KING`S SOMBORNE VILLAGE HALL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Minutes of the Meeting held on 12th December 2013 in the Committee Room.

Present: Terry Mackintosh – Chairman, Eileen Reynolds – Secretary, Mike Reynolds – Treasurer/Somborne Society, Linda Aucock – Invoice Secretary/Parish Church/ W.I., Val Chapman – Booking Secretary, Dick Dyke – Football Club, Frank Fahy – Parish Council, Chris Kirby – Cricket Club.

The Chairman welcomed all to the meeting.

1. Apologies: Vicky Burden, Lucy Chadwick, Tracey Harris, Bill Hartley, Wendy Hartley, Pollyann Monk, Duncan Natt.

2. Minutes of Previous Meetings/Matters Arising:

The Minutes of the Meeting held on the 21st November were approved and signed as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Special VHDC Meeting held on Thursday 28th November were received.

Matters arising from both meetings were covered elsewhere on the Agenda.

3. Committee Membership/Trustees 2013-2014;

TM reported that Trevor Ryan had been invited to join the VHDC.

4. Hall Maintenance/Cleaning:

a) Cleaning; It was noted that Sheila was continuing to give the Away Changing Room an extra clean after matches so that it was suitable for use by the Pre-school on Wednesdays. The Home Changing Room was not in a clean state with dirty loos and grass in the shower areas. TM undertook to raise this matter with Doug Stammers. TM

b) Purchases; A plastic runner, which had been purchased to protect the entrance hall carpet on wet days, had had to be removed as it proved a trip hazard. The possibility of acquiring an electric carpet cleaner was being considered. TM

c) Heating; As discussed at previous meetings, some serious faults had been found with the central heating boiler when it had been serviced and these were being investigated. In the meantime the boiler continued to be unreliable and TM was arranging for a further visit from the boiler engineer to see if these difficulties could be overcome. TM

It was hoped to keep the present boiler operational until the refurbishment of the Main Hall.

d) Leak; It was noted that there was still a leak in the kitchen. Some preliminary work had been undertaken by Lee Young to rectify this problem. Further work was needed.

e) Theft of Fire Extinguisher; As reported at the previous meeting the extinguisher from the Entrance Hall had been stolen. This had been found near the Children’s Play Area by a member of the public who had kindly let TM know and it had been retrieved. As it had been discharged TM would now arrange for it to be refilled. Bourne Ltd. had also recommended that an extinguisher should be installed in the Jubilee Room. TM/WH

f) Vandalism; This continued to be a problem. Recently incidence of this had included the PIR being pulled off the wall by the front door so the courtesy light did not work.

5. Hall Bookings:

a) Booking Secretary’s Report; VC had reported that although there had been one or two problems generally all was going smoothly. She had now contacted regular users to ascertain their requirements for 2014. Various suggestions were made on how to make VC’s job easier.

MR drew attention to the fact that there may be some difficulty at the time of the pantomime when the Players would need to store their props etc. in areas currently used by the Pre-school and the situation would need to be monitored carefully. TM/ER/VC

b) Invoice Secretary’s Report; LA reported that all was well and there were few outstanding invoices. LA

c) Pre-school Report; LC had not reported any difficulties.

6. Financial Matters:

Treasurer’s Report: MR presented his report for December 2013.

For the Management Account he reported receipts of £2,879 and payments of £1,591.75 for

November.

The latter figure included a payment of £412 to renew the PRS Licence.

The last bank statement at 13th November showed a balance of £12,072.72

For the Development Account, MR reported receipts of £818.54 with no payments being paid in November.

These receipts included £500 from Somborne Sessions and £301 from a Coffee Morning.

The bank statement at 5th November showed a balance of £31,362.03.

The Instant Access Bank Statement showed a balance of £1,933.44 on the 9th November.

MR confirmed that Peter Storey was continuing to investigate situation with regard to payments to Southern Water and that we would eventually receive an up to date account.

MR

7. Hall Development/Renovation:

a) Phase 4; Some modifications to this phase still needed to be undertaken before the Building Inspector would sign the work off. In connection with this it was hoped Lee Young would fit a new door with a glass panel to the archive store shortly and Bourne Ltd. would install a wireless call point in the Jubilee Room. An estimate of cost was awaited for the call point.

John Vanderpump had managed to get it in touch with Stuart, the electrician, and it was understood that he was now prepared to sign the work off that he had undertaken at the Hall.

Before he did this, however, there were one or two jobs outstanding including some modifications to the on/off switch in the consumer unit.

It was noted that Lee had still not carried out the work he had agreed to do on the pillar,

approval for which had been given some time ago. TM

b) Phase 6;

i) Acquisition of land from Fields in Trust

Since the last meeting TM and FF had followed up the position with regard to the Parish Council approaching Fields in Trust to acquire the part of the Recreation Ground the Council did not already own. Peter Storey had confirmed that he had written to FiT on behalf of the Council and it was hoped the matter would be considered by FIT at their next meeting of trustees. The Parish Council in the meantime required written confirmation from the VHMC that they would meet any legal costs (amounting to £750 to £1000) the Council incurred in connection with this transaction. Members confirmed that they agreed to this but that any payment should be limited to the land transfer alone and not any other legal action undertaken by the Council in connection with the matter. TM said he would draft a letter to the Council along these lines and send this in draft to ER and MR for comment before sending it. FF said he would also raise the question at the next Council Meeting. TM/FF

ii) Application for grants

MR confirmed that initial application for a Capital Grant of £120,000 which had been made to HCC on behalf of the Committee had been unsuccessful. It was still possible to apply for a grant of up to £25,000 and it was agreed once the relevant estimates, drawings etc. had been received this should be made. The next deadline for this application was 17th January.

Tony Brooke-Webb had been planning to apply to Veolia for a grant but it was agreed this should be put in abeyance until the outcome of the bid made by the Parish Council to Veolia for the MUGA was known as it was felt unlikely that the company would support two bids from the same village. In the meantime the possibility of approaching other grant giving bodies would be investigated.

It was noted that taking into account the money raised to date, that being raised by the Clay Pigeon Shoot and other fund raising activity and a successful bids for grant from HCC and possibly Veolia, it was unlikely that more than £70,000 would be available by the summer. Accordingly, the extent of the work to be undertaken during the summer would need to be scaled back to reflect this figure. TM/MR

iii) Order/Priorities of work; Bearing the above in mind, a paper with suggested priorities had been prepared by the VHllDC and circulated in advance of the meeting for comment. The suggested levels of priority had been generally well received.

Two comments, however, had been received before the meeting as follows;

BH and WH had asked that Hall Heating should be raised to essential category and

ER had asked that the Sound System should be added to the list and given high priority.

Both these amendments were agreed.

It was considered essential that independent advice should be sought with regard to the heating and lighting that would be best for the Hall. In connection with this, TM undertook to contact Kevin Sawyer (CAH) for suggestions on the consultants used by other halls which he could recommend.

There was also some doubt on the extent of the re-wiring needed for the Hall. This was about forty years old and probably needed replacing but it was felt that this too should be independently verified.

Finally it was agreed that even some of the work given an “essential” rating may need to carried out in two phases. TM

c) Other work being undertaken in the vicinity of the Hall;

FF had been checking the position with regard to the All Weather Path. ER was able to confirm that a report had been received on the archaeology of the area in July 2010 and passed to the Parish Council. This report did not raise any objection to the Path going ahead. Subsequently, there had been a presentation on the surface of the path to be provided. This had been attended by TM and MR among others.

It was noted that the proposal to construct a MUGA had not been dropped by the Parish Council as originally thought. (See Item 7 above)

It was agreed that the suggestion to improve the signage to the Hall from the A3057 should be pursued and TM was seeking an estimate for the work involved. TM/FF

8. Health and Safety Issues:

Reference to the need for an additional fire extinguisher is made under item 3.

It was agreed that the fridge at present in the Pavilion should be moved. BH/TM . 9. Events/Fundraising/ Donations:

All fund raising activity appeared to be progressing very well.

10. Future Meetings: VHDC - 7th January, VHMC- 9th January (provisional).

DRAFT/ ER/ 19.12.13.