LANGHAM COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of a Trustee Meeting held on 18th July 2024
at Langham Community Centre.

Present
Alan Cadman, Maureen Shouksmith, Martin Bottwood, Liz Winter, Rob Clark, Sallie West, Charlotte Parker, Raynor Sumner, David Druitt, Bob Schofield, Elizabeth Schofield, Denise Hobday, Cath Hine.

Apologies for Absence
Stuart Rudge, Colin Parker and Emma Stevens.

Alan welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Minutes of the Trustee Meeting held on 30th May 2024
These had been circulated to Trustees prior to the meeting. Acceptance was proposed by Charlotte Parker, seconded by Liz Schofield and agreed by all present.
Alan signed the minutes as a true record.

Matters Arising from them and from the Finance meeting on 24th June are dealt with under the headings below.

Chairman’s Report
ACAS Since nothing at all has been heard from ACAS, our insurers are holding the matter in abeyance.

Contracts and Salaries Emma Stevens and Cheryl Williams had received copies of their contracts for approval but had reported to the secretary that they had some queries.
It was also pointed out that staff should have a formal annual performance review with their manager. Alan should undertake that of the Marketing Manager, who, once established in post, should undertake Cheryl’s. It was agreed that Alan would contact Cheryl and Emma urgently to arrange to see them to discuss their contracts, review procedure and salaries.
This matter should dealt with before the next Finance Meeting. AC

Disabled toilet spec. Martin still awaited this information from Alan. AC

Car park resurfacing Alan had cancelled Taydal coming in September until such time as alternatives have been investigated, as their minimum charge is a whole day rate and the actual pothole area is quite small. (After the meeting Martin confirmed that the company repairing the playground surface could not help, but Liz Schofield will contact Alan with companies who have done work at Schofield’s removals depot.)

Pre-School garden extension Trustees had been sent a copy of the proposed plan showing the area which the Pre-School would like added to their lease to extend the garden in a southerly direction. There were no objections. Liz Winter proposed and David Druitt seconded that permission should be granted. All in favour.

Pre-School – other matters While on the subject of the Pre-School, the secretary raised two issues of concern. Cheryl had reported to her once again that water had been leaking from the rear door of the LCC which houses the outside tap. On 27th June Liz W had gone to see Maria to ask for the return of the key. The tap is used for watering the garden and washing outside equipment. Maria had just turned it off. She gave Liz W the key and went to retrieve two hoses from the “cupboard”, where it turned out that the tap had not been completely turned off and was running slightly. It needed a further turn. This is clearly what has been happening over quite a long period, increasing our water usage and resulting in a reservoir of water building up overnight or over weekends or holiday periods until it flows out under the door.

Another area of concern is the way Pre-School vehicles are parked next to the entrance gate, taking up two spaces and causing a knock-on effect at the Shop end of the row where the disabled spaces are. Those responsible have been asked politely not to do this, as at busy times spaces are at a premium, but the behaviour continues.

It was agreed that the Secretary should draft a letter asking for the Pre-School to respect the wishes of their Landlords and other car park users. Alan also pointed out a considerable increase in our water bills, some because of extra usage of the showers by footballers but no doubt exacerbated by the frequent leaks from the rear tap. EW

Keyholders Liz W had traced nearly all the keys. Alan confirmed he has two and believes one was returned from Rose builders when they completed the building works. Liz just needs to check with Emma and Cheryl regarding any other available keys not yet accounted for.
EW
Treasurer’s Report
Maureen Shouksmith gave her verbal report.

Money in the bank at close of business today: Current account £3,476.67; Saver £74,392.37

Barclays said they have accepted the changes to the mandate to remove Carol Lloyd and add Emma Stevens and Carol Grime. However, Emma says she still has no access.
Emma passed to Maureen a list of invoices outstanding from May and June and most of these have now been sent out. Some need investigating to check the correct amount is charged. Martin confirmed that the football teams pay £27 to hire the toilets and showers. Some deposit refunds remain outstanding and we await contact from hirers who have not received their refund.
The SAGE system will provide all the information we need once everything is up and running smoothly. Charlotte confirmed that Emma was to meet Rob Hewes in this regard next week.
Maureen stressed how valuable it would be if two people could cover each position, so we were not left with no-one capable when a Trustee (or employee) left.
EDF are refusing to correspond with Liz Winter, who has tried to take over the new electricity account set up by Maureen. There has been a chain of emails getting us nowhere. Rob Clark suggested payment of some monies, say £50, into the EDF account so that they have to deal with it. MSh

The secretary had circulated her finance report and simple Profit and Loss account up to 12th July before the meeting and apologised for the poor quality of the scanned version of the P&L. The report contained details of petty cash held and its usage. There were no queries arising. Martin Bottwood proposed and Liz Schofield seconded that the finance reports be accepted. All in favour.
Marketing Manager’s Report
Emma had sent her apologies as all her family have been struck down by a stomach bug this week and she cannot attend the meeting. She has prepared a report and, once received, this will be sent out with the draft minutes.
She has contacted Rentokil about not emptying all the sanitary bins and awaits a response.

The air-conditioning units have been leaking as they often do once switched to cooling in the summer. Lambrothers reported after their recent service that two drain pans are cracked and need replacing. The Finance Committee agreed to this as the water will ruin the floor if it continues. Pans and fitting are £470 each plus VAT. The work is being booked in. However, it was agreed that the secretary should contact Lambrothers to ask whether in less than 5 years this should be necessary and whether they thought the apparatus had been damaged in any way. EW

The skip had been overloaded and a lot of litter had been left by footballers. Martin pointed out that there is a large black dustbin in the “pavilion” that they should be using but are not.

Alan said that it was clear from queries he had received from Emma that he needed explain to her the complicated licensing system for running bars on the premises. He would attend to this. AC

Developer Contributions – Section 106 and Unilateral Undertakings
Martin had nothing to report. Rob was keeping an eye on any work commencing on the Langford Hall site.

Basque Plaque
Arrangements were in place for the plaque to be fitted on the evening before Friday’s Community Café. The Church was running the Café for us and the secretary was liaising with Emma Fowler over details. Ian Hollands had arranged for the unveiling. Speeches will take place inside the Hall during the Café and will be kept to a minimum. There will be a display in the Hall.

100 Club and Community Cafes
The secretary would meet Denise Hobday at the latter’s house on Wednesday next at 11 am to discuss running the 100 Club lottery, which Denise is willing to take over.
Liz had contacted Colchester City Council regarding completion of monthly returns forms under the Gambling Act 2005.
The Trustees were asked to authorise Liz Winter to act as promoter and a motion was proposed as follows:
We authorise Elizabeth Winter, Secretary of Langham Community Council, to act as promoter for the purposes of the 100 Club Lottery.
Proposer: Martin Bottwood, seconded: Liz Schofield, carried.
A further motion for the certification of these returns was proposed:
We authorise Alan Cadman and Cath Hine, Trustees of Langham Community Council, to certify the returns relating to lotteries conducted for the benefit of this Society.
Proposer: Maureen Shouksmith, seconded: Sallie West, carried.

Cath and Raynor would work together to compile a Café rota for next year: September 2024 to July 2025 (omitting December). Charlotte confirmed that the Shop would do the first one.

Any Other Business
a) It was agreed that the Trustee WhatsApp group, set up as an emergency measure when our manager left suddenly, should be disbanded. Proposed Liz Winter, seconded Martin Bottwood, all in favour. Charlotte would delete it.
b) The Finance Committee had asked that “Finance Trustee” be removed from its Terms of Reference as there is no such person any more. All Trustees were in agreement.
c) After a short discussion of the possibility of badminton returning to the Hall after many years, Martin would ask Anna Anderson and those interested to assess the pros and cons themselves, including number interested and cost. MB
d) In response to notification from the Parish Clerk that funding might be available, Rob Clark and Liz Winter had met with the representative of a Solar Power company to look at the LCC roof and electrical capability. The next day Rob received a ball park figure for costs of 32 panels on the upper roof front and back.
After a short discussion it became clear that the proposed method of scaffolding the works would be unacceptable and that, although Rob had a copy of the original construction plans for the LCC, the builders had not used the correct 4x2 timber. Alan conceded that panels on a steel framework with replacement plastic slates may work but the cost of the approved scaffolding would be prohibitive. (We had looked into this a few years ago for reroofing purposes.) The matter would be followed up by the Finance Committee. FC
Liz Schofield proposed a vote of thanks to Rob for his efforts in investigating the possibility. Rob would notify the company. He explained to the meeting how the stages of acquiring funding for such projects worked and length of time taken.

Date of Next Meeting
The next Trustee meeting will be held on 17th October at 7.30pm.

It was agreed that future Trustee meeting should be scheduled for the third Thursday in the month, so future Trustee meetings would be:

*16th January 2025, *20th March, *15th May AGM followed by Trustee meeting.

(I am not certain that documents for the AGM can be ready for mid-May as the AGM is usually the last Thursday. Please bear with me until after the Finance meeting in September before I confirm that date.)

The next Finance Meeting will be held on Monday 16th September 2024 in the Club Room at 7.30pm.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 10 pm.