Report from the chair, Elizabeth Grigg

Welcome and thank you for attending the 2023 Annual General Meeting for Kilve Village Hall. I have now been the chair for the Kilve Village Hall trustee’s committee for almost a year and wish to thank the other members of the committee for their support and incredible hard work over this last year. We have regular committee meetings once a month, but more often than not most of us meet in between times for other urgent commitments that are necessary and needed to run the hall efficiently and safely.

Due to health issues Ailsa Robbins our treasurer resigned in August 2022. During the Covid lockdown she was pinnacle in applying for grants, which has made the village hall very healthy financially. I want to reiterate that it was her determination that made it so. More of that later.

At the last AGM Sarah Hayward joined our ranks and has been a wonderful asset in reviewing and updating the village hall policies for Health and Safety, Fire and Risk Assessments, Safeguarding and Equal Opportunities, Complaints, Social Media and  Environmental Issues. Sarah is also our publicity officer, has set up our Facebook page and sends village hall news monthly to Kilve News. With the help of husband Pat, Sarah has navigated the Kilve Village Hall Website and is in the process of updating our page with current photos that reflect the many furnishing improvements we have made over the last two years. Hopefully minutes of our meetings will be posted on there soon.

Our Lottery, Alcohol and Music Licences have all been renewed. As has our membership of the Community Council for Somerset.

A big thank you to Barry Whitehead and Brian Ward who oversee all the many maintenance issues and problems, from checking and servicing the Sound System, Fire Extinguishers and Pat Testing to general fixing when things go wrong. Even placing a dog fouling deterrent on the grass verge near the main road, which seems to have worked.

Due to the grants we are in the process of purchasing a further Kilve Village Hall sign. This will be placed on the grass verge near the main road, which hopefully will attract, not only more bookings, but also encourage our locals to attend events. We have ordered more stage curtains to replace the ones we have had for many years, which now look tired and shabby and don’t do justice to the newer blinds and upholstered chairs.

Kate Lindley has the role of instigating ideas for events and over the last year we have had some very successful ones, including a Quiz night, a free Cheese and Wine evening (always well attended), a very well supported and fun January Bingo, courtesy of Eugene Brandon as ’caller’, a very well received Curry evening featuring Kilve’s finest chefs with 77 curries sold as takeaway or eat in, a theatre performance, a Supper and Sweethearts evening, a Take Art jazz evening featuring a group RWKUS from Bristol and our own local musicians. The bar was open for all these events, always does well and helps our finances.

In July we held an Open Gardens and Craft Day. Despite the appalling weather it was very successful, it appeared to be the only day last summer when it poured with rain. There were nine gardens open around Kilve. We plan for another Open Gardens Day in July and Sarah is hoping that, if at least seven gardens are open, the event can be posted on the Open Gardens Website. If residents wish for their garden to be a part of this there is a form to fill in, in May’s edition of the Kilve News.

The level of interest in the Kilve Calendar was very encouraging and it was extremely difficult to choose 12 photographs for inclusion, from the many excellent ones we had presented to us. We will attempt this again later in the year for 2024 (theme to be decided).

We put on a Mulled Wine and Mince Pie ‘coffee morning’ in December and a Bacon and Baps morning in January. We plan a further Bacon and Baps morning on the May ‘coffee morning’.

The village hall is now registered with the police as a place of safety. The local, and new, PCSO having (eventually) visited the hall a few weeks ago. The hall will also be used as a place of refuge, should a crisis such as in Storm Eunice strike again. Kate updates the First Aid equipment and we have a stock of foil and woollen blankets, plug in phones for distribution, high viz jackets and battery torches. We are still in discussion with Kilve Parish Council about purchasing a generator for the hall and I represent the village hall on the Kilve Emergency Plan and on the Kilve Parish Council.

The Welcome to Kilve pack was updated in January ready to be distributed to new residents.

And last, but certainly not least, I wish to thank the other village hall trustees, who work tirelessly in helping to support the functioning of the hall; Claire Heather our wonderful minute taker cum secretary who, not only makes us laugh, but manages to make sense of the varied debates in our meetings. She grasps their relevance which enables her to present succinct minutes. Kath Cook our housekeeper par excellence who keeps an eye on all the background necessities we need and is a star in the kitchen along with Frances Mayor. Frances also manages the complexities of bookings and meets and greets hirers, even at ungodly hours in the morning. She also makes wonderful cakes. You are all appreciated very much and make a great team.

Also deserving of thanks are those people, not on the committee, but who volunteer their help and time when things need doing. For example making cakes for coffee mornings, helping clear up after events, helping with cooking the bacon and so on. You are all also appreciated very much.

As per last AGM we were very sorry to lose Kelly Stone and Sally Quinn from their garden duties, but we now employ Pete Stone as and when the gardening needs maintenance.

Please note the wonderful backdrop that we found in the village hall roof space. On investigation Sheila Sharp has confirmed that it was probably made by an Arthur Perrott, who was connected to the Boobier family who ran the shop in Holford. It was possibly made as scenery for one of the many plays/pantomimes that Kilve put on, and will hopefully do so in the future. The committee always welcomes any ideas for future events – just let a member of the committee know.

However, although the committee has put on many events in 2022/2023, it is not strictly our our role to do so. We are only the trustees of the hall and rely heavily on others to hire out the hall for activities and to generate an income so that our lovely hall survives.

And on that note I finally wish to thank Sheila Collins, who joined our trustees as treasurer when Ailsa had to resign. Sheila has an expert background in finances and is proving to be an exemplary asset to our committee, with her thorough knowledge of budgets and long term financial planning. Long may that continue.