Dec 21 - Hawkesbury Upton Village Hall - Hire for Weddings, Parties, Stage for Live music

PRESENT   Chris Knight     Hilary Rogers     Fiona Steeds    Phil Dennett     Angelo Sauro

Vicky Rispin     Neil Fozard     Andrew Webb     Jackie Sandy

Kate Bashford   Sue Hope    Sally Roberts   Jane Stanbridge (via Zoom)

 

APOLOGIES   Louise Roberts   Steve Magrath   Mandy Clark   Bill Cullen    Neil Adams 

Hannah Herod    Sam Allen   Ian Walker (Pre-school) 

 

The Minutes were agreed as a true record.

 

Andrew & Bill had distributed their proposal for an Investment and Development Fund. This was approved by the Committee thereby establishing a development fund of £16k available to be spent on improvement actions on the Strategic Plan.  Based on the Strategic Plan, Andrew will list those projects which need funding and the Committee can prioritise the list and determine how much we want to allocate for each.  The monies allocated to this fund will be kept in the main bank account.  Bill will keep a separate spreadsheet detailing any spending.  Andrew to ask Bill to show the development fund separately  on each month’s financial statement so that we can clearly see what our actual operational bank balance is.  Chris suggested we work on a long term maintenance forecast in order to see where we will need to spend going forward.  Angelo to work on this in line with the Maintenance List.  Sue said we should account for the possibility of having to have money available in order to apply for grants (some grants require a percentage of funds to be matched).

The Tree Planting will go ahead in line with the Hall Committee’s recommendations and feedback against the original proposal.  Sue said that funding will be required but not from the Village Hall.  Vicky asked if this includes planting and maintenance, which it does.  Sue to bring the revised proposal to the February meeting for final Committee ratification.

Employment Policy – to be discussed at January meeting.

Kate reported that the application has been submitted to Leader for a £12,000 grant (leaving an £8k shortfall).  She expects that we will hear in January and is feeling positive as the questions they have come back with were very minor points.  Andrew thanked Kate for putting together such a good application.

Angelo has spoken to Jes and Dan and Dan has apologised for the delay in getting back to us.  They have promised a response soon and Angelo will get back to them and ask about timescale.

Vicky, Hilary and Sam have been working hard on tidying the kitchen and Chair Store.  Mandy has been asked to clear the Evergreens cupboard and WI will remove the boxes of books. Drama are hoping to move the Buffs Table into the chair cupboard but the Committee are not in agreement as we want to keep the store exclusively for chairs. Vicky will produce a chair stacking plan to maximise efficiency of the space and make sure the chairs are stacked safely which is often not the case at present. Andrew asked Sue if the Parish Council safe can be moved but she thinks it is too heavy to move.  Andrew asked Sue to go back to PC and ask if the documents within the safe are still required to be stored, and if so  would they be happy to  use a lockable secure filing cabinet for their documents which could be stored elsewhere in place of the safe.  Sue said that PC are willing to pay for storage and was unhappy that we are asking for the safe to be moved.  Vicky also asked that a new home be found for the Table Tennis table. After Christmas Vicky, Hilary and Sam will continue to tidy the kitchen drawers and cupboards.  Vicky asked for a £50 budget to buy storage boxes and this was approved.  Vicky would also like to store old copies of the Parish mag – perhaps in the eaves but she will wait until a proper clear out has been done.  Pre-school have suggested a clear out day on 4^th January 2022.  Fiona to email Hall Users and invite them to come along and sort out their storage areas that day.  Phil will sort through the Hall Committee documentation.

 

Following the Parish Council’s Open Session, Kate explained how the available funding works.  There are 2 different streams:

This is directly from the housing development on Park Street.  Although SGC have not yet received the £130,000, the focus will be on providing outdoor sports facilities for all ages.  The monies are to be spent over a 5 year period. Kate suggested we work with all Hall Users to submit ideas.  Andrew is keen to meet with other clubs, such as Cricket and Tennis, with the idea of working on a collaborative application for funding.

Parish Council has £13,000 available to the community, some of which must be spent in 2022. Kate wondered if we might be able to apply for some money to top up the Solar project, should we be successful with the Leader grant.

Andrew, Kate and Sue will speak to the Parish Council Chair to suggest a meeting of interested parties.  Sue/Kate to follow up.

 

Kate reported that new guidance from ACRE is imminent.  Face masks must now be worn in the Hall.  Individual groups must take responsibility for compliance.  Kate to prepare an email for distribution to Hall Users and make any necessary amendments to the special Covid hiring T’s &C’s. Jane to put a note in the Parish Mag.  Jackie advised that the Mobile Testing Unit will be coming back to the Hall car park on Wednesday this week from 9-12.  Jane to publicise on Facebook.  On Wednesday morning Vicky will put out the A-Board.

They emailed to say that they do not envisage starting up before half term next year due to covid restrictions.  We need to know if they have a new leader yet.   Kate to follow up.  Jackie said that there have not been any requests to take over their slot to date.

 

Jackie has had a booking request for a party in 2024.  They asked if the current price can be guaranteed.  Andrew suggested we do this if they pay a 30% deposit now.  Jackie noted that the Defibrillator had been used and asked what the procedure is.   Vicky has prepared a page for the Parish Mag explaining what people need to do in an emergency.  Angelo explained how the monitoring of the unit works and Sue thanked him for undertaking this.  It was suggested that another Defib Training Session be organised.  Angelo will contact South West Ambulance to arrange this.  Jackie is working on a Handbook for Hirers.  Kate offered her help.

 

Bill had distributed his report.  Andrew queried the £336.41 income from Southern Electric – should it be expenditure?  He will ask Bill.  Chris thinks we should not have the name of individual hirers or the cleaner on the report  due to GDPR.  Fiona to tell Bill.  Neil collected £17.87 from the car park box.

Chris’s report was circulated prior to the meeting.  Vicky had suggested some items to add to the Risk Register.  Chris and Andrew thanked her for this.  Andrew thanked Chris for the work he has done on this and noted how much progress has been made.

Steve had submitted his report.  Kate said that the gate has now been fitted, but they haven’t repaired the board on the zipwire. Kate asked if the donations we received towards the new gate had been paid into the Skatepark Account.  Fiona to email Bill.

Angelo distributed his report.  We had to replace 2 Fire Extinguishers this month.  CCTV is ongoing.  Andrew asked if the 3 Hall Licences (PRS/PPL/Public Entertainment) can be shown separately on Angelo’s report.  Chris said the Food Hygiene Certification can be removed as it is not a SGC requirement.  Fiona to ask Bill if he has a Duty of Care Form from Suez.

 

No session this month.

 

Sue asked if there is any change to the spec on Grass Cutting as they are setting their budget in January.  Ian has not advised us of anything different. Current spec remains valid.

 

Andrew suggested we hold the meeting on a different day to our normal Committee meeting and make it more of a social occasion to encourage people to attend.  It was agreed to hold it in March to enable the Chairman and Treasurer’s reports to be distributed in advance.  To be discussed at January meeting.  Jane will advertise it in the February Parish mag.

 

Fiona asked Jane to advertise the Hall Breakfast (March 5^th)  in January’s Parish magazine.  Jane will ask Colin Dixon if the Hall advertisement can be placed nearer the front of the magazine.

 

Chris Gardener emailed to ask for the Cricket Club to be removed as Hall Trustees. Fiona will take his name off the email distribution list immediately, but Phil will have to remove them as Trustees using the correct procedure which will take longer.

 

Monday 10^th January 2022 at 7.45pm.

 

There being no further business, the meeting was closed at 10.10pm.