Author: Rosemary Godfrey

Following the Resolutions made held at our 2024 AGM, we have worked towards becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. The new organisation is a registered charity, but this change helps protect the Village Hall and its assets for the future. Community Action Norfolk have been an enormous help as we have moved towards this goal, guiding us every step of the way. Our new charity has been registered with the Charity Commission, but we will have some way to go.

All costs incurred by the hall have continued to rise through the year and are under constant review aiming to reduce outgoing expenditure. Ongoing maintenance of the building due to its age continues to increase.

The play area continues to require ongoing maintenance/repairs during the year. We carry out regular checks on the play area and have an Annual inspection by ROSPA. We replaced the hedge along the play area with a fence to match the rest of the play area in September to avoid bird nesting time. We received a grant of £2000 from the Parish Council towards this work. We have been using QR codes to raise funds for the play area and posters around the area to let the residents know we look after the area. There is a misconception with many that the play area is owned and maintained by the Council. We do have a couple of pieces of equipment that now need further work, some of which has been quoted for. Shockingly this is very expensive, and once further quotes are received, we will have to decide whether we can justify the costs or remove the equipment. Two trustees attended a Play Area Inspection Training Course provided by Community Action Norfolk (“CAN”). Regular inspections are undertaken by the Trustees throughout the year.

We desperately need more Trustees who can help and to share the workload. Currently we only have 5, which is frankly not enough.

The installation of the projector and screen has led to more bookings in the small hall for training and presentations. We hope this will continue to grow.

We currently have 13 regular hirers, with most weekday evenings booked and we have availability during the weekdays.

Other event bookings continue to do well, with some months the hall booked every weekend.

This year we had the large hall floor resealed and purchasing a new buffer that washes and dries the floor, so the floor can be used immediately afterwards.

Discussions have continued with Mundford Football Club to provide a new licence for their use of the Facilities. Providing improved understanding of responsibilities on both sides, this has taken a bit of a back seat during our CIO application period.

The Football Club have continued to work towards their plans to build a club house beside the pitch for which they have full planning permission.

The website continues to be an accessible source of information regarding booking and group details. We appreciate all the help and guidance given by Rosemary Godfrey to keep the website updated.

We continue to use Instagram and Facebook to advertise our facilities and activities.
We have continued to have books in the foyer as a source of fundraising asking for donations for them.

This year we held the Hall of Stalls for the second time. It was a joint venture to raise money for the hall and Friends of Mundford School. We raised over £1000.

In July we attended the Friends of Mundford School Fete. We wanted to let the community know who we are and what we have to offer. It gave our groups chance to advertise, and we took some books which we received donations for. We are due to take part in this summer’s event too, if Trustee availability permits.

A fundraising event was held for Halloween by local resident Mr Emery, who raised £317.49 towards the play area.

The Crown Hotel donated £202.60 towards the play area following the Village Christmas Light event.

We have had issues this year with our car park being used as a general car park. This is a particular concern for some of our hirers who have paid for the hall (which includes full use of the car park) who then find limited car parking available. We have put up notices and again used QR codes to encourage donations for the upkeep.

Extract from the Trustees’ Annual report for the year ending 31-Mar-25

This year we have continued to review our financial situation and ongoing maintenance due to the age of the building.

All costs incurred by the hall have continued to rise and are reviewed to find other ways to reduce outgoing expenditure.  We have changed our general waste collection and internet provider this year to save some costs.  Our fixed utility contracts came to an end this year, so we changed providers, but these have risen considerably as we were previously on a 3-year fixed contract.

The play area continues to require ongoing maintenance/repairs during the year. We carry out regular checks on the play area and have an Annual inspection by ROSPA.   This year we have worked towards replacing some equipment and this will be installed in April.  We are also going to replace the hedge along the play area with a fence to match the rest of the play area.

We still continue to encourage more Trustees to join the Trust and help with the running of the hall.  Currently we only have 6.

We have made some improvements to the small hall this year, it was decorated and we have installed a projector with the smaller screen from the large hall and a whiteboard.  This allows the space to be used for training and meetings, which we have had requests for in the past. We used a grant of £475 from NISA LOCAL via Yallops towards this work.

We have lost a few regular hirers, but we have also gained some new ones during the year. The hall is used most weekday evenings, with space available on Thursdays.  We also have some availability during the daytime during the week, but we have had 2 new daytime groups with another hoping to start later in the year.

Other event bookings continue to do well, with some months the hall booked every weekend.

Discussions have continued with Mundford Football Club to provide a new licence for their use of the Facilities. This would provide improved understanding of responsibilities on both sides.

The Football Club have provisional planning application to build a club house beside the pitch, but there are still some additional surveys to be carried out before full planning is completed.  

The website continues to be an accessible source of information regarding booking and group details.  We appreciate all the help and guidance given by Rosemary Godfrey to keep the website updated.

We continue to use Instagram and Facebook to advertise our facilities and activities.  

We have had assistance from Community Action Norfolk to move towards becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. We would remain a charity, but this change is to help protect the Village Hall and its assets for the future. The Public Meeting publicised in accordance with regulatory requirements will be held alongside our AGM.  Community Action Norfolk will be at the AGM to help with any questions residents and hirers may have.

We have continued to sell books in the foyer as a source of fundraising asking for donations for them.  We raised £37.67 this year from sales.

This year we held the Hall of Stalls for the 1^st time since Covid 19.  It was a joint venture to raise money for the hall and for Bone Cancer Research Trust. It was good to see other groups coming together to make this happen.  We raised a total of £1291.34.

In May we held the Big Help Out to celebrate the Coronation.  This was well attended by regular hirers and groups to help encourage new members.  We raised £64.70 towards the play area fund.

Extract from the Trustees’ Annual report for the year ending 31-Mar-24

Public Notice under section 121(2) of the Charities Act 2011

The Trustees of Mundford Recreation Ground & Village Hall Trust (registered charity number 279624) hereby give notice that they propose to hold a members’ meeting to approve a resolution to:

“transfer the land and property held on trust for the purposes of Mundford Recreation Ground & Village Hall, to a new Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) to be called Mundford Recreation Ground & Village Hall CIO, which is being formed for the purpose of transferring the ownership and management of Mundford Recreation Ground & Village Hall Trust to a charity which benefits from incorporation.”

The Draft Constitution is based on the ACRE* Model document, designed for Village Halls with the Charity Commission’s approval. A copy of the Draft Constitution is available upon request via email to chloe.mrgvh@gmail.com.

Any representations about this proposal should be made in writing and sent to the Secretary by 2nd May 2024:

email mvhsecretary@gmail.com or by post to
The Secretary
Mundford Recreation Ground & Village Hall
St Leonard’s Street
Mundford
Norfolk IP26 5DW

Any representations received after that date will not be considered.

Trevor Mouncer
Chairman
Mundford Recreation Ground & Village Hall Trustees
12th March 2024

*ACRE = Action with Rural Communities in England

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This resolution will be discussed at our AGM on 16th May 2024, 7.30pm at Mundford Village Hall.

• Click to view a pdf of the full public notice.
• Click to view a copy of the draft constitution.