Geldeston Village Hall Management Trustees
Charity Number 209939

Chairman’s Report 2007

Another eventful year has seen the Village Hall Committee Putting on

The Village Fete
Two Village walks
Christmas Dance
New Years Day Breakfast (Food inspection was required)

Non Village Hall organisations have put on
Burns Night
Village Produce Show

Regular activities in the hall include
Wed Coffee morning
Thursday Evening Bowls Club
Fortnightly Children’s Model Club
Monthly Parish Council Meetings

The Hall has been booked for Children’s Parties and Band Practices, among other events.

The majority of Parish Councillors have been Strong supporters of the Village Hall, and I hope this will continue in the future.

Although we have lost some booking over the past few years these have not been Village bookings.  I am encouraged that the model club has developed and that the hall committee have been working on more village events. As an example The New Years Day breakfast being a resounding success.

As Chairman I would like to thank the Committee, particularly those standing in for our secretary to write minutes for meetings.

We have been unsuccessful in our bid to start up an internet service in the village hall, but we hope to find other sources of funding in the coming year.

The Hall having been painted, now has curtain rails up and the chairs are starting to be covered, special thank you to Judy Cox and Val Streams for their help.  Curtain making is still under discussion, but we hope to go ahead with this in the near future.

We now have Ramps to help with access to the hall, although these are far from ideal, so it would still be good to try to go ahead with the extension. Initial planning permission discussions with South Norfolk require quite a bit more work to develop into proper plans. It is now clear that our plans require more depth, and in-depth comments are required on the plans.

At present we are in the process of looking at all our documents and to this end we must have the Electrics improved and tested. We need to have policy documents on such things as Fire risk assessments, general risk assessments, Booking Form etc.

During the year The Hall Committee decided that we should formally make the Hall a Non Smoking Hall. This was ahead of what will now become policy across all buildings of this type.

Detailed information has been available on the Village Web Site for some time regarding the Hall and Events. The Village Fete has also been publicised with the Broads Authority.

I have decided that I should stand down as chairman, for several reasons:
Firstly I seem to have had this role for rather a long time.
Secondly I would like to concentrate more on working on the possible extension, and I feel this needs a small group of people concentrating on this, and I cannot be part of this while spending my time Sorting the bookings, setting and sorting the heating, sorting out the payment of workmen, cleaner etc.

This year has been the most hassle as far as I am concerned regarding finances, not necessarily Mr Gates fault, but I cannot remember having to sort out any financial problems in the past. I thank Mr Gates for his very well produced accounts.

Mrs Sweetman has done a stirling job over the years as secretary, and she has stood in where many would fear to tread, she no longer feels able to continue in this role.

The Future

In the next few weeks we will have a new stage, thanks to the money collected from parishioners and put aside by the Parish Council for Village Hall use.

We must have the Electrics Sorted, once this is done the Committee need to sort all the policy documents and then the Entertainments License.

The Hall needs a strong committed committee if it is to be serious about developing the hall. The Management committee have worked very hard to raise money, and without their efforts the hall would be in a very sorry state. However if we are to develop the hall into a hall for the future we must put effort into the management of documents and policies.

Yours sincerely

Brian Norman