Registered Charity Number 1202644
Registered Charity No. 1202644
Trustees’ Annual Report for the
Ramsey Mereside Village Hall CIO & Mereside Village Hall (MVA)
1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025
Ramsey Mereside Village Hall Drovers Close Ramsey Mereside PE26 2UH
Trustees
Steve Davis (Chairman) Paul Darnell (Vice Chair) Wendy Ansell (Secretary) Mike Stitson (Treasurer) John Chrisp (Hall Bookings) Kathy Addy Lisa Frisby Jason Frisby Carole Gudgion Natalie McDermott Nikki Hinson Martin Adams (co-opted 15/05/25) Barbara Davis (resigned 17/04/25) John Mitchell (resigned 15/05/25) Gill Mitchell (resigned 15/05/2025) Karen Smale (resigned 26/06/25)
The Charity
The Ramsey Mereside Village Hall CIO is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation governed by its Trust Deed, registered with the Charity Commission on 6th October 2023.
“The objects of the CIO are to establish and run a village hall and playing field and to promote for the benefit of the inhabitants of the village of Ramsey Mereside in the Parish of Ramsey (“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 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 (the “Objects”).”
CIO details
●Bank account The Co-operative Bank, Sort Code 08-92-99, account No. 67324350 ●Independent examiner Yvonne Goodman ●Insurance Allied Westminster - Village Guard
Conversion to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation
As part of the Hallmark process the Mereside Village Association (MVA) was converted into a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. The final part of the process was via a resolution passed at the Annual General Meeting in March 2024.
This process has been supervised throughout by Cambridgeshire ACRE with advice frrom the Charity Commission and the Land Registry. The trustees have given full regard to s121(2) of the Charities Act 2011 to give public notice and take into consideration any representation, which was done at a General Meeting on 1st September 2022 which was open to all villagers. Following discussion with National ACRE and the Charity Commission a successful application was made to the Charity Commission on 8th February 2023 creating the charity under the current governing document following the agreed ACRE template. The Charity Commission also approved the “Conflict of Interest Certificate” given the fact that the board of trustees on each charity were the same ensuring that the Charity Commission was satisfied that all legal formalities had been completed appropriately.
The Ramsey Mereside Village Hall CIO (RMVH) has the same objectives (although the text includes more modern wording regarding inclusion) and area of benefit as the MVA. The new governing document means that some of the processes are more up to date such as the nomination procedure and the structure of the committee. The MVA and the CIO has continued to exist in parallel, but now that all the liabilities of the MVA have been discharged the process of winding up the MVA with the Charity Commission is underway.
2025 Achievements
Once again, the Fundraising Team, which consists of Trustees and Non-Trustees, excelled and put on a range of events which were very well attended or indeed sold out! Their 2026 programme has been so far well received, with bookings going exceptionally well. Once again, a significant amount of money has been raised for the charity.
We as a committee are always looking to make the ambience for the hirers and visitors to the hall more enjoyable.
Another non-trustee has kindly given up their time to take over the role of running the Monday Community Hub sessions, unlocking, providing refreshments and a light lunch, costs which have been covered by a grant.
The Little People group on Tuesday mornings now has new volunteers running the sessions and has seen an increase in the number of children attending.
External funding has been secured and will be used along with monies raised from last year’s Merefest to purchase some additional outdoor children’s play equipment. This is currently on order and should be with us soon.
Our website provider has changed from Hallmaster to Lemon Booking.
We continue to have a number of regular user groups that book the hall, as well as the Drovers Rest bar on a Friday evening who also provide services for events and private functions who all bring in regular funding for the charity.
We carried out a dog walking trial allowing dogs on a lead to be walked around the perimeter of the playing field. The trial has proven to be a success. The committee voted at our February meeting to allow this practice to continue going forward. New signage to be installed.
The following “future plans” set out at from last year have now been completed:
-
Benches that were removed to make way for decking have now been re-installed to the corner of nature garden and opposite Marriott’s Close.
-
The MUGA has been refurbished by re-staining / treating all the woodwork and carrying out minor repairs.
-
Assisted access to the building following the installation of powered doors.
-
Redecoration of the entrance hall.
Other works carried out include:
-
Installation of new Intruder alarm system. Allowing improved management of building security. This allows for regular hall users to access the building without the need for a caretaker to attend. As a result, this removed the need for the committee to fill the vacant caretaker position saving approximately £3300.00 per year. The Alarm system will therefore pay for itself within 12 months.
-
Upgrade to the fire alarm system with additional smoke detector heads installed.
-
Fire safety works carried out to ceilings in plant room and solar battery store along with new fire door fitted between stage and dressing room / chair store.
-
Installation of Fibre Broadband
The Shed Men
The Shed Men, volunteers from the village able to spare a few hours each week, usually on a Wednesday morning, have grown in numbers, helping to maintain the hall, grounds and nature garden. They have been involved in the majority of works in the “future plans’ list from last year along with the following works:
-
Deep cleaning the kitchen
-
Carpet cleaning
-
Replacing seating foam to hall chairs purchased in 2008 that had become uncomfortable 60 of 80 completed.
-
Cleared large compost / grass cutting pile from nature garden
-
Removed overgrown bushes from land on run up to car park.
-
Re-organise storage containers with new racking to improve storage.
-
Install 2 new fly zappers in main hall and entrance hall.
-
LED lighting installed to outside notice board.
Reserves
The reserves held by the charity (£61477.00) are sufficient to meet the current requirements of the reserves policy.
Future Plans
The committee continues to look at ways of improving the facilities available at the village hall and have identified the following projects that they wish to implement during the course of the coming year subject to funding / grants.
-
Upgrade solar energy system batteries to reduce the need for energy from the grid.
-
Install lighting to MUGA to allow for evening use all year round & improve existing lighting to pathway.
-
Improve storage within the hall by repurposing the old dressing room and creating access from the entrance hall.
-
Install new concrete bollards in place of the concrete flower pots at the field entrance in Marriotts Close.
-
Create two car parking spaces on the run up to the car park before the barriers, so people using the play areas have somewhere to park without blocking the actual entrance when car park is closed. Signs will back up the use of these spaces.
-
Dog Poo Bin to be installed near car park entrance.
-
Replace old and damaged ceiling tiles in main hall and entrance hall.
-
Install electrical supply to Nature garden to allow for Christmas lighting upgrade.
Resignations from the committee
Barbara Davis, John Mitchell, Gill Mitchell and Karen Smale resigned from the committee during the course of this year. The trustees would like to thank them for their dedication and hard work over the many years they have been involved with the village hall and wish them well for the future.
Thanks
On behalf of the Trustees, I would like to thank the committee and all the other volunteers for their help in ensuring a positive experience is had by all that have used our facilities over the past year, long may it continue.
Stephen Davis (Chairman)
COIF ACCOUNTS YEAR ENDING 31ST DECEMBER 2025
COIF DEPOIST ACCOUNT - 977640001C
Balance b/f as at 1/1/25 15,847.95 Dividend from Investment Fund 717.20 Interest 688.24 Closing Balance as at 31/12/25 17,253.39
COIF INVESTMENT FUND - 977640001T Balance b/f as at 1/1/25 3,509.73 172.95 units @20.2933 per unit Closing Balance as at 31/12/25 3,341.72 172.95 units @19.3219 per unit TOTAL COIF BALANCES AS AT 31/12/25 20,595.11
Ramsey Mereside Village Hall Receipts and Payments Year Ending 31st December 2025
| Receipts | COIF | Cash | Bank | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adverts | 5.00 | 342.00 | 347.00 | ||||
| Bingo | 153.00 | 153.00 | |||||
| Donatons To Gif A/C | 135.00 | 12608.52 | 12743.52 | ||||
| Grants | 11000.00 | 11000.00 | |||||
| Hall Hire | 882.30 | 6961.50 | 7843.80 | ||||
| Insurance | 1432.18 | 1432.18 | |||||
| Event | 7113.67 | 7113.67 | |||||
| Entertainment | 410.00 | 410.00 | |||||
| Loan Drovers Rest | 125.00 | 125.00 | |||||
| Misc | 964.00 | 901.85 | 1865.85 | ||||
| Rent Drovers Rest | 3600.00 | 3600.00 | |||||
| Cash To Bank | 8048.00 | 8048.00 | |||||
| Bank Interest | 688.24 | 688.24 | |||||
| Dividend from Investment Fund | 717.20 | 717.20 | |||||
| Revaluaton of COIF Units | - | 168.00 | -168.00 | ||||
| 1237.44 | 9252.97 | 45429.05 | 55919.46 | ||||
| Payments | |||||||
| Bank Charges | 0.16 | 0.16 | |||||
| Bingo | 0.00 | ||||||
| Cleaning | 167.61 | 167.61 | |||||
| Drainage Board | 154.84 | 154.84 | |||||
| Electricity | 2963.22 | 2963.22 | |||||
| Entertainment | 936.00 | 936.00 | |||||
| Fire/Alarm/Security | 570.00 | 570.00 | |||||
| Handyman | 342.75 | 342.75 | |||||
| Wages | 4803.05 | 4803.05 | |||||
| HMRC | 216.20 | 216.20 | |||||
| Insurance | 2191.05 | 2191.05 | |||||
| Licences | 1283.99 | 1283.99 | |||||
| Maintenance | 2558.99 | 2558.99 | |||||
| Meresider Printng | 1698.00 | 1698.00 | |||||
| Misc | 1320.00 | 1000.00 | 2320.00 | ||||
| Phone & Broadband | 884.08 | 884.08 | |||||
| Purchases For Hall | 60.20 | 14967.12 | 15027.32 | ||||
| Rates | 664.81 | 664.81 | |||||
| Rubbish Collecton | 449.61 | 449.61 | |||||
| TV Licence | 174.53 | 174.53 | |||||
| Training | 40.00 | 40.00 | |||||
| Window Cleaning | 120.00 | 120.00 | |||||
| Cash Discrepancy | 2.20 | 2.20 | |||||
| To Bank | 8048.00 | 8048.00 | |||||
| TOTAL | 0.00 | 9550.40 | 36066.01 | 45616.41 | |||
| Receipt over Payments | 1237.44 | -297.43 | 9363.04 | 10303.05 | |||
| From RMVH Account | 719.02 | 719.02 |
RAMSEY MERESIDE VILLAGE HALL FINANCIAL STATEMENT - YEAR ENDING 31ST DECEMBER 2025
| OPENING FUND 1ST JANUARY 2025 | |
|---|---|
| INVESTMENTS | 19,358 |
| BANK CO-OP | 30,276 |
| CASH IN HAND | 821 |
| 50,455 | |
| CLOSING FUNDS 31ST DECEMBER 2025 | |
| INVESTMENTS | 20,595 |
| BANK CO-OP | 40,358 |
| CASH IN HAND | 524 |
| 61,477 | |
| NETT MOVEMENT IN YEAR | 11,022 |
| Of which is transfer from MVA | 719 |
| Income/Expenditure | 10,303 |
| INCOME | 55,919 |
| As per atached sheet | |
| EXPENDITURE | 45,616 |
| As per atached sheet | |
| INCOME OVER EXPENDITURE | 10,303 |
| 0.00 |
lim Y¥vnM6pDdNn