Levens Village Hall
Registered Charity No. 1192940
Trustees’ Annual Report
1 January 2023– 31 December 2024
Mrs Janet Mason 6,Greengate Crescent Levens, Kendal, Cumbria LA8 8QB E-mail: lvhsecretary@levens.org.uk
Names of Trustees
Ms Fiona Sanders Chair Mrs Janet Mason Secretary Mrs Nicola Beard Treasurer Mrs Helen Golding Miller Bookings Secretary Mrs Sheila Watson Mr Hugh Connor LAF Chair Mr John Wood Mr Adam Headerson Mr Alan Miller Miss Robyn Atkinson Ms Chris Riley Mrs Vanessa Riley Mr David Rogerson Parish council
Sources of advice and support
Bank: Unity Trust Bank PLC, 4 Brindley Place Birmingham, West Midlands, B1 2JB Solicitors: Thomas Hayton Winkley, 114-116 Stricklandgate, Kendal, LA9 4QA ACTion with Communities in Cumbria, Office Q, Skirsgill Business Park, Penrith, Cumbria, CA11 0FA
South Lakeland District Council
Levens Parish Council
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Governance
Levens Village Hall was registered as a charity (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) on 30 December 2020 and is governed by a Governing Document dated 30 November 2020. The LVH CIO replaced, and took over the assets of, Levens Institute charity (registered 3 February 1963).
Originally a bank barn, the village hall was converted to a Reading Room, called the Levens Mens' Institute, in the early years of the 20th century. The charity owns the land and buildings of the village hall.
Appointment of Trustees
The Governing Document governs the appointment of trustees and the management of the charity. The maximum number of trustees is 15 and each new trustee is appointed for a term of three years. In selecting individuals for appointment as trustees the trustees will prioritise from user bodies, whilst having regards to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO.
Policies and Procedures
To guide the Trustees in exercising their duty of care to members, employees and users of the hall, the following policy statements have been adopted:
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Health & Safety Policy
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Safeguarding Policy
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Fire Evacuation Policy
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Risk Assessment Procedure
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Finance and Reserves Policy
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Equal Opportunities Policy
These policies are presently under review as part of our processes.
Hiring Agreement
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Use of the village hall is subject to a Hiring Agreement which must be signed by the hirer when booking. The hiring agreement sets out the conditions of hire and identifies the respective responsibilities of each party to the agreement.
Licences
The hall does not have a Premises Licence. The hall holds a Music Licence from PPL PRS Ltd permitting the playing and performing of music in the hall.
Risk Management
Insurance
The village hall is insured with respect to property damage (buildings insurance) by Covea Insurance Ltd. It is insured with the same company with respect to contents, public liability, employers’ liability and legal assistance.
The Trustees recognises that the CIO is under a legal obligation to protect the building, its users and employees through adequate and appropriate insurance.
Building Issues
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Portable electrical appliances are tested by qualified personnel annually.
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The mains electrical installation is checked by a qualified engineer every 5 years.
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Fire equipment is checked annually by a local specialist company.
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Volunteers from the Trustees and others carry out other regular maintenance checks.
Objectives of the Charity
The objects of the CIO are to establish and run a village hall and to promote for the benefit of the inhabitants of the parish of Levens ("area of benefit") without distinction of sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, nationality, race or political, religious or other opinions the provision of facilities for recreation or other leisure time occupation of individuals who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disablement, financial hardship or social and economic
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circumstances or for the public at large in the interests of social welfare and with the object of improving the conditions of life of the said inhabitants.
Principal Activities in pursuit of Objectives
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The hall is in use most days of the week for a variety of activities including pre-school toddlers group, Brownies, Pilates for all abilities, Yoga, History Club, Watercolour, Quilters, Philatelists, Legs Levens, DBWG and Tuesday club. We are also regularly used for local meetings and a base for running club events.
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The hall is available for hire for private functions including children’s parties, wedding receptions, funeral teas, village social functions and occasional fund-raising fayres.
Funding Strategy
It is the strategy of the Trustees to manage the revenue budget on a selffinancing basis. The contributions made by users of the hall are set to achieve this. However, this year we have also benefited from a couple of grants that a trustee was able to obtain for us and we have used these to upgrade the building.
Volunteers’ Effort
Management costs are kept to a minimum using volunteers for regular maintenance. In addition to the trustees another dozen people or so assist in the maintenance and running of the hall, including helping with regular Maintenance Days.
2024 Achievements
This year has mainly focused on upgrading the hall as we decided that we could no longer wait until the new village hall building work started. This included sourcing a free kitchen and with the help of appropriate skilled persons were able to replace the existing one. Decorating the main hall and toilet block and also the downstairs room was upgraded by our toddler parents and part of the grant received was used to provide up to date kit for the group in return.
We have also upgraded our lock and fitted a key lock to make it easier for access and manage the keys given out to users.
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We continue to have maintaince meets which engages with some of our communities. This year we also decided to use the professional services of a cleaner on a more regular basis as the hall is now used on a daily basis.
We continue to bring in significant funds that enable us to keep our fees stable for our users. With key contributions from our curry and quiz nights and LAF surpluses.
Special thanks to Susie Bagot who has stepped down as trustees and welcome to all our new trustees.
2024 Financial Review
Room hire income continues to increase partly due to higher usage and also the increase in booking rates. This combined with interest on our savings means that we made a surplus of just over £7200, an increase of more than £2000 on last year. Costs for 2025 are anticipated to be higher due to increase in utility charges and taking on a paid cleaner. However, some further improvement costs in 2025 will be covered by the grant awarded to us.
Reserves Policy
The charity had £9500 in the bank as unrestricted reserves at the year end. This cash is available for unforeseen expenditure in relation to building maintenance or urgent furniture or equipment replacement. In addition there was also £81,000 in investments. It is the Trustees’ policy to maintain unrestricted reserves of between 150% and 200% of annual revenue budget expenditure. General higher than usual reserves are being maintained in readiness for the commencement of the building of the new village.
Future plans
As part of the Levens Community Project a new village hall will be constructed. There is a Joint Venture Agreement in place between Levens, Village Hall, Levens Parish Council and Levens Charity, setting out the details of the project. Once the new hall has been constructed its ownership will be passed to Levens Village Hall. The ownership of the current hall will then be transferred to the Parish
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Council/Levens Charity so that it can be redeveloped to form three affordable properties for elderly residents of the village.
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature(s)
Full name(s) Position Date
Fiona Sanders Chair 06/06/25
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Levens Village Hall
Financial Report 2024
Income & Expenditure Account
| Income Room hire LAFS Teachers BS Interest Cambridge & Counties Interest Donations Miscellaneous Events Grant (Nisa) |
2023 2024 Expenditure £7,762.50 £9,595.00 Insurance £1,576.60 £1,799.40 PPL PRS Licence £685.60 £927.60 Fire Service £1,324.62 £1,383.38 Electricity £153.00 £150.00 Water £100.00 £0.00 B4RN Broadband 0.00 £652.04 Cleaning 0.00 £2,500.00 LAFS Annual meeting costs Building maintenance PAT Testing Bank Charges Miscellaneous : Grant spend Projector £11,602.32 £17,007.42 Surplus of income over expenditure |
2023 2024 £568.52 £574.17 £156.04 £113.08 £143.40 £101.34 £1,466.53 £2,470.46 £1,327.53 £578.96 £396.00 £33.00 £497.53 £1,145.93 £1,266.60 £1,310.00 £0.00 £0.00 £440.94 £2,052.16 £90.72 £88.32 £72.00 £71.40 £199.53 £167.15 £0.00 £1,024.43 £479.00 |
|---|---|---|
| £7,104.34 £9,730.40 |
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| £4,497.98 £7,277.02 |
Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2024
Funds as at 31 December 2023
Funds as at 31 December 2024
| Unity Trust Current Account Add income received in 2024 for 2023 Less payments made in 2024 for 2023 Surplus of income over expenditure Teachers Building Society Account Teachers Building Society Saver 90 Account Cambridg & Counties Bank Bond |
£9,400.98 £10,218.39 £31,000.52 £33,243.23 £180.00 -£217.46 |
|---|---|
| £83,825.66 £7,277.02 |
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| £91,102.68 |
| Unity Trust Current | £9,532.19 |
|---|---|
| Teachers Building Society Account | £10,432.98 |
| Teachers Building Society Saver 90 | £31,713.53 |
| Cambridge & Counties Bank Bonds | £40,000.00 |
| Add income received in 2025 for 2024 | £177.00 |
| Less payments made in 2025 for 2024 | -£753.02 |
| £91,102.68 |
Verified by G Paton Date