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BAWDESWELL VILLAGE HALL & RECREATION GROUND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTMINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE STEERING GROUP HELD ON SATURDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2005 IN THE VILLAGE HALL AT 10.00 AM
PRESENT: James Lilwall (Chairman), Jayne Bown, David Cockburn, Janet Cockburn, Gillian Horner, Alex Kirby, John Mallen,
Nicholas Ward
APOLOGIES: Peter Jervis, John Griffin, John Menzies and Dave Roberts.
IN ATTENDANCE: Veronica Savage of and secretary of the Norfolk Association of Village Halls.
The Chairman opened the meeting by welcoming VS and giving a background to the village hall development project and our wishes for the future.
VS said consultation with the village is the bedrock of any project. Her role is to act in a more or less sign-posting way and to help find answers. In terms of funding we have already gone to the right place because that is Tony Needham. Her organisation does administer the Norfolk County Council grant aid scheme for halls, which is a very small scheme. The maximum grant from that scheme is £15,000 and there is a massive delay, applications have to be in by end September each year for granting in the following year. She will leave an application form with us. We need to show evidence of need, it may be obvious to us but we have to prove it. She says it is necessary to show “additionallity” so show a need rather than a want, which is back to the consultation and the community support for a range extra services.
VS said it is a case of a lot of planning. She says the lottery is the gloomiest it has been for a while. There has been lobbying for a lottery program that village halls can go to and no one else. But there is no information about whether they will follow that through. There is an opportunity of doing a pre-application.
Sport is absolutely key to the facility and Sport England is the body to approach for support. Include the school as a user group but not as a stakeholder but it is important to include youngsters in the consultation process. The definition “village hall” is a rural one, and “community centre” an urban one, these receive some funding from their local authority but a Parish Council cannot provide funding.
The cost of developing the existing building compared with the cost of a new build may not be very different and it was felt that if the difference was not much more we would prefer to work towards a totally new build to give the community what is needed.
VS reminded us that we must check our governing document as this document will show that we are a charity and therefore unable to trade, so a bar would have to be completely separate from the hall and run by a separate committee.
VS went on to say that what we need to do is prepare a Project Plan and one element of this is a feasibility study, when we have this then to go to the community to get a real feel of its needs. From that we would then be in a position to prepare a business plan. The providers of funding are interested in seeing how the end result of their funding is going to benefit the community; they see the outcomes as very important. So letters of support, a list of activities that will take place, etc. need to be included and this document would need to be really, really strong. One thing we can do is to write to her about the project and she will reply giving help and advice.
A good plan to see is the one prepared by Little Ellingham and the person to speak who did it will be speaking at the Village Hall Conference at Acle on 19 March, which we should attend and make a point of meeting her.
AK asked about the pilot project at Wretham and VS said there was a good end of project report on that and she will send us a copy. (since received)
VS was asked if the current limited usage of the hall would go against us? VS recommended giving evidence of events when a marquee had had to be used. She recommends that we should also seek out services that are not offered by other halls in the area. Particularly anything that includes older people or youngsters will help the project.
Little Ellingham’s hall cost £320,000 and they have 150 inhabitants. They raised £40,000 themselves. It would stand us in good stead to do fund raising ourselves and if the Parish Council will commit to the project that will help.
Commercial traders should be charged twice what a community group is charge to hire the hall, the insurance would need to be checked and an occupancy licence would be required.
She reiterated that we are not ready for looking at funding yet, we have to do the planning and the funding changes quite a lot but at any point there will be funding available. The Chairman asked if there was anyone else we should be talking to? VS answered that the more net working we can do the better and to go to the lottery fund offices and meet with one of their development officers for a pre-application meeting.
The Chairman thanked VS for taking the time to attend the meeting and she left at 11.10 am.
Correspondence Received
MM tabled a package of information forwarded by Tony Needham. It was agreed that this will be circulated to the members of the committee and JC undertook to organise this. The Chairman took the paperwork regarding the community fund application. Action: JC and JL
Matters Arising from the Minutes of the last Meeting
DC report that the meeting reportedly to be held at Yaxham was held at Dereham and he attended.
JC reported that she and other members of the
committee had visited some local village halls and she was going to contact
Reepham and
AK tabled copies of the reports made after the visits made to date. There was discussion on what had been learned from the experiences of other village halls.
· The project should be at the ready to build stage before getting funding, as the experience of many was that funding had been obtained but by the time building took place costs had risen and there was insufficient money available. · The presentation of the building and especially the entrance is important. · None of the halls visited has a stage yet and some are thinking of putting one in. · Most halls were used every day · Foulsham had a model made of their proposed building and this was very helpful at fund raising events. · To cater for weddings and other parties a good kitchen is necessary.
PW suggested that perhaps we could look at an eco build which excited the committee and it was thought that this could open up more areas of funding. He will look into green/environment aspect of building and funding. Action: PW
GH showed the plan drawn up for the school grounds and also the one for the village sports’ field.
The new bank account is opened and the funding has been received from the Parish Council.
The Chairman still has to contact the Bowls Club but now has a name and telephone number.
The summary of these minutes for the Reeves Tale needs to be in by the 15th of each month. JC volunteered to do this each month. Action: JC
GS is making the notice board for the village hall and this should be in place next week.
Any Other BusinessPW is an illustrator and is willing to do visuals for the project.
DC showed his draft web site on his lap top including photos of the hall and drive way. This will be added as a link to the Village web site.
Date of Next MeetingIt was agreed that the next meeting will be attendance at the Norfolk Association of Village Halls conference at Acle on the 19th March.
The next meeting of this committee will be on the 16th April at 10.00 am in the Village Hall.
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Contact us via email info@ProjectBawdeswell.org.uk or write to:- The
Secretary, Project Bawdeswell, High Windows, Meadow Loke, |
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