## **Cogenhoe & Whiston Parish Council sole trustee of Cogenhoe & Whiston Village Hall & Playing Fields** Registered charity number 304168 ## Annual Report to the Annual General Meeting 26[th] June 2024 ## **Report from the Chairman** - Cllr Jon Bailey The committee consists of 4 parish councillors (under my chairmanship) and representatives from village organisations and significant village hall users. The 4 parish councillors are Grubb, Scott, Wootton and Darby. The Clerk to the Parish Council (Deborah Rush) is also clerk to this committee. We meet bi-monthly in a public meeting at the hall. Other members represent village organisations and the main users of the hall. These include St Peter’s Church, The Tearoom By The House of Mystery, Cogenhoe Football Club, Cogenhoe Cricket Club, Ladies fellowship and Cogenhoe Pre-School. A further villager has been co-opted as environmental lead. At present we have no elected members (residents). The members are nominated each year by their organisations and formally appointed at the first village hall committee meeting after the Annual Council meeting. 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. ## **S280A Resolutions** The trustees passed one resolution during the year, to amend the date of the AGM from March to June each year to allow time for draft accounts to be prepared. This was approved by unanimous vote by the committee members. ## **Personal Award** I received an award during the year for Trustee of the Year from the South Northants Volunteer Awards in my role as Chairman of the Village Hall Committee. ## **Café** On the 29[th] April the Mud Kitchen Café owners gave notice of their intention to close on the 29[th] July. Following a public notice a new proprietor came forward and the Tea Rooms were subsequently opened on 25[th] August for a trial period and subsequently the owner signed an SLA with the Village Hall Committee for an initial term of 3 years. The rental charges for the new Team Rooms are very similar to that for the Mud Kitchen Café. The York Room has recently been repainted by the Tea Room and the café has been relaunched as the Comunità Café. ## **Finances** The finances of the hall were under great pressure mainly due to the huge increase in electricity costs. We have taken further actions to minimise the use of electricity. Recently the costs of our electricity have significantly declined in part due to the installation of solar panels. These have been financed by a loan taken out by the parish Council over a 15 year period at a cost of ££2,447 pa. This cost will be covered by the savings we make in electricity costs. The draft accounts (which are currently with the auditor) from 2023/24 can be viewed in Appendix 1. Whilst these show a surplus for the year, the balance includes the £10,000 grant for the replacement main hall doors, so we actually made a loss of £ 6796.26, this is mostly due to the massive increase in electricity costs last year with costs doubling from £8000 to nearly £16,663 (£2,163 paid this financial year but relates to 2023/24 usage). In 2022/23 we made a surplus of £9500. Income from bookings has continued to grow and we have secured grants of £10,000 last year (£15588 in 2022/23). |(£15588 in 2022/23).|| |---|---| |2022/23|2023/24| ||| |£38,885|£42,029| ## **Improving Energy Efficiency** The solar panels were installed last autumn. They immediately started saving us money. Initial estimates are that the cost has a 3-5 year pay back. We expect to save 30% in energy costs a year. New, more efficient radiators with thermostats were installed in the York Room. A grant from The National Lottery of £10,000 was obtained to replace the front doors to remove draughts and increase heat retention as well as security. These were installed at a total cost of £12,000. The main hall doors are due to be replaced thanks to a further £10,000 grant from National Grid for ‘green projects’. ## **Broadband upgrade** Full fibre broadband was recently installed at the hall by Gigaclear. They operate a community scheme which means this was done at no cost to the hall and no on-ongoing costs saving over £500 a year. ## **Cricket Club** The cricket team continues to use the playing field with great success on the field. The 1[st] team successfully competed in a higher league . The cricket club is now intending to run new junior teams (primarily during term time) and the Under 11’s have recently enjoyed a 6 week indoor course in the Main hall which we understand was great success. 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. ## **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 has been recently addressed in between the football and cricket season. We also plan to move the main pitch to the recently leased Ironstones field adjacent to the playing fields, subject to cost & planning permission. We welcomed Strike coaching who run a regular weekly Saturday morning club and also TFA youth who play on a new youth pitch on a Saturday morning. ## **Changing Rooms Project** The changing rooms are showing their age. We developed plans for their renewal which met the local football association requirements to enable us to get a grant from them. We have attempted (so far without success) to gain further grant money which we need to match the FA grant before we can move this forward. . ## **Hall Bookings** The pre-school and cafe are the prime users of the facilities. Thanks to the efforts of our Parish Clerk (Deborah) and the improved hall facilities, we have had another significant rise in the number of bookings for the hall over the last year compared to last. The hall continues to be a busy place with the only current regular availability during the week on a Tuesday evening. In addition to the regular users there have been 36 parties / private bookings during the last financial year. ## **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). ## **Future projects** Other potential projects (subject to funding) could include sound baffles in the main hall, a mezzanine floor in the main hall, a meeting room extension, a new heating system or tarmacing the car park. ## **Reminder** All meeting minutes are published on website and all Village Hall Committee meetings are public and held in Village Hall. Dates are published on Parish Council website. ## Appendix 1 **Cogenhoe & Whiston Parish Council Sole Trustee of Cogenhoe & Whiston Village Hall & Playing Fields End of year accounts 31.3.24** Registered Charity 304168 **Income** **----- Start of picture text -----**
Cricket club rent £1,350.00
Mud Kitchen rent £3,987.27
Pre-School fees £13,524.00
Dog Clubs fees £3,808.50
Field hire fees £2,050.00
Regular Hirers fees £5,340.00
casual hire fees £4,212.50
community outreach £2,515.50
Tearoom by House of Mystery £5,241.30
Grants £10,000.00
Other £255.61
Deposits £1,800.00
Vat refund £13,087.71
From PC re PWLB £24,975.00
£92,147.39
Expenditure
Waste services £786.50
Community outreach £2,135.95
Bank charges £151.50
Hygiene services £181.92
Electricity £14,465.03
Cleaning costs £5,940.00
Telephone £223.45
Water charges £691.96
Grass cutting £1,413.19
Insurance £1,841.28
Maintenance/supplies £2,327.74
Staff £6,859.49
Environmental projects £30,948.84
Membership £40.00
Playground / field £645.95
Other £833.33
VAT £11,459.23
Refund deposits £1,775.00
PC re PWLB £1,223.29
Comm Outreach from Foyle Grant £5,000.00
£88,943.65
Surplus for year £3,203.74 (£10,000 grant committeed doors)
Reconciliation of bank balances for year ended 31 March 2024
Opening balances 31.3.23 £22,799.44
Total income for year £92,147.39
Less Total expenditure for the year £88,943.65
£26,003.18
Represented by
Current account £23,366.82
Reserves £2,636.36
£26,003.18
**----- End of picture text -----**
|||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**Cogenhoe & Whiston Parish Council Sole Trustee of Cogenhoe & Whiston Village Hall & Playing Fields**||||||| |**End ofyear accounts 31.3.24**||Registered Charity304168||||| |**Income**||||||| |||||||| |Cricket club rent|£1,350.00|||||| |Mud Kitchen rent|£3,987.27|||||| |Pre-School fees|£13,524.00|||||| |DogClubs fees|£3,808.50|||||| |Field hire fees|£2,050.00|||||| |Regular Hirers fees|£5,340.00|||||| |casual hire fees|£4,212.50|||||| |communityoutreach|£2,515.50|||||| |Tearoom byHouse of Mystery|£5,241.30|||||| |Grants|£10,000.00|||||| |Other|£255.61|||||| |Deposits|£1,800.00|||||| |Vat refund|£13,087.71|||||| |From PC re PWLB|£24,975.00|||||| |||||||| ||**£92,147.39**|||||| |||||||| |**Expenditure**||||||| |||||||| |Waste services|£786.50|||||| |Communityoutreach|£2,135.95|||||| |Bank charges|£151.50|||||| |Hygiene services|£181.92|||||| |Electricity|£14,465.03|||||| |Cleaningcosts|£5,940.00|||||| |Telephone|£223.45|||||| |Water charges|£691.96|||||| |Grass cutting|£1,413.19|||||| |Insurance|£1,841.28|||||| |Maintenance/supplies|£2,327.74|||||| |Staff|£6,859.49|||||| |Environmentalprojects|£30,948.84|||||| |Membership|£40.00|||||| |Playground/field|£645.95|||||| |Other|£833.33|||||| |VAT|£11,459.23|||||| |Refund deposits|£1,775.00|||||| |PC re PWLB|£1,223.29|||||| |Comm Outreach from Foyle Grant|£5,000.00|||||| |||||||| ||**£88,943.65**|||||| |Surplus foryear|**£3,203.74**|(£10,000grant committeed doors)||||| |||||||| |Reconciliation of bank balances foryear ended 31 March 2024||||||| |||||||| |Openingbalances 31.3.23|||£22,799.44|||| |||||||| |Total income foryear|||£92,147.39|||| |Less Total expenditure for theyear|||£88,943.65|||| |||||||| ||||**£26,003.18**|||| |Represented by||||||| |Current account|||£23,366.82|||| |Reserves|||£2,636.36|||| ||||**£26,003.18**|||| Independent examinerfs report to the trustee5 of Cogenhoe & Whiston Vlllage Hall & Playing Foelds (*he Trusv) I report to the chaiity trustees on my examination of the income and expenditure statement of the Trust, for the year ended 31 March 2024. Responsibilities and basis of report As the charity trust&s of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Art 2011 ('the Arf)- I report in respect of my examination of the TnAsVs accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Dirertions given bv the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(&) of the Aci. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no rykiterial matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect: l. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act: or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records: or 3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the fomi and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts gNe a *rue and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no ot￿r matters in connertion with the examinalion to which attentio should be drawn in this report in order to enable a prO￿r unde￿tanding of the accounts to b Irea hed. Signe¢L- Name: Keith Loader MAAT Address: Tax Assist Accountants 149 Park Avenue North Northampton NN3 2HY Date: 16 August 2024