LANGHAM COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of a Trustee Meeting held on 27th July 2023
at Langham Community Centre.

Present
Alan Cadman, Maureen Shouksmith, Sallie West, Elizabeth and Bob Schofield, Liz Winter, Rob Clark, Denise Hobday, Charlotte Parker, Carol Lloyd.

Apologies for Absence
Rosie Helliwell, Martin Bottwood, Mark Kleingeld.

Minutes of the Trustee Meeting held on 25th May 2023
These minutes had been circulated prior to the meeting. Under the heading “Any Other Business” Charlotte Parker queried reference to the Cabin being used for commercial purposes, insisting that this was not the case. After some discussion, it was agreed to amend the minutes by altering the wording from “was being used commercially” to “could be used commercially.”

The minutes were duly amended. Maureen Shouksmith proposed and Sallie West seconded that they now be accepted as a true record. All agreed and Alan signed them and initialled the amendment.

Matters Arising
Bank Access Carol Lloyd finally has simple servicing access to the bank account, after Maureen has wasted many hours on the phone to Barclays and eventually threatened them with the Ombudsman.
Land Registry It was agreed that Liz Winter would contact Martin regarding ownership of the ditch, as there was a rumour that this matter has now been resolved by the Parish Council.
EW
Chairman’s Report
Alan apologised for having made little progress with contacting the Pre-School and Shop regarding S106 lists and extension of the Pre-School outdoor play area. He has been incredibly busy at work, where they have also suffered from problems created by Barclays Bank. AC

Treasurer’s Report
All Trustees had received copies of both profit and loss accounts for June.
Maureen delivered her report to the meeting. At close of business today the current account balance was £1,523.89 and saver account £70,004.05.
Salaries had been reviewed and a 7% increase agreed for Cheryl from 1st June. Asset Accountancy, who deal with our salaries, would be asked to work out the amount of backdated holiday pay due to Cheryl and Sue Armstrong. We have been advised by NEST that Sue has finally been released from her pension contributions.

Carol Lloyd has asked that we purchase the SAGE 100 program to generate and collate payment of invoices. The current method is very time consuming. The treasurer has ascertained the cost to be £28 per calendar month. If we included payment of wages in the SAGE package this would amount to £72 per month, whereas continuing with Asset, who charge £30 per month, the total will be £58 per month. If the invoicing package saves Carol two hours a month it will pay for itself. Maureen proposed that we go ahead with SAGE 100, seconded by Sallie. Everyone was in favour. Carol will purchase it online. CL

Referring to June’s profit and loss spreadsheets, Maureen pointed out that salaries were now being paid up to the 28th of each month, as agreed at the last Finance Meeting. Therefore, two months’ worth had been paid (for May and June) at the end of June. No payment had been received for Shop electricity and Alan apologised for forgetting to read the meter for the first time in eighteen years.

In June Carol had asked Giorgio Napolitani to clean the windows inside while he was cleaning the outside, as there were a lot of sticky marks from the removal of Covid posters, etc. He had charged us £300 and Alan was suspicious he had come again to do his normal quarterly wash very soon afterwards, which had not been needed. Alan would keep an eye out for his invoice (normally £180 and put through Alan’s door.) The Trustees agreed that it was not acceptable to have cleaned the windows again so soon. Sallie would give us the contact of a commercial window cleaner. AC

Maureen pointed out the £2,067.88 loss in June but said that currently we are showing £2,448.97 profit for July. However, salaries needed to be paid after 28th July and these might fall within July’s figures. She re-emphasised the need to keep a tight rein on spending.

She informed the Trustees that she, Alan and Liz Winter had received a letter in a threatening tone from Barclays demanding copies of at least two forms of identity from us, certified by a solicitor or accountant, as signatories on the current account. The deadline was 5th August, less than a month from receipt of the letter, and it is to be hoped that the documents will arrive by post at Barclays before this date. She would deliver the envelope to Alan for inclusion of his documents and posting as soon as possible. MS/AC

Liz Schofield proposed a vote of thanks to Maureen for her patience and perseverance through all the difficulties she had encountered with the bank over the past few months, which was unanimously supported by all present.

Marketing Manager’s Report
Carol confirmed that she had been in contact with Mr. Otoba from the Citadel Church hirers once Maureen had checked invoices and found them £47l.75 in arrears with payments. He then emailed to cancel hires in July. The company is not a charity but a profit-making undertaking and Carol is chasing him for payment. It was agreed that he should be given written notice of a final opportunity to pay his debt within ten days, after which we shall make a County Court Claim (no longer referred to as “Small Claims Court”.) CL

Carol has already booked in four birthday parties in the Sunday morning slot.

Carol has a lot of difficulty with calls via the LCC mobile phone and has asked for its replacement, preferably with an iPhone. Sue was previously having problems with it too, especially hearing the callers. Sallie very generously offered a two-year-old iPhone13 for which she had no further use. Carol felt this would be ideal and much cheaper than other options she has looked at. The Trustees thanked Sallie very much and told Carol to go ahead to set this up. SW/CL

Carol’s report, which had been circulated to all Trustees, outlined the unfortunate events of the Diabetes Group hire on 10th July. The problem which had arisen had now been solved by co-operation between the Parish Council and the Langham Community Council and replacement of the barrier lock with a combination padlock, which should prevent any repetition of this. Unfortunately, the Diabetes Group have withdrawn all future bookings of the hall and, despite our profuse apologies, have declined to reconsider.

The National Grid Pylon meeting had taken place without incident. Because the consultancy who hired the hall had not revealed for whom they were booking, Carol had some panicky moments as she thought the hall was double-booked and had to phone them to insist they tell her who was holding the meeting. Everything passed off smoothly in the end, although Carol had had problems trying to make last-minute posts on social media, a point picked up by Charlotte.

As agreed at the last Finance meeting, Carol had asked Garry to undertake certain works at the hall and he had replaced door hooks; cleared the moss from the frontage; cleaned up the oil tank enclosure, painted its gate and railings and generally smartened the place up prior to the Pylon meeting. Liz Schofield and Charlotte stressed the need for two contractors’ quotations but there was no time for this. Alan confirmed that he had authorised the works and agreed to the Pre-School equipment being stored in the refurbed oil tank enclosure to prevent its being abused by members of the public. Maureen pointed out that the bill of £500 had come as a shock to her and that she really did need to know of any large amounts such as this before they were spent. Carol understands that this is the correct procedure but felt it was very important that the hall should look attractive before the public meeting in order to encourage new hirers.

The Trustees asked Carol if she could submit “To Do” and “Completed” lists for meetings in the format used by Sue Armstrong, as these give a quick overview of what has been done and what is still outstanding. Carol agreed. CL

It is hoped that the stairlift will be ordered and installed during August and the acoustic panels in the week beginning 23rd October. PAT testing had been carried out for the LCC, Shop and Pre-School and Fire checks would be carried out on the latter two shortly.

In reply to the problem regarding nappies being included in the public waste from the PC’s bins, two bags of which we had agreed could go weekly into our skip, Bob Schofield said they are trialling a new contract with CCC to empty two bins: one on the playground and one on the exercise area adjacent to the Pre-School.

There had been another request for more comfortable chairs in the Club Room and Committee Room. Liz Schofield reported an incident when someone had fallen to the floor whilst trying to lever themselves up from one of the plastic folding chairs. Storage space had always been the problem. We could also do with some new tables in the hall. It was agreed that estimates for new chairs/tables should be sought and storage possibilities considered.
CL/Finance Committee

Developer Contributions – Section 106 and Unilateral Undertakings
In the absence of Martin Bottwood this topic was deferred.


Car park access
There was discussion about forming a parent group who would be responsible for locking the gate if the car park were left open to provide access to the playground after Shop hours. The group would need to book use of the toilets for the LCC to be able to allow this. Charlotte was willing to try to organise such a group and Sallie would be able to help with locking up afterwards. The suggestion was that the gate should be closed “at dusk” and would vary depending on the time of year.
We need a larger and clearer sign at the gate to notify closing times.

Public Toilet
Alan confirmed to Bob Schofield that, when the new disabled toilet is finished, it will be as previously designed and have an outside door allowing entrance from the field. When activated this door will automatically lock the interior door from the rear lobby. Times of opening would need to be displayed outside. The question of extra cleaning if the toilet is available to the general public was raised but not fully discussed.
Tenders for the contract are due back at the end of July.

Any Other Business
Maureen reminded the meeting that we need to continue to try to find a new secretary.

Date of Next Meeting
The next Finance Meeting will be held on Monday 4th September in the Club Room at 7.30pm.

The next Trustee Meeting will be held on Thursday 2nd November in the Club Room at 7.30pm.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.50pm.
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