Astons’ Village Hall
Annual General Meeting
7.00 pm, Wednesday 7[th] May 2025
Astons’ Village Hall Management Committee
Chair’s Report – for the period 1[st] March 2024 – 28[th] February 2025
A very warm welcome to Astons’ Village Hall 2025 Annual General Meeting.
2024/2025 has been a good year for the Astons Village Hall with it being used by fitness groups, community groups and private individuals. My thanks go to everyone for their continued patronage.
The committee’s focus this year has very much been on investing in the building to ensure it remains a thriving asset for the villages. An ambitious 5 year programme of works was prepared following the community survey carried out in March 2024; an itemised list of tasks for each area of the hall as well as a heat loss survey to complement the programme of works were also drawn up.
Thanks to funding from CIL monies, the toilets benefitted from a much needed refresh in the summer of 2024 and the Library Room will undergo refurbishment in May 2025. A general funding appeal to raise funds for the 5 year programme, in particular replacing the 80 year old floor and redecoration of the main hall, has been prepared launching in March 2025. To supplement the funding appeal, grant applications to the National Lottery Awards for All and other appropriate grants will be made when they become available. A new volunteer group, Friends of the Village Hall, has also been planned to help with the numerous tasks involved in the running of the hall.
Other small changes to the work of the committee have been the introduction of a WhatsApp group for quick communication when necessary, a Dropbox account to store general information, the donation of a SumUp terminal for contactless payments, an update to the web page and a generic e-mail address for general enquires. My thanks to Astons Online for their help in setting up the e-mail address and web page updates.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank all Committee members for their many and multiple contributions over the year, for their support for the Committee, the hall and the villages, and to me, personally, as Chairman. This year, the Committee saw some change in its composition. Chris Coupland stepped down as Chair of the committee; a role he had fulfilled for many years. The committee is very grateful to Chris for his contribution to the hall.
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The committee welcomed new members: Ann Sales as Minutes Secretary, Maria Martin representing the History Group and Rachael Peterson who will be focusing on sustainability. Charlotte Kerr joined as the new Bookings Secretary and Amanda Porter has taken on the role of hall caretaker. Mike Hill remained as Treasurer, Jane Imbush continues to represent the Parish Council and has taken on the role of ViceChair, Louise Binder represents Astons Outdoors and Margaret Morant the Café. George Shuttleworth continues to keep the grounds of the hall well maintained and looking tidy along with Tom Coates tending to the hedges.
Sadly other commitments have meant that Ann Sales has not been able to continue on the committee; grateful thanks go to Ann for her contribution to the hall.
Margaret Morant has also decided to step down from the committee at the AGM after countless years of dedication to the hall. There are insufficient words to describe Margaret’s contribution and how much she will be missed.
To close, I would like to extend the Committee’s thanks to the South Oxfordshire and Vale of the White Horse District Councils, together with our local Councillors, and reiterate thanks to the Astons’ Parish Council, the Astons’ many Clubs and Societies, other Hall users and hirers, as well as all my fellow Committee members for their many contributions to the promotion, maintenance, running, preservation and enhancement of this unique community asset.
Nicole West Chair 29[th] April 2024
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ASTON TIRROLD AND ASTON UPTHORPE VILLAGE HALL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Treasurer: Michael Hill
STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT FOR PERIOD 01 MARCH 2024 - 28 FEBRUARY 2025
| INCOME | 2023/2024 | 2024/2025 | 2024/2025 | EXPENDITURE | 2023/2024 | 2024/2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ . P | £ | . P | £ . P | £ . P | |||
| Cash in hand at start of year | 88.09 | 142.09 | Booking Secretary | 1,320.00 | 1,422.60 | ||
| Barclays Current a/c at start of year | 5,108.45 | 4,956.94 | Caretaker and Cleaning | 2,156.00 | 2,488.40 | ||
| Hall Hire | 9,362.00 | 10,778.25 | Electricity Charges | 1,307.35 | 1,385.37 | ||
| Car Parking | 1,094.00 | 1,245.00 | Water Charges | 163.48 | 382.72 | ||
| Equipment Hire | 10.00 | 108.75 | Gas & Boiler Charges | 1,303.80 | 1,434.92 | ||
| Storage Charges | Repairs /Maintenance | 6,479.10 | 484.00 | ||||
| Fund Raising - CAFÉ | 716.00 | 480.00 | Stationery/Postage | - | |||
| Damages Deposits | 1,365.00 | Sundries | 907.15 | 1,746.57 | |||
| Fund Raising (Excl Café) | 723.65 | Insurances | 1,512.15 | 1,580.34 | |||
| Gardener | 1,207.50 | 1,405.00 | |||||
| Refund Damages Deposits | 1,034.75 | ||||||
| Parish Council & SODC Grants | 1,719.00 | 15,775.00 | Broadband and Landline | 542.32 | 450.69 | ||
| Other (including transfer from savings a/c) | 4,235.14 | 10,400.91 | SODC/PRS/PPL,TV & Film Licenses | 334.80 | 287.54 | ||
| Astons Online Project | Astons Online Project | - | |||||
| Adjustments | Newbury Building Society investment | 10,000.00 | 8,775.00 | ||||
| Donations | Toilet Refurbishment Project | - | 15,838.05 | ||||
| Barclays Current a/c: end of this period | 7,259.64 | ||||||
| Cash in hand: end of this period | - | ||||||
| TOTAL | £45,975.59 | 45,975.59 | |||||
| VILLAGE HALL ASSETS | |||||||
| £ . P | |||||||
| Cash in Hand | - | ||||||
| Barclays current | A/C | 7,259.64 | |||||
| Newbury B/S | Balance at start of financial year | 32,819.71 | Includes £2,500 P Lugg Endowment | ||||
| Newbury B/S | Investments/Withdrawals | 1,225.00 - |
|||||
| Newbury B/S | Interest earned in the current year | 1,034.90 | |||||
| As at 28 February 2025 | TOTAL ASSETS | 39,889.25 | |||||
| Assets as at 31 January 2025 | 40,100.01 | ||||||
| NewburyB/S | Balance at date of this statement | 32,629.61 | |||||
| AUDIT VERSION - SIGNED BY EXAMINER |
S Morant. 2nd May 2025
Michael Hill Treasurer
ASTON TIRROLD AND UPTHORPE VILLAGE HALL COMMITTEE
STATEMENT OF FUNDS 28th FEBRUARY 2025
| Cash in hand | 0.00 |
|---|---|
| Balance Barclays Bank Current Account |
7,259.64 |
| Balance Newbury Building Society | 32,629.61 |
| Newbury BS Includes £2,500.00 reserved re Paulise Lugg Endowment Fund | Newbury BS Includes £2,500.00 reserved re Paulise Lugg Endowment Fund |
|---|---|
| Balance | £39,889.25 |
| Assets as at 28 February 2024 | £37,918.74 |
Certified that the attached figures are true extracts from the books maintained by me,
M J Hill ..................................... 2[nd] May 2025 (Hon. Treasurer)
Checked and found to be correct in accordance with the records presented to me.
S MORANT …………………………. 2[nd] May 2025 (Hon. Auditor)