CHARITY TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT 2025 

## BRUTON COMMUNITY HALL (CHARITABLE INCORPORATED ORGANISATION) 

Charity Number: 1206654 

Silver Street Bruton BA10 0EB 

## **Trustees:** 

Ruth Forbes 

Patricia Whittock 

Jan Juneman 

Teresa Swaine 

## **Report:** 

Context: 

This is the first report of the newly formed Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) Bruton Community Hall. The CIO was formed as a preferable vehicle for registering the Hall as a new charity with limited liability rather than personal liability for Trustees. 

The Hall lease was due to expire in 2024 and a plea came out for new Trustees in 2023. A Steering Group was formed and the four named above remained and became new Trustees, however, several people from the community supported and shared skills and knowledge in the early discussions. 

Following 2 years of lease renewal discussions, a revised lease was agreed in March 2025. The Management Committee and Trustees of the previous charity who ran the hall formally retired at the AGM in July 2025, but agreed to hold and manage the bank account until funds could be transferred to a new CIO account. 

## Objectives of the Bruton Community Hall CIO 

To  establish  and  run  a  community  hall  and  to  promote  for  the  benefit  of  the inhabitants of Bruton and the surrounding area, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, nationality, race or political, religious or other opinion, the provision of facilities for recreation or other leisure time. This might include use for meetings, lectures, classes and for other forms of recreation and leisure with the object of improving life for the whole community, particularly those who might need these facilities by reason of youth, age, disability, financial, social and economic circumstances. To promote and support social welfare and to improve life for the community. 

The Board of Trustees to inform local residents through media, attending events, coffee mornings to widen the network required for taking on the revision of the lease. 

To identify current and immediate future income and expenditure 

To investigate the state of the building and potential repairs/improvements 

To plan for the improvement of facilities, review health and safety, parking. To promote the Hall locally and as widely as possible 

1 



## Activities and Achievements to date: 

1. A surveyors report – cost £405  This has identified the priorities for repair and maintenance 

2. Quotations for roof repairs- coming in at £14,000 

3. Need for IT and wi-fi in the Hall – discussions in progress –a priority 

4. Heating audit – completed with Somerset Community Council (10/6/25 awaiting report) and will inform next moves on replacing boiler/radiators. We will be applying for grants to support both the roof repairs and updating the heating. The meeting also informed some forthcoming changes to the way we risk assess and manage Health and Safety in the Hall. 

5. Policies – 

   - Health and Safety – a risk assessment to be completed and an info sheet will be part of the booking system 

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion statement 

Safeguarding 

## Finance: 

The CIO Board of Trustees took on responsibility for the finances (April 1[st] 2025) to ensure ease of accounts for future reports and returns. A new bank account was in process, in order to transfer funds, still managed by the previous committee, due to the  slow process of opening a  new business account. 

Income and expenditure has been managed by the existing Management Committee and Trustees.  Any expenditure identified by the Board as a Steering Group, i.e. cost of revised lease was £7200, had to be raised with and agreed by the committee. 

Increase in hire fees for using the Hall; there has not been an increase since 2021, however utility bills have increased and the need for repair and maintenance is evident. As a charity the only income is from hirers and monthly coffee morning run by the Committee solely as a fund raiser. It has been agreed that from July 1[st] 2025 new users will be charged £13 per hour and £13 for existing bookings/users from September 1[st] 2025 

As at 30[th] June 2025 the existing committee’s funds are: 

Current Account: £3871.82 

Deposit Account: £7299.37 

This will be transferred once we have a bank account and are managing income and expenditure. 

## Ruth Forbes 

## Chair CIO 

On behalf of Trustees of Bruton Community Hall CIO 

2 



## **Charity Name:** Bruton Community Hall (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) **Charity Number** :1206654 

## **Annual account for period starting** : 23/1/2024 **Period end** : 31/3/2025 

||JAN<br>202<br>4|FEB|MAR|APR|MAY|JUN|JLY|AUG|SEPT|OCT|NOV|DEC|JAN<br>2025|FEB|MARC<br>H|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**INCOME**||||||||||||||||
|Rent|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
|Cofee<br>mornings|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
|Interestonaccs|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
|Grants and<br>donations|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
|Legacies|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
|Govgrants|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
|Other trading|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
|Investments|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
|**EXPENDITURE**||||||||||||||||
|Repair and<br>renewals|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
|Utilities|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
|Rates|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
|Cleaning|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
|Memberships|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
|Payment to<br>Trustees|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
|Sundries|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|
|TOTAL FUNDS<br>AT YEAR END|£0|||||||||||||||



Accounting period for Charity Commission Return.      See Chair’s report 2025 for further info 

SIGNED: PATRICIA WHITTOCK  TREASURER                                                                 RUTH FORBES TRUSTEE/CHAIR