In Attendance:    Lindsey Cooke 

1. Apologies

   Apologies were received from Amos Kaye. 

2. Minutes of Meeting Held on 9^th January 2008

   The minutes of the meeting held on 9^th January 2008 were approved.

   Sean Moran raised the issue of high utility bills arising on the Centre. Darren Rothery noted that Joan Cook had offered to provide him with details of costs as and when they arose so that the situation could be monitored. Doreen Rothery advised that she had been assured at the last Parish Council meeting that she would receive copies of all future utility bills with agendas etc. for the Parish Council.

   Barbara advised that she had contacted EON and charged £200.00 for the day to include the teas and coffees rather than charging separately. This generated a better level of income than the original proposal to charge for teas separately due to the low level of attendance. 

3. Matters Arising:

1. Youth Club

   It was noted that the Youth Club have now removed all posters/pictures from the Centre walls. The Chair advised Lindsey Cooke that the Youth Club leader could be attending a funding meeting to ask for funding for portable folding screens which would be easier to store.

   It was noted that the walls were now in need of decoration and this project would be put on the list of funding requirements.

   Mary Smith asked about procedure to stop other users from putting their own items on the wall and it was agreed that this should be included as part of the terms and conditions of hire on the booking form.

2. Storage for DPCA

   The Chair reported that tidying of the upstairs room was progressing well. A padlock has been purchased for the door and a sign produced advising Allen Pestell’s number in case of electrical emergency. This area is to be kept for Gala/dance/general Community Centre items and the keys for the room to be kept by DPCA Chair and A Pestell only. 

   Sean Moran suggested the purchase of a rechargeable torch which would be placed in the kitchen area to be used in case of power cut. This was agreed and Darren Rothery was authorised to purchase one.

   Sean Moran asked what was to be done with the green chairs currently stored in the upstairs room. It was agreed that they should be brought down and put in the small ‘committee room’ to form a ‘quiet room’ where people could go to sit if they wanted at the dances etc.

   Anne Kaye asked that Eddie Cockburn be thanked for repairing the broken tables and the Chair asked for the Committee’s thanks to be passed on via Barbara.

3. Insurance

   Darren advised the Committee that good progress was being made with regards to obtaining alternative quotes for the building (including public liability, contents etc). It was currently estimated that similar levels of cover could be achieved at a premium of approximately £500.00 compared to last year’s charge of £856.33.

   Doreen reported that at the last Parish Council meeting A. Pestell has indicated that the Parish Council insured, amongst other community assets, the building.

   Mick Drewry suggested that a full review of insurance needs to be undertaken to ensure that everything is covered and that there is no duplication. It was confirmed that this should be the responsibility of the Parish Council and it was noted that Barbara Cockburn would ask for it to be included on the next Parish Council agenda.

   It was also noted that the fact that the building will be licensed should be included in the insurance quotations.

4. License Application

   Doreen advised that the last day for objections for the license application was Monday 18^th February, she had spoken to Steve (the bar person) and he had received no objections. He was confident that the license would be in place in time for the Easter Dance.

   A meeting now needs to be set up between DPCA and Steve to ascertain booking arrangements/charges etc. Doreen agreed to set this up. Steve had, however, indicated to Doreen that the DPCA would get four free functions per year.

   It was reported that Steve would like to come to the Centre to clear out the cellar area and bar area in preparation.

5. Possible Change of Name of Centre

Doreen reported that at the last Parish Council meeting they had agreed to rename the centre ‘The Parish Community Centre’ in recognition of the fact that it covers the whole parish.

 

New signage is required and this will be included in the funding request list.

 

4. Treasurers Report

Darren Rothery tabled a report on the financial activity since December. The DPCA currently has funds of £2,666.33 with approximately £750.00 in the pipeline for payment (insurance and electrical survey/works) and income of £900.00 to come (mainly Crag Rats). All agreed that this was a very good position, bearing in mind that a couple of years ago the DPCA was in debt to the Parish Council. Sean Moran asked what was the amount of the contingency fund and it was agreed that this should be set at £1,000.00.

 

It was noted that there will be a charge for emergency plumbing work, as the boiler had been repaired the previous day. There are also expected costs for the electrical work to be carried out and Mick Drewry pointed out that we would also require PAT testing (Portable Appliance Testing) every year. Quotes are to be obtained for both these items.

 

Discussion took place on marketing of the Centre to attract more users as there is still quite a lot of spare capacity, the Centre is not being fully utilised.

 

Doreen suggested a number of potential users (weight watchers, night school, dog training etc) and agreed to contact Sure Start to see if the Centre could be of use to them. 

5. Funding Requests

The Chair repeated the list of funding requests that had been sent to Lindsey Cooke and added the following items:

 

Carpet for stage and toilet entrance

Improvements to fire exits

New signage

Picnic tables

Alarm system

 

Decoration

 

Toilet refurbishment

 

Production of a web-site.

 

Darren Rothery advised that he had been looking into the idea of a web-site and one could be obtained for an annual cost of £60.00 for hosting the web and £10.00 per annum for a suitable domain name (such as www.dpca.info). This would be used to advertise events, availability, all type of news etc. and could be linked in to other local web-sites. All agreed that this sounded very good and Darren was asked to prepare something for the next meeting.

 

Lindsey Cooke advised that a prerequisite to obtaining funding from some funding bodies is that a business plan be prepared. She had been in contact with Awards for All who had stated that they could not provide funding for a consultant to write such a business plan. It was therefore agreed that Lindsey draft the business plan and forward to Doreen for approval.

 

Lindsey confirmed that funding was not yet available for the provision of a bus for the dances and Sean agreed to look into costings for hiring a 16 seater bus which he would be able to drive.

 

Darren advised that he thought the initial priority for funding was good sound equipment, as this would enhance the booking potential, and this was certainly needed for the gala in July. Lindsey agreed to look into a suitable funding source for this.

 

Lindsey asked for information on any previous grants and Darren agreed to look through the paperwork he had and advise Lindsey accordingly.

 

6. Bookings

It was reported that the Community Centre had been booked by the following:

7. 2008 Diary of Events

Easter Dance

 

The Easter dance is scheduled for Saturday 15^th March. Doreen gave out posters and a number of members requested posters and leaflets for distribution.

 

Raffle prizes will be donated by members of the committee plus a £20.00 cash prize and three lottery ticket prizes would be funded from the ticket sales.

 

It was agreed that 50 pies would be sufficient and Sean/Mary Smith would arrange for these to be bought. Mary Horn agreed to make a cheese and onion pasty, Mary Smith a corned beef pasty and Anne Kaye will prepare the peas.

 

Doreen agreed to purchase Easter eggs for prizes for the bonnet parade etc.

 

Future Events

 

The dates suggested at the last meeting were agreed and diarised.

 

Discussion took place on the possibility of other theme nights and these will be discussed at a later date.

8. 2008 Gala/Gala Dance

Doreen advised that the Mayor designate (Cllr Kenneth Sanderson) had confirmed his attendance at the gala to open the event. She has also written to the Fire Authority, the Police, Woodhead Mountain Rescue, St John Ambulance, Crag Rats and Hepworths asking if they would attend in some capacity. The Fire Authority has returned a booking request form but none of the others have responded as yet. Anne advised that she had spoken to someone at WMR who had said they were coming to our gala and it was on their calendar.

 

Anne also advised that she was aware that the local Neighbourhood Watch was interested in attending and Doreen asked her to pursue this.

 

Mick said he had contacted the armed forces who were not willing to attend as the gala was too small an event. He did however agree to try and contact the TA.

 

Sean agreed to contact the local Scouts and ATC.

 

Doreen agreed to liaise with the model aircraft club.

 

The usual events were planned, plate smashing, welly wanging etc.

 

Doreen said that we must start now to prepare for this as it would soon be on us. The plans should be started for the scarecrow and sunflower competitions.

9. Any Other Business

   Darren Rothery confirmed that he had now received all documentation from Joan Cook and he was now preparing the year-end accounts.

   Mary Horn asked about the possibility of the DPCA putting on a car boot sale. After discussion it was generally felt that these were now ‘big business’ and there is a network which is difficult to get in to. It was agreed that we look into contacting someone to check out the possibility. 

10. Date and Time of Next Meeting

The next meeting was agreed to be held on Tuesday 18^th March 7.00 p.m. 

There being no further business, the meeting ended at 9.15 p.m.