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Sunday May 7th 2023 CORONATION CELEBRATIONS

Join in the Gretton Village celebrations for the Coronation of King Charles  

at the Hall and on the playing field during the afternoon of Sunday May 7th

Friday June 9th 2023 Quiz Night

Saturday October 7th Harvest Apple Rock

More information to follow

IMPORTANT NOTICES

You can read the draft minutes of the October 18th 2022 Annual General Meeting below.

These remain draft until signed at the 2023 AGM

Gretton Village Association (Registered Charity No. 298899)

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 2022

Meeting:  October 18th 2022, 8.00pm Gretton Village Hall

Present:                                

Jan Taylor (JT) Chair

Kirsty Lightowler (KL) Committee - Treasurer

John Taylor (JWT)

Paul Hughes (PH) Committee

Sue Hughes (SH)                          

John Fleck (JF)

Sue Fleck (SF) Committee – Christ Church Representative

MT Green (MTG) Committee 

Dick Green (DG)                         

Gwyneth Cocks (GC)

John Eaton (JE)

Mo Richards

Marjorie Vaughan

Bernard Gill

Judith Woodlock (JW) Committee

Christine Vickery (CV) Committee

Treasa Cahill (TC)

Minutes

 1. Apologies

Mark Oliver (MO) Committee – Parish Council Representative

Geoff Hanson (GH) Committee

Harold Bailey (HB)

2. Minutes of AGM 2021

The date 2020 was corrected to 2021 for the minutes of last year’s AGM.

JWT then proposed that the minutes be accepted as a true record. Seconded by MTG.

3. Matters Arising

Any matters arising were addressed in the Chair’s Report.

4. Chair’s Report

 Copies of the Report were circulated.

In Summary:

·         Hall use is slowly recovered post COVID but unfortunately not yet reached pre-covid levels. Encouraging more bookings should be a priority. Feedback from hirers suggest low levels of parking is an important factor. Hopefully a small carpark extension will help in this matter.

·         The Hall remains in good condition however it is anticipated that maintenance and energy costs will increase.

·         Tweedie Cleaning generously continue to clean and support the Hall without charge. THANK YOU.

·         There are regular general field inspections.

·         A detailed annual field inspection was carried out in July. Urgent actions are in hand and general pruning and tidying jobs to be undertaken in a Spring Action Day.

·         Clive Parker cut the field hedge bordering the Close Field gardens for which we are very grateful.

·         The Hall Action Day was on August 24th when the main hall room was partially repainted.

·         Grass cutting on the field is done under a contract arranged by Gretton School with the greater part of the cost paid by the GVA. Gretton Parish Council contribute towards this expense.

·         There are plans to improve the hall and playing field facilities in the coming year.

·         June saw the Jubilee celebrations and October the Apple Rock Day. Both successful social events ably co-ordinated by Mark Oliver.

·         We say goodbye to Christine Vickery, Paul Hughes, Laura Davis, Lou Steele and Geoff Hanson who are standing down from the committee.

·         Jan Taylor also announced that she is standing down as chair of the committee this year.

Complete report available as Appendix 1 below.

5. Finance Report

Copies of the Accounts to 31st Aug. 2022 together with the Treasurers Report were circulated.

·         The Report shows that we are just about breaking even at present but unless we do more fundraising, we are going to be facing difficulties.

·         There were some questions about the report. John Taylor queried whether there would be an energy cost increase and Kirsty Lightowler let us know that the tariff is fixed for another couple of years.

·         Bernard Gill queried an increase in running costs and KL said it looks as if these were understated last year. He also noted that the cost of grass cutting had doubled since last year. Apparently, we paid less for grass cutting during COVID. The cost of electricity reflects and increase in electricity usage post COVD now the hall is open and the cost of Wi-Fi now refers to a whole, rather than a partial year.

Complete report see Appendix 2

6. Election of the Committee

·         Two elected members and three co-opted members have decided to stand down this year.

·         Kirsty Lightowler, Judith Woodlock, and MT Green remain as elected members. They will be joined by Kathy Tweedie, Sue Hughes and John Eaton.

·         Mark Oliver, Alix Scott and Sue Fleck remain as co-opted members and are joined by Treasa Butcher and Harold Bailey.

·         A big welcome to the new members.

7. Any Other Business

·         Gwyneth Cox asked the extent to which the Hall facilities were advertised. It was agreed that they were little advertised but that it was much needed. Sue Fleck suggested monthly notices of the Gretton Facebook noticeboard and that the Winchcombe Facebook alongside any other local sites could be used.

·         The Parish Council wished to offer a vote of thanks to Jan Taylor, saying that her GVA service and achievements needed to be recognised. They wished to add that Jan had done a fantastic job and should be very proud.

·         John Fleck offered words of thanks and appreciation to Jan Taylor for all her hard work and dedication to the GVA over time.

·         Judith Woodlock spoke about Jan’s long career and all that she had done for the GVA, the Hall and the village.

·         MT Green read an ‘Ode to Jan’.

·         A collection had been made amongst the community and Jan was presented with gifts to show the esteem in which she is held and the love and gratitude that is felt for all her work.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.45pm

Appendix 1 Chair’s Report

 Gretton Village Association Annual General Meeting

Report for September 2021 to August 2022

This has been the first ‘normal year’ following the disruption caused by the COVID restrictions.  However, the hall is still suffering from the after effects. Only two of our regular weekly classes have continued to use the hall this year and despite several promising enquiries no new classes have been established. The usual village organisations such as the Parish Council, Book club, French class etc have used the hall but their meetings are less frequent.

The private bookings have gradually recovered but not quite to the pre COVID level. In the past twelve months there have been 28 children’s parties, 4 Family gatherings, 4 Christenings, 3 funeral Wakes and 3 general bookings. 

The Hall is a flexible modern space that could be used in so many ways and so in the coming year we should look for ways to increase the level of use so that the hall remains self- sustaining.  Feed back from hirers shows that part of the problem is the lack of parking close to the hall.  The suggested plans for the playing field and hall garden area include a small amount of additional car parking space and this should help.

Generally, the hall remains in good condition and there have been no major problems. However, the increasing charges for necessary repairs and servicing, together with the expected increase in energy costs mean that our expenses will continue to increase as the year progresses.

I would like to say a very big thank you to Tweedie Cleaning for continuing to do an excellent job of cleaning the hall and we are very grateful that they are still doing this work free of charge.

The playing field is inspected regularly by a nominated committee member who reports any problems back to the rest of the team.  The annual and more detailed inspection was carried out in July when a list of work was compiled. The more urgent items are in hand and the general pruning and tidying jobs should be dealt with at the Spring Action Day.  I would like to thank Clive Parker for cutting the hedges bordering the Close Field gardens as this has saved us a huge amount of work.

An Action Day for the hall was held on 24th August when the main hall room was partially repainted.  Thank you to all those who came along to help.

The grass in the playing field is regularly cut under a contract arranged by Gretton School and the greater part of the cost is paid by GVA. We very much appreciate the contribution from Gretton Parish Council towards this expense.   

Next year will be a particularly exciting time as plans are progressing to improve the facilities offered by the playing field and the hall.  We aim to improve the access to the field  especially for those with limited mobility, to update the play equipment in the field and to extend the hall garden area to give a small number of parking spaces if possible. The proposed plans have been on view at various events in the past few months and we welcome any new ideas or comments. The next stage is to apply for full planning permission and to raise any additional funding.

The village community came together this year to hold two big social events – The Apple Rock Day in October and the Jubilee celebrations in June. Both were very successful and I would like to thank Mark Oliver for co-ordinating those days.  I think it proved that the hall and field are a big asset and essential to village community gatherings.

The GVA committee is made up of six members who are elected at the AGM each year, representative members from local groups and organisations such as the Parish Council, Gretton School and Christ Church, plus a number of co-opted members. 

This year two elected members are standing down – Christine Vickery and Paul Hughes. Both have been long serving members of the committee and have made a huge contribution to fundraising events, Action day work and generally to support and assist in the running of the hall and field.  Thank you so much .

Two of our co-opted members are also leaving -  Laura Davis and Lou Steele. Thank you both for your contribution to the committee.  To all those who are continuing as committee members, thank you for your work and support this year.

Finally, I am also standing down this year.  I first joined the GVA many years ago as the FOGS rep and took over as Chair in 2002. (although I can’t really believe it is that long ago!). At that time the hall was a very old, cold and generally run down building and I am so proud that we have worked to develop and improve the building to be the beautiful modern venue that it is today.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my years as Chair and although there have been many problems and challenges to overcome at times, I have always had the support of a good committee to advise and help. I would also like to thank my husband John for all his advice and support over the years.  The fund raising and social events, (and there were many- quizzes, murder mystery evenings, film nights, parties and Glitter balls ) have been great fun to organise and I have made so many friends along the way.

The committee will need to decide who will now take over as chair. Until recently I acted as booking secretary and dealt with property issues, as well as keeping an overview of the general running of the hall and playing field to ensure that it was kept in good order and run correctly according to the aims set out in our constitution to provide recreation facilities for the local residents. This work load has been considerably reduced now that Kathy Tweedie has taken over as booking secretary.  The property issues could also be dealt with by another committee member in the future rather than be part of the Chair’s job.  Although I may not be a part of the committee I will always be happy to help and advise when needed.

So, I feel that now is the right time to hand over to a new Chair and a new team. The hall is in good repair and financially secure and best of all we have a great community spirit to carry on the work.   Thank you all.  Jan Taylor