Summary of Trustees' Decisions - November 2012

• Interim process for handling complaints agreed.

• To accept the all the former Youth Club equipment from the Parish Council – apart from the 40 inch TV - which it is recommended be sold
• To subsidise a touring cinema company for the rest of the season (to March)
• Bookings Secretary to be given discretion to charge a lower amount than the minimum equipment hire fee where she considers it appropriate.
• Regular users who cancel a booking are not normally to be charged for it, although repeated instances would normally result in a fee being charged
• Bookings Secretary  to be provided with a pay-as-you-go mobile, if she wishes, for calls in relation to SVH.
• Late cancellations for sessions will not have the heating changed if the saving is not material compared to the cost of change
• A camera held in lost property is to be given to the Parish Council, the laminator is to be given to the Help Scheme
• Future items of lost property are to be labeled with the approximate date they were left on the premises.

Slinfold Parish Council Newsletter - Q4 2012

Slinfold Village Hall

Slinfold Village Hall was built in 1881 to be used for the “benefit of the inhabitants of Slinfold”. It is not owned by, nor allied to, either the Parish Council or the Church, nor does it receive any operational subsidy from either. It is an independent charity, which is maintained and run on behalf of Slinfold’s inhabitants by its Trustees — volunteers who are either representatives of the Hall’s major users, or elected by residents at the Hall’s A.G.M. each June. All of the Hall’s income — which comes solely from hire charges, gifts, and fundraising — is used in running and maintaining the Hall.

Local Use

One way in which the Trustees seek to fulfil their objective of benefitting local inhabitants is by charging reduced hire rates to local groups and local residents (for non-commercial purposes). Both the Main Hall (with modern, professionally equipped Kitchen) and the smaller Parish Room (with Kitchenette for drinks) are available for hire for regular or one-off events on this basis.

For example, hire of the Main Hall and Kitchen for up to 4 hours (morning or afternoon) for a Children’s Party costs only £30.00 for a local resident (or child who attends Slinfold School), compared with £45.00 for a non-resident.

For adult parties, receptions, etc., the Main Hall and Kitchen can be hired by local residents for a 5-hour daytime session for £55.00 and for an evening session (6:00 p.m. to midnight) for £100.00, compared with £95.00 and £130.00 respectively for non-residents.

Remember, it is your hall, and the more use it gets, the less the hourly charge needs to be for everyone.

Booking enquiries to:
Gill Morrell (Bookings Secretary) at 01403-790736 or bookings@slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk

Business Use

The Parish Room is fitted with a computer and a DVD player, both linked to a ceiling mounted projector, which can also be linked to a laptop. There is also a printer, free internet connection and WiFi. It is carpeted, and is particularly suited to presentations, discussions, and other meetings (up to 40 people) for business or social purposes.

The Main Hall is also available for business hiring, such as for exhibitions, sales, larger presentations, buffet events, and so on.

If you work for or know of a local business or organisation that might be interested in using the Hall for off-site meetings or other events, please make them aware of the facilities. (Booking enquiries as above.)

Commercial bookings help to keep the charges lower for local private and social hire.

Entertainment

Another way in which the Trustees seek to benefit the village is by arranging periodic “public entertainment” events. Unfortunately, those who have previously arranged the Village Cinema are unable to do so this season. We would, however, like to arrange some musical, theatrical or similar events for the village. The prime difficultly we currently face in this area is finding people to arrange and co-ordinate such an event. The Trustees have arranged several such events in the past, but — particularly as they are currently several members short of full complement — they do not themselves have the resources available to arrange additional events and would be grateful for one or more volunteers to help with this.

So, if you feel that you might be able to help with the arrangements in staging a “public entertainment” event at the Village Hall, we would be more than happy to hear from you. We would not leave you to do everything yourself! There are ample available dates in the Hall calendar, and we have some suggestions of performers that might be invited. We can provide contacts, ideas, guidance, advice and experience, but lack the necessary time. If you feel you might be able to help the village by assisting in this way, please contact:

Neil Peachey (Chairman) at 01403-791554 or chairman@slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk or
Trevor Dayneswood (Vice-chairman) at 01403-790374 or vice-chairman@slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk

Website: slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk      Additional news & information: blog.slinfoldvillage hall.co.uk

Slinfold Magazine item - November 2012

Slinfold Village Hall

For a number of years the Village Cinema has been held over the winter months, but unfortunately those who have previously arranged it are unable to do so this season.

The Village Hall Trustees would therefore like to arrange at least one village “public entertainment” event — musical, theatrical or similar — over the next few months. The prime difficulty we currently face in doing so is finding people to arrange and co-ordinate it. The Trustees have arranged a number of such bookings in the past, but — particularly as they are currently several members short of full complement — they do not themselves have the time available and would be grateful for one or more volunteers to help with this.

So, if you feel that you might be able to help with arranging a “public entertainment” event at the Village Hall over the next few months, we would be more than happy to hear from you. We would not leave you to do everything yourself: there are ample available dates in the Hall calendar, and we have some suggestions of performers that might be invited. We can provide contacts, ideas, guidance, advice and experience, but lack the necessary time. If you feel you might be able to help the village by assisting in this way, please contact:

Neil Peachey (Chairman) at 01403-791554 or chairman@slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk or
Trevor Dayneswood (Vice-chairman) at 01403-790374 or vice-chairman@slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk

Website: slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk      Additional news & information: blog.slinfoldvillage hall.co.uk

Slinfold Magazine item - October 2012

Slinfold Village Hall News

Minutes Secretary needed

Earlier this year, we recruited a few volunteers to help with practical matters at the hall, but because we are still three trustees short of full complement, we would also like one or more volunteers to help with administrative matters. Specifically, we are in urgent need of a Minutes Secretary. If you feel you could help with this or would like further details, please see the box below.

User Groups’ Equipment

All regular Hall Users should by now have received notification that the Trustees will shortly be tidying up all storage areas within the Hall and discarding surplus equipment. All regular Hall Users having equipment stored there are pleased asked to ensure that ALL their equipment is clearly marked to show their ownership, not later than Friday 26^th October.  This is both so that we do not discard it inadvertently, and because, for insurance purposes, we need to know what is stored in the Hall and who owns it.

Contacts: Neil Peachey (Chairman) -791554,    Trevor Dayneswood (Vice-chairman) – 790374
website: slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk       Additional news & information: blog.slinfoldvillage hall.co.uk

WANTED

The Village Hall is in urgent need of a

Minutes Secretary

This is a voluntary position and duties would include:

·                Attending meetings on a Monday evening 7 times per year
(on the third Monday of odd-numbered months, plus AGM in June)

·                Taking notes at the meeting with a view to …

·                producing draft minutes of the meeting and list of Action Points
(typically 3-4 pages as a MS Word document);

·                revising the draft minutes in consultation with the Chairman;

·                distributing revised minutes to the trustees by e-mail
(preferably within about 2 weeks following the meeting).

·                In advance of the next meeting, preparing an Agenda in consultation with the chairman and distributing it.

Estimated hours: up to 2 hours attending meeting, plus 3-4 hours per meeting producing Agenda & Minutes.

The Minutes Secretary does not need to become a Trustee, and
need have no further responsibilities beyond the above.

Further details from :
Neil Peachey (Chairman of the Trustees) – 01403-791554 or 07850-526055
e-mail: chairman@slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk

Summary of Trustees' Decisions - September 2012

• To leave the extension plaque as is – with current wording and names
• Confirmation of policy on advertising and banners – eg. Village Hall activities only
• Not to further pursue the option of a stair lift, as it would reduce the capacity of the Parish Room unacceptably.
• Accept a framed photo set of past and present Jubilee photos

Summary of Trustees' Decisions - July 2012

• Neil Peachey and Trevor Dayneswood re-elected as Chairman and Vice-Chairman for 2012-13.
• Go ahead with Music Licence – for this year at least.
• Increased cost of Music Licence to be absorbed – for this year at least.
• Place most of Village Hall funds in Savings Accounts now available to charities
• Donate old small microwave to the Scouts or the Church, rather than keep it for Parish Room – no food allowed
• Different window locks for Church House side of Hall, so that they will be generally be  kept shut.

Slinfold Magazine item - July 2012

Slinfold Village Hall News

Caretaker

The Trustees are pleased to welcome Tim Covey into the role of Caretaker. Tim will take on responsibility for day-to-day maintenance of the Hall and will be the first point of call for any problems arising during rentals. It is great to have Tim on board, and his role will reduce the amount of volunteer effort required to run the Hall.

AGM

The 2012 AGM took place on 18th June and was relatively well-attended, generating good contributions. There will be a fuller summary of the meeting in August's magazine, but for now there are two main items to report.

Rental Rates

The AGM backed the Trustees' proposal that due to the current economic climate, and despite the Hall's running costs increasing at around 10% a year, rental rates will stay fixed for another year.

Events Group
There is a desire for more events - such as Plays, Music, Dances - to take place in the Hall. Past events have been generally successful but they do require organisation and effort. We are now looking to form an Events Group - which will be a reasonable number of people who can work with the Trustees to put on the occasional (or even regular) event in the Hall. If you are interested in a major or minor role in organising or helping please do contact us, and thank you to those who have already offered their support.

Contacts: Neil Peachey (Chairman) -791554,    Trevor Dayneswood (Vice-chairman) – 790374
website: slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk       Additional news & information: blog.slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk

Slinfold Magazine item - June 2012

Slinfold Village Hall News

Your 130 year-old Village Hall is an independent charily. It is run by volunteer trustees for the benefit of Slinfold and has no affiliation to, or subsidy from, any other village body (eg the Parish Council, the Church). To-date, running costs have been met by rental income, and any fundraising or grants have gone to improving the Hall and its facilities. However the ongoing difficulties in finding new volunteers means that we are having to pay for more and more work that would previously have been done for free. This coming year we need to take action in order to balance the books. Our options include substantially raising rental rates, fundraising (which needs volunteer effort too) to subsidise running costs or just running down our reserves and hoping a rich benefactor appears before we become insolvent.

It is your Hall, so please come to the AGM and let us know your opinion.
Contact: Neil Peachey (Trustees' Chairman) -791554
website: slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk

Summary of Trustees' Decisions - May 2012

• Default position now to pay for work to be done unless sensible to use volunteer resource.
• Village Hall to have a stand at Village Jubilee Day, to raise awareness and solicit volunteers.
• In the future, Parish Council to be asked for grants for replacement of old equipment as and when required, rather than attempting to fund such replacements from Reserves.
• Ongoing annual allocation to Reserves to be reduced to £4k.
• Budget for small operational loss in 2012-13, to be covered by a fundraising activity.
•  Just change code to Front Door for now, new sets of cards to be a) Downstairs only, and b) All Building

Caretaker needed

Caretaker needed urgently

We urgently require a self-employed person to carry out regular maintenance / caretaking duties.

2h per week / 10h per calendar month
(typically 2 x 1h during the week; must work around hall rental times)

Market rate of pay
For more details, click to download a Specification of Duties

For further details or to register your interest, please contact

Trevor Dayneswood (Vice-chairman)

by 27th April.

Slinfold Magazine item - April 2012

Slinfold Village Hall News

Volunteers

We are grateful for the new and existing volunteers who came to the volunteers’ meeting in mid-March.  We now have a few more people to help with general maintenance and upkeep of the building, but can always use more to spread the workload.

Main Hall Floor

Several people have commented on the substantial improvement in the appearance of the Main Hall floor since it was stripped right down, retreated and re-polished in late February. To help maintain it in good condition we have been advised to ensure that when moving chairs around the hall we should not pull them across the floor but should lift them or use the chair trolleys.

Future Plans

The trustees were surprised recently to hear a rumour that they were “considering selling the Village Hall for residential use” so that a new modern facility could be built elsewhere in the village.  The trustees would like to stress that this is not the case.  The Village Hall charity, established in 1881, continues to focus on the existing building as the core of the charity’s remit to provide a Village Hall facility for Slinfold.  The trustees have every intention of completing the re-development of the Hall, which started with the £300,000 refurbishment and extension opened in 2001.  It was agreed at the last AGM that we should again begin to move forward with the plans to widen more of the main hall and raise the height of the low-ceilinged part, to create a larger and more consistent space.  (These plans had previously been put on hold for some years so as not to compete with fundraising for the recent development at the church.) 

Contacts: Neil Peachey (Chairman) -791554,    Trevor Dayneswood (Vice-chairman) – 790374
website: slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk       Additional news & information: blog.slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk

Summary of Trustees' Decisions - March 2012

1. Reconfirm the aim (agreed at AGM) to ultimately enlarge the size and capacity of the hall, in order to ensure the long-term viability of the Hall.
2. Write an article for April magazine to refute any rumours of the trustees planning to sell the Hall for development
3. Produce adverts for the Hall in the future when there are multiple 'public' events in a month
4. Do not paint the lead flashing on the side windows of the Hall

Slinfold Magazine item - March 2012

Slinfold Village Hall News

Village Hall Blog

The web address of the Village Hall Blog was given incorrectly in last month’s Magazine: it should be blog.slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk (with a dot – not an @ sign). To remind you, the Blog enables easy and rapid publication of Village Hall information, and it is also accessible from the menu on our main website as well as directly from the address above. Information can be published there more quickly than through a printed Magazine, as well as longer information and detail not appropriate for inclusion here, including publication of Decisions from Trustee meetings.

Volunteers

We regret that we had to rearrange the meeting with existing, new and possible volunteers mentioned in the last Magazine. This will now be held on Wed 14th March at 7:30 p.m. at the Hall. If you might be interested in helping and would like to find out more — even if you can spare only the occasional hour or two — please contact us or just turn up. Note that the possibility of having a part-time caretaker does not affect our need for volunteers, but it should reduce the burden on all volunteers, new or existing.

Contacts: Neil Peachey (Chairman) -791554, Trevor Dayneswood (Vice-chairman) – 790374
website: slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk

Summary of Trustees’ Decisions – January 2012

1. Preferential Slinfold rental charges will also apply to the parents of children who are at Slinfold School.
2. The current premises licence will be renewed as from 2nd February, the new licence with the Management Committee as the new Designated Premises Supervisor will be progressed later in the year.
3. A paid role of part-time Caretaking will be established and recruited for.
4. A ‘Sounding Group’ will be constituted to govern the approach to solicitation of Legacy Bequests.
5. Deposits for children’s parties will be variable – set as appropriate to the activities that will take place (eg. painting activities will require a higher deposit than magician)
6. Operational Risk Assessment to take place by the Trustees’ meeting in March.
7. Floor cleaning and re-sealing will be delayed until after the local by-election.
8. New versions of Microsoft Office to be purchased at the advantageous charities’ rate.
9. Documented Fire Checks will now be carried out monthly.

Charity Commission Report for 2010-11

Our annual 'SORP' (Statement of Recommended Practice) Charity Commission Report for 2010-11 is now available from our website. Go to the Downloads column of the Trustees — Contacts — Volunteers page of the Village Hall website.

For further information, see previous item below.

Slinfold Magazine item - February 2012

Slinfold Village Hall News

Blog (contraction of “Web-Log”)

To facilitate the easy and rapid publication of Village Hall information, we have now set up a blog, which is accessible from the menu on our main website or directly from blog.slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk. The Blog will be used to publish information more quickly than can be done through this Magazine, and to publish information and detail not appropriate for inclusion here. It will also contain our published Magazine items (back to early 2010).

Publication of Trustee Decisions

In the January Magazine, we stated that “the amount of Village Hall information [being] published … is actively being increased when volunteer resource permits.” We are pleased to say that since then we have published summaries of the key Decisions from 2011 Trustee Meetings. More information on this subject, and also the Decision Summaries themselves, are available in the Blog.

Hall Redecoration

We are grateful for complimentary comments received following repainting of the Entrance Hall, Main Hall and Kitchen. The cleaning of the Entrance Hall carpet and the stripping down, re-treatment and re-polishing of the hard floors in the Main Hall, Entrance Hall, and toilets is now scheduled for Friday 17^th February.

Cleanliness & Damage

The Village Hall is there to be used, and accidental marks, knocks and scratches will inevitably occur during normal use. Nevertheless, it was rather disappointing to discover crayon and other marks on the walls only 10 ‘hiring days’ after the redecoration. It took the cleaner more than an hour to remove these marks.

If damage of any sort should occur during your use of the Hall, please notify the Bookings Secretary as soon as possible, so that it can be attended to quickly.

Caretaker

We have previously mentioned the loss of several long-term and hard-working trustees and volunteers: it is only when they have gone that you realise how much work some of them did! Because of the increasing burden on fewer people, we are now actively considering the employment of a Hall Caretaker for a few hours per week. This is only in the early stages of planning, but, depending on the person appointed, we envisage that a caretaker would primarily assist in the day-to-day oversight of the Hall, attend to routine jobs, and possibly help co-ordinate volunteer effort.

If anyone would be interested in discussing this opportunity,
we would be pleased to hear from them (contact details below).

Volunteers

The possibility of having a caretaker, does not affect our need for volunteers — but it should reduce the burden on all volunteers, new or existing. We have arranged a meeting with existing, new and possible volunteers on Wed 22^nd February at 7:30 p.m. at the Hall. If you might be interested in helping and would like to find out more — even if you can spare only the occasional hour or two — please contact us or just turn up.

Contacts: Neil Peachey (Chairman) -791554, Trevor Dayneswood (Vice-chairman) – 790374
website: slinfoldvillagehall.co.uk

Publication of Summaries of Trustee Decisions

Over the past few months, requests have been made for publication of the minutes of Slinfold Village Hall Trustee meetings: a direct request to the Trustees for the publication of their minutes, a Freedom of Information (FoI) request for such through the Parish Council, and an implicit request in an article in the December 2011 issue of the Slinfold Magazine.

As a Registered Charity, the Village Hall is not a public body and hence is not subject to the FoI Act. Additionally, constitutionally, the Parish Council has - and can have - no involvement in the running of the Village Hall, which is a Registered Charity. The Parish Council merely holds the role of Custodian Trustee, which means that the building and land is held in their name on behalf of the Managing Trustees, who cannot hold it in their own name because they do not legally constitute a Corporate Body.

The Trustees do not consider it appropriate to publish the minutes of their operational meetings - which may include sensitive or condfidential business - and as far as the current trustees are aware it has never been the practice for the Hall to do so.

Nevertheless, although the Trustees do not consider it appropriate to publish the minutes of their meetings in full, they do recognise the benefits of frequent and open communication and, in addition to regular updates in the Slinfold Magazine, their intention has been to publish a Summary of key Decisions from their meetings when volunteer time became available. The current Christmas break has finally afforded that time, and summaries of the decisions made at Trustee Meetings during 2011 have now been produced and retrospectively published in this blog. It is the Trustees intention to continue publishing such summaries, but it must be noted that they are under no legal obligation to do so, and that their continuance to do so is subject to volunteer time being available.

Reserves Policy

As promised in the January 2012 issue of the Slinfold Magazine, a document explaining the charity's policy on Financial Reserves Allocation is now available for download from the Hall's website or directly from here