ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
2013
REPORTS
2012 / 2013
REGISTERD CHARITY NUMBER : 520900
CONTENTS
P.2 Contents……..Aims & Objectives……..Trustees……....Internal Auditors
P.3. Chairperson’s Report..........Treasurer’s Report
P.4. Entertainments & Fundraising Report
P.5. Canteen Report….......Publicity, Advertising & Sponsorship
P.6. Training Report……Lettings…… Carnival Report……..
P.7. Prestige & Petit Report……Toddlers Report
P.8. Senior Drama Group Report.......Ladybirds Report…..Chatterbox Report
P.9. Art Club Report......Jolly Crafters............Mini Monkeys Report
P.10. Dynamite Club Report
Aims and Objectives
The association abides by the constitution and aims to: -
Promote the benefit of the inhabitants of Springwell Village and the neighbourhood without discrimination, to provide a safe environment for the promotion of activities in the interests of social welfare for recreation and leisure time aimed at improving the quality of life of members and surrounding neighbourhood.
We maintain and operate within charity law, covering a wide range of activities and are open to all age groups and abilities.
In achieving it’s objects S.V.C.V. will not discriminate upon the basis of age, sex, race, religion, disability, status of sexuality.
TRUSTEES
Tracey Cowper Dianne Elwood Susan Holt
INTERNAL AUDITOR
Tracy Masters
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
This year the Management Committee have worked extremely hard to ensure the continued successful operation of the Hall, putting in maximum effort with all projects undertaken. This would not have been possible without Suzanne, our Co-ordinator, who has worked tirelessly in researching new ideas, funding opportunities and ensuring the Hall is run so successfully. This has been no mean feat, I assure you, and my sincere thanks goes to Suzanne for keeping us all on track and doing such a fantastic job. My thanks goes to the Management Committee for their continued hard work in supporting Suzanne and ensuring the smooth, successful running of the Hall. Of course, I would not forget our massive team of volunteers. We simply could not manage without them. Some can manage to help for a few hours, some are at the Hall helping almost every day!!!! All help however small is very much appreciated, so a massive thank you to you all.
We have had a number of successful events, including Pantomime, Carnival, Prestige/Petit Show, Craft Fairs etc. and my most sincere thanks go out to every single person who has helped to make this year a success.
Lynn Scott
TREASURER’S REPORT
I took over as Treasurer in the middle of this financial year so, as yet I am still trying to find my feet and I hope in time will do a good job for you all. I would like to thank Vicky Adgar for the excellent work she did prior to my takeover and also for the additional help she is still offering to me.
We have had a very good year with excellent support from all volunteers and members of management. The carnival week was a huge success and a special thanks to the Carnival Committee for their hard work in organising such a huge event.
The Pantomime was enjoyed by all and many thanks to the cast and of course the producer Pauline Craggs for her continued commitment to the group. The pantomime is growing from strength to strength and as well as generating a large amount of money each year for the venue it increases community involvement and raises community spirit. A huge thanks again to Pauline and everyone else involved.
I would like to say a special thanks to Jodie for organising the Prestige group and producing an excellent show whilst raising a huge amount of money for the venue. Thanks to Cally for organising Petit Prestige - younger group to perform alongside Prestige. The members of these groups are very community minded and are always keen to support various events. £3,000 generated from the group this year.
We received several grants totalling just over £5,000 and have also raised a substantial amount of income through fundraising, events, stage productions, room hire (lettings), canteen etc
I extend my thanks and appreciation to all members of management and volunteers for their help during this year and know we can all work together to the same standard during the coming year.
Many thanks, to you all.
Susan Holt
Treasurer
ENTERTAINMENTS & FUNDRAISING
The Entertainments Committee has had an extremely busy year with the Entertainment Committee organising and running the fundraising activities and unfortunately due to illnesses and other commitments the committee has dwindled to only a few people which has put a lot of strain on individuals involved. We desperately need more input and help in the future and urge people to come forward to attend the entertainment committee meetings which are usually every other month, so if you feel you can give up some time to help plan and organise a variety of entertainments for all ages within the community please contact the venue.
We have continued with the weekly Tea Dance, weekly 50/50 Dance, Monthly 50-50 Dance, Pamper sessions, ‘The Rae Brothers’ weekly Jazz night, cabaret evenings, Family events, Spring and Xmas Fair, N.Y.E. Dance.
Sequence dance:
A huge thanks to Gladys Chicken who continues to run the weekly Tea Dance on behalf of the venue, the dance would not run without the commitment of Gladys and the Management Committee sincerely appreciate all her hard work and dedication. The music is provided by a weekly dance teacher - Jean Hodgkinson who we thank for her commitment to the weekly Monday and Thursday dances.
CANTEEN REPORT
2013 has again been a very busy year. The children’s clubs have been busy throughout the year with Dawn and staff operating the tuck shop for the children, thank you to those who are involved.
A big thank you to Stella who has continued to manage the coffee mornings, and thank you to all the ladies who continue to volunteer, support and attend the coffee mornings.
The pantomime, drama show, dancing school, prestige/petite and mini divas have all presented shows which have used the canteen facilities and thank you to all those who gave up their time to help weekly and during the show, it is really appreciated.
The canteen has continued to be open for the carnival, open days and craft fairs, making drinks and snacks. Thank you to those who have shopped, cooked, cleaned and washed –up, Dorothy, Carol, Marie, Ann, being the regulars in the kitchen.
Monthly family discos have made a comeback this year, thank you to Stella and Emma who regularly provide the tuck shop for the disco.
This year we decided to continue making our own meals for the summer carnival review and added the Christmas show to our attempts, and this proved very successful, a massive thank you to all who helped, Suzanne, Tracy, Marie, Lynn, Dorothy, Jean, Vicky, Christine, Aimee, Michelle, and Clem (our secret helper/dishwasher/setter upper often behind the scenes).
The canteen also catered for the Ladybirds birthday party which went well, with the meal and décor looking lovely, we have been asked back this year to provide our services, thank you to the team for all their help, Carol, Marie, Brenda, Diane, Vicky, Emma.
If anyone would be able to support the canteen during any event, please contact me or Suzanne to offer your services, all help will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you to everyone. There are too many to name individually and I would hate to leave anyone out so I will just say a MASSIVE THANK YOU TO YOU ALL !!!!!
Jacquelyn Foggin.
PUBLICITY, ADVERTISING & SPONSORSHIP
Publicity, advertising and sponsorship plays an important role in raising the profile of the Venue and informing people of the wide variety of activities and events on offer. Newsletters are not put together as often as previously due to the increased costs, but activities and events are publicised and advertised as much as possible. The Carnival programme was distributed widely and this clearly resulted in seeing so many new faces at various events during Carnival Week and has continued throughout the year. Flyers are regularly given to both Springwell Village Primary School and George Washington School and we are grateful for both their continued support.
Sponsorship has also continued with particular thanks to Village Photography. All of our other sponsors are also sincerely appreciated and help greatly towards the costs incurred during Carnival and Pantomime Week.
Many donations have been received for a variety of events e.g. raffle prizes for the monthly dance, prizes for the Race Nights, items for Carnival stalls and Spring and Xmas Fairs etc. These are sincerely appreciated as every little helps, many thanks to all.
Many thanks to Clem Armstrong who updates all the notice boards and to Colin Lyndsay who oversaw and kept the website updated up until we lost the domain name via a technical hitch with Microsoft.
The SVCV Facebook page was re-launched this year with Judith Graham updating posts and looking after the page we hope to have many more supporters using the page so we encourage people to join our page and spread the word.
Lynn Scott
TRAINING
This year saw the continuation of learning and training opportunities. We continue to have full support from Sunderland Council ‘Digital Challenge’ team who update the PC’s and help with and queries or concerns.
We delivered free Learn Direct courses in IT, Maths and English and held First Aid Course. Unfortunately this year we were advised that Bridge Women's Centre was closing and therefore we have lost a valuable outreach training provider.
LETTINGS
The venue maintains a host of weekly lettings that enables us to have a consistent income whilst providing a varied weekly timetable for all. These lettings consist of : Romero School of Dance, Mini Divas, Zumba, Gymnastics, Sandra Taylor Art Class, Jittabugs and Little Boots. Both Mini Divas and Romero School of Dance held their annual show at the venue and both were a huge success and thanks to both Caroline and Lyndsey for their continued support.
Throughout the year we have had regular bookings from PACT (Police Action Community Team) and Release Potential (NVQ), Castleview Training Company. Gentoo have held a few events including a day to celebrate Jubilee, International Women's Day and they also held weekly sessions over a period of a months delivering an Independent living Skills Project where the dressing room was used as a crèche and worked well.
Once again we have seen a busy year with private hirers i.e. Children’s parties, 21st Birthdays, Anniversaries. These provide additional income and we continue to promote and advertise the hire of the venue for such events.
CARNIVAL
2012 saw Carnival Week themed around the Olympic Games and a grant received from Sunderland 2012 ensured a successful week with events for all enjoyed by over 500 people across the week. We also received sponsors for some of the events and many thanks to them for their support.
Carnival Day was officially opened by Jessica Boyce who was an Olympic torch bearer and she was a huge asset to the day, many thanks Jessica! The Mini Divas performed an opening dance to get the party started which was enjoyed by all, thanks to them and Caroline for organising it. An additional thanks to Nick and Adam for comparing Carnival Day and keeping the day running with games, competitions etc
The Carnival Committee organizes the week long events and consists of just a few volunteers, meeting a handful of times prior to Carnival Week and the committee are always keen to listen to any suggestions and new ideas. New members to the Committee would of course be welcomed with open arms!!
Finally a huge thank you to everyone involved during Carnival Week, your time and help is always appreciated.
The Carnival Committee.
PRESTIGE & PETIT
The groups are run voluntarily by Jodie and Cally Bannister who run weekly sessions aimed at developing performance skills through dance, drama and singing. PRESTIGE is aimed at senior children and is ran by Jodie whilst PETIT is for younger children and is ran by Cally. The groups replaced the old JUNIOR DRAMA GROUP that had ran on and off for over thirty years.
Their previous productions are: - 2010 : "A Night At The Movies’ & 2011 : ‘American All Stars’ (collaboration with Petit) - 2012 : "The Sound of Musicals" which raised over £500 and we hope to exceed this in October 2013 onwards...
Prestige works in partnership with ODYPP (Oxclose & District young People's Project) and the girls have been working to achieve ASDAN Award Activity Certificates and a few young people have received an additional Peer Education ASDAN Award Certificate.
In December Petit performed a one night Christmas performance of "The Littlest Xmas Tree" with a Disco party afterwards for all the children and their families. The children worked very hard and the night was enjoyed by all. Proceeds from ticket sales and raffle raised £200 for the venue and a separate donation was presented to Barnardos which was greatly received.
Aside from the productions, Prestige & Petit performed at Asda George Warehouse in Washington at their annual family fun day.
This year we were lucky to have Aimie Coburn a third year student carry out a University placement with the Prestige group. Aimie worked with the girls to plan, organise and deliver a fundraising event in April 20103. The group decided to hold an "Afternoon Tea" with the addition of a Princess Parlour room, tombolla, bouncy castle fun etc... The event was a huge success and raised £450 towards costumes, scenery and sound & lighting hire costs for the forthcoming October 2013 production : "Remember When?" A huge thanks to Aimie and the girls who gave 110% and also thanks to all the parents, family & friends and everyone who supported the event.
A personal thank you to Gwen Bannister for her support in running the groups as without her ongoing support and commitment the groups wouldn't exist. Many thanks to everyone else who has helped in any way, we couldn’t have done this without you! THANK-YOU
Jodie Bannister & Cally Bannister
TODDLERS GROUP
The three weekly Toddlers sessions ran well this year and the Management Committee would like to thank all the parents, grandparents, carers and volunteers who have helped in any way. Even though we have a member of staff overseeing the sessions we still rely on help and support.
This the first full financial year of the venue running the Toddlers and we have built the number up but have found that from September until the next term our numbers are very low due to the school's gradual intake. A lot of the regular children have left to go to school full time and we hope to encourage new members.