2021-03-31-accounts - Colmworth Village Hall

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Colmworth Village Hall Chairman’s Report for the AGM September 2021

In common with most organisations and charities, 2020 turned out to be a very unusual and challenging year for the trustees of the village hall.

Like the rest of the country, we closed our doors under UK Government instruction on 26th March and, whilst Government guidance could have allowed us to reopen for a limited number of uses during a brief period from August, the on-going restrictions imposed by our qualifying hirers’ own associations and governing bodies meant that no-one was able to make use of the facilities. Ultimately, we were forced to close our doors again under new Government restrictions.

Despite this, we had made the hall “COVID secure” by following Government and other bodies advice. Trustees undertook a full-risk assessment and implemented a number of measures. We implemented a one-way system in place with a sanitising station on entry, carpets and curtains (which are especially difficult to decontaminate) were either covered or removed, fabric seating was replaced with wipeable but still soft & comfortable chairs. The kitchen and bar have had to be placed out of bounds and there is plenty of signage and the all-important track & trace QR code in the entrance. A big thank-you to Gavin Jones, who does a fantastic (voluntary) job maintaining the hall and put all of this in place.

Although they may have been unable to make use of the hall, we retained regular hirers’ slots, so as soon as they are able to resume activities, their usual bookings could be resumed.

Obviously the majority of our income comes from people hiring the hall and, whilst many of our costs (heating, water and utilities, etc) have been minimised, other costs are still incurred. Thankfully, we were able to claim under the Government Hospitality Grants, which has meant that the trustees remain confident that we have at least 12 months funding in place to cover our loss of income, without a need to draw on reserves.

This has also meant that the trustees were able to agree that there would be no increase in hire rates for 2021 and have allowed us to be very flexible with hirers, whilst there remained uncertainty on whether activities could proceed.

Although lockdown as not helped, the trustees continued to move forward with the purchase of the final strip of land on our site from St Albans Diocese and we are hopeful that this can now be concluded in the next few months. We are also grateful to the Ward Fund, which has helped financially to support us with this capital purchase.

As the Government began to ease restrictions a restricted number of very specific activities became possible from 12th April 2021 and from the 17th May, the hall was able to re-open for many activities including exercise & Pilates classes (although some social distancing remained). Unfortunately, restrictions remained on most activities that would typically book the hall for private hire.

We completed the last of the electrical refurbishment work that had been planned whilst closed and we were final able to start removing some of the additional measures and restrictions we had to put in place to meet previous Government guidelines towards the end of July.

The committee was very aware that, despite restrictions become more relaxed, it was difficult for organisers to judge the level of take-up there may be from participants and we agreed to be extremely flexible in accommodating changes to bookings. Above all else, the trustees were mindful that we were there to offer a facility to the community and were happy to play our part fully in making it as easy as possible for people to return to normality.

To keep people updated, we setup a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/colmworthvillagehall) to help with publicity as we were allowed to fully reopen again.

I would just like to conclude by thanking the trustees and members of the management committee for their considerable time and effort this year; in many ways, despite being closed, there has been greater demand on the committee this year as we deal with COVID as well as our usual business.

David Brealey chair@colmworthvillagehall.org.uk

COLMWORTH VILLAGE HALL Receipts and expendlture for the year ended 31st March 2021 cel Balance 5he•t Pa m?nts Insurance Water & sewerage Electrlclty Heatlng Gas Telephone Hall & Garden Malntenan¢e Caretaker & cleanln8 StatSonery & postage Refunds Bank charges Premlsès Lltenses lalchohol & musltl Flre protectlon- In5pectlon Advertlslng Legal Fees Sundrles/Mlscellaneous 1st rll 2 £689.70 £451.90 £433.71 £1,366.18 £0.00 £220.84 £190.00 £0.00 £685.CrfJ £0.00 £0.00 £41.50 £5.50 £3,200,C £26.C N5&15avings account usiness Saver account Comrnunlty account £18.128,42 £434.72 £6,765 37 £25,328.51 L¢ttlngs £1,013.fy) Angllan Water Payment Eon Solar Paymnt Bu51ne$s Support Gr•nt Donatlons £444.73 £2,236.01 £20.098.00 £i.sL.00 £25,291.74 Int•r•it NS&I Savln85 ae¢ount Buslness Savlngs account £130.52 £2.65 £133.17 £7,310.33 NS&I Savlnqs a¢¢ournt lonnualsturement 1/112021} Buslne55 Saver account £18,2S8.94 £18,437.37 £6,746.78 Communlty account £43,443.09 Tot•1 £50,753.41 £50.753.42 I havo 8xamina th• r•c•ipts •nd outyolThgi w b•f¥r• m• •nd In my opinion they glv• u tru• and accurats ac£ount of tho •rtuution for th• y••r •ndin9 3111 March 2021. Sl¥naturn'. Prlnt Nam•.. M . J . L)ftwSoN) Oate: 17 ¢JNè 1031 Scanned with Camscanner