| Date | Tuesday 7th January 2024 | |
| Present | Nick, Damian, Claire, Alex, Steve, Maggie, Bill, StellaObserving: Toni | |
| Apologies | Pierre | |
| Next meet | Next meeting: Tuesday 21st January – 6pm, Village Hall – specifically on governance Next full meeting: Tuesday 4th February – 7.30pm, Village Hall | |
| Item | Details | Actions |
| All actions | Stephen to advertise the hall as a flexible workspace on booking portals. Damian and Carol to agree a process to reconcile booking income to list of bookings. Damian continues to chase the installation of a smart meter. Maggie to cut four new keys using Maggie’s key as a template. Stella to send round next iteration of the governance document before 21st January. New actions:All to send Chair leaving present ideas to Nick. Damien to remove Hamish from current account once trustee situation resolved. Damian to undertake a further analysis of projected total income vs projected total expenditure to guide decision-making at the upcoming January 21st meeting.Damian to renew insurance contract with existing provider for three-year term, also considering hazardous activity. Alex to alert the Combe Estate to the imminent installation of solar panels, advertise EDDC CO grant success and meet terms of grant application. All to review emerging lottery grant application and comment on google doc. Stella to progress £3231 of kitchen works with further investment discussed on 21st. Stella and Alex to co-ordinate payment and timing of fuse box upgrade works. Stephen to write a card to Ed Fuller to say thank you for talk. Claire to lead stepped up marketing initiatives. Nick to buy haggis. Maggie to coordinate with Sue and committee on Burns Night catering. Damian to advertise Joanna Southcott talk and make poster. Alex to change wi-fi network and passwords. | |
| Committee members and governance | Committee members to send ideas for Hamish leaving gifts to Nick. Stella continues to iterate the initial governance document / constitution, adding in details on the charity’s affiliations and drawing on examples from other VH governance documents. The meeting agreed that a dedicated meeting was needed to consider further: this will take place on Tuesday 21st January at 6pm at the Village Hall, with draft document circulated in advance by Stella. As acting Chair Nick suggested that once the governance arrangements were clarified a Special General Meeting was needed in order to re-establish key committee roles. A date for this could be set at the 21st. However, the committee noted that Nick’s continued presence as Chair may be beneficial for the coming months whilst a number of complicated issues remain in play. | All Stella |
| Finance | Damian presented the latest financial reports – see summary in Annex. Thanks to substantial fundraising efforts and generous grant donations, year-to-date income (£13.7k) is significantly outstripping outgoings (£5.2k). Further significant income opportunities before the end of the financial year are Burns Night and the Easter Bingo. Significant outgoings remain to be paid in this financial year in relation to a) the Carbon Offset EDDC grant (£2565), b) the new cooker and associated kitchen improvements (£3231-£7014), and c) insurance renewal. As previously agreed by the committee, in-year outgoings must not exceed in-year income, as this would entail a third successive year of loss-making which would be detrimental to the charity and its chances of success in future grant applications. The committee agreed that spend may need to be sequenced carefully in the coming weeks to prevent this from occurring. Damian will undertake a further analysis of projected total income vs projected total expenditure to guide decision-making at the upcoming January 21st meeting. The committee approved the Treasurer’s recommendation to renew the insurance contract with the existing provider over a three-year term. Damian to look into the provision of bouncy castles and other potentially hazardous equipment in the terms of the contract. | Damian Damian |
| Grants | The committee congratulated Alex on the great success of securing over £13k of funding from the EDDC Carbon Offset Fund for the installation of LED lighting, solar panels and battery storage. This is a significant investment in the Village Hall which will reap financial and sustainability benefits for decades to come. Well done Alex! In due course the battery storage may enable the VH to sell electricity back to the grid – we shall see what’s what once the installation is complete. Alex is liaising with all parties on the installation and is confident that this will all be completed in advance of the end of the financial year. The batteries will be stored in the boiler room, and the solar panels will not be installed on the section of the rear roofing that has caused problems in recent months. Alex took the actions to inform the Combe Estate of the upcoming installation, calculate how the installation has improved our sustainability (to satisfy the terms of the grant agreement) and to make sure that the improvements are publicised in the Gazette and beyond. We have still not heard back from the DCC grant – we should hear imminently. This grant requires payments to be made in advance of works being completed. Should we be successful we will need to consider quickly our options and how manageable this is within our financial envelope, Perhaps another thing to return to at the 21st January meeting. Alex has circulated the lottery grant document to the committee over email. All to review and suggest amendments. No imminent deadline on this application (?) and we can return to this at subsequent meetings. | Alex All |
| Maintenance | Stella presented an update on the cooker and a series of quotations for installation and associated works, as well as recommended options to pursue. The committee thanked Stella for her excellent work. Further to discussion the committee agreed that Stella should in the first instance progress the £3,231 of works to install the cooker and three shelves, with further installation to be discussed on the 21st in the light of Damian’s updated cashflow analysis. There is the potential for the fuse box upgrade works to be covered by Alex’s solar panel grant. But the sequencing of this is complicated. We do not want it to delay cooker installation. Alex and Stella to liaise on the timings and costings and report back. The rear roof has not leaked since Hamish and Alex sorted it out. The committee expressed its thank to both for their work sorting out this significant problem! | Stella Stella and Alex |
| Bookings | The Ed Fuller talk on 3rd January was well-attended and a great success. Stephen to write a card of thanks from the committee. Bookings for December are set out in the annex. It was noted that a better system is needed to reconcile bookings with payments, perhaps through use of invoice numbers – Damian and Carol will meet to review. | Stephen |
| Future events | We discussed the marketing of future events. We could be more rigorous and systematic about this, using more space in the gazette to talk about Village Hall events and ensuring that Baker Estates WhatsApp groups are also informed. Claire kindly agreed to lead the marketing of future events along these lines – thank you Claire. Future events schedule agreed as follows: Saturday 18th January, Burns Night, Mary Marker is booked, tickets are selling well. Sue is doing the food – thank you Sue. Nick will buy haggis. Maggie to co-ordinate with Sue over what food needs purchasing (potatoes from Vinnicombes) and how committee members can help. Steve to take the money on the door. Setup from 5.30pm. Raffle so please bring prizes. Saturday 25th January, next monthly cake sale – Gary is leading. Friday 7th February, Damian’s Joanna Southcott talk. £4 on the door, Damian to do poster and advertise. Saturday 22nd February, cake sale, no nominated lead. Friday 7th March, next evening talk, Maggie and Paul to lead a discussion on village history. Saturday 29th March, cake sale, no nominated lead.Saturday 29th March, Easter Bingo, Stella and Claire leading. Friday-Saturday April 25th–26th, Gittisham cabaret.Sunday 15th June, Father’s Day BBQ. Potential future events:Hardy talk / gardening talk / astronomy talkSpanish event | Claire Nick Maggie Damian |
| AOB | Alex to change the wi-fi network name and the wi-fi passwords so that there is a private committee network – thanks Alex. | Alex |
Booking for January
Accounts for November
MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE
| Long term maintenance list, for progression when funds allow. Rough hierarchy order. |
| New large range cooker |
| New kitchen refurb: sink, worktop…or full kitchen |
| Replace two front windows |
| Sewerage and drainage pipe replacement |
| Re-fit audio visual capabilities |
| Rewiring of cabling, particularly in the loft |
| 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 |
Gittisham Parish Hall Accounts – 1st April 2024 to 31 March 2025
| INCOME | EXPENDITURE | ||||||
| 2023/24 | 76.4% of 2023-24 | 1.04.24 – 03.12.25 | 2023/24 | 76.4% of 2023-24 | 1.04.24-03.12.25 | ||
| Balance b/fwd | £3,627.91 | Insurance | £690.38 | £527.45 | £0.00 | ||
| Non-domestic rates | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | ||||
| Hire of Hall | £5,588.85 | £4,269.88 | £3,971.97 | Cleaning/grass cutting | £1,019.62 | £778.99 | £1,492.59 |
| Social Events | £1,371.36 | £1,047.72 | £3,368.38 | Maintenance/Equipment | £5,840.55 | £4,462.18 | £684.24 |
| Interest | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | Water/Gas/Electric | £3,031.87 | £2,316.35 | £1,753.08 |
| Miscellaneous | £2,005.91 | £1,532.52 | £6,381.90 | Miscellaneous(inc. bank charges) | £1,014.59 | £775.15 | £1,297.52 |
| £8,966.12 | £6,850.12 | £13,722.25 | £11,597.01 | £8,860.12 | £5,227.43 | ||
| Balance | £12,122.73 | ||||||
| Total | £17,350.16 | £17,350.16 |