Chairman's Report Alderholt Village Hall AGM 20 October 2025
The year just ended has seen our focus turn very much to reinvesting our strong cash balance into the fabric of the building and to improve the experience of our valued customers. We have spent north of £30,000 on three major projects - the toilets, the patio and patching of the car park - and an enhanced level of general maintenance.
The largest and by far the most complicated of these projects was the refurbishment of the toilets back in January which was only achieved as a result of substantial grants and donations. We are indebted to the Alderholt Community Fund, Dorset Council and ACRE as well as to the Cranborne estate and Alderholt Drama Club. In turn we would not have secured these grants were it not for the sterling efforts by our president Norman Jones.
Norman was also the driving force behind the work to replace the patio fencing and upgrade the garden around the patio, along with Dave Watson our maintenance manager. Dave continues to carry out a lot of unseen and sometimes unpleasant work (he has baptised the drainage rods!) including re-laying the anti-slip mesh on the decking, putting up the bird box and succeeding where others have failed before him in getting the chairs cleaned.
It was a delight to welcome Lord and Lady Cranborne to the official opening ceremony of the new toilets, an event also covered live by Forest FM thanks to Chris Walker using his contacts. We must have made a favourable impression because after the visit we received an additional £1000 donation from the Cranborne estate which we much appreciated.
We put on four live performances this year. In November Chris was back with Clarinet Marmalade and the enjoyable Hark the Herald Angels Swing. This has proved to be his stage swansong with us and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Chris for the huge amount of joy he has brought to hall audiences over many years.
In December we had a sell out performance of A Christmas Carol from Forest Forge Theatre which proved as profitable as it was entertaining. I hope this year's offering will attract a similar audience.
Staying with the offer to the younger members of our community we hosted two school holiday Artsreach performances. In February we sold 100 tickets for Squashbox Theatre's Wonderful World and in August it was the turn of Scratchworks Theatre's The Mushroom Show which was well received but sold fewer than half the tickets. We also hosted a very successful Freecycle event in January, a month when we don't hold our market.
Talking of which, the monthly market and café continues to evolve and, after much searching, we were delighted to welcome Dawn to replace Lin as market manager. Over the past couple of years Lin has done an excellent job resuscitating the market and has made light work of easing Dawn into the role since May. Dawn has already introduced some new ideas and I look forward to seeing what else she brings forward. And thanks to Jo, Tim, Naomi, Terry and Wendy for helping with the on site market lead or support roles.
The café fayre continues to be presented beautifully and served with a smile by our café team led by Faye and ably supported by Pat, Lena and Lin. Many thanks to all our bakers for their continued support.
On the administrative side Wendy has again provided excellent secretarial support and now works with Lin to ensure the weekly safety checks are done. She was also responsible for introducing the new emergency contact number.
In January, after five years of valued service, Tina decided to step down from the role of treasurer. It might have taken us seven months of looking but in July we were fortunate to find a worthy replacement in Mike Saddler who has been co-opted onto the committee and will be formally proposed at the AGM. Having taken on the treasurer role pro tem I have now all but completed the handover. I look forward to working with Mike in the coming year.
Sadly, at almost the same time we found Mike we lost Naomi who is stepping down from managing our Facebook presence. I thank her for her support.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the success of our past year in whatever capacity from our bakers to our market stall holders to our event volunteers and of course to all our dedicated committee members. That committee is almost back to full strength. The hall and the grounds look in excellent shape. We have a strong pipeline of bookings and we have a solid bank balance. We should look forward to the new year with confidence and enthusiasm
Graeme Thorley Chairman Alderholt Village Hall 20 October 2025
Alderholt Village Hall Management Committee Receipts & Payments Account for the Year Ending 31 August 2025
| RECEIPTS Grants & Donations Lettings - Ad hoc Lettings - Regular Lettings - APC Rent Market Tables Events Bar & Café Refunds Bank Interest Admin Expenses Audit Bar & Café Stock Bank Charges Caretaker Deposit Refunds Hire of Performers Insurance Licence Dorset Council Licence PRS Maintenance - Regular Maintenance - Projects Utilities Cash funds at start of this period Total Receipts EXPENDITURE Total Expenditure Net Receipts/(Expenditure) Cash funds at end of this period |
2025 12164.46 6387.94 7982.00 5708.00 2519.50 1476.84 2958.95 0.00 551.65 |
2024 Notes 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 6 6 6 7 1732.08 5838.80 5675.00 2619.00 1206.00 2712.68 3071.44 190.00 509.27 23554.27 1146.73 0.00 717.12 60.00 5400.00 1692.00 2527.19 1421.20 180.00 733.20 1949.00 1236.00 3546.35 20608.79 26707.80 2945.48 29653.28 |
|---|---|---|
| 39749.34 899.62 0.00 255.68 62.00 5400.00 473.50 639.70 1308.89 180.00 205.33 3301.46 28401.87 4406.39 45534.44 29653.28 -5785.10 23868.18 |
23554.27 | |
| 1146.73 0.00 717.12 60.00 5400.00 1692.00 2527.19 1421.20 180.00 733.20 1949.00 1236.00 3546.35 |
||
| 20608.79 | ||
| 26707.80 2945.48 |
||
| 29653.28 |
Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ending 31 August 2025
1. Receipts & Payments Account
The Receipts & Payments Account summarises money received and money spent during the period. All transactions are through the two bank accounts operated by Alderholt Village Hall: a CAF current account and a CAF Gold deposit account.
The breakdown for 2024 has been restated to match the new more detailed format.
| 2. Grants and Donations Alderholt Community Fund Dorset Council ACRE Cranborne Estate Alderholt Drama Club Market raffle & book sales Sundry donations |
2. Grants and Donations Alderholt Community Fund Dorset Council ACRE Cranborne Estate Alderholt Drama Club Market raffle & book sales Sundry donations |
£ 4300.00 3096.00 3068.00 1000.00 389.25 311.21 0.00 |
|---|---|---|
| 12164.46 |
3. Lettings
Prior years reported all lettings as one total. This is now broken down for clarity.
| 2025 | 2024 | % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lettings - Ad hoc | 6387.94 | 5838.80 | 9.41% |
| Lettings - Regular | 7982.00 | 5675.00 | 40.65% |
Only one six-month payment of APC rent was recognised in 2023/24 owing to payment timing
4. Market Tables
Figures for both market tables and the café are distorted as takings from May and July 2024 were not paid into the bank until Sept. August 2024 takings were paid in in Oct i.e. all in FY 2024/25. In total this represents market stalls £529.50 and café £463.85 credited in the wrong FY. Adjusted figures would be: market tables £1735 (2024) & £1990 (2025); café £3535 (2024) & £2494 (2025).
| 5. Bank Interest CAF Current account CAF Gold account |
£ 10.17 541.48 |
|
|---|---|---|
| 551.65 |
6. Maintenance
Prior years reported all maintenance and caretaker expense as one total.
7. Cash Balances at Year End Represented by:
| 31 August 2025 | 31 August 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| CAF Gold Account | 21484.93 | 25606.45 |
| CAF Cash Account | 2210.31 | 3873.89 |
| Hall Float | 130.00 | 130.00 |
| Petty Cash | 42.94 | 42.94 |
| Total | 23868.18 | 29653.28 |
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl Alderholt Village Hall On accounts for the year ended 31° August 2025 Charlty no (If any) 213633 Set out on pages This page only I retM)rt to the trustees on my examination of the acrx)unts of the above charity fthe Twsf) for the year 8nd8d 31108r2025. Responslbllltles and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you S responsible for the preparation basls of report of the accounts in a(rdanc£ wilh the requirements of Ihe Charities Acl 2011 {Ihe Acr). I report in respect of my examination of th8 Twst's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in cary'ing out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directsons given by Charity Commission under section 145(5Kb) of the Act. I have (x>mpleted my examination. I confimi that no material matters have com8 to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in. any material resFect: accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Acl or the ants not a(xx)rd with tt* accounting records Independent examlnorfs ststement I have no concerns and have come across rK) Other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a propel understanding of the accounts to be reached. Slgned: 1910512026 Name: David John Frederick Goad Relevant professlonal quallficatlon(s) or body (If any).. Non applicable Address: 32 Ringwc(Kl Road Aldetholt. Fordingbridge Hants SP6 3DF IER October 2018