2022-12-31-accounts

Report of the Executive Committee for 2022 presented to the Hythe & Dibden Community Association at its Annual General Meeting Wednesday 17th May 2023

As we are currently without a Chairman - who customarily composes this report, it was down to other members of the Executive Committee, with assistance from the Community Centre’s Office Manager, to produce our account of what has occurred during this past Committee year.

This has given us the opportunity to reassess the structure of how we report. In the past we’ve merged our own Committee actions with those of the Community Centre we run without highlighting that the Community Association is more than just the Community Centre. This has led us to forget the wider aspects of our founding premise as enshrined in our constitution. This is a trend I hope the next committee will begin to readdress. But for now we’ll simply try to distinguish between Community Centre and Committee Association when reporting.

Since our last A.G.M in June 2022, The Executive have continued with our monthly Committee meetings and have also welcomed the General Committee to participate when extra experience was required. These joint meetings have, beyond the routine matters, primarily revolved around an observation by the Arts Council that there is a “deficit” of opportunities in the Waterside area for “the Arts” and that if sustainable opportunities could be found then the Arts Council would consider funding all or part of this. This is great news for organisations such as ours that include groups of artists, crafters and makers.

Related to this, the Community Centre hosted a round table discussion on the subject with other venues. This included: The H&D Parish Hall, the Hythe Pier Heritage Trust, The Forest Forge Theatre Company, The H&D Community Association and representatives from the Arts Council and H&D Parish Council. It might be noted that seeing as the Parish Hall is run by the Parish Council that they had an extra seat at the table. It might also be noted that seeing as the table, seat and room was provided by the Community Centre that we, the Community Association also had an extra, if silent, voice.

With both roundtable discussion and General Committee meetings – there’s a lot of talk but news is scant and slow in forming, so there is no actual progress bar the agreement to “look into” possibilities and to talk with our artistic members about what they might consider is missing from the Waterside area.

The rest of the Executive Committee’s work has been with the long term running of the Community Centre so it can continue to provide, on the associations behalf, the service it does.

Direct services: Our Community Centre:

In as far as things can now be considered “normal” the Community Centre has continued to re-open its facilities to our Membership, Associated and Commercial hirers. A few of the smaller groups have not returned, in part, due to the age of their members and the reduction of interest within their group – this trend had started before covid and is felt nationwide. Two

notable groups that folded for good after more than twenty years with us was the Waterside Bridge Group and our ladies group: H.Y.A.D.S. Both will be sorely missed.

The Commercial hirers have mostly returned as before.

Centre Usage:

In the year since our last A.G.M there have been 1082 bookings, an increase from the 969 bookings during the previous 21-22 year which equates to around an extra 373 hours of bookings (see appendix). The majority of the extra bookings was in Room C.

Usage across our groups (Beyond normal hirings):

The Waterside Art Group returned for their Art Exhibition in August 2022 and covered two full Saturdays, although with a more compact showcase of their skills.

This was the only Membership Group to make use of the facilities outside of their normal hirings.

Across other users:

The Hythe Art Group (aka Witt Art) had their Art Exhibition also in August and displayed the progress that the group have made.

As part of the “Rock the Pier” event in July, the “ Hythe Shed ” hosted a model Railway Exhibition with us. It was quite well attended and we sold a few second hand books and served tea and coffee when needed.

Indirect Services: Via renting the Community Centre.

Jack & Jill’s. In the last year the Pre-School have returned to using the main entrance for access instead of the Hall 2 fire door that had been used to keep the two businesses separate as part of our Covid response. This “normalisation” was a relief when the cold weather returned and the normal buffer of the main building reduced heat loss in the Pre-School. Their intake felt a little on the low side and that has been explained as a result of a lower birth rate during 2019 and 2020. This is a trend that is expected to take a few years to bounce back.

Hythe Voluntary Car Group , continue to use our office as their headquarters between 9 and 11am each day and provide an invaluable facility for members of the community; primarily for visits to health related venues but also for the more mundane such as shopping and the hairdressers etc.

The Age Concern Chiropody Service continues to provide within the Community Centre a very well patronised and needed service within the community.

Inhealth Intelligence , an NHS service provider, continues to provide within the Centre an Eye Screening Service for people with Diabetes. This is very well utilised and provides a facility for our community without them having to travel outside of the Waterside.

hArt (Hampshire Art for Recreation and Therapy), offer activities to support mental health, wellbeing and wider social issues in people of all ages and abilities.

Occasional hirings also include the Hampshire Youth Offenders team and an antismoking organisation called Smoke Free Hampshire.

Financial Report Year 2022 Incoming:

When we compare 2022 to the last year of normal trading (2019), we have begun gaining ground. The total income for the Association in 2022 was £38629 compared to £36066 in 2019, this does not reflect price increases in that period. Rents from hiring the Community Centre’s rooms out were £33200 compared to £31697.

Membership numbers have continued to rise with 175 members in 2022 compared to 124 in 2021 and returning to the last “normal” level of 285 in 2019. At last years’ AGM it was decided to increase membership fees to £5 per annum. The increase should have been charged from the start of this year (2023), but will now be implemented for 2024.

The kitchen, while not being fully open and being serviced from the office had a net income of £634 – a rise of 3 times the previous year. Book sales are also recovering, with receipts of £90.

The Association also received an additional Support Grant from New Forest District Council of £4000.

Outgoing:

The utility service expenditure was up by only £223 over 2021’s amount. This has mainly been due to the negotiations that our Chairman, Graham Parkes, had with our energy broker “Every Aspect” to obtain the best fixed price deals for gas just before the major increases started. This deal will last for 3 years, ending in 2025. A similar deal was made for electricity which started in May 2023 and will last until 2026.

The costs for maintenance were substantially higher at £11783 against £3550 in 2021. The reason for this was that the centre’s 2 boilers plus pipework and pressure cylinders had to be repaired or replaced during this time. The cost of a new boiler system would have been in excess of £22K. The decision was made to see if we could have one or both of them repaired. We were lucky enough to find an enthusiastic plumber who was up for the challenge and briefly both boilers were operational. Alas one of the boilers couldn’t cope and needed to be turned off again. The Association had a final repair bill of £8082 and a comfortably warm Community Centre.

Overall Income, including the NFDC Support Grant amounted to £38629 compared with £43334 last year whilst Expenditure amounted to £48864 compared to £39138 last year. The year-end differential was a loss of £10235 compared to a surplus of £4191 last year. Total differential was £14426 which is accounted for by the cost of the boiler repair, increase in wages and the lesser grants received in 2022.

A copy of the accounts is available to all members in the Office.

The Future

At the time of this report the future is somewhat uncertain. As reported earlier, our commercial bookings have recovered to a large degree but membership groups having fewer numbers, have been slower to recover. This is of greater concern for the Association which is made up of and run by members than the Community Centre itself.

We still need to market the Centre more, in order to increase our hirings and revenues, but in addition we need to explore new ventures and identify other uses which would still be in keeping with the ethos of the Association while not being in conflict with our planning category.

One insurmountable problem is that there is a surplus of venues in the area which has arisen since we erected the new Centre. Most of the new venues have been created within the local authority or ecclesiastical environment which protect them from incurring costs that an independently run building such as our centre does. For example: refuse – churches get their waste taken away free whereas businesses, like ours, must pay.

As for other streams of income: The “Inn Centre” Café area has, as of Easter 2023, been re-opened for tea, coffee and biscuits though not yet for other snacks. Our groups need to be reminded that it is available.

Our web site continues to make prospective hirers aware of what the Community Centre has to offer. Hopefully in the future, there’ll be a page or two that Membership and Associated Groups, if they wish, can make use of to promote themselves – as they can the Community Centre’s noticeboards.

We, in common with all commercial businesses and private consumers are still being strongly affected by the increase in gas and electricity prices, although as previously stated, all attempts are being made to mitigate this. Due to the boiler breakdown for most of 2022, the costs combined were actually slightly lower than 2021 but we still have to monitor usage carefully and minimise waste.

The basic maintenance on the Community Centre buildings continues at a significantly low level and most of our costs have been incurred through the Associations’ legal requirement to ensure that the emergency systems and services such as the fire and burglar systems are regularly tested and maintained. This also applies to portable appliances and the lift though those are more visible and less forgettable on a day to day basis.

This “low level” can not last forever as the original part of the building is over 50 years old and the new Community Centre was opened 20 years ago. We can therefore expect significant increases in our maintenance costs in the next few years.

It has always been the hope of the Executive Committee, since we had the Community Centre rebuilt, that, in spite of not being able to maximise our revenues through the provision of a new all-purpose hall to replace the old one, we would be in a position to move into a surplus financial state year on year. The last few years have not made that hope an easy one to keep but despite this we continue to believe in the future and hope to move forward, maybe with new ideas, but still continuing to meet the needs of the community.

We would like to commend this report to you for your adoption.

. Chairman

HYTHE AND DIBDEN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

Income and expenditure account

for the year ended 31 December 2022

Income Expenditure Wages, salaries and other staff costs Travelling expenses Rent, rates, power and insurance costs Maintenance and renewals of property and equipment Telephone, stationery and other office costs Bank,credit card and other finance charges Accountancy, legal and other professional fees Depreciation and loss/(profit) on asset disposal Other expenses Expenditure excess	2022 2021 £ £ 38629 43334 23266 21786 0 0 11446 11223 11783 3550 2215 2227 154 17 300 0 40 0 0 48864 39143 -10235 4191

HYTHE AND DIBDEN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

Balance Sheet at 31st December 2022

Notes 2022 £ Fixed assets Buildings and equipment 1 15,356 Current assets Debtors 5846 Bank balance - HSBC 21,164 Till Floats 100 Petty Cash 127 27,237 Current liabilities Creditors 685 Net current assets 26,552 Net assets 41,908 General Fund Balance at start of period 52,142 Excess of Expenditure over Income/(Income over Expenditure) -10,235 41,907	2021 £	2021 £
	15,356 781 38104 100 48 39,033
	2247
		36,786
		52,142
		47,951 4,191
		52,142

The accounts were approved by the Trustees of the Hythe and Dibden Community Association on:

Date: 17/05/2023

Chairman C White

HYTHE AND DIBDEN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022

1 Income and Expenditure Account Income Rents receivable Membership Books Donation NFDC Grant Business Support Grant Job Retention Scheme Sundries Kitchen: Less: Expenditure Interest receivable Expenditure Wages,salaries and other staff costs Wages Office manager Cleaners Wardens fees Travel and Subsistence Travel and subsistence Rent, water, power and insurance costs Ground rents Water and sewerage Electricity Gas Insurance TV Licence Maintenance and renewals of property and equipment Building maintenance & safety Less: charges for PAT testing Kitchen equipment Cleaning materials Less; charged to J&J Garden maintenance Telephone, stationery and other office costs Telephone: Less: income Internet Office consumables Copier costs Less: income

2022 2021 £ £ 33200 20973 700 496 90 13 6 60 4000 12000 9581 37996 43123 786 250 -152 -39 634 211 38629 43334 8640 8160 14590 13626 36 0 23266 21786 0 0 2220 2220 687 565 4390 2843 393 2215 3596 3222 159 158 11446 11223 11766 3586 -9 -12 11757 3574 0 0 160 52 -133 -76 26 -24 0 0 11783 3550 1472 1512 0 0 1472 1512 86 86 62 119 678 678 -84 -168 594 510 2215 2227

Advertising Advertising Bank, credit card and other finance charges Accountancy, legal and other professional fees Accountants fees Depreciation and loss/(profit) on asset disposals Depreciation Other expenses Social and Christmas decorations Sundry expenses	0 154 0 0 48864	0
		17 300 40
		0
		0
		0
		39143

HYTHE AND DIBDEN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

Notes to the Accounts

for the year ended 31 December 2022

1 Buildings and office equipment

Cost At 1 January 2022 Less: Grant Additions Disposals At 31 December 2022 Depreciation At 1 January 2022 Charge for Year On disposals At 31 December 2022 Net book value At 31 December 2022 At 31 December 2021	New building £ 533279 -517923 - 15356 - - - - 15356 15356	Building & office equipment £ 33440 - 33440 33440 - - 33440 0 0	Total £ 566,719 -517,923 0 -
			48796
			33,440 0 -
			33440
			15356
			15356

Inde endent examiner5 re ort to the trustees on the unaudited accounts (prepared by the Treasure) for Hythe and Dibden CommunityAssociation for the year ended 31 December 2022. Respective responslbllities of trustees and examiner The Charit¢s trustees consider that an audit is not required for the year I have been asked to.. Examine the accounts prepared by The Treasure under sertion 145 of the Charities Act, the Charities Commission (under section 14S151 Ibll of the Charities Act, and To state whether particular matters have come to my attention Basls of independent examinerfs statement My examination was carried out in accordance with the general directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and 2 comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matter. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that WOLtld be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a "true and fairf, view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. Independent examinerfs statement In connection with my examination. no matter has come to my attention l. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements.. To keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act, and To prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met or 2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Chantel Hiatt MAAT 30 Arnwood Avenue Dibden Purlieu Southampton