LANGHAM COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of a Special Trustee Meeting held on 20th March 2025
at Langham Community Centre

Present
Alan Cadman, Martin Bottwood, Liz Winter, Charlotte Parker, Raynor Sumner, Bob Schofield, Elizabeth Schofield, Stuart Rudge, Denise Hobday, Cath Hine, Colin Parker, Emma Stevens and Peter Freeman by invitation.

Apologies for Absence
David Druitt, Rob Clark.

Alan welcomed everyone to the last Trustee meeting of our financial year and introduced Peter Freeman, who had kindly volunteered to take on the position of Treasurer and was very warmly welcomed.

Minutes of the Trustee Meeting held on 16th January 2025
These had been circulated to Trustees prior to the meeting. Acceptance as a true record was proposed by Martin Bottwood, seconded by Liz Schofield and agreed by all present.
Alan signed the minutes.

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

Chairman’s Report
Replacement officials
Alan reminded the Trustees that no-one had come forward to fill the Secretary vacancy.
Cath very kindly said she would be willing to take minutes of the meetings if the position remained unfilled at the AGM, although she would need some explanation and support. She was given a vote of thanks for stepping into the breach.
No-one suggested any names for a replacement Independent Examiner.

Query from Emma regarding alteration of her hours/duties
Trustees questioned the deferral of this matter being included on the Agenda when the matter was not to be dealt with at this meeting. The secretary said she had included it to make the Trustees aware that it would be coming under discussion at Emma’s request, but that a meeting between Emma, Cheryl and a member or members of the Finance Committee would need to have taken place first.
The matter would then be an item on the April Finance meeting agenda. Alan pointed out that over the next year there will be a lot of extra work for Emma, arising from the Quinquennial tests of the interior of the whole building and the new five-year leases for the Shop and Pre-School which, under new Government regulations for let property, require even more information than previously. The leases run out on 23rd January 2026 and Alan stated that both the shop and pre-school could expect increases in the rent which reflects the current market situation.

Charlotte mentioned that David Druitt may be able to help with the Quinquennial as he
has experience from Dedham church.

Co-option of Peter Freeman as Finance Trustee
Alan Cadman proposed Peter’s co-option to the Trustee body, until he could stand for election as Treasurer at the AGM. This was seconded by Colin Parker and the meeting was unanimously in favour. Peter will be a great asset as he already has experience in the field of finance and as Treasurer of a village hall. The Secretary breathed a sigh of relief.

Treasurer’s Report
Balances in our accounts at close of business tonight are
Current Account £3,877.57; Saver Account £82,419.50.
The interest rate on the Saver is down to 1.36%.
The Simple profit and loss account to the end of February had been circulated prior to the meeting and there were no queries. At the end of March, the balance sheet for the end of our financial year would need to be compiled. The secretary was greatly relieved that Peter would be able to take charge of this.
SAGE Payment is still being taken. No meeting took place with Maureen, Emma and Carol Grime to remove it from Maureen’s phone. The Secretary will contact Maureen urgently about this and try to get the account closed, as Emma is sure any details of payments made can be obtained from Barclays. EW
EDF Energy We have received the £150 compensation from EDF into our online account with them but still await any bills, which they have to provide under the Ombudsman’s ruling by 27th March and which we would hope to receive and pay within the current financial year.
Rev Otobo A second payment of £50 has now been paid under the Judgment. £242.43 remains outstanding.
Petty Cash Since the last update, £200 has been paid into the current account and £10 to Cheryl for her phone top-up. Balance stands at £581.62.
Refund to Sue and Paul Armstrong
It was agreed to pay the sum of £74.85 to Sue and Paul to cover their expenses from payments for Emma’s phone, until it was transferred to Tesco pay-as-you-go, and email access at info@langhamcommunitycentre.org, which it was agreed to cancel at the end of last year, as Emma did not use it. AC

Marketing Manager’s Report
Hire charges
Emma confirmed that there had been no changes to hire charges apart from that for football hires, where teams now had to pay £20 per hour with a 3-hour minimum hire. Fewer teams now choose to use the LCC facilities. She felt the weekend evening hire rates were high but people seem to accept them, so they remain the same and the booking system works really well. Regular rates for local clubs seem quite cheap but it is good to support them, especially where their number of attendees is declining, as with Bridge.
New chairs
It was confirmed that a decision had been made to purchase 80 more of the chairs which match the existing. Martin asked Emma to provide a formal quote so that a new figure for matched funding could be signed off at the next Parish Council meeting. ES
Floors
Emma’s husband had kindly repaired the kitchen tap which would not turn off during a hire last week. He had also sealed the join between the flooring and the lower wall in the showers to prevent water ingress. The Trustees expressed their gratitude to Rick. Emma had been in contact with Mike, from Class Cleaners to discuss the state of the changing room floors and confirmed she had bleached the showers and will do the changing room floor next week. If they are properly cleaned on a regular basis, she feels they do not need replacing at present. They are less used now the football teams hire them less frequently.
Floor cleaning machine
Emma had acquired a quote from a company in Cambridge to repair the large floor cleaning machine, which had not worked well for some time and definitely needed cleaning. The cost was quoted as
Cost for service including travel to site £375 + VAT
Parts, if required, charged separately
Additional repair labour, if required, charged at £75 + VAT per hour.
This was expensive but the work was necessary and the Trustees agreed that it must be done. (Alan confirmed that the machine had cost in the region of £3,000 on purchase.) Emma would contact Motion Cleaning Machines to book a visit. ES
Air-con
Emma was unable to install the necessary software on her work phone to set up air-con programming. She would see if Cheryl’s phone had the capacity. The units still cut in on occasions when there was no hirer in the Hall and Sue Armstrong assures Emma that she can no longer operate the programmer from her phone. ES

Developer Contributions – Section 106 and Unilateral Undertakings
Martin confirmed that no construction has begun at Langford Hall Barn on Grove Hill and asked Trustees to keep an eye on the site. When any building does start, the money due under the Unilateral Undertaking can be collected by CCC and allocated for LED lighting in the main hall.
Martin briefly touched on the CCC proposal to build 900 homes in Langham and confirmed the next vote by the Local Plan Committee on housing allocations was not expected until November 2025 following the preparation, by CCC, of an Infrastructure Development Plan.

Hall Roof
Alan had contacted David James who would use a tower scaffold to check the front of the roof covering within the next month. He could not get close to the rear but would do a visual check.
Rob had received copies from Ian Cooke of plans and tenders for the aborted work from 2021 but the Structural Survey document, for which we have a receipted invoice from a different firm, has not come to light.

Safeguarding Policy
Colin passed a copy of his Safeguarding Policy to the secretary and would email copies to other Trustees. This was a comprehensive document and Colin was thanked for the time and effort he had expended on its preparation. He would be glad to receive feedback once everyone had had time to read it properly.

Evacuation Chair
Colin had taken Charlotte in the evacuation chair out of the Committee room and down the fire escape stairs. This highlighted the difficulties involved: The high threshold out on to the balcony was hard to negotiate; the chair descended the stairs rather quickly; it was impossible to turn it in the space at the bottom. Colin commented that, were he to need transporting in the chair, he would feel safer once the ground was reached, where there would be other people to help get him out and away from the building.

Fire Safety Checks
While dealing with the above matters, Colin had considered the Fire Safety Checks (which he has now taken on as Caretaker at the Primary School) and whether ours should be more stringent under current regulations. Alan said that Cheryl had been trained by Barron, who undertake our regular inspections, but it would be useful if Colin would look at her checklist and update as necessary. Emma would organise this. ES/CoP/CW

A further vote of thanks was given to Colin for taking on these three matters, as well as keeping an eye on maintenance issues.

Any Other Business
There was a discussion which arose from Colin mentioning that Maria, who runs the Pre-School, had complained that she is not kept informed of LCC matters. The fact that their appointed Trustee was not sharing with Maria the minutes she receives after every meeting, and only attending those meetings infrequently, was discussed. Liz W pointed out that a Trustee who fails to attend sufficient meetings could be replaced, once the appointing body had been notified. There was a general discussion regarding keeping Trustees informed of developments but, in response, Liz W pointed out that all Trustees were sent a copy of the full minutes of each Finance and Trustee meeting, together with any relevant documents which had been considered at these meetings. This gave them the opportunity to raise any queries they might have with the secretary in the first instance. Bob confirmed that the Finance Committee (formerly called the Management Committee) had been set up originally because, with as many as 14 Trustees (which is the number we currently have) it had proved impossible to complete the necessary business in a reasonable time at a full Trustee meeting.

Date of Next Meeting
The next Finance meeting will be held in the Clubroom on Monday 28th April at 7.30 pm.

The AGM will be held on Thursday 15th May in the main hall at 7.30.
This will be followed by a short Trustee Meeting.

Alan officially closed the meeting at 9.15 pm.