# **Roxwell Memorial Hall** Registered Charity No. 301385 # **Trustees’ Annual Report 1st April 2024– 31st March 2025** Roxwell Memorial Hall is located in The Street, Roxwell, Chelmsford Essex - CM1 4PA Address for Correspondence is Red Gables, The Street, Roxwell Chelmsford CM1 4PE ## **Establishment and Governance of the Charity** Roxwell Memorial Hall was established as a charity following a Deed of Gift dated 14th January 1953. The Deed of Gift transferred land owned by local farmer Montague Foreman to Trustees to establish a Village Hall for Roxwell in Memory of his son Squadron Leader Douglas Montague Foreman. The land conveyed is held in Trust for the purposes of providing physical and mental training and recreation and social moral and intellectual development through the medium of reading and recreation rooms library lectures classes recreations and entertainments or otherwise as may be found expedient for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Parish of Roxwell in the County of Essex and its immediate vicinity without distinction of sex or of political religious or other opinions subject to those stated. On 26th May 1953 the Trust Property was vested in the Charity Commission Trustee of Charity Lands with the requirement the Charity be administered and managed by a Committee of Management. The Hall, which is specified to be brick built in the Deed of Gift, was built in 1964 following years of fundraising and grant acquisitions by succeeding Management Committees and has been extended subsequently. The Trust Deed governs the appointment of trustees and the management of the charity. The Management Committee members are appointed or elected annually and are responsible for ensuring the Hall is used in accordance with the Deed of Gift including keeping the building and grounds in a good state of repair. The Trustees consider the stated requirements to be consistent with Charity Commission guidance on providing for the public benefit and it is these objectives that have been pursued in the activities of the Management Committee this year. ## **Management Committee for 2024-25** Faye Copping Elected member/Chair Helen Blackburn Elected Member / Vice Chair Glynn Eastman PCC Representative/ Treasurer Judith Woolley Elected Member/ Bookings Secretary Bev Smith Friend United Representative /Secretary Phil Buckley Dance Club Representative Rob Coppen Elected Member / Maintenance Barry Dixon Art Group Representative April Little Pre-school Representative Polly McLeod Bowls Club Representative Erin Thorogood Yoga representative Mansell Wallace Co-opted Anne Nixon Youth Group Representative _Roxwell Memorial Hall is a Registered Charity No. 301385_ ## **Principal Activities in pursuit of Objectives** To guide the Management Committee in exercising its duty of care to members, contractors and users of the Hall, policy statements for Health & Safety; Child Protection; Vulnerable Adults; GDPR; Risk Management; are adopted and reviewed and made available for all users and trustees to see. Volunteers from the Committee carry out regular checks on the safety and security of the property. Qualified professionals are employed to carryout the statutory checks/servicing required for electrical installations and appliances; the oil-fired heating system; fire alarm and fire fighting appliances. Use of the Hall is subject to a Hiring Agreement which must be signed by the hirer when booking. The hiring agreement sets out the conditions of hire and identifies the respective responsibilities of each party to the agreement. There are different Agreements and different charging rates for regular use and irregular use, and for different days. The Hall is in use most days of the week for a variety of activities. It is the home of Roxwell Pre-School, Roxwell Dance Club, Roxwell Indoor Bowls Club, Roxwell Youth Group, and Roxwell Art Group. It is used regularly by a Yoga Class, a Friends United Group, a Dance Projection company, and public Services of the Christway Christian Church. It is used on an irregular basis by organisations for social, educational and administrative purposes and for private functions including children’s parties, wedding receptions, funeral teas, social functions and fund raising events. On the basis of there being 3 sessions available for hire per day, over the 30 weeks of the year when schools operate the Hall achieves 70% occupancy. It is the strategy of the Trustees to manage routine operation on an annual self financing basis whilst building reserves to meet specific maintenance and improvement needs. The policy is that hire fees paid by regular users of the hall will meet the routine running costs. Hire fees paid by occasional users are used to meet the periodic and unforeseen maintenance of the property and to build reserves and improvement project funds. It is also the Trustees’ policy to maintain unrestricted reserves of between 100% and 150% of annual revenue budget expenditure. The Trustees are responsible for ensuring the long term future of the Hall and our Charity Objectives. This, from time to time, involves the need for major works far in excess of cash reserves held and although grants will be sought for such works, the vital importance of Fund Raising by the Management Committee is recognised and taken seriously. Having very successfully this year completed refurbishment of the kitchen and entrance lobby and brought most of the electrical wiring up to date and most of the lighting to be PIR controlled LED, we recognised that the biggest longer term improvement needed is to reduce our Energy Footprint which will also include replacing our oil fired heating system. Trustees will seek the funds by applying for appropriate grants when available but the most important source is running fundraising events and seeking donations from our local community. Fund Raising is organised by a sub-committee and thanks to their fantastic hard work a number of events were put on and a record amount of profit made this year. The major events were a Burns Night Dinner and Dance, 2 Quizzes, a Christmas Fayre, and a celebration of the opening of the Hall 60 years ago. All were over subscribed and very well supported by the Roxwell community. ## **Volunteers’ Effort** Management costs are kept to a minimum through the use of volunteers for many administrative and maintenance tasks. On average 20 hours of volunteer time are given each week to cover routine tasks such as bookings management, finance management, promotion, security checks, cleaning and maintenance. In addition, on average trustees give a minimum of 10 hours a month for meetings and 100 hours per annum in organising and running fund raising events. Volunteers from the community also provide a further approximately 150 hours per year on average assisting with maintenance, improvements and fund raising. _Roxwell Memorial Hall is a Registered Charity No. 301385_ **ROXWELL MEMORIAL HALL Accounts from 1st April 2024 to 31st March. 2025** **Receipts and Payments Accounts Receipts** Hall Lettings **£20,492.00** _Regular £12,020.50 Occasional £8,471.50_ Fund Raising **£5,676.50** Grants & Donations **£75.50** Bar Contribution **£2,491.63** Bond **£650.00** Interest **£288.40** Essex Lottery **£1,200.00** **Total Income £30,874.03** ## **Payments** Cleaning **£4,052.94** Repairs & Maintenance **£2,354.03** Utilities **£1,540.22** Rates & Insurance **£3,978.12** Heating & Lighting **£4,140.16** Administration **£1,023.51** Fund Raising **£1,179.47** Improvements **£11,314.27** Bond Return **£590.00 Total Payments £30,172.72 Nett Income (Deficit) £701.31** ## **Total Monetary Assets 31st Mar 2025 £32,166.47** ## Notes re the Accounts 1. These have been audited and found correct by our auditor Mrs. Lisa Spencer. 2. These Accounts include the assets of Roxwell Community Halls Regeneration Group (RCHRG), currently recorded as £3,168.50. The RCRHG is a joint group encompassing the Roxwell Memorial Hall and the Roxwell Church Hall (Reading Room) which received donations and grant funds for the costs of investigatiing and obtaining statutory approvals for improvements to the halls and for the maintenance of the exterior footprint areas of the halls; funds still accrue to this via the Essex Lottery Fund and as a result of Committee decision this year, also includes any donations from people using the car park. This designated fund can be used for the upkeep of the carpark which the Memorial Hall Trustees allow restricted use by the general public but all maintenance costs are met from hall users hire charges only. _Roxwell Memorial Hall is a Registered Charity No. 301385_ CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND ANO WALES Independent 8xaminerfs roport on the accounts Section A Independont Examiner s Report R•port to th• tru8te081 m•mb•rs of ROXWELL MEMORIAL HALL COMMirrEE On aGcounts for the year gnd March 2025 Charlty no Ilf any) 301385 Sot out on pag•• I report lo the trustees on my examination of the acrnunts of the above ch8dty llhe Trusf) for the year ended 3110312025 R•sponsibllltles and As the charity ITusl8os of the Trust. you are responsible for the preparation basls of rnport of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charitios Ara 2011 rthe Acri. I raport in respect of my exavnination of the Trust's accounts carried out un(ier soction 145 of the 2011 Act and in (arying out my examln81ion, I have followg(l the applicabl8 Directions given by the Charity CommissM)n under sectton 14515Mb) of the A¢t. I have completed my examlnation. I confimi that no material m8tter8 have mo to my attention lother than that dlsdosed below") in connoction with th8 examinatycm which gives me ￿￿Se to believe that in, 8ny material respect acwuntiNJ recxxds were not kept in acc(wdance with section 130 of the Act OT the accounts do rKJt accord wlth the 8ccountlng records Independent exami￿￿8 $tatomont I have no Con￿m5 and h8V8 (x)me a￿088 no other matters in connectmjn with the examination to which attention should be drdwn in order to 8nabb 8 proper undarstsnding of th8 acu)unts to be reached. . Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not ap￿y. Slgned: Nam•: Relevant professional quallfi¢atlonlsl or boty Ilf any): CIPFA hAifi Addrnm". C/hi ¥Ai IER Oclobor 2018 Roxwell MemorialHallis a Registered Charity No 301385