HUNSDON VILLAGE HALL – CHAIR’S REPORT to AGM 2022
As acting Chairman this year I am pleased to provide this 2021-22 “Chairman’s Report” as a shared contribution from the Business Team.
As many will know Hunsdon Village Hall is a registered charity, which operates under what is known as a Charity Commission Scheme. Our charitable objects which govern the way the hall is run, are:-
“the provision and maintenance of a village hall for use by the inhabitants of [Hunsdon and surrounding neighbourhood] without distinction of political, religious or other opinions, including use for:
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a) meetings, lectures and classes, and
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b) other forms of recreation and leisure-time occupation, with the object of improving the conditions of life for the inhabitants.”
The Scheme also makes provision as to how it is managed by the trustees who are the members of the committee of management . These trustees are appointed as follows and for 2021/22 were
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4 members elected from the community- Angela Felstead, Diane Dangell, Michael Newman, Jen Simpson (part),
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2 co-opted during the year John Felstead and Claire Ricketts
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1 member appointed by the Parish Council-Frank O’Shea
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1 member representing each of the following groups:
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Hunsdon Badminton Club- Julian Maule
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Hunsdon Gardening Club-Kate Ma
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Hunsdon Local History and Preservation Society-Malcolm Slater
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Quintessence- Elizabeth Chapman
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Scouts and Cubs-Karen Osterley
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Hunsdon Carpet Bowls Club (Now closed) Richard Waters
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Hunsdon Over Three Score Club (Now closed)
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The Parochial Church Council- Rev Mark Dunstan
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The Toddler Group ( Ducklings) - Gill Lewis
New Organisations who regularly use the Hall can be added to this list with 2/3rds approval of the Committee if they are put forward to replace the ones now closed down which I would encourage them to do.
Activities .
The COVID Pandemic forced the Hall, along with other businesses, to effectively close from 2020 and into the 1[st] quarter 2021. This had a major impact on use of the hall and therefore income. However the Hall received some Covid grants and expenditure was reduced. Following the lifting of restrictions and reopening of the hall in May last year, activity returned to some sort of normality. In fact, there has been a flurry of bookings for private parties, weddings and celebration events which have either been postponed or waiting for the COVID epidemic to abate.
Unfortunately, some of our long-term regular User Groups have ceased. The Carpet Bowls Club has not returned this year due to the numbers of members, their age and health issues as the same thing happened to the Over three Score Years Club the previous year and Scrabble club moved to smaller premises . They and members of the committee had tried to drum up new members for these clubs but to no avail. In addition, the GP Practice has not returned to their previous twice weekly surgeries with mostly only 1 surgery and prescriptions each week. They have however maintained contract
payments and a new lease has been negotiated with them for services to resume on Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings as soon as possible.
Repairs and maintenance
With the building empty it gave the Business team the opportunity to undertake some works in the hall. During late spring/early summer a major redecoration of the exterior of the village hall and two cottages was undertaken. At a total cost of £21,410 this include not only painting and decorating but also repairs to the rotting timberwork, fitting of a double-glazed window to the loft opening above the kitchen and levelling and adjusting the gutters. As the project came in on budget the contingency identified by the committee was utilised to replace the rotting window in the doctors consulting room with a new obscured glass, tilt and turn window.
We should not forget the excellent work undertaken by the Gardening Club to maintain the hanging baskets and planters at the front of the hall and rear garden, the flower beds and refurbishment and maintenance of the lawn at the rear. The rear garden regularly receives positive comments by hirers and is a real selling point for the hall.
Rental
The other significant activity that the Hall undertakes is the ownership of its two adjacent properties, Nos 43 and 47 High Street. Both properties have been successfully let all year and this continues to remain an important source of income for us.
Fundraising and finances
As a hospitality venue which was forced to close as a result of government restrictions the Hall has been extremely fortunate to be in receipt of a number of government grants totalling £11,226 during the financial year 21/22. Income from hires, rentals and other income was £37463 and total expenditure £45,174. Thus we started to use some of the reserves, still finishing with a cash surplus of £68329 balanced by our mortgage of £49, 611. Covid has distorted our policy on Reserves but we have to maintain cash reserves to meet any heavy or unexpected items of expenditure on the buildings in order to maintain a constant level of repair, improvement, and upkeep.
Committee Officers
Despite advertising and cajoling a few likely candidates the Committee did not have a permanent chair this year and I stood in to chair meetings. I am willing to stand as permanent chair for the forthcoming year but would like to see attempts continue to bring in someone new at next year’s AGM. But thank the business team who keep the Hall functioning and moving forward.
Diane Dangell, who took over as Treasurer at the start of the year continues to bring new ideas and energy to the committee. Diane is getting to grips on the finances, has improved the on-line filing system and is an important member of the business team.
We also had new Trustees; Kate Ma, Claire Ricketts, and Gill Lewis, who have bought their ideas and life experience to the committee.
Mike Newman continues to do great work on keeping the building intact and up to scratch and John Felstead invaluably continues to develop ideas and drive projects forward. We need to recognise the huge volume of work undertaken by Angela Felstead who covers as much of the admin management as possible along with all matters relating to the hiring of the hall.
Very importantly our Business Team; Diane, John, Mike and Angela, meet regularly to
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maintain a strong focus on management of the business to a good standard, and
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discuss the priorities for the hall in terms of the community needs, the building and management.
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And this year will be looking at greater use of the Hall for community activities and what help it can give to residents in the worrying times ahead of us.
We have been lucky this year to see a good level of attendees to most of our meetings, with some very strong members.
Our thanks go to all the VHMC officers and trustees, everyone a volunteer, who give up their time to keep the hall a place that people wish to use.
Frank O’Shea September 2022
| Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted | Designated | Restricted | Endowment | Thisyear | Lastyear | ||
| lncomeandendowments | |||||||
| Donations and legacies | |||||||
| CG -COVID grants | 11,226 | 11,226 | 20,240 | ||||
| D- Donations | /b5 | ||||||
| F- Fundraising | |||||||
| Donations and legacies Totals | 11,226 | 11,226 | 21,006 | ||||
| lncome from charitableactivities | |||||||
| HVO- Hire charges from village | 3,615 | 3,615 | J,ZIZ | ||||
| organisations | |||||||
| lncome from charitableactivities | 3,615 | 3,615 | 3,272 | ||||
| Totals | |||||||
| Othertra d ingactivities | |||||||
| CR-Cottagerental | 21,106 | 21,106 | 20,011 | ||||
| FEH- Furniture and equipmenthire | 49 | 49 | tJo | ||||
| HD-Hirefrom doctor | 4,100 | 4,100 | 4100 | ||||
| HP -Hire from private sources (oneofll | 6,779 | 7,616 | (14e) | ||||
| HR- Regularhirefrom private | 1,813 | 1,813 | 642 | ||||
| organisations | |||||||
| Other tradingactivitiesTotals | 33,848 | 837 | 34,685 | 24,742 | |||
| Otherincome | |||||||
| 106 -Section106income | 2,164 | 2,164 | |||||
| Bl- Bondsreceived | |||||||
| INT -Credit lnterest | (16) | ||||||
| PC- lncome from Parish Council | |||||||
| OtherincomeTotals | 2,164 | 2,164 | (16) | ||||
| Income and endowments | 50,854 | 837 | 51.691 | 49,006 | |||
| Grandtotals | |||||||
| Expenditure | |||||||
| Raisingfunds | |||||||
| FUND -Costoffundraising | 500 | 500 | |||||
| RaisingfundsTotals | 500 | 500 | |||||
| Expenditure on charitableactivities CL -Cleaning CM -Cottage maintenance INS- lnsurance for hall and cottages |
4,127 1,788 4,748 |
4,127 1,788 4,748 |
774 2,381 |
||||
| LA- Letting agencyfees LIC- Licences |
1,145 | 1,145 | |||||
| REP- Repairs SUB-SubscriptionsPaid U-Utilities VHM-Village Hall Maintenance |
56 253 5,439 27,118 |
56 253 5,439 27,118 |
4,518 7,070 |
| Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted | Designated | Restricted | Endowment | Thisyear | Last Year | |
| Expenditure on charitable | 44,678 | 44,678 | 14,745 | |||
| activities Totals | ||||||
| Otherexpenditure | 468 | |||||
| ADMIN-AdMiN BANK - Bank charges |
72 | -7) 587 |
72 | |||
| BO- Bonds refunded EXBC- Extraordinary item-building |
54,652 | |||||
| COSTS MORT - MortgagePayments |
2,064 | 2,064 | 7,105 | |||
| Other expenditureTotals | 2,136 | 587 | 2,724 | 62,297 | ||
| ExpenditureGrandtotals | 47.315 | 587 | 47,902 | 77,042 |
| As at | As at | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 31t0312022 | 3110312021 | ||
| Fixedassets | |||
| CON: Contentsofvillagehall | 22,000.00 | 22,000.00 | |
| HVH: Hallandcottages | 3,455,207.88 | 3,455,207.88 | |
| TotalFixedassets | 3,477,207.88 | 3,477,207.88 | |
| Current assets | |||
| Z1: Current Account | 52,303.97 | 53,555.77 | |
| 22: Deposit account | 16,024.68 | '16,024.68 | |
| 23: Loan account | |||
| Total Current assets | 68,328.65 | 69,580.45 | |
| Liabilities | |||
| OL1:Overdraft(loanaccount)for current year | 8,577.74 | 7105.32 | |
| OL2: Overdraft(loanaccount)forfuture year | 41,033.56 | 47,546.77 | |
| Total Liabilities | 49,611.30 | 54,652.09 | |
| NetAsset surPlus(deficit) | 3,495,925.23 | 3,492,',!36.24 | |
| Reserves | |||
| Excess/(deficit)todate | 3,788.99 | (28,036.39) | |
| 201:Startingbalances | 3,492,136.24 | 1,471,381.69 | |
| 202: Gains/(losses)oninvestmentassets | |||
| ZO3:Gains/(losses)onrevaloffixedassets | 2,048,790.94 | ||
| TotalReserves | 3,495,925.23 | 3,492,136.24 | |
| RePresentedbYFunds | |||
| Unrestricted | 3,495'925'23 | 3'492'386'24 | |
| Designated | (250 00) | ||
| Restricted | |||
| Endowment | |||
| Total | 3,495,925.23 | 3,492,136.24 |
| SectionA | lndependent Examiner,s Report |
|---|---|
| Reportto thetrustees/ | {-:ii}iit'}'idiliri* |
| membersof | Hr.lf.rSqr^.VIr-r-€G4 p;Ar-u |
| Onaccountsforthe year ended |
tsr)3/zoz:' Charitvnor - t1 (ifany)1 302-$'cd |
| Setout onpages | t*-ro{ l-c--dJ |
| Ireport to thetrusteeson my examinationoftheaccountsoftheabove | |
| charity ("the Trust") for the year ended,8,8,:ffiiTfuY-Z- | |
| Responsibilitiesand | Asthecharity's trustees, youareresponsible forthepreparationofthe |
| basisofreport | accounts in accordance withtherequirementsofthe CharitiesAct 2011 |
| ("theAct"). | |
| Ireport in respect of my examinationoftheTrust'saccounts carried out | |
| undersection145of the 2011Actandincarryingoutmy examination,I | |
| havefollowedalltheapplicable Directions givenbytheCharity Commission | |
| undersection145(5Xb)oftheAct. | |
| Independent examiner's statement |
brbvrf'?c"<z$ [Thecharity's gross income exeeeded €250,000andIam qualified to undertake the examination by being aqualified member o![insertnameof applicable listedbodyl].Deletelliinotapplicable.'ie-lt6aJ' |
| Ihave completed myexamination.Iconfirmthatno material matters have | |
| cometomy attention in connection with theexamination(other than that disclosedbelow*)whichgivesmecausetobelievethatin, any material |
|
| respect: | |
| .theaccounting records were not keptinaccordancewith section130 | |
| oftheCharitiesAct;or | |
| otheaccountsdidnot accord withtheaccountingrecords; or | |
| rtheaccountsdidnot comply with the applicablerequirements | |
| concerning theformandcontent of accounts set outintheCharities (AccountsandReports) Regulations2008 otherthanany requirement |
|
| that the accountsgivea'true andfair'viewwhichis not a matter | |
| considered aspartofan independent examination' | |
| Ihave no concerns andhave come across no other matters in connection | |
| with the examination towhichattention should bedrawninthisreportin | |
| order to enable aproper understandingoftheaccountstobe reached' | |
| *Pleasedetetethe words inthebracketsif they donotapply' |