UPCHURCH VILLAGE HALL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
Minutes of the A.G.M. held on Wednesday, 9th September 2020
in the back hall of the village hall.
Unfortunately, because of the risk to public health due to COVID-19 and following Government guidelines to minimise social contact through public gatherings, the Trustees decided to hold this meeting without the public being in attendance. However, notwithstanding this, prior to the meeting questions Trustees invited members of the public to submit any questions, queries or comments that they have in respect of the village hall and these would be dealt with as part of the AGM. See item 9 below.
1. Present - David Steward (Chair), Sandy Tutt (Treasurer), Edward Murphy (elected Minutes Secretary for the meeting), John Wishart, Deb Martin, Kevin Long, Gerry Lewin, Christine Barker, Dave Barker, Ann Rolfe, Norman Rolfe, John Tutt,
2. Apologies - James Pearton
David Steward opened the meeting by welcoming everybody, explained the circumstances of holding the AGM so late in the year being due to the COVID-19 situation and how it is hoped that the next AGM will be back to its normal time of April 2021.
3. Minutes of the meeting on 10th. April 2019 - No questions were raised in respect of the past minutes and they were accepted as a true record of the business discussed at that time. Proposed by Sandy Tutt, Seconded by Edward Murphy.
4. Treasurer’s Report - Sandy Tutt reported that, with the exception of the Committees fund raising efforts, the year ending December 2019 was not one of our ‘better years’ for income.
Lettings income was down by £682-63 on the previous year with a total loss of £1,198-30 for the year. We did, however, carry out lots of fund raising for the building works we were planning to carry out at the time and subsequently started a dedicated fund raising account. The total amount in this account at the end of our financial year, (December 2019), was £12,538-01, up from £8,749-77 on the previous year.
The repairs and maintenance costs have increased throughout the year, up from £1,263-47 the previous year to £3,191-63 this year, as we have tried to make small improvements and keep everything running smoothly. This included new lighting in the kitchen which was becoming a Heath and Safety issue and needed replacing.
Sandy thanked all those involved in raising funds for the village hall including the WI, UpARA and Friends of Upchurch Village Hall. She also thanked David Powell for his work in hard work preparing Grant Applications, some of which have been successful in raising monies for the proposed building works.
5. Chairman’s Report - David Steward began by thanking all Committee Members for their hard work and support during the past year which, because of the COVID-19 situation has been particularly difficult. David explained that he joined the Committee as Chairman in October 2019. Lockdown began on Monday 23rd March 2020 and since then all activities in the hall have been suspended.
This has, however, enabled the Committee to focus on the refurbishment project and since March 2020 we have raised significant grant funding from KCC, Queenbury Fisheries Trust, Swale Borough Council and Garfield Weston Foundation along with other donations from Village Organisations. As a result, the refurbishment work is well underway, having installed a new fire detection system and updating the main electrics so far. Currently, a new ceiling and lighting system is being installed in the main hall and this will be closely followed by a new floor and fire doors. David gave a big thank you to the building Sub-Committee, spear headed by David Powell, who have made this happen.
Looking forwards David explained how it is planned to open the hall again in October and to encourage existing, and new groups, to use the newly renovated hall. At this point, David noted how we have welcomed a new user, the Rainham Tuition Centre, who have been using the hall throughout August (under strict COVID-19 rulings). Our challenge now is to secure new bookings to be able to keep the village hall solvent.
David finished by welcoming the new Committee Members who will help to support the running of the hall in the coming months and hoped to look forward to a bright and prosperous future for the Upchurch Village Hall.
6. Election of Village Representative Trustees - Deb Martin, Edward Murphy and John Tutt all being willing to become Co-opted Committee Members for the coming year were duly elected. Proposed by Gerry Lewin, Seconded by John Wishart.
7. Introduction of the new committee - The various user group representative trustees for the following year are as follows:
W.I. - Ann Rolf and Christine Barker
Bowls Club - Dave Barker
Players - Kevin Long and James Pearton
UpARA - John Wishart and Norman Rolfe
Parish Council - Gerry Lewin
Parochial Church Council - None
As not all the User Group Representative spaces were filled it was explained that the Clause 8 of the Trust Deeds of the village hall allow the Committee to fill the spaces independently up until the next AGM when a User Group would have the opportunity to elect a representative again. Currently, there are 4 vacancies and the Management Committee will be taking up this option where possible.
8. Appointment of Auditor - Brenda Groves has been the Independent Examiner of our finances for the past few years now and it was agreed that, if she is willing, to continue using her services.
9. Questions, Queries and Comments from Villagers - Notices were placed on the Upchurch Matters web site during the month prior to the AGM requesting Questions, Queries and Comments from Villagers in respect of the Village Hall. None were received.
10. Any Other Business
i. John Wishart proposed a vote of thanks to Peter McGibbon, a Trustee now retired from the Committee, for all the hard work he has done in arranging and helping with the upgrading of the hall during the past year. Peter was able to obtain the services of the Prison Service who provided free labour for carrying out much of the maintenance and decorating work around the hall. This enabled a big cost saving to the hall and without which, the current finance situation would be worse than reported above. The planned work that Peter was carrying out was halted by the COVID-19 situation. However, it was also noted that although Peter is no longer a Committee Member he has offered to continue with this work until it is completed. The whole Committee concurred with John and his proposal.
ii. Gerry Lewin proposed a vote of thanks to David Powell for all the work he had done in developing the work proposals, tenders and grant applications for the refurbishment works. The whole Committee concurred with Gerry and his proposal.
There being no further matters to discuss, the meeting closed at 7:55pm.
The Upchurch Village Hall Management Committee
