Brookwood Memorial Halls Annual Report
Year ending 31st December 2023
The Halls are managed by a Committee constituted under a Deed of Trust dated 20th February 1950 for the benefit of all Brookwood residents, elected at the Annual General Meeting open to residents. The Committee comprises 4 members elected by qualifying inhabitants and up to 14 members representing recognised Village organisations. A further 6 members may be co-opted by the Management Committee. The Management Committee comprised:
Louise Norris (Chair)
Maria Nixon (Treasurer)
Colin Greenwood (Lettings Administrator), Jadwiga Grimshaw (Art Groups representative) Mark Liney (Village Representative) Lauren Brooks (Co-Opted Member) Maureen Grey (WI Representative) Robert Fleck (Co-Opted Member - Resigned 21st May 2023)
Joe Thorneywork (GSL -Scouts Association representative - appointed 24th April 2023)
Natalie Proud (Playgroup representative) - appointed 24th April 2023)
The Hall’s banker is the Charities Aid Foundation, West Malling, Kent. We maintained financial reserves throughout the year adequate to remain solvent in case the Halls become unlettable should major insured damage need repair. We review this policy annually. In 2023 in the interest of effective financial stewardship of the Halls reserves we opened a higher interest savings account to deposit our reserves and take advantage of improved interest rates.
The Trustees are thrilled to report that hall hires are now fully returned to their pre-pandemic levels in terms of hirers and thrilled to welcome some new regular hirers to the Halls too.
As per the objects of our Trust, we continue to maintain and improve the facilities of the Halls for the benefit of the residents of Brookwood and its immediate vicinity without discrimination. In September we embarked on a refurbishment of our Committee Room, to turn it into a warmer more welcome space for hirers, work is still underway. We have replaced all our Hall lights with LED, to keep us compliant and more energy efficient. We maintained our licences for entertainment and sporting activities, reproduction of music, provision of catering facilities (to 100 table seated guests) and stage shows (to 240 seated audience). The Halls continue to be a popular venue for dance and exercise, music and social activities.
Thanks to Trustee Lauren, for all her work to create a new website for the Halls, it looks fresh, modern and easy to navigate and provides our users with the answers they need and a quick and efficient booking system. We were also pleased not to have to increased our hiring rates in 2023, maintaining an affordable venue for community activities.
We also conducted a survey throughout the village to get the community’s thoughts and feedback on the hall and were pleased with the number and sentiment of the responses in respect of the cleanliness and facilities that the Hall offers. We are acting on a number of areas of feedback regarding signage and awareness of the Halls in the village.
It has been fantastic to have a stable and committed Board of Trustees for the last twelve months, providing us with real consistency. In October our Lettings Manager Colin Greenwood informed us of his intention to step down at the of January 2024 following a decade in the position. He has been our regular hirers consistent face of Brookwood Memorial Halls and I would like to personally thank him for his support, advice, partnership and calm thinking particularly since I stepped into the role of Chair. The Trustees decided after a short search for a new volunteer to create a paid Hall Manager role to fill Colin’s shoes and to that end we are thrilled to be welcoming Steph Rusted to the role in early January, Steph lives in the village and is familar with our Halls, once she gets to grip with the role she will be looking at how we maximise our income more effectively.
On the August Bank Holiday weekend we welcomed around 30 people to the Halls to join our summer clean up, it was wonderful to see regular hirers turn out to help us get the Halls ship shape for the winter and to hear their stories of appreciation for the Halls and the memories that they hold.
We closed out the year with our Christmas Trail, which are trying to turn into an annual event and I was so grateful to have some villagers who participated in the trail last year join the organising team in 2023. We were grateful to the residents who agreed to have a poster up in their window for the village to complete the trail, including the school, village shop and post office. We then welcomed around 60 villagers to the hall for mince pies and mulled wine.
BMH Christmas Trail Brookwood Knotters
I would like to take the opportunity to thank the small but mighty team of volunteers who make up our Trustee Board for keeping the Halls well maintained and governed for the benefit of the Community. I would like to extend particular thanks to Colin Greenwood and Maria Nixon for the support and partnership over the last twelve months
Louise Norris, Chair - on behalf of the Trustees and Management Committee, Brookwood Memorial Halls
https://www.brookwoodmemorialhalls.org.uk/
Financial Report Year ending 31st December 2023 BROOKWOOD MEMORIAL HALL RECEIPTS ANO PAYIAENTS FOR YEAR 2023 REC8PT$ Mh of HaN• O•nk it•feBt 4gAJO.01 20Z62 134.71 43.011.$4 6497 13.41 20.(X) .2,e87.IXI 1.307 07 Grant SurvBy Courty CWKII I THlthg 8¢ PlatInrn Pty 1.1SS 010.67 PAYIIEWT8 R•p•ir¥ •nd rvpc•nwnts S,9M23 5.340.00 4,704.92 3.565.8S ZT51.14 2,701.00 2.173.16 1.224.00 975.49 1.714 06 1.943.OT 1710. 17 3.425.36 1821.07 Electncy 4r•lak•r 1.838.88 959 46 Z012.58 789.65. 6x66 $43.19 ter Pl•w *igrbA 365.61 233.41 ClwlBtrna• Trnll ¢o•ts 118.97 11179 240.60 1.&53 1, 149 99 674.QQ 175LX7 8399 2981961 IIET ¢% RECEPTS AND PAYiie•iTS 16.4SS.01 18 f91 06 CASH FUMDS LAST YEAR END CASH FUN08 Th18 YEAR END 23 169 90 57 415.97 41 ASSEfs AND LIABILMES AS AT YEAR END Cash Ot aThl 67O1S.•7 41.360.98 UABILMES 0.0)
Brookwood Memorial Halls - Registered Charity Number 304981