Minutes of Past Parish Hall Meetings
Minutes of the Ashwater Parish Hall Meeting Held on Wednesday 7th November 2007
Present: L Langston, M Timney, E Gliddon, P Capron, A Gill, A Shadrick,
T Moon, K Davis, H Thomas, I Buxton, A Stacey, M Gliddon.
Apologies: J Forward, A Spratt, G Spratt
Minutes of Previous Meeting held on 3rd October 2007
The minutes were agreed as a true record subject to the following amendments:
Accounts - New Hall Reserve Account £1115.70
Payments - Electricity (old hall) £22.13
Proposed by M Gliddon, seconded by T Moon.
Lottery Bid
The Quantity Surveyors (Taylor Lewis Ltd) have been appointed and sent out tenders for the building work. Replies are expected just before or just after Christmas having requested a deadline return date of 5/01/2008. The tenders will only be valid for 90 days, so a push is being made to get them back before the Christmas ‘shutdown’ to avoid time wastage. These will then be scrutinised by the QS who will report and recommend to the Sub-committee and in turn they will report to the main committee all of which means time is of the essence. The hope is that the full bid will be submitted by mid-January.
A question was asked about the 90 day period, as it seemed this would expire before the result of the bid was known. The answer is that tenders can allow for inflationary increases and 10% will built into the bid figure accordingly.
Putting the bid together is very time consuming and the working party is in constant contact to ensure attention to detail. The Global Impact (Environmental Report) invoice has arrived and when payment is received they will start and gradually all aspects of the bid are being pulled together.
Regarding the groundwork/site clearance/access it is understood the builder who makes the successful tender may wish to appoint his own contractor. T Moon advised he was aware through Mole Valley Farmers that some local farmers would be interested and may well be able to carry out the work at a more reasonable price than say a contractor from Plymouth. This aspect has already been discussed with both the QS and the Lottery Commission and the latter have indicated that use of local workforces is preferable where practical/possible. The QS considers this is an area where possible savings can be made. T Moon will provide a list of names of interested parties.
One important aspect of the Business Plan is that Appendices should include a list of hall users. This should contain as many different names and as wide a variety of types of use as possible. It was agreed that we should make contact again and get letters of support from the organisations.
The sign has been erected denoting the site and the reason one pole is longer than the other is to accommodate the slope of the hill and allow another sign to be added later.
Fund Raising
A Stacey confirmed the Wine and Wisdom evening has now been arranged for Saturday 24th November 2007 and a bar licence has been secured. Posters are being put up around the village, but it seems most tables have already been sold by word of mouth.
K Davis confirmed tickets for the 100 Club are now available and committee members were allocated tickets to sell/buy.
P Capron confirmed if the weather was wet the hall would be used from 6.30pm on Tuesday 11th December 2007 for the Children’s Carol Singing otherwise this would go ahead on the Green. The Christmas tree on the green will be erected on 2nd December 2007.
I Buxton advised he would not proceed with the evening booking for a Children’s Party on 1st December 2007, but the hall would be used during the afternoon for the PTA Christmas Bazaar.
Discussion then followed over providing and erecting festive decorations in the hall, which was considered a good idea. The Village Green Committee will be asked to buy the decorations and seek volunteers to erect them in time for the December events.
I Buxton confirmed the Carolling and Crumpets evening arranged for Saturday 8th December promised to be a foot-tapping family event with songs old and new and the bar licence had been arranged.
He went on to advise the last film show had been very poorly attended and if the next one on 21st November 2007 (The Number 23, Starring Jim Carey in a psychological thriller) was not fully supported then further films could not be afforded.
Ashwater is not alone in experiencing difficulty in selling film shows. Holsworthy with its new hall recently advertised the same problem in the local press and the Cinema outside Bude has just closed. Chilsworthy have also experienced very low attendances. Basically it seems the general release of DVD’s soon after the films have been shown in cinemas or on Pay TV has reduced demand.
Paul Rendell (Dartmoor Guide) will give an illustrated talk about Exmoor and its Combes on Wednesday 28th November 2007 and another about Wild Cornwall on Wednesday 23rd January 2008.
There will also be another musical evening on Saturday 2nd February 2008 when singer and songwriter Pete Coe will perform.
A vote of thanks was recorded to I Buxton for the recent wildlife talk and E Gliddon said it was disappointing that more did not support these events.
As agreed at the September Meeting Malcolm Timney and I Buxton have drawn up some template fund raising letters. A discussion will take place at the sub-committee meeting on Tuesday 13th November 2007 as how to proceed.
K Davis asked if the ‘Buy-a-Brick’ scheme should now be resurrected and M Timney advised he had the details of those who previously contributed and once the bid writing aspect had been concluded this and other fund raising activities would be given more attention. He explained that part of the bid was our ability to show that we could plan ahead and demonstrate how we could continue to fund the running costs of the new hall once built. It was essential to show that it would be a profitable enterprise for the benefit of the community.
I Buxton advised of Internet sites specialising in fund raising by linking the Village Website to large retailers such as Tesco. Commission was paid for each sale introduced and was something to explore as a revenue source for the future.
Accounts
| Old Hall | Current £277.03 | Reserve £709.21 |
| New Hall | Current £1124.59 | Reserve £3989.42 |
£165.00 had been paid from the Old Hall Account for cleaning during the past 12 months.
Payment of £20.00 for renewing the Lottery and Gaming Licence was agreed. Proposed T Moon, seconded H Thomas.
Regarding the allocation of £25,000 from the lottery fund nearly £6,000 has already been spent with another £9000 earmarked to be spent on the QS’s fees. The invoice has to be approved then sent to the Lottery Committee for payment and drawn against our allocation.
M Gliddon, seconded by A Stacey, proposed £335.00 payable for the Environmental Audit.
AOB
I Buxton confirmed he had attended the official re-launch of the Ruby Country Initiative on Friday 2nd November 2007. Money was available for "Ruby" use and they intend to promote a Trade Show, Farmers Markets, Food Safaris, Seasonal Markets and a Newsletter.
These will require venues and contact will be made to try and secure at least one event at the hall, possibly before next Easter.
L Langton advised that appropriate thanks had been given to T Pugh for all his valuable assistance with the Lottery Bid and related matters and he had been wished well for his move to Wales.
There being no other business the meeting closed at 8.45pm.
Date of Next Meeting Wednesday 4th December 2007
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