Village Hall management team report Annual Parish Meeting 2024 Team members: Charlotte Bell, Neil Mellor (Chair), Margaret Samain, Ian Seager The Village Hall team exists to manage the hall, its maintenance and hire, maximizing its value to the village. Over the past year we’ve made several repairs and improvements to the hall and its grounds and are laying the groundwork for more significant enhancements in the future. Major works completed include: • Plans produced for major improvements to the hall, working with professional architects who have provided their services at no cost via Suffolk ProHelp. • A section of the sole plate (supporting the external wall) replaced, removing rotten wood and making the building structurally sound for many years to come. • 17 of the chairs reupholstered by the Debenham Shed project at no cost, with only materials being purchased. • Electrical works, including the installation of event ‘stage’ spotlights kindly funded by FF. • Painting of all woodwork showing degradation to maintain the integrity and appearance of the building. Major works are generally completed by local contractors appointed and managed by the team, though several more minor works and repairs have been delivered by team members themselves. Ongoing work includes: • Progressing the major improvements project subject to the consultation outcomes, which will involve detailed costings for which we have quantity surveyors ready to start at no cost, planning consent and diocese approvals, and a funding search and applications process to identify and obtain the necessary finance. Routine work for the team includes: • Management and promotion of hall bookings and hire terms • Managing and delivering a planned maintenance programme for the hall and grounds • Formulating job specifications, finding contractors, arranging site meetings, obtaining quotations and ensuring the work is carried out according to specification i.e. contract supervision • Undertaking some repairs • Ordering materials • Website maintenance • Developing and maintaining H&S documentation. Hire income The graph below shows monthly hire income for the hall over the past year, with the line indicating the moving 6 monthly average trend. Clearly, the flooding October reduced bookings temporarily, but income is now increasing again. Note that the exceptionally high income for May 2023 was due to hire for local elections in that month. Special thanks to • Charlotte Bell for cleaning the hall weekly over the past 20 years • Erin Blewitt for organising the quarterly hall cleaning parties and keeping the public noticeboard tidy • Framsden Fundraisers for funding the new event spotlights • Suffolk ProHelp for facilitating free of charge services, Barefoot & Gilles for their architectural services and time, and Castons for volunteering their quantity surveying services. • Suffolk CC and Mid Suffolk DC for contributing funding for the soleplate repairs. And most importantly… Given the increasing demands on the team and major projects in hand, we remain very significantly under-resourced, so please do contact us (framsdenvh@gmail.com) to get involved, either as a team member or just to lend a very welcome hand with some of the tasks