NORTH NORTHUMBERLAND



NORTH NORTHUMBERLAND

VILLAGE HALLS CONSORTIUM

Minutes of Meeting held on Zoom

Thursday 12 November 2020 7.00pm

Present: Jack Hasson - Chairman, May Wilson - Breamish Hall Powburn, George Courtice - Middleton, Ellie Phillips - Longhoughton Community & Sports Centre, John & Ros Grey - Netherton, Angela Peereboom & Annette Manning - Beadnell WI hall, Bill Brook & Linda Kirby - Bamburgh Pavilion, Catherine Coultas - Glanton, Janet Young - Norham, Shelagh Coxon - Creighton hall Embleton, Jean Humphrys - Lesbury, Benita Robson - Bolton, Peter Burnham - Warkworth, Pauline Martin - Ulgham WI hall, Judith & Dudley Williams - Newton-on-the-Moor, Peter Burnham - Warkworth, Marion Harris - Widdrington WI hall, Steve & Sheila Woolfrey - Swarland, Bill Bourne - Alnmouth, Jackie Reeves - Craster, Mike, Sonia Sephenson - Boulmer, Stephen Gibson - Longhorsley, Marion Key, Gustav Mcleod - Ellingham, Elaine Sayer, Pete Barnes - St Aidans Berwick, Liz Spence - St James’s Alnwick, Brian, Colin Chipp - Felton, Eileen Clark - Horncliffe, Julie Famelton – Wingates, John Barrell – New Hartley.

Apologies were received from: John Haughie - Howick Village hall, Jacq Denham - Bowsden, Tessa Sayers - Acklington, Liz Elliott - Longhorsley, John Smithson - Whitsome

Attending: Louise Currie – Community Action Northumberland.

| |Action |

|Welcome & apologies | |

|Jack Hasson, as Chairman, welcomed all present to the Consortium’s first Zoom meeting and handed over to Ellie Phillips| |

|who had agreed to act as a moderator for the meeting. She explained that we were going to record the meeting for note | |

|taking purposes. Once that is done, the recording would be wiped. Ellie explained about muting and how to attract | |

|attention if you wished to speak. | |

|Virtual AGM | |

|a) Annual Report. No questions arose and the report for the year ending March 31 2020 was accepted. | |

|b) Treasurer’s report and accounts No questions arose and the reports for the year ending March 31 2020 were accepted. | |

|c) election of officers The three officers Jack Hasson - Chairman, May Wilson Treasurer and George Courtice Secretary | |

|were duly elected for 2020-21. | |

|d)election of other members of Management Committee: Ellie Phillips was duly elected and no other nominations were | |

|made at this time | |

|Short Up-dates | |

|Current finance: MW Our membership is now 75 with Witherington WI hall | |

|and CAN recently joining; we have rejoined VONNE as a Silver member, 51 | |

|Covid emergency kits were distributed to members at a charge of £10 and our | |

|current bank balance is £8584.50. | |

|Insurance This item was overlooked but it was to remind people of the need to | |

|make sure their halls are abiding by the conditions set by many insurance | |

|companies during Covid lockdowns – namely “You should endeavour where | |

| | |

|practical and safe to inspect your Insured Premises internally and externally at | |

|least once every 7 days, and keep a log of these inspections.” | |

|Hallmark GC In abeyance most of this year but will hopefully come back at the | |

|start of 2021 with the usual round of 3 yearly visits for confirming or awarding | |

|Hallmark 1, 2 & 3. | |

|EnergyCAN GC CAN is eager for members to consider contacting EnergyCAN to | |

|discover if their electricity/gas can be supplied at a cheaper rate. NB LSI, the | |

|former broker, has been taken over by Inspired Energy PLC but the terms and | |

|conditions are promised to remain the same. | |

|Training GC Unfortunately the last training the Consortium was involved in | |

|was almost 2 years ago. We are keen to put that right in 2021 and as soon as it | |

|is feasible will liaise with partners to ensure that short training sessions (1-3 | |

|hrs) will be offered to members covering a range of subjects. | |

|Digital Review and Village Hall Portal GC CAN have commissioned Newcastle | |

|University to review village halls in relation to the digital world particularly | |

|post Covid. CAN is also planning to launch a web based Portal (a platform that | |

|would provide halls & potential users with a single access point to | |

|information.) So far consultation has been limited to the West but we hope it | |

|will involve us very soon. | |

|Access to Funding Directory GC VONNE is a support organisation for the | |

|voluntary and community sector for the NE region. A few years ago it | |

|published a “hard copy” Regional Directory of Grants which many members | |

|found very useful. When this went digital it was only available to those | |

|organisations which had a certain level of membership with VONNE. NNVHC | |

|has negotiated that members will be able to access it, free of any charge, as | |

|long as they join at the Bronze rate which is also free. Please contact George | |

|Courtice if you would like to do so. | |

| 4 Discussion on Covid | |

|Louise Currie led the discussion over the responses to the submitted questions. Which activities are we currently | |

|allowed to host? Most halls will be shut between Nov 5th to Dec 2nd but certain activities are still allowed. See the | |

|news section of our website for the latest information from ACRE about these. No new measures, other than those Covid | |

|Secure changes, which should have already been implemented in the summer, are required. How can trustees stay safe | |

|while discharging their duties as trustees? If there is any doubt about about exposing trustees to risk then that | |

|should be avoided. | |

| | |

|Can we continue our weekly artclass during the current lockdown? No. This would be viewed as not sufficiently | |

|educational. | |

| | |

|Ways of fund raising during during lockdown? On-line take-away bake sales Horncliffe have also sold jams etc. Newton | |

|made over £160. Others judged that their community was unlikely to donate at this time. One member benefited from a | |

|commecial venue cancelling a wedding at short notice by stepping in with only a week’s notice. Covid Secure measures | |

|allowed 25 people to celebrate and earned the hall over £1000. | |

| | |

| | |

| | |

|In the event that we return to the old Tier 2 rules, what specific activities can a hall host? | |

|Assuming the hall has introduced Covid secure measures it can hold Film nights, craft sessions, coffee mornings, WI | |

|meetings (if its national body approves) and training. Because social distancing is so difficult to manage when it | |

|comes to children, most halls have tended to avoid agreeing to book them. | |

|Currently (Nov 5-Dec 3), only formal support groups are allowed so none of the above. See answer to first question. | |

| | |

|Can you simply divide the hall’s licensed capacity by 4 to reach a Covid Secure capacity? No - not necessarily. The | |

|licensed capacity used is often the total capacity of the property rather than the much lower capacity of the room in | |

|which the activity is to occur. So measure that in square metres and then divide by 4 to get the new approximate | |

|maximum capacity. This capaicity is also influenced by whether people are seated or standing, intensity of activity | |

|etc. | |

| | |

|We have a regular & longstanding booking for a band which uses the hall to rehearse. Under tier 2 would we have been | |

|allowed to hire it out to them? Yes. Provided you/they introduced all the Covid Secure measures (kept to the new | |

|capacity, conducted a risk assessment, maintained social distancing etc) | |

| | |

|What about paying licences even though our hall was/is shut? | |

|When approached in April we were informed by the PPL/PRS joint licence for music that any period of closure would be | |

|taken into account and compensated. Some members however, have been receiving different messages from PPL/PRS. MPLC, | |

|one of the film licensing organisations, would consider extending the licence or offering credit. They advise licence | |

|holders to email them ukoperations@. | |

|David Grenfell, of the County Council’s licensing unit, made it clear to Louise that the £70 annual alcohol licence | |

|is still required... although there have been delays in asking licence holders to pay it. | |

| | |

|Has any member had any experience of the Charities Buying Group? | |

|A few present had been contacted by this group, some too regularly, but no-one had any direct experience of it. | |

| | |

|Has any member used an online booking platform called “”? No-one present had direct experience of| |

|it. Some were using other on-line booking systems like Hallmaster and Avalon but much depends on the quality of the | |

|support package offered and, of course, the price. | |

| | |

|Latest Guidance announced in the last few days. Funeral Wakes can take place in village/community halls during the | |

|current lockdown provided the Covid Secure measures are in place and there are a maximum of 15 people present. Face | |

|coverings are important. | |

| | |

|Advice requested for holding AGM’s during lockdown in view of the public access requirements. A few halls had already | |

|had them on Zoom with information being sent to a wider audience but they were mainly limited to committee members. | |

|The Charity Commission is being lenient about postponements but it is important to send the Commission your usual | |

|financial information even in the absence of your AGM. | |

| 5 Future meetings | |

|The general view was that Zoom is certainly better than nothing so, in the absence of our ability to have “real” | |

|meetings, they should continue to be arranged. Zoom might even be preferable in the winter months during inclement | |

|weather….Zoom also saves a huge amount of travel time. | |

| | |

|Possible ways of raising money during Covid?: regular donations from regular supporters/users + monthly draws. | |

| | |

|Ellie Phillips ended the meeting by thanking all those who took part in the Consortium’s first Zoom meeting. | |

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