Third Annual Report of the Trustees, Holtby Village Hall Management Committee, Charity Number 1190336. Year Ending 31 March 2023.
1. Objects and Activities
The object of the Holtby Village Hall Management Committee (HVHMC) is to provide social and recreational amenities for the villagers of Holtby and any adjacent villages within a radius of 2.5 miles of Holtby through the provision of a publicly available building for community activities known as Holtby Village Hall.
2. Achievements and Performance
The above object is achieved by the upkeep and maintenance and hiring of the Hall, which is a wooden building near the centre of the village, available for hire to any person or organisation at charges determined by the charity trustees. The charges comprise:
a standing charge for hire; or
a reduced charge for hire where agreed, for residents of the village of Holtby and its outlying properties.
In our third year as a charity we have continued the progress achieved since the relaxation of Covid restrictions in mid-2021. Our lease from the Diocese of York Finance Board by means of an under-lease from the Holtby Parochial Church Council has at last been completed, at a peppercorn rent of £5-00 per year.
The series of improvements and alterations to the building and its surroundings has continued, with assistance from the local ward councillor and the Parish Council. The fitting of new windows and a new main entry door is complete. Sixty-four new, folding chairs have been purchased; this followed complaints that the old chairs’ back legs protruded too far, which made them a real, and proven, trip hazard. An 85inch TV screen and an internet connection were bought so that we could host World Cup football evenings to view England matches in the recent competition, and an outside notice board, re-purposed from the City of York Council, has been erected. The front flower borders have been stocked with daffodil and tulip bulbs, and lavender plants to provide bee-friendly flowers in summer. We now enjoy receiving compliments from villagers on how smart the hall looks! A project in conjunction with the junior school at Warthill is under way, whereby the children have created coloured ceramic tiles to be installed as decorative cappings for the retaining wall in the Hall’s front garden.
The Hall continues to host regular meetings of the Holtby Trader and the Snooker Group, and occasional use for Yoga classes, a child’s Christening party, a monthly quiz evening, and Parish Council meetings. It has been booked for a Golden Wedding party next month, and the Hall will be used as a polling station for the May 4[th] local election. This is the centenary year for the Hall, and it is planned to hold a celebratory afternoon tea for villagers in June. The hall was also used for the village church’s Harvest Supper last autumn.
Some jobs remain unfinished, including the kitchen ceiling, applying cladding to the upper parts of the end gables and installing covers to the joints of the external cladding panels.
There have been no changes to the Trustees or the Constitution of the HVHMC during the reporting period.
3. Other Information – History of the Hall.
The first mention of what is now the Holtby Village Hall is in the minutes of the Holtby Parochial Church Council meeting on 9[th] March 1922, when the then Vicar of Holtby, Rev Arthur Whitaker reported that ‘ the
sum of £40 was invested in Funding Stock earmarked for the erection of a Parish Room, and that the interest on the same had been used to augment Church Funds’.
The Borthwick Institute at York University holds a Faculty, signed on 26 July 1922, which ‘seeks objections as to why a moveable Parish Hall of wood on a brick foundation should not be erected by the PCC on a piece of land formerly a ruinous blacksmith’s shop in accordance with Plans A and B filed in the registry of the Consistory Court of York and permission granted to Rev Arthur Lionel Whitaker the Rector of Holtby aforesaid’.
The phraseology was used because misgivings had been expressed that the Rector would be liable for the cost of repairs to the room, and that the next incumbent might not wish to continue such an arrangement. The Lord Chancellor's assent, however, was duly given.
The first reported use of the new building was in 1923, when ‘the Annual Vestry and Parochial Electors’ meetings were held in conjunction on Tuesday, April 3[rd] in the Parish Room’.
The administration of the Parish Room was carried out, initially, by four committees, headed by an Executive Committee and including a Social Committee, as sub-tenants of the property leased to the PCC. The minutes of the various committees show some of the uses of the Hall in its early days, including whist drives, dances, and as a library – newspapers were bought every day and were available for reading by members of the Parish Room.
An extension at the rear was added much later to provide a kitchen, storeroom and WC’s.
The name of the building has changed over time, from Holtby Parish Room to Holtby Institute and now it is known as Holtby Village Hall. Finance has always been provided by lettings, supplemented by fund raising events – there have never been any paid employees, and only recently have grants been sought from locally-based charitable trusts. The funding situation has often verged on the parlous, at one time in the 1930’s the bank balance stood at £1-5s-10d.
Over the years, too, mains supplies of electricity, gas and water have been added, and there have been periodic updates to the interior décor, the most recent of these having been in 1992, when the gas supply was also installed, and 2016 when the interior of the main hall was updated.
Prior to the Covid pandemic, the Hall was the venue for exercise classes, a ladies’ snooker group, a monthly Fair Trade and local crafts market, childrens’ parties, Golden Wedding parties, the annual Harvest Supper, as well as being used as the Polling Station for national and local elections and being nominated as an emergency centre for any disaster which might occur locally. We altered the Hall inside and out to meet the OFSTED requirements for hosting the ‘Sticky Fingers’ pre-school group during 2016-2017 before they moved to purpose-built premises in the nearby village of Stockton on the Forest.
Recently the hall has benefitted from grants from the Communities office in City of York Council to refurbish the kitchen in 2019 and to make alterations to meet safety requirements, where possible, during the Covid lockdowns.
4. Financial Statements to 31 March 2023
Receipts and Payments Account
| Receipts COVID Grant Income Holtby Trader Snooker Marathon Day World Cup Warthill Coffee Morning & Poetry Warthill Coffee Morning - Ukraine Laura Brough Funeral Wake Quiz Nights Sale of Hall chairs Mairi Baking Payments Utilities Insurance Maintenance Legal & Professional fees Landscaping Exterior Lighting Postage Signage Building Improvements Equipment Marathon Day World Cup Net of receipts/(payments) |
Year to 31.03.22 £ 12,001 110 130 - - 36 20 150 - - - - 12,447 748 987 912 1,001 846 382 5 - - - - - 4,882 7,565 |
Year to 31.03.23 £ - 220 270 191 268 - - 52 20 121 30 12 |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,184 | ||||
| 911 477 613 100 2,304 144 6 352 3,479 5,329 101 206 |
||||
| 14,023 | ||||
| (12,839) |
Statement of Assets and Liabilities
| Funds at Bank Cash Funds Restricted Funds - Ukraine Unrestricted Funds |
As at 31.03.2022 £ 37,057 469 37,526 20 37,506 37,526 |
As at 31.03.2023 £ 24,247 439 |
|---|---|---|
| 24,686 | ||
| 20 24,666 24,686 |
Notes to the Financial Statements
- 1 The Financial Statements have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis.
2 Detail of Equipment purchases in year to 31.03.23
| Tables Kitchen accessories etc Stacking Chairs Smart TV |
1,968 158 1,749 1,454 |
|---|---|
| 5,329 |
Appendix A. Independent Examiner’s Report
Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Holtby Village Hall Management Committee (HVHMC), a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO).
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Holtby Village Hall Management Committee for the year to 31 March 2023.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).
I report in respect of my examination of the accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner’s statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
- accounting records were not kept as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed: Name: Peter Taylor, Taylor-Made Accountancy Ltd Address: 36 Alwyne Grove, Shipton Road, York YO30 5RT Date: 18 December 2023