NAILSWORTH YOUTH & COMMUNITY ENTERPRISE 

Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on  Wednesday 20th November 2024 at 7-00pm

Upstairs Meeting Room, Nailsworth Subscription Rooms, GL6 0HH

Present: Jonathan Duckworth (JD) Chair, Tracy Shipp (TS) Treasurer, Les Haines (LH) Secretary, Fern Bratby (FB), Mark Peer (MP), Iain McIvor (IM), Fred Ashworth (FA), Dave Parker (DP),Claudia Weston (CW), Pam Brown (PB), Cliff Jordan (CJ), Cllr. Luke Stewart (LS), Deirdre Lister, Gavin Pond, Derek Pitt, Mark Smeaton, David Range. 

Apologies: Andy Hammond (and see Item 7 below)

1.   Welcome: Chair welcomed all to the 2024 AGM.                       

2.   Minutes of Previous Annual General Meeting 22^nd November 2023: The Minutes of last year’s AGM    

had been circulated soon after that meeting and approved by the trustees at their meeting on 31^st January.

3.  Matters Arising: There were no matters arising. 

4.   Chair’s Report - Jonathan Duckworth:

Introduction

This year has been more of a consolidation year, after the completion of larger projects last year. The new windows in the main building and the solar panels have each, in their way, changed and improved our building. They contribute by looking after the fabric of our building and also by reducing the ongoing costs of running the charity.   

 We have seen a change of government and if there is to be belt-tightening as a result of the Budget, we are well placed to weather it.

 Income has held up and costs are under control. This means that, in the absence of significant projects, we have a healthy surplus. It is perhaps something that the trustee body can do over the next year - look at opportunities and ways to use that surplus to further the charity's aims in the town.  

We were rightly concerned about the proposals for Martyn's Law and how it might affect us. This is the law that will require premises to look at their exposure to terrorist attack and how they would deal with such a thing. We would have found complying with this to be quite onerous and were not looking forward to it with any enthusiasm. We responded to a consultation and particularly pointed out that for smaller venues the proposals were inordinately burdensome. It does look like comments have been taken on board and we understand revised proposals will mean that we are too small to be covered under the new law. 

Trustees

We have continued with a committed team of skilled Trustees, to ensure that NYCE is meeting its Charitable Objects. 

 As Trustees we work to meet our charitable object, which is “the provision of facilities for education, in particular, but not exclusively, for young people resident in Nailsworth and the surrounding area through their leisure time activities”. The team has again worked successfully on governance, promotion and improvements.

Acting as unsalaried volunteers, Trustees exercise their legal responsibilities by reporting our activities and financial position to the Charity Commission and in carrying out their functions have devoted 100’s of hours of voluntary service this year. The Business Plan is monitored and reported on every 6 months.

With Deirdre stepping down last year, Tracy Shipp has taken over the reins of Treasurer.  

It has been a while since we had a change in the Trustee representation from the Town Council. The previous one is now chair, as you can see. The new council elected in May this year gave us an opportunity to have a new representative. We welcome our new Trustee Representative from the Town Council, Cllr Luke Stewart. We hope you enjoy your time on our trustee body.

Andy Hammond, who has enthusiastically represented the Phoenix Table Tennis Club is standing down, so we hope that Cliff will be able to take this role. Thank You, Andy. 

A big thank you to all Trustees; your enthusiasm and commitment is hugely important in making the Sub Rooms the success it is. 

Activities and works - in no particular order!

Billy Bragg gig. What a great event this was, with the PI Guitars success of a guitar completed in 12 hours, and a superb performance from Billy Bragg. This was a great showcase for the PI Guitars project. 

We’ve seen finishing the returns on the main hall windows. 

There was a project to sand and seal the main hall floor, and apply new court lines to the floor. 

Our solar panels have been followed by solar panels for the workshops and they have also installed an external dust extractor.

The area from the lane to the tennis courts had been resurfaced with aggregate, but the surface was not weathering well. Further treatment of finer aggregate has been applied and that seems to have resolved the problem.

Tracy, Fred and Les supervised the trade stand at the annual Town Meeting, and there was a steady flow of people wishing to find out more about NYCE.

We received a report on the monkey puzzle tree. In a nutshell, the tree is fine, although it is ageing (with an advised future life of c30 years). It is recommended that we review it every two years.

We hosted a Nailsworth Town Council Liaison tour. The Mayor, Cllr Peter Bodkin, and Cllr Luke Stewart were given a tour of the building with explanation about the building, charity and users.

There have been working parties to keep the grounds and gardens in a tidy condition, and again thank you to all those involved.  

Thank you to everyone involved with this charity, the building and its activities. You all work hard to secure and enhance a wonderful community asset for Nailsworth.

5.   Statement of Accounts & Treasurer’s Report -Tracy Shipp:

5.1 2023/24 Accounts – the accounts have been circulated to trustees and show that income in the last year totalled £25,390 (2023: £22,234.6). In the current year we have spent £1,1971.25 on repairs to the building (2023: £42,962.86) 

There is a surplus of £44,062.62 (2023:£35,381.32) in the bank account at the time of writing this report. Detailed profit and loss accounts have also been circulated for the financial year to date and any further information can be given on request.

Again, thanks to all our partners including Phoenix Table-tennis, Community Workshops, Nailsworth Tennis Club, Circus Skills (School of Larks), Choir, Croc ‘n Roll, Tai Chi and Badminton.   

6.   Reports by Main User Groups: 

6.1 Tennis Club – Mark Peer, Chairman:

These last 12 months have been successful for the tennis club. The new surface on the two main courts continues to play well and is also enjoyed by visiting teams, two of which, Painswick and Redmarley, have visited with committee members to try out the surface for re-surfacing options for their own courts.  

Both main courts had an annual maintenance in April – sand replacement and moss kill treatment. We are actively looking to replace our floodlights with LED’s which will be far less expensive to run than the halogen ones we have now. LED lamps are gradually coming down in price and new lamp designs are being produced. There is very little grant support around at this time so any upgrade to the lights will have to come from club funds or possibly loans. Our target for lighting upgrade is Spring 2025. Our next project after replacing the lights will be replacement of the perimeter fencing, some areas are breaking down and will need to be replaced in the not too distant future.

Our six adult teams had a great summer season in the county leagues, all three Men’s teams and our Ladies A won promotion. Ladies B finished in a comfortable mid-table position and our Ladies C although finishing bottom of their league, enjoyed their first season of competitive tennis, the majority of the squad not having previously played match tennis.

New coach, Shingi, has built up well-attended adult and junior sessions – four adult sessions on a Monday and three junior sessions on a Friday with 34 juniors attending over that three-session period. Demand is strong for more coaching and in the New Year there will be a further session on Saturday mornings.

Pickleball on the smaller 3^rd court has declined over latter weeks, due mainly to several injuries and the poor weather. In the summer months it was popular and we are holding a ‘pickleball open day’ in March next year.

The service road area repair by the south side gates to the courts is a huge improvement; the surface is holding up well and the large area of muddy puddles has been eliminated, certainly much appreciated by members walking in that way and no doubt the local residents who use the road.  

6.2 School of Larks – Claudia Weston, Leader:         

This has been a good year overall for School of Larks, especially since last summer 2023 when we were experiencing some financial difficulties. 

It is exactly a year since one of the directors left. It has been a very positive journey of change. There has been a little more work to do for the remaining staff, but the workplace has blossomed into a friendly and nurturing environment. We have also initiated more live performances in the form of showcases where our more advanced students and some of our teachers have performed. The last showcase raised £450 for Doctors without Borders charity.

We have been doing regular after school circus clubs with local schools funded by Stroud Town Council; we have continued work with GARAS, The Nelson Trust and Allsorts. We’ve just applied for funding to deliver circus skills workshop courses in nursing homes for the elderly residents as some very positive benefits have been shown by other circus skill schools offering similar programmes.

Last weekend we were very involved in the Festival of Wonder in St Laurence’s Church in Stroud, performing a show and Claudia led a 3.5 hour workshop which culminated in 24 young people (many who had never done any circus) delivering a 15-minute performance.

Our regular classes are picking up numbers-wise and the two Thursday classes, which were floundering and were looking like they might have to be cancelled, are now running healthily.

Lastly, we are running one of our Christmas HAF (Holiday Activity and Food - aimed at children who get free school meals) sessions in this venue. Oh, and this Sunday we have Poppy Plowman coming to do three tightrope master-class workshops with us. 

6.3 Community Workshops – Pam Brown, Administrator: 

The last year has been much the same as previous years with the teaching groups and opportunities – Men’s Shed, Pi Guitars, Cotswold Chine, Home Education, Production Workshop and an open teaching session for all – with numbers staying good.

We have also had many weekend courses to make bows, craft knives, automita and stained glass.

This year we felt that after 15 years we needed a new website and commissioned Mark Epton to refresh and renew the one he had made for us all those years ago.

Last Christmas saw us attend three Christmas markets where we sold the products made in the workshop and spread the word about the Community Workshops. This is a vital part of the production workshop as it helps students feel good about what they have made, seeing they are valuable to others.

Pi Guitars has had some new volunteers to join them and continues to make beautiful guitars. There was a great celebration in February when they undertook to make a guitar in 12 hours and then hold a concert in the hall at the end with Billy Bragg using the guitar for a whole concert. The evening started with four different guitarists playing Pi guitars and ended with the two hour concert by Billy. The whole experience was memorable and the evening concert attracted an audience of 150 who gave wonderful feedback. 

They are still developing new models and now have a bass and an Acusta Pi to add to the selection. We went to two guitar shows, one in London and one in Bristol and many of the volunteers came with us. We also donated a guitar to the Changing Tunes project based in Eastwood Park Women’s Prison.

We also use the theme of guitars for the Chine’s Teens in the Shed year and they took one they made to a small music charity in Bristol. They all went to Bristol to give the guitar over – a great way for them to see the value of their work and see that part of the process to the end.

We continue to offer the chance for couples to make each other wedding rings and have been a part of two couples’ journeys this year.

I’m very happy to report that this year we put solar panels up for the workshop and are reaping the benefits of cheaper electricity as a result. We were lucky enough to have half of the costs paid by a grant from Stroud District Council making the installation even more cost-effective to us. 

Finally, we have had a couple of gigs in the workshop where we open to the community in a different way. The last gig a few weeks ago was the residents of Church Street outing. All in all, a great year for the Workshops.  

6.4 Phoenix Table-tennis – Cliff Jordan, Leader:

This has been a great year for the Club and notable achievements include:

• there are now 8 Stroud League teams (up from 6 last year) and they started a totally junior team in the League and they are currently sitting mid-table
• the club’s emphasis on coaching has made it one of the ‘leading lights’ in the South-west region for table tennis development via our league teams
• coaching opportunities have been extended into Sir William Romney, Deer Park and Malmesbury Secondary Schools and next year they add Westonbirt to that list with Sir Thomas Keble in the pipeline
• a Veteran’s team competes in the National league and have secured promotion from Div 4 to 3
• 4 of the 8 Stroud League teams are in Div 1
• Bat and Chat continues to thrive on Wednesday mornings – social interaction, chat, play and a ‘cuppa’ – anyone is invited to come along and get involved; they are literally ‘in a league of their own’. 

7.   Election of Trustees/ Co-opted Persons 2024/25: 

   7.1 Andy Hammond has today announced that he wishes to retire as a trustee forthwith. 

   Action: Secretary to write to him to thank him for all his hard work in rejuvenating the table tennis legacy 

   at the Subscription Rooms through the formation of the Phoenix club in 2010 which since then has had 

   remarkable success. (Actioned by LH on 21st November);

    7.2 All other trustees wish to serve for another year. Chair also welcomed Councillor Luke Stewart to the 

    team as the representative of Nailsworth Town Council. No other nominations for the role of trustee had 

    emerged. Trustees would welcome up to two co-opted supporters to help to manage the building. 

    Action: The Secretary will notify the Charity Commission of the two trustee changes.

8.  Election of Officers: 

8.1 The three serving Officers of the charity were happy to serve a further term and there were no other nominations for those positions. Therefore the list of Trustees and Officers for 2025 is a follows: 

    

Jonathan Duckworth	Chair
Tracy Shipp	Treasurer
Les Haines	Secretary
Fred Ashworth	Trustee
Fern Bratby	Trustee
Pam Brown	Trustee / Community Workshops
Cliff Jordan	Trustee / Phoenix Table-tennis
Iain McIvor	Trustee
Dave Parker	Trustee
Mark Peer	Trustee / Nailsworth Tennis Club
Claudia Weston	Trustee / School of Larks
Cllr. Luke Stewart	Trustee / Nailsworth Town Council
Vacancies x 2	Co-opted supporters

    

This amended list of trustees will be published on the Charity’s website and a notice will be displayed in the hall for the information of users and the general public.  

 9.  Any Questions / Comments:

9.1 Les Haines said it was appropriate to recognise and record the good work that Pam Brown consistently does in acting as the first point of contact for enquiries about booking space in the building and for her ready availability in dealing with issues and acting in liaison with trustees for swift actions to deal with any problems on site. The other trustees agreed with this sentiment and thanked Pam for all her efforts on behalf of the NYCE charity.

9.2  There being no further business, Chair brought the AGM to a close for the service of refreshments.

 

    

 

NAILSWORTH YOUTH & COMMUNITY ENTERPRISE 

Minutes of Committee Meeting 8.15pm Wednesday 20^th November 2024

[Held following the Annual General Meeting] 

Present: Jonathan Duckworth (JD) Chair, Tracy Shipp (TS), Les Haines (LH) (Minutes), Fern Bratby (FB), Mark Peer (MP), Iain McIvor (IM), Fred Ashworth (FA), Dave Parker (DP), Claudia Weston (CW), Pam Brown (PB), Cliff Jordan (CJ)

In attendance:  David Range 

Apologies: Cllr Luke Stewart

1. Minutes of Previous Meeting held Wednesday 4^th September 2024: the minutes had been circulated by email on 7^th September and they were accepted as an accurate record of proceedings. Action: to be added to website www.nailsworthsubrooms.org.uk (PB).
2. Matters Arising: There were no matters arising.
3. Finance:
   1. 3.1.Annual Accounts 2023/24: these had been compiled by Deirdre Lister with support from treasurer Tracy Shipp and as stated at the AGM earlier had been circulated to trustees. Trustees unanimously agreed to approve the accounts. Action: LH to file the Accounts and Annual Charity Report with the Charity Commission as soon as practicable.
   2. 3.2.Currently the Charity has reserves of £44,062.62
4. Any Other Business:

4.1  DP spoke to a paper he has produced and circulated on 13^th November giving his analysis of the 

       building’s electricity consumption (excluding the lower ground floor) since the installation of the solar 

       panels and battery storage in its 1^st year of operation. The figures show the early benefits of our capital 

       investment – reduced costs and payback from the  supplier.

       JD commented on the rationale for this investment – to set an example of how premises such as ours 

       can harness cleaner energy and to future-proof the charity in its electricity costs in the months and 

       years ahead. The companies vying to get the contract to fit the equipment anticipated certain levels of 

       inflation and price rises to try to determine the time it would take to pay back the capital outlay 

       recognising that these factors are unpredictable but we have already seen positive benefits. 

       Action: DP was thanked for his detailed work and analysis on this very important topic and he in turn 

       said he would continue to monitor electricity costs and report further at our next and subsequent 

       meetings.              

4.2  DP and FB reported that they have done further enquiries into the best way of re-flooring the mini 

       kitchen below the stairwell. Quotes have been obtained for different types of hard wearing covering 

       and they now agree the best option would be to have a click-system of boarding which will look good 

       and be comparably cheap to fit - by one of our regular contractors, Darren James. Meeting agreed for 

       them to continue to commission this work.      

4.3  PB said that there had recently been a leak in the disabled toilet and she was pleased to report that it 

       was repaired very efficiently by local plumber, Tom Wood, who she would recommend for future 

       plumbing jobs.  

4.4. MP said that the tennis club’s long-standing bank, Lloyds, has introduced charges on transactions on 

        their account. Others present said that many small clubs/ organisations are facing the same problem.  

        PB said that Practical Intelligence has moved to the Co-op Bank. Action: TS to check our account. 

4.5  PB said that Croc ‘n Roll has stopped their classes at the Sub Rooms and have re-located. It is 

       thought that the anticipated income loss for the charity will not be significant; the group did worthwhile 

       work with parents / carers and their toddlers and would be welcome back anytime. 

4.6  DP is reviewing the building’s insurance cover with the impending renewal due at the end of the 

       year. He reminded the meeting what he had previously reported about the poor service from the 

       current broker last time around and he is looking in the market-place for alternative quotes as well as 

       pointing out to the broker that if they want be considered again for our business they will have to 

       improve their service and give a competitive recommendation.     

        Action: as a decision will have to be made before the next committee meeting DP will obtain 3 quotes,           

       communicate by email and seek a collective decision on the selected provider in good time for the 

       renewal to proceed.   

4.7  CJ referred to the recent fire safety inspection which he’d arranged in the loft space and the 

       recommendation for an extension of the fire alarm system to that zone. Meeting agreed this ought to 

       happen but PB said that there was already some ‘outstanding’ action on this by our alarm service 

       company

        Action: PB to check whether or not that previously agreed work had been done or not and confer with 

       CJ to complete the action if still necessary.

4.8  DP said that Mark Smeaton who had attended the earlier AGM is being kept informed about NYCE 

       matters, is very interested in what we do but has not committed himself yet to become a co-opted 

       supporter; it is agreed that it would be good to co-opt two persons or more to support the work done 

       here. 

4.9  The schedule of meetings for 2025 will be circulated as soon as agreed by JD and LH and we can 

        expect meetings in January, March, May, July, September and November

       There being no further business the Chair closed the meeting at 9.10pm.