LANGHAM COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of a Trustee Meeting held on 30th May 2024
at Langham Community Centre.

Present
Alan Cadman, Maureen Shouksmith, Elizabeth and Bob Schofield, David Druitt, Liz Winter, Rob Clark, Denise Hobday, Charlotte Parker, Carol Lloyd, Paul Armstrong (Parish Council).

Visiting
Emma Barr representing the Church

Apologies for Absence
Martin Bottwood - Paul Armstrong was attending in his place for the Parish Council.
Mark Kleingeld, who had submitted his resignation as the Langham Tennis Club representative shortly before the meeting, as he is no longer head coach.
Sallie West.

Alan welcomed everyone to the first Trustee meeting of 2024. David Druitt introduced himself as Bridge Club representative. Liz W confirmed she would write to Mark to thank him for his years as a Trustee and request return of the Hall key.

Minutes of the Trustee Meeting held on 2nd November 2023
Liz Winter apologised to all Trustees for failing to confirm that the draft minutes circulated on 12th November were unaltered and stood as the final copy. The meeting was asked to accept these as a true record. Proposed by Elizabeth Schofield, seconded Maureen Shouksmith and agreed by all. Alan signed the minutes.

Matters Arising
Contracts Maureen confirmed that she had finally heard from the RCCE’s legal department and would incorporate their additions into Carol’s contract very shortly. Elizabeth Schofield thanked her for the time she had spent on this matter.
Maureen confirmed that Cheryl’s new contract was also nearly complete, incorporating holiday pay entitlement and a larger number of hours, as she has taken on more responsibilities, including monthly safety checks, which she relays to the chairman.
Charlotte queried when the checks in the Shop took place as she was not aware of them.
(After the meeting Liz Winter ascertained from Cheryl that her checklist did not include any for the Shop.)

Furniture The Trustees agreed to purchase ten Go-Pak chairs to match those in the main hall for £583.83 including VAT and three 6ft x 2ft6ins large tables at £525.89 each. Proposed by Liz W and seconded by Maureen. Carol will order these to be invoiced to the Parish Council who hold some funds in our account.

Stairlift and Evacuation Chair training It was felt that the stairlift is particularly slow compared with similar Acorn lifts known to Trustees. Carol would contact the company to ask for their comments. She would add to hire conditions that the lift is available but that two able-bodied people will need to be with the hire party in case of need to descend the fire escape in the evac chair. It was agreed that Liz W should approach Peter Dawson, as a First Responder, to see whether he might be able to demonstrate for us correct usage of the evac chair on the fire escape.

Car park sign This had been erected near the entrance and was very clear. Cheryl will know the closure time for the next day and will hang an additional sign from it when she locks up at night to show the closure time as there can be some variation. She will keep these in her car.

Debts GT Promotions owe three months’ hire for last year totalling £495. Carol had asked for full payment within 28 days after the Finance Meeting on 11th December but had received nothing to date. It was agreed that Liz Schofield would speak to them but they must pay all the outstanding amount plus £165 for their March booking before that date. Carol re-sent her email asking for payment. (£165 was received the following day.)
Rev Otobo With regard to this debt of £471.75, after some discussion the Trustees agreed that we should take the threatened Small Claim proceedings. Liz W agreed to fund the £70 cost of taking this final step, which we should be able to claim back with other costs and interest on the debt (and possibly storage for the items still held on the premises?)
Emma Barr asked for Mr. Otobo’s contact details.

University Volunteers Liz W had contacted them by email and they seemed very agreeable to undertaking the repainting of the lower part of the Hall walls. Carol would make contact now that students had returned after Christmas by emailing Chris Moore (he), Volunteering Manager at c.moore@essex.ac.uk.

Acoustic Panels Some more good news is that the panels fitted in December are working excellently to cut out the echo in the Hall. Despite their size, they are very unobtrusive, matching the colour of the walls, and have been praised by Langham Film Nights and Langham Ladies.

Insurance The RCCE first became aware in 2019 of changes by insurance companies regarding refusal to insure Trustees over 85 years old. Alan has asked our brokers, WRS, to confirm that this exception does not apply to Trustees’ public liability cover. WRS have not yet had a reply from our insurers, Ansvar, and Alan will chase WRS to obtain this.
David Druitt offered to help Alan. He also had used WRS on other occasions and thought he could ease some of the work that Alan had with the insurance company. Alan thanked him but, as he had been sourcing the insurance quotes for nearly 20 years, he felt he should carry on in this instance.

Disabled Toilet As the locking system is still uncertain we have been unable to obtain quotes. Alan will ask Ian Cooke to send the project out for tender gain, asking him to put in a provisional sum for a locking mechanism (see Developer Contributions below.) This can be dealt with further at the next Finance Committee meeting.

Car Park repair and drainage Despite the extremely high autumn rainfall, the car park did not flood, although the drains were not cleared last year. Carol approached Taydal about patching the surface but they were not interested. Alan would see if he could be more successful.

Clocks The antique Hall clock does not keep good time, so a battery clock is also needed. The Clubroom’s is working and the kitchen one needs new batteries.

Chairman’s Report
Alan has reported elsewhere in these minutes. He confirmed that the premium for renewing the insurance is only £16 more than last year, but there were 120 pages of it.

Treasurer’s Report
December figures had been circulated prior to the meeting.
Money in the bank at close of business today: Current account £1,883.54; Saver £68,889.58.

Our profit for December on paper is £2,328.58 but no salaries or cleaning bills were paid until January, so our actual profit was in the region of £400.
Maureen expanded on her written report.
The Music Licence is due shortly and forms returned in early January suggest it will be around £850-900. There was a small loss of hires in December owing to the three-day installation of acoustic boards.
Electricity, a large monthly outgoing, is fixed with British Gas until May and Maureen will look at new deals in the early Spring. Insurance is paid in 10 monthly instalments and began again in January. Regular monthly outgoings are around £4,000, with salaries having increased as more hours are necessary to keep the Community Centre running effectively.

Liz Schofield raised the question of roof repair. It has held up extremely well during the many storms we have experienced over the past months. Discussion took place, led by Emma, regarding large-scale fundraising events being undertaken by all village organisations in co-operation. A weekend festival had worked well for the Jubilee but this had been funded by the Parish Council. Alan and Carol said there were some large grants available once again from central government via Essex County Council but we would have to raise enough to match-fund. There has been very little support from the village for recent initiatives, including requests for volunteers.

Marketing Manager’s Report
Carol’s report had been circulated prior to the meeting. She has regular bookings from First Aid trainers and the Oaks School but these are not particularly lucrative. Chris from Future Electrical has not yet requoted for LED lighting, which is one of the S.106 projects from earlier years. A reminder will be sent.
Crafty Ladies have contacted the acting secretary regarding difficulties with gaining access to the building, finding it unheated and inability to reach Carol by phone on such occasions. They have not always had the updated keysafe code or could not open it. Chrissy suggests that, to avoid confusion over dates of bookings, Crafty Ladies have a booking form to complete, perhaps on a quarterly or annual basis, in case of changes for Bank Holidays etc.
Both parties would then have a documentary reminder of dates and times booked.

Carol apologised for the occasions on which she had been unavailable but pointed out that she had been in hospital for various procedures and not always available to answer the LCC phone. The heating manuals are dense and it has been a complicated learning process, made worse by several unexpected power cuts which necessitate a visit to the Hall to reset the programmers. If not made aware of these outages, Carol is ignorant of them. The large wooden fob has been removed from the main hall door keyring as this can jam the keysafe. (Maureen explained that this key needs to be included in the keysafe for hirers who need access to the main hall when the Clubroom is in use.) Carol said that Crafty Ladies should always have received the updated keysafe code which is sent out from her phone to regular hirers and that this is held by the Shop, who have given back their door key.

Liz W would write to Chrissy with our apologies and assure her that Carol has done all she can to remedy the problems. The Trustees are very sorry to hear of the difficulties
experienced which arose due to a combination of unforeseen events. We sincerely hope that Crafty Ladies’ bookings will run smoothly in future.

Developer Contributions – Section 106 and Unilateral Undertakings
In Martin’s absence Paul Armstrong reminded the Trustees that there is still £57,000 allocated to the LCC for the installation of a new disabled toilet. Alan is meeting Ian Cooke of Hoggarth Cooke Knight next week to ask him to put a nominal sum in the specification for the toilet locking mechanism and send it out for tender to get some revised quotes.
On 14th February the Parish Council is having a further meeting with Karen Syrett at CCC.

Any Other Business

Hall heating Dealt with above.

Footballers Charlotte asked what times football teams used the building. Carol confirmed that Saturday and Sunday teams have the code for the changing room keysafe and the barrier code but do NOT always remember to pass it on if they are not in attendance.

Landline Paul Armstrong asked whether we wanted to keep the landline at the Hall. The phone is upstairs but never used, any calls being transferred to VOIP. It currently costs £100 a year. After a short discussion the Trustees agreed that it should be disconnected.

Tennis courts Paul said there had been an incident of someone climbing the fence to gain access into the tennis courts. Minor damage had been caused and the new benches moved. It was unlikely there would be any video evidence but everyone should be vigilant.

Date of Next Meeting
The next Finance Meeting will be held on Monday 26th February 2024 in the Club Room at 7.30pm.

The next Trustee Meeting will be held on Thursday 28th March 2024 in the Club Room at 7.30pm.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 10.05pm.
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