Louise Seymour Charity- Sarisbury Parish Room. Registered charity number 205807.
Annual report for year ending 2021.
This charity is responsible for the running of the Sarisbury Green Parish Rooms. Details can be found on our website SGPR.org.uk. The building compromises of 2 halls, a committee room & a large kitchen. The address for correspondence is 217 Barnes Lane, Sarisbury Green, SO31 7BH.
It’s constituted by a Trust Deed dated 5th March 1892, updated on 28th November 1986.
The charitable purpose is the provision and maintenance of the Parish Rooms for the use of the inhabitants of the parishes of St Paul’s Sarisbury (the area of benefit) without distinction of political opinions, including the use for meetings, pre school, lectures, classes & for other forms of leisure activities, with the object of improving the lives & conditions of the said inhabitants.
The public benefit is that the rooms are available to the public at very competitive rates & lettings are nearly always at full capacity. The Parish Rooms are maintained to a high standard using income received by lets & they continue to be improved & maintained by regulation & changing needs.
The charity is administered by trustees, 5 of whom are elected annually. Other committee members are appointed from local organisations & one is ex officio, the current vicar of St Paul’s church Sarisbury, & up to 2 are co opted.
The committee is made up as follows: Chair- Paul Bowler Secretary & Joint Treasurer- Dave Meredith (retiring April 2022) Treasurer- Amanda Williams Other members include- Sarah Jane Tarr, Tony Linford, Mary Farmer, Steve Launey & Ian Scrace.
Contract services are used on a regular basis for hall cleaning as well as gardening, rubbish collection, window cleaning etc.
Day to day management is overseen by the trustees & carried out in the main by the Secretary.
All roles are voluntary, this is what makes the halls very cheap to hire. A modest honorarium is paid annually to the treasurer & secretary to help with incurred expenses.
The committee meets generally x4 a year.
Review of 2021
The Covid Pandemic continued to wreak havoc with the operation of the Parish Rooms.
A slow & steady recovery began to occur after the summer holidays with bookings beginning to improve.
The Pre School success continued with many more children joining. The Dance School, King’s Academy, when able to, went from strength to strength.
The committee decided to apply considerable discount to hire costs for our main users to help them recover from losses incurred by the pandemic. Party bookings were made & cancelled as regulations were applied & sickness of children occured.
Sarisbury Infants School was given a grant from our funds of over £500 so the travelling circus pantomime could take place at last. The school were very grateful for this donation.
The local council gave the Parish Rooms a grant of £1400 to repair the wooden fence that surrounded the play area at the side of the Parish Rooms, a very useful donation indeed.
Treasurer's Report
Income received from short & long term hirers Income received £29,201 (2020) (£15,842) Expenditure £23,548 (2020) (£17,171) Net receipts for 2021 £7,909
Overall financial position across 3 accounts £36,507 monetary assets (2020) £28,567
Our accounts this year have been seen & approved by the Chair, Secretary & Joint Treasurers. Full audited accounts are available on request.
2022 will see a refurbishment of the gents toilets which will have a considerable impact on our finances.
A new Secretary will be elected at the 2022 AGM as Dave Meredith is retiring from the role & leaves the committee.
Michelle Day (2022 Secretary, compiled with assistance of the outgoing secretary.)