Trustees’ Annual Report 01/04/2024 To 31/03/25
GREAT BEDWYN PLAYINGFIELD AND VILLAGE Hall Charity number 305520
Objectives and Activities
The Charity owns The Hall and manages two plots of land to be held in trust for the benefits of the residents of Great Bedwyn to be used for meetings lectures and classes, recreation, and leisure activities.
Hire of the hall is open to residents and non-residents with the residents having preferential rates. Regular bookings currently include Mobility Group, WI, Pilates, History Society, Bedwyn Cinema and Quiz Nights.
Achievements and Performance
Chair report to 2025 AGM.
This time last year I read out the report for Rob as he had been absent due to cancer treatment. We are so happy that he is back with us and has been straight back to dealing with as much VH issues as he can – most of them which go on in the background with the day to day running of the hall and issues on the Memorial Field.
Alongside Peter Angus, Rob has been successfully running the monthly Quiz night which is bringing a good income (in excess of £1500 a year) to the hall to keep us ticking over. We are very grateful to Rob as always for all he does.
Other fundraising this year has been a jumble sale in September which raised £1000 and the Advent craft and gift fair which raised £700. The funds from these have gone towards the kitchen refurb
fund. The kitchen refurb pot is now at around £4000 with funds remaining from other projects. At our April meeting we voted to use some of our funds to get this project underway.
A large part of this year has been spent over the bowls lawn and café. In autumn 2024 we received 2 proposals for use of the bowling green – resurrect bowls or 2 padel courts. We heard both proposals. We voted out the bowls proposal in September as it was only possible if the café gave up its outdoor space – which the café were not able to do. In the November meeting we heard GBTC proposal for 2 padel courts which did not impact the café space. In January we held a public open meeting to listen to the views of the village on these proposals. The meeting was well attended by around 50 people. Emails received beforehand were largely in favour of padel – not exclusively.
The strongest view was that the café should be able to remain. The bowls proposal was not represented at the meeting. Other proposals were made at the meeting – seating area, wooded area, multi purpose court. There was some quite vocal opposition to padel on grounds of noise pollution and parking issues. The outcome of this meeting was that bowls was not considered a viable option and GBTC have been asked for a full business plan and pre- planning advice from Wiltshire council – which they have sought and are still waiting.
The VH offered to support short mat bowls in the hall itself but that offer has not been taken up.
Other Memorial field news. In January Wendy closed the café with a view to opening at Easter. We learnt in March that Wendy wanted to retire. We had productive talks with a possible replacement for Wendy.
We ensured that all checks were carried out on the café building so that it was certainly ready for use by another hirer – asbestos survey, fire risk safety checks and in our April meeting voted to use funds to remove the bowls green fencing and landscape it. This has also now been completed – the area has been reseeded and it looks very good. Some of the health and safety concerns pointed out by the potential hirers have been fixed in this work eg the gully around edge filled in. There remains concrete to 3 sides and most is in average to good condition with one hole to fill and some rubbish to get rid of.
Sadly talks with the potential hirers failed at the last hurdle with a revised lease that they did not wish to discuss further. We have had one other potential hirer but they have decided it is too big an undertaking. We have also been seeking a replacement bookings officer since Martine has handed in her notice as she has taken on more work elsewhere. We are really grateful for the excellent job that Martine has done over the past 2.5 years taking bookings, dealing with invoices and generally keeping admin in order. She has done a great job and we thank her. We have interviewed two excellent candidates and have today appointed Cindy Kouris who we welcome here tonight.
So a very busy year - some positive news but other things to work on !
Financial Review
The bank balance as of 31st March 2025 was £49121.38
The Hall generated rental income of £14888 down slightly from £15084 last year.
The general sources of fundings are hire of the venue to clubs, classes, and individuals as well as fundraising events open to the public.
Trustees
Rob Braybrooke Andrew Mark Oliver Karina Nicholson Kevin Challen
Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustee’s report as above.
Signed on behalf of the Charity’s trustees Date: 10/04/2026
Mark Oliver
Income & Expenditure
| Income Hall Bookings Property Rental Grants Quiz/Craft Fair Interest Jumble Sale Micellanious Expenditure Maintenance £2,150 Electricity &Water £4,134 Cleaning & Gardening £4,815 Insurance & Licencing £2,289 Administration £2,107 Micellaneous £2,292 Surplus/Loss Café Drains Repair Car Park Resurfacing Café Survey + Maintenance Hall Extention Adj Surplus/Loss |
£2,150 £4,134 £4,815 £2,289 £2,107 £2,292 |
2024-25 £14,888 £600 £5,844 £2,698 £328 £927 £1,201 £26,486 £17,787 £8,699 £2,520 £0 £1,304 £2,344 £3,835 |
£2,415 £3,384 £3,331 £2,532 £1,598 £2,098 |
2023-24 £15,084 £0 £85,000 £1,363 £567 £0 £284 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £102,297 | ||||
| £15,357 | ||||
| £86,940 | ||||
| £2,930 £11,400 £0 £112,332 |
||||
| -£39,721 |
Balance Sheet
Net Assets
| Main Account Reserve Account Total Net Liabilities |
£19,976 £29,146 £49,122 |
£15,858 £30,732 |
|---|---|---|
| £46,590 | ||