Stuntney Village Hall Annual Report 2023-2024 The proper name of the Charity is Stuntney Village Hall Charity and it is registered at the Charities Commission under registration number 1204034. There are three trustees: Jane Dawe, Phil May and Nigel Wood. The charity is governed by a constitution which follows a template set up by ACRE the national support organisation for villages halls. Day to day governance is managed by Chair Jane Dawe and Treasurer Nigel Wood. Matters of principle are always discussed with Phil May. Village Hall matters are regularly reported and discussed at Village Council meetings which are held by-monthly and are open to all to attend. The trustees meet from time to time, approximately three times year. An AGM is advertised within the village and the first AGM will be in January 2025. Additional trustees are welcomed at all times and the AGM provides a formal occasion for villagers to consider their involvement more fully. The object (ives) of the charity is to further community cohesion with the Stuntney community. To this end the charity has held a Sumer Fayre, Harvest Festival, pre-Christmas get-together after the Christmas service, Halloween event, Christmas Fayre, regular coffee mornings, bingo, yoga. In addition the hall has hosted the local gardening group, the local NCT, a local theatre group and provided a venue for villagers for wedding celebrations, funeral wakes, after work celebrations. A major milestone was the provision of a defibrillator which is housed on the outside of the hall and which was funded partly from donations and partly from the charity. The village hall is the only neutral public meeting place in the village and provides common ground for villagers of all ages and social groupings. As well as providing a service to villagers the many volunteers who help to make all of this happen gain satisfaction from the pleasure which is evident in those attending events. In addition it is also possible to see the improved mental and social health of those who attend these events but who would otherwise be isolated in their houses. To enable all of this to happen in a hall which is almost 100 years old and which the charity took over in a very bad condition it has been important to try to steadily improve the structure of the hall. A recurrent roof leak was alleviated by covering with a tarpaulin kindly donated by a well-wisher. A more permanent fix will be made in the near future. A long term issue with the floor was repaired for just the cost of materials with volunteers donating their time. The charity has approximate £21,000 of long term debt partly inherited when the charity took over the hall and consequent upon an earlier refurbishment of the toilets which was not properly costmanaged by the then management. About half the debt was incurred in legal costs when setting up the charity and this high cost was driven by the complexity of this process. It is difficult even with hindsight to see how we could have avoided this cost. The charity is fortunate in having generous lenders who are not pressing for repayment now or in the immediate future. The day to day costs of running the events in the hall are balanced approximately by the receipts from those events. For capital improvements grants are necessary and the charity has received £14000 in total from the City of Ely and from the ASDA foundation. More will continue to be needed for future improvements such as the main roof, improved doors and a new kitchen amongst others. The statement about reserves in the finance policy states that £7500 will be held as a reserve to ensure that in future lean times the charity can continue its activities. No funds are held as a custodian trustee. (This is taken to be when a charity might hold funds which are intended not for this charity but for another charity). Nigel Wood 19 December 2024 Addendum – Charities Commission - Reports for small non-company charities This is the Charities Commission’s instructions. I have followed this closely and I don’t intend to send the report to the Charities Commission unless they request it. If your charity’s income is under £500,000 (and providing it doesn’t have assets worth more than £3.26million), prepare a simple report including: - your charity’s name, registration number, address and trustee names - its structure and details of how it is managed, including how it recruits trustees - its activities and objectives in the year - its achievements and performance, including reporting on its public benefit - a financial review including any debts and details of your reserves policy (if applicable) - details of any funds held as a custodian trustee You can put more detail into your trustees’ annual report if you want to. You only have to send a copy to the commission with your annual return if your income is more than £25,000. But you need to send the commission a copy if it asks for it. Stuntney Village Charity Accounts Summary 2023-2024 This covers the period from the start of the charity in July 2023 to the end of the financial year 31 March 2024. This is not a complete 12 month period. Income £7241 comprising donations £966, events and hall hire income £5326, inherited from old Village Council account £949. Expenses £8306 comprising Event costs £1527, Licences etc £917, Legal fees £2097, Utilities £2903, Repairs and maintenance £862. In addition there were £786 of costs and credits related to correcting and closing inherited utility accounts. Nigel Wood 7 January 2025