Village Hall

SCOPWICK & KIRKBY GREEN VILLAGE HALL

MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE SCOPWICK & KIRKBY GREEN VILLAGE HALL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE HELD IN THE VILLAGE HALL ON TUESDAY 18TH JANUARY 2022

Present:  
Mrs Janet Flett    Chairman
Mrs Rosa Nelson    Treasurer
Mr Joe Kennard      Booking Secretary, Vice Chairman
Mrs Liz Banks         Secretary    
Mr Michael Dowse
Mr Chris Medcalf
Mrs Debra Heeney
Mrs Wendy Stacey
   
1 Welcome - Chairman welcomed and wished all a happy New Year.
                      Apologies – Mrs Tracy Fenwick     

2 Acceptance of previous minutes - Accepted as correct by all who had been at the meeting.  

 
3 Matters arising from previous minutes not on agenda – none    

4 Correspondence – ACRE Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant information received, Chairman will apply for the £2667 available.
YMCA correspondence re Village Halls Week 24-30th Jan. and The Great Winter Get Together - The Hub coffee morning, this coming Thursday, will be our event for these.
The Treasurer had received information from Zurich insurance who are sponsoring Village Halls Week about suggestions for events.    

5 Treasurer’s Report

Chairman had approached Parish Council for grant of £100 towards Christmas Cheer Bags, this came in and went straight out.
Secretary given Financial summary sheet by treasurer up to Nov 21.
Treasurer has completed Annual return, Safeguarding question, discussion was held as to what sort of checks we need. DBS check only needed if one to one, so not applicable. For Safeguarding there just needs to be a contact name on the notice board in the hall, Janet will sort.
Expenditure costs include, repair of piano, £15, replacement metal floor strip £40, PPL PRS licence £117.23, alcohol licence £90. Balance as of 09/11/21 was £39240.62.
The treasurer mentioned that the insurers were offering a free valuation to see if hall was insured for the correct amount £250,000. It was decided not to take up this offer.
Plastering repair has been done in ladies toilet, invoice received for £300, treasurer will check amount correct as was only a small repair.
Village Draw Update – Have lost a few members due to moving, but hopefully will gain some with new people in the village.    

6 Lettings and Bookings
a) Weddings and special events – a problem arose after a wedding hire in November when it was not until some time after the hire that damage was noticed to the piano, scuffing of floor due to dance floor being laid,  and the flooring strip in the side room where chairs are stored. By this time a meeting had taken place in hall and damage was not noticed until chairs were replaced into the cupboard.  After some unpleasantness between the hirer and the Treasurer and Booking Secretary the Chairman sent a letter to the hirer acknowledging upset for both parties and our disappointment as we had been very generous. It confirmed return of the deposit minus a contribution towards repair of the piano (which they had already agreed to) and closing the matter. As yet there has been no reply. 
To avoid this situation happening again it was agreed that the hall needs to be inspected after a private booking. Also when booking is made to ask if they plan on using outside furniture, it is not ideal having to fit all hall chairs into side room as there are too many and it increases risk of damage. All agreed that despite this we were happy to carry on accepting out of village bookings for weddings.
A list of current bookings for the Village Hall was distributed by Booking Secretary. January bookings show that use of hall is getting back to normal. The Meditation sessions on a Monday continuing for next 10 weeks with time as before, which means that Tiddlers Group cannot yet be accommodated. Brownies is now organised by Linda Carpenter-Coxon who has taken over from Kate Mason, Joe has been in touch with her. She has a young helper who is officially in charge to fulfil the Brownie requirements for the position age wise.
There are quite a few Mondays when the Brownies are not meeting which would be free to hire out.
Lighting to carpark is still fairly dark once hall has been locked up & CP light out, not easy to sort, Rosa is meeting electrician in hall and will ask.
Bookings for private parties, wedding reception, Western Front Concert, Craft Fair and sales. Western Front Concert have requested help with refreshments with sale proceeds to go to hall, agreed this possible.    

7  Fabric & Fittings 
a)  First Aid equipment and training – Tracy and Rosa will check the recommended list for VH First Aid box and purchase anything missing.
Chairman has spoken to Parish Clerk about having an opening of the new Kirkby Green defibrillator & will try and sort a defibrillator training session & 2 or 3 classes of First Aid with the Red Cross. The Chairman advised that everyone who runs a group should have someone who knows about First Aid and recommended the Red Cross phone app and booklets.
b) Security alarm and code – before Christmas the alarm was going off randomly. Rosa organised an engineer who replaced the battery, £40. It was decided not to take up his offer of an annual service for £80, but to have one done every 5 years, next due 2027.
It was agreed to change the alarm code so Rosa will do this and Secretary will notify all the key holders.
Anything else – security light not working so Rosa is meeting electrician. New thermometer purchased for fridge. Ceiling in gents has crack.
February crockery count will be done by Debra and Wendy – have lost some crockery after events.    

8 Caretaking Matters – caretaker not at meeting.    

9  User Groups Update 
Bowls – going quite well. Mike will ask members if anyone is willing to be the new rep on VHMC.
Art – Going steadily with around 16 members, sadly lost one over Christmas. Looking at organising the occasional demonstration again. Car park surface rather a challenge in wet, this is in hand with Parish Council who have agreed to put some gravel down when it has dried out sufficiently.
Friendship – last meeting in November was poorly attended. Next week there is a session, so will see how it goes.
Hub – 10.30-12noon with coffee morning this Thursday, 4 stalls coming.
Shake it Up – 6 attended last week.
Fun Fit – a good turnout at last session with 12 attending, including 2 new people.
Twinning – The French are intending to visit this year, no events planned yet.
Playing Field – Postponed grand opening is to be held on Sat 7th May.    

10 Feedback on Christmas activities
The Warm Up to Christmas Evening was greatly enjoyed by all who attended, Terri and Nigel entertained all with their music to which all enjoyed singing Christmas songs. Numbers were disappointing, but it raised about £130 for Cancer Relief. Chairman has received nice email of thanks from Angie.
It was decided to repeat the event next Christmas on Wed 14th December and Chairman will ask Terri & Nigel if they are free.
Christmas Cheer Bags – 20 of these were distributed, kindly sorted by Janet. Rosa and Wendy, recipients included people who are lonely, on their own, who have done things for the village or who need cheering up. They were greatly appreciated by those who received them and Chairman has received emails, letters and phone calls of thanks & will pass on thanks to the Parish Council for their donation of £100 towards these. Other donations towards these were £100 from the Hub and £54 from Friendship.    

11  Future Events
a)  Queen’s Platinum Jubilee – June 2022 (Bank Holiday Thursday 2nd – Sunday 5th June) – It was agreed to have an evening event in VH on Thur. 2nd June. Linking in with the National event of Pipers, Beacon lighting & Town crier proclamation. Chairman suggested a short and sweet presentation focusing on the highlights of each decade of the Queen’s reign, with Terri and Nigel choosing a song for each decade that we can all join in with, to which all agreed. Supper maybe coronation chicken (ask JS re chicken) & desert. Need to decide whether or not to charge – could ask PC for contribution, maybe raise money through the Hub. In March PC have a letterbox drop so could also send out a VH Events list with reply slip for event to be returned by end of April, Janet and Rosa will sort the leaflet. 
Sunday, it was agreed to have a big Jubilee picnic Lunch in the meadow, in the hall if raining, with people bringing their own picnics.     
Any Other Ideas – Rural Touring will produce new list in March. 
Janet will contact Flossie to see availability and charges.    

12 Parish Magazine Entry Rosa will update Village list of activities.
Save the date notice for Queen’s Jubilee celebrations of Thursday 2nd June evening and Sunday 5th June lunch    

13 AOB – The Chairman of Timberland Village Hall had approached treasurer to discuss hire charges. It was agreed that we were willing to talk if he wanted but not to standardise charges.
The Parish Clerk is resigning, so the job is being advertised, VH grant will be paid in April.    

14  Date of Next Meeting – Tuesday 1st March 2022 at 7 pm. 

   
15  Village Draw 
      December    1st prize £40    M10   Jayne Mitchell
                           2nd prize £20    E14  Kevin Parker-Garrick
                           3rd prize £10    G5    Sandra Gustar

       January       1st prize £40    H11    Pat Hindle
                           2nd prize £20    P2    Toby Mitchell
                           3rd prize £10    A6          Wendy Stacey
       Drawn by Debra Heeney and Wendy Stacey, witnessed by Chris Medcalf 

Liz Banks