Fownhope New Memorial Hall
Registered Charity No: 520951
Trustees Annual Report 2022
11 August 2022
Contact Address
Ian Quayle Chairman Fownhope New Memorial Hall Garden House FOWNHOPE Herefordshire HR1 4PB
Trustees on the date of this report
Samantha Clough (Booking Secretary) Derek Colley (Trustee) Suzanne Parr (Assistant Booking Secretary) Ian Quayle (Chairman) Margret Rolls (Vice-Chairman) Morrison Sellar (Trustee) Bethany Squires (Treasurer) Jim Suff (Building Officer)
Governance
The Charity is governed by a Foundation document originally dated 1987. Some of the administrative provisions of this were amended by resolution of a General Meeting held on 8[th ] September 2009. These changes provide for eight Trustees, including six honorary Executive Officers, who are elected annually. The Trustees are advised by a Users’ Committee, representing all regular non-profit making users of Fownhope New Memorial Hall, which meets four times a year.
Financial Review
The Charity holds a level of reserves considered by the Trustees as adequate to cover contingencies, including loss of income arising from a major disruption. In addition, reserves are designated to cover the schedule of repairs, maintenance and improvement work envisaged for the following year. Financial statements for the year to 31[st ] January 2022 are appended to this report.
Objectives
The Charity’s objectives are as set out in the Foundation document:
“The object of the Foundation shall be the provision and maintenance of a village hall for the use of the inhabitants of Fownhope and the neighbourhood (hereinafter called "the area of benefit") without distinction of political, religious or other opinions, including use for meetings, lectures and classes and for other forms of recreation and leisure-time occupation with the object of improving the conditions of life for the said inhabitants.”
Fownhope New Memorial Hall
Report to Charity Commission 2022
Page 1 of 5
Summary of Activities in the Year to 28th February 2022
We started the year under covid pandemic lockdown and we end the year now with all of the statutory precautions lifted. During the past twelve months, we have maintained and, in some ways improved, the precautions taken in the Hall to protect our users during the continuing pandemic.
For some years now, the Trustees have wanted to improve the windows and curtains in the main hall. The windows were the original, fixed, single-glazed ones installed when the Hall was built, in 1987. The pandemic emphasised the need to ensure good ventilation, to reduce virus transmission, and prompted us to seek funding from the National Lottery for this project. Our application went in on 4th April and we received nearly ten thousand pounds just three weeks later. As well as that very helpful grant from the National Lottery, we also received £500 from the Fownhope Flag towards the new curtains, for which we are very grateful. Many thanks to Jim Suff for organising the new windows and to Margret Rolls for organising the new curtains.
In addition to installing the new windows that can now be opened to improve ventilation, we also installed a carbon dioxide monitor. The carbon dioxide level will rise if there are too many people present with little ventilation. The monitor is linked to our hall ventilation fans so that when the carbon dioxide level exceeds a threshold, one of the fans turns on automatically.
In addition to the grants already mentioned, during the year we received a Restart Grant of £8,000 from Herefordshire Council. This means that our finances are currently in good order and we have over £32,000 in the bank. It might seem an excessive amount, but the Trustees are aware that Hall occupancy is well below what it had been prior to the pandemic and we need this financial cushion to cope with possible future losses.
Last Autumn, we were approached by Morrison Sellar who felt that to ensure continuity, succession and a supporting organisation with sufficient helpers it would be a good move for the Hall to take over the running of Flicks-in-the-Sticks, with Morrison remaining as the official Promoter for the moment. The Trustees accepted this proposal and subsequently co-opted Morrison formally as a Trustee. So, Flicks-in-the-Sticks now comes under the aegis of Fownhope New Memorial Hall.
The sad death of Tony Corby last year left us without a co-ordinator for the Village Lottery and so this had to be suspended for several months. We were later approached by Stuart Poole, who has done a great job at running it since the autumn.
Our Booking Secretary, Samantha Clough stood down temporarily at the end of last year as her baby was expected in February. Sue Parr has done a brilliant job as Acting Booking Secretary, supported and mentored by Margret.
Early on taking up the temporary role, Sue expressed concern about some limitations of our existing booking and invoicing systems. This prompted us to look again at a proprietary cloud-based system called Hallmaster. This was found to do precisely what we wanted, including our invoicing. The system will even export the invoices in a form that can be imported into an accounting system. So, after several months of trial and investigation, the Trustees agreed that we should adopt the Hallmaster system and went live on it as from 1[st] March 2022. The Booking Diary on the Hall’s web site is now provided by Hallmaster.
As well as Hallmaster, we have been looking at the possibility of adopting a commercial charity accounting system to replace our Excel based system. Liberty Accounts is the favoured candidate as it would allow invoices to be imported from Hallmaster.
I am sorry to tell you that Katharina has decided to retire from her position as Trustee Secretary at this AGM. We are very grateful for all of her work as Secretary and she will be missed by all of us.
Towards the end of last year Trustees discussed a proposed change in the Charity’s Foundation (Constitution). The effect of this would be to cease holding quarterly Users’ Meetings but have a procedure for regular users to call a meeting to discuss issues of concern. The reason for the change is that the quarterly meetings were very poorly attended, even before the covid pandemic. The proposed change was put to the regular Hall users by email and there was no strong feeling against it. The change to the Foundation has been agreed and, until further notice, there will be meetings with Hall users only when these are called for by the users themselves.
Finally, I would once again like to give heartfelt thanks to all the people who have supported the Hall in so many ways over the past twelve months:
Fownhope New Memorial Hall
Report to Charity Commission 2022
Page 2 of 5
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The Hall Users who have coped with the restrictions in using the Hall during the pandemic
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The team of Trustees who have worked so well together throughout the year: Margret, Sue, Morrison, Samantha, Katharina, Bethany, Jim and Derek
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And last, but not least, our brilliant caretaking and cleaning team of Mike and Rose who have kept going despite the restrictions and problems.
Ian Quayle Chairman of Trustees
Fownhope New Memorial Hall
Report to Charity Commission 2022
Page 3 of 5
| 2020-2021 | Total | 6,076.80 £ |
1,573.13 £ |
4,527.71 £ |
- £ |
1,215.00 £ |
1,033.06 £ |
285.00 £ |
20.00 £ |
308.34 £ |
16,032.52 £ |
31,071.56 £ |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 6,686.00 £ |
1,682.23 £ |
4,088.58 £ |
9,037.90 £ |
715.00 £ |
1,351.16 £ |
- £ |
100.00 £ |
- £ |
6,906.52 £ |
30,567.39 £ |
|||||||||||||
| 2021 -2022 | Restricted | 9,037.90 £ |
1,419.10 £ |
10,457.00 £ |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Unrestricted | 6,686.00 £ |
1,682.23 £ |
4,088.58 £ |
715.00 £ |
1,351.16 £ |
- £ |
100.00 £ |
- £ |
5,487.42 £ |
20,110.39 £ |
||||||||||||||
| 600.00 £ |
855.00 £ |
227.23 £ |
1,186.97 £ |
2,901.61 £ |
TOTAL | |||||||||||||||||||
| Annual Accounts: 1st February 2021 to 31st January 2022 | INCOME 2020-2021 EXPENDITURE 2021 -2022 |
Unrestricted Restricted Total Total |
Hall Hire 5,955.00 £ 5,955.00 £ 6,979.00 £ Cleaner & Caretaker |
Lottery 719.00 £ 719.00 £ 2,330.00 £ UTILITIES |
Donations & Grants 10,096.00 £ 10,457.00 £ 20,553.00 £ 18,135.58 £ Gas |
Bank Interest - £ - £ - £ Electricity |
PV Feed-in Tariff 3,045.38 £ 3,045.38 £ 3,107.78 £ Water |
Arts Alive Events - £ - £ 295.00 £ |
Miscellaneous 295.01 £ 295.01 £ 224.20 £ RUNNING COSTS |
- £ - £ Repairs & Renewals |
Tests & Licences | TOTAL 20,110.39 £ 10,457.00 £ 30,567.39 £ 31,071.56 £ Maintenance |
GLOSSARY Sundries |
PROJECTS Unrestrictedfunds are those that can be used for any purpose. They normally reside in |
Replacement Windows theGeneral Fund |
Lottery Prizes Designatedfunds are those allocated by the Trustees for use in a |
Insurance particular project but can be re-designated back to theGeneral Fundif |
Arts Alive Events required |
General Administration | Miscellaneous Restricted funds are usually received as a donation or grant and, where |
the grantor or donor has specified how the fund must be used, then these | Surplus of Income over Expenditure funds may only be used for those purposes. |
C£ P4