(Public meeting to discuss the feasibility study because the AGM had to be held remotely)
At The Duke of York Pomeroy, 8pm, Monday 27th September 2021
Attendees: Representing:
Jean Brown (JB) Vice Chair of Committee
Brian Burton (BB) Local Resident
Jenny Cooper (JC) Committee member
Bridget Dicken (BD) Committee member
Gary Dicken (GD) Trustee
Rebekah Dicken (RD) Committee member
Lloyd Melland (LM) Treasurer
Jess O’Dwyer (JOD) Secretary
Christine Riley (CR) Trustee#
Ian Webster (IW) Committee member
Philip Wheeldon (PW) Chair of Committee
Ben Wilson (BW) Committee Member
01/09/21 Welcome and Introduction
Summary of Discussion:
PW thanked all for coming to the meeting, especially BW, our new committee member. It was nice to finally be able to have an in-person meeting. Communication remotely by email has been very difficult.
02/09/21 Apologies and Expressions of Interest
Summary of Discussion:
Apologies were received from Sarah Wilson (committee member) and Andrew Bownes (associate and local resident).
03/09/21 Minutes of Previous Meeting dated 5th July 2021
Summary of Discussion:
The minutes were accepted as a true record of the meeting.
04/09/21 Matters Arising
Summary of Discussion:
JOD is unable to put a copy of the minutes on Facebook as Facebook does not allow word documents to be uploaded. The “notes” section of Facebook pages has also been removed meaning the text can no longer be copied and pasted into there.
There were no objections to the committee being re-elected and Ben and Sarah Wilson joining.
JOD to put a notice on Facebook to say copies of the minutes are available on request.
05/09/21 Bank Account/Treasurer Report
Summary of Discussion:
LM reported that the bank balance is £2928.98. Money to be banked is £99 from the car treasure hunt, £361 from the raffle plus £50 from last year’s 100 Club.
LM to allow JOD access to the online banking.
JOD reported that progress on the dormant account was slow. Complaints have been made to both RBS and the financial ombudsman.
06/09/21 Funding
Summary of Discussion:
We haven’t applied for any further sources of funding. We need to decide what we are doing with the hall so that we can get an invoice from the architect and then claim the War Memorials Trust Grant. We should have claimed this in Sept 2021, but we have asked for an extension until Feb 2022.
07/09/21 Fundraising
Summary of Discussion:
JC and RD did the car treasure hunt and raffle earlier this month. They are now setting up the 100 Club for the coming year. They are planning a Christmas raffle. We have some prizes donated but are looking for more – please contact us if you are able to offer a prize for our raffle [email protected]
PW asked if there was a list of what points each team got in the car treasure hunt. JC to ask Joan for this information. There was half a point between the winning team and the second team!
RD said they were looking at doing a ball race in future. She has spoken to a few schools about doing boards for the windows in the hall and they would prefer to do this after Christmas.
Photo competition – The deadline for the competition is November. A Halloween or Remembrance theme was suggested. Photo to be taken Sat 23rd Sept at 3pm.
Calendar – It was decided to concentrate on the raffle and the war memorial booklet this year. JC to price up calendars and work out how much to sell for, for next year.
Thermometer – we previously discussed painting this on the “front door” at the hall. We first need a target to work towards.
08/09/21 Charity Commission (CC) and Rural Action Derbyshire (RAD)
Summary of Discussion:
This was not discussed in the meeting as there was nothing new to report. The current situation is: Helena Stubbs (Village Hall Advisor at RAD) submitted our application to the CC in June. The CC are very behind with registrations and enquiries. They identified a number of complexities that will need further consideration. They will be in touch in the next few weeks. Helena said that as part of the CC application, we need to be aware of our safeguarding responsibilities. It is a legal requirement to have a safeguarding policy. We need to adapt and adopt the safeguarding policy.
09/09/21 Governing Document
Summary of Discussion:
We don’t yet have a proper trust document, just an interim constitution. At some point, when we know what we can and can’t do, we will need a proper meeting to discuss our purposes, how we run the trust and how we get new trustees.
10/09/21 Feasibility Study
Summary of Discussion:
We were hoping that there would be more members of the public present. Elanor Hazlehurst of Greenwood Solutions has done a public consultation about the future of Pomeroy War Memorial Hall. She is working with our Architects, Richard Smith and Nichola Robinson of Smith and Roper. The audit found that the local population is quite elderly and isolated. There were 144 responses to the public survey. Respondent indicated they wanted a place to meet or a room to hire and facilities to pick up information. There was much less response from other stakeholders such as local councils. There were not many business suggestions. A biker group wanted to renovate the hall and use it (but this creates problems with sharing the space). Ideas included a “co-working space”, a bunk barn and there was interest from yoga and sewing groups.
The Ashbourne Road is a problem because of the volume and speed of traffic. There are concerns about pedestrian access due to lack of lighting, footpath or even verge.
The committee must decide what the hall will be used for so that the architect can draw up proper plans and provide costings.
The committee discussed various issues including services, the porch, the car park and capacity of the hall.
PW and IW have done remedial work suggested by the architect including pointing the gable end and the wall on the car park side.
Having discussed the options in the feasibility study, those present voted as follows:
Bunk Barn only: 0/12
Community use only: 0/12
Joint use: 12/12
Those present chose drawing number 5, the plan with the stackable beds on.
Discussion then moved to the layout of the hall in drawing number 5. Having the services at the front of the hall was approved by 11 of the 12 people present.
11/09/21 Correspondence
Summary of Discussion:
Booklet – A booklet has been produced by Jane and Rick Nuth to document local war memorials and give information about the men killed in the First World War. They have offered to produce and print the booklets for us to sell and raise money for the hall. Hopefully this will also raise awareness of and interest in the hall. It was decided to buy 50 booklets and sell them for £8.00 each.
Post Meeting Note – a letter was received the day after the meeting. JOD applied to HMRC to register The Pomeroy Trust for Gift Aid. The reply was that we need to be registered with the CC first. When we have this registration, we can go back to HMRC.
12/09/21 Any other business
Summary of Discussion:
Sign for the hall – it was decided not to do this at the moment.
Noticeboard – JB suggested having a community noticeboard in Pomeroy. BD suggested having it near the post box. As this is on the pub grounds she would need to check with Robinsons.
JB to apply for funding for the noticeboard. BD to check Robinsons will allow a noticeboard on their land.
13/09/21 Date and Time of Next Meeting
Summary of Discussion:
Next meeting: Monday 29th November 2021 – request start time of 7.30pm.
Suggested dates for next year – to be discussed at next meeting (all last Monday of the month)
Monday 28th March 2022, 7.30pm (AGM?)
Monday 27th June 2022, 7.30pm
Monday 26th September 2022, 7.30pm
Monday 28th November 2022, 7.30pm
Meeting finished 10.13pm.