Our Village Hall

Lighting up the Future

2013
A private members’ Social Club has been in place for many a year and pays rent to the Village Hall Management Committee for the space it occupies in our Village Hall. A proportion of electricity costs are also paid to the Village Hall Management Committee. Both Social Club and Village Hall Management Committee organise events in order to generate funds.

The Social Club have recently modernised their Terms and Conditions, to widen their membership to one that includes all residents of the village (see Summary of Changes to Constitution).

The Parish Council have also formed a Working Group to study and comment on proposals to modernise the operation of the Village Hall and secure its future into the 21st Century.  The Working Group comprises members of the Parish Council, Social Club and Village Hall Management Committees. The papers relating to this Working Group can be viewed on the Parish Council website.

Why is change necessary in an organisation?

‘An organization, according to Hellenic Philosopher Plato could be examined as a living organism. The elements of which interact with each other and with their local and broader environment and promote the overall policy of what that organization stands for. Likewise change is needed for an organization in order to adopt to its environment using the concept of entropy, modify itself and promote the adequate level of complexity to its parts in order to cope with the outside environment and maintain viability. Further from that the organization should have feedback and audit mechanisms among others in order to re adjust itself so to gain greater efficiency, accuracy, and effectiveness, this would be impossible without implementing change to it's parts or to their desirable emergent properties. In other words without change an organization will diminish and finally will perish.'

Source: Pan Bath - BSc in System science City Uni. London’

It is my personal viewpoint that over the last few years, there have been noticeable 'tensions' between the Village Hall Management Committee and Social Club Committee. There have been times when this has affected the working relationship with the Parish Council too.

I am not sure exactly why this has arisen, but I believe it is because some influential Committee members now perceive the current moves to modernise the operation of the village asset as an unwelcome interference. It should be remembered these people have given many year’s unstinting service, so perhaps it is not surprising they feel quite protective towards the Village Hall and the manner in which it is run.

There has been a wholesale change of Parish Councillors over the last few years and bringing with it, the inevitability of searching questions about how the village asset is being managed. Furthermore, the influx of new residents in the village wishing to get involved has also brought matters under greater scrutiny through attendance at meetings. Unfortunately, this has teased out a number of issues that I believe give cause for concern:

• There is still a lack of clarity over who is exactly responsible for what in the running of our Village Hall (mainly down to the interpretation of the Conveyance documents).
• There was the problem with the Land Registry Title (which has now been settled).
• There was an issue with the various statutory licences required by the Village Hall (now purchased).
• There doesn’t appear to be an official audit carried out on the financial records during the year.
• The 2012 end-of-year accounts do not provide full clarity/transparency, especially when compared with the 2011 figures (the accounting descriptions have changed year-on-year making it very difficult to see how monies have been spent). There was a net loss made for the 2012 accounting period. Finally, there is rather a large reserve fund being continually maintained for a not-for-profit organisation, yet the Village Hall Management Committee continue to request funding from the Parish Council e.g. for replacement of chairs; for external decoration/repairs.
• There have been examples of undemocratic operation of Village Hall Committee meetings, and occasionally with regard to the spending of funds.

One such example is provided below, as can be seen with my email to the Village Representative:

‘From: Geoff Hall
To: Sue Morris
Cc: Nocton Parish Council
Sent: Saturday, June 01, 2013 1:25 PM
Subject: Nocton Village Hall Management Committee
Dear Mrs Morris,
I am writing to you as the village representative on the Village Hall Management Committee.
I would like you to raise the following matter on my behalf at the next Committee meeting on 26 June and would like this recorded formally in the Minutes:

• I wish to raise a point of concern that certain Officers of the Committee are choosing to spend funds on specific items outside of the proper democratic voting process of the full Committee on scheduled meeting dates.
• I understand a set of carpet bowls were purchased recently out of Village Hall funds for the sum of £285. The Minutes dated 24th April 2013 only advised that 'It was agreed to price up a set of carpet bowls' under 'Any Other Business'. No formal vote has been taken, nor authority given to make that purchase, yet at the meeting on 29th May 2013 I understand it was reported to Committee members that the funds had been spent.
• This is not the first occurrence of expending money outside of the due democratic process for the operation of Nocton Village Hall. There was also the instance when a defibrillator was purchased for £320 by Officers of the Committee without a formal vote being taken, again I believe it was presented as a fait-accompli to the full Committee after the purchase had been made.
• This is not how I expect our Village Hall Management Committee to operate, nor do I believe it is within the spirit of the Constitution document dated 5th October 2006. If the Officers felt that these purchases were necessary for conducting the recreational activities of our Village Hall, the intended purchases should have been properly placed on the Agenda and a vote taken at the monthly meeting. All Committee members should have had the opportunity to vote on these matters.
• This Committee is effectively administering public funds on behalf of the local community, so it is incumbent on the Officers and members to follow correct procedures.
• I understand that the Working Party is currently reviewing all aspects of the Village Hall operation (yet there have been no updates on progress released to the public domain). It is important that this type of undemocratic spending activity is clearly forbidden in any new rules and regulations.

I am copying this letter to the Parish Council who were covenanted Nocton Village Hall on 13 July 1981 and on whose behalf the Village Hall Management Committee administer the property.

 

Yours sincerely,

Mr GM Hall’

 

My email is not a criticism of the specific items that have been purchased, just the manner by which the decision was arrived at. But as can be seen, a light is now being shone into the areas of operation that require modernisation/improvement and some may find this uncomfortable. However, as the Village Hall is a community asset, there is an important requirement for accountability and oversight.

Much of this is down to the absence of comprehensive documentation setting out how our Village Hall is to be managed. That is exactly why the Parish Council instigated the Village Hall Working Group to agree a new set of guidelines. It is to be hoped that all parties can work together to agree the way forward for our Village Hall and to advance the success of what has to date been a valuable community asset.

Acknowledgements for historical information
(none of the 'Our Village Hall' articles are the views of the people or publication mentioned below)
Bill Fernley
Doreen Green
Trevor Morris
George & Eileen Moulds
Sheila Redshaw
David & Gill Rumbelow
Publication: Nocton – The Last Years of an Estate Village Vol 1 & Vol 2