Phone: 07741 284132
Email: LanghamCC@gmail.com
LANGHAM COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of a Finance Sub-Committee Meeting
held on 27th February 2017 at 7.30pm.

Present Alan Cadman, Liz Winter, Sue Armstrong.

Apologies Liz Schofield

Minutes of Previous meeting on 30th January 2017
These had been approved by those present at the meeting and circulated to all Trustees.

Matters Arising
Pre-School All Trustees had replied in writing to the Secretary confirming that they supported the recommendation of the Sub-committee to reduce the Pre-School rent to £50 per month for the six months March-August 2017. A letter had been sent to the Pre-School informing them of the Trustees’ decision, which had been acknowledged with thanks.
E-on Liz W had accepted the two-year deal from E-on and had received confirmation from them. The new contract starts on 8th May.
Music Licences Sue’s calculations of our qualifying income for year ended 31.03.16 (based on door takings, hirings, subscriptions and net contribution from food/bar which accrue to the LCC) totals £51,105. The first £10,000 is exempt, we then pay 1% of the remainder for each licence, making a total of £822.10 plus 20% vat, i.e. £986.52. AC
Hall floor The marks have been made by Clubroom chairs which have lost their rubber “feet”. Sue has ordered replacement “feet”.
Car park repairs Alan has not had time to make enquiries yet, having been spending a great deal of time with Sue Trimnell on the accounts.

Budget for 2017-18
Sue had updated the budget spreadsheet as promised and had one or two queries. The boiler, fitted in 2005, had been playing up and might need replacing sooner rather than later. It was agreed to put a figure of £8,000 into the budget for five years’ time for this and ten years for the Pre-School boiler fitted in 2011. The main boiler had been serviced at the end of last year and now all three pumps have been replaced. Hard water was the main problem and future services will add Furnox to help alleviate this. The Pre-School pump has also been replaced.
Sue isn’t sure of the servicing arrangements for the new velux windows, blinds and kitchen shutter and we will check these. She has details on a USB stick but does not actually have the folder. We all remembered seeing one and Liz W would ask Roger Newnham whether he has it. EW
Sue is having difficulty getting quotes to replace the vertical blinds on the large windows. Nobody wants to take on the job because their height means a cherry picker would have to be used to hang them. Sue will keep trying. SA
She has received a quote of £700 for three electric hand-dryers - for the disabled toilet and the two at the foot of the stairs – similar to the ones in the gents and ladies. This includes the electrical work needed and ducting. Paper towels are being put down the toilet and Cheryl is constantly having to retrieve them, hence the suggestion of dryers.
Sue is waiting for a new toilet roll dispenser to be installed which should be much better than the existing ones. Others may then be ordered.
Fire exit lights have been checked and replaced where necessary.
Our current hall chairs are considered not fit for purpose and the manufacturer ought to be notified and some compensation recovered. However, as David King could get no reply from them as long ago as last Spring, it seems unlikely we would be successful. Sue would like to purchase 30 wipeable plastic chairs for children’s parties. The most popular of the trialled chairs for adults is the most expensive one at over £40 each and funding these would be a large outlay. Perhaps we could ask people to “sponsor” a chair?

VOIP
BT seem confused about the designation of the Community Centre account. Bills are addressed to “alanangham” but letters to “Langham Community Centre”. Alan will need to contact BT to sort this out (which is always a lengthy process) in order to cancel our contract, which ends in June, while retaining the number. Alan will meet Paul Armstrong next Monday afternoon to discuss the VOIP. Meanwhile, the phone has been moved to Sue’s house. AC

Internet Banking
In response to our letter Alan has received forms from Barclays, who claim we have never completed the correct forms for internet banking. However, the ones they have sent make no mention of Andrew Craig who also has banking access. Andrew has volunteered to help sort out the confusion and Liz would contact him after the meeting.
We must ensure that cheques made payable to Langham Village Hall, Langham Community Centre or Langham Community Council will be acceptable. EW/ACr

Sue Trimnell
Sue T has drawn up spreadsheets and inputted all data for the current financial year’s outgoings to date. She needs a breakdown of deposits returned to hirers which Sue A will provide. Progress is being made in other areas of the accounts but there are some complications to deal with. A huge vote of thanks was proposed to Sue T for her volunteering to help us out in this way. SA

Community Shop
A letter had been received from the Shop’s chairman, Gill Flack, asking for a meeting to discuss rent payable by them from June 2018, when their rent holiday ends. It was agreed to ask Andrew Craig to put their case before the Trustee meeting on 30th March, at which time we would need to present our own estimate of a fair rent to cover our costs. Liz would write to Gill with a copy to Andrew. EW

Pensions
Cheryl had decided to take up the offer of a pension and Sue would let us know shortly but felt she would probably also want to join a scheme. Once we had written confirmation, Marilyn at Asset would need to be contacted and the necessary information would need to be uploaded to the NEST pension website. EW

Recreation Ground Hire
When the recreation ground is hired at the same time as the hall, payment is often made together and we then pass their share on to the Parish Council. This inflates our income and makes it harder to split out the profit. Sue suggested that in future the payment to the Parish Council should be invoiced separately. (The Parish Clerk confirmed after the meeting that he can raise an invoice and payment can be made into the PC account by BACS.) Sue and the Parish Clerk would need to liaise to find the best way of implementing the new arrangement. SA

Assets
Alan has the asset values for insurance purposes which are
£20,320 for non-electrical items within the building
£12,192 for electrical items (may need raising £5,000 for cinema equipment)
£2,500 maximum cash
We need to know whether any of these sums need breaking down into component parts.

Any Other Business
Final stages to amendment of our constitution Liz Schofield was prepared to sign a letter stating that the sum from insurance monies invested in 1988 on behalf of the Community Centre was £26,000. Sue Sheppard hoped that this would be sufficient for the Charity Commissioners when our amended Trust Deed is submitted, if passed at the AGM.

RCCE We need to pay our RCCE subs, which have increased to £50 + vat from 1st April, and update our details. Liz would send a cheque. EW

Bad debts Several bad debts had built up over the summer when Sue was so busy but she has chased most of them down and only a small amount is left owing.

Footballers There have been ongoing problems with the dirt left by football teams in the showers. They are supposed to clean after themselves and Cheryl has ensured that all the necessary equipment is to hand. It is taking Class Cleaners an extra hour and a half to clear up the mess, which so far they have absorbed without extra charge to us, but is not fair on them.
Vagabonds play on Sundays and have been using the pitch without booking by taking the keys from the Schofields. They are paying off their debt.
Connaught Red Star played last Saturday without booking, whereas Langham Lodgers booked their whole season in advance.
It was agreed that we would put charges up next season to cover the extra cleaning required.

Date of Next Meeting Full Trustee meeting on Thursday 30th March.

The meeting closed at 10.10 p.m.
How To Find Us
Langham Community Centre, School Rd, Langham, Colchester CO4 5PA
Get In Touch
07741 284132
LanghamCC@gmail.com
About Us
The Langham Community Centre was opened in June 1988 and has been serving local village residents and other commercial hirers ever since.

We are based at the heart of Langham Village, with easy access from the A12.
©  2024 Langham Community Centre. All Rights Reserved.