Village Hall Committee Meeting – 13th November 2023
AGENDA
· Apologies for Absence (Fiona)
· Minutes of Previous Meeting (Fiona)
· Decisions, Approvals, Committee Ratifications (proposals circulated prior to meeting)
· Covered in Strategic Plan section
· Policy Review (updates for approval circulated prior to meeting funds
· GDPR Policy (Andrew)
· Financial Policy (Bill)
· Complaints Procedure (Jane)
· Strategic Plan Activities
· Spend v Budget update (Andrew)
· Heating Control/Energy Management system – funding (Andrew/Kate)
· Solar – additional module to provide hot water (Angelo)
· Section 106 funds
· 2024 Capital Projects list to be presented in Q4
· Hall Operations Status (Kate)
· Bar Manager position (Andrew)
· Bookings & events update (Jackie)
· Booking updates/info (Jackie)
· 2023 Fund raising events/bookings calendar (Andrew/Jackie)
· 2024 Fund raising events/bookings calendar (Andrew)
· Forthcoming events – bar staffing (All)
· Monthly Reports (issued in advance - arisings only)
· Finance (Bill)
· Health & Safety (Andrew)
· Internal doors – safety audit – plan required
· Monthly checks register (Angelo)
· Parish Council feedback (Katie)
· Correspondence & Publicity (Fiona & Jane)
· Tree cutting notification – Western Power
· AOB (All)
Date of Next Meeting: 11th December 2023 at 7.45pm
HAWKESBURY VILLAGE HALL
Minutes of Committee Meeting
13th NOVEMBER 2023
PRESENT
Hilary Rogers, Vicky Rispin,
Sue Hope Kate Bashford Bill Cullen Andrew Webb Jane Stanbridge Angelo Sauro
Jackie Sandy Sally Roberts
Alan Charlesworth
Apologies:
Neil Fozard Mandy Clark Fiona
Steads
Previous minutes:
Sue Hope asked for a Licensing
update – the licence is currently held by Mick Bendeaux and Angelo Sauro with
Mick as the premises supervisor. Mick needs to be removed as premises
supervisor, and the licence is currently in the process of transferring to the
Hall Committee as a collective, as previously proposed by Phil Dennet and
agreed by the Committee. The licensing hours are to be extended by an extra
hour on Friday and Saturday night (12.00am instead of 11.00pm). Angelo has been
working with the licensing department at South Glos to ensure that all is in
hand. The extension will only be used in exceptional circumstances when an
extension to 12.00am is requested and at the discretion of Committee members
dealing with the booking. For the majority of bookings the bar will close as
previously at 11.00pm. To date, we have permitted bar extensions at key events
such as weddings and private parties only under a Temporary Event Notification
which has to be applied for each time at a cost of £21. The changes will mean
that the Committee as a whole are responsible for the licence and for meeting
the terms of the licence. There are some costs associated with the changes, but
these will avoid charges for future TEN’s . There may be objections from other
consultees (e.g. neighbours and police).
Policy Review
GDPR Policy – this has been
reviewed by Andrew. No changes required. Agreed.
Financial Policy – this has
been reviewed by Bill, balloted to the Committee and updated. Agreed.
Complaints Policy – reviewed by
Jane. No changes required. Agreed.
Strategic Plan
Andrew shared the strategic
plan. At the beginning of the year it was agreed that a budget of £7k would be
allocated to strategic development activities of which £3500 was for installing
the heat management & destratification system. Excluding that system a
number of elements have been progressed but have not incurred the predicted
costs. This means we are therefore likely to spend only approx. £2k (leaving us
£1.5k underspent). A grant application was made to support the heat management
system but despite commendation the fund was hugely over-subscribed and our
application rejected (we did have a successful application with the same fund
last year so perhaps not a big surprise). The Parish Council had asked for
applications for CIL funding and in response to this the Hall applied for a
grant of £2.5k to contribute towards the heat management and destratification
fans. Along with the Hall budget of £3.5k and current underspend on other
projects of £1.5k, this would meet the cost of the system at £7.5k. The decision
on this by the
Parish
Council is still in process. The Committee agreed that if before the next VH
Committee meeting, the Parish Council agreed to allocate £2.5k of CIL funds,
then the work would go ahead asap without further agreement from this
Committee.
It was noted that the solar PV
system currently is only used to provide electric power “on demand” and to
charge the batteries. Any excess is then sold to the grid for a relatively
small amount. There is the option to install an additional module to the system
that would mean instead of excess power being sold to the grid, it would switch
to heat water via the immersion heater. The cost of this module will be approx.
£800. The Committee were asked if they would like to install the additional
module at a cost of £800 to the Hall. This was agreed due to the environmental
gain and associated reduction in running costs.
Angelo highlighted that if the
work installing the solar module, heat management system and destratification
fans was to be completed, the work required would need a period when the Hall
couldn’t be used and it may be necessary to close the Hall for approx. 5 days.
Hall Operation Status
Bar Manager Position – we are
now able to advertise for a Bar Manager vacancy. This will be done via the
Parish Magazine. Andrew will review and update the advert. Vicky suggested
that other local magazines (e.g. Hillesley and Horton) could also be used to
advertise and can help to share the advert with them.
Bookings and events
A new booking has been made on
9th December
and bar staff will be required (further discussion below).
2nd May – Police and Crime
Commissioner elections will take place. The invoice for the last election
hasn’t been paid yet. The form for 2nd May asks the hire fee to be confirmed: it was agreed
that the standard rate will be charged. Jackie will complete the form
and will advise groups of the unavailability of the Hall.
2023 Fundraising Events
Andrew shared a review of the
fundraising events that have taken place for the Hall this year: it looks like
17 will take place this year against a target of 10-12. This is significantly
above and beyond what was expected and used for the financial forecast. Andrew
regarded this as exceptional and not something that the Committee should depend
on in future years.
2024 Fundraising Events
Andrew shared a summary of
potential events for 2024.
Alan mentioned that there may be potential to provide
caravan / motorhome parking for Badminton Horse Trials weekend. This will be
followed up at the December meeting – Fiona / Andrew to include on
agenda.
Forthcoming events -
Staffing Village Hall events
There
are a number of bar events taking place before the end of the year. Volunteers
are needed to staff the bar – all Committee Members are asked to let Andrew
know if they are available on either the 3rd
December or 9th December. Bar
slots for the events on 2nd and 16th are complete.
Financial Report
Bill shared his report for the
month – it has been a busy month of transactions due to the Christmas Shopping
event and Gin Evening bookings.
Bin charges increases will be
investigated by Angelo, and Bill.
The Committee offered a very
big thank you to Bill and to Vicky for their work in keeping the
toddler group going and making arrangements for a new bank account. This has
included significant work and record keeping to ensure transparency.
Noted that the bank balance
shown at the end of the report is inflated by the additional income this month:
there are a number of costs that will be incurred against this. In future, Bill
will provide a true operating account balance taking account of the
breakdown of reserved funds shown at the end of his report.
Health and Safety
A safety audit will be
completed on the internal doors. This will include establishing which doors are
a fire door. Andrew and Angelo will start this process and Sally
will investigate the potential for the fire brigade to complete a visit.
Monthly reports
Safety logs – one accident reported in the accident book: a child
was injured on the zip wire. No significant injuries. A record has been kept of
this.
It was noted that some of the
upholstered chairs are looking grubby. Vicky will try to clean some of
the chairs as a trial.
Fire extinguishers – these are due for their annual check in December.
Evacuation notice and plan of extinguishers needs updating. Angelo will
update.
Defib – still some dampness. Angelo will continue to
review.
CCTV / Door Access – no unusual events.
Maintenance: The Maintenance team have completed a number of tasks
and will meet on 2nd December. The fireworks committee are aware that the
field was impacted significantly by the fireworks event and will keep a close
eye on how it settles down over the winter months. It may require rolling.
EWS – water checks were done this month, results to
follow.
Parish Council feedback
CIL discussions are continuing,
and this will be reported to the Village Hall as soon as a decision is made.
Correspondence and publicity
Tree cutting notification
received – date for work to be confirmed.
AOB
Sound
system – could the hall purchase a simple Bluetooth amplifier for hirers to
use. This would be for day to day use and will avoid overuse of the drama
system. This will be investigated by Angelo and Alan.
Bill reported that the
electricity contract for the Hall finishes at the end of the year. Utility Aid
have provided a number of options. Staying with current provider would have
resulted in a 110% increase on a 3 year fixed tariff. Switching to EDF results
on a 50% increase: this is still on a green tariff. This is fixed for a 3 year
period. The Committee agreed with changing supplier.
Vicky would like to attach an
advert of the Toddler group to the front fence. Andrew would like this to
include the hall logo. Vicky will send more details to Andrew.
Ed
Littlewood (Poppy & Boo pizzas) had asked if he could use the car park on 4
evenings running up to Christmas to sell take-away pizzas as a trial. Andrew
agreed a charge of £40/evening but wanted a Committee decision. The Committee
agreed unanimously for the 4 evening trial and only the sale of pizza. Any
further events would require Committee review.