Hartington Village Hall AGM 15th October 2025: Chair’s Report
I trust that this report usefully summarises key points over the past year to members of the community. A full 2024/5 finance paper will follow along with a draft budget plan 2025/6, but it is important at this point in time that decisions about our Hall are made against a clear understanding of what is affordable.
- Trustees and Management Group Membership: We have seven trustees in total, supported by a Management Group of a further 8. There has been no change in membership over the year. Should further members of the community wish to join in either capacity then please let us know. The Village Hall is owned by the community and entirely run by volunteers.
- Cleaning and general maintenance: we are so grateful to our volunteers who clean and carry out routine maintenance such as weeding, fitting insulation, fixing lights, and painting. The number of bookings for the Hall has increased so if anyone wishes to join our cleaning teams (currently five teams so c10 weekly cleans over the year) then please let Liz Broomhead know. It’s not too time consuming and for big events a number of us ‘muck in’.
- 2023/24 external audit: During 2023/4 the audit revealed:
| 2023/4 | 2022/3 | 2021/2 | 2020/1 | 2019/20 | 2018/19 | |
| Income from hire | £17,208 | £12,503 | £8,257 | £2,341 | £4,489 | £8,315 |
| Donations | £508 | £1451 | £1,226 | £45 | £145 | £193 |
| Fund raising incl grants | £27,535 | £18,202 | £13,545 | £36,746 | £25,393 | £13,307 |
| Gift Aid | 0 | £638 | ||||
| TOTAL | £45,251 | £32,793 | £23,027 | £39,562 | £30,130 | £21,816 |
| EXPENDITURE | £37,841 | £40,573 | £29,292 | £51,660 | £7,994 | £8,710 |
| BALANCE on YEAR | +£7,410 | -£7,780 | -£6,265 | -£12,098 | +£22,136 | +£13,106 |
NB: Funds held at the year end on 31/08/2024 were £21,254, up from £13,844.
No issues of concern were identified by the external audit, and indeed that has been the case since the current Treasurer assumed the role. Our thanks go to Kate Craven as Treasurer.
- Current financial situation:
As of 31st August 2025 (end of financial year) our finances stood at:
- Nat West bank account £23,491.01
- Nationwide Business Savings Account £5,410.00
- Preliminary analysis suggests an operational profit over 2024/5 of £7,820.66. However one fund is ringfenced as we hold £1,632 for Arts based initiatives.
- A full analysis will be circulated prior to the AGM. All Accounts and Minutes are published on our website hartingtonvillagehall.co.uk
- In summary our hire income can normally cover routine operational costs but property improvements will continue to need to be substantially reliant on our lottery and grants.
- The decision was made in March 2023 to raise our hire charges to £14ph for local use and £20ph for external hire. The Bakehouse charge is now £9ph for local use and £10ph for external use. Weekend wedding receptions are now £700. The driving force for the increases was a x4 increase in electricity costs and a sustained increase in heating costs. In March 2025 the decision was to hold our hire fees from September 2025 at the existing rates. A new electricity contract is significantly lower in cost but other costs have increased.
- Maintenance issues:
The maintenance issues identified in the 2020/1 AGM report have seen the following progress:
- Replacing the heating system/oil storage tank/asbestos removal (DONE Autumn 2021)
- Kitchen/bar area (COMPLETED JUNE 2023)
- Ensuring the electrical system is efficient, functional and compliant (5 YEAR INSTALLATION SURVEY DONE JUNE ’22)
- Masonry of the Bakehouse – pointing/reducing damp (SW GABLE DONE AUTUMN 2022)
- Insulation of roof voids over Bakehouse and toilets (DONE 2021)
- Painting and decorating on a regular cycle (ONGOING)
- Replacing rear fire doors (Replaced Autumn 2024.)
- Maintenance of outside areas- front and back (ONGOING)
- Maintenance of Staffs Blue roof tiles. (DAMAGED TILES REPLACED AUGUST 2022)
- Clearing of valley plus gutters. (DONE ANNUALLY)
- Install nappy/baby changing facility (DONE 2021)
- Smart meter installed (Oct 2022 and working from April 2023).
- Lift and replace badminton court lines (COMPLETED SEPT 2023)
- Replace blown window panes in kitchen (JULY 2023)
- Replace the green carpet in Lower Bakehouse/entrance ( COMPLETED Jan 2024)
- Replace ‘blown’ window panes in Main Hall and replace rotted wooden frames (COMPLETED 17/10/2024)
- Monitor damp in Lower Bakehouse/Boiler room (work done on gable wall helping)
- Carpet the Upper Bakehouse (Scheduled Autumn 2025) plus add blinds (DONE AUTUMN 2024).
- Replace fluorescent tube lights in toilet corridor and entrance. (COMPLETED Spring 2024)
- Re lay drain above the Bakehouse plus use sandbags to prevent flooding of Bakehouse ( COMPLETED Autumn 2023)
- Replace 20+ year old smoke alarms and add security features (Done Autumn NOV 2024)
- Install RING alarm system (DONE AUGUST 2025)
(Blue indicates work undertaken since October 2024.)
We also need to:
- Rationalise storage areas (ongoing)
- Screen the oil storage tank + waste bin (Scheduled Autumn/Winter 2025/6)
- Modify the stage by reducing the permanent size by 50% and buying portable units (Scheduled for Autumn/Winter 2025/6)
- Carry out remedial work on gable end terrace and cellar (Scheduled for Autumn/Winter 2025/6)
- Repoint masonry wall west facing and north facing gable wall of Bakehouse
Another priority is to continue to rationalise our stock of historical documents and artefacts. The plan is to site certain materials in the Lower Bakehouse. A grant from Alstonefield Leaden Boot has part funded display cabinets. The materials will be more accessible to the community. This work will also make the Upper Bakehouse a less cluttered meeting and teaching area. A considerable amount of rationalisation and creation of folders of categorised historical materials has been done by a small team of volunteers led by Liz and Richard as a result of preparations for the centenary.
- Lottery update: the 2020/21 our small society lottery raised £2850 in income towards the replacement heating costs. The 2021/2 lottery raised £4110 and the 2022/23 lottery raised £3,900 with both lottery incomes being devoted to the kitchen refurbishment, monies that were then matched by grants from The Bingham Trust (£5K) and Foundation Derbyshire/Freemasons (£2K). The 2023/24 lottery income of £4160 was designated to go to the refurbishment of the toilets. A government grant of £13K significantly contributed to the costs.
The 2024/25 income (£4,100) was spent on replacing windows, installing the alarm system and an element remains to carpet the Upper Bakehouse. The continued support for the Hall from our community has been most heartening and we are grateful to David Graham for running the initiative.
The 2025/6 lottery will be targeted as seed monies towards stage modifications (c£5,000), a courtyard screen (£2,700) and remedial work to the terrace/cellar (c£10,00). A further government grant of £10,296 has been secured which again will meet the majority of costs.
- Centenary Celebrations 2025
In 1925 the site where the Village Hall now stands was purchased by Victor Perry and he built the Hall a few years later. In 1944 the Village Hall came into community ownership. To celebrate we delivered a wide ranging programme of activities over 11 days in July 2025 which were well attended. As a result of two events, ‘Music thro’ the Decades’ and a ‘Race Night’ we were able to make donations of £696 to Hartington and Community First Responders and £121 to Canine Partners. While a small core team of 8 planned our programme it was so heartening that c70 volunteers were ultimately involved in one or more activities.
- Energy scenario:
The EDF business contract from April 2023 – April 2024 was a x4 increase so we faced an almost £2,000 increase in electricity costs. Thankfully the current contract is more affordable!
In respect of oil costs, we enter the Autumn with c900 litres in storage, enough through until mid December. We are part of a bulk buying scheme and have been typically paying 56.5p/litre.
| Month | Heating energy hours per month ( =2023/24) |
| September 2023 | 37 (14) |
| October 2023 | 86 (79 ) |
| November 2023 | 133 (147) |
| December 2023 | 107 (223) |
| January 2024 | 214 (279) |
| February 2024 | 125 (155 ) |
| March 2024 | 119 (166 ) |
| April 2024 | 52 (110) |
| May 2024 | 33 ( 30) |
| June 2024 | 12 (25) |
| July 2024 | 8 ( 12 ) |
| August 2024 | 0 ( 4 ) |
| Total | 926 hours (1248 hours in 2023/4) |
Evidence of a rather warmer past 12 months!
- Constitution: our current constitution dates from 1944 and has only been amended once in the 1970s to permit the sale of alcohol. While the original purposes remain as objectives which we still deliver over 80 years later there is no doubt that the document would benefit from a review and revision. David G and myself have now completed this work and a draft is offered for consideration at our AGM. The Village hall is in the ‘beneficial ownership of the community so it is appropriate that those who attend our 2025 AGM have the opportunity to consider the content and potentially suggest further changes. We will need to advise the Charity Commission of our final revised constitution. Please note the final sections that detail potential routes that may be taken in the future should significant sums of money be needed, for example, to fund maintenance or, more drastically, should the Hall cease to operate. The current Constitution has similar provisions should radical steps be needed. Two such scenarios might have arisen in the last decade – at one point a developer offered as development gain a new Village Hall should a large number of houses be built on what is now Peakland Grange, while in 2017 the Hall came very close to bankruptcy.
Keith Quine
Chair of Trustees
Hartington Village Hall
28/09/2025