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2023-09-30-accounts

Lavendon Village Hall

Lavendon Village Hall is strongly supported by the MK Community Foundation

Chairman’s AGM Report for the year ending 30[th] September, 2023

Introduction

This report should be read in conjunction with the Strategic Plan, which is an attachment .

The Lavendon Village Hall has a charitable status and has 4 Trustees, myself, Nigel Stickells, Geoff Simmonds and Stewart Jones. It is our job to ensure that the Hall’s activities and practices follow the guidelines laid down by its Constitution and those of the Charity Commission.

The Trustees have developed a Strategic Plan which sets down some guidelines for the Management Committee to follow (see attachment).

The four pillars of this Strategy are:

  1. Maintaining and improving the fabric of the Village Hall – including the inside and outside of the Hall. You only have to look around you that to see evidence that a lot of effort has gone into this.

  2. Managing the Hall’s financial affairs prudently -we try to ensure that our income covers our expenditure - a very difficult task, but one which we are managing to achieve, despite having to cope with the after effects of the

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pandemic. Our Treasurer ensures that we adhere to good accounting practices as well as making sure that our charitable status is protected.

  1. Promoting the Hall’s facilities to existing and potential users - we do not have a promotional/advertising budget so we rely on using notice boards, web pages, Facebook, Phonebox magazine, MK Pulse magazine, leaflet drops, school book bags and so on – all relatively low cost. However, the major means of attracting users is through personal recommendation.

  2. Addressing “sustainability” issues - which in our case means using resources like water, gas and electricity responsibly. We also try to ensure that we do what we can to contribute to and sustain village life in a number of ways - entertainment, education, social (e.g. combating loneliness) and exercise.

Chairman’s Report ending 30[th] September, 2023

The plan for scheduling one film a month with bingos and quizzes interspersed between was put into place, but the numbers attending have continued to be disappointing, particularly for the films, apart from the film “Matilda”, which was shown on a Saturday afternoon, because it was thought that it would attract a younger audience -and it did! Another Saturday matinee film, “The little Mermaid” attracted only 10 people, 5 children and 5 adults!

So why the poor attendances for the other films? Promotion for the films was fairly wide spread; the write-ups on the films were very favourable; the weather on most occasions was reasonable. The village is expanding in size, so there is an increase in the size of our potential audience……was it that the punters are now becoming used to watching films on TV and streamed programmes…who knows?

What we do know is that the cost of the film licence for putting on these films is £104, so we are still making consistent losses in this area and the investment in the equipment to show the films has yet to pay for itself. However, the DVD/Blu Ray player is making a significant difference to sound and visibility quality.

Rebecca Garratt has taken on the responsibility for choosing, hiring and showing the films and we wish her all the best in this role.

Fortunately, the number of users for other events in the Hall have increased significantly as described in the Financial Report.

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As you will have seen from that Report, the financial position is very healthy and this is due not only to the money generated by income from hall events but more so from the significant grants that we have managed to obtain for the period covered by this report, particularly a development grant of £25,000 received from the MKCC, following a 106 application to carry out roof cladding, to reduce the heat loss in the building and thereby reduce the heating costs.

Rubbish disposal is causing some problems. The present arrangement is that we ask users “to take their rubbish away with them” and this is working reasonably well. Any residual rubbish - and we hope there is very little of this - is then picked up on a Sunday by John Lay, and put out with his own house rubbish, to be picked up from his own home. However, this is not a viable long-term solution.

The Hall itself is impressive as are its facilities - the film projection capability, the size of the screen, the stage, the kitchen, the oven, the storage areas, the car park, to name but a few.

But like every facility, equipment etc. needs servicing, upgrading and replacing from time to time and this process will need to continue and cost money.

For example the stage needs a major overhaul and will need totally replacing, partly because of woodworm. It is not totally useable at the moment and when it is used, great caution is needed. Plans are in hand to replace the stage.

Health and Safety matters are very important and a considerable time has been spent by our Secretary, Nigel Stickells, writing procedures to cover this subject and Sally Emes has been charged with carrying out regular first-aid checks.

The departure of Eddie Adams as caretaker left us with the problem of replacing him, which is proving difficult. A cleaning company has been hired to fill the gap on a part-time basis, with committee members covering other days on an as-and-when basis, which is not a satisfactory long-term solution.

In addition to the Committee members already referred to, I would like to thank firstly, the other members who make a valuable contribution and secondly, people like yourselves and others in and around the village who support us in various ways, particularly those who support the various events we put on.

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Finally, I would like to make an appeal for people to join the Committee. The full complement of the Committee consists of 7 positions filled by representatives of village organisations, plus 6 elected members, who present themselves for re-election at the AGM. John Salter will be giving 2 months notice of resigning as Chairman, as from November 30[th.]

If you are interested in any of the above vacancies, please contact the Secretary, Nigel Stickells.

To sum up: after a barren spell due to Covid, last year started to pick up and that improvement continued during 2023.

There are more people living in the village, which is expanding all the time.

However, we do not seem to be reaching out to this potential audience, for some reason or another. Let us hope that we can do something about this, during the next 12 months.

As this will be my last Chair’s report, let me say that I have found it a very fulfilling experience. When I took over, I discovered there was a lot of opportunity for changes and I hope that the majority of those changes have taken place and improvements have made a significant difference.

I have been tremendously lucky to have had the invaluable assistance of Nigel Stickells-Secretary, Geoff Simmonds- Treasurer, Stewart Jones and the other members of the Committee, who I have served with.

May the Lavendon Village Hall continue to flourish and go from strength to strength.

John Salter, Chair, Lavendon Village Hall Committee.

Email: johnsalter7@btinternet.com tel: 01234 713653 mobile: 07544903 909

Note: this report will appear on the Village Hall’s Webpage www.lavendonconnection.co/home/villagehall

12[th] November, 2023

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LAVENDON VILLAGE HALL FINANCIAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Prepared by Geoff Simmonds – Treasurer Lavendon Village Hall

Summary

Income for the year was £25,915 (Exhibit A) as a result of receiving £12,207 from hall bookings, £5,298 from fund raising plus a new income stream providing meals to the village school. The latter realised a further income of £8,124. Total cash in the bank increased from the previous year by 26% to £47,089. Cash reserves at the end of the year were increased to £20,000 to secure future expenses for general maintenance and upkeep of the Hall given the uncertainty of future bookings and the impact of inflationary pressures on costs. The year has seen a significant increase in activity with bookings increasing by 90% on the previous year although this was primarily the result of the new kitchen service.

Inevitably running costs increased; up by 50% to £12,955. The reasons include: a replacement noticeboard in the car park; higher caretaker charges; and increased utility charges resulting mainly from increased use of the kitchen.

Overall the Hall achieved a profit of £7,661. However, it turns into a small loss of £463 without the additional income from the kitchen.

Fundraising

2023 saw fundraising increase slightly from the previous year to £5,298. Matchfunding and Easyfundraising accounted for £2,581 and the rest from organised events. A series of film shows was held which unfortunately resulted in a loss of £302 as a result of poor attendance.

Project Diamond

A project to overclad the roof was completed during the year to improve weatherproofing and thermal insulation of the hall. The project was funded from a S106 development grant awarded to the Hall for £25,403. Future plans include replacing the flooring on the stage which will be funded from existing funds and then replacing the flooring of the main hall. The latter will require another development grant.

Users of the Village Hall

The largest user of the Hall during 2023 was the new school meal service at £8,124. The next largest users were two out-of-village dance and theatre groups which generated over £5,700 of income for the Hall. Village organisations accounted for around £2,000 of income including the Short Mat Bowling Club and Lavendon Old People’s Committee. Most encouragingly, income from private users of the hall increased again from around £2,400 last year to over £3,650 this year. Their numbers have also increased slightly from last year to 48 this year. The trends are encouraging. Let us hope that they will continue in the same direction in the coming year.

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LAVENDON VILLAGE HALL FINANCIAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Prepared by Geoff Simmonds – Treasurer Lavendon Village Hall

CONSOLIDATED INCOME AND EXPENDITURE STATEMENT (1)

BOOKINGS INCOME AND EXPENDITURE STATEMENT

PROJECT DIAMOND INCOME AND EXPENDITURE STATEMENT

INCOME
Fund Raising including donations
Private Functions
Club Hire
Bank Interest Receivable
Kitchen Services
Development Grants
Total Income:
EXPENDITURE
Maintenance
Caretaker Fees
Miscellaneous Expenses
Insurance
Utilities
Fund Raising
Project Diamond Costs
Total Expenses:
Income less Expenditure:		 Oct 22 – Sep 23
Oct 21 -Sep 22
5,298.64
4,960.19
3,695.50
2,387.05
8,512.50
8,778.20
284.41
11.30
8,124.00
25,043.26
2,667.00
50,958.31
18,803.74

2,584.01
649.46
3,210.00
1,980.00
1,005.42
1,429.70
2,657.38
1,514.73
3,498.50
2,515.03
1,892.94
273.92
26,249.00
4,154.40
41,097.25
12,517.24
9,861.06
6,286.50		 Oct 22 – Sep 23
Oct 21-Sep 22
3,695.50
2,387.05
8,512.50
8,778.20
284.41
11.30
8,124.00
20,616.41
11,176.55
2,584.01
649.46
3,210.00
1,980.00
1,005.42
1,429.70
2,657.38
1,514.73
3,498.50
2,515.03
12,955.31
8,088.92
7,661.10
3,087.63		 Oct 22 – Sep 23 Oct 21-Sep 22
5,298.64
4,960.19
25,043.26
2,667.00
30,341.90
7,627.19
1,892.94
273.92
26,249.00
4,154.40
28,141.94
4,428.32
2,199.96
3,198.87

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LAVENDON VILLAGE HALL FINANCIAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Prepared by Geoff Simmonds – Treasurer Lavendon Village Hall

  1. Consolidated income and expenditure statement is the sum of both Bookings Income and Expenditure Statement and Fundraising Income and Expenditure Statement

EXHIBIT A

PROJECT DIAMOND BALANCE CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET BOOKINGS BALANCE SHEET SHEET 1 Yr Past 2 Yrs Past 1 Yr Past 2 Yrs Past 1 Yr Past 2 Yrs Past Oct 22-Sep 23 Oct 21-Sep 22 Oct 22-Sep 23 Oct 21-Sep22 Oct 22-Sep 23 Oct 21-Sep 22 Cash at Bank (Year End) 47,088.91 37,227.85 20,000 9,000.00 27,088.91 28,227.85 Total Current Assets: 47,088.91 37,227.85 20,000 9,000.00 27,088.91 28,227.85 Retained Income less expenditure 9,861.06 6,286.50 Reserves Brought Forward 37,227.85 30,941.35 TOTAL CAPITAL & RESERVES: 47,088.91 37,227.85

EXHIBIT B

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LAVENDON VILLAGE HALL

FINANCIAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

Prepared by Geoff Simmonds – Treasurer Lavendon Village Hall

Hall Users Analysis

Source of Funds Income 2023 Income 2022 **Change **
Rascals Short Mat Bowls Club:
Lavendon Old Peoples Welfare Committee:
Taichi
Local Government:
Lavendon Royal British Legion:
Dance and theatre(2groups)		 1,187
685
370
340
135
5,710		 1,000
582
387
75
4,172
Total of Major Users 8,427 6,216 +36%
Private Users 3,695 2,413 +54%
Total 12,122 8,629 +40%
No of Private Users 48 45

EXHIBIT C

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Independent examiner's report to the trustees of 'Lavendon Village Hall, Charity No: 300289 th Accounts for the year ended 30 September 2023 I report to the charity trustee5 on my examination of the accounts of Lavendon Village Hall for the yearended 30 September2023. Res onsibilitles and basis of re ort As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 20111'the Act'l. I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commls5ion under sertion 14515llbl of the Act. Inde endent examiner's statement The company's gr05s income did not exceed £250,000 and l am qualified to undertake the examination by being a qualified member of the Association of Accounting Technicians. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in material respect.. accounting records were not kept In respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the act,. or the account5 do not accord with such records,. or the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out In the Charltles (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts glve a 'true and fairf view which 15 not a matter onsidered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper Ltnderstanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: Name:Jordan Warner Relevant Professlonal Quallflcatlon or Body: Association of AccountinE Technicians Address: 50 Warren Way, Glebe Farm, Milton Keynes, MK17 8TZ Date: