PCH raised these concerns with LB Ealing Libraries Services.
There no complains related to any aspects of PCH’s work and efforts, and the feedback we received from library users, as an unpaid resident-led volunteer group that took on management of Perivale Library to prevent it from closing, was overwhelmingly positive.
PCH Annual Report
FY Ending 31 March 2023
Page 6
RISK MANAGEMENT
Prior to opening on 17 April 2021, PCH put together general and Covid-19 specific risk assessments for the management of Perivale Library. These remained in operation.
There were no near misses or accidents resulting in physical injuries recorded at Perivale Library between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.
PCH Annual Report
FY Ending 31 March 2023
Page 7
VOLUNTEERS
Through the period April 2022 to March 2023 PCH continued to increase our volunteer base. PCH Trustees and established experienced volunteers provided new volunteers with training and mentoring. This continued to build a solid and reliable volunteer pool and expertise and training being cascaded to new volunteers. This provided greater resilience for PCH in the event of individual trustee or volunteers moving on.
Our partnership with Light Foundations (who had been providing ESOL), who had been providing some library staffing for us, however ended in Summer 2022 when Light Foundations moved their operations to another location. With the added pressure of absences due to summer holidays we had a volunteer shortfall and we were forced to close 2 out of 4 days during August 2022. However, this was temporary and we reopened 4 days per week in Autumn 2022.
PCH continued to upskill a number of local people with librarianship and customer service skills. This ranged from young people looking for unpaid work experience, involved in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme looking to volunteer for a few hours every weekend for a short period, to older members of the community who had retired and wanted to commit to volunteering for the long term at the library.
Our volunteer recruitment was assisted by our creation of a library volunteer group WhatsApp chat, to streamline volunteer communications in May 2022, and the launch of our new website in October 2022, which included a facility for prospective volunteers to contact us to express their interest without knowing our email address.
During the period one new trustee joined the PCH board and one trustee resigned.
PCH Annual Report
FY Ending 31 March 2023
Page 8
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
PCH PROFIT AND LOSS (INCOME-EXPENDITURE) STATEMENT FOR FINANCIAL YEAR 1 APRIL 2022 TO 31 MARCH 2023
| Income | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | 2021-22 | ||
| LB EalingCouncilgrant | 20,000 | 20,165 | |
| Perivale Artist in Residencegrant | 5,000 | 0 | |
| Warm spacesgrant | 2,500 | 0 | |
| Room hire | 757.96 | 180 | |
| Other income | 310 | 0 | |
| Credits | 108.52 | 0 | |
| Total | 28,676.48 | 20,345 | |
| Expenditure | |||
| Electricityandgas | 1,444.36 | 5,459.13 | |
| Water | 1,487.33 | 171.07 | |
| Cleaning | 2,197.55 | 2,297.07 | |
| Volunteerexpenses | 1,015.4 | 0 | |
| Insurance | 173.88 | 134.67 | |
| Equipment | 1,094 | 3,972 | |
| Librarysupplies | 551.4 | 766.22 | |
| Perivale Artist in Residence | 910 | 0 | |
| Licences | 391.36 | 0 | |
| Internetcharges | 126 | 0 | |
| Events | 205.63 | 0 | |
| Other costs | 492 | 320.78 | |
| Total | 10,088.91 | 13,120.94 | |
| Net surplus/deficit | 18,587.57 | 7,224.06 | |
| Bank Balance 1 Apr of FY | 12,884.57 | 5,660.51 | |
| Income | 28,676.48 | 20,345 | |
| Expenditure | -10,088.91 | -13,120.94 | |
| Bank Balance on 31 March of FY | 31,472.14 | 12,884.57 |
PCH Annual Report
FY Ending 31 March 2023
Page 9
SUMMARY OF INCOME AND EXPENDITURE
In Financial Year 2022-23 PCH continued to have limited capability to generate additional income. We received £20,000 in grant funding from LB Ealing which covered the essential running costs, related to running the building safely and in compliance with safety and licensing obligations. This included payments for utilities (electricity, water and internet), cleaning and cleaning supplies, office supplies and refreshments and insurance. In FY 2022-23 PCH also started a volunteer reimbursement scheme. Volunteers who complete one half-day shift receive £7 per volunteer towards meals and travel. The scheme is popular, and while not all our volunteers claim the allowance, we spent £1,015 towards the scheme and reimbursements for miscellaneous items bought for the library, including stationery, provision of drinks and other small items.
In addition, we received two additional grants for specific projects:
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Warm Spaces grant: £2,500, which the Trustees agreed to use for converting the kitchen area into a community café. We spent some of the grant with the remainder to be used in FY 2023-24.
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Perivale Artist in Residence grant: £5,000, to provide small bursary for artists to engage with the community. The first residency was hosted during this reporting year, and more events were scheduled for FY 2023-24.
We were able to generate just over £1,000 in additional income from room hire for third party organised activities and events, and also for hire fees for Council run events.
PCH Annual Report
FY Ending 31 March 2023
Page 10
LB EALING COUNCIL SUPPORT AND WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER GROUPS
PCH was appointed as custodian and manager of Perivale Library in partnership with LB Ealing Council. However, the freehold of the building, responsibility for building repairs and the ownership and responsibility for the provision of new library equipment and stock remains with the Council.
PCH held regular meetings with the LB Ealing Libraries Development Manager, Development Officer and Service Manager throughout 2022-23 and maintained a good working relationship with LB Ealing Council, as well as with local community organisations. PCH also met virtually during this period with other LB Ealing CMLs.
PCH Annual Report
FY Ending 31 March 2023
Page 11
GALLERY OF PICTURES
PERIVALE LIBRARY FROM THE OUTSIDE
USE OF NEW AUDIOVISUAL MULTIMEDIA
ACQUIRED BY PCH
LIBRARY USER REFERENCING BOOKS
CLAY CRAFT AT CHRISTMAS
PERIVALE FILM CLUB SCREENING
ART INSTALLATION BY PERIVALE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE ANITA CHANDA
PCH Annual Report
FY Ending 31 March 2023
Page 12