LANGHAM COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting
held on 25th May 2017

Present
Fourteen people attended the AGM including two members of the public.

Apologies for Absence
James Puxley, Denise Hobday, Cheryl Williams, Melanie Everett, Sue Thorpe, Ian Sutherland.

Alan Cadman, Chairman, welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Minutes of the AGM held on 19th May 2016
Referring to the final paragraph of page 2 of the minutes, it was pointed out that the solicitors’ advice had proved to be erroneous and, in fact, the Treasurer and Secretary were trustees with a vote. The proposed new governing document (Agenda item 8) clarifies this point for future occasions.

With this proviso, Andrew Craig proposed and Marlena Lipski seconded that the Minutes be accepted as a true record of the meeting. All in favour.

Matters Arising
Any matters arising were dealt with in the following Agenda items.

Managing Trustees’ Report
The Chairman said we had had a record year to the end of March 2017 with income of over £76,000, raising fears of breaching the VAT threshold. Andrew Craig questioned the Shop’s electricity being included as income, since it actually just serves to reimburse the LCC for payment already made to the electricity suppliers. Sue Armstrong confirmed that payments due to the Parish Council for hire of the recreation ground were no longer paid through us.

There had been some ups and downs during the year. The programmed refurbishments had gone ahead with grant funding and with additional works undertaken: resealing the floors, painting the ceiling and upper and lower walls in hall; painting the clubroom and committee room. The disabled toilet upgrade had been postponed to the current year.

The Colchester Toy Fair had become regular hirers and the bacon butties we provide had proved a great success. Caravaners and the scooter club had booked again but the scooters were unable to attend in 2017 owing to illness among the organisers. Beekeepers continue to buzz in and most local clubs keep up their regular hires, which is the main purpose of the hall.

On the downside, the WI had closed as they were unable to find volunteers to be officers. However, Maureen Shouksmith said that they might start up again as a Langham Women’s Group. Also, it had been agreed last April to waive the Community Shop’s rent for two years as they were experiencing financial difficulties. Moreover, in January 2017 the Pre-School had asked for a rent reduction due to falling numbers, which had been agreed initially for six months and was under constant review. Both village organisations were striving their utmost to improve their financial status. (Alan also intimated that the Toddler group seemed likely to fold in the summer of 2017 due to falling numbers and loss of organisers.)

Alan thanked all those who had helped to redraft the amended Governing Document of the Charity and praised Sue Sheppard from the RCCE for her invaluable assistance.

Finances
Finally, Alan referred to the balance sheet which was before the meeting, showing a healthy balance in the current account as well as £20,000 in our savings account. However, this came with the usual proviso that much expenditure lies ahead.

The Trustees are responsible for ensuring the preparation of financial statements and keeping proper accounting records in accordance with Charity Commission regulations.

Alan thanked Sue Trimnell for stepping in towards the end of the financial year to prepare the end of year accounts for us. This had been a huge undertaking since we had not been able to fill our treasurer vacancy. Alan also thanked Liz Winter for keeping the accounts ticking over during the year. Sue was presented with some flowers.

Treasurer’s Report
In the absence of a Treasurer, Liz Winter gave a commentary on the figures in the balance sheet. She assured the meeting that the maintenance plan had been updated by the Finance sub-committee and showed that regular annual maintenance costs were just over £3,000 for 2016/17. A projected spend for next year of £6,500 was included for replacement of kitchen breakages, lighting and a possible replacement cooker and industrial dishwasher, together with two new coin meters for the heaters to take new £1 coins. Interior decoration with a possible new committee room carpet, chairs, roller blinds, toilet hand-dryers and car park repairs account for a further £10,000, making a total projected spend for 2017/18 of around £20,000.

A lot of money had been spent last year on boiler maintenance with both boilers giving trouble and requiring new pumps. The 12-year-old hall boiler may need replacement before the estimated date in two years’ time at a cost of around £8,000. £14,724.40 had been paid to Rose builders over and above the grants obtained for the refurbishment.

Salaries had more than trebled as the refurbishment last summer had required many extra hours from Sue and Cheryl. There had also been a salary increase last June and a busier than ever hiring timetable. Liz thanked Sue and Cheryl for all their hard work. Sue Armstrong explained that the lower figure for HMRC payments was probably due to Cheryl giving up a second job and now being below the tax threshold.

Andrew Craig confirmed to the meeting that the Community Shop will be in a position to pay a basic rent to cover the costs incurred by the LCC on its behalf after the expiry of the rent holiday. A figure will be agreed as soon as possible. The Pre-School paid a full year’s rent to end of March but were now paying £50 to cover our costs until end of September, when it is hoped their number on roll will have increased.

On the income side, commercial regular lettings have more than doubled as have non-commercial/non local lets. Income from lettings has risen by 26.5% on 2015/16. Danshell continue to hire regularly grossing £17,000 out of which we paid £5,000 for their buffets.
David King asked how this worked and Sue A explained that providing the food was a way of attracting the custom. We pay for the buffets initially but this money is reclaimed from Danshell with their hiring fee.

Sue Trimnell confirmed that there were one or two figures which needed adjusting, such as the 100 Club payments, because she had not realised how some items were accounted for within our previous system. However, the totals of income and payments were correct and she would amend the spreadsheets to correct the discrepancies and circulate a revised balance sheet to the Trustees. Liz Winter thanked Sue once again for stepping into the breach and Andrew Craig proposed a vote of thanks to Sue and Liz for taking on the Treasurer’s responsibilities.

Liz Schofield proposed and David King seconded that the accounts should be accepted (with agreed minor amendments). Carried.

Election of Officers
The secretary advised the meeting that she and Alan were willing to stand again. Maureen Shouksmith had very kindly agreed to stand as Treasurer since no other candidate could be found. Sue Trimnell and Andrew Craig were willing to assist her when necessary.
On this basis David King proposed and Liz Schofield seconded that the officers be elected en bloc. Carried unanimously.

Chairman – Alan Cadman; Secretary – Liz Winter; Treasurer – Maureen Shouksmith.

Community Council Representatives
During the year we had lost Michaela Ward from the Pre-School, to be replaced by Melanie Everett and Ann Cairns had been replaced for the Bridge Club by Mavis Heath. The secretary had written to all the local Clubs and asked who their appointed representative would be. Mavis pointed out that she had not agreed to continue as Bridge Club rep and hoped they would appoint a new one at their AGM in August.


The full list of representatives elected by their organisations is as follows:

Liz Schofield Parish Council
Bob Schofield Recreation Ground
tba Bridge Club
Marlena Lipski Patchwork Pals
Denise Hobday Parochial Church Council
Mark Kleingeld Tennis Club
Andrew Craig Community Shop
Melanie Everett Pre-School
James Puxley Scouts
Jutta Brawn Bowls Club

Liz Schofield asked why the Langham WI had disbanded. Maureen said no-one would take on the official roles, so under WI rules they were forced to close. If anyone wishes to start it up again within three years, then the money can be reclaimed from the WI. A Langham Ladies Group will have its first meeting in July and, if this takes off, they could be asked to provide a representative.

Constitution
To consider and vote on Resolutions to amend the Charity Commission Schemes of 5th April 1978 and 27th January1988.

The Secretary explained that a committee of Alan Cadman, Andrew Craig, Maureen Shouksmith and herself had met Sue Sheppard and corresponded by e-mail to draw up an amended Governing Document based on the RCCE model of 2013. This had cost £235.20 and, as the Chairman had already said, Sue Sheppard had been excellent.

The new document clarifies, re-orders and updates the original 1978 one, making it easier to follow, while basically covering the same ground. Voting rights are clearer, participating local organisations have been updated, terms of office are stipulated and the name of the Langham Community Centre has been added as our working name. The finished version was circulated to Trustees and passed by Resolution made by the Trustees on 30th March 2017.

A second Resolution amends the 1988 document which stated that £28,000 of insurance monies is held by the Parish Council on our behalf (from which we have use of the interest). The sum on deposit with NS&I is £26,000 and it is believed that the original figure was entered erroneously and the amount has always been £26,000. Liz Schofield has provided a letter to this effect.

We are now asking the members of the public at this AGM to vote to approve these two Resolutions. It is unfortunate that only three members of the public from the village are in attendance, apart from Trustees of the LCC. David King was assured that representatives of all user organisations had received and approved the amended document and that it could be made available on the Community Centre website as well as in the hall. The meeting voted to approve the Resolutions.

Any Other Business
Alan gave a final vote of thanks to Sue Armstrong, Cheryl and all the Trustees for their hard work during a very busy and, at times, difficult year. Liz Schofield thanked Alan for the colossal amount of day to day responsibilities which he undertakes on behalf of the LCC.

This concluded the business and the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 9.10pm.


Next Finance meeting Monday 3rd July 2017 at 7.30 p.m. at the Chairman’s house.

Next Trustees’ meeting Thursday 20th July 2017 at 7.30pm in the Clubroom.