2022-03-31-accounts - Winsham Recreational Trust

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WRT/Community Club AGM 7 November 2022: WRT Chair’s Report

Purpose: I want to open by just reminding everyone of the purpose of the Winsham Recreational Trust (see Purpose slide) and to headline that the WRT operates the Upper Recreation Ground Playing Fields and Winsham Community Club on lease from Winsham Parish Council in pursuit of the WRT purpose.

Thanks: I now want to thank in general the many Winsham residents who make the delivery of that purpose possible. I am not going to name names because that would land me in trouble with the many people who prefer that their good work goes under the radar. However, those people know who they are and therefore, in general I want to thank the following for their hard work, dedication and positive contribution to the success of the WRT and the Winsham Community Club:

Trustees
Volunteers: Booking Secretary, Membership Secretary, Volunteer Committee, Bar Staff, Events Organisers, Cleaners, Hedge Cutters
Community Club Members
Winsham Parish Residents attending WRT/Community Club events

Trustees Update: The Trustees have changed since last year’s AGM. All are Winsham Parish Councillors and are consequently WRT Trustees. Since October 21, Chloe Adams, Emma Pike and I have joined the Parish Council and become WRT Trustees. Trevor Harris, Judith Hill and Jenny Clampett have departed and we thank them for their service to the WRT. Steve Weller assumed the Chair from Trevor on his departure and in July 22 I took on the role of Chair from Steve who became the Deputy Chair. Henk and Lucy remain as Treasurer and Secretary respectively.

Membership Update: The last membership renewal/application window took place in September 2022. The total Winsham Community Club membership is currently 47 in total, a mix of single & family memberships. That is a decrease on last year but nonetheless a healthy number and new applications are always welcome. Annual membership is £5 for a single membership and £10 for a family membership. Application forms are available here at the club and also from the Winsham Village Shop.

Non-members must be signed in by a club member to use the Community Club Bar. From 1st January 2023 there will be a new requirement for users of the Community Club Bar who are not Community Club members to pay a £1 guest fee on each occasion. I should point out that the Community Club has a rule that non-members should use the bar a maximum of three times and that if they wish to use the bar again they should apply to become members; using

the bar five times as a non-member will be equivalent to joining as a single member for the year.

There are exceptions regarding use of the bar by non-members for any public events run by the Community Club for which the Club holds an events licence. Also anyone using the Club (but not the bar) solely as a 'warm hub' facility is exempt from membership requirements provided they comply with the reasonable behaviour expectations of the club.

Volunteer Group: I’d just like to highlight the key role of the Community Club Volunteer Group over the last year. This group has really grown in both size and contribution over the past year and has been critical to the success of many WRT/Community Club routine and special events, in particular the Winsham Fun Day in August which was a great success, due largely to the energy and commitment of the volunteers involved.

The Volunteer Group also has a growing role in considering and recommending club improvement initiatives, including currently for example the potential replacement of our internal furnishings – chairs, tables, sofas, lighting etc

The Volunteer Group meets every four to six weeks and any Community Club member is welcome to join.

In addition to the volunteer group there are a number of other volunteers who perform critical roles in helping the club to succeed and operate across a range of areas, including staffing the bar, helping with catering, doing the cleaning and hedge cutting.

Activity Report – events, bookings, hires: There has been a significant and positive increase in activity over the past year:

Winsham Community Club is now open regularly every weekend Friday and Saturday 7pm – 11pm and on Sunday from 2pm – 6 pm and is well attended by Community Club members and their guests. Killer Skittles takes place on Fridays and all club members and their guests are welcome to join in.

The Community Club also has its own Skittles team which plays on a Tuedsay evening. Other Community Club events have included Takeaway Nights, Bingo Nights, Quiz Nights, and a Halloween Party; for some of these events the Community Club has been at full capacity which is great news. There are also some regular daytime classes (for example, Yoga) and events in the Community Club and plenty of scope for others.

Sadly, from the WRT perspective, Winsham United Football Club chose, as is their right, to play their matches at Thorncombe for the 2022/2023 season. A clear update on this situation was communicated earlier in the year so I will not dwell on that here, except to say that the WRT is open to future negotiations for the use of the Upper Recreation Ground Changing Rooms

and Playing Fields for next season or beyond and that we wish Winsham United Football Club every success in this current season in their new home.

Moving back to more positive news, the Winsham Fun Day run for the whole Winsham Community across the afternoon and evening was a great success with hundreds of people across the Community attending all or part of the event. The MacMillan Brave the Shave event held in early October was also a great success, raising in excess of £2000 for charity. Other fundraising events included Blood Bikes and Prostrate Cancer. Other events held included a Children’s Christmas Party, Jubilee Celebrations, and an opportunity for people to pay their respects to HM Queen Elizabeth II by watching her funeral together in the Club.

There has also been a notable increase in private hire bookings, for parties and family events including a naming ceremony. This is partly down to increased awareness of the excellent and improving facilities available at the Community Club and Playing Fields and an improved bookings process. This has also been helped by improved communications through an excellent monthly newsletter, an active Facebook page, a Google Business listing so we appear in searches, a much improved advert for the Joint Parish Magazine and a dedicated booking email address.

Lastly in terms of current activity, I just want to highlight the opportunity for anyone in need of a ‘warm hub’ that they are welcome to attend the club when it is open for normal activity and make use of the ‘warmth’ of the building to relax and help themselves to a free tea or coffee from the kitchen. Unfortunately use of the bar is precluded unless they are a member. If there is clearly identifiable demand for further ‘warm hub’ support, the WRT will consider how it can support this need.

Looking forward, the following events are planned for the rest of this year alongside normal opening hours:

WHS AGM 18 November
Craft Fair (one venue) 19 November
Toilet Twinning Quiz: Fundraiser 19 November
Rockin Ronnie: 10 December
Family Christmas Party and Santa’s Grotto 16 December
New Year’s Eve: Brad’s Disco & Cocktail Specialist

Improvements – completed and planned: There have been significant improvements to the Club and Playing Fields over the past year and more planned for the future to make the facilities even better than they are now.

Over the past year improvements have included:

Changing Rooms: Decorated; Non-slip floor; Shower fittings
Community Club: TV; PA System; Bar Fridge; Toilet Sinks; Alarm System; CCTV; Picnic Tables; Bench
Playing Field: Regular grass cutting and hedge cutting.

The following potential improvements are at various stages of planning and some, particularly extension plans, will be reliant on securing grants for the work:

Community Club Refurnishing plans: in progress with Volunteer Committee
Community Club Extension Plans - Options to:
Increase size of kitchen and add additional toilets;
Create a door through to a patio area;
Increase the Community Club floor area
Extend the changing rooms to include an accessible toilet
Playing Field Improvement Plans: Pitchside Benches, Wooden Shed
WUFC Goalposts kindly left in place by WUFC for the benefit of the Community. Also the WUFC Metal Shed.

Other Updates

Premises License: We are looking into a Premises Licence which would enable the WRT & Community Club to host more than 10 public events a year and reduce our costs per event. At present this is on hold due to a backlog of work in the Licensing Authority.
WRT Lease & Constitution: There is a clear need to review the WRT Constitution, the WRT & Community Club structure and the WRT Lease with Winsham Parish Council in order to ensure we are fully compliant with Charity Commission requirements, good governance practice and have a clear and updated lease agreement with Winsham Parish Council so that the WRT and Winsham Community Club have secure and transparent foundations on which to continue to deliver their purpose successfully for the Winsham community. We have done some initial scoping work but now need to take this forward and this area of work will be my priority as Chair for the year ahead; I intend to report back with substantial progress to next year’s AGM.
I want to emphasise that the Parish of Winsham is an excellent place to live partly due to the wide variety of organisations, facilities, initiatives and events it hosts and operates successfully within and across a relatively small community. Key to that success is those different organisations, facilities, initiatives and events working collaboratively together to support each other and enable all to be successful for the benefit of the whole community. Wherever possible, the WRT & Community Club has and will seek to work collaboratively and coherently with all across the Winsham Parish Community.

I want to draw my Chair’s report to a close by re-emphasising that the WRT & Community Club has seen a positive growth in activity and impact over the past year and that strong plans are in place to sustain that activity and enable future development for the benefit of Winsham Parish residents.

Many thanks for your patience and for listening. I shall now open up the floor to Any Other Business and Questions.

expenses

Utility payments £ 2,361 electricity £ 2,022.41; water & sewerage £339.17 Capital expenditure £ 7,080 Major items: installation electrical heating £ 2206.20; glass washer & ice machine £ 1028.40; CCTV purchase £ 754.03; new security panel £ 768.72; drinks cooler purchase £ 768.94. Minor items include extra key sets, bar license, fire safety, roof repairs, materials for refurb, card reader purchase, emergency lights purchase. Other expenditure £ 10,539 mainly Tolchards bar restock & shop purchases; various £ 297.80 ( maintenance security alarm, license SSDC, JPM advert, TV licensing, return membership fee )

Total expenditure over the year £ 19997

income

Grant income £ 5675 10 June Somerset Community Foundation Covid-19 grant £ 5,000 3 September South Somerset District Council for Fun Day £ 675 Donation income £ 250 18 June Joint Parish Magazine £ 250 Fun Day excess income over expenditure £ 2,595.44 plus hirings £75 Bar takings £ 15,841.62 Memberships £ 311.75 (excl. return £ 5 B. White) Winsham Football Club hire/membership £ 175 (paid 11 October 2021) Other hall hire £ 47 Total income over the year £ 24889 Excess income over expenses £ 4892 5 April 2021 bank account UKP 2,563 5 Apr 2022 bank account UKP 7,542 Excess over the year UKP 4,979 (difference explained by bar cash)

Remaining grants for capital expenditure £ 1492.87

Total grants received £ 12,700 WPC grant 7.7k; Somerset Community Foundation Covid-19 grant 5k Capital use & refurb costs £ 11,207.22 from August 2020 to April 2022