Cogenhoe & Whiston Parish Council
Annual Report Village Hall & Playing Field to the Parish Meeting 17[th] April 2023
Village Hall & Playing Field – Chairman Cllr Jon Bailey
Hall Management Committee
The committee consists of 4 parish councillors (under my chairmanship) and representatives from village organisations and significant village hall users. Gina Goddard resigned from the parish council and therefore the village hall committee, she has not yet been replaced. The Clerk to the Parish Council (Deborah Rush) is also clerk to this committee. We meet bimonthly in a public meeting at the hall.
The hall and playing fields operate as a charity with a single management trustee (the parish council) and as such is run financially separate from the parish council but under the auspices of the council. No money has been provided by the parish council to the village hall.
Finances
The finances of the hall are under great pressure mainly due to the trebling of electricity costs from about £6K per year to over £20K per year. Without action, the running of the hall is not sustainable in the long term. We have taken action to minimise the use of electricity and increase some hire charges but potentially we may still need to come to the parish council (and therefore residents) for support or we might have to close the hall.
Another increase was made to the hire charges for all users except the pre-school (who absorbed an increase earlier in the year). As part of the annual review the café also had its weekly rental increased.
(See appendix 3 for unaudited accounts).
Energy Saving Actions
The far end of the hall (where the stage used to be) was insulated, plaster boarded and painted at a cost of £4,500.
The clerk successfully applied for a £10,000 grant from Big Lottery and we have used £6,000 to lower the heaters in the main hall and replaced the 30-year-old heaters. The rest of the money will be used to replace the two front doors. Both of those actions will help us to reduce energy usage.
All lights in the building are now LED lights and all are movement sensitive (except for the lobby, York Room and main hall). All outside lights are also LED.
The two main rooms now have sensors and temperature gauges. All renters have been asked to continue to ensure the rooms are kept sufficiently warm for their users but we have encouraged them to keep the temperature below a government advised maximum of 21C by the judicious use of the heaters.
The parish council has recently authorised the clerk to apply for a public loan for £25,000 to purchase solar panels for the village hall. If approved this will be paid back by the village hall (at no cost to the villagers) over 15 years. The annual loan repayments will come to around £2,280 pa. Initial estimates are that the cost has a 3-5 year pay back.
Cricket Club
The cricket team continues to use the playing field with great success on the field. The 1[st] team won their league (only the 4[th] time they have done so in their history) and also their cup.
The state of the playing field grass is in much better condition than for years primarily due to the regular cutting by the club during the cricket season (thanks to Paul and Daniel as the main ‘cutters’). The village hall committee also contracted separately with the club to cut the grass over the winter time. Again, this has much improved the grass.
The playing field now might benefit from some weedkiller and maybe a ‘spiking’. The committee and the club are in discussion about how to achieve this.
Football pitch
We have continued with our existing football team (Delapre FC) and had no significant problems with their use.
There is an issue with goal mouths, in particular with the one nearest the cricket wicket. This will be addressed in the short term.
Café
According to the owners this continues to trade successfully. There has been no subsidy from the parish council to the café though the village hall did spend £12,000 on refurbishing the kitchen before the café opened.
Other Outside Developments
A path of paving slabs was laid next month across the front of the village hall and thanks to Phillip Hollowell (and helpers) the main car park gate was changed to open the opposite way. This made access from the car park to the hall much easier.
The basketball net was moved to next to the play area.
Hall Bookings
The pre-school and café continue to be the prime users of the facilities. Thanks to the efforts of our Parish Clerk (Deborah) and the improved hall facilities we have had a significant rise in the number of bookings for the hall.
There have been a number of one-off bookings – primarily for children’s parties. We have also had a football class, music group rehearsals and a children’s drama class. We continue to have many future new bookings. Given that this is our main source of income (aside from the Mud Kitchen Café and the Pre-school) this is most encouraging.
Village Cinema
The monthly village cinema attendance has picked up since last summer. We average about 28 which when we include the donations for tea/coffee means we overall cover the costs of putting on the films.
Recycling
We have recently introduced a number of recycling bins in the hall lobby to help encourage recycling (for those things that can’t be put in the council recycling bins).
Community Outreach
The Parish Council now employs Madeline (Maddie) Adams to increase our community outreach.
We also have a weekly prescriptions collection service from Denton Surgery. You can sign up at the collection time or with the surgery and get your prescription delivered to the village hall weekly between 11 and 12 on Thursday.
Future projects
We have developed plans to update the changing rooms. Instead of shared showers we will have 6 shower cubicles split between two separate changing rooms. We have received quotes and accepted one for action. We are currently applying for funds to pay for this and we hope we can carry out the work in the summer holidays.
Other potential projects (subject to funding) could include refurbishment of the main toilets, sound baffles or a mezzanine floor in the main hall, meeting room extension, new heating system and tarmacing the car park.
Appendix 3 Village Hall & Playing Field Accounts end of year (Unaudited).
| End ofyear accounts 31.3.23 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Income | Village Hall | ||
| Cricket club rent | £1,250.00 | ||
| Mud Kitchen rent | £9,263.70 | ||
| Pre-School fees | £13,574.00 | ||
| DogClubs fees | £4,108.50 | ||
| Field hire fees | £1,181.00 | ||
| Regular Hirers fees | £3,294.00 | ||
| casual hire fees | £5,300.25 | ||
| Get Up& Go | £555.00 | ||
| communityevents | £359.00 | ||
| Grants | £15,588.00 | ||
| Other | £163.00 | ||
| Deposits | £1,750.00 | ||
| Vat refund | £2,835.88 | ||
| £59,222.33 | |||
| Expenditure | |||
| Waste services | £724.75 | ||
| Communityactivities | £472.81 | ||
| Bank charges | £149.40 | ||
| Hygiene services | £181.92 | ||
| Electricity | £7,933.00 | ||
| Cleaningcosts | £4,931.49 | ||
| Telephone | £268.83 | ||
| Water charges | £874.77 | ||
| Grass cutting | £545.00 | ||
| Insurance | £1,787.12 | ||
| Maintenance/supplies | £3,120.02 | ||
| Staff(not cleaning) | £6,199.14 | ||
| Forget me Notgroup | £261.60 | ||
| Improvementprojects | £2,763.39 | ||
| Re-developmentproject | £150.98 | ||
| Playground/field | £1,794.00 | ||
| get Up& Go | £680.00 | ||
| Greenprojects | £9,994.00 | ||
| Other | £1,085.63 | ||
| Refund deposits | £1,610.00 | ||
| VAT | £4,190.43 | ||
| £49,718.28 | |||
| Surplus | £9,504.05 | ||
| Reconciliation of bank balances foryear ended 31 March 2023 | |||
| Openingbalances 31.3.21 | £13,295.39 | ||
| Total income foryear | £59,222.33 | ||
| Less Total expenditure for theyear | £49,718.28 | ||
| £22,799.44 | |||
| Represented by | |||
| Current account | £20,163.08 | ||
| Reserves | £2,636.36 | ||
| £22,799.44 | |||
| End ofyear accounts 31.3.23 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income | Village Hall | |||
| Cricket club rent | £1,250.00 | |||
| Mud Kitchen rent | £9,263.70 | |||
| Pre-School fees | £13,574.00 | |||
| DogClubs fees | £4,108.50 | |||
| Field hire fees | £1,181.00 | |||
| Regular Hirers fees | £3,294.00 | |||
| casual hire fees | £5,300.25 | |||
| Get Up& Go | £555.00 | |||
| communityevents | £359.00 | |||
| Grants | £15,588.00 | |||
| Other | £163.00 | |||
| Deposits | £1,750.00 | |||
| Vat refund | £2,835.88 | |||
| £59,222.33 | ||||
| Expenditure | ||||
| Waste services | £724.75 | |||
| Communityactivities | £472.81 | |||
| Bank charges | £149.40 | |||
| Hygiene services | £181.92 | |||
| Electricity | £7,933.00 | |||
| Cleaningcosts | £4,931.49 | |||
| Telephone | £268.83 | |||
| Water charges | £874.77 | |||
| Grass cutting | £545.00 | |||
| Insurance | £1,787.12 | |||
| Maintenance/supplies | £3,120.02 | |||
| Staff(not cleaning) | £6,199.14 | |||
| Forget me Notgroup | £261.60 | |||
| Improvementprojects | £2,763.39 | |||
| Re-developmentproject | £150.98 | |||
| Playground/field | £1,794.00 | |||
| get Up& Go | £680.00 | |||
| Greenprojects | £9,994.00 | |||
| Other | £1,085.63 | |||
| Refund deposits | £1,610.00 | |||
| VAT | £4,190.43 | |||
| £49,718.28 | ||||
| Surplus | £9,504.05 | |||
| Reconciliation of bank balances foryear ended 31 March 2023 | ||||
| Openingbalances 31.3.21 | £13,295.39 | |||
| Total income foryear | £59,222.33 | |||
| Less Total expenditure for theyear | £49,718.28 | |||
| £22,799.44 | ||||
| Represented by | ||||
| Current account | £20,163.08 | |||
| Reserves | £2,636.36 | |||
| £22,799.44 |
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examiner's report
on the accounts
Section IA
Independent Examiner's Report
Report to the trusteesl
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