1.      Apologies

There were no apologies all members were present.

2.      Minutes of Meeting Held on 18^th March 2008

The minutes of the meeting held on 18^th March 2008 were approved with the following amendments:

• The spelling of Mick Drewry’s name on page 2 is incorrect.
• Item 3 (f) Dial a Ride has Not come back to Doreen.

3.      Matters Arising:

(a)     Insurance

Darren advised that he had contacted four insurance companies and had received three quotes, which he presented to the meeting:

• Aon (current insurer) £855.51

• Ecclesiastical (Charity Insurance) £769.46

• Allied Westminster £470.26

It was noted that personal accident cover under the Allied Westminster quote had an age limit of 65 but volunteers were covered under Employers Liability. It was agreed that Darren would contact Allied Westminster to check out if this age limit can be increased.

 

Following discussion it was agreed to use Allied Westminster (price subject to amendment if age limit can be changed) with Darren to arrange cover.

         (b)      License Application

The Chair reported that there has been no contact from Steve Hargate, the bar man, and that it is in his best interests to promote the Centre as he has invested money in obtaining the license. Licensee details have been included on the revised booking from, advising that whenever alcohol is required on the premises, Steve must be contacted to provide it.

a.      Doreen advised the Committee that two quotes had been requested for the new signage but nothing had arrived as yet. She has contacted Barnsley Planning dept. to ask if planning permission is required, but they have not replied.

 

b.      Doreen also advised that Nigel Bath of BMBC, Area Forum grants, had contacted her to advise that decisions were to be made on this year’s allocation of grants fairly quickly and if we wanted to apply we needed to get our application in before May. Doreen has completed an application for funding from the Area Forum for £500.00 and will send the full application form in once quotes are received. This request should be decided at the Area Forum meeting on 14^th May at Millhouse.

 

It was agreed that it would be good to have the new signage in place before the gala.

Following last month’s meeting Darren presented a revised logo for the DPCA which everyone liked.

Darren advised the meeting that the website has been set up and is now up and running – the name of the site is DPCA.Info. This would be developed over the coming month with the objective of a fully working site available for review by the time of the next meeting.

Doreen asked if everyone could produce a paragraph on ‘who we are’ to go on the front page of the website as an introduction.

It was suggested that local business in the area be contacted to sponsor links on the website.

Payment of £58.74 was approved for this work. It was agreed to try and obtain sponsorship from local organisations to fund this annual cost.

Mick Drewry reported that there was no legal requirement for a Health & Safety policy, this is only required for companies employing more that five people, but it was agreed by all that the Centre should adopt a Health & Safety policy. Mick is trying to find a ‘model’ which could be used for the Community Centre, Doreen suggested literature from Community Matters and will obtain the leaflets and pass on to Mick.

 

Mick has obtained a generic risk assessment form and he and Doreen agreed to carry out a risk assessment on the Centre.

 

Mick agreed to take on the role of Health & Safety Officer to try and ensure that once the policy is in place, all users adhere it to.

 

Doreen asked Mick to look into other issues that she felt needed clarification under Health and Safety:

• What are the requirements for a policy regarding safety of children at events? This has arisen as a result of the Parish Council’s decision to suspend the youth club until CRB checks are completed.
• What certification does the Centre need in order to allow the preparation/serving of food at events (Mary Smith and Mary Horn both confirmed that they have Food and Hygiene certification).

Doreen advised that three quotes have been requested for urgent repairs to the fire exit and the Committee agreed that Doreen should arrange for the work to be carried out as soon as possible, once the three quotes were received.

 

It was noted that the lights have started ‘tripping out’ again and Doreen advised that Allen Pestell should be called for any electrical problems (as per his instruction at the January meeting).

Darren Rothery tabled a report on the financial activity since the last meeting. This showed that the DPCA currently has funds of £3.900.89. However, known and expected costs would reduce this to approximately £1,795.60. Allowing for the agreed contingency fund of £1,000, this still leaves £795.60 available for further discretionary expenditure.

 

Darren also tabled the draft accounts for 2007/2008. The accounts reflect income in the year of £9,794.81, including £5,000.00 grant from YRCC to fund the replacement ceiling. Expenditure in the year totalled £10,596.15. This included £5,275.00 on the ceiling, The final payment of £1,064.98 on the kitchen refurbishment and £1,029.44 on equipment (primarily DJ/PA equipment, disco lighting and sundry kitchen and stationery items). As a consequence the funds available to the DPCA reduced in the year from ££3,182.65 to £2,381.31 at 31 March 2008.

 

These accounts were subject to independent review which Darren would arrange at a cost of no more than £30.00. It had been provisionally agreed at the AGM that Irene Gorsden would be requested to undertake the audit. However it was now agreed that Darren would ask a Chartered Accountant to undertake the review as he was unaware of Irene Gorsden’s qualifications.

 

Regarding the audit of the accounts, Darren reported that the constitution of the DPCA required the accounts to be formally audited. This was a far more onerous requirement than necessitated by the Charity Commission. It was therefore proposed that the constitution paragraph 13 c) be amended with immediate effect to read as follows:

 

13 c) The accounts shall be subject to an audit or independent review at least once a year by the auditor or independent reviewers appointed at the Annual General Meeting. The criteria for the requirement for an audit or independent review will be by reference to the criteria specified by the Charity Commission prevailing at the time the date of the accounts. If the criteria is not met for a formal audit or independent review, the accounts will be subject to an informal review by an independent person appointed at the Annual General Meeting.

It was unanimously agreed that the Constitution be so amended. As all members were present, it was agreed that the notice period required to amend the Constitution as laid out in paragraph 16 of the constitution be waived.

 

Darren reported that the Charity Commission’s current criteria was as follows:

• Formal audit required if Gross Income is greater than £500,000 in the year
• Independent review required if Gross Income is between £10,000 and £500,000 in the year

It was noted that DPCA’s Gross Income had never achieved the criteria for an independent review, let alone a full audit. It was agreed that Darren would inform the Charity Commission of this amendment to the constitution.

Sean advised that he had been in touch with the organisers of the Hade Edge gala and is to attend one of their meetings to try and work out a reciprocal agreement between us. The meetings are held on the first Tuesday of every month.

 

Sean confirmed that the local Scouts will be attending the gala. He also noted that he had contacted Rocky who will come back to him to say whether she would like to attend.

 

Sean also confirmed that the youth club would like to take a stall.

 

It was unanimously agreed that there should be no restrictions on the stalls providing they are legal and moral. All stalls will be charged £5.00, but people who have been invited to attend, or are not making money (i.e. providing information), will not be charged for their stalls.

 

Doreen agreed to contact the model aircraft club.

 

Doreen reported that she has written to the Barnsley RAF Cadets inviting them to attend.

 

Mick reported that he has produced leaflets for the scarecrow/sunflower competitions and these were approved. It was agreed that the best way to distribute would be to send via schools in the area (including Hepworth and Hade Edge) to get a wide and quick distribution. It was also agreed that Mick will be reimbursed for printing costs for the posters.

 

Regarding the sunflower seeds, Sean agreed to contact Tom Horsfield to see if he will supply them (with possible sponsorship mention on the leaflet) and also to ask if he would be one of the judges.

 

With regard to publicising the Gala, Doreen proposed preparing an article for the local press which will be tabled at the next meeting for approval.

 

Doreen suggested that a programme is prepared and local organisations be asked to advertise on the programme. To this end, Doreen agreed to ring some local organisations to get an idea of whether this would work. She would report back to next meeting.

 

Darren expressed concern regarding the quality of the raffle prizes. He has seen an advertisement for the Midhope Gala and their raffle prizes were very good. It was agreed that more thought be put in to how we can improve on the quality and ideas would be discussed at the next meeting. Sean suggested writing to Emley Moor mast to see if they would offer a prize of a trip up the mast, which is otherwise not open to the public. Doreen agreed to write to Emley Moor mast organisation to see if they would be willing to offer such a prize.

Sean left the meeting at this point. 

Barbara reported that she had been in contact with the person she had suggested might be willing to put on a dance for the Centre, but they had other commitments and were unable to offer support.

 

It was agreed that the Gala Dance would be a "70’s" theme night. Mick offered to design a poster for the event so that it can be publicised well in advance and his offer was kindly accepted.

 

The Committee agreed that other events continue to be on hold pending further discussion reading other Theme nights.

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

Riding club Sunday 15^th June

A revised booking form has been prepared and Barbara to check through and confirm agreement to Doreen before printing off.

Doreen advised that it was confirmed at the Parish Council meeting that the re-formed Dunford Residents Association was now up and running and that funding applications should be forwarded to Lindsey Cooke. To this end, Doreen has contacted Lindsey to ask for progress on the funding requests previously given to her.

 

It is understood that Allen Pestell suggested having the Centre ‘clad’ in some form to enable double glazing to be fitted. Doreen has advised Lindsey and asked her to include in the funding requirements for the Centre.

 

The next Resident Association meeting is on Thursday 24^th April and Barbara confirmed that she would be attending. Doreen will give Barbara the full list of funding requests that Lindsey has been given for the meeting.

 

Doreen confirmed that the cheque for £250.00 for display boards has been received from E.On. Doreen/Darren were asked to purchase the boards at a cost of not more than £250.00.

 

As mentioned in Matters Arising (c) Doreen has completed an application for funding from the Community Support Fund (Area Forum), stating that we are prepared to put £500.00 towards the signage. This decision should be made at their meeting on 14^th May. 

9.       Agreement Between DPCA and Dunford Parish Council

It was agreed that, due to lack of time, this item be deferred to the next meeting. Committee members were asked to read through the draft agreement and bring any comments to the next meeting.

1. Anne Kaye reported that the winner of the Sunday dinner at the Dog & Partridge (raffle prize at the Easter dance) had come back to her and said that the meal was excellent. Doreen had therefore sent an e-mail to Steve Marsh thanking him for his generosity.

 

2. Darren advised that there might be an issue with allowing caravans to use the field. He had been researching the Caravan Club with a view to obtaining advertising on their website and noted that sites have to be registered and certified.

 

Further investigation revealed that we may need planning permission or at least a license to allow the caravans to use the field. Doreen had therefore e-mailed planning for their comments.

 

Any activity that the Community Association allows must be legal, and we must have correct certification, as we are a registered charity and have to be beyond reproach. Mick also pointed out that there could be insurance implications if we are not correctly certified.

 

Barbara asked if this could be a problem with the lease. Darren agreed to look into this.

3.  Doreen advised that a representative from YRCC, who were the funding body for the ceiling, is coming to the Centre on Monday 28^th April at 10.30 to check the work.

4.  Barbara confirmed that a lady had been contacted with regard to the cleaning of the centre and she has agreed to take on the role, initially coming one day per month (on the first Tuesday of each month) and on an ad hoc basis if required following events. Barbara had raised this issue at the Parish Council meeting on Thursday and the decision was left with her.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 27^th May at 7.00 p.m. in The Parish Community Centre.