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2024-03-31-accounts

Redbourn Village Hall Management Committee (RVHMC)

Registered as Redbourn Village Hall (from 03.01.22)

Charity registration number: 302450

Trustees’ Annual Report for the period from 01.04.23 to 31.03.24

Aims and objectives of the RVHMC

To successfully operate a community building, providing the facilities for a wide range of events and activities, for the benefit, and to improve the lives of local residents of all ages, without discrimination.

To maintain Redbourn Village Hall (RVH) as a viable asset for the use and enjoyment of the Redbourn residents and local community groups.

To run RVH as a successful Charity enabling the maintenance of RVH’s structure and the development of its facilities, so preserving the importance of this historic community building at the centre of the village for the future.

RVHMC – extract taken from the “Trust Deed dated 2nd February 1951”

The Trustees have agreed to hold the “Trust premises” upon trust for the purpose of physical and mental training and recreation and social moral and intellectual development 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 Redbourn and its immediate vicinity without distinction of sex or of political religious or other opinions subject to the provisions of these presents.

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RVHMC – activities, achievements, and performance

RVHMC Chair’s report at the RVHMC AGM on 19.06.24

Redbourn Village Hall has had another successful year, with a satisfactory level of bookings, creating sufficient revenue to keep the Hall in good condition.

The main management issues this year, apart from the ongoing routine running of the Hall, has been trying to sort out the shared sewer, and arranging for the manufacture and installation of the new Foyer doors.

RVH Managers’ report at the RVHMC AGM on 19.06.24

Summary:

  1. Overall, another busy and successful year for bookings in RVH

  2. Open every day with no closures, other than some Bank Holidays

  3. Decreased salary costs due to only having one Caretaker

4. Increased running cost: energy bills were higher due to increased energy costs. The gas tariff increased by 162% on 1st Mar 23 and the electricity tariff increased overall by 91% on 1st Feb 24.

Hire

Hire fees increased from 01.05.23 to 31.03.24

01.04.22-30.04.23 01.05.23-31.03.24
Community Non-
profit
consecutive hrs		 £ 13 +8% £14
All single & all
profit hr		 £ 16 +6.4% £17
4-hrparty £ 80 +10% £90
Sat eve party - 1
hall		 £200 +10% £220 (6pm-12pm)
Sat eve party -
both		 £300 +10% £330 (6pm-12pm)

Regular weekly hirers

  1. £41,449 (22-23 was about £40,000) revenue from the regular Hirers - weekly and monthly Hirers combined.

  2. The top 4 Hirers generated £14,257 during this period.

  3. The number of attendees at some activities are not back to pre-Covid levels (CoffeeOff-The Common)

  4. New Hirers who stayed: Fitness class Mon 1 hr per week, term-time

2

  1. 2 new Hirers booked but left due to low numbers: Older fitness class (1 hr per week); Children's holiday Clubs for disadvantaged families. Low take-up probably due to poor public transport to Redbourn for families and both lacked effective promotion.

  2. Regular hirers who left in 23-24: one needed a larger hall; the other (only 2hrs a month) was offered a smaller space for free.

Regular monthly hirers

  1. Redbourn U3A meeting & talk each month; new WI group, Bourn-to-be-WI'ld most months; and the Redbourn Village Market outside from Mar to Nov and inside the Main Hall for the Sep, Oct, Nov & Mar markets.

Regular occasional community hirers

  1. The revenue from regular occasional annual Hirers. e.g. Redbourn-in-Bloom, The Players, Herts Chamber Orchestra & other local community groups increased to £7,171 in 23-24 from approximately £5000 in 22-23.

  2. Most of the annual Community events returned in 23-24: Redbourn-in-Bloom Horticultural Show Sep & Autmn Craft Fair Oct; Redbourn Christmas Market Nov (refreshments in Main Hall only); Active-in-Redbourn Quiz in Feb; Redbourn Players rehearsals and shows in May and Dec.

  3. The NHS Diabetes course returned 1 full day a week for 6 weeks in the Guide Room.

  4. AA Alon had 2 family members lunch/gatherings as did the ESSE dog club.

  5. The Ver Valley Society returned and held one of their popular open meetings & talks in Feb.

  6. The Harebell Club, which is part of the Redbourn Community Group, held their 3rd large event in RVH and celebrated The Kings Coronation on Sat 13th May 23 with a light lunch and sing-along. Just like the previous Queens Jubilee celebration, this was a very successful and happy event attended by over 80 invited RCG guests.

  7. The Redbourn Community Group held their AGM in Nov, and the Redbourn Green Bowls Club held theirs in Sep.

  8. Friends of the High St Redbourn (FotHS) put on a fun fundraising band night with the Swanvesta Social Club on 02.03.24 and are planning another band night for Nov 24.

  9. Herts Chamber Orchestra booked 3 weekend rehearsals (Fri, Sat & Sun) in Apr, Sep & Jan.

  10. Regular occasional Hirers who left in 23-24. Child-Matters 1st Aid paediatric training on Saturday 7-hour about 4 times a year – needed more parking now in Southdown, Harpenden.

  11. NHS Blood donation is still unable to return because the new post Covid space regulations prevent enough beds/stations being available to make it viable.

3

– Community hirers free of charge

  1. The RVHMC chose to offer this year's 23-24 free event to the local charity “Amy Robinson Foundation” who held a successful fundraising painting and pizza night on Sat 23.03.24.

  2. SADC held their Flourishing Lives – Celebrating ‘International Day of Older Persons’. St Albans District City & District Council organised an event with useful information from several organisations including what’s on, keeping safe and well and staying independent. The event included a craft activity and free tea, coffee and biscuits on Thu 12.10.24 with the Coffee-off-the-common morning.

  3. RVH supported the Herts Hearing Advisory Service by providing a room for 3 hrs on the 1st Tue of each month free of charge for their charity which provides hearing aid servicing.

  4. Redbourn Museum held a Mr Heath film night on 20.04.23.

Occasional bookings, including weekend daytime children’s parties, evening adult celebrations and weekday occasional bookings

  1. Total was approximately £6551

  2. A huge variety of types and styles of parties for all ages.

  3. Children's Bouncy Castle birthday parties remain the most popular in RVH because RVH is one of the few local halls that can accommodate the inflatable equipment due to the high celling in the Main Hall.

  4. There has been an issue with parties not finishing on time on a Sat night and overrunning past midnight by the end of their clearing/cleaning.

  5. There was a serious issue with a Sat night hirer in Oct, who left the hall in a terrible, messy state.

Other users in RVH

  1. Redbourn Community Group and Redbourn Girlguiding paid a contribution to the running costs rather than hiring their rooms by the hour. Donations towards utility costs (Guide Room & Redbourn Community Group office) for 23-24 were £2508 (approximately £2000 in 22-23).

  2. RVH stores some equipment for the Hirers and community groups. The Redbourn Players and Xmas Market pay to store some of their equipment in the RVH sheds. Other hirers store smaller amounts of equipment free of charge.

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Donations and grants

  1. Total received approximately £1842 (approximately £6200 in 22-23).

  2. Thank you to the “Friends of RVH” for their continuing support of £828 (22-23 was £828)

  3. Thank you to the Committee, volunteers and visitors of the Redbourn Classic Car Show in Sep 23, for the generous donation of £1000 towards a new RVH front door (Sep 22 was £3,600).

  4. RVH did not apply for any grants during this year.

Supporting the Community

  1. RVH loaned tables and chairs free of charge when requested by the organisers of the: annual Active in Redbourn Festival; annual Redbourn Classic Moter Show; annual Xmas Market; monthly Redbourn Village Market and some private parties in Redbourn.

  2. RVH loaned catering equipment to: Redbournbury Mill open day; Active in Redbourn Xmas walk; Xmas Market; Redbourn Cricket Club MCC Century celebration and Girlguide refreshment stall at the Redbourn Classic Motor Show.

  3. RVH loaned the RVH gazebo and other equipment to the FotHS for Gigs in the Garden.

Costs

In addition to the annual maintenance, inspections and repairs the following extra repairs and maintenance jobs were carried out

  1. 3 door closers fitted to the internal doors in the Main Hall & Centenary Room - £410

  2. Emergency drain call out to unblock Dec 23 - £432

Building

  1. Lights in the Main Kitchen, Redbourn Community Group & RVH Managers office were all replaced with more efficient LED light units - £680

  2. CCTV extended with 2x extra eyeball cameras and 1x replacement 8 channel NVR - £1668

  3. New replacement Sashline main entrance front door - £4452

New equipment

  1. Heavy duty gazebo for shows - £191

  2. 4 Banner wraps for the new gazebo - £120

  3. Portable hearing loop - £156

5

  1. 2 portable industrial heaters - £154

Utility bills

The new SSE Gas contract started on 01.03.23 and is now 5.968p per KWH an increase of 162% on the previous contract. This is still considerably lower than the current tariffs available because it was signed/agreed before the invasion of Ukraine.

At the start of this period the Scottish Power electricity account was in credit (due to automatic overpayments during Covid closures). When the Scottish Power account terminated on 31.01.24 a credit of £1100 was paid back to RVH. With the help of Utility-Aid a new contract with SSE Electricity was brokered from 01.02.24. The new SSE Day Consumption charge is now 33.7110p kWh (an increase of +114%) and the weekend & eve consumption charge is now 27.5830p kWh (an increase of 110%). Overall, the increase cost of the SSE electricity is +91% compared to the old Scottish Power rates. To mitigate the rising electricity costs, the last of the old strip lights were replaced with more efficient LED units where possible.

The increase in gas and electricity costs will have a considerable impact on the profitability of some bookings and this must be closely monitored.

Castle Water – clean & wastewater. 22-23 was £1378 the 23-24 bill was £2016 an increase of 46%.

Most of the other running costs are increasing and RVH expenditure must be closely monitored, or any potential profit will be eaten away by the increased costs.

Financial review

RVHMC Treasurers’ Report at the RVHMC AGM on 19.06.24

With attachments: A Profit & Loss; B Balance Sheet;

  1. Hirings doing well - up 6.4% on the previous year.

  2. This added £3.5K to the top line over the year - which offsets the 'loss' of grant income.

  3. Overall income is just under £60k. Huge. (Remembering our breakeven is around £40k).

  4. Utility spend is up £3k, as expected.

  5. Overall payroll flat on prior year.

  6. Less spent on refurbs and maintenance than last year by around £8K.

  7. Net overall impact +£5K profit.

In terms of balance sheet - year on year movement;

  1. Cash up £19k over the year, most coming from the £15k profit in the year, some coming from favorable working capital movements (i.e. timing).

6

  1. £70k of the cash is now in a Unity Bank savings account earning £160 a month in interest.

All in all, financially, a very strong year for Redbourn Village Hall.

Structure, governance, and management

The 23-24 RVHMC consisted of 3 trustees: Chair, Treasurer and Secretary, plus 3 non-trustee members; the Fire Officer and 2 representatives of organisations that use RVH.

The RVHMC continued the monthly committee meetings by Zoom and the committee used WhatsApp and email to remotely communicate effectively throughout the year. The 2024 RVHMC AGM was held in person at RVH on 19.06.24.

At the 2024 RVHMC AGM the Chair and other RHMC members retained their positions for another year. Thank you to the RVHMC members for their support in running RVH and for carrying out the work their roles require; Ken - Chair & Fabric Officer; Steven – Treasurer; Rosemary – meeting Secretary; Dennis – Fire Officer; David – Players rep; Ian – Parish Council rep; Caroline – FotHS rep. Thank you for attending and contributing to the monthly RVHMC meetings. The current Chair announced that they will be stepping down as Chair (though will remain as the Fabric Officer) when a suitable replacement can be recruited from the local community.

Staff

The RVH Manager continued their employed to efficiently run RVH, including all the administration, day to day maintenance tasks and looking after the Hirers. The Caretaker resigned her position and left RVH at the end of Apr 23. In recognition of

Kathys long and good service at RVH over 29 years, she was paid an ex-gratia payment too. All the RVHMC wish Kathy a long and happy retirement.

Cleaner - To replace Kathy, Angela was employed for 6 hrs during the week and 2hrs on a Sunday on a permanent contract.

Other Cleaners - Agency cleaners were used to occasionally deep clean the kitchen and toilets and carpets as needed.

Required administration

At the end of 23-24 financial year:

  1. The required insurances were paid and up to date

  2. The required licences were paid and up to date

  3. The required memberships were paid and up to date

  4. The Charity Commission reports were filed on time

  5. The RVH bank accounts were reconciled and professionally audited.

  6. Invoicing was up to date with minimal outstanding invoices due to RVH.

  7. Billing was up to date and RVH had no outstanding debts due for payment.

7

  1. At the end of Mar 24, a new high interest savings account was opened with the majority of the RVHMC money deposited into it. This new account is protected by dule authorisation transactions and a longer notification period for withdrawals.

  2. The RVH Policies and Procedures were checked and updated as required.

  3. The RVH Manager attended some training sessions for their CPD.

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Income & Expenditure Account for the year ended 31st March 2024

REDBOURN VILLAGE HALL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Income & Expenditure Account
for the year ended 31st March 2024
2024 2023
£ £ £ £
Income
Letting income 57,670 54,205
Interest 402 139
Other Income 979
St Mary's Church/Redbourn Parish Council 828 4,750
Grants and Donations received 1,014 2,429
Total Income 59,915 62,502
Less Operating Expenses
Advertising 247 270
Cleaning & Janitorial Supplies 739 1,621
Electricity 1,891 928
Expenditure from grants and donations 4,848 5,174
Gas 1,989 1,775
Licences & Subscriptions 1,449 1,184
Payroll Costs - Net of furlough contribution 21,868 22,176
Repairs and Maintenance 5,351 13,064
Printing, Post, Stationery & computer cons 872 471
Sundry Expenses 953 1,736
Telephone 812 670
Rates & Water & Insurance 4,564 4,296
Total Operating Expenses 45,583 53,365
Excess of Income Over Expenditure 14,332 9,137
BALANCE SHEET 2024 2023
As At 31st March 2023
Fixed Assets
Computer Equipment Cost 350 350
Depreciation - 350
 - 350
Amounts Outstanding from Hirings & Prepayments 7,933 12,086
Bank Current Account 79,672 60,789
Charity Deposit Fund 8,184 7,804
87,856 68,593
Less Creditors - 8,838
 - 8,059
86,951 72,620
Represented By
General Fund
Opening Balance 66,620 57,483
Surplus for the Year 14,332 9,137
80,951 66,620
Trustees Liability Reserve 6,000 6,000
Total Funds 86,951 72,620

R S Harding Ltd,

Mercer House,

15 High Street,

Redbourn,

Herts,

AL3 7LE

www.rshaccounts.co.uk

R S Harding (Chartered Accountant) prepared the annual accounts for the year ended 31st March 2024 from the books and records presented by the RVHMC.

No Auditor comments