Document Date
04/11/2025
Created by
Parish Clerk
Category
Meetings
Wollaston Parish Council
Wollaston Parish Council
Document Date
04/11/2025
Created by
Parish Clerk
Category
Meetings
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Of Wollaston Village Hall
Charity No 10269895
Tuesday 4th November 2025 at 6.30pm, Village Hall
Present: Mike Goldsmith (Chair), Suzanne Grant (Secretary), Greg Carter, Jaza Babar, Kathyrn Betts, Maureen Green, Mary Burbidge (Treasurer).
Apologies: Fran Woods (Studio 52), Sian Nichols (Busy Bees).
_______________________________________________________________________
Mike welcomed everyone to the meeting and apologies were given as above.
You may remember that last year’s Chair Report started with all the time that I and Greg Carter had spent on the Village Hall development plan and its issues with other members of the VHMC Committee took up most of that year. I have to say that nothing has changed in terms of the major issues for the Committee this year as all or most of you must have guessed.
We have continued to have problems in persuading the NNC to provide us with the agreed Section 106 monies which would be necessary for us to redevelop the Village Hall.
The other issues involve that the NNC are now insisting that we move from having a preschool in our VH and now change to having a nursery including young babies.
Issues regarding this have fully involved the Busy Bees, our long-term suppliers of Preschool facilities with us and who are now in severe financial difficulties because of reduced intakes and who are likely to have to cease their firm as early as February next year or a little later.
As you should already know, Greg Carter has worked very hard with devising a business plan regarding ongoing Busy bees but has now worked on an excellent plan for putting nursery babies and children in our halls and this has now been sent to NNC to see whether our new plan would be acceptable so that they would release our Section 106 monies whereby we could go ahead with rebuilding parts of the halls as was originally planned but with alterations to allow for nursery supply rather than preschool. We at the PC Steering Group are having meetings with Mike Haybyrne the expert adviser who helped us with our Parish Neighbourhood Plan 4 years ago, this 10th November prior to meeting with the Duchy of Lancaster in late November who offered the PC the land for a new Community Hall which you will remember was turned down for safety reasons, so that in this meeting we can ask for funds for the VH rebuild and extension and also maybe help us with our difficulties with the NNC over the Section 106 monies which the Duchy were involved in.
Meanwhile we also have to consider the various repairs including the main hall flooring which are required and for which we will be applying for an annual grant this year which we did not get last year for the first time because of all the help that the Parish Council had given towards our planning expenses so far. The application will be made by me and supported by Cllr Greg Carter at December’s Annual Financial meeting. Assuming the grant is approved we will receive it in the 2026 financial year commencing April 6th.
The Financial Situation
Firstly, may I say how very grateful we are to our new Village Hall Treasurer, Mary Burbidge, who has been absolutely excellent this year and who has worked very hard with a relatively complex first year. Her reports are excellent, but I should emphasise that our savings account has now dwindled from the Opening Balance of £31,883 to our most recent balance that I have been aware of in our September accounts, which is £19,412. This is principally because last October I agreed to help the financially failing Busy Bees by stopping their rental fees for their presence in the VH officially for 3 months, but this needed to be extended to this October although at our last meeting in October they agreed to recommence their fee payment. Clearly this was not entirely due to this event because we earned less this year from other single event users, but this reduction of our savings found of more than a third has been really disturbing, especially with the future plans mentioned by me earlier today.
Other than what I have mentioned, everything has gone reasonably well this year and I am very grateful to Jaz Babar for her agreement to provide all the cleaning since we sacked the previous cleaner late last year I believe. So this as well as being our caretaker and calendar manager with our event reservations is fantastically hard work and I think we should all thank her for her excellent services. I also want to thank our Parish Clerk, Suzanne Grant, who agreed to be our secretary as well as her main job with the Parish Council and who has assisted me as Chair as well.
Well, that’s all for today but I look forward hopefully to success in the forthcoming elections this evening for everyone who wants to stand for our various positions today for all of us so loyally.
Please see attached (to year ending 30.09.2025). The Committee Unanimously agreed to this report as a true record.
Election of Officers:
Seconded by Mrs. Maureen Green
Unanimously agreed.
Seconded by Mrs. Suzanne Grant
Unanimously agreed.
Seconded by Dr Mike Goldsmith
Unanimously agreed.
Dr M. Goldsmith, Miss F Woods and Mr. Greg Carter
Dr. M. Goldsmith (Parish Council representative), Mr. G. Carter (Parish Council representative), Miss J. Babar, Mrs. S. Grant, Mrs. M. Burbidge, Miss F. Woods, Mrs. M. Green, Mrs. P. Morten, Mrs. S. Nichols and Mrs. K. Betts.
Tuesday November 3rd, 2026, 6.30pm.
Signed: …………………………………………..
Dr. M. Goldsmith – Chair
Date:- ……………………………………………..