Annual General Meeting 2023
Tuesday 14[th] November 2023
The Chair’s Review of the Year
Welcome to the East Meon Village Hall Annual General Meeting 2023 here in our village hall.
Once again an enormous thank you to everyone who contributes so much to the Village Hall. And a huge thank you to everyone who served on the Management Committee this year for everything you’ve done.
It is, of course, the members of the Village Hall Management Committee who are the Trustees of the Charity, with responsibility for managing the Village Hall. This is the East Meon Village Hall Charity - Charity No. 226,855. The objective is clear, you can see it in a frame on the wall in the entrance lobby.
The object of the Charity shall be the provision and maintenance of a village hall for the use of the inhabitants of the Parish of East Meon without distinction of political, religious or other opinions, including use for meetings, lectures and classes, and for other forms of recreation and leisure-time occupation, with the object of improving the conditions of life.
And that is what everyone here is committed to.
Many of us know Leo Seymour as the maestro of the church choir. Until a few months ago he was also our Treasurer. Thank you so much Leo for all you’ve done particularly as we worked our way, as have we all, through a very tricky couple of years.
Welcome to Sandy Lague who has kindly taken on the Treasurer’s role, we’re delighted you have joined the team.
Also this year Andrew Hughes relinquished his communications role, a compelling combination of gliding at Lasham, a Ducati and a sporty motor quite understandably drew him away. Thank you Andrew for all you have done particularly during the ghastly pandemic.
And a big thank you to Sarah Round who although leaving the committee continues to help with events and the Hall OverHaul, now from outside the committee due to her many other commitments.
Sarah Powell and Karolina Allen have joined the team to lead us in events raising funds for this charity. We have made financial progress over the last 12 months but once again the hall’s income is not enough to cover the outgoings. That is why we are continuing to build our fund-raising efforts, not least because 2024 is the hall’s 50[th] birthday.
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Matt Millward, our technology guru has been the leading light for a number of new things. The stage is better lit. Event lighting has been improved, decorative lighting is available for functions. CCTV is better, we put CCTV in the sports pavilion for the parish council and now have an emergency generator to cover blackouts in the winter months.
As ever our Hall Manager Emily Rich has attracted all sorts of new hires over the year. Happily the hall continues to be mostly busy instead of mostly not. The café attracts a wide clientele and we are particularly delighted that there are now two commemorative picnic tables, in rot proof recycled plastic, alongside the small hall, great for the café and used by others too.
Gemma Griffiths – actually it’s Gemma, partner Matt and their 2 daughters - continue to work their magic keeping the hall in great order. Together we have been maintaining the NuMatic floor scrubber, there’s plenty of detail to running the hall which we continue to work at improving and simplifying.
It is hard to fully describe the joy of not having to manage numerous door keys. Our online booking system continues to be enhanced offering greater convenience for hirers and easier management for the team. George Thompson has continued to introduce further enhancements which we fully appreciate.
It has become more and more obvious that we need to make the running the hall as straightforward, easy and least time consuming as possible. The online booking system has made a huge difference but there are other things we need to look at too. For example stopping the air conditioning being left to run full blast overnight on occasions, that’s quite a lot of lost money in summer or winter. This will hopefully be addressed by the Hall OverHaul.
Incidentally, we are continuing with Andrew’s excellent idea of gathering nearby village hall committees together from time to time to see where we can help each other do better.
Last winter we ran the Warm Room programme over Christmas including family Fun Days to help when cash for many in the community was tight. We are planning on using the experience gained last winter to help us deliver as the cold weather approaches over the coming months.
This year the Food Bank, and until August the Care Group equipment, were both run from the hall, both busy activities. The Care Group has moved all their kit to a better location nearby. Better for the Care Group and better for the hall too.
The big event this year was the Coronation three-day weekend. On Saturday we supported the church, procuring and temporarily installing equipment to screen the coronation broadcast.
Sunday saw The Great Meon River Boat Race, which was indeed great, followed by the Coronation Party on the Green with the tea party, sports, stalls, bouncy
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castles and live music. It's the volunteers that make these events possible and it’s a lot of fun putting on a show so do join in next May. Monday was the Big Help Day – serious litter picking parties set out from here in the hall with tea, cake and sustenance on their return.
The hall supports the church – the benefice is co-ordinated and administered upstairs – helping to run the lay services and East Meon Arts fund-raising events through the year. This is the home of Pew News, where couples are met in preparation for their marriage, and where christenings and funerals are organised amongst many other things.
It was sobering to learn that over the last 12 months a significant percentage of nurseries in our area closed. Our Village Nursery and Pre-School had a tight start to the year but as the year progressed things improved. The start of year 23/4 has been much more encouraging as numbers grow and children in the village who could not get to Pre-School now can. Children, and their parents, appreciate the large space and the freedom to go in and out of the garden whenever they like.
East Meon School and The Village Nursery, know each other well and continue to work together. The school collaborated with the Café for the MacMillan Coffee Morning - a great success.
This Christmas The Village Nursery will be holding their Christmas Fair on Saturday 25th November and the School will be holding theirs on Saturday 9th December. These are events that bring people together from across the village.
As for the hall’s finances, as you can imagine, the year has not been easy. Energy costs are immense even with the benefit of the advantageous electricity contract that Leo struck with British Gas. Emily continues to win increasing numbers of hires generating essential income although there are times when the hall has insufficient slots available to do everything that people would like.
Unsurprisingly, the financial accounts for the year show an operating deficit. However the increasing hire revenue is helping to improve the hall’s financial position.
The committee is always looking to attract interesting activities and improve the hall. Higher utilisation, community inclusion and a greater contribution across the village is a continuous target.
The AGM is a good time to review the hall and its contribution to East Meon. When the hall was built in 1974, there were no mobile phones, internet, electric vehicles or working from home. A lot has changed and it’s time to update the hall. Leaking roofs, weak windows and doors, little thermal insulation, tired electrics, cranky plumbing and heating that is approaching end of life all need attention. Hence the Hall OverHaul.
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Your ideas will shape the future of the hall. What could it be used for? What should be included? What should NOT be included! Thank you Matt for looking after our consultation panel in the Coronation Bar back in May.
We held the first formal consultation meeting in the Small Hall in conjunction with the Parish Council on Saturday 2nd September to gather everyone’s ideas and views. We are interested in everything from layout to colour schemes.
The consultation programme is being run to capture comment, observations and ideas to feed into the plans for the hall to get something we all want. Showing there is real demand for the hall to be brought up to date, will make it so much easier to secure the funds that ensure the plans actually happen. Funding the Hall OverHaul is work in progress as I’m sure you can imagine.
A big thank you to our Parish Council and councillors for their unstinting support.
As you can tell, 2022-3 was a busy year and once again the hall has a busy year ahead. Things rarely stay still, there are always opportunities to improve and deliver more, the Hall OverHaul is just the latest example. That’s why I offer the most enormous thanks to everyone who contributes to and uses the East Meon Village Hall.
Thank you.
David Pepper Chair East Meon Village Hall Committee chair@eastmeonvillagehall.co.uk
Delivered at the East Meon Village Hall Annual General Meeting.
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Financial Statement for Year Ending 31 August 2023.
Reporting Income and Expenditure as required by the Charities Commission
----- Start of picture text -----
2,023 2022 2021
Income £ £ £
Hall Bookings 10,735 22,451 5,511
Country Fair 6,662
Festivals 109 4,189 2,157
VH Events 2,866
Film Nights 2,633 1,363
Covid Grant 9,907
Donations 443
Warm Room 9,385
Café 2,677
Village Nursery 9,120
Other 262 399 378
Total Income 42,026 31,267 17,954
Expenditure
Maintenance 6,875 2,492 4,893
Improvements 2,568 13,451 6,341
Salaries 13,189 9,339 3,857
Consumables 142 782
Utilities 6,422 3,000 2,447
Festivals 229 854 673
Warm Room 4,358
VH Events 179
Country Fair 7,245
ICT 1,091 687 826
Insurance 961 916 1,274
Licences 1,156 1,116 395
Film Nights 673 265
Business Rates 111 113
Advertising 200 200 200
Opening Stock (418)
Other 335 151 98
Total Expenditure 45,137 33,545 21,005
Surplus/(Deficit) (3,111) (2,278) (3,051)
----- End of picture text -----
| Maintenance Air Conditioning 1,149 Grass-cutting 796 Cleaning products 1,307 Window cleaning 346 Fire extinguisher service 209 Gutter repairs 900 Plumbingrepairs 905 General Maintenance 1,263 Total 6,875 Improvements Range Cooker 659 Gazebo x3 600 Microwave 150 Sum Upx4 400 Hand Dryer x2 280 Stage Lights 250 General Improvements 229 Total 2,568 |
Maintenance Air Conditioning 1,149 Grass-cutting 796 Cleaning products 1,307 Window cleaning 346 Fire extinguisher service 209 Gutter repairs 900 Plumbingrepairs 905 General Maintenance 1,263 Total 6,875 Improvements Range Cooker 659 Gazebo x3 600 Microwave 150 Sum Upx4 400 Hand Dryer x2 280 Stage Lights 250 General Improvements 229 Total 2,568 |
Maintenance Air Conditioning 1,149 Grass-cutting 796 Cleaning products 1,307 Window cleaning 346 Fire extinguisher service 209 Gutter repairs 900 Plumbingrepairs 905 General Maintenance 1,263 Total 6,875 Improvements Range Cooker 659 Gazebo x3 600 Microwave 150 Sum Upx4 400 Hand Dryer x2 280 Stage Lights 250 General Improvements 229 Total 2,568 |
Maintenance Air Conditioning 1,149 Grass-cutting 796 Cleaning products 1,307 Window cleaning 346 Fire extinguisher service 209 Gutter repairs 900 Plumbingrepairs 905 General Maintenance 1,263 Total 6,875 Improvements Range Cooker 659 Gazebo x3 600 Microwave 150 Sum Upx4 400 Hand Dryer x2 280 Stage Lights 250 General Improvements 229 Total 2,568 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maintenance | ||||
| Air Conditioning | 1,149 | |||
| Grass-cutting | 796 | |||
| Cleaning products | 1,307 | |||
| Window cleaning | 346 | |||
| Fire extinguisher service | 209 | |||
| Gutter repairs | 900 | |||
| Plumbingrepairs | 905 | |||
| General Maintenance | 1,263 | |||
| Total | 6,875 | |||
| Improvements | ||||
| Range Cooker | 659 | |||
| Gazebo x3 | 600 | |||
| Microwave | 150 | |||
| Sum Upx4 | 400 | |||
| Hand Dryer x2 | 280 | |||
| Stage Lights | 250 | |||
| General Improvements | 229 | |||
| Total | 2,568 | |||
BALANCE SHEET
Financial Year
1st September 2022 to 31st August 2023
| Account Name A/c No. |
31/08/2022 | 31/08/2023 | YTD Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reserve 438 Current A 411 Current B (Warm Room) 369 Country Fair 800 Paypal Zettle Café Cash Box Rugby Bar Cash Box Petty Cash Stock Accruals Total |
30,400.22 3,750.36 2,046.89 73.16 1,993.66 20.00 21.98 14.10 -1.61 0.00 0.00 |
26,661.92 1,120.85 5,759.45 73.16 1,229.09 0.00 0.00 0.00 54.47 418.16 -110.56 |
-3,738.30 -2,629.51 3,712.56 0.00 -764.57 -20.00 -21.98 -14.10 56.08 418.16 -110.56 |
| 38,318.76 | 35,206.54 | -3,112.22 |
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report R•port to the trustses East Meon Village Hall 226855 On accounts for th• yr •nd•d 3110812023 Charfty no lif any) er Set out on pago• I report to the tru8t8es on my examination of the accounts of the above charity {Ih8 Twst") for the yegr erthd 3110812023. As the charity's trustee$. you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in gGcNdance ¥tts the requiremonts of the Charities Act 2011 (Ihe AGf). I report in respect of my examination of the TnJst'8 a¢counts carried out under $8ction 145 of th8 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination. I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. Independent I have completed my examination. I confim th8t no material matters have examln•rf8 •tatoment come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me . cause to believè that in, 4Ry m8tenal respgrt: the accounting records *re not kepi in accordance with sectlon 130 of the Charities Act.. or the accounts did nol accord with the accounting records.. or the accourrts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the forni and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a Irue and fairf view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Respon•lbllftles and ha$ ofr•port Slgned.. Dats: Name: Julia Turpin Relevant profe881onal qualfficatlon(s) or body (if any).. CREfi12ECJ) Addie88: 2 The Green, East Meon, Petersfield, GU32 1 QT