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2023-12-31-accounts

ANNUAL REVIEW

AND

ACCOUNTS

for the period

1[st] January – 31[st] December 2023

Registered Charity No. 305007

CLAYGATE VILLAGE HALL ASSOCIATION

Registered Charity Number 305007

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REVIEW & ACCOUNTS FOR 2023

The Board of Trustees presents its Annual Review and Accounts for the year ending 31st December 2023.

1. GOVERNING DOCUMENT

A Declaration of Trust dated 20[th] July 1959 and incorporated into the Charity Commissioners’ Scheme dated the 21[st] February 1997 and amended on 27 May 2010 and again on 12 October 2021. This is a Scheme of Arrangement approved by the Charities Commission.

2. REGISTERED ADDRESS

Claygate Village Hall Church Road Claygate, Surrey KT10 0JP

3. CHARITABLE OBJECT

The main object of the Claygate Village Hall Association charity is the provision and maintenance of a Village Hall for the use of the inhabitants of the Parish of Claygate and the neighbouring area.

4. TRUSTEES

The Charity is an unincorporated association, governed by a Scheme of Arrangement approved by the Charities Commissioners and managed by a Board of Trustees who are all unpaid volunteers. They are elected as follows:

Community Trustees

7 Community Trustees and up to a further 3 co-opted Community Trustees.

These are elected at the AGM by any inhabitants of the Parish of Claygate and the neighbouring area who are at least 18 years of age who attend the meeting.

The Community Trustees at the 31[st] December 2023 were as follows with one position being vacant:

  1. Brian Howells

  2. John Bamford (Vice Chair)

  3. Clive Thompson

  4. Sally Williams (Chair)

  5. George Marcall

  6. Rosy Treasure (Secretary)

Representative Trustees

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Representative Trustees are appointed by affiliated organisations who use the hall. The Representative Trustees at the 31[st] December 2023 were:

1. Steve Fleming Claygate Gardening Society
2. Susanne Tunnicliff Claygate Flower & Village Show Society
3. Juliet Bagnall Claygate Dramatic Society
4. Gillian Hall Claygate Village WI

Trustees’ meetings in 2023 were held on Tuesdays 21[st] March and 10[th] October with the AGM taking pace on 9[th] May .

The day to day running of the Village Hall and the associated administration is in the hands of the Hall Manager, the Treasurer and the Lettings Manager and overseen by 3 Trustees as Chair, Vice-Chair & Secretary. During 2023 this Management Committee met on 6 occasions: 24[th] January, 9[th] March, 13[th] April, 10[th] July, 26[th] September & 21[st] November .

5. MANAGEMENT COSTS

The Village Hall Association has no staff costs but offers a payment to its officers for services rendered. At a special meeting of Trustees in May 2023 it was agreed that the remuneration offered to officers should be increased from September 2023 and reviewed annually thereafter. Thus, officers’ payments at the end of the year were as follows:

• Hall Manager £5,100
• Lettings Manager £5,100
• Treasurer £2,784

6. AGENTS & ADVISERS

Bank Independent Examiner CAF Bank Barry Fitzpatrick 25 Kings Hill Avenue Holmwood Kings Hill 13 Oaken Drive West Malling Claygate Kent KT10 0DL ME19 4JQ

7. CHAIR’S REVIEW (Sally Williams)

Once again there has been a notable and useful element of teamwork by the Trustee Board members and Officers of the Association. Everyone has played his or her part and made active contributions to the smooth running of the Hall.

2023 was a year of consolidation after the disruption of the pandemic and the extensive planning done on the heating project resulting in putting insulation in place. Tony Woolhead, our Hall Manager, applied to the Parish Council for a grant to help with the insulation costs and was successful in receiving a Climate Grant. He also dealt with maintenance and upgrades to some of our equipment. Katie Ernest, our Lettings Manager, continued to work on the Hallmaster diary and reported on our many bookings and satisfactorily nearly full diary. Michael Elliott, our Treasurer, continued to monitor energy costs and was often found helping at the hall. Rosy Treasure, our secretary, continued her work on a new website and rationalising the document storage and retention. All made valuable and essential contributions and the Board thanks them for their hard work.

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During 2023 a Reserves Policy was approved by the Board and Steve Fleming drafted an Asset Management Plan to complement it, both of which have improved the running of the Hall and our ability to think and plan for the future.

In October we took up the offer of the Guildford Shakespeare Company (“GSC”) to perform in the Hall and as a consequence were able to raise some money towards the desired new stage flooring and pursue a goal of bringing more arts events into the Hall. The GSC performed “Macbeth” to an appreciative audience. This could not have happened without the management of the event by volunteers from the Claygate Dramatic Society (“CDS”) to whom we are grateful and in particular by the input by Juliet Bagnall, one of our Trustees who represents CDS.

Sue Obhrai, the Trustee representing the Claygate WI stood down in October and was replaced by Gillian Hall. We thanked Sue for her valuable contributions to the Board and welcomed Gillian.

I would also like to thank Barry Fitzpatrick, our Independent Examiner, for continuing to oversee and approve our annual accounts.

I thank all the Trustees for their support and help throughout the year.

8. HALL MANAGER’S REVIEW (Tony Woolhead)

This year was more settled than last and as such fairly quiet in terms of Building Management.

The work identified during 2022 to find the best ways of future-proofing the Hall against energy fluctuations, was implemented. This was the installation of insulation in both the Main and Small Hall’s along with the upgrading of the two Main Hall gas boiler’s control systems to incorporate Google Nest functionality.

As part of exploring funding for this work an unsuccessful application for CIL funding resulted in the production of a Hall Asset Management Plan (for which my thanks go to Steve Fleming) and this in turn has fed into the creation of a Hall Reserves Policy. Both of these documents should stand us in good stead in any future funding applications.

Attendance at a Parish Council meeting on 9[th] March 2023 resulted in the Association successfully obtaining a climate grant of £1300.

In addition to the regular annual hall maintenance the following work was completed:

Several areas of the both the Main & Small halls were repainted as little or none was done in 2022 as a cost-saving exercise.

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9. LETTING MANAGER’S REVIEW (Katie Ernest)

In 2023 we saw a continued return to normal plus catch-up after the COVID pandemic with increasing confidence from hirers to book large events, larger attendances at meetings of regular groups, (e.g. U3A) and lots of bookings for children’s parties and family events. We hosted a number of charity fundraisers, a 3-day Dance Competition in each of the half terms, shows for children’s performing arts groups, a concert and a performance of Macbeth by the Guildford Shakespeare Company which was managed by CDS, the profits of which will be put towards the cost of a new surface for the stage. CDS had both their Spring show and panto in November, and were busy in the run up to Christmas. New bookings included a twice monthly tea dance on a Wednesday afternoon and Tumbletots, who took our empty Tuesday morning slot. By the end of 2023 we had very little available space in the Main Hall, although the evening bookings lost post-COVID in the Small Hall have not been replaced, and the Committee Room remains underused.

We managed to fit in the insulation work being done in the Main Hall in February with some disruption to half-term bookings, although most were accommodated in the Small Hall, and the Small Hall was insulated over the summer. Following a complaint from a hirer we replaced the amp in the gallery sound system, and we have been looking at options to refloor the stage to reduce reflection from the stage lights and stop the possibility of splinters from the current floor.

The diary was run in the Hallmaster application from January 2023, although not in public view until 2024. We stopped sending out the special COVID terms and conditions and supplementary information in the middle of the year. Using the January CPI inflation figure as a guide we increased prices by 10.5% on September 1[st] .

From time to time over the year we have had positive feedback about the Hall – one hirer commenting on the good facilities, availability of parking and economical pricing.

10. FINANCIAL REVIEW (Michael Elliott)

Annual Accounts

I commend the Cash accounts for your approval, they have been examined by our Independent Examiner Mr Barry Fitzpatrick.

The headline profit of £2,168 was assisted by a £1,300 grant from the Parish Council to insulate the main Hall. The overall profit is deceptive as a number of invoices properly payable in 2023 were delivered later in 2024. Included in these is a November cleaning bill for £1,061; Performing Rights for £1,096, note they ignored my return claiming exemptions & attempted to charge based on 2019 turnover not 2022, then took three months to sort it out; Castle Water refunded £1,158 to us in April after a long period of overcharging us and I have shown it as a rebate against the expense, giving a negative charge of £611. Also obvious is that the higher interest rates have boosted our income by some £1,300. The net effect of these variations is therefore circa £4,000.

Lettings income

This showed a significant gain, Covid recovery with a significant price rise in line with inflation and a good number of parties all contributing to income.

Expenditure

Project expenditure was £19,313, which was mostly the Main Hall insulation but also the Small Hall and a £1,000 contribution to our new website. That we almost managed to fund this from our turnover was remarkable.

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The vast rise in energy costs threatened to drain our budget so, in November we agreed a new contract for electricity with EDF at 27.4 pence per unit, down from 62.61 pence for day consumption. I have found EDF customer service to be abysmal. For gas supply, we had a new contract with Yu Energy at 7.03 pence per kilowatt from March 2023, a sharp rise on our historic contract but significantly lower that some mid 2022 contracts. Changing supplier was very smooth.

The remaining classes of expenditure hold no surprises, save the water where I have shown the rebate against expenditure giving a net refund of £611 for the year.

Banking

CAF Bank continues as our main Bank. I have mentioned before that Virgin Money was paying a very poor interest rate. It is difficult to find a Treasurer’s Charity account that covers dual control and also meets the rigorous demands of the Charity Commission.

Reserves Policy

Our policy for Restricted Reserves was decided at the Trustees’ meeting in early 2023. Restricted Reserves are to be divided in three parts:

  1. Business Continuation, being 50% of our annual budgeted operational costs, currently £31,190,

  2. An Earmarked Reserve to pay for long term maintenance plans of £60,000 and

  3. Restricted Reserves for grants, gifts or endowments, where funds can only be used for a specified purpose, currently nil.

General Reserves at year end were £25,512.

Looking forward to 2024

During 2024 the Management Committee will address the need to find a new savings account and continue to seek the best deal for energy rates.

In addition, there are a number of projects on our “Wish List” which we expect to be able to address.

11. RISK MANAGEMENT

The Management Committee and the Board of Trustees regularly review any major risks affecting the Charity. This includes, for example, the loss of any regular hirers. Alternative lettings initiatives are vigorously pursued to reduce such losses. Our Reserves Policy means we can, if necessary, cushion the effect of losing major hirers.

12. CONCLUSION

Overall 2023 was a good year for the Association despite the increase in energy costs. We still attracted new hirers but must continue to ensure we offer competitive facilities and rates. Key tasks for the year ahead are:

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CLAYGATE VILLAGE HALL ASSOCIATION

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES' RESPONSIBILITIES

Charity law requires the Trustees to prepare Financial Statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charity and of its financial activities for that year, and adequately distinguish any material special trust or other restricted fund of the Charity. In preparing those Financial Statements the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper Accounting records which disclose, with reasonable accuracy at any time, the financial position of the Charity, and enable them to ensure that the Financial Statements comply with applicable Accounting Standards and Statements of Recommended Practice and the Regulations made under Part 8 Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Charities (Accounts & Reports) Regulations 2008 requires charity trustees to confirm that they ‘have regard’ to the Commissions public benefit guidance when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant.

Trustees can show that

This is demonstrated by the work of the Trustees and the Management committee as set out in the respective minutes of the meetings of those bodies, and in the Scheme of Arrangement approved by the Charity Commissioners which governs the business of the charity and with which the Trustees and the Management committee comply”.

By order of the Board of Trustees.

STATEMENT OF COMPLIANCE

In addition, the Charity Governance Code for smaller charities, of which CVHA is one, which was published at https://www.charitygovernancecode.org/en/pdf in 2017 was examined by the Management Committee and recommendations discussed with Trustees at their meeting on 29[th] March 2018. All actions agreed as a result were taken and, where necessary, documented in the Association’s Operations Manual and policies which are reviewed regularly.

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endix A - Recei ts&Pa ments CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WAIE5 Cliarity NaTll? Claygate Village Hall Associatlon No Itf any? 305007 Recei ts and ments accounts CC16a For the perlod from Q110112023 To 31112r2023 Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds Restricled funds to the nea￿t £ to the near•*£ Endowment funds to thg nearn￿ £ Total funds Last yoar to ng•mt£ to th? noarest £ A1 Recei Letting Inc¥xne Grants Building Swety Inteost 69.631 69,831 55,705 3,606 547 1,874 tota ross income AR) 71. set an see table . Investment sa tota 71,$05 A3Pa ments maintenan￿ & rer￿￿S Prqeds Cas ESetheity Water Insurance Letbngs Ex".￿SeS CleanirvJ Administratio Perfofming Rights Adverhsi Other 17.642 18,013 4.213 10.407 46111 2.029 7.137 ,37S 1Y. 19,313 4.213 10.4107 4611) 17,740 2.679 4,017 1,953 2.216 7.137 9.375 863 11.566 566 1,570 279 350 tota 70.63 Sub total 69.337 50.305 -- Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end 2,188 491.190 114.534 91.190 14. 1117 104,911 11 91.1 0910412024 Page9of11

- Appendix B Statement of Assets & Liabilities

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- Appendix C Independent Examiners Report

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