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2024-12-31-accounts

Shaw Playing Fields and Village Hall Trust

Annual Report to Charity Commission for Year 2024 ( 1[st] January – 31[st] December 2024)

Address: The Beeches, Shaw, Melksham SN12 8EP E-mail: SecretaryofShawVillageHall@gmail.com

Dated: 29th October 2025

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Shaw Hill Playing Field and Village Hall Trust Management Committee (Registered Charity No. 305550) Established and supporting the community in Shaw since 1962

Introduction

  1. The trust supporting the Shaw Playing Fields and Village Hall has been in existence since the closure of the Beltane School over 50 years ago with the trust established to run the facilities since 1962.

  2. Shaw Playing Field and Village Hall is a key facility in the village of Shaw but is the closest facility of it’ type to the newly built George Ward Estate in Melksham and the adjacent village of Whitely with high usage by football teams, community groups, organisations and private hire. It has a wide variety of facilities and is nestled within the heart of Shaw near Melksham, Wiltshire. The aim is to provide a warm, safe, welcoming and well-equipped village hall which is available at reasonable rates to anyone who wishes to hire it and playing fields that are in regular use. Whilst there is less formal sport over the summer, it is used extensively by the local children.

  3. The ongoing challenge for the trust is continually maintain and improve the facilities so that they remain inclusive to the community providing as widespread as possible usage of the facilities and support the community with recreational facilities. The hall and playing fields continue to remain relevant to the local community. Melksham Without Parish Council (MWPC) continue to provide good support to the hall and the new Village Hall group facilitated by MWPC is a useful sounding board with other similar charities in the local area.

  4. Since the last report, the two new maintenance co-ordinators, one for the playing field and one for the hall have made their mark with the modernisation continuing. In particular, the following changes have been made since the last report:

a. Painting . The hall painting is now complete but the changing rooms will need refurbishment at some point.

b. Kitchen Upgrade . This has been completed with new flooring and cabinets; total cost was £5500. Next year we will respond to the Fire Risk Assessment by replacing the wooden shutters on the kitchen hatch and install a new fire detection system.

c. Mobile Goals . After some vandalism of the fixed goal posts it was decided, with support from the Football Foundation, to purchase some mobile goal posts. This has been a success and the goals are now visible from our security cameras.

d. Electrical Work . This has been important work to ensure compliance with Part P rules support other aspects of hall modernisation. Cost was £2183.

e. Audio Visual (AV) Equipment . The hall does not have an AV suite and the decision has been taken to source and fit this over the next year.

  1. Unless specified, in the main works to the hall are in part funded through grants from Melksham Without Parish Council, who have been generous in support of the hall or through user generated income.

  2. During 2024 the trust was run by 5 trustees, 3 volunteers and 1 Melksham Without Parish Council (MWPC) representative.

  3. The trust’s finances continue to remain strong with strong community usage ensuring the trust and the facilities remain viable. During the modernisation and refurbishment the intent is to keep enough finances to cover significant emergencies in case of failure of key aspects of the hall (eg the boiler).

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Shaw Hill Playing Field and Village Hall Trust Management Committee (Registered Charity No. 305550) Established and supporting the community in Shaw since 1962

  1. The key short-term challenge for the trust to extend the lease for the hall that ran out in Apr 2025 but it was agreed with the council that terms will remain until the new 100 year lease is signed.

  2. The longer-term challenge remains the evolution of the hall over next 20 years to meet the reduction of emissions that the UK government has committed to; recognising the hall was not built to modern standards such as Berryfield Village Hall, south of Melksham. This will mean changes for the hall and the playing fields where we will need significant investment over the next 2 decades to meet the aspirations of government and still meet the aspirations for the people of Shaw and Whitley.

  3. As part of the negotiations for the new lease, a full survey has been completed so the committee are taking on the facility with a known baseline.

Patrick Hunt Secretary 30 Oct 2025

Annexes

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Shaw Hill Playing Field and Village Hall Trust Management Committee (Registered Charity No. 305550) Established and supporting the community in Shaw since 1962

Annex A to SVH Annual Report Dated 30 Oct 25

BACKGROUND TO SHAW VILLAGE HALL TRUST AND FUTURE VISION

LOCATION

Figure 1 – location of Shaw within Melksham Without Parish

History

  1. Shaw is a village located outside of Melksham, Wiltshire and sits within the Melksham Without Parish Council; with Whitley being a separate but close village, which has no facility like Shaw’s Village Hall and Playing Fields. Shaw and Whitely are separated by the South Brook stream and farm land. In 1952 the property known as the Shaw Hill Playing Field and Village Hall was part of Beltane School grounds. In January 1953 the

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Shaw Hill Playing Field and Village Hall Trust Management Committee (Registered Charity No. 305550) Established and supporting the community in Shaw since 1962

property was a conveyed from Beltane School Ltd to the Melksham without Parish Council for the use and benefit of all in the Melksham Without Parish that includes both villages at Shaw and Whitley.

  1. The Shaw Hill playing field sold by Beltane School to Melksham Without Parish Council 20[th] September 1952 and the Shaw Hill Playing Field and Village Hall demised to the Trustees (30-year lease) on 20[th] June 1958. The trust’s governing document is the ‘Deed of Declaration’ dated 31 December 1962 and the trust obtained Registered Charity status in 1967. The present building was completed in 1976 and replaced the old school pavilion, which was a wooden structure.

The Current Charity

  1. The Shaw Playing Fields and Village Hall Trust is a registered charity (no. 305550) with the Charity Commission and is run in lines with their guidance. The village hall and playing fields are already busy and provide varied support to the community starting from pre-school children to those that are retired.

  2. The vision for Shaw Playing Field and Village Hall trust as laid out in the strategic plan is to:

Provide an inclusive set of recreational and exercise facilities that help maintain and improve the mental and physical wellbeing of the Shaw and Whitley community.

  1. In terms of facilities, these will need to evolve as the communities’ interests and needs evolve.

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Shaw Hill Playing Field and Village Hall Trust Management Committee (Registered Charity No. 305550) Established and supporting the community in Shaw since 1962

Current Circumstances

  1. The village hall and playing fields are already busy and provide varied support to the community starting from pre-school children to those that are retired. However, the hall is now over 50 years of age and starting to show that age; moreover, the building was not designed for a net zero carbon future. In addition, due to the local nature of users, we need to consider the usage of the showers, changing rooms and whether they are still needed. At some stage the changing rooms and toilets, will need to become gender neutral to ensure the hall is inclusive of all potential users. The hall is already accessible to disabled users but there are changes that could be taken to improve the facility for those with differing disabilities.

  2. The carbon reduction target of the government is to reduce carbon emissions by 78% by 2035 and net zero by 2050. The hall will need to be consistent with these government aspirations and make changes over the next 20 years that will mean that the village hall remains a viable facility for the local community. The visit for the future has been set out in the Melksham Neighbourhood Plan[1] and the new development at Middle Farm increases the number of people likely to use the hall and playing fields. This is in addition to the people who live in the George Ward housing development, building started in 2016, which whilst in Melksham Council area, with Shaw Village Hall being their closest facility of it’s type.

  3. The initial lease was for 30 years and has been gradual extended until 14 Apr 2025 with the last extension completed in April 2011. It is the aim of the committee to work with Melksham Without Parish Council to extended this significantly to 100 years as had been completed for other local village halls.

2. Future Vision

What does good look like in the future

  1. The vision for Shaw Playing Field and Village Hall trust is to:

Provide an inclusive set of recreational and exercise facilities that help maintain and improve the mental and physical wellbeing of the Shaw and Whitley community.

1 htps://www.melkshamneighbourhoodplan.org/_fles/ugd/fcc864_d62a247950cc423abaa28eedd803eba4.pdf A - 3

Shaw Hill Playing Field and Village Hall Trust Management Committee (Registered Charity No. 305550) Established and supporting the community in Shaw since 1962

  1. Safety First. As a facility that is used by young children and the older generation, safety must be a key consideration at every stage; health and safety must be a priority of trustees.

  2. Facilities . In terms of facilities, these will need to evolve as the communities’ interests and needs evolve.

a. Hall . The hall has one large room with storage at one end. The main user of the hall is the pre-school that also uses the dedicate outside play area to the east of the hall. The main room is used by a variety of clubs and societies along with children’s parties. The small kitchen is fully fitted with storage taken up by regular users. The usage of the changing room will need to be reviewed and over time both the changing rooms and toilets will need to be made gender neutral. A modern and clean kitchen is an essential part of the hall.

b. Playing Field . The playing field is in regular use by local football teams and there is a children’s play area, seating, multi-activity facility and a fitness frame. More could be made of the area maybe to including some garden beds with pond, additional fitness facilities (eg running path) and outside exercise equipment. In particular the pond would improve the bio-diversity.

c. Boundaries . An ideal location for hedgerows to improve bio-diversity and encourage wildlife.

  1. Services . By 2040, the stretch target will be for all services [2] provided to the hall to be carbon zero and over the next decade the hall will use its usage to create an early demand signal to encourage providers to make the necessary changes sooner rather than later. It is to be a consideration when signing all future contracts and purchases.

  2. Reduced Carbon Signature. Aside from pushing our existing supplier to become carbon neutral, the hall will need to have systems fitted that will allow us to reduce our demand for services such as water and power whilst also reducing our waste. See Annex A.

  3. Events . The site will continue to be available for events and this includes the use of the playing field over the summer months for other activities aside from football. At present, the site does not have a licence to serve alcohol or allows parties for older teenagers; this defacto policy has been in place for good reason but if the hall usage is to be truly inclusive then as an organisation then there needs to be consider making the hall a useful facility for all age groups. This includes clubs or events focused for teenagers.

  4. Physical Exercise . As nation, the British are increasingly becoming overweight[3] and subsequently in poorer physical health. As a charity that seeks to provide facilities to improve the physical health of the local community, this will need to continue to provide and expand ‘free to use or low cost’ facilities for the community. This could include licencing use of the site for outdoor exercise classes or additional facilities.

  5. User groups . There are a wide variety of groups that use the site. The site must remain fit for use for those group including those that are disabled, hard of hearing and in pre-school.

2 This includes gas, electricity, water , waste disposal and ground maintenance.

3 htps://www.bbc.co.uk/food/artcles/britain_diet#:~:text=The%20UK%20is%20one%20of,14%20percent%20of%20Britsh%20adults

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Shaw Hill Playing Field and Village Hall Trust Management Committee (Registered Charity No. 305550) Established and supporting the community in Shaw since 1962

  1. Dog Walking/Ramblers. Many dog walkers continue to use the playing fields both to walk their dogs and to access the fields beyond which contain public footpaths[4] that are part of the existing walking routes. This is entirely within the philosophical direction of the trust but this only remains whilst fouling by dogs continues to be cleared by their owners. Signage could be improved to allow the car park to be a base for those taking their dog for a walk or going on a walk within the locality.

  2. Security . Along with safety, ensuring the site’s security is an important consideration to ensure facilities are not wilfully damaged and the investments are protected.

4 htps://www.melkshamneighbourhoodplan.org/_fles/ugd/fcc864_0a64ada2cf7d47209ae1e75e3b8d6fc9.pdf A - 5

Shaw Hill Playing Field and Village Hall Trust Management Committee (Registered Charity No. 305550) Established and supporting the community in Shaw since 1962

Annex B to SVH Annual Report Dated 30 Oct 25

’ Treasurer s Report to Shaw Village Hall AGM for period 1 Jan - 31 Dec 2024

1. Introduction: I present the accounts for Shaw Village Hall and Playing Field Management Committee for the year 2024. The accounts show by way of comparison, the corresponding figures for the previous accounting period. They have been audited and shown as a true reflection of transactions by Roger Hatherall.

2. Income from Hall Hire: Income from regular hall hire is less, mainly due to Friendship Club and a weekly dancing club folding. Ad Hoc bookings have increased substantially through our online booking system.

3. Hall Maintenance: Main expenditure on hall maintenance was £2137 on painting and decorating of the main hall and toilets. £2183 on electrical works. £384 on a Fire Risk Assessment. We have recently spent £5,500 on new flooring and cabinet doors in the kitchen. Further planned expenditure in the kitchen will include electrical work and painting.(It was noted at the meeting that there would be further cost for the replacement of the wooden shutters in the kitchen as the recent fire risk assessment had identified that these need to be electric and linked to the fire alarm system so that they automatically close in the event of a fire).

4. Aquasafe: the figure includes £480 for Chlorination, therefore there was just an £84 increase on the 2024-25 contract.

5. Income from Pitch Hire: Field hire was slightly down due to bad weather.

6. Playing Field Maintenance: There was a slight increase due to having spiking and other maintenance work done. We also bought new moveable goal posts, but with a grant received from the Football Foundation of £1238 the cost of the posts totaled £497.

7. Building Work: Last year our major expenditure included repair to the damaged wall. Fortunately, we didn’t have any major structural repairs this year.

8. Hall Insurance: There was a slight increase in premiums between years. There will be an increase of £23 this year.

9. Utilities: Being a registered charity the energy companies reviewed the tariffs we were paying in previous years. They concluded that we were on the best plan for electricity, but British Gas found a better rate for both the standing and unit charges. This was then fixed until January 2025 so we have been protected from the recent rises. However, at the start of 2024 we were still only paying them £40 per month which wasn’t enough to cover charges. This was then increased to £200 per month, hence the increase in gas costs. (It was noted at the meeting that this is now levelling out and a new lower tariff will be in place for 2025).

10. BT/Telecoms World: The cost for BT includes the hall Broadband. After an initial cost of £120 for setting up the new hall booking system, we pay a monthly charge of £11.99

11. Conclusion: Despite major expenditure, I conclude the accounts remain robust. Future planned expenditure includes extending and resurfacing the car park , electrical work and painting the kitchen.

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Shaw Hill Playing Field and Village Hall Trust Management Committee (Registered Charity No. 305550) Established and supporting the community in Shaw since 1962

Expenditure of this and the difference between field income and maintenance is offset by the grant of £9,200 from MWPC.

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Shaw Hill Playing Field and Village Hall Trust Management Committee (Registered Charity No. 305550) Established and supporting the community in Shaw since 1962

Annex C to SVH Annual Report Dated 30 Oct 25

SHAW VILLAGE HALL AND PLAYING FIELD STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENDITURE - 1 JANUARY 2024 TO 31 DECEMBER 2024

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Shaw Hill Playing Field and Village Hall Trust Management Committee (Registered Charity No. 305550) Established and supporting the community in Shaw since 1962