| Date | Monday 9th March 2026 | |
| Present | Stella, Maggie, Damian, Claire, Toni, Bill, Steve, Jess & AlexObservers: Becca | |
| Apologies | Nick | |
| Next meet | Next meeting: Monday 13th April 7:30pm – Village Hall | |
| Item | Details | Actions |
| All actions | New actions:Stella opened with a warm welcome to Steve and Becca. Steve and Becca has joined the Committee.Agreed to run an agenda as opposed to minutes next time.Thanks to Kate Kimber for helping with the planting of the spring bulbs – Bill raised how beautiful the garden looks with the flowers starting to bloom. Thanks to Claire for coordinating. Claire & Maggie has honoured Doris by replanting some of her plants from her garden into the Hall garden. Acknowledged and showed thanks to the volunteers that contributed to the decoration of the hall (painting, carpentry etc). Stuart was thanked with a gift of wine. Agreed that Jim and Gary should be thanked with a similar gift. Nick to arrange.Claire Contacted EDDC to follow up about food hygiene inspection once the Kitchen is finished. Once the oven is professionally cleaned in April 2026. EDDC coming along after the breakfast. Old actions: Damian to give Alex permission to negotiate with Eon – no updates/urgency.Stella to continue chasing the Charities commission about the change to our Governance – in Springtime. | Nick – Need to check he has done thisClaire |
| Committee members and governance | Policies: Stella has redrafted DCT policies – Stella to run through the Health and Safety Policy with the committee and to run through the financial policies with Damian after the AGM. | Stella |
| Finance | Damian: Circulated this month’s report. Damian is confident we may finish 2025-2026 in the black as the final invoice from the Plumber we anticipated being c£2k came in at roughly £1,440. All kitchen related bills now payed. Just need to allocate the £1,000 grant we got for the kitchen accessories (trays, utensils etc). Discussed allocation of the funds and Damian to do a reconciliation of the monies so far as we only have until the end of March to spend the remainder. The talks we have hosted are raising around £30-£50 whereas coffee and Cake’s are raising closer to £200-300. Donations to Community Kitchen ended in January. There will be an £1,800 deficit without this income. We have a £400 grant towards to CK rent but this doesn’t cover the total deficit. Need to decide how to move forward with CK. Geraldine was given a small gift of thanks for turning the accounts around at year end so quickly. Damian pointed out our efforts in fundraising are what has kept the hall afloat this year and next year we need more efforts in bookings of the hall to push income without so much labour. Claire has begun fundraising/find sponsors for the Easter Bingo and successfully secured £500 towards the event. Our Main sponsor is Heltor Oils and supported by Shoobridges. | Damian |
| Grants | Alex: To meet with EDDC to report back on the grant application. Damian to please produce a receipt for £400 worth of CK rent to provide evidence to the Council. Committee discussed the spend of the grant and what items come under the limitations of the grant. Claire to manage the spend of the remainer of the grant. Claire has applied for a Community Grant Fund for the new stage curtains. The Committee discussed keeping our eyes peeled for further grant opportunities – we will be able to apply for a further lottery grant in September 2026 if we want to for a new projector/screen – Alex mentioned Awliscombe did similar. | Alex Damian |
| Maintenance | The Committee acknowledged the stellar work Jim has been doing as our new cleaner and going above and beyond – and shared our thanks for his hard work so far. Discussed the plaster work on the wall by the stage – the Committee voted and all agreed to repoint and tidy the new exposed brick wall. Hallway and back foyer now looks even more worn now the main hall is done. We have all the paint and kit and just need time/volunteers (Jim/Stuart/Nick?) Thanks to Carla for taking away the rubble from the front – the Committee are grateful for Carla always pitching in with tidying up – thank you Carla! | Alex will ask Rufus to complete the work on the wall. Nick |
| Bookings | We need to make sure that hirers clean up after themselves, perhaps we can make up a checklist that they run through but we could reserve the right to get a professional cleaner if a booking left the hall in a poor state.Stella to liaise with Gary. Still in Progress. We have a new regular booking for Tai Chi which is great as it is every week of the year. We have 2 weddings in 2026 and one in 2027 so far. We need to advertise the hall more for bookings and keep pushing for reviews. Stella and Gary have a good process with showing bookers around at the start of a booking to be on hand for any FAQs and ensuring the customers are comfortable. Media team keep promoting the hall socially – We need more pictures of the hall in use to use on the Instagram/facebook pages. We could reach out to local influencers to promote the hall. Claire mentioned a business forum in Honiton that we could explore for appealing to more corporate clients or small business clients for staff parties etc. Toni mentioned creating a suppliers list to provide prospective bookers inspiration of what the hall could be used for and a list of what we have available at the hall for hirers to use. Discussed having a “library” of “toys” (giant jenga, ping pong table, games, etc) for villagers/bookers to use as part of a benefit of booking and Becca suggested doing it as an additional cost for wedding bookings. We were delighted to welcome Cllr. Jeffries and his daughter to Community Kitchen this week and show him where the money he pledged to the hall was going. Agreed that CK and Coffee&Cake are integral to the value of the hall in the community. | Stella Alex/Toni/Jess Toni |
| Future events | Saturday 14th March – Village Halls Week/Mothers day breakfast. Jess to coordinate with Claire.Saturday 28th March – Coffee & Cake and Bingo. Commitments made by Toni, Alex, Claire, Jess for the 28th to be present/on the door. Alex and Becca to host Coffee and Cake. Jess to organise a kids easter egg raffle. Future events:talks: Hardy wine talk / gardening talk Coffee and Cake & Bingo on 28th March Potential Quiz – 9th May 2026. Stella putting dates forward to Hamish. 6th and 7th June – Flower festival.Father’s Day 21st June 2026 – Need to discuss because we need a team to cater/host. 11th July – Live Music, Exeter Street Band and BBQ. Need to get a bar licence for this.Flower and Produce Show 1st August 2026Gittisham Fete 5th Sept 2026Bill suggested a Gardeners Question Time. Halloween party for Kids – Jess Hosting. To be booked Sat 31st October 10-2?November – Becca suggested a jumble sale.November – Xmas extravagada and BingoBurns night 2027 – Sat 23rd Jan 2027. Nick to book the caller for next year. Claire to book the bagpiper.Need to be mindful of planning future events to not clash with Parish Council events. | Stella to confirm Quiz date with Hamish. Nick |
| AOB | None |
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 |
| (Rising) damp in southern elevation |
| Internal repaint including / especially ceiling |
| Hose reel – ours leaks significantly and we need a new one for the garden |
| Bin Store |
| Sound Deadening Clouds/equipment to make it less echo-ey – Alex |
| Stage Curtains and for the other end of the hall to sound deaden – Claire |
| Hooks on the doors in toilets specifically the disabled toilet – Toni to provide |
| Murals in the toilets – Maggie/Claire exploring |
FINANCE REPORT
| Kitchen works | |
| Grants awarded to cover the kitchen works were £20,980.00 | |
| An additional grant from DCC for £1,000 has now been received. | |
| The spend on the kitchen works is: | |
| £8,130.60 | Allsop/Pitts deposit |
| £8,130.60 | Allsop/Pitts second payment |
| £980.01 | Allsop/Pitts fridge/freezer payment |
| £648.23 | Drake’s Plumbing payment |
| £5,115.86 | Damien Richards building payment |
| £1,440.00 | Electrician payment |
| £202.03 | Jewsons |
| £395.18 | IKEA etc |
| £272.64 | Allsop/Pitts final payment |
| £230.47 | Allsop/Pitts miscellaneous |
| £105.84 | Miscellaneous |
| £25,651.46 | |
| Fundraising | |
| Fundraising during 2025-26 has made a profit of £4257.05. (N.B. Easter Bingo was at the end of 2024-25.) | |
| Gittisham Parish Hall Accounts – 1st April 2025 to 31 March 2026 | Gittisham Parish Hall Accounts – 1st April 2025 to 31 March 2026 | |||||||
| INCOME | 9th March 2026 | EXPENDITURE | 9th March 2026 | |||||
| 2024/25 | 93.7% of 2025/26 | 2025/26 | 2024/25 | 93.7% of 2025/26 | 2025/26 | |||
| Balance b/fwd | £5,571.27 | Insurance | £723.73 | £678.14 | £959.73 | |||
| Non-domestic rates | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | |||||
| Hire of Hall | £5,828.56 | £5,461.36 | £5,819.06 | Cleaning/grass cutting | £1,901.59 | £1,781.79 | £937.15 | |
| Social Events | £5,782.76 | £5,418.45 | £7,093.26 | Maintenance/Equipment | £45,022.20 | £42,185.80 | £26,605.73 | |
| Interest | £0.00 | £0.00 | Water/Gas/Electric | £3,039.75 | £2,848.25 | £2,381.20 | ||
| Miscellaneous | £43,476.90 | £40,737.86 | £51,406.32 | Miscellaneous(inc. bank charges) | £2,457.59 | £2,302.76 | £6,063.82 | |
| £55,088.22 | £51,617.66 | £64,318.64 | £53,144.86 | £49,796.73 | £36,947.63 | |||
| Balance | £32,942.28 | |||||||
| Total | £69,889.91 | £69,889.91 | ||||||
| Reserves | ||||||||
| Redwood Deposit A/C closed: £16,229.17 balance and £309.15 interest transferred 2/26 | ||||||||
| Redwood Deposit A/C transfer: £10,185.00 5/25 | ||||||||
| Total reserves transferred: £26,414.17 capital and £309.15 interest | ||||||||
| Therefore, current A/C balance £6,527.58 | ||||||||
| Cash Float £364.30 to be banked 31/3 |