Menu
Cart

HammerofPompey

About HammerofPompey

https://steepvillagehall.org.uk

Posts by Robin Hollington:

Steep VIllage Hall

Car Park Makeover

,

Saturday August 17th. 10:30-1500

Car Park Makeover
FLOWERPOT Planting

 Followed by Bring Your Own/Cook Your Own BBQ

With Cash Bar

There will be lots of weeding/pot hole filling and clearing a drainage gully, focused on the car park and old play area.

Please bring

·         Gloves

·         Rakes/Forks/Hoes

·         Strimmer

·         Trugs/Wheelbarrows

·         Boots

·         Suncream/Hats

·         Drinks

·         BBQ food

 

Please contact [email protected] to confirm attendance or to offer to provide a salad/run bar

Report from Trustee Working Group to Parish Council 

,

December 2022

The working group has continued to proceed behind the scenes. Councillor Nick Hurst is leading on a business plan for the Village Hall. He has made considerable progress but there is more to be done, particularly now the Hall has a new manager.  
 
At the SWMVC trustee meeting on 28th November, the working group proposed engaging a highways consultant, to see whether moving the entrance of the village hall is a feasible option with Hampshire Highways. Trustees agreed in principle to appoint a highways consultant to handle the pre-app when required, and the working group are getting in three quotes for this work.  
 
No action will be taken or any costs incurred until the SDNPA has responded to WDH second pre-app submission and there is reasonable assurance on the layout.  
 
 
Jenny Martin 
Chair Trustee Working Group 

Consultations Review

Collated Consultation Review  Jim MacDonald - Chair of Trustees

Consultation Review

In the last two years the Parish Council has twice attempted to seek the opinions of residents regarding the Village Hall land and the Open Space that would be part of the development on the Steep in Need land. The first was conducted by the Parish Council in the autumn of 2020 and was focussed on how any open space might be used and what people would like to see on it. The second was conducted by the SWMVC in the summer of 2021 and sought views from the beneficiaries of the Charity on how they would like the land around the village hall to be used.

Neither consultation can be seen in isolation from the controversy that developing the SIN field has brought to the village. It is inevitable that change invites opposition particularly from those people for whom the change has the biggest impact. It is the job of the Parish Council to balance the views and needs of the whole parish. The results of each consultation must be viewed with that in mind.

Open Space 2020

There were 90 responses to the consultation which asked residents to focus how they would like to see an area of open space used seeking their support for or opposition to some suggested ideas in addition to asking for their own additional ideas. There was good engagement with  the subject and a number of quite detailed responses. Clare Moriarty analysed the responses and the support received for each of them.

The table below shows the relative support for the suggested uses:

The table below shows the additional suggestions and how many people came up with similar suggestions:

  • Wildflower meadow (9)
  • Wildlife area (4)
  • Garden (4)
  • Village green (3)
  • Flower beds (2)
  • Nature trail (2)
  • Paved area
  • Allotments (6)
  • Produce exchange (5)
  • Community garden (4)
  • Orchard (4)
  • Specimen trees (3)
  • Woodland (2)
  • Community shop (7)
  • Picnic tables (2)
  • Space for community events (2)
  • Barbecue facilities
  • Clothes recycling
  • Fitness equipment

Broader comments highlighted the linear nature of Steep and the lack of village centre. Some people commented on the association between the village hall land and the SIN field and that it may be an opportunity for re-designing the village hall land.

Village Hall Land

There were 87 responses to the SWMVC consultation that was focussed on the use of the village hall land and sought specific feedback on reconfiguring the layout of the land and whether it should align with the proposed open space in the SIN field. This was a more structured consultation since it was looking for a numerically ranked response in addition to providing a space for participants to write their own comments.

Alison Driver did an analysis of the responses in which she collated and graphed the numerical results and analysed to written comments.

The numerical responses (which were completed by all respondents), as graphed by Alison show strong support for better use of the village hall land for mental and physical recreation with an average score of 4.2 (max – 5) When asked about whether the open space in the SIN field should join with the open space on the village hall land it was supported but by a lesser extent with an average score of 3.5 (max -5). When asked about reconfiguring the village hall land opinion was split with an average score of 2.8 (max – 5)

Her analysis showed that of those who wrote comments (about half of the respondents) the clearest comment was not to sell the land and not to do a deal with the developer. Some respondents did not like the questions and some suggested the questions were were leading.

Conclusions

Every conversation we have with residents and every response we receive is useful because it gives us better information on which to base our decisions. Both surveys make it clear that there is strong support for better use of the open space for both mental and physical recreation. Both surveys expressed support for aligning the open space in the SIN field with open space on the village hall land. We did not get support to sell the village hall land to the developer and so we took it off the agenda and are not considering a land swap or any loss of control over the village hall land. The Parish Council took the decision to set up a working party to work with WDH to explore an option that would look at the combined SIN and SWMVC plot to directly respond the support expressed in both consultations to do so.

Village Hall Consultation – Land at Church Road

Village Hall Consultation Land at Church Road

Earlier this summer Wilson Designer Homes (WDH) carried out their consultation on the potential layouts for the development of the Steep in Need land. Following this, the Parish Council’s Church Road Working Group was temporarily suspended to allow a clearer focus on the Village Hall and its land. A small group of trustees and residents is helping the SWMVC trustees set up and run two consultations in the Village Hall, on Saturday 3 September between 13.30 and 16.30 and Tuesday 6 September between 18.30 and 21.00. These are important opportunities for residents to comment on the Trustees’ ideas for the future of the site and the building.

The proposals for consultation include layouts which maximise the Village Hall’s open space when put together with the SIN site next door and improve access between the Hall and this open space. There will also be a layout showing how the site would look with no change to the Hall land, whilst the SIN development goes ahead.

The trustees are also at the early stages of thinking about how to improve the Hall’s flexibility and attractiveness as a venue. Illustrations will be on show to see if residents react positively and support developing the ideas further.

Watch the Village Hall website (https://steepvillagehall.org.uk) and the Parish Council’s Church Road site (https://news.steep-pc.gov.uk) for more information and how to comment further. This phase of the consultation about the Hall will last until September 16th.

We understand that Wilson Designer Homes will be running their second consultation event (looking in more detail at the appearance the development) on September 29th.

Email: [email protected]

Hall Manager – Vacancy – FILLED

STEEP VILLAGE HALL MANAGER Hired!

Steep Village Hall is looking for a reliable, enthusiastic and highly organized person to run the hall on a day to day basis, and to promote it as a venue. This is a very varied role, needing good administrative and customer service skills, familiarity with on-line booking and financial reporting systems, experience of property and people management, and a willingness to work in close collaboration with the management committee.  

Flexible hours, in the region of 1 day per week, spread over the week and possibly occasional weekends. Pay according to experience. For more details please contact [email protected] 

Call for Volunteers to Write Business Plan, Manage and Operate the Village Hall Going Forward

••←→

Your Village Hall Needs You!

Following the meeting held on 5th March, a small group of volunteers analysed the responses. The Trustees accepted the report and recommendations, including setting up of a Management and Operations Team to run the hall on a day to day basis.  This led to an urgent call for volunteers which is set out below, along with the outline functions of a similar set up at Stroud Village Hall.

Volunteers Needed

Dear Resident. On 5th March a meeting about the Future of the Village Hall took Place, as Post Pandemic the finances were not healthy.  A small team undertook to review at the feedback from the tables and post-it notes and report back within 6 weeks with that analysis and recommendations.  Not only did they do that but the trustees have accepted the findings and have undertaken to implement the recommendations as soon as possible.  The full report is  published here.  The report followed two threads, namely the establishment of:

A Management and Operations Team.

  • The day to day running of the Village Hall should be vested in a “Management/Operations Team”, initially formed from volunteers from a “Needs Based Assessment”. The needs were to be based on the functions of management of Stroud Village Hall (see later)
    • Volunteers should be invited to an interview process (to be defined) lead by an independent chair, such as a Trustee from SVHARA, the remainder coming from the current Trustees as they are legally responsible for the charity.
    • The purpose of the interview process would be to ensure the needs based assessment for the functions of the team were covered as much as possible, and not unbalanced. For example The needs based analysis will likely cover business planning, fundraising, employment, social, H&S amongst others. A team of 6 willing volunteers with only H&S experience would be unbalanced.
    • Initially they would be tasked to produce a business plan, to include financial independence to act as well as reporting criteria.
    • That plan may introduce a paid manager/caretaker role when affordable.
    • It was envisaged that the plan would include a request for a PC grant (from the Precept) of about £1000 pm (approx. £1.25 per house per month in the parish, details tbc), to help underpin this parish wide resource.
    • Initially the existing management team from the trustees would assist in order to provide background information.
    • Once appointed this team should have SWMVC email addresses and access to relevant records, subject to accepting the Data Protection Policy
    • Calls for volunteers should happen in April, interviews in early May, the Business plan agreed with the Trustees by the end of May/beginning of June and be operational in June. Whilst a tight timeline, this was essential if the current direction of financial travel was to be turned around.
    • In the meantime, the Trustees have accepted offers of help to put the bins out, open the hall, integrate booking on the website and running the online accounts. All will be reviewed as part of the management team’s business plan.

The initial functions of the extracted from the Steep & Stroud Village Hall requirement follow the set up of a Social and Events Team.

  A Social and Events Team.

  • Concurrently the Social Team of volunteers should be appointed. This could be less Needs Based and more enthusiasm based as each activity should come with a micro cost plan. However, in the short term the Trustees should call for volunteer(s) to run some quick wins events starting in April/May (such as a [Monthly?] Quiz Night).
    • It was envisaged that the Management Team would generate a business plan that modelled the revenue that socials/events team needed to raise each year and the Social/Events team would take this on

Requirements for the Management and Operations Team

In addition to the task set out above, it is envisaged that this group of volunteers will need to conduct the following functions until such time as finances allowed a paid employee to tke some/all of this on.

General List of Duties

  • Bookings
    • Deal with all booking enquiries email/phone calls. Ensure bookings diary is up to date.
    • Send out booking forms for private and commercial bookings.
    • Check relevant documents are provided for commercial bookings i.e. PL insurance, Safeguarding policies, etc.
    • Send invoices for private bookings and refund security deposit after booking. Check hall and contents are intact after each private booking prior to refunding deposit.
    • Send invoices to commercial hirers at the end of each month.
    • Send Opening up instructions to hirers.
  • Upkeep of Village Hall.
    • Weekly – check fire alarm, visual inspection of kitchen appliances, boiler and contents are all in place.
    • Check heating is at a reasonable temperature for time of year.
    • Nappy bins emptied every Wednesday by CJS – leave outside hall.
    • Check stores of loo rolls, cleaning products, etc and order as necessary.
    • Identify any maintenance requirements and arrange repairs as necessary.
    • Monthly – Mats and sanitary bins changed first Wednesday of each month by CJS.
    • Annually – Boiler service, Alarm, Fire Risk Assessment, PAT testing and other policies updated.
  • Finance
    • Send invoices for commercial and private hirers.
    • Reconcile Scribe Accounts weekly.
    • Arrange payment of any bills and enter onto Xero attaching necessary information.
    • Circulate monthly Profit and Loss and Balance sheets to Trustees.
    • Website and Facebook
    • Update regular hirers classes and information.
    • Update weekly blog posts.
    • Advertise new classes, social events, etc. on Facebook and website.
    • Produce monthly newsletter.
  • Considerations for future support for a Hall Manager, if or when viable.
  • On call out of hours – to establish who is responsible for dealing with problems from hirers or issues with the VH out of hours.
  • Annual Leave – who is responsible for covering when hall manager is on leave, also who is responsible for carrying out cleaning when cleaner on leave.
  • Regular contact from Trustees to oversee village hall and discuss any problems arising. Also to include business planning and setting vision for the future expectations/performance.  Regular review with line manager
  • Maintenance and upkeep – who will be responsibility to identify any maintenance should they also be booking repairs? If so what is the process for this, regular contractor, collect quotes??
  • To establish and make clear to all parties the various roles and responsibilities to ensure boundaries not blurred.

VOLUNTEERS for either the of the teams should email [email protected] outlining where they feel they can contribute and in particular for the management team their experience of creating business plans.  An Interview process, yet to be defined, will be conducted as early as possible in May for the Management/Operations team, who will take on responsibility for the Social/Events team. However, anyone who wishes to organise an early quiz night or two (or has other quick win ideas should get in touch at the same email address.

 Thanks

 Charlotte Duthie

On behalf of the Managing Trustee.

[email protected]

The Management and Operation of the Village Hall

••←→

Your Village Hall Needs You!

Following the meeting held on 5th March, a small group of volunteers analysed the responses.  These are shown below.

The report, recommending  establishment of a Management and Operations Team (for day to day running of the hall) and a Social and Events Team (to organise fundraising social activities and events for the Parish), was accepted by the Managing Trustee, who have called for volunteers to take this forward.

Analysis of Attendee Ideas from 5th Mar 2022

Introduction

Following the Trustee open presentation to the Parish, a group of volunteer beneficiaries took the ideas and feedback of the attendees to analyse and make recommendations to the Managing Trustee. A total of five meetings were held and there was debate/clarifications over email. The volunteers were:

  • Robin Hollington,
  • Alison Driver,
  • Genevieve Hayes,
  • Shannon Askew,
  • John Grove,
  • Carole Kiddle

The remit signed off by the Trustees was:

“Initial Analysis of the meeting notes, with a report to the trustees within 6 weeks”.

Due to existing commitments and or illness, not everyone was able to attend every meeting, though the final meeting on 25 March of five of the volunteers was unanimous in the directions of travel waiting for this report to be written and circulated.

Executive Summary

Initial Ground Setting Decisions

Our initial meeting was to clarify what we were tasked to do and decide how we would approach the task.  The starting point was a transcription of the table comments from the Open Meeting (see Annex A)  The group agreed the following

  • No Group Leader – the group would act as a “cohort”
  • The Focus for the team was to collate feedback from those participants who attended the Village Hall meeting on 5th March (from the notes on the flip chart pads) and to then present a report/recommendations to the current Trustees of SWMVC within 6 weeks of the 5th March meeting. It was agreed focus of the work is to identify the financial viability and structure of the day to day running of the Village Hall.
  • It was agreed that recommendations had to fall within the objects of the charity.
  • While it was agreed that the make up of trustees should be considered, it was appreciated that this, given it weas likely to take several years to action, should not be addressed until the initial recommendations had been implemented and would require further discussions by those concerned.
  • An initial sift of the responses clearly showed comments falling predominantly into two groups. Subsequent to our initial analysis the transcription of attendees comments (Annex A), was grouped to reflect the discussion and to give greater clarity, see Annex B. In addition, there were points that should be parked in the short term while the team focused on the remit:
    • Operational management of the Village Hall. This concerns the day to day running of the Village Hall.  This group should have effective financial autonomy, reporting on a regular (tbc) basis to the trustees.
    • Social/Events This was envisaged as a team of volunteers who would take ideas for social activities and events, develop them to cover indicative costs/revenues for Management Team to review/approve, then to put on to increase revenue.
    • Parked – Ideas in this category included the discussion of who the trustees should be the sensitivity that some felt in respect of the land associated with the club, landscaping maintenance and any redesign of the car park. It was concluded that these areas of discussion were not going to impact the need for immediate action nor were activities that would likely impact our deliberations.
  • It was agreed that each of the teams should be both inclusive, but also Needs Based – The Management Team, in particular, will require volunteers with the appropriate skills in order to successfully carry out the tasks of day to day management, as well as the drafting and agreeing with the Trustees a Business Plan to the return the Hall to financial viability.
  • Working titles for the focus of these groups were:
    • Management or Operations Team (inc Finance)
    • Community Social/Events Team
  • Immediate Help Offered:
    • Genevieve offered to put the bins out (and in) on weekly basis as she put hers out
    • John offered to open and close the hall for all ad hoc bookings (those without access details)
  • Agreed that the reports/recommendations would need to be agreed and approved by the trustees to proceed to the next level
  • Agreed that prior to taking on any day-to-day responsibility, there would need to be a handover from the current secretary.

Recommendations

From the analysis of the attendee comments, it was agreed to recommend to the Trustees that

  • The day to day running of the Village Hall should be vested in a “Management/Operations Team”, initially formed from volunteers from a “Needs Based Assessment”. The needs were to be based on the functions of management of Stroud Village Hall
    • Volunteers should be invited to an interview process (to be defined) lead by an independent chair, such as a Trustee from SVHARA, the remainder coming from the current Trustees as they are legally responsible for the charity.
    • The purpose of the interview process would be to ensure needs based assessment for the functions of the team were covered as much as possible, and not unbalanced. For example The needs based analysis will likely cover business planning, fundraising, employment, social, H&S amongst others. A team of 6 willing volunteers with only H&S experience would be unbalanced.
    • Initially they would be tasked to produce a business plan, to include financial independence to act and reporting criteria.
    • When available, that plan may introduce a paid manager/caretaker role
    • It was envisaged that the plan would include a request for a PC grant (from the Precept) of about £1000 pm (approx. £1.25 per house per month in the parish, details tbc), to help underpin this parish wide resource.
    • Initially the existing management team from the trustees would assist in order to provide background information.
    • Once appointed this team should have SWMVC email addresses and access to relevant records, subject to accepting the Data Protection Policy
    • Calls for volunteers should happen early in April, interviews by the end of April, the Business plan agreed with the Trustees by the end of May and be operational by 1 June. Whilst a tight timeline this was essential if the current direction of financial travel was to be turned around
    • Once up and running this team should address any “parked issues”
  • Concurrently the Social Team of volunteers should be appointed. This could be less Needs Based and more enthusiasm based as each activity should come with a micro cost plan. However, in the short term the Trustees should call for volunteer(s) to run some quick wins events starting in April (such as a [Monthly?] Quiz Night).
    • It was envisaged that the Management Team would generate a business plan that modelled the revenue that socials/events needed to raise each year and the Social/Events team would take this on
  • The final meeting discussed some short-term imperatives (including the timings above) that need to be started now:
    • A “Stripe Account” (PCI DSS authorised payment gateway) for the online bookings package that has been procured.
    • Same Stripe account needed for online tickets to events
    • Promotion of the fundraising event(s) such as the quiz to start as soon as possible.
    • Interim Appointment of
      • The Bin putter outer/bringer inner (Genvieve Hayes)
      • The Hall opener/closer (John Grove)
      • A “Bookings Manager” (Robin Hollington offered in the very short term as he was in the process of adding the online bookings to the village Hall website)
      • Someone to run the new online Accounts from 1 April
    • The Trustees need to agree these interim appointments, complete the list and or find alternatives with all due speed as the current clerk has no desire to implement either from 31 Mar 2022.
    • The wider group of volunteers from the 5 Mar meeting should be approached for these roles as well as the management and social teams, now!
  • The final meeting also raised the issue of “commitment” of the management and social teams. It was hard enough for the team of 6 to get together as work/illness/life in general got in the way.  Those present commented the now understood the pressures the existing trustees are working under
Steep VIllage Hall

YOUR VILLAGE HALL NEEDS YOU – TAKE 2

YOUR VILLAGE HALL NEEDS YOU! (Take 2)

Please come to a meeting on:

SATURDAY 5th March at 10.00 AM

STEEP VILLAGE HALL

New Date

Following the lifting of “Plan B” restrictions, the Trustees have decided it is safe  for the meeting originally planned for 11 December to take place.

Steep VIllage Hall

POST-COVID

STEEP WAR MEMORIAL VILLAGE CLUB

FACES AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

CAN YOU HELP?

 

We need YOUR input and ideas

 

Format of the Meeting

  1. Welcome and introductions
  2. Presentation of an overview of Village Hall finances
  3. Coffee and cake
  4. Round table discussions – We would like your ideas and suggestions
  5. Plenary

VILLAGE HALL – THE WAY FORWARD

••←→

THE FUTURE OF THE VILLAGE HALL LAND

Over recent months the Village Hall trustees have been considering the future of the charity and its land. We are now asking for feedback from the residents of Steep to help make the best decision.

What’s Changed?

  • Sept 2020: Nursery School has closed after 35 Years due to staffing issues
  • 2019/2021 Pandemic
  • 2020/2021 legal fees
  • New village hall opens in Stroud (see frontage below)
  • Steep village hall in need of a refresh (Year of last makeover?)
  • Maintenance requirements increasing
Steep VIllage Hall
Stroud VH

Finances

The rolling average of Excess Income/Deficit from 2014-19 was as surplus of about £1250 per annum. The loss of the Nursery and then the Pandemic has cost nearly £5,000 and £16,000 for years ending 2020/21 and a predicted loss of about £7,000 to the end of the Financial Year.  Whilst manageable in the short term, we cannot allow this to continue.

Options

  • One – Business as Usual
    • Hope bookings Increase
    • Increase Prices (the hall is cheaper than most)
    • Reduce Costs (Volunteers?)
    • Other
  •  Two – Village Hall Task Force 
    • Describe a “Vision”
    • Create a costed Business Plan
    • Balance Income with Community needs

(Note that Stroud have trustees, a management committee and a social committee)

  • Three – Parishioner Ideas
    • Over to you

Load More

Back To Top
Steep Village Hall

© Steep Village Hall Club 2023
Built by Inspired Information Services Ltd.
Presented by Inspired Hosts

Quick Links

Petersfield
Current weather
-º
Sunrise-
Sunset-
Wind direction-
Cloudiness-
-
-
Forecast
Rain chance-
-
-
Forecast
Rain chance-
-
-
Forecast
Rain chance-
Weather by weatherin.org