CAYNHAM VILLAGE HALL AGM REPORT 2015-6

Chairman’s Report 2015/6

At the start of the year the Committee was severely depleted by the departure of Paul and Diane Woodbridge (Treasurer and Bookings Clerk respectively). Fortunately, the only officer required by our governing document is a Chairman, so we were able to continue to function legitimately. Jean Faulkner took over from Diane. In July we were delighted to welcome back Joan Anley as WI representative.

Despite the best efforts of Committee members, it would not be possible to run our regular fund-raising events without help from others. Thanks are especially due to Jill and Ray Bufton, Gill Bissell, Paula Spencer and Jenny Daniel. Our collaboration with St Mary’s Church PCC continued with two lunches, in July and December, and we also shared the proceeds from apple picking and the Caynham Shoot, both organised by Ray Bufton. The Big Breakfast in September was as popular as ever.

We have continued to host regular meetings of local community groups: Caynham Ashford WI, Caynham and District Gardening Society, Caynham Book Exchange, Shropshire Village Hall Quiz and Jenny Daniel’s weekly Yoga Class. St Mary’s Church held the annual Harvest Supper at the Village Hall and Caroline Prentice arranged monthly film shows for local families. The Wine Appreciation Group is not meeting in 2016.

The village website has been revitalised by Terry Anley and now includes an online version of the newsletter.

The dominant topic this year, however, has been the refurbishment of the Village Hall. Following a consultation exercise in June, we submitted two grant applications for a total of just over £21,000. One of these was successful and in October we received Lottery funding of £9,409.25 from Awards for All England – this was publicised in the local press and on local radio stations. Subsequently, we obtained further donations from the Wesley’s project (£1.500), Caynham Parish Council (£600) and Severn Trent Water (£250). There have also been local contributions: Jenny Daniel organised a coffee morning with her Yoga class that raised over £100 and other donations, including proceeds from the sale of redundant Village Hall items, brought the total from these sources to £268 at the end of our financial year. We are very grateful for all these contributions.

With a top-up from our own reserves we have thus far been able to afford: a new step-free entrance to the Hall, with a wheelchair friendly approach path and an automatic door; a new insulated floor in the main hall with hard-wearing floor covering; and the repainting of the internal walls. The old stage has been removed and the rear lobby, which used to provide inadequate disabled access, has become a storeroom. The building work was done by Paul Jones (Premier Building Services).

We are continuing our fund raising efforts. We have received encouragement – but no money as yet – from the Garfield Weston Foundation and we have identified other possible sources of grants. We are hopeful that in the coming year we will be able to build on our success by making further improvements to the Hall and attracting new user groups.

Finally, I would like to thank Joan and Terry Anley, Barbara Ashford, Jean Faulkner, Juliet Jones and Caroline Prentice for their work and support during the year. They are an excellent Committee. Very special thanks are due to Terry, who deserves great credit for initiating and leading on the refurbishment project and for his work on the website.

David Faulkner, Chairman