Hullavington Village Hall Management

Committee

held on  

WEDNESDAY 4th MAY 2011 IN THE VILLAGE HALL

PRESENT: Bob Fenner, Joan Shaw, Roger Gee, Frank Birlison, Liz Parry-Williams, Peter Parry-Williams, David Hunt, Anna Durrant.

1.    Apologies: Rachel Hurst, Paul Hadley,  Fraser Haffenden, Julian Greenman

2.    Minutes of the last meeting held on 2nd March 2011 were agreed and signed.

 3.    Matters arising:

Bob informed the committee that Nick Fry will be returning as the PCC representative and Eileen Fry will be joining as the Poetry group representative.

4.    Financial Matters

4.1.  Current financial report - Not discussed

4.2.  Revised budget for 2011-2012 - Not discussed

4.3.  Preparation of 2010-2011 annual accounts - final issues/comments - Roger presented the annual accounts for 2010-2011. It is very nearly complete and should be correct. Once completed Roger will send it to Paul Carpenter for auditing. Roger commented that the rental income was £635 over the expected figure. There was a higher than expected rate of donations. The fixed interest bond matures in August, so interest for that will be added to this year's figures. The hall's total income was just over £15K; the expenditure was lower than budgeted for at under £7K - this was because nothing was spent from the capital expenses budget and no repayment was made to the PWLB. So the surplus for last year was just over £8K. (See attached finance report for exact figures.) Roger commented that electricity costs will rise considerably this year; Frank suggested that we look at solar panels. There may be grants that we could apply for.

5.    Hall Bookings

5.1.   Update and current issues - Alison Green is trying to find a replacement tutor for the street dancing lessons.

5.2.  Review of policy regarding "bumping" of regular hirers - Regular users have their reservations confirmed a month in advance and some have complained about being "bumped" off at this late stage. It would be nice to be able to give more notice but this would be extra work for Bob and Paul. We do not want to lose regular hall users but need to have the flexibility to let other village people/groups use the hall. Paul and Bob have their own areas of bookings that they manage and there needs to be better consistency between them when making decisions about this.

6.    Medium to major projects under active consideration

6.1.  Hall car park- action to prevent "pooling" - Roger has contacted someone about this and will get a quote.

6.2.  Purchase additional staging (lower level units, hand rails etc.) - We will probably need another trolley to store this extra staging; storage may be a problem. The Star Inn has 10 of the hall's old trestle tables which we may need to store again when the pub is sold. Frank suggested looking at a small second hand shipping container - they are robust and cheap and spacious.

ACTION: FRANK TO RESEARCH COSTS OF SHIPPING CONTAINERS

6.3.  New projector and screen for main hall - Paul suggests that we buy a Blu-Ray projector and new screen but this needs to be costed. Liz commented that the hall needs black out curtains for film nights. She is willing to buy blackout material and make curtains to hook up inside the blinds when needed.

ACTION: LIZ AND PETER TO BUY AND MAKE BLACKOUT CURTAINS

6.4.  Hearing loop in small hall - Is there a need for it? Who will research it?

6.5.  Cleaning the exterior fabric of the hall - we still need an external tap for this. Roger has said that he will get this organised. External maintenance.  Before this work can be progressed it will be necessary to find someone to do it.  Roger Parnaby?  Someone else?  Several people on the committee will make enquiries.

ACTION: ROGER TO ORGANISE INSTALLATION OF EXTERNAL TAP

6.6.  Solar panels - with the cost of electricity going up by about 20% this year solar panels are worth considering; Bob has contact details of Community First and Village Hall Association (VHA) and will research possible funding.

ACTION: BOB TO RESEARCH FUNDING FOR SOLAR PANELS

6.7.  Front door lock - Bob has been looking at alternative systems and has found some very complicated ones. Peter will research a possible simple key entry system.

ACTION: PETER TO RESEARCH ENTRY SYSTEM

7.    Reports on recent small projects/activity

7.1.  Clearing out the barn at May's Farm -  Bob thanked David for all his work in doing this.

7.2.  - External Notice Board - As an interim solution the board has been put on the exterior of the hall.

7.3.  PAT testing - Affleck Electrical Ltd. have done the testing.

7.3.1.    Five-year fixed electrical installation testing (legal requirement) - In July this year all fixed electrical installations will need checking. This will cost £360 +VAT, which works out around £80/year. It was agreed to go ahead with this.

7.4.  Repair/replacement of extractor fan grille in front wall of hall - task seems to have stalled. This does need to be moved forward.

8.    Report on RAW event held on 4th March - Anna reported that 'Nursing Lives' by Vamos Theatre was very well attended, was a great performance and raised nearly £100 for hall funds. Rural Arts Wiltshire has funding for the next 3 years, so we will hopefully continue with regular performances.

9.    Hall Administration -  

9.1.  Adoption of Version 4 of the "Conditions of Hire" document - There was a discussion about maximum numbers for certain events in the hall and whether we should be very prescriptive about this or just give guidelines for hall users. Zumba class sizes are giving concern to the committee because of the safety of users and of possible damage to the hall floor. Risk assessment and insurance by each hall user was discussed - maybe a good idea for regular user groups but not for occasional users. We need to check the hall insurance and get advice and find out if the VHA have guidance on these issues.

ACTION: BOB TO CHECK HALL INSURANCE AND CONTACT VHA ON GUIDANCE ABOUT  MAXIMUM NUMBERS

10.  Crime report number 54110033038 - Some youths recently broke into the Jolly Tots' storage shed and caused some damage. It was reported to the police and the incident has a crime report number. The locking of the gates to the hall car park was discussed but it was thought that the youths would just jump over them. We need to involve the local community police in this.

11.  Advance notice: The 2011 Annual Show will take place on Saturday 3rd September.

12.  AOB -

12.1.      Joan asked if the hall committee wanted the WI to continue maintaining the flower tubs - yes please!

13.  The Annual General Meeting

13.1.      Time and Date: 7.30pm on Wednesday 6th July 2011

13.2.      Arrangements for publicity for the AGM - David has advertised in Hullavington News

14.  Date of next meeting – Wednesday 6th July 2011 in the hall at 8pm.

 There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.25pm.

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