Iron Acton Parish Hall AGM
8[th] October 2025
Chair’s Report
The Parish Hall remains an important asset to the community of Iron Acton , whether as a place that individuals can hire for their special occasions; a place they gather with their community organisations which operate from the Hall (eg Actonians) or at community events such as the lunches; or as customers of the commercial organisations who operate from the Hall (eg ROKH Dance School).
The Trustees continue to operate as a competent and effective management team, meeting for 6 ordinary meetings in the last year, one extraordinary meeting to discuss security and todays AGM. As Chair, I would like to express my gratitude to all the trustees who work so hard to ensure the Hall is safe, easy to book and use, clean and well presented, compliant and generally something the community can be proud of. I would like to single out a few names for comment but this is not to suggest that those not mentioned are any less important or appreciated.
This year, Colin Smith steps down as Hall Manager after many years of service. This role is very time consuming and the unpredictable nature of things going wrong means you are virtually ‘on call’ 7 days a week so on behalf of the trustees that have served alongside him, the regular hirers and the community, I would like to register our sincere thanks to Colin and wish him well in his ‘retirement’.
Also stepping down is Judith Mee who has served as Chair and Booking Secretary, doing both roles for a period and at a time of turbulence when we were switching over from a manual system to the on-line booking system, Hallmaster and when our much appreciated previous Booking Secretary of 30+ years, Meryl Cook, became seriously ill and was unable to do a handover. Judith worked incredibly hard in both her roles and leaves the Hall in a significantly better place than she found it. Again I would like to register our sincere thanks to her and wish her every happiness in the next chapter of her life as she moves away from Iron Acton.
Moving forward we have separated the roles of managing the cleaning and Booking Secretary and I am hugely grateful to existing trustees, Angela Smith and Fiona Bourns, for respectively agreeing to take them on. Sara Hunt has continued to lead the efforts to fine tune Hallmaster and to drive regular and occasional hirers to use the ‘self-serve’ facilities rather than tie up the Booking Secretary.
We are also very grateful to John O’Donnel who agreed to join the committee to shadow Colin Smith and take over as Hall Manager. He has a wealth of practical experience and has already ‘hit the ground running’ since taking over in September with a full building survey and a prioritised list of defects. He has also implemented a new process for regular hirers, cleaners and others to report defects in a book in the foyer.
Although our IT systems were quite new, it was unfortunate that the email side of things let us down. Michelle Britton tried very hard to resolve the issues but in the end conceded defeat and we moved our IT to IAP (UK) Ltd. IAP have provided a more business orientated solution with Microsoft licences and an on-going IT support package. They also supplied a new laptop for the Booking Secretary to replace the one Meryl had used for many years.
Hall maintenance has continued to be a priority this year including decorating in the main hall and ladies toilets, resurfacing an area of the car park where the old surface was breaking up and replacing the hand driers in all the toilets with powerful cold air driers which are much more effective and efficient to run enabling us to stop providing paper towels, reducing litter and waste.
The hall is very well used and for the first time we have generated revenue by letting the lobby room and the kitchen as separate spaces. This has enabled us to count GCSE tutoring and cooking classes for adults with learning differences as new services to the local community.
I look forward to working with my fellow committee members/ Trustees in the next year to maintain the high standards my predecessors have set.
David Hatherell Chair
IRON ACTON PARISH HALL INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT-YEAR ENDED 30TH JUNE 2025 2024 2025 38,030 -187 BANK BALANCE: PETfY CASH: 37,876 37,843 TOTAL: 37,876 HIRINGS: 4,421 3,952 3,050 ROKH MlC with rnMy Actonians Private bookings Warhammer Club Line DancirYJ Ballroom Dancing L(Kkley Others 4,960 4.123 3,677 2,947 1,500 1,392 1,227 8,438 28,264 1,440 1,280 1,170 9,691 25,004 OTHER INCOME . 600 May Day income Horticultural Show Takings E-on Other 332 13 330 675 13 110 723 LESS: Hall Running Costs Light & heat Rates and Water Tdephone Cleaning Waste Insurances General Repairs arKJ Maintenance IT (Computer and Hallmaster) SurKlries including Licences Horticultural Show - Repayment 5,135 629 731 3,740 4,634 546 785 5,042 1,504 3,820 10,286 2,273 1,224 558 30.672 2,263 12,061 1,361 25,920 2,186 Plus DEBTORS: 3,727 39,836 BALANCE, surplus carried forward, as at 30th June 2025 39,870 2024 2025 37,650 Bank Balance 36,143 2,186 Debtors: Hirings 3,727 39,836 39,870 £39,836 Total, surplus carried forward, as at 30th June 2025 39,870 Signed: .(Chairman) Mr D Hatherell .(Treasurer) Mr J Rickard
Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of the Iron Acton Parish Hall Charity
I, Ralph Mora, report to the trustees of the Iron Acton Parish Hall on my examination of the accounts for the fiscal year ended 30th June 2025.
Responsibilities and basis of the report:
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 2011 (‘The Act’). Since the gross income in that year exceeds £25,000, the accounts of the charity for that year must, at the election of the charity trustees, be examined by an independent examiner, that is, an independent person who is reasonably believed by the trustees to have the requisite ability and practical experience to carry out a competent examination of the accounts.
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts, carried out under section 145 of The Act and, in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act and the guidance provided in the “Independent examination of charity accounts: Directions and guidance for examiners (CC32)” .
Independent Examiner’s statement:
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 any material respect:
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Accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by Section 130 of the Act; or
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The accounts do not accord with those records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Whilst the examiner is only required to confirm whether any material matters of concern have come to their attention, my opinion is that the charity’s accounts give a ‘true and fair view’ of the financial position as of the end of the reporting period.
Signed:
Name: Ralph Vincent Mora Dated: 13th January 2026
Relevant professional qualification or membership of professional bodies (if any): MIoD with Diploma in Company Direction
Address: C/O Iron Acton Parish Hall, High Street, Iron Acton, Bristol, BS37 9UH.