Silchester Village Hall’s AGM – 13th February
All the Trustees were present, along with 10 local residents.
The Chairman (Steve Spillane) reported the good news that bookings have increased, post- Covid, with the addition of new activities available for the community: Yoga, Pilates, Kids After School Creative Art Club, Prosecco and Painting for Adults, and Seated Exercise Classes. The Pop-Up Café’s temporary home in the Clubroom was also mentioned.
Eammon McArdle was thanked for his support over the last 11 years as he stepped down as Treasurer and Trustee, and Yvonne McArdle was thanked for her help with the accounts. Viv Hartshorn was also formally recognised, with applause, a plaque and a special gift, for her 37 years of service as the Bookings Clerk.
Succeeding Treasurer, Leigh Harrison, presented the most recent accounts and predicted that the Trustees would have to discuss raising rental prices this year because prices have remained static for several years now despite the increased cost of running and maintaining this historic Hall, such as a rise of almost £1,000 in the insurance premium. Improvement projects which the Trustees would like to move ahead with are also costly, but very necessary so that the community can continue to enjoy using the Hall. £3,000 has recently been spent on smart new stage curtains – thanks to Trustees Peter Allison and Sarah Bradshaw for organising.
Steve Spillane reported that he would normally have stood down as Chairman at this AGM, having served six years as Chairman and 11 as a Trustee. However, he felt he wanted to stay on for one more year to see some of the main projects already initiated through to fruition. He will be standing down at the 2024 AGM both as Chairman and as Trustee.
New Trustees, Janet Earl and Michele Dows-Miller were voted in, as were all the other trustees: Peter Allison, Richard Baker, Paul Miles, Sarah Bradshaw, Kirstie Jones, Leigh Harrison and Steve Spillane. Eve Baker has agreed to continue as Secretary, doing a great job of organising the Trustees as necessary.
Steve Spillane reported that it has been brought to the Trustees’ attention the charity would be best served by changing its charitable status. There are several options available, and Trustees are seeking legal advice as to which best suits the Hall’s needs. There ensued a short discussion from residents on the options available and the benefits of one over the other. The Trustees will come back to residents, following legal advice, with a recommendation.
The Trustees thanked those residents who had given feedback on the new Governance document, and especially Janet Earl and Peter Allison for their work on this. All changes made to this will be incorporated into the next version of the document and will be proposed to residents in due course.
Ann-Marie Dalton asked if a more visible sign denoting the building to be the Village Hall could be erected. Trustee Richard Baker agreed to arrange this.
Peter Hughes thanked the Trustees, on behalf of all village residents, for their hard work and stated the Village Hall to be a valuable asset to the village.
New Booking and Access System
The new booking system is up and running and the diary can now be viewed online at www.tinyurl.com/SVHdiary or enquires to bookings@silchestervillagehall.org.uk All the regular users are already on the system and new bookings can now be made online. Huge thanks to Clare Payne for taking on this task of managing the booking system. The new website is also about to go live, with Trustee Paul Miles having put in many hours’ work for this launch.
And Trustee Richard Baker, who works tirelessly on maintenance and improvement tasks at the Hall, has installed fitted key safes for user access.