LANGHAM COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Minutes of a Trustee Meeting
held on 30th January 2020 at 7.30pm.

Present
Alan Cadman (Chairman), Liz Winter (Secretary), Maureen Shouksmith (Treasurer), Peter Dawson, Denise Hobday, Jutta Brawn, Daphne Bettle, Liz Schofield, Bob Schofield, Andrew Craig, Sue Trimnell, James Puxley, Sue Armstrong.

Apologies for Absence
Maria Bukovenczki, Mark Kleingeld, Marlena Lipski

Minutes of previous Trustee Meeting on 24th October 2019
Minutes of the previous meeting had been circulated prior to the meeting. Liz Schofield proposed and Denise Hobday seconded that they be accepted as a true record. Carried unanimously. Alan signed the Minutes. They will be posted on the Community Centre noticeboard. EW

Matters Arising
NS&I Bonds
Despite requests from the Parish Clerk, NS&I have still not made the necessary arrangements for the payment of interest directly into the Langham Community Council’s Saver account. She is chasing them. Maureen will need to ask George Pearce (or Sue Gibson from RCCE) how to show the Bonds as an asset on our annual accounts. MS
Acoustic curtain
The torn curtains which Liz W had made into one curtain had been supplied by the Country and Western people from another hall. It was agreed to offer them £30 as a donation. SA
Insurance
The value of the buildings insurance had been increased to £1,550,000 from 1st December 2019 with a slight decrease in premium. A cheque had already been received from the insurers to pay for the replacement of the stolen lead flashing. Terry hoped to install the new fibreglass material late next week.

Chairman’s Report
Alan reported that sadly Liz Winter had handed in her resignation as secretary as from the AGM in May. No-one had yet been found as a replacement but notices had gone up at the hall and school and in the February Parish Newsletter. It was felt that individuals needed to be approached personally, as volunteers are hard to come by in the village. Peter would put the notice on Langham Locals. The committee thanked Liz for being a pro-active secretary.

Replacement Central Heating and Water heaters for Pre-School and Shop
There had been a number of problems which continued to delay the installation of water heaters. However, the Pre-School had hot water to the children’s washbasins and the playroom. Tomorrow Cadman plumbers were fitting heaters in the shop and pre-school kitchen and both disabled toilets. Chris would be in on Monday to install the necessary electrics.
A wall-mounted control for the pre-school air-conditioning had been fitted but instructions for operation were awaited.
Feedback from hirers has been mostly positive, although one or two groups had found the room cold on arrival. Sue was still getting to grips with how early to set the heating running before hires. This was a matter of trial and error. Once on, the heaters warm up the rooms quickly.
Ian Phillips has removed both boilers but would return (possibly tomorrow) to tidy the disconnected wiring. The oil tank is also scheduled to be removed tomorrow.
Shelving is required for the installation manuals which are kept at the hall. A sum of £1,000 was included in the grant applications for “making good” which could go towards this. (Sue, Alan and Bob looked at the tank room after the meeting to discuss possibilities.)

Grant Funding
A cheque from Enovert for £15,000 had been received just after Christmas and was paid into the Langham Community Council’s account in January and used towards Lambrothers’ invoice for the central heating installation in the hall and club room. It was agreed to display a plaque supplied by Enovert in the entrance foyer and to ask Langham Ladies if we could celebrate completion of the works at their Community Café on 27th March. EW
CIF agreed to a grant of £7,000 on 15th November but notification was not received until mid-December and the terms and conditions were accepted by Alan and Liz W on 19th December, by which time the installation was complete.
On that date Liz e-mailed Louise Gambardella, the Funding Officer, pointing out that, because of the delay in the Panel meeting and a further month’s delay in notification of grant funding, the work had been completed. Liz asked whether we could include work which had been undertaken after the 15th November but before the agreement had been signed. Louise agreed to refer the query to the Panel. Despite a reminder, no reply has been received. It was agreed that Liz should enlist the help of our Borough and County Councillor to try to expedite matters. At all events, we shall be able to use it towards removal of the boilers and tank and making good. EW

Treasurer’s Report
Figures for December had been sent out to Trustees with hard copies available at the meeting.
Maureen read out her prepared report (a copy of which is with these minutes.)
Despite the high expenditure over the past nine months, the total in our accounts and the petty cash amount to almost the same as at the beginning of the financial year, which is an excellent result.
The music licence for the next twelve months has been paid and will feature twice in our accounts for 2018-19 (a total of £2,668.20) because the invoice was not received in 2019 until May.
Maureen has requested the usual charity Rate reduction from Colchester Borough Council but has not yet had a reply.
Maureen thanked the secretary for obtaining grant funding for the heating works and also Sue and Cheryl for taking on additional work to facilitate the project, sometimes at the inconvenience of themselves and families. These sentiments were echoed by all present.

Maureen and Liz W had met to consider the VAT on electricity but decided to leave it as it is.
A new heading would be needed in the spreadsheet for grant funding received. MS
Maureen had managed to renew the subscription to Microsoft on the Treasurer’s laptop by doing so in Alan’s name, as it was originally set up by him. However, on expiry next January
it will need to be transferred into the Treasurer’s name.

The chairman asked if all agreed the figures for December. Andrew had a query about the £240 paid for the Shop broadband contribution but would clarify this with Maureen after the meeting. Liz Schofield proposed and Sue Trimnell seconded that the figures should be accepted as correct, apart from Andrew’s query. All were in favour and thanked Maureen for managing to prepare the accounts in time for the meeting under trying circumstances.

Marketing Manager/Caretaker’s Report
Sue’s reports had been circulated and the “completed” list was very impressive.
She reminded Alan for insurance purposes that the Vespa Club would have some members staying overnight on the weekend of 3-5th April and that Brownies would be here for a sleepover on 7th March and again on 29-31st May. Vespa had not yet confirmed their bar requirements. They were dealing separately with the Parish Council regarding use of the field.
The Comet Caravan Club were coming on 27-29th March.
Bob agreed to look at the field electricity box which Sue was unable to open. BS
Bob, Liz W, Jutta and Maureen expected to be available for the Toy Fair on 10th May. Bob advised that the cost of the bacon had increased. Andrew said he could now do the Car Bar on 20th February as well as 19th March. James would try to do 16th April. Bob would help if possible.
The monthly check revealed that new emergency lights are required in the kitchen. Chris replaced one when he did the Annual check and will quote for LEDs.

Any Other Business

V.E. Day Peter announced that the Parish Council was organising a picnic-type event to celebrate V.E. Day on the early May Bank Holiday of Friday May 8th. The PC would circulate more details shortly.

Loss of earning’s for locked out hirer An early morning hirer had been unable to gain access to the hall one Thursday because the Scouts had failed to return the key to the keysafe. She had to cancel her first class and lost £102 in earnings and the £19 hall hire already paid.
After some discussion and a profuse apology from both James and Denise, who assured the meeting that protocols had been changed to avoid any re-occurrence, Liz Schofield proposed that the Langham Community Council absorb the costs on this occasion but stressed that this decision should not set a precedent. Andrew Craig seconded the motion, which was carried. £121 would be refunded to the hirer.
Some discussion arose about hirers borrowing the Shop-held key but Andrew reminded the Trustees why this was not acceptable, particularly in respect of insurance cover.



Dates of next meetings

The next Finance Meeting will be on Monday 2nd March at Alan’s house at 7.30 pm.

The next Trustee Meeting will be on Thursday 26th March in the Main Hall at 7.30 pm.

The AGM will be held on Thursday 21st May at 7.30 pm in the club room.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 9 pm.