## **Buckland Monachorum Village Hall Trustees’ Annual Report for 2023-2024** ## **Chairman’s Report** Since the last AGM, I have led the Committee as best I can and I am happy to continue in the role for the forthcoming year if required. I know I repeat myself when I say that I would like to thank both Nigel and Tim for their work as Secretary and Treasurer, and for the rest of the Committee for their support, but it truly is heartfelt. The Bookings & Calendar continue to tick over nicely and it is nice to see the number of bookings continuing to keep the Hall busy. However, our monthly Market & Coffee Shop has been a real disappointment at times which has led me to question if it’s worth doing anymore, seeing as we get so little support from the wider Village populace. Both Claire and I, and Nicola, invest quite a bit of time and money organising the event and it is sad when so few people attend. A subject which needs discussion. I really hoped to have created more evening events in the Hall but running the Drama Group and RAF Harrowbeer Weekends have eaten into my time. We have though, run three (I think) Quiz Nights in the Drake Manor which have proved very popular and these will continue later this year. Having finalised converting the Hall Charity to a CIO. The Land Registry have still to confirm the registration of our title to the plot on which the Hall stands . The Land Reg wheels turn very slowly. Also, I still must formally close the old Village Hall Charity. ## **Treasurer’s Report** - For the year 1[st] April 2023 – 31[st] March 2024, the accounts show a loss of £409. However, we had £1400 of debtors at year end, so effectively this was a £1k surplus. - This is not as good as it sounds because as a “one-off” we are one of Yelverton Co-op’s Charities of choice this year and our income from them was £1130. While we should get similar in 2024-5, it will not recur thereafter. - Further to this, we received £1388 from a new regular user, Devon Dance. Without this, we would have made a loss, - largely because income from most other regular users has not risen by the 20-30% we needed to fund the doubling of utility bills. - The Snooker club has bucked that trend with its 26% rise in income: we are very grateful to Phil Bennett for his continued work in attracting new players and setting reasonable usage fees. - The accounts show a more than doubling of our electricity bill from £2476 to £5220, with only 9 months of the year under the new increased tariff. Regrettably, where our previous supplier charged us 5% VAT, the current supplier charged 20% VAT on all but 2% of our usage. We are continuing to try to claw some of this back, but the current supplier is stricter in applying VAT to all hire income in months where daily usage exceeds 33kWh [6 months of the year], where the old supplier just viewed us as a charity for all usage. - The new electricity contract from 1[st] July 2024 drops our electricity prices to around 75-80% of current price [with reductions in unit tariffs but increase in daily standing charge]. The best price available was to stay with our current supplier, EDF. I would expect our electricity charges to be around £4500 for the current year. - Meanwhile our water supplier has just announced an increase in our monthly price from £32.50 to £51.50 per month, which seems to reflect increased usage as well as increased unit charges. - Despite the likely decrease in electricity costs, this will be far less than the previous year’s increase, in a climate where other costs continue to rise. Our hire charges therefore cannot decrease. - Two of us have, between us, attended all 8 meetings in the recent Devon Communities Together Enterprising Halls programme, which has allowed us some ideas and benchmarking. - We are currently trying to raise money to cover a permanent repair to the leaking roof, following the successful temporary repair. - We are ambitious to future proof the hall by renewing windows and doors, improving external wall and roof insulation and addressing damp issues. - These improvements will be costly. We are slowly building up a learning curve in applying for grants. We are very grateful to Martyn Williams for his facilitation and support in this. Adoption of the Accounts (copy enclosed) was proposed by Stephen Fryer, seconded by Tim Price, and agreed by all present. ## **Reports of the User Groups:** ## **Beehive Pre-School Playgroup** - Although costs have continued to rise the Government have now finally invested in the early years sector and the voucher system is in line with our hourly rate at last. As well as enabling working parents of 2-year-olds to claim 15 hours of vouchers, we have seen an increase in enquiries and subsequent bookings. - As a result, after a slow start to the year we are now full and are taking bookings for Spring 2025. We currently have 33 children attending Beehive weekly, with a maximum of 16 per day. Although we could have more children per day, I cap it at 16 to enable us to provide the maximum amount of care to each child. We are also restricted to 10 children on a Monday and Wednesday afternoons as we are in the Richard Mabey room. - Ten of our children will be starting School this September, so we will be holding an Open Morning on the 15th of June 2024 to hopefully replenish our numbers ready for the Autumn Term. - We held a sponsored cycle in April and raised the staggering amount of £802, which we spent on some new tricycles and an outdoor playhouse. - This last term before the Summer holidays is usually our busiest, as we have transition sessions at the school once a week for the children starting in September, we also take the children swimming at the school pool, (weather permitting), we have Sports Day and finally we finish the term with our yearly trip, which this year takes us to Collytown Stud in Bere Alston, which ties up with our theme of the Farm & Farm Animals. - We would like to thank the Village Hall Trustees for their continued support and encouragement, and we would like to thank Shane for keeping the hall so clean and for doing the odd repair job on the toys when needed! ## **Drama Group** Stephen reported on a disappointing year with the cancellation of their main event due to cast sickness. The search is on for a new play though finding the right script is proving demanding.. ## **Art Group** Nichola reported that the revived annual exhibition held in conjunction with other art groups went very well, with the potential for future new members. The committee were thanked for their assistance in setting up and storing of the display boards. ## **Snooker Club** In a phone call prior to the meeting Phil said that it had been a particularly good year, as evidenced by the comments in the Treasurer’s report, with income up 26% on the previous year.. He was thanked again for all the hard work that has ensured this success. ## **Parish Council** No report. ## **Election of Village Hall Charity Trustees** ## **a) Officers:** **Chairman** - Stephen Fryer was proposed by Nigel Rendle, seconded by Mandy Robinson, and approved. **Treasurer** – Tim Alexander was proposed by Stephen Fryer, seconded by Nigel Rendle and approved. **Secretary** - Nigel Rendle was proposed by Stephen Fryer, seconded by Jane Beard, and approved. ## **b) User Group Nominated Members** Beehive Pre- School Playgroup – Jane Beard Drama Group – Stephen Fryer Art Group – Nichola Williams Snooker – Phil Bennett Re-election en-bloc was proposed by Tim Price, seconded by Tim Alexander, and approved. ## **c) Management Committee Members** Mandy Robinson was proposed by Stephen Fryer, seconded by Nigel Rendle and approved. Tim Price was proposed by Stephen Fryer, seconded by Mandy Robinson, and approved. Our contractor Shane Wilson was once again thanked for his tremendous service during the year and reconfirmed as Caretaker/ Groundsman. ## **9. Honorary Examiner of the Accounts** Richard Mabey [a past Treasurer] has confirmed that he is happy to continue in this role. Buckland Monachorum Vlllage Hall Annual Accounts 1st April 2023 - 31st March 2024 Cl*lty H￿1b•r121Mjfj6¢ BuGkTand Ilonachorum VHlaw H*1 Annual A¢¢ouThts Y•ar Èndod 31•t IA•rch 2024 Incomo Hlrnof l Us• of 1239.91 471C 4453.41 62.￿1 432. BU&￿nd Art G￿p Bud(L8nd Beehr 1113.58 47e&s0 ICkfj.C 420.ts) Ch8rfesbJn Frf8rbJ￿v Ca Cr•theWribNJ C S55.CpJ Kéep Frt 12)).00 705. 52125 120.rK) Davon D**e Privat• Hir• 1366.25 ioaooo othor Incom• 11(#X83 494.55 181.79 240.OD 45&82 208.11 210.tsj 8•rth Intwwt.C¢LA2023 Cwi2024 Jwe Fair EquIp¥r0rt*￿B FundM*o INxrn•. Ctrcp 1130.43 191.30 142&2J Grcu> 11￿00 TOTAL INCOME 13043.18 13031.08 ExpondlbJr• UtlllthJ 9.18 DF EMpJyl1444.411 + Ermil166&411 B•etyidty ponnon wattr S￿(¥￿ W•1 Sk￿lIht&Othdb•nd h¥twn•t 2a173.77 381.JO 327&01 Cl••nlng •nd MilntDn•nc• Annual t%P•M 108&39 101&42 4&rxi 13&72 Chubb Fim ir08¥unty. PPL PRS. Mu#lep*fOrn￿1kWm 291.94 147.93 oo.rjj o.oo 107L o.oj OACB. ￿n￿l01rdIn W4si•collKiioftf•• 105. 1941J8 .17 Fundrntslng Ext*M DtsYortCon¥nunityTTU$icoL4JeB 50.C<) 75. ¢l•anlng Produci• and Rylrn l Exp•M 357.21 723.13 174.14 nJ.13 Ntw Equlpm•nt Fl¢ty pc4i¥hrlthppw 105. 469Jl Alan UaTolallylMr*J.N**lwters 371.16 933.96 TOTAL EXPENDITURE 13452.17 10531.22 In yor Swphrf IIDefflcltl 408.99 2600.84 Buckland Monachorum Willage Hall Charity Number 1200054 Annual Accounts Year Ended 31st Marth 2024 2023 RECONCILIATION AND MOVEMENT OF FUNDS o￿nIng Balanca 20158.50 17657.86 Surplus l Delklt In Year 408.99 2500.84 Closlng Balance 19749.51 20158.50 Representsd by: Barclays bank balan 14819.73 Co•OP Buslno•• account 2804.77 2945.30 Covop Savlngs account 16841.27 2300.00 Cash 103.47 93.47 TOTALS 19749.51 20158.50 C••h balanc• Inoludm Ilaffl• and Coff•0 Il0•18 of £30 M¢h - totsl £60 Not Il These accounts look less favour4ble than ouractual poslyon as we had no outstsndlnB debtors at 3113123. whereas th15 year we are owed £1305,11. Islmllartothe posltlon at 31131221. Last yrdr I sugge5tsd we should therefore construe it as a £1.5k surplus and thls year I would thèrefore 5U8ge5twe ￿ewIl x a Elk Sufplus. 21 Elk surplus sounds relaxln&- but bear In mlnd that we were8i¥en more than that by the Covop. Whlle w• wlll get a slmllar amountfrom them In the nextfinanc￿I year, we won'tget more afterthaL We were also fortunateto re￿1Ve E1388 hlre tharges from the Dance Group, but thls ha5 coffle to an end.