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Great Bromley Village Hall Registered Charity No. 301310

Trustees Annual Report 1[st] April 2022 – 31[st] March 2023

Secretary to the Trustees:

Col(Retd) Martin Frostick Grove House, Frating Road, Great Bromley, Colchester, Essex CO7 7JL

Tel: 01206250263 E-mail: villagehallsecretary@greatbromley.org.uk

Names of Trustees

Col (Retd) Martin Frostick Chairman and Secretary Mrs Christine Taylor Vice Chairman Mrs Jackie Lear Treasurer and Bookings

Manager

Mr David Beech Mrs Marion Britton Mrs Kathryn Ealden Mrs Mary Fawcett Mrs Rosemary Heaney Mr Andrew Lear Mrs Dorothy O'Grady Mrs Natalie Smith

Sources of Advice and Support

Barclays Bank plc High Street, Colchester Essex County Council Tendring District Council Rural Community Council of Essex Great Bromley Parish Council

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Governance

Great Bromley Village Hall was built originally circa 1923 at the expense of Sir Percy Crossman of Great Bromley Hall. In 1946 the building and associated land was conveyed as a gift to grantees to hold upon trust for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Parish of Great Bromley. A trust deed was drawn up in January 1967 modified by a deed of rectification in October 1967 to create the current charity under which the Village Hall (and associated land) is held.

Appointment of Trustees

The Trust Deed governs the appointment of trustees and the management of the charity. Up to 5 trustees are elected at the Annual General Meeting held in April/May with each trustee serving for one year. In addition, six nominated organisations which use the village hall are able to appoint one representative trustee at the Annual General meeting, to serve for one year. All of these trustees form the Management Committee of the village hall which has the power to co-opt up to 3 further trustees if desired.

The Trust Deed appoints Great Bromley Parish Council as the Custodian Trustee for the village hall, responsible for holding good title of the building and associated land on behalf of the Management Committee.

Objective of the Charity

The objective of the Charity is to provide a village hall for the use of the inhabitants of Great Bromley and the neighbourhood without distinction of sex or political, religious or other opinions and in particular for the use of meetings, lectures and classes and for other forms of recreation and leisuretime occupation with the object of improving the conditions of life for the said inhabitants.

The trustees consider this objective to be consistent with the Charity Commission guidance on providing for the public benefit as shown in the list of activities supported this year and have taken the Commission's public benefit guidance into account when making any decision it is relevant to.

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Principal activities in pursuit of Objectives

The village hall is used almost every day of the year for a wide variety of activities including Women's Institute , Carpet Bowls Club, Men's Club, Badminton Club, choral society rehearsals, music rehearsals, yoga classes, pilates classes, ballroom dancing classes and meetings of local organisations.

The hall is available for hire for private functions including children's parties, birthday and anniversary parties, wedding receptions and funeral wakes. It is also available for hire for village social functions, fundraising events and for visiting performers including theatre groups and musical ensembles. The hall is used as the village polling station for elections.

When not in use for activities for the benefit of local inhabitants the hall may be hired by carefully selected commercial organisations.

Policies and Procedures

To inform and guide the Management Committee in managing the charity and also in exercising its duty of care to trustees, employees and users of the hall, a series of policy documents are being adopted to provide a procedural baseline for management. These will be complete in 2023. They include Management Policy and Organisation, Financial Procedures, Risk

Management, GDPR and Data, Health and Safety, Fire Safety, Safeguarding, Food Hygiene and Property Management.

Hiring Agreement

Use of the village hall is subject to a Hiring Agreement which must be signed or electronically acknowledged by the hirer before the booking is confirmed. The Hiring Agreement sets out the conditions of hire and identifies the respective responsibilities of each party to the agreement. The hiring

agreement and conditions of hire documents were totally revised and reissued in 2018 and will be updated further in 2023.

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Licences

The hall has a Premises Licence (excluding alcohol) issued by Tendring District Council with which it is also registered to run small society lotteries. The hall is licensed by the Performing Rights Society for the playing of live and recorded music at non-commercial events. A village hall licensing guide was published in 2018.

Risk Management

Risk Register

The village hall has a risk register which is updated annually and which informs the management decision-making process . The Fire Safety Risk Assessment is also updated annually, as required by law.

Insurance

The village Hall is insured with Ansvar Insurance and the cover provided within the insurance schedule includes: Buildings (up to £895,000); Contents (up to £33,900); Business Interruption (up to £48,000); Employers Liability (up to £10,000,0000); Public Liability (up to £5,000,000); Trustees Indemnity (up to £100,000); and Legal Expenses (up to £100,000).

Building Issues

A building Condition Survey is undertaken annually. Portable electrical appliances are checked annually.

The mains electrical installation is inspected by a qualified engineer every 5 years.

Fire-fighting equipment is inspected annually.

Inspections of the fabric of the building are carried out monthly. Property checks are carried out quarterly.

Real Estate Management

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The Charity is ultimately responsible for both the village hall building and the grounds. The latter includes the cricket field adjacent to the hall, the car parks and the wide roadside verge to the front of the hall. Great Bromley and District Cricket Club has accepted delegated responsibility for maintaining the cricket field and the grassed area behind the cricket pavilion, which they use with the permission of the trustees. It is also responsible for maintaining the cricket pavilion, which was built with the permission of trustees in the village hall grounds. Maintenance of the rest of the real estate is undertaken by volunteers from the management committee and a part time gardener, with the exception of high level tree work and mechanical hedge cutting which is undertaken by appointed contractors and the grass cutting at the front and side of the hall which is undertaken by contractors working for the parish council.

Funding Strategy

It is the strategy of the trustees to manage the revenue budget on a selffinancing basis. The hire charges paid by users of the hall are regularly reviewed and were last increased on 7th October 2022. It should be noted that the value of the capital assets owned by the trust, including the building and associated land, is not included in the annual accounts.

Reserves Policy

The charity had £51,973.13 in the bank as unrestricted reserves at the year end. This cash is available for further work associated with the ongoing refurbishment project for the village hall and also for unforeseen expenditure in relation to building maintenance or urgent equipment replacement. It is the trustees' policy to maintain unrestricted reserves of about 100% of annual expenditure, excluding refurbishment costs but including minor maintenance, which equates to about £22,000. The current high level of unrestricted reserves has arisen because of grants awarded during the Covid19 pandemic but is expected to reduce significantly during FY 2023/24 when refurbishment works to the car parks are undertaken.

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance of the village hall and its grounds and from time to time this involves major works costing considerably more than the minor works budget allocated. Funding for major works is found Great Bromley Village Hall Annual Report 2022/23 Page 5

through a combination of fundraising, award of grants from grant-making bodies and the use of reserves.

Volunteers' Eforts

Management costs are kept to a minimum through trustees volunteering to undertake, without payment, several of the key management roles associated with the charity. Some minor maintenance is also undertaken by volunteers. In total, over 360 hours of volunteer time is given by trustees annually, including for organising and running fundraising events.

Contractor Support

Caretaking and cleaning is undertaken by an external self-employed contractor who works in accordance with an agreed contract. Various contractors are paid to undertake all major building maintenance work as authorised by the management committee.

2022/23 Activities and Achievements of Note

The general utilisation of the hall returned to pre-Covid19 levels during the year and almost all regular hirers resumed their activities. The number of private parties and commercial events increased slightly during the year which resulted in a 20% increase to hire income and a small excess of income over expenditure at year end.

The refurbishment project continued during the year with two windows in the Committee Room, the window in the kitchen and the window in the rear lobby all being replaced with modern UPVC equivalents. External repairs and redecoration were undertaken by a contractor during the summer.

Future Plans

The refurbishment project will continue into 2023/24 with the priority activity being major improvements to the car parks for which planning has already commenced.

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There were 3 vacancies on the management committee at the end of the year and trustees will be looking to recruit additional volunteers to come forward as potential trustees at the AGM in May 2023.

Independent Examiner's Report on the Accounts

Report to the Trustees of Great Bromley Village Hall for the year ended 31st March 2023

The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year (under the terms of Section 43(3) of the Charities Act 1993 (The Act))and note that one is not mandated by the Trust Deed. However an independent examination of the accounts is required.

It is my responsibility to:

examine the accounts (under Section 43 of the Act)
to follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 43(7)(b) of the Act, and
to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. My examination included a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison with the accounts presented with those records. It also included consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and sought explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken did not provide all

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the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the accounts.

In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the trustees have not met the requirements to ensure that:

proper accounting records are kept (in accordance with section 41 of the Act); and
accounts are prepared which agree with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Act.

There are no matters to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached

Signed: Amanda Pharez

Date:

4th May 2023 Name: A E Pharez

Address: Hamingju, Harwich Road, Great Bromley, Colchester, Essex CO7 7UH

The trustees declare that they have approved the Annual Report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity's trustees

Signature: M C Frostick

Full Name: Martin Charles Frostick

Position: Secretary to the Trustees

Date: 18th May 2023

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