LANGHAM COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Minutes of a Trustee Meeting
held on 21st July 2016 at 7.30 pm.

Present
Alan Cadman (Chairman), Liz Winter (Secretary), Liz Schofield, Ann Cairns, Andrew Craig, Marlena Lipski, Maureen Shouksmith, Denise Hobday, James Puxley, Mark Kleingeld, Sue Armstrong (Marketing Manager), Cheryl Collins (Caretaker).

Apologies for Absence
Bob Schofield, Michaela Ward.

Minutes of previous Trustee Meeting held 31st March 2016
Andrew Craig proposed and Ann Cairns seconded that the Minutes be accepted as a true record. Carried unanimously. Alan signed the Minutes.

Matters Arising
We had finally received the money owed by BT for cancellation of our internet contract. However, early cancellation of the phone contract had yet to be negotiated as BT continued to be hard to pin down and Alan has been exceedingly busy.
Kitchen units and hall repainting work was now included in the summer refurbishment contract (Item 8). Car park repairs had been postponed until completion of this project.
Liz Schofield and Liz Winter were to meet at Foxash next Tuesday in an attempt to resolve the issue of how many late licences are allowed at the Centre.

Chairman’s Report
Alan reported that he had just received the contract with Cory for a grant of £35,000 signed by both parties. The ten percent payable to them (£3,500) would now presumably be requested.
Alan reported on the Coasters Scooter Rally held on 8th/9th July. Marlena commented that, judging from the minutes of the meeting on 11th July, there had been a certain amount of damage to the Centre. Sue confirmed that Coasters would pay for this. Although not making a huge profit, the event introduces more people to our facilities, gives locals a chance to enjoy the music and gives a boost to sales at the Community Shop. Liz Schofield suggested that next year the Coasters need to provide more stewards to avoid a repetition of the shower-flooding incident. Also Alan and Sue need more help with the bar and general troubleshooting. Bob Schofield (via Liz) complimented the Coasters on how tidy they had left the recreation ground.
The Coasters were asking for a change of next year’s dates and Sue is trying to accommodate them by asking the Country and Western group to alter their booking.

Financial Report
Cliff had intended to e-mail the end of May spreadsheet to the Secretary but it had turned out to be the end of March results, and Cliff had since been away. Alan confirmed that as at 4 p.m. today the current account balance stood at £42,224.48. Liz Winter agreed to contact Heather Strowger in the hope of achieving a long-awaited meeting between her and Cliff with a view to Heather taking on the Treasurer’s role.
Liz Schofield proposed a vote of thanks to Sue for her magnificent marketing of the Centre and to Cheryl for the day-to-day upkeep of the facilities.

Marketing Manager’s Report
Sue’s report to last week’s Management meeting was still current and had been circulated to all the Trustees. Sue confirmed that three different football teams wished to use our pitch.
The final figure for our half share in the profit from the Coasters’ raffle was a disappointing £111.30, although response to requests for prizes had been good. Unfortunately tickets were also on sale for the Primary School raffle the same weekend.
Liz Schofield bemoaned the passing of former local organisations and Mark Kleingeld was quick to point out that the Tennis Club was going from strength to strength, with more members from further afield but star players from Langham and Boxted.
Either Roger Hobday or James Puxley would help at the 15th September volunteer bar.
A Toy Fair had asked whether we could provide refreshments on Sunday 2nd October from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. Sue thought this might be an opportunity for one of our local organisations to make themselves some money by providing cakes and teas. Maureen Shouksmith would ask the WI if they would be interested. Alan said he could run a bar for 3 hours if required. The Toy Fair has five other bookings at two-monthly intervals.

Caretaker’s Report
While serving in the Shop, Maureen Shouksmith had been asked by a hirer for the hall keys and was unsure what to do. Andrew Craig and Sue confirmed that only Danshell collected keys from the Shop and these are in a labelled box. Andrew would ask Jane to clarify this with those on the rota.
There was some discussion of removal and storage of items from cupboards during the refurbishment. The Scouts in particular were finding it difficult to provide alternative storage and time to move their equipment. An asbestos survey was taking place on 22nd July, which was a pre-requisite of starting the contracted works, during which time the hall would be unavailable.
Locks had been fitted to the shower and clubroom doors, where items belonging to the LCC would need to be stored. Two internal fire doors had also been re-tensioned.

Refurbishment
Alan notified the meeting that the contractors would be erecting fences around the site and a 40ft square site area to hold a skip, cabin and vehicle space. Earth dug out from the patio area would need to be dumped in the skip. Rose Builders had agreed to keep safe the exit via the rear door. The patio would vastly improve the currently untidy rear area.
Maureen queried what would happen if they found asbestos. Alan reassured the meeting that it was not expected, since the building was erected in 1988 and the law had been in force to ban asbestos in since 1982. Also the ceiling was not being worked on.
A new fire-resistant electronic kitchen shutter on the hatch was proving more expensive than anticipated because of ancillary works. However, we do need to replace the current one and the cost may be covered in the £4,000 contingency included in the contract or the £5,000 originally agreed on Cliff’s advice.

The Trustees were asked to ratify the decision taken by the Management Committee on
11th July regarding the following expenditure. The contractors had to be notified by 12th July and there was no time to put the issue before a full Trustee meeting.
a. An asbestos survey £ 966
b. Guttering to the south end of the hall £ 192.63
c. Four kitchen unit end panels approx. £ 160
d. Electrically operated fire-resistant shutter £2021.25
e. Internal painting to full roof height £5595
Andrew Craig proposed and Mark Kleingeld seconded the motion that the decision be ratified by the Trustees. There were no objections.

Constitution
Copies of the Constitution and the Responsibilities of Trustees had been sent to all Trustees prior to the meeting. At the meeting all Trustees present signed the declaration of acceptance and willingness to stand, which will be kept by the Secretary. (Bob and Michaela will be asked to sign as soon as they are available.)
There was general discussion of various points and Liz Winter relayed the main points from her meeting with Sue Sheppard at the Rural Community Council of Essex (RCCE). Sue Sheppard had confirmed that we had no need to update our constitution at the present time and also that the Treasurer and Secretary were “elected members” and Trustees with a vote (Clause 4). We are at present an “Unincorporated Charitable Trust”. There will be a new structure available shortly called a “Charitable Incorporated Organisation”, which would give us limited liability without having to comply with Companies’ House. However, this would be an expensive decision, possibly as much as the £3,000 to £5,000 quoted to Alan by our solicitors.
On Sue’s advice and with Cliff’s approval, Liz Winter had replaced Cliff’s name as contact on the Charity Commission website with her own. Liz is now updating the Trustee details from 19th May’s AGM. Sue also suggested we add LANGHAM COMMUNITY CENTRE under the heading “other names” to avoid confusion, as currently it only gives Langham Village Hall, the registered name of the charity. (Liz has so far failed to effect this addition.)
Sue Sheppard had expressed a willingness to talk to the Trustees. It was agreed that Liz Winter would arrange a date and time for herself and Andrew Craig, Maureen Shouksmith and Alan Cadman to meet Sue, as a Constitution sub-committee.

Any Other Business
The secretary was concerned about pension provision for our two employees, Sue and Cheryl. Cliff had suggested asking Sue Sheppard about this, as things might have changed since he investigated the issue. Andrew Craig would send Liz W a web link.

Date of next meeting
The next Trustee Meeting will be held on Thursday 6th October at 7.30 pm in the clubroom.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 9.30 pm.