2021-12-31-accounts

West Peckham Village Hall Charitable Incorporated Organisation

Church Road West Peckham

Maidstone Kent ME18 5JJ

Charity Number: 1190977

2021 TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

Trustees during the period ending 31 December 2021

Matthew Edwards (Appointed Trustee & Chair on 20 January 2021) Peter Johnson (Chair up to 20 January 2021) Caroline Pearce Liz Reading Susan Simpson John Taylor (Treasurer) Sarah Thompson Ron Wright (Bookings Clerk) xx Trustee with dispensation

Signed on behalf of the trustees:

Matthew Edwards (Chair) 3 May 2022

Objectives and Governance

This is the first annual report of the West Peckham Village Hall Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), charity number 1190977. The charity was established in August 2020 to take over management of the hall from the West Peckham Village Hall Association, charity number 226622, with the continuing purpose of providing a village hall for sports and recreation to benefit inhabitants of the local area.

Following an election held as part of the first meeting of the new organisation all trustees of the previous charity became trustees of the CIO, and continue to take into account the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit when making decisions in relation to the running of the charity. Elections will be held each year as part of the Annual General Meeting.

Transition to this new charity is now complete, with the bank balances moved over, the title to the village hall transferred from the West Peckham Parish Council, and the previous charity removed from the Charity Commission register. Management of the hall by the new charity formally began on 1 January 2022.

Use of the Hall & Covid-19

Like 2020, the year was dominated by the continuing COVID pandemic and the resulting restrictions. The hall was completely closed at the start of the year and remained so with the start of national lockdown on 6 January. Re-opening happened gradually in line with the government’s roadmap steps as follows:

• Step 2, 12 April: opened for children’s gymnastics & for use as a polling station

• Step 3, 17 May: reopened for permitted users following the guidance on social distancing

• Step 4, 19 July: fully reopened.

Although many regular hirers of the hall have returned, usage has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Financial Report

Accounts for the hall have been filed separately, and show that in spite of the lower levels of hiring due to the pandemic the Village Hall finances remain strong. This is mainly due to government grants of £16,859 (£10,000 in 2020) and relief from Business Rates. Income from hirers also increased to £5,129, up from £3,517

in 2020. This was slightly higher than the ongoing expenditure of £4,776, down slightly from £5,216 in 2020.

It might appear from this that the hall finances are broadly sustainable with hirer income covering ongoing costs, and a bank balance of £27,655 available to cover capital expenditure. This would be misleading as hirer income in 2021 was considerably boosted by one off items, including the crew filming the Larkins (£800) and the use as a polling station for an election (£330). It also included regular income we have now lost, such as the childrens’ gymnastics (£1,341). Rebuilding usage and hirer income will be a key challenge for 2022.

The charity has recently adopted a policy of maintaining a reserve of £10,000 to cover unplanned expenditure on the fabric of the hall and any periods of unforeseen closure. At the end of 2021 this was covered by the surplus carried forward of £28,364, of which £27,655 was held as cash at the bank.

Key Achievements

Closure of the hall and the grant money did however allow us to proceed with much needed maintenance of the physical fabric of the hall including:

• refurbishment of the floor in the main hall

• new closets and floors in the toilets

• an external concrete path from fire exit doors to the car park

• replacement of the fire alarm panel with an up to date unit.

In addition to this, the hall was registered on Google Maps, and a Google Workspace was set up which has provided a shared drive for village hall documents and dedicated email addresses for all trustees.

Health and Safety

User and visitor health and safety remains a top priority. Building the concrete path from the fire exits has allowed us to reduce the hazard assessment for the main hall. We have also agreed a safeguarding policy which we believe strikes the right balance between our responsibility as trustees and the obligations of our hirers to safeguard users of the hall.

Unhappily, there was one accident reported in the year during the use of the hall by the crew filming the Larkins. This did not cause

lasting injury, and the cause of the accident, a weakened manhole cover, has now been addressed.

Chair’s Closing Remarks

As well as this being the first full year for the new organisation, it is also my first year as Chair. I would like to conclude with thanks to the previous Chair, Peter Johnson for handing over an organisation with most of the hard work already done in terms of the new legal structure, maintenance of the hall, establishment of proper policies and procedures and for making the hall compliant with COVID guidelines. I would also like to thank the other trustees for their continuing support and hard work which has made my job a relatively easy one.

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