2021-10-31-accounts - Village Hall (Flitton)

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Flitton & Greenfield Village Hall

ANNUAL REPORT 2021

As you would expect, lockdowns dominated the year. We actually started off the year open but that lasted all of 3 days, and we closed for a month; we reopened for regular hirers in December and that lasted 10 days. We finally reopened for regular hires in May and for occasional hires in June, all with risk assessments and restrictions. As the national restrictions have eased, so the popularity for hiring the hall has increased; our challenge has been, in conjunction with the hirers, to ensure that we provide a safe and Covid-19 free environment. Fingers crossed, we must be doing something right as we passed a Covid Enforcement Inspection by Central Beds Council in June – no mean feat I understand given the experiences of other halls and the volume of evidence required.

Taking advantage of an empty hall, we went ahead with the refurbishment of the bar; after a protracted selection process, work started in November and was complete before reopening. The discovery of asbestos in the old flooring throughout was an additional and unexpected challenge but, once we knew about it, unavoidable. Nevertheless, the overall result is very impressive and many thanks to Carl Lowe for managing the project. We were fortunate to have been successful with grants from the parish council, Central Beds Council and particularly £5,000 from the Bedfordshire & Luton Community Foundation. Despite the extra work, we only utilised just under £5,000 from our general reserves.

We also took the opportunity to rename the bar in honour of Gerald Jones who had been on the committee for many years and had been involved in the original construction of the hall and subsequent improvements thereafter. Unfortunately, Gerald passed away before the hall could reopen but more importantly, he had given his permission for the renaming beforehand and had been very touched by the gesture. It was left to his children to formally open Gerald’s at the end of May and unveil a very smart sign above the bar.

As I mentioned, since reopening the enquiries haven’t stopped and the phone seemed to be triggered by every new pronouncement from the government about lifting this and that restriction. Relaxing the mandatory and therefore legal restrictions just served to shift the responsibilities for managing any restrictions in order to maintain the safe and clean environment on to us and it was noticeable how the reactions of the hall users changed, and to my mind not necessarily for the better. The booking hotlines (email and phone) have never been busier for both immediate and well in advance enquiries; many thanks to Margaret Lowe for handling all these enquiries and bookings

Notwithstanding the visibility of increased activities and events in the hall, life still goes on behind the scenes. At simplest, checking the premises

regularly (for insurance purposes) during the periods of lockdown and of course there are the running costs. To offset costs and replace lost income, we applied for central government grants at every opportunity and as a result we received a further 3 grants totalling £18,241 during the year to add to the £10,000 in the previous reporting period. In comparison with other halls, this was good going and close to the £30,000 maximum that I estimated that we would have qualified for. Bizarrely, where we lost out was those 10 days in December when we opened as a goodwill gesture to our regulars and “lost” £1,700 of grant. All in all, though, successful applications.

To continue with these activities and maintain the facilities at a high standard, we do need volunteers to help with both the running of the hall and assisting with events organised by the Committee. As well as the events, there is always something that needs doing, whether it is supervising clearance of the drains, clearing the car park of leaves, snow, and ice, repairing, and cleaning furniture, removing the dreaded bluetak and Sellotape – nothing is too small but it all still needs doing and this all happens behind the scenes.

Again, we took the opportunity of a lull in hall booking activity to participate fully in National Village Hall Week which is traditionally the last week in January. We posted different topics about the hall on each day of the week along with a profile of committee members; such subjects covered the history of the hall, regular users, fund-raising activities and facilities and certainly raised our profile within the community.

I continue to be concerned about our corporate governance; this may be because it is the hot topic with other charities that I am involved in but the Covid Enforcement inspections (yes, there is another one later this week) and the questionnaire from the likes of insurers do indicate that we have some work to do such as training as charitable trustees and developing our policies on safeguarding, diversity, health and safety. This issue of too much red tape is common with most small charities and I really don’t think that the proposed Charities Bill will help despite alleviating red tape is one of its objectives.

Without waiting for so-called government improvements, we implemented what I loosely referred to as a charter which has captured our mission statement, vision and, in conjunction with the constitution, how we work as a committee.

I wish to express my thanks again to those on the Committee as a whole without whom the hall would not function. I realise that we don’t volunteer for the thanks (which is probably just as well) but it is reassuring to be thanked once in a while. Those thanks should be passed on to our families who are invariably “volunteered” without being on the Committee. The effort involved is rarely appreciated by those not involved but it clearly works based on the many favourable comments we receive.

I submit my report for the year ended 31 October 2021.

Flitton & Greenfield Village Hall Management Committee Income and Expenditure Account for the year ended 31 October 2021 2020 2019 Incom& Regular lettings Lettings from occasi¢)nal use Donations I Sponsotship l Fund Faising Grants recewed Surplus fr¢ bar and refreshTh*nts Other income 4.890 2.S77 7.152 25.467 4,537 2,105 8.2CWJ 8.966 10,000 2.152 18 18,812 200 6,380 13 24.359 1.202 42.751 Expenditure Cleaning costs Heating. Lighting & Water Insurance Phone, Intemet. & Card readers Repars and Mainlenan Refuse Colthtion LenCeS & training MislIaneOUS Christmas meal for sen¢ors 3.337 2.933 2.047 743 18.156 767 5,202 6,449 1.899 4,533 3.577 1.871 462 25,026 1,431 1,1Cx) 971 1.597 374 808 224 1.231 359 545 17.942 29.573 38,977 EsS income I lexpenditurel JJ! 13.178 870 -14.618

Flitton & Greenfield Village Hall Management Committee Balance Sheet as at 31 October 2021 2020 2019 Current assets Bank Barclays Communty Account Barclays H811 Fund Barclays Bar Acc(wnl (opened 21r211 Cash in hand induding floats 24.335 28,097 22,368 17,873 27,258 11,849 923 51.017 1.034 4D,141 40,241 Strxk 3,925 810 Total Assets 60.942 41,051 40,141 Current liabilities Accnjals & Deferred Ineome 6.753 Net Assets 54.189 41.011 40.141 Increasel{Decrease) in net assets forthe year 13.178 870 -14.618 Reserves Eam)arked Reserve for Major Replacements blknj at start of year Transfers from Gener ReseNes ¢lfwd at end of year 40,000 1,650 41.650 40,000 40,000 40,000 40,000 General Reserve b1 at stsrt of year Excess incor/eXpErKllbjre forthe year Roof donatn$ transfeired to Major Replacenrnts ReseNe clfwd at end of year 1.011 13,178 -1,650 12,539 141 870 14,759 -14,618 1,011 141 Totsl Reser4es 54,189 41.011 40,141 I have ex3mined the accounting records and can confim that the above represents a thje and fair view of the Flitton and Greenfield Wluage manaTrt Conlmittee aL*vrtbes. wJned J)L+ Date 21 t). loi(

Flitton & Greenfield Willage Hall Management Committee Notes to the accounts Yearto 31 Oct 2021 l. Donatlons. Sponsorship. Fund Raising Round Table Santa's sleigh collection Gala don3tion Isee also Note 4 below) Rugby Screenings sponsorship Amazon Smile donations Arnold Clark Community Fund Ifor Roof Reserve) Awva Crowdfunding (for Roof Reserve) 455 45lXI 510 37 7,152 2. Grants refved Covid business grant schemes Bar refvrbi5hment grants Isee a150 Note 4 below) 18,241 7,226 25,467 3. Other income Cakes & Canapes pitch fees (for use of car park) Bank compensation Interest on bank deposit account 950 250 1,202 4. Repalrs & Maintenance Gardening General repai & maintenance Bar refUrbhrnent (see belowfor detsill 499 1,153 16.505 18,156 Bar refvrbishrnent ect summa Building costs lincluding new floorl rile & asbestos clearance Bar equipment & other costs Totsl bar refurbishment costs 12.498 1,607 16.505 These costs were funded by= External grants (Note 21 Gala donation (Note 11 Balance from general funds Total funding allocated to bar refurbishment 5. Accruals and Deferred Income Accwed invoice costs Occasional lettings returnable deposits banked Occasional tettings hire fees banked for futu events Sponsorship received for futu events 7.226 4.51Jl 4.779 16.505 1.441 1.290 3.422 6.753