| Date | Monday 7th July 2025 | |
| Present | Nick, Toni, Jess, Claire, Bill, Maggie, Damian | |
| Apologies | Stella, Alex | |
| Next meet | Next meeting: Wednesday 6th August 7:30pm – Village Hall | |
| Item | Details | Actions |
| All actions | New actions:Alex to update on the Lottery Grant – anticipate to hear in 12 weeks time (Aug/Sept) Thanks from the Committee to Sara for all her hard work at the Fathers Day BBQ.Thank you to Stella for raising points (annexed below) for discussion in her absence. A number of topics were covered and we ran out of time to cover them all in detail – to be picked up at the next meeting. Old actions: Stella to share agreed resolution to amend the 1933 declaration of trust with the Charity Commission. Stella to update the committee on plans to produce further policies that the Parish Hall is required to adopt and maintain – ongoing throughout 2025. Damian to contact hall insurer and investigate how the installation of batteries and solar panels affects our insurance premium. He needs Alex to send him the final electricity certifications prior to approaching the insurer. Damian to circulate a list of options for where to deposit the Redwood savings account money, for discussion and agreement at the July meeting. To be discussed today, see notes below. Alex to explore options for changing electricity and gas suppliers to a cheaper evening / business tariff, also considering smart meters, contract break clauses and options to sell our energy back to the grid. Once alternatives are found, Damian/Alex to put it to a vote on the Whatsapp group within the next 2 weeks (by 21st July). Damian to give Alex permission to negotiate with Eon. | Nick to send thank you Alex to send Damian certificate of compliance for the insurance please.Damian/Alex |
| Committee members and governance | Thanks to Bill for painting around the boiler from all The Committee. Nick has asked that we all ensure we have signed up as trustees on the gov.uk/charities commission as per Alex’s email back in May. Most have done this, so thanks for everyone’s efficiency. Devon Communities Together have advised Stella that further documents will need to be agreed and uploaded to the Village Hall website, including a range policies such as: the financial reserves policy, health and safety etc. Stella volunteered to review, and coordinate our progressive production, agreement and publicising of these policies. Stella has arranged a meeting on the Wednesday 24th September to host DCT at the Hall. Discussion was had about catering and it seemed teas/coffees and homemade baked goods would suffice. Nick has asked for volunteers to provide some baked goods for the meeting. Estimated to have between 20-30 guests and Claire will put it on our “Friends of the Hall” Whatsapp group for donations of food/hosting help on the day. Hallmaster review: Gary made some notes on the Hallmaster system and notes in general. Claire read these out and the issues were discussed with the Committee. Jess to review Gary’s notes on Hallmaster to review and make tweaks on the system over the next couple of weeks. Jess to add T&Cs to the Hallmaster booking form. Jess and Gary to have a meeting to iron out the creases of Hallmaster. It was agreed these are teething issues and it was put to a vote to continue – it was unanimously agreed to continue. Developments to the system and the process to be reviewed at the next meeting. | Stella Claire Jess to collaborate with Gary on Hallmaster |
| Finance | Damian talked through this months’ finances. The Folk Club have paid their outstanding invoice and it has helped the health of the account. As per the above action, Damian is reviewing alternative energy providers with Alex and will put to the committee shortly. Damian is still awaiting access to and to be made Primary Account holder from Janet Twist to the Redwood account and the current account – Maggie is happy to ask Janet for an update on this. Once Damian has access he will move the £10k from the current account into a more lucrative account to earn some interest. Social events for 2025 have been lucrative. There was a resounding thanks to Mike Dentry from all the committee for paying for the band as a donation to the hall – it allowed us to make a significant profit of £535 on the night! Jess to send Damian written confirmation of the band payment. It was discussed about purchasing a licence for the premises and the cost vs benefit. Would be better to discuss with the whole committee present. It seemed positive but there were some concerns about the responsibility of being licensees so we need more information to make an informed decision. It was agreed to proceed with using Geraldine as our accountant. | Maggie/Damian Jess |
| Grants | Lottery grant has now been submitted – expect to hear back in 12 weeks or so. Thanks to Alex and Nick for submitting that. Claire has submitted a request for £500 worth of paint from Crown. Alex raised that East Devon are reopening the Carbon Action fund in September 2025. It was the grant we successfully won in 2024 for the solar panels so it could be used to apply for the air to air heat pumps or new batteries (Claire’s suggestion). It was noted by Claire and Alex that we could invest in infrared heaters to run off the batteries from the Solar Panels to save on electric. | |
| Maintenance | Claire has reported back that the customers have been “blown away” by the new hand dryer and it is a drastic improvement to the facilities. The wall needs patching behind the old hand dryer. Claire requested at the last meeting in June for guttering on the shed and a water butt, and an outside tap behind the ladies toilets. It was added to the maintenance annex below. Toni is kindly donating a water butt. – All of the above has been done, thank you to Claire! Toni will be requesting support from “Friends of the Hall” for a painting party in September to touch up the paint around the hall. It was agreed by all present that we would like Stuart to paint the kitchen ceiling. He will do this after summer when the weather changes, Nick to liaise with Stuart. Alex raised in June that we could opt for aesthetic sound deadening to both reduce sound reverberance and increase the light in the hall instead of having the hall ceiling painted. Claire has brought some information about getting registered with the Food Health & Safety and shared a document for us to fill in to get us signed up officially to cover us. Claire has organised someone to give us a quote for pest control to comply. Nick put it to the committee for opinions on becoming registered. It was agreed it is a good way forward – Claire has done lots of research on it and is ready to order some of the materials we need to pass the registration (chopping boards, probes, thermometers etc to a value of £100). Approval was given by the whole Committee and thanks to Claire for the time taken to investigate this. Claire raised the suggestion of wired smoke alarms/carbon monoxide detectors. One to discuss at the next meeting. Claire thanked the Committee for the vote of confidence on spending money on the planters and asked for more money for spring bulbs. All agreed it is a good investment. Maggie will talk to Paul about getting discounted bulbs. | Toni Nick |
| Bookings | Bookings for July below. | |
| Future events | Coffee&Cake – 26th June. Nick to run with his wife Clare. Not running in August but will run in September. Toni to make a poster with all 3 dates (July, sept, oct).30th August – it was agreed the Hall committee will support the Fete as volunteers where possible.Cabaret screening for cabaret cast and village hall committee members, all welcome, date tbc. 29th November Bingo booked – Xmas cake safe in the afternoon followed by bingo Molly’s pupil could do a talk in September about his upbringing and journey from moving to England from Crimea – Damian is checking his availability.October – Nic Wakely talk (orchids/glass) Nick to liaiseAutumnal Quiz – Nick to run, and needs advertising (maybe a harvest quiz after the coffee and cake day). 27th Sept.Open Mic night – October Pizza van, bar, open mic (music, poetry, comedy) 18th October.Halloween/Christmas Party for Children?September 10th open night with the folk dance club – Date TBC. Potential future events:Skittles. Autumn talks: Hardy wine talk / gardening talk / astronomy talk / Nic Wakely glass talk?Spanish event. | NickToni Damian Nick |
| AOB |
Notes from Stella:
Village Hall Committee Meeting – 7/7/25
Sorry that I cannot be with you tonight but I wanted to update everyone and suggest a couple of things:
- Meeting Dates – I think we need to set the dates in advance for the year, rather than changing them to suit holidays etc. We decided to use Monday as our meeting day, Alex has meetings at the observatory, the first Monday of every month, so I am proposing that we meet on the second Monday of every month on the following dates:
Wednesday 6th August (Earlier due to Fete)
Mondays
8th September
13th October
10th November
8th December
12th January
9th February
9th March
13th April
11th May – AGM
- Kitchen Refurb –
- Myself and Alex met with Paul Rigby regarding the kitchen refurb. This is the second meeting I have had with him. I have attached a copy of the first details he sent to me but these were just ideas.
I have now asked him to do 2 designs incorporating the details that we asked him to look at. He will send these designs to us in approximately 2 weeks. One of the designs includes putting new plasterboard walls on either side of the serving area with a smaller manual roller shutter and allowing us space for a tall fridge on the right hand side of the opening.
- We then need to meet then to discuss which option we would like him to cost properly. Please let me know if you would like to be involved in this process- it may need a special meeting to discuss the 2 options at the end of July. If not, it will have to be discussed at the August meeting.
- During the meeting a couple of issues were discussed that need to be addressed before the kitchen refurb sourced by ourselves. Do we have anyone in the village who is willing to complete the jobs for free or do we need to out source to tradesmen ( 3 quotes before deciding).
- Boxing in the boiler
- Boxing in the electrics
- Baton strips being placed o Kitchen walls ready for PVC cladding
- Requests made:
Small stainless steel basin (Hygene)
Locked drawer for sharp knives
Locked cupboard for V.H. consumables
Heated cupboard
- Policies Review
- I intend to start doing co-ordinating this in September, after the Summer holidays as we are all likely to be busy during this period.
- September 24th
- We are hosting the Devon Communities Together Meeting at 10.30am. Anyone is welcome to attend but I would also like to provide refreshments for this event, so would welcome help from anyone available to help.
MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE
| Long term maintenance list, for progression when funds allow. Rough hierarchy order. |
| Sewerage and drainage pipe replacement |
| Air to air heat pump |
| 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 |
| Bin Store |