| Date | 8th October 2024 | |
| Present | Hamish, Damian, Maggie, Pierre, Stella, Claire, Alex, Steve, Nick, Bill | |
| Apologies | Terry | |
| Next meet | 12th November, 19:00 – a slightly earlier start than normal due to significant agenda items | |
| Item | Details | Actions |
| All actions | Stephen to look at advertising the hall as a flexible workspace (June meeting). Damian to explore grant opportunities presented by Gittisham alumni Southcott and Hardy (September meeting). Damian and Carol to agree a process to reconcile booking income to list of bookings (September meeting). Hamish to speak to Fullers about Ed Fuller talk and agree date if possible (September meeting). Pierre to organise Spanish and Flamenco evening for the new year (September meeting). Hamish to look at transferring the card reader so it works for everyone without linking to any phones (September meeting). Bill to organise next cake sale, Saturday 26th October. Various members to transfer utility bills to Damian’s address. Everyone to nominate the Village Hall to the Benefact Group before 11th October. Alex and Bill to undertake an initial look at the leaking foyer roof Friday 11th. Maggie to speak to Sue about possibly catering the Christmas quiz. Hamish to book Mary Marker for Burns Night. Damian to cut three new keys using Maggie’s key as a template. | |
| Committee members | At the start of the meeting Hamish announced that he is resigning his position as Chair of the Village Hall Committee. Hamish will serve as Chair until the end of the calendar year. The committee wished to put on record its appreciation for Hamish’s long service over twenty years to the work of the committee and for his dedicated leadership as chair in the past few years. Hamish has been a selfless and energetic chair and has helped to ensure the upkeep of the hall as well as organising a huge number of popular and entertaining events over his time. The members expressed their hope that he will remain closely involved in future events, not least in running his fiendish quizzes, wielding the dagger at Robbie Burns night, and starring in future cabaret turns! Cordelia has resigned her position from the village hall committee but is happy to remain involved supporting village events. | |
| Finance | Damian ran through the monthly accounts, a screenshot of which is captured in the below annex (an accessible version of the monthly accounts has been uploaded separately to the village website). Thank you to Damian for his work on the accounts. With recent grant and fundraising successes the year-to-date position is looking healthier than in previous months’ accounts, though a significant proportion of this income is ringfenced for the new cooker. The meeting discussed the size of the funds it needs to keep in reserve. Whilst a final decision will be reached in conjunction with approving the hall constitution (scheduled for the November meeting), it was noted that Charity Commission guidance stipulates that an appropriate reserve should be at least one year’s running cost, plus sufficient reserve to undertake a programme of necessary and predictable maintenance and be resilient to other significant unforeseen and uninsured costs that may materialise. The £26k in the reserve account is kept in reserve in order to meet these stipulations. Further discussion on an appropriate reserve level will take place in November. The committee agreed to change the hall’s electricity provider to take advantage of a smart meter installation and credit offer. Thank you to Damian for taking this forwards. Various utilities are currently dealt with by various committee members. Damian suggested that all of these bills are redirected to him to support his bookkeeping. | Various |
| Grants | We were successful with the £1k bid for a new cooker from the locality budget – many thanks to Carol for pursuing this. We continue to await news on the grants submitted to date: the EDDC Carbon Offset Fund, the South West Water Fund, the Sykes Holiday Cottages Fund. In addition Alex is looking to apply to the McCarthy Stone Foundation. The Lottery Grant remains a long-term option, which the results of our village survey on uses of the hall will support us with. Thank you to Alex for his continued oversight of these grant applications including his liaison with other village halls. Nick reminded everyone to nominate the Village Hall to the Benefact Group before 11th October. | Everyone |
| Maintenance | The meeting debated the key maintenance priorities (see annex). It was observed by some committee members that repairing the leaking roof in the rear foyer was of primary significance and should be prioritised ahead of all other maintenance and hall improvements. Alex and Bill are to undertake an initial look at the roof this Friday, the 11th, with Hamish also available on Monday 14th if more work is needed. To discuss again at the next meeting. Stella, Alex and Pierre have undertaken significant research into options for a new cooker – thanks to all three for the thorough research and the clear presentation of options. The meeting considered a range of commercial cookers, domestic cookers and standalone oven units, as well as the associated installation costs and some of the other necessary kitchen upgrade work that could accompany a new installation. After deliberation the meeting expressed its preference for a hotplate commercial cooker. Likely costs are £2.5k for the cooker and £1.5k for the installation and associated works. However, prior to agreeing a way forwards the committee sought further reassurance on the suitability and safety of the preferred cooker model. To this end Stella agreed to speak with Broadhembury Village Hall, which has the same installed cooker on site, and to report back on that committee’s experience. In addition, the meeting deferred until November a decision on whether a new cooker could be purchased in advance of the fundraising target being fully reached, or at the point of the target being reached. | Alex and Bill |
| Bookings | A full list of October bookings is loaded on the village website. Upcoming village hall committee events in October are the Bee Talk on Friday 11th (where the committee agreed a reduced rate for children), the Harvest Supper on Saturday 12th and the next Cake Sale fundraiser on Saturday 26th. | |
| Future events | Future schedule agreed as follows: Bingo, Saturday 30th November.Christmas Quiz, Saturday 14th December – Maggie to speak to Sue about possible catering.Burns Night, Saturday 25th January – Hamish to book Mary Marker. Cabaret, Friday 7th and Saturday 8th February. Further to Friday’s Bee Talk we will review the potential for and dates of further villager talks, possible topics: Joanna Southcott (Damian), Gittisham history (Paul Wakely), organic gardening (might have got that wrong) (Sue and David), if possible, Ed Fuller to talk on the subject of his Paralympic Gold Medal. Hamish/Carol to advertise the above programmes in the gazette, Alex to advertise on Facebook. Future events: Pierre and Fiona are investigating running a Spanish and Flamenco evening to raise funds for the Village Hall! Pierre to investigate and return with dates. Thank you Pierre! | Maggie Hamish |
| AOB | Three members of the committee need new keys cutting. Damian to have cut using Maggie’s key. | Damian |
| Long term maintenance list, for progression when funds allow. Rough hierarchy order. |
| New large range cooker |
| Rear foyer where roof is leaking |
| Replace two front windows |
| Sewerage and drainage pipe replacement |
| Extractor fans in kitchen |
| (Rising) damp in southern elevation |
| Internal repaint including / especially ceiling |
| Loft insulation |
| Replace all windows, not just front windows |
| Bin Store |