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AGM Minutes June 8th 2005
ELMTON AND CRESWELL VILLAGE COMPANY MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Minutes recorded by C Noon Present: Brian Kirsop (Chair) P Jones A Wolstenholme P Clifford P Finch C Russell Rev D Hull B Davies D Wimpenny V Johnson 1. Apologies Apologies were received from: Brian Bassett Martin Stone Bill Richmond K & G Cray Richard Flowers Peter Wimpenny 2. Welcomes and introductions The meeting started at 3. Minutes of the 2004 AGM The minutes of the previous meeting were adopted as a true and correct record. Proposed by: A Clifford Seconded by: T Foye 4. Matter Arising There were no matters arising, other than items to be covered in the agenda. 5. Chairman"s Address Overview of the past year It has been an active year with most of the activities being centred around Limestone House, which opened informally in July 2004, and was formally opened in September 2004. Limestone House main activities are:- Nearly New Shop This activity is well supported with clothes, books and bric-a-brac. New fittings have been purchased this year for the shop and there is now storage for books upstairs. Café shop It is currently being extended with a new conservatory, new tiles etc. Trade has built up steadily and now some day"s income from the cafe shop is higher than that of the nearly new shop. We are extending the variety of food sold from the cafe shop. Advice Services We have various professionals coming in to give advice on different days. The main advice that we provide is legal and benefits advice. From next month Citizens Advice will be coming in offering a variety of services such as debt/money support. Heritage Displays This is very popular with surrounding schools. We would like to thank the local history group for updating their displays. All comments about the displays have been good. Education We have 3 training rooms. Classes are going very well. However there are some issues with filling courses. A minimum of 8 people are required per class, for The Resource Centre is currently under-used, but is being used for overflow classes. New developments will ensure that it is fully used in our Youth programme. Q. Mr. V Johnson asked why there is no disabled access to the rear half of the coffee shop. A. J Holling advised that there was not enough money in the original bid to create a Q. Can we have some follow up courses as currently all courses are start up ones? A. Brian Kirsop said that this point would be noted and attempts made to run follow up courses where there was demonstrable demand. J Holling advised that, in partnership with the Village Forum, a bid had gone in to INVOLVE to run courses with less than 8 people on them. Q. Mr. V Johnson asked if A. B Kirsop replied that · The Future. The objectives are: 1. Raise enough income to become sustainable by the end of 2006 When the Resource Centre was open we covered around 20% of the running costs. We are now covering 60%. To make us sustainable over the next year, by raising earned income to ca £ 45k per annum, we need to increase sales and services in the cafe and in the shop, and extent teaching room use. 2. Nursery Project We have been invited to consider running a nursery in the village that would be situated in the infant school. We would be running it as a community activity rather than as a profit-making company. M Stone is taking the lead in organising this with the head teacher of the infant school, Derbyshire County Council and other partners. It"s part of a new government initiative to get people back to work, by providing childcare for children aged 0-3. The project would be in the current facilities, but would cost the County Council £ 435K to modify the building. The government offers a subsidy in the early years of operation, as follows; 1st Year - £ 1,000 per child A survey of village interest produced a 75% positive response among parents with young children. A business plan being completed to be reasonably sure we can make it work. 3. Youth Project We are going to set up a project to meet some of the needs expressed by the young people of the village. This will be a partnership between the following organisation to take the project forward: - Village Forum LSP are considering commissioning the project, which will be based in the Resource Point. The next steps are to consult with the youth of Creswell to find out what they want. In concluding his report, Brian Kirsop expressed his sincere thanks to all the staff who have worked in the Company in the last year. Also, he emphasised the immense contribution made by volunteers during the year. Currently, in addition to the volunteer Directors, there were 14 volunteers and the Company could not survive without them. 6. Treasurers Report A report was presented outlining the following: - · Revenue Income from the shop and room hire increased by 12K Theses figures are draft and subject to audit and net of VAT. Brian Kirsop thanked Brian Bassett (company treasurer) for his help during the year. There was concern from a number of people that the actual accounts were not presented at the AGM. It was noted that this is a legal requirement and that the AGM should be in line with the accounts. J Holling proposed that the date of the AGM be changed to later in the year, so the accounts can be produced and approved. The current date is too close to the end of the financial year for this to be achieved. It was noted that last year’s accounts are in Limestone House and are available for anyone to look at. 7. Election of the Directors The following directors were proposed for election to the board: - Brian Kirsop: on Board for three years and willing to continue Daphne Wimpenny: on Board for three years and willing to continue Pru Jones: new nominee Proposed: J Clifford Seconded: T Foye These three individuals were elected. The chair pointed out that there is still opportunity for individuals who wanted to play an active part in running the Village Company as directors to join the Board. 8. A.O.B. The following questions where raised: - Q. At the 2003 AGM, a question was raised about the need to send newsletters out on a regular basis, however only one has been received this year. A. Three newsletters have been sent out over the course of this year. These were Q. Does anyone want to take on the role of press officer/ A. As no volunteers came forward, Brian would look into finding a volunteer. The Meeting closed at |
