Langham Village Hall aka Langham Community Centre
Charity Commission Number 268187

Managing Trustees’ Annual Report 31st March 2021

The Managing Trustees present their Report for the year ended 31st March 2021, which should be read in conjunction with the attached Financial Statements for the same period.

Legal Status
The Charity was established on 4th April 1978, whereby Langham Parish Council is the custodian Trustee of the freehold land now occupied by the Community Centre and Car Park.

Objects, Policies and Organisation
The Trust is established to provide and maintain the Community Centre for the benefit of the inhabitants of Langham, without distinction of political, religious or other opinions, with the object of improving the quality of life of the inhabitants.

The Centre is available for hire by any individual or organisation in accordance with the standard hiring agreement and scale of charges adopted for the year. It is intended that the scale is sufficient to generate enough income to meet the ordinary expenditure incurred in providing the Centre. Significant improvements are funded out of revenue by specific appeals, fundraising and utilising grants as available.

Review of the Year
2020/21 has been a very unusual year for the Community Centre, as it has been for all of us individually, due to the impact of COVID-19 and the associated government restrictions. Almost all of our regular village club hires have been held in a state of abeyance throughout the year whilst we await the return of some sort of normality. Commercial hires have also been heavily impacted, but we have been fortunate to retain some significant hire revenues from Cygnet, who have continued to operate essential social services training classes throughout the pandemic.

A small number of new hiring initiatives have managed to get off the ground during the year, in compliance with the ever changing set of regulations and restrictions. These include a Ballet Class, a children’s Karate Club, and some fundraising fairs for St Helena’s Hospice.

Sue and Cheryl have worked hard to keep on top of the ever changing hiring rules and to implement all of the COVID secure protocols and extra cleaning required.

From a village community point of view, probably the most significant new initiative has been a number of Outdoor Seasonal Fairs expertly organised by the Community Shop and hosted on the Community Centre Car Park. These seem to have perked up community spirits during the long months of lockdown. Hopefully these will continue in some form, even after current restrictions are fully removed. The Car Park has also been made available to an increasing number of mobile vendors making weekly visits to Langham, and this too seems to have been well received.

A number of COVID relief grants have been received from central government throughout the pandemic. As a result of these payments, the Centre’s financial reserves at the end of March 2021 remain healthy despite the dramatic loss of hire revenue over recent months.

In view of these healthy finances, it was decided to progress with some freshening up of the hall in late 2020. This comprised new carpeting in the front and rear lobbies; new flooring in the kitchen and bar areas; and general redecorating of all these rooms. The work was completed in early December 2020.

In January, the terms of new 5 year lease extensions were agreed for the Shop and Pre-School, with no increases to their existing monthly rent payments. Some minor drafting changes in the legal documents are still awaiting completion by our solicitors prior to final sign-off, which should hopefully occur in early June.

In conclusion, the Community Centre has managed to cope and adapt as necessary to the strange circumstances of the last year. It remains in good shape to bounce back towards normality in the coming months, and support village clubs as they attempt to re-start their normal activities.

Finances
The year-end financial statements and Treasurer’s Report for 2020/21 are attached to this report.

The Trustees are responsible for preparation of the financial statements and for keeping proper accounting records which disclose the financial position of the charity.

Management Committee Members
The members of the Committee during the past year and their appointing bodies were

Alan Cadman Chairman elected
Paul Armstrong Secretary elected
Maureen Shouksmith Treasurer elected
Jutta Brawn Bowls Club
Denise Hobday Parochial Church Council
Elizabeth Schofield Co-opted
Peter Dawson Parish Council
Sue Thorpe Bridge Club
Bob Schofield Recreation Ground
Maria Bukovenczki Pre-School
James Puxley Scouts
Andrew Craig Community Shop
Marlena Lipski Patchwork Pals
Mark Kleingeld Tennis Club
Elizabeth Winter Langham Ladies

Sue Armstrong Commercial and Marketing Manager (employee)
Cheryl Williams Caretaker (employee)


Mr. Alan Cadman Mr. Paul Armstrong Mrs. Maureen Shouksmith





Chairman Secretary Treasurer


Dated………………………………….