## **Trustees' Annual Report for the period**
Period start date Period end date **From** 01 04 2024 **To** 31 03 2025
## Section A Reference and administration details
**Charity name** BYRNESS VILLAGE HALL
**Other names charity is known by**
**Registered charity number** 506856
**Charity's principal address** Otterburn Green
Byrness Newcastle upon Tyne NE19 1TS
## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity**
|1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0
1|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for**
**whole year **|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee (ifany)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Susan Chapman|||Rochester Parish Council|
||Joan Oliver||||
||Caroline Richardson||01/04/24 - 05/08/24||
||Barbara Sunley|||Craft Group|
||Peter Softley|||Rochester Parish Council|
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
## **Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)**
|**Name**|**Dates acted if not for whole year**|
|---|---|
|Rochester Parish Council – Custodian
Trustee||
|||
## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**
**Type of adviser Name Address**
## **Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)**
1
**Section B Structure, governance and management**
## **Description of the charity’s trusts**
Type of governing document[Lease and Trust Deed (Scheme) of the 13][th][ October 1999 ] and amended 3[rd] August 2021
How the charity is constituted Trust
Trustee selection methods[Two members are elected annually by the residents of Rochester with ] Byrness Parish, the beneficiaries. User groups are represented by - Parish Council appoints two members
- Craft Group appoints one member
The Trustees may appoint not more than 2 co-opted members.
## **Additional governance issues (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant, about:
- policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
- the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
- relationship with any related parties;
- trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
The hall is sufficiently insured to a surveyed re-build valuation and which provides adequate third-party liability cover.
All necessary safety tests including annual PAT testing, 5-year electrical safety tests, and fire appliance maintenance are conducted and acted upon. A periodic fire safety inspection of the building and policies took place in March with no concerns raised. Policies relating to management and use of the hall continue to be developed with close cooperation with Community Action for Northumberland, ACRE’s local representative, and include policies for:
Fire Risk Assessment, Fire Safety, Health and Safety Risk Assessment, Equality and Diversity, Safeguarding, Finance, Reserves Risk Management
- The following policies are being prepared for adoption: Trustee Expenses Conflicts of interest Serious incident reporting
Hire of the hall is subject to hire agreements modelled on guidance from CAN and ACRE.
## **Section C Objectives and activities**
**Summary of the objects of the** The object of the charity is the provision and maintenance of a village hall **charity set out in its** for use by the inhabitants of the area of benefit without distinction of **governing document** political, religious or other opinions, including use for: (a) meetings, lectures and classes, and (b) other forms of recreation and leisure-time occupation,
2
with the object of improving the conditions of life for the inhabitants.
The area of benefit is the parish of Rochester with Byrness.
**Summary of the main** Trustees ensure that the hall remains available for the beneficiaries and **activities undertaken for the** encourages its use for hire by local people and organisations whose **public benefit in relation to** activities meet the object of the charity. **these objects (include within this section the statutory** We also encourage use by putting on a number of fund-raising events **declaration that trustees have** throughout the year. **had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity** The hall is available for occasional private hire to supplement income. **Commission on public benefit)** Fundraising activities to support the charity’s income and also other national charities take place.
## **Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include further statements, where relevant, about:
- policy on grantmaking;
- policy programme related investment;
- contribution made by volunteers.
The trustees would like to thank the work and support from Caroline Richardson who stepped down in August 2024 to concentrate on her community support and care for her family. During the year volunteers have helped with repairs to the gutters following heavy snowfall, and the application of preservative on the external wood cladding.
We also thank all our volunteers for their generous help with maintenance and upkeep, support for all our activities, and in helping us meet our charitable objectives.
## Section D Achievements and performance
Following the refurbishment of the hall, completed last year, the trustees **Summary of the main** have continued to work towards reducing reliance on mains electricity to **achievements of the charity** further future proof the village hall for the next generation of users. **during the year**
The next stage will help to reduce the cost of electricity by the installation of a roof-mounted solar panels and battery storage system. We have embarked on fundraising for this project and plan to implement this during year 2025-26. By the end of this year, we had received funding from Northern PowerGrid’s Foundation fund and Northumberland County Council’s Community Fund.
Our planned final stage is the installation of a stand-alone generator to provide independence from the electricity grid during extended periods of power outage. This will enable the hall to support the community and provide an emergency centre during adverse weather conditions.
The hall has hosted:
3
- Regular use by the Craft Group
- Wreath making course
- Spring fair
- Christmas fair
- Christmas Carols
- Sewing machine repair and maintenance sessions
- Local parents have used the hall for children’s events.
- The hall is used for regular meetings by
- a) Rochester with Byrness Parish Council
- b) Horsley Parochial Church Council (St Francis)
- c) The Village Hall management committee
- d) Forestry England
- e) Various training classes organised by a number of local organisations
- Various groups and activities attract visitors resident outside the area of benefit including Elsdon and Otterburn parishes. Given the proximity of the village to the border (16 miles), we also have visitors attending from Scotland.
- Hall used by Northern PowerGrid micro-resilience team for presentations to residents
- Hall used by local resident as a venue for training attendees in forestry techniques and safety
- Hall is used by the Montane Spine Race safety team during their winter and summer endurance events
- Occasional use is made of the hall for private parties
- Polling station
- Northumberland National Park Dark Sky project is in the process of installing photometers on the village hall to measure the ‘darkness’ of the Dark Sky over a period. The equipment will have the capability to record bird song and interpret the species. The Park’s website will include this data showing the public the variety of birds detected.
The Spine Race safety team’s usage of the hall is on a 24-hour multiconsecutive day basis for the time when competitors pass through the area. Their summer and winter Spine Race events that pass close to and through the village make use of the village hall for support, safety, and registration purposes. We take great care to ensure that these bookings do not interfere with charitable use of the hall. Income from these events each year is a significant boost to the charity and goes a long way to help trustees meet their obligation of making the hall available to the charity’s beneficiaries.
To maintain flexibility in attracting users to the Hall, the Charity holds a Premise Licence (non-alcoholic) and a licence from the Performing Rights Society.
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## **Section E Financial review**
**Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves**
At the end of the reporting period unrestricted funds were £4,086. Annual expenditure of the charity is currently £2,208 and the trustees intend to reserve £2,000 to cover current approximate annual costs. Income streams from the Spine Race and possible excess energy sale to the ‘grid’ will be important in the future.
## **Details of any funds materially in deficit**
There are no funds in deficit.
## **Further financial review details (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant about:
- the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
Hire of the hall is our main source of income with a smaller amount of general fundraising. We hope to increase general fundraising activities over the coming years to reduce dependence on a single activity. The installation of pv panels and battery storage systems should reduce electricity costs and restricted funding for this project held at the bank is £22,500. Additional fundraising for this project will hopefully achieve our target of £25,000.
- how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
- investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.
## **Section F Other optional information**
## ~~CO~~
## **Section G Declaration**
**The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.**
**Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees**
**Signature(s)**
**Full name(s)** PETER SOFTLEY SUSAN CHAPMAN ~~ee~~ **Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc)** ~~ee~~ **Date** 10/11/25 ~~—~~
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## CHARITY COMMISSION
6
Section B
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## **BYRNESS VILLAGE HALL**
Registered Charity No. 506856
## Receipts and Payments Accounts
For the period from 01/04/24 to 31/03/25
## Section A Receipts and payments
|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Receipts**
Hall Hire
2,549
Fundraising
277
Donations
50
Misc
-
PV & Battery Fund
-
**_Sub total_** _(Gross income for_
**2,876**
**Asset and investment sales**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_**
**-**
**_Total receipts_**
**2,876**
**Payments**
Heat & Light
697
Water Rates
280
General Admin
80
Safety Tests
77
Insurance
754
Licenses
-
Repairs & Maintenance
320
Misc
-
Hall Refurbishment Fund
-
PV panels & battery storage
-
**_Sub total_**
**2,208**
**Asset and investment purchases**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_**
**-**
**_Total payments_**
**2,208**
**_Net of receipts less payments_**
**668**
**Transfers between funds**
**-**
**Cash funds last year end**
**3,419**
**_Cash funds this year end_**
**4,086**|**Restricted**
**funds**
-
-
-
-
22,500
**22,500**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**22,500**
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**22,500**
**-**
**22,500**|**Endowment**
**funds**
-
-
-
-
-
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Total funds**
**2024/25**
**2,549**
**277**
**50**
**-**
**22,500**
**25,376**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**25,376**
**697**
**280**
**80**
**77**
**754**
**-**
**320**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**2,208**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**2,208**
**23,168**
**-**
**3,419**
**26,586**|**Total funds**
**2023/24**
1,064
220
-
11
1,000
**2,295**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**-**
**-**
**-**|
||||||
|||||**2,295**|
|||||682
269
-
57
688
155
-
-
120,290
-
**122,140**|
|||||**-**
**-**
**-**|
||||||
|||||**122,140**|
|||||(119,844)
123,263|
|||||**3,419**|
Page 8
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
|**Cash funds**
**Other monetary assets**
**Investment assets**
**Assets retained for charity's**
**own use**
**Liabilities**
PPL/PRS license
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
Bank current account at y/e|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
4,086
-
-
**4,086**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
-
-
-
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
Unrestricted|**Restricted**
**funds**
22,500
-
-
**22,500**
**Restricted**
**funds**
-
-
-
**Cost**
**(optional)**
-
-
-
**Cost**
**(optional)**
-
-
-
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
160
-
-
-|**Endowment**
**funds**
-
-
-|
|---|---|---|---|
||||**-**|
||||**Endowment**
**funds**
-
-
-
**Current Value**
**(optional)**
-
-
-
**Current Value**
**(optional)**
-
-
-
**When due**
**(optional)**|
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