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Minutes of the
Gargunnock Community Centre Management Committee
Annual General Meeting
held in the Community Centre Blue Room
on Thursday 19 February 2004
1. The Chairman (Douglas Johnston) opened the meeting at 7.30pm; a list of attendees is attached at Appendix 1.
2. The Minutes of the last AGM (20 February 2003) were moved for adoption by George Keeton and seconded by Bob Marshall and carried unanimously.
3. Chairman’s Report. The Chairman presented a report (Appendix 2), focussing on the improvements achieved during the last year and the further improvements that are planned for the near future. He highlighted the need for more members on the management committee as some key members would not be standing for re-election. It was important that users become involved and assist with the management of the centre.
4. Secretary’s Report. The Secretary (Gordon Lindsay) reported that the committee had met on 8 occasions since the last AGM with a quorum achieved at all meetings bar one.
5. Treasurer’s Report. The Treasurer (John Pitts) presented his Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2003, independently audited by Trevor Boyd (see Appendix 3). The auditor has suggested that the Hall Development Fund be renamed Capital Reserve Account to save any confusion.
The Treasurer stated that some £7,000 had been spent on improvements since September 2001. Rental income for last year had increased slightly despite the loss of two users due to a considerable increase in the number of bookings for private parties.
The Treasurer proposed that the “honoraria” for caretaking and cleaning at the centre be confirmed at £1,300 and £1040 pa respectively or such other amounts that the committee may reasonably set from time to time. These monies to be paid fortnightly. This was seconded by Bob Marshall and carried unanimously.
6. Election of Committee. The present committee stood down. It was ascertained that John Pitts, Graham Morgan and Gordon Lindsay would not be restanding for election. Douglas Johnston asked the floor for volunteers / nominations for the committee. The following were nominated:
Jane Arneil
David Farquhar
Alastair Glen
Helen Dingley (Rainbows)
Nichola Young (Rainbows)
Maureen Ferguson (SWRI)
Alan Cumming (Football Club)
Johan Mailer (Gargunnock Songsters)
Douglas Johnston
Karen Leask (Playgroup)
It was proposed by John Pitts, seconded by Gordon Lindsay that the above named should be duly elected to the GCCMC. Carried unanimously.
7. AOCB. Ian McCourt of Stirling Council introduced himself and told the meeting that there were 51 “village halls” in the district and a total budget of £160K pa. The most successful were generally those, owned by the communities (as opposed to ours which is leased from the council). He commented on the significant improvement to the facilities in Gargunnock Community Centre since his last visit. He expressed a wish to attend a future meeting of the new committee.
8. There being no other business, the Chairman thanked all for attending and closed the meeting at 8.10pm.
9. There followed an initial meeting of the newly elected committee where:
a. Douglas Johnston was elected as Chairman (Prop. J Mailer, Sec. M Ferguson).
b. Alan Cumming was elected as Secretary (Prop. N Young, Sec. J Arneil).
There were no volunteers for the Offices of Vice Chairman or Treasurer, this will be discussed at the next meeting which was set for Thursday 4 March at 8 pm in the Community Centre.
G LINDSAY, Secretary, 3 March 2004
Appendix 1
Attendance List - GCCMC AGM on 19 February 2004
Maureen Ferguson
Helen Dingley
Ian McCourt (Stirling Council)
Alastair Glen
Brian Lawrence
Johan Mailer
J R Arneil
George E Keeton
Bob Marshall
Alan Cumming
Cllr. David Lonsdale
David Farquhar
Nichola Young
Karen Leask
Douglas Johnston
John Pitts
Graham Morgan
Gordon Lindsay
Appendix 2
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
The year has seen a significant number of improvements to the centre carried on the instruction of the management committee. Firstly, the completion of the new store at the back of the Blue room has provided much needed storage space and allowed the blue room to be cleared and renovated and a new carpet fitted.
The improved lighting in the Main Hall is also now complete, the sidelights and dimmer switches giving attractive and flexible lighting for most events. The much needed painting of the Blue Room and the Main Hall and a full carpet for the first time in the Blue Room have also helped improve the centre.
Further improvements are planned for next year including the doctor’s surgery. However, if the centre is going to meet the needs of the community some larger scale improvements are needed. Therefore an architect has been commissioned to come up with some ideas and costings which will help us in applying for additional grants.
These are likely to include improvements to the kitchen to bring it up to commercial standard so that the centre is suitable for most events and making better use the space in the hall, drop in centre and old school house.
I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the excellent carol concert in December. Particularly, Helen Cumming and the Songsters, all the other performers, the back room support and Henk who was an excellent compere. The event raised £504.85 for the Centre.
I would also like to thank the Gargunnock Trust for its donation of £1,000, which will be of considerable help with the improvements to the doctor’s surgery.
Also, for the second year we have carried out a detailed survey of the building and split the work into the responsibility of the Council and that of the Centre. The Council have been supplied with a list of items for which they are responsible and it is anticipated that a significant number of these will be addressed in the near future.
Management Committee AGM
We need more people on the management committee. For various reasons a number of key members of the management committee will not be standing for office. I would therefore like to thank all members of the committee for their support over the year and particularly John Pitts and Gordon Lindsay as Treasurer and Secretary respectively.
However, there is now a serious danger that there will not be enough members to keep the committee going. If this happens, we may have to close the centre or return it to the management of the Council and this will have a serious impact on all users.
We have an excellent and improving facility, which is managed locally for the benefit of local people. It is important that users become involved and assist with the management of the centre.
Douglas Johnston
Chairman
Appendix 3
TREASURER’S REPORT
INCOME
1. For the year 2003, the corrected and realistic rental income was some £4450; this shows a slight increase on the previous year despite having lost the rental from the Chiropodist and the Embroidery Class. The improvement was due partly to the effect of a full year’s operation of the Rent increases brought in on 29th.July 2002 and partly to an increase in the use of the Centre for Private Parties.
2. The revenue grant received from the Council was again increased by £100 due in the main to the fact that we had demonstrated an intention to carry out some improvements to the Centre Facilities. We also received Grants from the Futures Group and the Gargunnock Trust. The Futures Group agreed to fund work to the value of £2250 on a Feasibility Study primarily into the uses for, and improvements needed to, the “Drop-In Centre”, while the Gargunnock Trust agreed to contribute £1000 toward improvements to the Surgery following the withdrawal of the Chiropody Service.
3. The Carol Concert was again successful in the new format thanks to the great efforts by all concerned and raised the sum of £462.92 after expenses.
4. The Centre's "earned" income for 2003 is £8307.05 for both accounts.
EXPENDITURE
5. In so far as staff costs (£2145) and routine running costs (£1871.48) are concerned the main difference compared to the previous year is a diminution due to the lack of a Cleaner for a long period in mid-year. It would be unwise of anyone to expect this to be repeated in the coming year.
6. Where we have increased expenditure is in the work done specifically to improve the Centre. The Storage Improvement Project was completed by spending £888.50 on plastering, painting and some minor changes to the heating system, bringing the total cost of the Project to £3755.09. The lighting in the Main Hall was renewed and added to at a cost of £1229.50, and finally £2331.11 was spent on painting the Main Hall and Blue Room together with the associated minor repairs and replacing part of the Blue Room carpet. All in all your Committee has spent a total of £7315.70 on work to improve this Village Asset since September 2001.
7. I thought it prudent to transfer £1000 from the Hall Development Account to assist with this heavy expenditure on improvements, and to ensure that there were sufficient funds to cover routine expenses in the coming year, bearing in mind that the Futures Group and Gargunnock Trust Grants are specific as to use.
COMMENTS
Hopefully more improvement is on the way as a result of the Grants mentioned in the later part of para.2, work to improve the Surgery is in hand and an Architect is working on the feasibility study. Despite the heavy spend on upgrading, the Centres finances are in reasonably good shape and still able to cope with small improvement expenditure. However it must be remembered that, while obviously any major work arising from the Feasibility Study will require outside funding, we will still need to provide match funding from our own resources. We have to consider how to augment our income, by improved usage of the Centre or perhaps by increasing rentals. The idea I mentioned last year to possibly benefit from the Inland Revenue “Gift Aid “scheme does not appear feasible without significant change in our relationship with our users and our charging system.
The Auditor, when discussing the Accounts with me, suggested that it would be sensible to change the name of our Second Account to avoid possible difficulties in the future in respect to its’ use. He suggests the name “Capital Reserve Account”.
I would like to recommend to the meeting that Mr Trevor Boyd be asked to continue as Auditor for next year.
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