Stoodleigh Parish Hall AGM draft Minutes November 2022

Stoodleigh Parish Hall

Annual General Meeting

15 November 2022

DRAFT MINUTES

Present: Viv Menear (chairman), Janet Russell (treasurer), Geraldine Talbot (secretary), Dick Sibley, Jill Chant and Linda Brice

Also attending: Shirley Cope

1 Apologies: Alex Hannis, Chris Whitehead and Geoffrey Parkman

2 Minutes of the meeting of 16 November 2021:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2021 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the chairperson.

3 Chairperson’s Annual Report:

The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. A copy of the chair’s report can be found at the annexe to the Minutes. She emphasised the importance of working as a community across all the village organisations; a proposal which was supported by all present. It was proposed and agreed that this report be made available on the parish website.

4 Treasurer’s Report

The treasurer presented the Annual Accounts for the year ended 31 October 2022 and circulated details of the Income and Expenditure for the year and total funds as at 31 October 2022 (details attached to the Minutes).

Capital reserve £30,989.61

Business reserve (improvements) £15,058.96

Current account £ 2,441.82

Funds not presented £ -69.00

Cash £ 334.25

Total £48,893.64

As at 31/10/21 £48.042.44

Copies of Current Assets (current account, capital reserve account, business reserve account, cash in hand) and Property Improvements were also available (full details attached to the Minutes). The treasurer said she hoped that everyone had been able to have a look at the documents forming the annual financial report. She pointed out that the year had shown a surplus of £851.20 and reminded the meeting of the expenses and works undertaken over the year including external work and updated electrics. She raised concerns over rising costs in the coming months and referred specifically to the recent rises in insurance costs for the Hall. She also pointed out that, like all community buildings, a government grant of £2,667 had been received for assistance with expenses/difficulties around premises opening during covid. She said that this had been extremely helpful towards repairs and maintenance over the year.

The chair thanked the treasurer for preparing and presenting the Accounts.

5 Update on recent and proposed improvements to the Hall to provide a better environment and facilities for use by the community

The chair presented the drawings, plans and costings for the proposed new kitchen. She explained that after a costing exercise and much deliberation and discussion by the Management Committee, it had been agreed that Travis Perkins would supply Benchmarx kitchen fittings to also include two ovens (side by side), a large induction hob, microwave and plinth heaters. A commercial dishwasher, fridge and warming oven would be bought separately. (Design and plans attached to minutes.) The Management Committee had agreed the kitchen installation would be carried out by John Veale to include all plumbing, electrical work, fitting, internal decoration and flooring and an itemised quotation was available. The chair advised that a final decision on plans and cost would be taken at the following meeting of the newly elected Management Committee and it was hoped that work on the kitchen would start in early January and be completed within approximately two weeks. She said that the community would be kept up to date when work was to be carried out.

6 Proposals and suggestions for fundraising and events

A number of ideas from the community had been emailed to the secretary which included:

Movie nights : bring a chair and watch a movie (just need to borrow a projector and screen)
BYO circuits- everyone brings something with them (weights or a yoga mat or a step or a skipping rope - you get the idea). You then develop a class with what you have and someone is in charge of the timer. The only fee is that of the hall so it’s a cheap class that could be lots of fun.
Kids club. Bring your kids and some stuff (toys, crafts, games) and see what happens. Parents must supervise their own children (could provide tea and biscuits).
Book club.
Start an amateur dramatics society and put in an annual play.
Yearly Review.
Lunch Club – following installation of new kitchen.
Quiz Nights.
Wi-fi connection: the question had been raised via email – “Does the Hall have or are the Committee planning to have a wi-fi connection? At the Garden Club AGM consideration had been given to amalgamating with other Garden Clubs for talks by outside speakers. It had been suggested that this could be arranged virtually via methods such as Zoom. It was felt this may reduce costs and provide a green benefit although costs for wi-fi installation and running were unknown.”

There is no wi-fi connection at the Hall currently and the secretary had carried out brief research, via ACRE, prior to the meeting. ACRE suggested a survey of users/local groups/hirers to assess the need and use and obtaining likely cost of equipment and running costs from suppliers. If a need/use was identified, further investigation would need to be carried out by the Management Committee. Initial research, and local information, suggested that some suppliers provide free running costs to community buildings. Committee members were aware of Airband and Superfast Broadband, both of which may be accessible in the next 12 months or so and may offer local community help.

It was agreed that the suggestions be discussed at the following General Meeting of the Committee and shared with the community to gauge interest in the various ideas so that assistance can be sought to take arrangements forward.

7 Management Committee

(i) Election of Members to the Management Committee: It was proposed that Linda Brice, Alex Hannis, Viv Menear, Janet Russell and Geraldine Talbot be elected to the Committee for the year 2022/23. All five advised of their willingness to continue to sit on the Committee and were duly elected.

(ii) Nominations to the Management Committee from village organisations: The following had agreed to sit on the Committee and represent their various village organisations - Geoffrey Parkman had been nominated to represent the Parish Council; the Garden Club had nominated Jill Chant as its representative; Dick Sibley represented the Cricket Club and St Margaret’s Church had nominated Chris Whitehead as their representative. It had been advised that Stoodleigh Working Action Group were no longer in action. A representative/nomination was invited from an alternative user group but at the time of the meeting, no alternative group suggestion was forthcoming. It was agreed that an alternative group and representation be sought to meet the membership requirements of the Parish Hall Constitution.

8 Any Other Business:

(i) Kitchen Table – following the kitchen refurbishment, the kitchen table would be redundant. A suggestion was made that it should be the subject of an Auction and sold to the highest bidder. The Committee would discuss and arrange disposal.

(ii) Gent’s Cloakroom – concern was raised regarding the use of water for flushing the gent’s urinals. One stopcock in the kitchen controlled all water into kitchen and cloakrooms. There was a suggestion for the installation of a second tap to the gents' cloakroom flush meaning that flushing need not take place when cloakrooms were not in use and money saving could be achieved. This was to be a subject for consideration by the Management Committee.

END