MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
King`s Somborne Village Hall Management Committee
Thursday 3rd May 2012.
Present:
Terry Mackintosh (Chairman) VHMC
Michael Templeman (Treasurer) VHMC
Eileen Reynolds (Secretary) VHMC
Tony Brooke-Webb (Chairman, Fund Raising Committee)
Mary Bradley (Booking Secretary) VHMC
Ian Bradley (Web- editor)
Lucy Chadwick (Baby and Toddler/Pre-school) VHMC
Val Chapman
Dick Dyke (Football Club) VHMC
Frank Fahy (Parish Council/Cricket Club) VHMC
Jo Finch (Somborne Society) VHMC
Tracey Harris (Co-opted Committee Member) VHMC
Bill Hartley (Neighbourhood Watch) VHMC
Wendy Hartley (Twinning Association) VHMC
Nola Mackintosh
Pollyann Monk (Horticultural Society)
Duncan Natt (Community Responders) VHMC
Gordon Pearson
Mary Pollock
Carolyn Stammers (Somborne Sessions)
Peter Storey (Clerk KSPC)
John Vanderpump (Community Responders) VHMC
The Chairman, Terry Mackintosh, opened the Meeting by welcoming all present.
1. Apologies:
Apologies were received from Linda Aucock, Mike Reynolds and Sandie Pepperell.
2. Minutes of the last AGM:
The Minutes of the last AGM held on 19th May 2011 were considered a correct record and signed by the Chairman. There were no matters arising not covered elsewhere on the Agenda.
3. Chairman’s Report:
The Chairman, Terry Mackintosh, reported that the past year had been a particularly successful and busy year and a great deal had been achieved. He then commented as follows;
a) Involvement with the Community;
One great advance during the last year has been the setting up of the Pre-school. The need for a Pre-school in King’s Somborne had been evident for some time especially to act as a feeder for the Primary School. The major problem that stood in the way was finding a suitable venue and we are delighted that the Village hall was able to provide this facility. In order to do so we needed to ensure that the building was secure and that the toilets and other facilities were suitable for young children and there were sufficient slots in the timetable to meet Ofsted’s requirements. £500 was put aside to improve security and by careful timing of the Pre-school sessions we have been able to provide fifteen hours necessary to meet Ofsted’s regulations. As a result our new Pre-school is up and running and passed an initial inspection by Ofsted. We have a good relationship with the teaching staff, the numbers of children are increasing steadily and Lucy Chadwick represents the Pre-school on the VHMC.
Another new community venture which we have supported is the setting up of a table tennis club. Frank Fahy has been the driving force behind this new club and two tables paid for out of Andrew Gibson’s special allowance have been delivered to the Hall. The first session will be held early next week and we wish the club every success.
b) Bookings; Under Mary Bradley’s care our bookings have increased and as a result of the improvements in the Hall it is a more attractive venue. Linda Aucock has worked in tandem with Mary and sends out the invoices and we have few debtors. However, our income from hirings is not enough to enable us to meet future running and maintenance requirements. The VHMC has compared rates with surrounding Halls and is proposing to increase the rates from August 2012.
The VHMC has considered the policy for selling alcohol in the Hall; at present we use the Temporary Events Notice system but are restricted to twelve a year so the Committee has decided to apply for a Designated Premises Licence which does not have this limitation. We have also had to apply for a Performing Rights Licence.
c) Maintenance of the Hall; During the year there had been the usual problems with equipment and the issue of the broken sewage pipe under the car park has still to be addressed. Mending this pipe will be undertaken shortly.
Courtesy of Frank Fahy there is now a smart new notice board on the main road which is kept up to date with all events taking place in the Hall.
Recently we have undertaken a Health and Safety review and will be dealing with outstanding issues during the next few months.
d) Concluding Thanks; Finally, the Chairman thanked the all the VHMC for their help and in particular wished to thank Eileen Reynolds for all her hard work as Secretary and also thanked Mary Bradley who was retiring after three years as Booking Secretary. He then thanked Michael Templeman who had been Treasurer for the past year. He was retiring after the AGM and a replacement was needed. He thanked all members of the VHDC and the various sub-committees for their help and support. He expressed his appreciation to Sheila Fleming who had worked especially hard to keep the Hall clean in adverse conditions while the building work was going on.
4. Financial Matters:
a) Treasurer’s Report; Michael Templeman highlighted some aspects of the consolidated accounts which had been circulated together with the Return to the Charity Commission.
He drew attention to the fact that expenditure had exceeded income from bookings and also to the income derived from fundraising including Ethna Long’s considerable contribution from running the Dublin Marathon. Somborne Sessions, the Clay Pigeon Shoot, the Dog Show and Beer and Band Festival had also significantly contributed to Hall funds.
He thanked Norman Denison for acting as Independent Examiner, Peter Storey for helping with grant applications and Linda for all her hard work issuing invoices and collecting money.
b) Adoption of Accounts
The adoption of the accounts was proposed by John Vanderpump and seconded by Bill Hartley. The accounts were adopted.
5. Report of the Development Committee:
Terry Mackintosh as Acting Chairman of the Development Committee thanked the Football Foundation, The Parish Council, Test Valley Borough Council and Hampshire County Council for the financial support received towards the latest stages of the refurbishment of the Hall.
He then showed a series of before and after slides showing the considerable progress made to date with improvements to the Hall..
Terry then handed over to John Vanderpump who had been helping to manage the contract with the builder. John was able to report on a very successful year and was able to say that the Village now had a Pavilion that was the envy of other football clubs in the area.
Good progress had been made with the store room foundations as the weather had been very clement early in the year and all the work on the storerooms was virtually complete. There had been some delays recently as it had been decided to sound proof the door between the Hall and the Jubilee Room. He paid tribute to the help that had been received from Frank Fahy with resolving this. Also there had been further delay as one of the doors sent for the Jubilee Room had been the wrong size. However, all would be ready for the official opening of the Room on 2 June when the area would be carpeted, curtained and furnished.
There would now be a slight pause while money was raised towards the refurbishment of the Entrance Hall. John concluded by expressing his appreciation for the co-operation the builder had received from all hall users, especially the Pre-school, while the Jubilee Room and Store Rooms were under construction..
The Chairman thanked John for his report and for all his hard work.
6. Report of the Fund Raising Committee:
The Chairman of the Fund Raising Committee, Tony Brooke-Webb, reported that
since the Fund Raising Committee had been set up it had organised four Clay Pigeon Shoots, two Beer and Band Festivals, one Ladies Indulgence Evening, two Variety Shows, one Village Picnic, five Somborne Sessions, three dances, one Lecture, four Dog Shows, one Casino Night, a Village Appeal and a collective utilities scheme. During the past year £43,000 had been raised of which £29,000 had been from grants. Donations from the Crown Inn Quiz Nights and a recent donation of £1067 by Ethna Long, being her sponsorship money from the Dublin Marathon, were included in these figures.
Although difficult to quantify Tony felt that a figure in excess of £150,000 had been raised in total and he expressed his gratitude to the remaining members of the Committee, Terry Mackintosh, Eileen Reynolds, Tracey Harris, Doug Stammers and John Vanderpump for their unfailing support and enthusiasm.
This year the fourth Clay Pigeon Shoot would take place shortly and there would be another Beer and Band Festival, another Dog Show and the Somborne Players are running another Variety Show on behalf of the Committee. Doug Stammers is continuing to run the hugely successful Somborne Sessions. It is also hoped to run a campaign to get people to buy paving slabs when time permits.
The event which makes significant money is the Clay Pigeon Shoot, which brings in excess of £10,000 a year. To stage this event requires huge support from the community and the support team includes about thirty five villagers and the event would not go ahead without this silent cohort of helpers.
Tony then looked to the future explaining how much work was involved in organising, setting up and running events. He regretted that two members of the committee had resigned due to other commitments and that there was no one now concentrating on applying for external funding from grants. He drew attention to the fact that in 2008 there had been the vision that the stage would be moved to open up the south wall of the Hall. He felt his vision had not been acceptable to all and the Players had led a campaign opposing the moving of the stage. Tony believed, however, that refurbishing the Hall without moving the stage would be a wasted opportunity which would not occur again in his lifetime and that he had little interest in continuing to chair the Fund Raising Committee if the stage was not going to be moved. He also felt that the motivation of those trying to raise money for the Hall was adversely affected by the carping tone of some emails which deride attempts to provide the Village with a modernised and vibrant facility.
He then thanked those present for listening to his report on the work undertaken by the Committee.
Terry thanked Tony for his report.
Frank then drew attention to the fact that opposition to moving the stage had not only come from the Players and many others in the Village had expressed disquiet at this proposal as they considered the current stage to be a definite asset which would be difficult to replicate..
Mary Bradley said that during her time as Booking Secretary she received many compliments about the stage and that having a large fixed stage was one of the chief reasons that users booked the Hall for an event. The most important consideration was that the Hall should serve as a facility for all villagers both young and old.
7. Rates of Hire;
Terry reported that the level of rates of hire had been discussed by the VHMC. Comparisons had been made with the rates of other halls in the area and every effort had been made to keep increases to a minimum. However, in order to balance the books the following increases were to be operational from 1 August 2012.
Room Day/s Rate per hour
Main Hall Sunday to Friday £9 (an increase of £1)
Main Hall Saturday £11 (an increase of £1)
Committee/ All week £6 (no increase)
Meeting Room
Pavilion All week £6 (no increase)
Jubilee Room All Week £7 (new rate)
Rates for combined room bookings would be given in due course.
8. Election of Officers/Trustees for 2012-2013:
The resignation of all officers/ trustees elected at the last AGM was accepted.
The following were then proposed to serve for the coming year;
Chairman; Terry Mackintosh, proposed by Bill Lomas and seconded by Bill Hartley.
Secretary; Eileen Reynolds, proposed by Jo Finch and Seconded by Daphne Field.
Treasurer; A new Treasurer was being sought. In the meantime, Michael Templeman had kindly agreed to continue to keep the financial records.
The Chairman and Secretary were elected unopposed.
.
9. Nominations of representatives from Village Organisations to serve as Members/Trustees on the Committee for 2012-2013:
The following nominations were received;
Linda Aucock (W.I)
Lucy Chadwick (Pre-school/ Baby and Toddler)
Dick Dyke (Football Club)
Frank Fahy (Parish Council/Cricket Club)
Jo Finch (Somborne Society)
Chris Hall (Somborne Players
Wendy Hartley (Twinning Association)
Duncan Natt (Community Responders)
Additional nominations were expected in due course.
10. Co-opting of Members/Trustees to serve on the Committee for 2012-2013:
It was expected the following would be co-opted
Val Chapman (Booking Secretary)
Tracey Harris
Bill Hartley
In addition, Ian Bradley had kindly offered to continue to act Web-editor
Terry Mackintosh then thanked all for their willingness to serve on the Committee.
11. Appointment of Independent Examiner for 2012-2013:
The Chairman asked that formal consideration should be given to this appointment later in the year.
12 AOB;
Matters raised from the Floor;
a) Re-configuration of Main Hall – John Vanderpump.
John had resigned from the VHMC but his last plea was that the moving of the stage to the other end of the Hall as was in the original plan proposed by the VHDC should be considered again.