Pomeroy War Memorial Hall Committee Meeting
At The Duke of York Pomeroy, 7pm, Tuesday 30th November 2021
Attendees: Representing:
Jean Brown (JB) Vice Chair of Committee
Jenny Cooper (JC) Committee member
Bridget Dicken (BD) Committee member
Rebekah Dicken (RD) Committee member
Jess O’Dwyer (JOD) Secretary
Philip Wheeldon (PW) Chair of Committee
Ben Wilson (BW) Committee Member
Sarah Wilson (SW) Committee Member
01/11/21 Welcome and Introduction
Summary of Discussion:
PW thanked all for coming to the meeting and apologised for having to postpone last nights meeting due to ice and snow.
02/11/21 Apologies and Expressions of Interest
Summary of Discussion:
Apologies were received from Lloyd Melland (LM) and Ian Webster (IW) who were unable to attend the revised meeting date.
David Gordon from Warslow Village Hall Committee had expressed an interest. BD suggested inviting David to a future Pomeroy meeting.
Eva White from Sterndale Moor Taskforce had been in touch to request a copy of our last minutes. She is now on our mailing list. We would like to include people from Sterndale Moor more as Pomeroy Hall was originally built to remember the fallen from Pomeroy and Sterndale Moor.
03/11/21 Minutes of Previous Meeting dated 27th September 2021
Summary of Discussion:
The minutes were accepted as a true record of the meeting.
04/11/21 Matters Arising
Summary of Discussion:
JOD was previously unable to put a copy of the minutes on Facebook as Facebook do not allow word documents to be uploaded. Instead JOD will print the minutes and take a photo of them to post on Facebook. BD was happy to display a copy of the minutes at the pub.
BW to help us set up a website and email addresses for all committee members. He recommended a security certificate for the website and purchased the domain name “The Pomeroy Trust.” Helena Stubbs (Rural Action Derbyshire) advised us to put a safeguarding policy in place. JOD has tailored a model document to The Pomeroy Trust. RD agreed to be the named safeguarding contact on the policy. The policy was approved for use. A copy will be available on our website as soon as the website is up and running.
05/11/21 Bank Account/Treasurer Report
Summary of Discussion:
Dormant Account – JOD had forwarded information from our solicitor onto RBS. We are now awaiting a reply from the dormancy team.
Bank Account – JOD now has online access to the Pomeroy Trust bank account. The balance on 6th
Nov was £3376.08. Since the last meeting the only activity has been paying in treasure hunt takings and 100 Club membership fees.
06/11/21 Funding
Summary of Discussion:
We haven’t applied for any new funding. We need to reply to the architect so they can complete their work and send us an invoice, enabling us to claim the WMT grant by March 2022.
To summarise, we have so far received grants of £425 and £700 for the work that Helena Stubbs (Rural Action Derbyshire) is doing (this has not yet been paid, but the money is sat in our account awaiting her invoice).
For the feasibility, we have received grants of £300 (PDNPA), £1000 (Cllr S Spencer), £1000 (Better Derbyshire Dales) and £2357 (Bingham Trust). In total this is £4657, which has allowed us to pay the first instalment of £2472 to Smith and Roper (Architect) plus £960 for the work Elanor Hazlehurst (Greenwood Projects) has done. We therefore owe Smith and Roper £4854 (working on their original quote of £7326). When we get the WMT grant of £3390 we should have enough in the bank to cover Smith and Roper and Helena’s bills.
07/11/21 Fundraising
Summary of Discussion:
The winner of the 100 Club for November is Number 1, Joan Bonsall. JC/RD to check if Joan is happy for this to be made public. Emily Mellor was the winner for October. This is on Facebook but JOD to check if this was reported in the last News and Views. This year we have 35 members of the 100 Club which is 15 fewer than last year. This means the profit from the 100 Club at present is only £120. JC/RD to produce a 100 Club advert/form for BD to give out in the pub and encourage locals/regulars to join. JB/JOD to write and submit an article for News and Views.
Christmas raffle tickets are now available from any committee member or from the Duke of York pub. We have got prizes from Peak Wildlife Park, Chatsworth, Go Ape and Brierlow Bar Bookstore with more to come. The raffle will be drawn on Sunday 19th December at 6pm by Santa and his elf. There will be mulled wine and mince pies available, donations to be put in an honesty box. Thanks to BW for taking the photo for the village hall photo competition and to JC for submitting our entry. This has been acknowledged and the winner will be contacted in due course. We could put these photos on our new website. JOD to send the Pomeroy Trust logo files to BW so he can watermark the photos.
08/11/21 Charity Commission (CC) and Rural Action Derbyshire (RAD)
Summary of Discussion:
Helena Stubbs (RAD) sent an update on 8th November. Helena was asked to submit an application by the CC so they could examine our case and provide advice on how to proceed with The Pomeroy Trust registering as a charity and reinstating Pomeroy War Memorial Hall as a charitable trust. The CC’s reply was disappointing and Helena is now waiting for further advice from ACRE on how to proceed.
09/11/21 Feasibility Study
Summary of Discussion:
The architect has sent revised plans based on our comments – the kitchen has been moved to the opposite side of the hall, the partition screen and kitchen hatch has been added to the plans. He said that it would be possible to keep the windows at the far end exposed for the most part, but the cupboards to store the beds would cover about 20cm at the bottom of the windows. The committee agreed it was better to lose a little bit off the windows than reduce the number of beds that could be stored. It may also be possible to source different sized beds that would fit in a cupboard below the windows.
Originally the architect stated that we might need to lose one of the showers to allow space for the heating system. He then suggested this could go above the bed cupboard at the back of the hall or above the draught lobby at the front of the hall. The committee agreed it was better to put the heating system above the draught lobby rather than have it on full view at the end of the hall or have it blocking the windows.
The architect would like to fit in with the WMT who have given us an extension until the end of March 2022 (although it might be possible to extend this again). The architect wants us to let him know what we want as soon as possible so that plans can be drawn up and planning permission can be applied for, particularly taking into account the Christmas break. Planning permission is required for the canopy over the front door, replacement of the front doors, alterations to the ramp and improving access to the car park.
The committee would like to reinstate the canopy over the door.
Heating – the architect said we could have a basic renovation (making good the roof, refurbishing the windows with slimline double glazing, replacing internal wall and ceiling plaster, upgrading roof insulation and installing wall mounted electric radiators) or a more substantial renovation (improve insulation by renewing the roof and improving roof insulation, lining the walls with insulation and replacing the plaster, install underfloor heating and an electric boiler and look at wind, air/ground source heat pumps or solar power. However, the more sophisticated the heating, the more it will cost and the more space it is likely to take up.
The architect says we need a mechanical and electrical (M&E) survey. This is not included in the architect’s quote. JB has asked for a price for this survey and is awaiting a reply.
The hall will need to be reconnected to mains electric as alternative energy sources won’t provide enough electric. Elanor Hazlehurst (Greenwood Projects) quoted £10k for solar panels but environmentally friendly energy might attract more funding. Insulation – the hall will benefit from a draught lobby. The back wall will need to be insulated to prevent the bed cupboard from becoming damp. It may be more important to insulate the ceiling than the rest of the walls. Rather than insulate the area above the hatch with rock wool, it might be better to remove the flat roof and insulate the whole roof area with insulated plasterboard. JOD left the meeting at 8.37pm (JB took the minutes from this point). There is a pre-planning application which costs around £360. We could ask the Peak District National Park Authority to look at our ideas without needing to pay for full or partial planning permission.
10/11/21 Correspondence
Summary of Discussion:
Pomeroy Booklet – Rick and Jane Nuth have withdrawn their permission for us to sell the booklet to raise funds for Pomeroy Hall. The committee were surprised as the Nuth’s took it upon themselves to write the booklet. They have spent a lot of time and effort preparing this and came up to meet PW and JB. They asked for corrections and amendments. JC stated we did not want to sell something that needed correcting. The project is on hold as we have enough on with renovating the hall. Some of the work in the booklet is ours anyway and a lot of the rest can be gleaned from Ancestry etc. We may revisit this in future.
Old photographs – we have been sent a couple of photos from a wedding reception at the hall (although not much of the hall can be seen). These were shared with the committee and will be put on the website when available.
Eva White/Sterndale Moor – discussed earlier.
11/11/21 Any other business
Summary of Discussion:
Notice board – JB had been looking into funding for an outside freestanding noticeboard for Pomeroy. The group felt that we would need a two- bay 4 x A4 size noticeboard. One suggestion was to ask local councils for recommendations for a local tradesperson. Earl Sterndale church has had a new board as does Chelmorton Institute. JB to ask Angela Campeau about the church noticeboard. BD to ask a local tradesperson for a quote.
BD felt a noticeboard should be easily accessible and not where people could be distracted from the road etc. The pub would be a central place, BD didn’t think Robinsons would have a problem but hasn’t had chance to ask yet.
12/11/21 Date and Time of Next Meeting
Summary of Discussion:
Monday 28th March 2022, 7.30pm (AGM? – or have AGM in June as last year?)
Future dates to be discussed.
Meeting finished 9.10 pm.