Minutes of Acklington Village Hall Committee Meeting
8th July 2010

Apologies received: Vi, Graham and Barbara
Members present: Eddie Critchlow, Sharon Thorpe, Bob Smailes, Alison Sharpe, David Hammond, Lorna Budge, Steve Thorpe and Barbara King

The minutes of the last meetings on 14th May 2010 were read and approved

Correspondence received
• Alison handed in an envelope received from Acklington School dated 23rd June which was opened and read out at the meeting. The contents concerning a pupils coat being burnt on the heater was discussed. It was decided that notices would be placed beside the heaters warning that they were hot and should not be touched or anything placed on or near them. A letter to be sent to the school.

Treasurers Report
• Bob advised £2,600.58 held on the current account, £102 petty cash, £1,102.44 held on the premium account and £2,694.77+£3,000+£1206 totalling £6,901.45 held on the premium account and £25,000 plus £200.41 held on the treasury deposit making a grand total of £34,927.
• Only individuals can invest in premium bonds so this was ruled out.
• Bob is speaking to the energy providers again to review the cheapest one.
• Payment has not yet been received from the holiday play scheme – Sharon to chase.

Maintenance, repairs and decoration
• A working party to meet in the hall on Saturday 10th July at 10am to look at clearing under the stage and the backroom, paintwork around the front door and a chain to keep the front door open. It was decided to leave painting the passage until later.
• The wooden strip in the ladies toilet and curtain pole in the hall have been repaired. Check with Vi re the valve which needs to be replaced in the gent’s toilet.
• Buying a smaller urn was discussed. It was agreed to make do with the present one for now.

Update on garden, back room and heating
• The paving is complete funded by the £3,000 grant plus a £558 donation from ACT. Bob expressed the committees thanks to ACT. Vi is waiting to hear from the fencing contractors – their revised estimate is awaited. This will be funded also by ACT.
• The garden lease has still not been finalised. A revised lease was received this week showing a start date of September 2009 but the solicitors are going to get back to us to see if the lease can be dated from 2010.
• Although Richard Sullivan submitted the planning application on 26th April 2010 there has been a delay with the council. Last week they asked some questions on the type of activities planned for the back room which will hopefully enable them to proceed.
• Bob agreed to Fenders repairing the heater at a cost of £294. We have had no success yet in obtaining funding for new central heating. Review at the next meeting.

Hall Bookings (inc encouraging new user groups)
• The hall has been well used for birthday parties, Georgia’s rehearsals, sewing, pilates and cream teas. The private bookings to date for 2009 were £271 and for 2010 are £790.

User Group Reports
• The school have been contacted to see if they would like to be represented as a user group and have a representative on the village hall committee but no response as yet.

Fundraising
• Bob pointed out that the actual rental income was our main fundraiser. Starting a ‘100’ club was discussed and it was agreed for Steve to look into and everyone to ask around to see if there was likely to be sufficient support for this venture.

North Northumberland Village Hall Consortium
• We agreed to obtain a PRS music licence costing £40 per annum.
• We currently pay £20 per annum for a Small Lotteries Licence. As this is only required if we run a 100 club and not for general tombolas and raffles review this at a later date.

Hallmark accreditation
• We ran through the Hallmark Checklist which seemed in order. As soon as the garden lease has been signed and we can arrange for the transfer of custodian trustee to the Parish Council we should be able to start applying for Hallmark accreditation.

Any other business
• The blue bin had been left full of glass after a recent function. Agreed to leave a note in the kitchen and on the bin reminding users that they must take home their glass.
• Some white mugs have been bought to replace some white cups which were accidentally broken. An inventory will be taken of the cups, saucers, plates and cutlery.

The date of the next meeting was arranged for Thursday 9th September 2010 at 7pm.