Category: News

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.

As of March 2022, our website has been moved to be hosted by wordpress.com to make it simpler to maintain and easy to use on any mobile device or computer.

Previously, from September 2018, it had been self-hosted and built using wordpress.org. It was first produced in 2010 using Google ‘sites classic’.

Mundford Recreation Ground and Village Hall Trust calls out for votes to bag a share of Tesco’s bag fund

Mundford Village Hall is bidding to bag a massive cash boost from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative.

Tesco teamed up with Groundwork to launch its community funding scheme, which sees grants of £4,000, £2,000 and £1,000 raised from carrier bag sales in Tesco stores awarded to local community projects.

Three groups in every Tesco region have been shortlisted to receive the cash award and shoppers are being invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they think should take away the top grant.

Mundford Village Hall is one of the groups on the shortlist.

We are hoping to replace our old plastic chairs with more comfortable padded chairs with new storage trolleys.

Customers will cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out in store each time they shop.

Voting is open in all Tesco stores in Brandon until 31st August 2018.

Are you organising a Children’s birthday party and looking for a venue? Why not book Mundford Village Hall.

Hirings start from £9 an hour up to £16 an hour depending on weekday and weekend rates and whether you would like the small or large hall. Please contact our booking clerk  for more information. Further information also available on our bookings page.

You may be aware, that during the summer holidays 2016 the play area sustained a considerable amount of damage which resulted in the complete removal of the baby swing frame and the noughts & crosses board.

The Village Hall Committee wish to replace these facilities as soon as possible, so that our village can continue to have a play area to be proud of.

Our plan is to upgrade and install a new swing frame which will be surrounded by a safety barrier and Ecosurface ground cover.

We need to raise £11,294. So far we have raised £4938.48.

Click the image below for more information regards the replacement equipment and how much we need to raised.

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

• Fundraising events continue to raise much needed funds for future projects.
• The large hall, bar and 2 storage cupboards were decorated during which time the curtains were removed and cleaned. Unfortunately during the work the large hall floor surface was damaged.
• The play area has required some maintenance/repairs costing £1008.20.
• We have had an asbestos survey completed on the building to meet new regulations and are awaiting the results.
• Electric shutters have been installed in the kitchen and bar making their use much easier for our hirers.
• We have moved the Committee hall office to cupboard 5 to fee up the space in the kitchen for a designated cleaning cupboard.
• Unfortunately the committee decided that the recycling area was no longer cost effective due to the ongoing problem with fly tipping and the news that Breckland Council will at some point in the near future be moving glass recycling in house.
• £3258.98 was spent on projects £1250 of this came from grants.
• The outside fencing was stained.
• Cricket netting was purchased to protect the building’s roof and windows from cricket ball damage.
• Several other areas of improvement have been identified and the Committee hope to address these in the coming year.
• The website continues to be an accessible source of information regarding booking, advertising for fundraising events and group details.
• Working parties of volunteers helped maintain and improve the building and grounds.
• All costs incurred by the hall continue to be reviewed to find other ways to reduce outgoing expenditure.

Extracted from our annual report. Click to read more.

Following on from our improvements last year, we have achieved further improvements in the hall this year.

• We have decorated the large hall along with the bar and 2 storage rooms.
• The large hall curtains have all been removed and cleaned.
• We have installed electric shutters on the bar and kitchen hatches to help with their use. No more lifting the old wooden shutters, just press the button and the shutters are open or closed.

We would like to thank Mundford Parish Council for their grant towards the decoration and shutter installation.

Thank you to the groups who’s sessions have to be cancelled to achieve this work, but I am sure you will all agree the improvements make the hall a more enjoyable space to socialise.

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

• Fund raising events have gone from strength to strength raising over £3832 in the financial year.
• An Environmental Review of the building lead to plans to improve the energy use and hopefully reduce the running costs of the building.
• A new gas boiler was installed and the rest of the heating system upgraded.
• TVRs have been fitted to most of the radiators; 2 radiators replaced with new double radiators, 4 extra radiators have been installed, 2 in each hall.
• The large hall has been placed on a separate zone to help better control the heat levels throughout the building.
• Insulation has been installed throughout the roof space of the building and the water tanks insulated. The complex already boasts cavity wall insulation.
• The toilets, corridor, kitchen and foyer have been decorated.
• Several other areas of improvement have been identified and the Committee hope to address these in the coming year.
• The Committee sought the advice of a structural engineer and builder with regards to the continuing appearance of cracks. We have been assured that there is no problem with the building.
• The floor in the main hall was resurfaced again due to errors made by the previous company and is still currently ongoing.
• The website continues to be an accessible source of information regarding booking, advertising for fundraising events and group details.
• Working parties of volunteers helped maintain and improve the building and grounds.
• All costs incurred by the hall continue to be reviewed to find other ways to reduce outgoing expenditure.
• After continued vandalism to the down pipes, guards have been installed over many of them.
• The disabled ramp was replaced, at the same time the car park drain was completed to prevent further damage from escaping water.
• Roof repairs have been carried out to replace broken tiles and damage.
• Tractor insurance company changed to save over £60.
• 3 new litter bins have been purchased to help prevent letter being blown about.
• Waste Recycling continues to be a good source of income and we hope to increase our recycling facilities to raise further funds.
• Hiring charges have had to be increased due to the continuing rise of running costs of the hall.
• Dawn to dusk sensors have been fitted on the external lights.

Extracted from our annual report. Click to read more.