2025-04-05-accounts

Woodgreen Village Hall Annual General Meeting

Charity number 1189784

Minutes of the AGM held on 3rd September 2025 at 7pm

Attendees

Kevin Flack, Chair

Ian Hayward Treasurer

Lindi Harper, Secretary Mhairi Benest, Booking Secretary Claudia Carroll, Committee member Eunice Anton, Committee member Heather Hall, Committee member Sue Harris, Hall Trustee, HWHS, WI Lance Benest, Parish Council John Clark, Parish Council

Stewart Hall Parish Council

Apologies

Chris Calder

Angie Vickers

Welcome by the Chair

Kevin welcomed the individuals present, and the organisations that they represented to the AGM. He said that we have a real responsibility to protect this hall and its amazing murals and we take our role as custodians very seriously.

Agree previous AGM minutes

The minutes of the previous AGM had been circulated and agreed as correct.

Proposed: Sue Harris Seconded: Stewart Hall

Chair’s Report

Kevin welcome those present to the 92[nd] annual general meeting.

Committee members were thanked for their hard work, including Sue Harris who has represented village organisations as a Trustee – and Angela Vickers who is stepping down. He said we are

honoured to be the custodians of this wonderful hall with its splendid murals that people come from far and wide to see and that those of present involved with voluntary organisations know just how much effort goes on behind the scenes – to make it run smoothly – like an elegant swan in public with a lot of feet scrabbling about below the surface.

It was rewarding to thank those we have worked with over the past year – those who have booked the hall, those who have attended events, our wonderful cleaner Heidi, who clears up after them, those who have provided voluntary labour to improve the internal and external fabric of the building, and to our friends at the parish council, the shop, the church which has held ‘Come and Meet Each Other’ Friday lunchtime events here and to Mark and Nicole at the Horse and Groom.

At a recent meeting, Lance Benest, Chairman of the Parish Council, asked “what makes people want to live in Woodgreen?” One reason is the way all those present work together to make our village the best possible place to live.

This last year has been one of:

• financial progress, as they will hear from the Treasurer,

• of successful events they will hear from the Secretary

• of great use of the hall by a variety of organisations, as will be heard from the Bookings Secretary,

• and of various small structural improvements.

The meeting will hear about the next phase of improvements we want to make and Kevin hoped they would go home assured that the hall remains in safe hands.

Secretary’s report

The hall committee are continuing to hold a number of fundraisers over the year and the Treasurers report will inform you of the amounts raised.

Bingo Night

We ran a Bingo night fund raiser last November with an Autumn theme which was very popular and as a result we held another one in May of this year which turned out to be a HI de Hi extravaganza with lots of costumes and entertainment! Many thanks goes to Wayne Eagles for being the caller, entertainer and responsible for the Hi de Hi themed decorations, and also to his partner Scott for all their help with the sound equipment, lighting and special effects!!

Burns Supper

The Burns Supper in January was again popular and the tickets were selling quite quickly. It was a fantastic evening with a great band “Murphy’s Lore”, catering by the Horse & Groom and the Selkirk Grace performed by Ian Gemmell. We have decided not to run a Burns supper next year and have had some suggestions of a summer ceilidh.

Acting Up

The committee recently met with a group called Culture in Common and they sponsor cultural events to be performed in village halls and community spaces around the New Forest. Mhairi will tell you more in her report!

Booking Secretary’s Report

For the year ending March 2025 there were 7 wedding weekends, 17 private parties, various ad-hoc yoga events, private craft events and it is lovely to see the hall in use over a weekend. The Wednesday Art group ran their arts and crafts exhibition for the second year and enjoy a good deal of interest.

Regular bookings continue, with Yoga and Pilates classes, dog/puppy training classes, craft club, art club and monthly WI meetings. We have a new group – Gong Bath (Sound Healing) starting in September on a Thursday evening so we are hoping that will be successful.

There are the usual annual events such as the Annual Horticultural show & the Steam Rally weekend and the hall also hosts, without charge, the church-run monthly CAMEO (come and meet everyone) lunch

The committee continues to run the monthly book/jigsaw swap & afternoon tea on Wednesday afternoons which our locals enjoy and often visitors come to see the murals and enjoy our homemade goodies.

We are excited to announce that we were asked if the hall would like to host some creative events sponsored by Artsreach as part of Culture in Common. Artsreach is a charity focussed on bringing creative & cultural performances to rural areas.

We will host a music evening on Sunday 14[th] December with John Etheridge & Christian Garrick, and another on Sunday 15[th] March with Three Cane Whale. We have a few brochures to look at tonight with full advertising starting soon. The committee hope that you will support these events as if they are successful, we will run events annually.

Treasurer’s Report

Income

I’m pleased to report our total income significantly increased this year. Total income from all sources was £28,040 compared to just over £20,000 in the previous year (excluding the £9000 grant we received last year for the heating upgrade).

Hall rental income bounced back nicely this year to £19,400 vs £14,300 in the previous year. All types of rental saw an uplift, with the breakdown as follows:

Regular users £9073 (23/24 £8387)

Weddings £6529 (23/24 £2611) Other events £3825 (23/24 £2858)

Our net deposit income was £840 due to a strong future bookings programme, most of this will most likely be refunded in the 2025-2026 financial year.

We retained a £100 deposit to pay for damage to one of the blinds in the hall, plus a partial deposit of £30 to pay for cleaning required after an event.

Fundraising by the Committee

After costs, we raised nearly £3000 this year which was an excellent result.

Our monthly “Book and jigsaw swap” with afternoon tea has raised £848. This continues to grow year on year from £776 previously. This is in no small part thanks to the delicious cakes which continue to be produced by the committee. This event has now raised over £3000 for hall funds since 2021.

The two very successful bingo nights we ran with Wayne Eagles raised nearly £1400, double the previous year. And were lots of fun too! A big thank you to Wayne’s for his energy and support.

Our Burns Night celebration brought in a very respectable £540, down slightly on last year as we decided not to run our own bar this year.

We also continue to sell our mural notecards which raised just over £100.

Investment Income & Interest

We earnt £2077 in investment income and interest from our cash reserves. In the previous year this figure was £973.

Expenditure

Total expenditure for the year was £29,915, significantly up on last year.

This was due to finally being able to bring our electricity bills up to date and clear what we owed following the change in meters and installation of the new heating in Autumn 2023. We paid £16,300 for electricity this year to bring us fully up to date, compared to £2700 last year.

We have now reduced our ongoing electricity unit and standing order charges by about 30% by being able to switch away from SSE to Scottish Power, and fixed until Spring 2026. I estimate our approximate annual cost for electricity this year under the new tariff will be £5000.

Excluding electricity, our other costs of approximately £13,600 were in line with our usual annual running costs.

Of this £5824 was for ongoing maintenance to keep the hall in good condition, the largest amounts being as follows:

• £1405 Interior decorating

• £1234 Exterior car park – additional extension to improve parking manoeuvring

• £413 Guttering Repairs

• £387 Softwood benches repair & maintenance

• £312 Water Heater repair

• £300 Memorial benches repair & maintenance

Conclusion

Our cash reserves remain healthy. However, they fell by approximately £2000 over the year due to the outstanding electricity payment, a good part of which related to electricity for 2023-2024 financial year.

In fact, the timings of the heating grant, a large donation for the kitchen refurbishment and payment of electricity we owed have skewed the figures somewhat over the last three years, resulting in this year and last showing as being in deficit.

However, when we look at the last three years as a whole, we have continued to add over £10,000 to our funds for future investment whilst significantly upgrading the hall facilities and comfort.

As electricity continues to be our biggest ongoing cost, particularly as our better heating costs us more to run, we are currently looking into investing in solar power and reduced energy lighting to give us further savings and future proofing.

Finally, I’m pleased to say that our sound financial position has meant we haven’t out any charges up for our regular and local users this year.

Questions from the floor/AOB

Sue Harris thanked the committee for all the enjoyable fund raising events that have been organised and for all their hard work in maintaining the hall.

John Clark asked if we attend AGM of any larger village halls to obtain information on how they manage things. IH and MB said they take part in Voice Call – a platform where discussions over Village Hall business is shared.

Stewart Hall asked about the Solar panels. MB said that a CIL grant had been applied for but we would also need listed building planning permission.

Lance Benest asked if Village hall hire rates could be increased to fund improvements. MB stated that we are already a bit pricier than other halls for users not residing in the village.

Lance Benest also asked about the ongoing parking requirements around the hall. He was aware users of the pub park in front of the hall but some people are put off by Hall parking only sign – could this be changed? KF replied that parking is an ongoing problem especially if there is an event on at the hall such as wedding, but agreed to consider the signage.

Election of trustees/committee members

The Chair had said that Angie Vickers was stepping down from the committee, but all the other current committee members/trustees were standing for re-election and were duly reelected.

Proposed: Sue Harris

Seconded: Lance Benest

Invitation for user group members to become trustees

Sue Harris has agreed to continue as a trustee representing HWHS and also Woodgreen WI. Thanks to Sue for her input.

Chair closing remarks

Kevin drew attention to the publicity for events on the Facebook page, the website and the noticeboards and closed by thanking everyone for attending.

woodgreenvillagehall.org.uk

As there was no more business the meeting closed at 7.26pm.

WOODGREEN VILLAGE HALL

Receipts and Payments Transactions

WOODGREEN Receipts and	VILLAGE HALL Payments Transactions
		2024/25	2023/24		2022/23	2021/22	2020/21		2019/20	2018/19
Receipts	Grants	0	9000		0	10667	20636		0	0
	Hall Rentals	19427	14314		21148	15870	2036		12370	10305
	Net Deposits	1040	-140		-345	750	265		765	0
	Deposits Received	0	0		0	0	0		0	1550
	Donations & Fund Raising	5390	4437		12753	2855	23		689
	Donations & Fund Raising & Transfers	0	0		0	0	0			404
	Sale of Postcards, Notelets	107	263		221	184	0		263	258
	Investment Income	1311	458		586	600	742		740	740
	Interest Received	766	515		62	6	2		15	38
	Electricity Meters	0	69		150	118	14		134
	Sundries	0	0		10	35	0		0	118
	Grazing	0	0		0	0	320		249	0
	Adjustment	0	260		0	0	0		-60
	Total Receipts	28040	29176		34585	31085	24038		15165	13463
	Damage Deposits Retained for info only	130	260		734	300	0		0	50
Payments	Electricity	16,299	2,701		2,400	2,400	1,978		2,688	2,688
	Water	175	125		141	231	110		140	165
	NFDC Rates	-	-		-	-	-		-	-
	Insurance	1,761	1,530		1,311	1,232	1,127		1,299	973
	Cleaner	1,550	2,062		2,213	2,244	640		2,660	-
	Hall Consumables	640	-		-	-	-		-	-
	Garden Maintenance	720	945		377	75	150		595	-
	Wages & Grass Cutting	-	-		450	420 -		-		3,386
	Repairs & Maintenance	5,824	25,961		5,437	5,182	4,594		6,876	5,257
	Sundries	378	408		328	478	193		589	-
	Advertising & Promotions	185	208		75	614 -		-		509
	Postcard, Notelets Printing	-	-		-	708	-		-	273
	Printing & Stationery	84	25		76	39 -			-	182
	Fund Raising Expenses	2,299	2,396		2,178	1,398 -			-	-
	Deposits Refunded	-		-		- -				900
	Total Payments	29915	36361		14986	15021	8792		14847	14333
	TOTAL RECEIPTS LESS PAYMENTS	-1875	-7185		19599	16064	15246		317	-870

WOODGREEN VILLAGE HALL

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

	2025		2024		2023		2022		2021		2020		2019
		£		£		£		£		£		£
Liquid Funds
Current Account Original	0		535		2,037		11,118		24,180		9,575		6,841
Current Account New	6035		9,391		31,133		3,194		0		0		0
Bank Deposit Account	14818		48,835		33,321		25,001		0		0		0
Bank Deposit 32 Day Notice Account	35322		0		0		0
COIF Charities Deposit Account	4474		3,694		3,078		2,491		1,890		1,149		3,055
Building Society Deposit Account	0		0		0		8,922		8,756		8,756		9,869
Petty Cash	243		883		1,018		250		74		185		50
£	60,892	£	63,338.00		£70,587		£50,976	£	34,900		£19,665		£19,815
Other Monetary Assets
COIF Short Duration Bond Fund	21027		20,495		19,563		20,818		22,397		22,717		22,630
£	21,027	£	20,495.00		£19,563		£20,818	£	22,397		£22,717		£22,630

1/2/26, 9:54 AM

Gmail - Re: Woodgreen Village Hall Accounts 2024-2025

Ian Hayward [e-mail]

Re: Woodgreen Village Hall Accounts 2024-2025

1 message

James Thresh [e-mail] To: Ian Hayward [e-mail]

3 October 2025 at 13:28

Hi Ian,

Sorry its taken so long to get back to you. Thanks for sending over, I am happy with the accounts, please go ahead and file.

It seems odd of HMRC to request a corporation tax return, does it say why they have asked you to complete? I can have a look into this further.

Many thanks James

From: Ian Hayward [e-mail] Sent: 01 September 2025 19:51 To: James Thresh [e-mail] Subject: Re: Woodgreen Village Hall Accounts 2024-2025

Hi James

Great to hear you're happy and we're nearly there. Here are the statements for the two accounts you mentioned below.

If there's anything else you need please let me know.

Once you've confirmed all ok i'll submit to the Charity Commission and also do the Corporation Tax Return HMRC have asked for this year.

Thanks again, Ian

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 at 11:24, James Thresh [e-mail] wrote:

Hi Ian,

I hope you are well.

Have you got back up for the following two balance, I might be missing it on the BFA system -

Bank Deposit 32 Day Notice Account 35,322 COIF Charities Deposit Account 4,474

Other than that im happy with the accounts 🙂

Thanks James

From: Ian Hayward [e-mail] Sent: 21 July 2025 17:47 To: James Thresh [e-mail] Subject: Re: Woodgreen Village Hall Accounts 2024-2025

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=a560d497ba&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-a:r-741799079586573651%7Cmsg-f:184496373403029…

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