PENTON RECREATION COMMITTEE
DRAFT AGM MINUTES of MEETING
Venue: Penton Village Hall Date: Monday 3rd June 2025 Time: 19.00
| Initals | Name | Role | Present | Apologies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AC | Alex Carter | Village | Y | |
| AJC | Amanda Cavanagh | Treasurer | Y | |
| AF | Amanda Frisby | Secretary | Y | |
| EG | Eric Gregory | Village | Y | |
| AGD | Ali Gwynne-Davies | Village | Y | |
| AC | Andy Carr | Cricket Club liaison | Y | |
| PB | Paul Booth | Penton Players liaison | Y | |
| VN | Vernon Needham | Village | Y | |
| EM | Ed Mills | Village | Y | |
| JV | Jayne Venn | PMPC liaison | N | |
| SC | Sean Cannon | LCG(former PCC) liaison | Y | |
| CB | Charles Bacon | Village | Y |
Welcome
Apologies (see table above)
Minutes of the Last Meeting, 3[rd] June signed by Acting Chair Eric Gregory
Matters arising
As no one from the village attended the 2024 AGM there were no matters arising.
(Not the) Chairman’s Annual Report – Penton Recreation Committee (PRC) May 2024 – April 2025
Overall, an encouraging year for the PRC:
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We held a variety of popular events;
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Our financial position is healthy, and income exceeded expenditure (see the Treasurer’s Report from Amanda Cavanagh for the 2024 calendar year);
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Lettings increased in both number and income;
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We undertook a variety of important maintenance and repair tasks for the benefit of the village;
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We’ve continued to develop the ways in which we promote events and take bookings and sales;
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The net effect of various changes to the Committee has been an uplift in its membership
Events
The ever-popular Penton Players took centre stage in May with their performances of ‘Split Ends’ and ‘Lockdown in Penton Mewsey’. An audience of over 120 enjoyed the Players’ onstage antics over 3 nights at the Village Hall, which was supported by 17 others in a variety of production roles.
PENTON RECREATION COMMITTEE
The Medieval Midsummer Festival in June was the undoubted highlight of the year. This was a new venture involving the Medieval Combat Society, and the villagers embraced the medieval theme via the stalls, refreshments and their attire. Some 500 enthralled visitors attended, and thanks to everyone’s efforts and our generous sponsors we raised £3,500 profit. The Festival Committee (Eric Gregory; Glenn Woodthorpe; Alisons Gregory, Needham, Gwynne-Davies and Williams; Paul Booth; Vernon Needham; and Ivors Godfrey-Davies and Gwynne-Davies) was a resourceful, creative and committed team. We thanked our superb volunteers via a party hosted by Glenn Woodthorpe.
We held two quiz nights, in September and February, hosted by Eric and Alison Gregory. These frequently boisterous events raised a combined profit of £340. Thanks to Ali and Ivor Gwynne-Davies and Amanada Frisby for tending the bar. Although Tom Barnaby’s team continued to triumph, other teams won the caption competition prizes, and Paul Booth’s team took the paper aeroplane flying distance award! We presented Alan Twigg with his richly deserved long service award at the September quiz night.
Dennis Randall’s superb vintage model railway display was another September highlight, and one we should promote more prominently on its return in the year ahead.
The popular skittles evening, overseen by Amanada Cavanagh, raised £148 profit in October.
A new initiative proposed by Vernon Needham, the Remembrance Sunday Curry Lunch, was a resounding success raising £250 for the British Legion. Over 50 people enjoyed superb curries and side dishes cooked by Alison Needham, Nicky Booth, and Eric and Alison Gregory. As a result of the appreciative feedback, we’ve agreed that this will become an annual event.
December’s Penton Christmas Festival included the well-attended ceremonial lighting of the splendid Christmas Trees on the recreation ground and at Penton Harroway, carolling led by the Rev Alex Randle-Bissell, and delicious mince pies, mulled wine and hot chocolate. Catherine Robin kindly provided Christmas gift bags to the delight of the young children.
The tabletop sale in January faced a series of challenges including poor weather, traffic disruptions and competing events at Weyhill. Nevertheless, thanks to all our contributors we raised £140.
We’ve continued to advertise our events via fliers delivered to all residents and posted on the village notice boards, as well as promoting these via ARC, Facebook and the fledgling village WhatsApp site. We thanked our brilliant flier delivery team with cards and Easter eggs to show our appreciation.
Paul Booth has created an excellent new online ticketing system (‘What’s On’ via pentonvillagehall.org.uk), and thanks to Paul and Amanada Cavanagh’s efforts we increasingly use the Zettle by PayPal system to accept payment.
Lettings
Village Hall lettings have been healthy, and a welcome side-effect of engaging the Medieval Combat Society for our Festival is that they now regularly book the hall. Our other regulars continue to encompass social, intellectual and physical activities and include:
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Painting and Art Talks
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Table Tennis
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Fitness Circuits
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Happy Puppy Company
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Sugarcraft
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Adult and Children’s Mad Melodies
PENTON RECREATION COMMITTEE
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Jake’s Last Fandango
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Village Coffee Mornings
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Pilates
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Debutots Story Telling
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Penton Players
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PMPC
Importantly, the hall is also regularly booked for celebratory/life events including birthday parties (ranging from 1[st] to 80[th] ), as well as club and society meetings, learning/instruction activities, music rehearsals, and various Christmas activities. The hall also served as a polling station for the General Election and the Police and Crime Commissioner election.
Maintenance
Much of the considerable maintenance and repair work is undertaken by Vernon Needham, Paul Booth and Glenn Woodthorpe in particular, with valuable support from Alex Carter and Ed Mills. Their efforts have included:
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Improving the decorative appearance of the hall, which helps attract and retain hirers, and keeping the hall clean, tidy and well-organised
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Clearing leaves from the guttering, playing fields etc.
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Constructing the sets for the Penton Players
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Painting the pavilion
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Regular playground inspections and associated maintenance
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Ensuring that the trees and fencing in and around the recreation ground, cricket pitch and tennis courts are safe and secure. Several trees overhanging the tennis courts required felling by a tree surgeon
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Refurbishing the village hall toilets and replacing the water heater in the disabled toilet
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Maintenance and replacement of village hall appliances, including fridges
The PMPC received a donation of £1000 for the benefit of children in the village. The PMPC and PRC agreed that we should use this legacy to replace the timber children’s playpark bench, together with a commemorative plaque. The PMPC will take this forward.
The Committee
My fellow Committee members are a dedicated, creative and industrious team who somehow manage to interleave their PRC commitments with often busy work and family commitments. Amanda Cavanagh continues to be a first-class Treasurer, and Amanda Frisby, our Secretary, a diligent and efficient minute-taker. Both have also made valuable contributions to many of our events.
We were delighted to welcome several new PRC members this year in Jayne Venn (PMPC liaison), Sean Cannon (LCG liaison), Andy Carr (Cricket Club liaison), Ed Mills and Charles Bacon. We bade an appreciative farewell to Glenn Woodthorpe and Alan Twigg, both of whom have made a substantial contribution during their time on the PRC. We held a farewell event for Glenn at the White Hart.
The role of Chairperson remains vacant, with Vernon Needham, Eric Gregory and Paul Booth having chaired our meetings during the year. We aim to address this in the year ahead.
The current Committee is:
Charles Bacon – Village
PENTON RECREATION COMMITTEE
Paul Booth – Penton Players liaison Sean Cannon – LCG liaison Andy Carr – Cricket Club liaison Alex Carter – Village/Constitution Amanda Cavanagh – Treasurer Amanada Frisby – Secretary/Tennis Club liaison Eric Gregory – Village/Events Organiser Ali Gwynne-Davis – Village Ed Mills - Village Vernon Needham – Village Jayne Venn – PMPC liaison
The Year Ahead
We have an exciting and varied series of events scheduled for the year ahead, including:
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VE 80 Celebrations, in conjunction with the White Hart, 10 May
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Penton Players performing ‘Murder in Little Grimley’ and ‘Strictly S ex Factor on Ice’, 15-17 May
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Ceilidh and Hog Roast, 5 July
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Murder Mystery Dinner, 5 September
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Oktoberfest, Sep/Oct date tbc
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Skittles Night, 18 October
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Village Bonfire Night, 7 November
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Remembrance Service Curry Lunch, 9 November
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Christmas Games and Quiz Night, Dec date tbc
The major maintenance and expenditure item that we are considering for 2025 is reroofing three areas of the village hall roof. We are currently obtaining quotes and pursuing grants for what would be a substantial and expensive undertaking.
Treasurer’s report on the year to 31 December 2024
The overall picture for 2024 is considerably more favourable than for 2023. We report a surplus of income in 2024 of £5,242 compared with a deficit in 2023 of £7,931. The main reason for a deficit last year was the hall roof retiling at just under £10,000.
A notable figure in the 2024 accounts is an improvement in letting income of just over 30% from £9,389 to £12,256. Thanks to Glenn Woodthorpe’s excellent repairs and maintenance over the year, as well as superior caretaking, the hall is looking at its best. A clean, wellmaintained space is clearly appreciated by our hirers. Paul Booth’s excellent booking procedures and help with hirers in terms of projectors etc. is bringing much-needed funds to the bank. Many thanks to both for these sterling efforts.
On the income side we will be collecting more in grass cutting share from the other users of the recreation ground as the cutting fees were higher. In terms of fund raising, we had the wonderful Medieval Festival which brought in £3,716. An incredible amount of work went into this spectacular event which was enjoyed by so many villagers and members of the public and it is good to see that the profit showed that success. Other income sources were
PENTON RECREATION COMMITTEE
two quizzes which brought in over £300, skittles just under £150, the Penton Players productions earned us £470, and the new Curry Lunch for Remembrance Day made £475. That’s just under £1,000 for events aimed mostly at the village residents (without the play income). We had wonderful donations of £1,385. The charity is now registered with HMRC to reclaim Gift Aid and we will be making the most of this for future donations. Particular thanks go to Eric Gregory, Glenn Woodthorpe, Paul Booth and Vernon Needham as well as to each and every person who helped with planning, set-up, clearing down, cooking, baking, serving at the bar or tea tent, helping on a stall or in any other way. There are too many to name but, as the person who looks after the PRC bank balance, I thank you wholeheartedly.
There are still many expenses of running the PRC. Electricity costs continue to be the largest expense along with caretaking, insurance and water and these together cost us over £9,500. Some tree work was necessary in the year at £850. We did replace various appliances in the hall which were largely funded by donations from PMPC and the monthly coffee mornings.
We will be trying to keep a better bar stock system going for future events to ensure that each event only bears the expense of what is sold so topping up the stocks does not hit that event’s profit. Our bank account total is just over £1,400 higher at a shade under £40,000.
In the not-too-distant future we will be looking to repair more of the roof which will be at considerable expense. There are grants we will endeavour to access but there will be a large cost to the PRC. Given the running costs of the hall, as ever we will need to ensure we strike a balance between providing recreational events for the village while covering running expenses and saving for larger costs to keep the hall standing. This year has been a positive year and we need to maintain that momentum from now on.
Appointment of Charity Trustees:
To meet the requirements for the CIO, a third of the trustees need to stand down/change. These are Ed Mills, Vernon Needham, Eric Gregory and Amanda Cavanagh
Vernon Needham was proposed by PB, seconded by CB and re-elected.
Eric Gregory was proposed by VN, seconded by AJC and re-elected.
Amanda Cavanagh was proposed by EG, seconded by SC and re-elected.
Committee:
| Amanda Frisby | Secretary |
|---|---|
| Amanda | |
| Cavanagh | Treasurer |
| Charles Bacon | Village |
| Alex Carter | Village |
| Eric Gregory | Village |
| Ali Gwynne- | |
| Davies | Village |
| Vernon | |
| Needham | Village |
| Penton Players | |
| Paul Booth | liaison |
PENTON RECREATION COMMITTEE
LCG (former PCC) Sean Cannon liaison Andy Carr Cricket Club liaison Jayne Venn PMPC liaison
The Chairperson position is vacant. The committee will look to recruit a new chairperson. It was agreed to produce a job description that could be shared as required.
Questions and comments from the meeting:
On Finance. Lettings up 30% .. is this due to prices or demand? PB described the discussions PRC held a few months ago having reviewed the rates charged by several village halls in the vicinity. PRC concluded that our rates are somewhat average compared to these. (see appx 2)
Have we approached Water Board for contribution to hall to compensate for inconvenience for hall users? Not yet. We will consider this.
Are there special arrangements for car parking for Saturday’s VE80 event? No. This is only being advertised locally. “Blue badge” parking on the field. Others as usual in hall car park and Chalkcroft Lane. A lot of discussion followed. [subsequently Alex Carter generously offered the use of Manor Field for overflow parking, which worked well].
There was a thankyou from the public.
Drinks and nibbles needed next AGM
8. Other business:
None
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