The Witheridge Hall Management Trustees Committee Meeting:

DRAFT MINUTES for Meeting held on Thursday 30th September 2010

Present:

A copy of those members present is attached to these minutes.

Apologies: Gill Manning: Molly Bullivant: Maggie Cosker: Greg Henderson: Pat Copas

New Representatives:

Patricia Dart representing the Pre School and Cassandra Darling representing The Friends of Witheridge School were both welcomed and duly elected by an overwhelming vote of those present.

Minutes from last meeting: The minutes were accepted as correct and were signed by the Chair.

Questions from the Floor: There were none

Matters Arising from the Last Meeting:

a) The chair confirmed that the application form to obtain an amended drinks licence was in hand and should be ready to be submitted when the licence is due for renewal.

b) Some work has already been done on tidying the parish hall grounds but volunteers are still needed to complete the task. Kaye Woollacott and Simon Howard volunteered, but more volunteers, especially from male trustees are still needed. Chair will press for more help.

c) The committee were advised that the Notice Board currently situated in North Street is to be removed and repaired, and will then be sited on the raised area just inside the entrance to the Hall. At the same time the old wooden fencing and the shrubs will be removed and a new fence will be installed hopefully along the top of the raised area. It is intended that this work will be completed before the Spring of 2011.

d) Work on the kitchen upgrade will start on 1st October and should be completed by the end of the following week. Chris Kershaw advised the trustees that the work would include tiling behind the cooker area, removing an unwanted cupboard and relocating the hot plate. The electrical board will be boxed in and the whole area will be repainted to match the existing colour scheme. The trustees were updated on the position with regard to the proposed new cooker requested by the luncheon club and were advised that there was a dispute over the allocation of the grant obtained for that purpose and that we were unable to accept any monies from the luncheon club until this had been resolved by them with the Grass Roots body. In the meantime arrangements were in hand to get Clarke Electricals to visit and ascertain if it was possible to repair the broken thermostat in the existing cooker.

e) Stuart White reported that the Parish Council were trying to finally resolve the question of where in the village the Youth Shelter was to be sited, and the new proposal agreed between the police and the youth representatives was on the hard standing adjacent to the tots play area. Views were expressed on the suitability of this site, but the chair reminded all trustees that this issue had already been subject to a previous vote which had approved the positioning of the shelter within the Parish Hall Grounds. With one member opposed, the trustees confirmed that the shelter would be accepted in this location and Stuart White will report back to the parish council. The chair did suggest that given the strong reservations as to the behaviour of those using this shelter; some consideration should be given to installing improved lighting for the grounds and possibly a CCTV camera to monitor activity.

f) The general state of the floors within the hall were now discussed and Chris Kershaw was able to advise trustees that the quote obtained by the previous chair was to include the whole floor area including the wooden floor being cleaned, and all were in agreement that this should proceed as soon as possible. Problems with regard to the general standard of cleanliness were raised and trustees were updated regarding on going discussions with our cleaner in this respect. It was agreed that progress in this regard would be reported back at the next meeting.

g) It was agreed by all present that members of the public should not be excluded from attending our meetings, but they would only be permitted to address the trustees for a short period at the beginning of the meeting. It was proposed that each such address be limited to no more than three minutes.

h) Chair confirmed that we were still searching for a new secretary and asked trustees to assist if possible in finding a replacement.

i) "To consider whether trustees exercised appropriate due diligence in their fiduciary duty in opting out of the feasibility study"………………

The Chair now advised the trustees that in light of information now available from the Charity Commission, he had to advise them that he had not given them the best of advice at the previous meeting before they had voted on whether they should support the Parish Halls participation in the proposed feasibility study.

The advice given to the Extraordinary Meeting held on the 15th July had been that they should support the feasibility study and then make their decision on any future participation on the grounds that if the trustee opted out they would still need a feasibility study before they could apply for external funding to rebuild the hall. In rejecting this advice and voting to opt out, the trustees had placed themselves in a position were, in placing themselves in a position were the charity was likely to incur additional costs in having to search for an alternative source of funding, they were likely to be deemed negligent in carrying out their Fiduciary Duty towards the charity.

The chair made it clear that the feasibility study did not commit the trustees to any future course of action, and they were still able to proceed with plans to raise money towards plans rebuild the existing hall on the existing site.

Having explained this position the chair then placed before the meeting a proposal that the Trustees vote to change the original vote and now agreed to support the Feasibility study on the clear understanding that this would not mean any change in current plans to rebuild the hall on the present site. All those present voted in Favour of this motion.

Correspondence: National Survey of Charities and Social Enterprises

Bookings Update: Chris Kershaw advised that bookings were good and that there were no major issues arising. Monday nights had two bookings one after each other and this had occasioned some minor problems, but these had now been dealt with.

Finance Report: All present were given a copy of the latest accounts and a copy will be kept with these minutes. The new building account is ready and Harry Richardson advised the meeting that he would be passing a cheque for £500 to open this account with. This was the balance left over when the Village Scene closed, and thanks were offered for this generosity. The treasurer will be on holiday for three weeks during October, and Chris Kershaw offered to do any banking during that period. Forthcoming Fund Raising Events

The grand Auction and sale will take place in the hall on November 6th, and is being widely advertised around the Parish. Doreen Parsons has kindly agreed to organise refreshments during the event.

It was agreed that starting on the last Sunday in January we would organise a monthly car boot sale to be held either in the hall or outside depending on the weather. The standard charge of £5 for cars and £10 for vans would be applied. It is hoped that members of the trustees will provide catering on the day. It was suggested that Gill Manning be contacted with regard to availing us of her knowledge regarding advertising the proposed event.

Parish Hall Building Fund: The Charity Commission has approved the setting up of a new account and Jim Homden will now arrange to open it by depositing the sum of £500 donated by the editors of the Witheridge Scene.

A.O.B: Harry Richardson raised the motion that as the Cricket Club were no longer playing within the Parish having moved to Nomansland, they were not entitled to a representative on the Management Committee. The Chair thanked him for his suggestion but ruled it out of order.

Date of Next Meeting: It was agree that our next meeting would be held on November 25th at 7.30pm, and that the following three meetings would take place on the 27th January 2011, 31st March 2011 and the 26th May 2011. There being no further business the Chair thanked everyone for attending and declared the meeting closed at 8.42pm



Agreed Correct……………………………………………………………Date ………………………………………………

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