Treasurer’s report to the AGM November 2024
The audited accounts for the year to 30th September 2024 show that the hall is in a strong financial position with net available funds of £ 22,538. However, we did incur a deficit of £ 2,698 on letting out the hall, the largest deficit for many years.
Our contract with the school to occupy the Ian Smith room has ended and this, together with a quiet year for private hires of the hall, has reduced our bookings income to just under £9,000, compared with £10,493 in 22-23. Our forecast is that this will reduce much further in the next year, taking us back to the levels of income we saw just before the pandemic.
The challenge for us is to match our running costs to our income. Although we have managed to contain the cost of Heating oil, Electricity has doubled following the expiry of our 3 year contract. Our biggest cost is cleaning the hall and, particularly, maintaining the grounds and we are looking hard at finding a cheaper way of doing this. Maintenance costs are high this year and as the hall approaches 30 years since its rebuild, various oddments are needing repair or replacement. This heading also includes the cost of our 5 yearly electricity safety certificate.
We now pay business rates, as the concession for charities has been reduced from 100% to 90% – it is not a large sum, but is a sign of creeping extra costs. Our insurance premium remains reasonable, although increased, and we have not made a claim since the cold weather flood in 2010.
Our only major expenditure in the year was the TV screen. In 24-25 we will be expending several thousand pounds on having the plumbing system overhauled; it has been untouched since its installation in 1995 and in many instances does not comply with modern regulations.
There have been no fund raising events in the year although the Produce Show did produce a small surplus for us. We continue to earn substantial interest from our deposit accounts, but we will unfortunately have to raise our prices for hiring the hall from 1st January 2025. This is the first increase since 2012.
Peter Condon
Treasurer
14th November 2024