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2025-05-31-accounts

Broad Hinton Village Hall

Annual Community Meeting

21[st] July 2025

Annual Report and Accounts

1[st] June 2024 – 31[st] May 2025

Registered Charity No. 305475 Report date: July 2025

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Broad Hinton Village Hall Broad Hinton Swindon Wiltshire, SN4 9RH

Broad Hinton Village Hall Trustees – 2024/2025

Name Office Duration of Post
*KATE MARSHALL Committee Chair, BH & Uffcott
Marketing & Comms Officer
Finance sub-group
Full year
*JOHANNA SMITH Committee Chair, WB
Bookings sub-group/Lemon
Administration Oversight
Fire/Safety sub-group
Finance sub-group
Full year
MARILYN MARTIN Bookings sub-group
Events
Full year (notice given to stand
down wef 1/6/25)
GEOFF MARTIN Maintenance
Fire/Safety sub-group
Full year (notice given to stand
down wef 1/6/25)
SUE ROBINSON Secretary
Licensing Officer
Bookings sub-group/Lemon
Administration
Fire/Safety sub-group
Full year
SARAH KROMER Internal Auditor
Finance sub-group
Charity Commission Contact
Full year
STEVE HANNAN Treasurer
Finance sub-group
Jun 2024 – March 2025 (gave
notice January 2025)
KATE NYE Treasurer
Finance sub-group
March 2025 to date
CHRISTINE HORAN Events Jun 2024 –September 2024**

*Kate Marshall and Johanna Smith are primary points of contact and for the purposes of the Community Meeting can be regarded as joint Chair. They are responsible for the Chairperson’s statement.

** CH is temporarily absent through ill health and treatment, may return towards the end of 2025.

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The Trustees are governed in their duties by the original constitution dating from the Hall’s inception and updated guidance notes since, those most recently issued in March/April 2025.

The main objectives of the Committee of Trustees appear below:

1. Mission

To maintain the current Broad Hinton Village Hall to a safe, acceptable and usable condition; to ensure that the Hall is available for use by the people of the Parish of Broad Hinton, Uffcott and Winterbourne Bassett; to provide premises for additional services and clubs for the local community and to secure the long-term future of the Village Hall.

2. Charter

To raise funds by:

a. Charging hiring fees for use of the Hall by the Parishioners of Broad Hinton, Uffcott and Winterbourne Bassett, other community clubs, organisations and individuals, and for use of the hall to individuals who live outside the Parish, to ensure the hall is used to its maximum potential .

- b. Organising specific fund raising events, which will also provide entertainment to as wide a section of the Parish as possible.

To use the funds to pay for regular running costs, maintenance work and such improvements as will enhance the enjoyment of using, ease of use and safety of the Village Hall.

3. Management Committee

The Management Committee currently includes seven elected members. These members are elected at the Community Meeting (CM) and hold Office from the CM at which they are elected until the following CM.

Other village organisations may provide Committee representatives, and their names shall be provided to the Committee Secretary. These representatives will hold Office from one CM until the following CM. The Committee shall use its discretion in appointing representatives from those organisations making most use of the Village Hall. See ‘Personnel’.

Should any member resign from or cease to attend the Committee before the normal end of their Term of Office, then the Committee may appoint a new member. In the case of a representative from another organisation, the Committee may request that a new representative be nominated. Such new members will hold Office from the time of their appointment until the following CM. The proceedings of the Committee shall not be invalidated by any failure to appoint any members.

Members shall not take or hold any interest in any property belonging to the Village Hall Trust or receive any remuneration or be interested in the supply of work or goods at the cost of the Trust.

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Chairpersons’ Statement

During the financial year 2024/2025 regular hiring continued for local community clubs and classes. This has been a challenge for some groups as attendance numbers have dwindled and the Karate group ceased at Christmas. The pencil group now operates in the John Hutchings meeting room instead of the main hall. We have, however, seen an increase in provision of Pilates classes during the week and the new Farmers’ Market event has been wonderfully received. Such that, it is already operating once a quarter for the rest of 2025.

This event has been especially helpful in showcasing local suppliers’ wares as well as how the hall can be used to best effect.

The new year of 2025 was extremely quiet for big, one off events, and the hall stood empty nearly every weekend from January through to end of March.

Once spring finally emerged, a few weddings and special celebration requests came through, largely from Swindon families where there are no like facilities. In the last quarter to end of June, the hall has hosted wedding receptions and birthday parties – at about one per month.

As a community service provider, we have wanted to support the local school and their challenges with diminishing attendance numbers (and in turn government funding) and the need to raise funds. The school premises for internal events is limited and therefore hiring the hall gives the school scope to increase event capacity and financial return. Take up has been mixed for the school events so far, and we will continue to review our working together during the next financial year.

We have seen continued increases in hall running costs from 1[st] April. The Hall electricity contract has been renewed and revised to a better rate.

Just before Christmas, when the weather was most challenging, our heating system broke down. It is an Air Source Heat Pump heating system which is now 16 years old and service providers will not offer a service contract, so our call outs and repairs are ‘as demanded’. The system recovered and then let us down again during Dec-January. Standalone heaters were useful to enable the hall to operate, and our hirers were very patient in the circumstances. The system is old and has been repaired several times now, but there will come a time when it is no longer possible or cost effective to make repairs.

Due to the October 2023 flash floods, our hall insurance premium has continued to rise significantly, and we can expect it to do so each year until at least 2028. We also continue to require ongoing general repairs and continue to struggle to break even.

A year ago, the committee took the view that we should focus on two large events per year instead of multiple small ones. Two events where our efforts could realise significant participation and yield some clear profit.

The Christmas Party and the Christmas Market are always popular. These are our staples. The party demand regularly outstrips supply and provided we keep the offering simple, we can repeat this event annually for the foreseeable future. The Christmas Party in December 2024 sold out within weeks of it being advertised and was very successful once again.

The Christmas market was equally popular and hosted new market vendors this time. This event requires little time and investment and is on the calendar again for Christmas 2025.

We were ambitious about our second big event and hosted an inaugural Beer and Gin Festival. Beer Festivals are extremely popular in Wiltshire and learning and guidance from other festivals

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helped inform us on how to make this happen. It involved a huge amount of effort from the committee as well as a separate team of helpers to host this event, but on Saturday 31[st] August 2024, the Hackpen Beer and Gin Festival was launched.

Everyone who attended enjoyed it, asked us to repeat it and our costs were covered with a small return. We learned a lot from this event but agreed that if we could simplify it and use the feedback we received effectively, it would be worthwhile hosting it again.

Looking ahead, as we have concluded we must take positive action with the heating system, we have made detailed enquiries with relevant engineers and experts to help guide us on the best route to take. The hall structure and design presents heating efficiency challenges, so expert guidance on the best route to take has been crucial. As Trustees we are responsible for the long-term future of the Village Hall. A new system will incur purchase costs, reducing our valuable capital reserves.

We must also consider running and maintenance costs of the heating solution we opt for, given that year on year, we struggle to break even. Unless we can significantly increase hall usage and revenue, we will continue to supplement our running expenses from our financial reserve.

This reality also means that our fundraising efforts continue to be crucial. We have, and will, continue to enquire about grants to help us. Grants can be limited in supply and the criteria can be so specific that we are unable to meet them. A financial grant does not alter the vulnerability of our income stream and if we continue to supplement our running costs from our reserve, we will reach a point where we will have to question the viability of the hall.

With effect from the 1[st] April, we again increased the hire rates. Whilst this is not ideal for any hirer, our regulars all supported us in taking this action and have continue to participate. Zumba classes are at risk, however, as attendance is often low and a number of classes have been cancelled this past spring.

We have continued to utilise external people to assist with late night closing up of the hall and this has worked well without issue to date. This is an expense the hirers sign up to when they make their booking; we will continue with it into 2025/6.

Our risk management continues to improve, as we learn from hirings, particularly those from outside of our community and events we host. Hires from outside of our community taking place at the weekend (Friday through to end of Saturday) continue to challenge us, since these are often large parties of people who do not always treat the hall and surrounding neighbourhood with the respect it deserves, despite signing strict terms and conditions.

Therefore, we continue to regularly engage with our residential neighbours and take feedback after every weekend and late evening event. We discuss with them options for improvements and work together on helpful solutions and compromises. Where we need to, we will continue to make the terms and conditions for high-risk hires ever stricter and with greater financial consequences and, if necessary, decline external high-risk hires all together.

We have continued to review our procedures and the documents which record these, making changes to help ensure the hall’s impact on the community is minimal. Last year we switched to an online booking system, called Lemon Booking, specifically designed for village hall use; we also use this system for event ticketing and equipment hire. This helps customers self-serve for hall hirings and buy event tickets. This has worked very well to date.

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Lemon offers other facilities to help manage the hall including a module which works with the bookings calendar and can turn the heating on only when the hall is being hired and off when the hiring ends. Another piece of technology which can help the hall operate more effectively and efficiently.

As a team of volunteer Trustees we are learning all the time and since the difficult times of Covid 19, the hall has continued to offer the community a hall which is “safe, acceptable and in a usable condition”. Of that we can be very proud.

Personnel

We are grateful for the continued support of the members of the Village Hall committee. Their - hard work ensures the hall continues to provide the local community with a well maintained, clean, and tidy venue, which provides services to the local community. We are also aware of the time and effort committee members put into arranging events providing entertainment to the local community. We continue to receive compliments about how well the hall is maintained and how clean it is, from people in our community and hirers from outside. All of this is wonderful. What we are lacking though is those compliments from our community translating into physical help. We need the Community to step up to volunteer to keep the hall going and show it is cared about and valued as a community asset.

The committee continues to be led by the two focal points, with no one Chairperson. Two years on this organisational structure continues to work well. We are delighted to welcome Kate Nye as our new Treasurer and another Winterbourne Bassett representative. Kate brings much valued business acumen and experience to the committee.

We have continued to use a model of smaller sub-groups to work on specific areas. Various combinations of committee members, using their unique skills, work together on three smaller sub-groups and our volunteer maintenance helpers continue to regularly assist in the general hall maintenance; leaving qualified tradespeople to specialist tasks and so far this works well too.

We are also grateful that we have a team of regular event helpers. We recognise though that this is the same group of people every time and there is only so much support this group can and will provide. We regularly reach out to the community seeking help, but the community is mostly silent.

Inevitably, our committee dynamic changes over time and this year has been no different. One committee member has stepped down due to ill health and another, our long-standing Treasurer, has resigned. Two other long-standing committee members have also just resigned from the end of this financial year.

This takes us down to just five active Trustees (who also play organiser and administrative roles) and this puts us in a vulnerable position. In seeking to address this we are reviewing our governance and management structures and activities to better balance the loads. As Lemon Bookings has shown us, we can rely more on technology and we will continue to do so to make our management of the hall more efficient.

We are also consulting the Parish Council as our constitution does allow committee representation from other organisations (see management committee above) and this may well be a helpful solution.

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The Village Hall 300 Club 2023/2024

On the whole, the 300 Club continues to be supported but as the population in the community changes, the take up changes. We currently have vacant tickets.

Summary

Overall, with our financial reserve still intact, the Village Hall finances are just about holding up. Largely due to two significant donations from charities which recently closed following government budgetary changes. We are very grateful for these funds, but we cannot rely it. Our reserve will be impacted by replacement heating, no matter what solution we choose. We have other expensive hall improvements on the horizon (patio doors) and we must set aside budget for regular maintenance items, plus, another year at least of increased insurance premiums.

In reality, the committee faces a number of challenges which have come to the forefront over the past 12 months are:

We must:

Treasurer's statement

For the new financial year we have moved away from manual accounting on spreadsheets and are now using Xero software to do all accounting and raise invoices. Benefits of this are that it is quicker and easier to track income and outgoings and also significantly reduces the chances of human error so will reduce the amount of time spent on internal auditing of figures. The software also makes it very easy to run reports to monitor our performance against budget over the year.

We are very grateful to Damian Le Gresley for his ongoing advice and help with setting up the new system.

We are also taking this opportunity to rethink how we track and report on our financial performance. Going forward we will be splitting out routine operational income/outgoings, capital spending, and transient costs like refundable deposits. This will allow us to show clearly the profit or loss made by the hall itself each year and what we have spent our capital on (Asset Refurbishment and Improvements). Internally it will help us to make more informed decisions about how to manage the hall, and for the community our financial position will be easier to understand. Budget is set then separately reviewed on a monthly basis and annually validated by an External Auditor.

This year we are also targeting another source of income, in the form of gift aid. Once we’re set up with HMRC we will be able to claim gift aid on donations from individuals and will be backdating our claim where it is possible to cover the past four years. We will offer people who donate and who are taxpayers, to complete a gift aid form, to increase the size of their donation by 25% at no cost to them.

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2024-2025 End of Year Summary

Target (Budget) Actual
Annual Income £63,900.00 £75,687.73
Annual Expenditure £78,459.00 £76,792.27
Annual Profit -£14,599.00 -£1,104.54

Actual Reportable Income:

Income before deductions: £75,687.73 Deductions (insurance, refunds, feed-in tariff) : £34,949.29 Income after deductions: £40,738.44

Comments:

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2025-2026 Budget Summary

Target Annual Profit/Loss (Running Costs) £10,420.00
Target Annual Profit/Loss (Transient) £0.00
Target Annual Profit/Loss (Capital Spending) -£12,000.00
Target Annual Profit/Loss (Total) -£1,580.00

Introduction

This year the hall’s finances will be split into three areas:

  1. Earned Income vs Running Costs

  2. Transient Income vs Transient Expenditure

  3. Additional Income vs Capital Spending.

The budget has therefore been presented in the same manner.

Most income and expenditure categories have been increased or decreased to reflect what was actually received/paid out last year plus a further increase in anticipation of inflationary price rises this year. The notes below explain any variations to this generalisation.

Earned Income vs Running Costs

Transient Income vs Transient Expenditure

Additional Income vs Capital Spending

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External Auditor’s Report

BROAD HINTON VILLAGE HALL

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT

To the trustees of Broad Hinton Village Hall.

Respective responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner

The Trustees’ responsibilities for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) are set out in the Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities.

You consider that the audit requirement of Section 43(2) Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) does not apply and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to:

Basis of Independent Examiner’s Report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the financial statements presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the financial statements, and the seeking of explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and, consequently, I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the financial statements.

Independent Examiner’s Statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have not been met; or

the financial statements to be reached.

Christopher Vaughan F.C.A. Chris Vaughan . 195 Ermin Street Stratton St Margaret Swindon SN3 4NA

9th June 2025

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2024-25 End of Year Summary

Income 2024-2025
Financialyear 1st June 2024 to 31st May 2025 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2024-25 Budget 2024-25 Actual
Hall Revenue
Hall Hiring Income £4,099.55 £2,951.90 £3,718.10 £2,881.90 £20,400.00 £13,651.45
Community Actvity Contributons £910.00 £830.52 £981.00 £1,120.78 £5,040.00 £3,842.30
Interest £91.31 £41.58 £81.55 £115.77 £240.00 £330.21
Feed in Tarif(Solar Panels Refunds) £0.00 £1,594.53 £276.14 £360.97 £1,600.00 £2,231.64
Donatons & Grants
Donatons £20.00 £35.00 £0.00 £6,946.10 £0.00 £7,001.10
Grants £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00
Fund Raising
300 Club Tickets £532.50 £1,180.00 £697.50 £530.00 £3,000.00 £2,940.00
Fund Raising Event Income £1,765.00 £8,502.31 £3,102.94 £1,109.13 £6,000.00 £14,479.38
Other Fund Raising Income(Amazon/Easy Fundraising/PayPal) £85.28 £0.00 £53.72 £0.00 £120.00 £139.00
Other
Unforecast Income £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00
Transient Receipts
Refundable Deposits £4,750.00 £2,750.00 £2,250.00 £1,250.00 £9,000.00 £11,000.00
Other Refunds £10.00 £179.00 £0.00 £81.00 £0.00 £270.00
Insurance Payout £0.00 £19,802.65 £0.00 £0.00 £18,500.00 £19,802.65
Quarterly Income £12,263.64 £37,867.49 £11,160.95 £14,395.65 £63,900.00 £75,687.73
Expenditure 2024-2025
Financialyear 1st June 2024 to 31st May 2025 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2024-25 Budget 204-25 Actual
Essental Services
Electricity £215.27 £389.98 £1,281.94 £881.12 £4,125.00 £2,768.31
Water £41.50 £77.95 £106.86 £82.49 £1,260.00 £308.80
Broadband £150.49 £146.53 £138.12 £149.78 £660.00 £584.92
Insurance £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £2,570.19 £2,000.00 £2,570.19
Waste Collecton £116.97 £129.75 £133.72 £120.41 £480.00 £500.85
Website £148.08 £12.00 £0.00 £0.00 £151.00 £160.08
Security £42.00 £210.00 £80.00 £40.00 £1,008.00 £372.00
Independent Examiner £132.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £270.41 £132.00
Hall Advertsing £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £720.00 £0.00
Licenses
PRS/PPL License £0.00 £0.00 £282.60 £0.00 £180.00 £282.60
Wiltshire Council Premises/Alcohol License £0.00 £0.00 £180.00 £0.00 £200.00 £180.00
TV License £39.75 £39.75 £45.00 £45.00 £180.00 £169.50
Wiltshire Village Halls Membership £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £50.00 £50.00 £50.00
Cleaning
Cleaning £731.47 £1,225.14 £1,014.87 £672.30 £4,440.00 £3,643.78
Window Cleaner £80.00 £190.00 £0.00 £48.00 £350.00 £318.00
Building Maintenance & Improvements
Fire Extguishers/Alarms £0.00 £281.94 £0.00 £0.00 £465.00 £281.94
Heater Servicing £0.00 £150.00 £0.00 £0.00 £440.00 £150.00
Electrical Testng £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £948.00 £1,000.00 £948.00
Hall Maintenance £20.78 £466.98 £1,972.09 £428.29 £3,300.00 £2,888.14
Hall Improvements £1,826.54 £357.90 £1,100.00 £0.00 £6,000.00 £3,284.44
Insurance Excess £0.00 £990.00 £0.00 £0.00 £2,500.00 £990.00
Fund Raising Expenses
300 club Prizes £335.00 £345.00 £375.00 £375.00 £1,500.00 £1,430.00
Fund Raising Event Expenses £1,940.95 £3,658.36 £3,242.81 £316.02 £3,000.00 £9,158.14
Christmas Hampers £0.00 £0.00 £101.90 £0.00 £100.00 £101.90
Other
Unforecast Expenditure £281.42 £7.40 £11.60 £0.00 £0.00 £300.42
Transient Expenses
Refundable deposits refunded £2,792.00 £4,804.00 £3,909.00 £1,140.00 £13,200.00 £12,645.00
Other Refunds £10.00 £179.00 £0.00 £81.00 £0.00 £270.00
Repairs covered by Insurance £15,000.00 £17,303.26 £0.00 £0.00 £31,000.00 £32,303.26
(Estmated) Monthly Expenditure £23,904.22 £30,964.94 £13,975.51 £7,947.60 £78,579.41 £76,792.27
(Estmated) Proft/Loss -£11,640.58 £6,902.55 -£2,814.56 £6,448.05 -£14,679.41 -£1,104.54

Financial Figures for Charity Commission Annual Return 2024-2025

Income and spending section

minus
minus
minus
minus
gives
minus
minus
minus
minus
gives
Annual Income £75,687.73
Refundable Deposits Received £11,000.00
Other Refunds £270.00
Feed in Tarif(Solar Panels Refunds) £2,231.64
Insurance Payout £19,802.65
Reportable Income £42,383.44
Annual Expenditure £76,792.27
Refundable Deposits Received £11,000.00
Other Refunds £270.00
Feed in Tarif(Solar Panels Refunds) £2,231.64
Insurance Payout £19,802.65
Reportable Spending £43,487.98
Annual Proft/Loss -£1,104.54

Income breakdown section

plus
plus
gives
plus
plus
plus
plus
gives
equals
equals
Donations £7,001.10
Grants £0.00
Donations and legacies £7,001.10
FundraisingEvent Income £14,479.38
Other FundraisingIncome £139.00
300 Club Tickets £2,940.00
CommunityActivityContributions £3,842.30
Charitable activites £21,400.68
Other tradingactivities £0.00
Interest £330.21
Investments £330.21
Hall HiringIncome £13,651.45
Unforecast Income £0.00
Other £13,651.45
Total Annual Income £42,383.44

BROAD HINTON VILLAGE HALL

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT

To the trustees of Broad Hinton Village Hall.

Respective responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner

The trustees responsibilities for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) are set out in the Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities.

You consider that the audit requirement of Section 43(2) Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) does not apply and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Basis of Independent Examiner’s Report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the financial statements presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the financial statements, and the seeking of explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and, consequently, I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the financial statements.

Independent Examiner’s Statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

Christopher Vaughan F.C.A. Chris Vaughan . 195 Ermin Street Stratton St Margaret Swindon SN3 4NA

9th June 2025