VWCA

Virginia Water
Community Association
Annual General Meeting
11th January, 2021

The Annual AGM meeting was, due to pandemic restrictions, held as a Zoom meeting. Even so, the turnout of attendees was quite high, with 22 people attending.

Julian, the acting Chairman, got proceedings under way and welcomed everyone to the meeting. Because this was an online meeting, most of the usual reports had already been circulated with the meeting invite email. this meant that people had had the chance to read through the reports prior to the meeting and this helped everything run smoothly and quickly.

VWCA Reports were given from the following:

* Julian Hunt (Chair) - Report on the change of VWCA Trustees
* Julian Hunt (Chair) - Chairman's Report
* Liz Hopkins (Treasurer) - Main Treasurer's Report
* Julian Hunt (Centre Fund Treasurer) - Centre Fund Report

Obviously, the COVID-19 pandemic was mentioned quite frequently in these reports as it had severely hit the hiring of the Community Centre in the second half of the financial year.

These were then followed by reports from the Virginia Water Community Centre users:

* Fran Pollard (VW PreSchool) - PreSchool Report
* Viv Horsley (President) - Trumps Green Women's Institute Report

It was good to hear from groups that had been using the Centre hall. In the case of the Virginia Water PreSchool, they had been using the hall during lockdown as they were providing a vital service to children of front-line workers.

The Committee members then all stood down and a number said that they were not standing for re-election. Jill Keen, Julian Hunt, Debbie Evans and Debbie Schultz were all thanked for their many years of service to the VWCA.

The remaining members of the committee were duly re-elected. They are:

* Liz Hopkins - Treasurer
* Jeff Turner - Secretary
* Fran Pollard - Centre Fund Treasurer
* Joan Hodgson - Booking Secretary
* Claire Springall - Membership Secretary
* Myra Owen
* Susan Wordingham

We were fortunate to have three of our local councillors attend some or all of the AGM. Two of them, Jonathan Huller and Mel Few gave introductions to those assembled in the meeting and explained what the Runnymede Borough Council and the Surrey County Council, respectively, were doing for the local population.

In addition, a representative from the newly-formed Stroude Residents Association, Karin Rowsell, introduced herself and gave an explanation of how and why the Stroude Road Residents Associated had been formed.

It was good to see representatives from other groups in the area wishing to get involved in the VWCA's AGM. All agreed that building a stronger and more coordinated group of community organisations would be of great benefit to Virginia Water residents.

Finally, Myra Owen and Jeff Turner had some discussion topics which led to the meeting coming to a close.

In his last act as Acting Chairman, Julian thanked everyone for attending and the Zoom session was ended.

PostScript: No-one volunteered for the role of Chair on the committee. So, if you are interested, please contact the Secretary via email.

Here is the Chairman's Report, in black, with notes and comments shown in red:

Acting Chairman’s Report:

The year 2019/2020 has been significantly different from previous years. The Virginia Water Community Association (VWCA) Executive Committee had to carry out its responsibilities and duties during the year in two quite different ways. During the first half, October 2019 to mid- March 2020, the VWCA was operated and managed as in previous years, ensuring that its best interests were looked after and that it continued to offer a service to its regular hirers and users and the local community. However, things radically changed in mid-March 2020 with the introduction of the total lockdown imposed by the Government due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From that date until beyond the end of the reporting year, 30th September 2020, the Executive Committee made its responsibility to ensure the safety of its members, users, and hirers its top priority.

Julian read a precis of the first paragraph of the report, stating that this past year had been a year of two halves. The first half enjoyed normal activity, but the second half had been impacted by the Covid crisis. Julian went on to explain that the priority of the Committee had been to ensure the safety of the staff and pupils of the VW PreSchool as well as any permitted weekend hirers.

He, then, asked if anyone had any comments regarding the approach that the Committee had taken.

Julian was asked, by Jeremy Owen, how the occupancy limit had been reached.

Jeff Turner, VWCA Secretary, stepped in to answer Jeremy's query. Jeff informed everyone that he had taken a scaled grid of the main hall, identified areas with a two-metre distance between and could only fit a maximum of 25 areas into the hall (allowing for corridors from the entrance door and to the exit doors leading onto the decking at the rear of the building).

Jeremy was happy with the answer but then raised the point that for certain events, such as the Turner Film Club, people would often arrive in family clusters where they would be permitted to sit together without the two-metre rule applying to them.

Jeff went on to explain that there would have to be prior knowledge of the arrival of family groups attending an event and that it was deemed both simpler and safer to stick with the calculated maximum for all events.

This explanation was accepted by Jeremy and no further discussion ensued on this topic.

On the 23rd March, the Government announced a full lockdown within the country for three months to try to reduce the transmission of the COVID-19 virus amongst the population and the possible resulting overburdening of the NHS. It was agreed to immediately close the Community Centre to all users, including the Virginia Water Pre-School, until further notice. The Hall was very carefully checked on a weekly basis to satisfy the requirements of the insurance cover. During late April/early May national guidelines were issued to enable educational establishments to open under strict operating conditions. It was agreed with Pre-School that they could re-open and provide a service to local families, and that the safety of the staff and pupils would be best looked after if no one else could use the Centre until there was a relaxation in the guidance. We established a COVID-19 sub-Committee to monitor changes in the Government guidelines and to identify their effect on the running and operation of the Centre. This Committee contacted Action for Communities in Rural England (ACRE) and the local Building Administrator, who works for Surrey Community Action (SCA). These have been invaluable contacts as we have received lots of information to help us become COVID-secure, including sample Risk Assessments, Hirer Agreements, and specific guidance interpreting Government guidelines and recommendations. As a result, the Committee put in place a Risk Assessment document for use of the Centre and applied a range of security measures to the Centre to make it COVID-19-secure, as set out in the guidelines. This included a detailed video showing and explaining the measures to be undertaken by anyone entering the building. The VWCA website was updated and all information and documentation put in place to make the Centre COVID-19-secure was added regularly to the website. Regular users of the Community Centre were kept informed of our decisions, which they accepted as being in their best interests. The local community was also informed of these changes and improvements through contributions to the local Facebook pages, and from September onwards via the monthly Virginia Water Magazine. which was launched on the first of September. Regular updates have been included in every subsequent edition of the VW Magazine, and it is our intention to continue to do so in the coming months.

During late August, the Government guidelines were relaxed slightly to enable meetings to be held in COVID-19-secure venues, such as the VWCA Centre, provided that all the guidelines and recommendations were met regarding social-distancing – this limited the attendance at any event within the Centre to less than a total of 25 people. As noted above, it had been agreed to give priority to the VW Pre-School and for this reason it was further agreed that the Hall would be available for hire on Saturdays and Sundays only by regular users until further notice. It has been agreed to review the situation on a regular basis in the light of any announcements from the Government in the coming weeks and months. Our present policy is to continue in this way until the end of March 2021 – the situation will be reviewed regularly to consider any changes in the regulations and guidance issued by the Government and other advisory organisations. All users are asked to regularly check with the organiser of the event they wish to attend and to regularly visit the VWCA website (vwca.org.uk) to find the latest information, which we will endeavour to keep up to date.

The Executive Committee have strictly followed official guidelines to ensure that the Community Centre is COVID-19 secure. Much of this extra effort has been undertaken by Francesca Pollard, Jeffrey Turner and Susan Wordingham and the Committee thanks them for their commitment, perseverance, and advice on the essential things to carry out and maintain to meet the requirements.

The following activities have also been undertaken:
(1) We are still working on the need to change the present VWCA Trustees. Slow progress has been made taking this forward due to the COVID-19 pandemic (the imposed lockdown and the need to self-isolate). However, a Deed of Appointment and Resignation of Trustees has been signed by all parties and deposited with the Association’s solicitors. An application is in hand to change the Trustees on the Land Registry Title Deeds for the land and buildings owned by the Association to the newly appointed Trustees. Once this has been completed, it is proposed to vest the title for the land and buildings with the Official Custodian for Charities Land Holding Service. The advantage of using this service is that over time individual Trustees will change (due to retirement or death) and new deeds are required to transfer the property to their successor. However, vesting charity land in the Official Custodian removes this need. This has two advantages: (a) the VWCA saves the expense and time involved in making the new deeds, and (b) there is no risk that the VWCA’s interests will be vested in people who are no longer involved with the VWCA. We hope to complete this work in the first quarter of 2021.

(2) In view of the resignation of some of the members of the Executive Committee at this AGM (referred to later), the need arose to change the Account Holders and Third Signatories of a few Bank Accounts held by Barclays Bank and Virgin Money. This has taken an inordinately long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic – long waits on telephone calls due to staff self-isolating and the imposed lockdown. The Banks have also been very diligent in their duty of care to their customers to eliminate the possibility of money laundering. This is an ongoing activity, and it is hoped to complete the changes well before the VWCA organises any fund-raising activities (unlikely before Easter 2021). We will continue to give this a high priority.

(3) A very well attended and enjoyable Quiz was held at the end of February 2020. Our thanks go to Jeffrey Turner for organising and running this successful event. Several other events were planned for later in the year but had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Turner Film Club held four shows between October 2019 and February 2020 which were well attended – unfortunately, the remaining shows due to be held from March to September had to be cancelled. It is hoped that the Film Club will open its doors again in late Spring/early Summer.

Julian mentioned that the Quiz, held in February, was very successful and well-attended and had made a good profit.

He pointed out that this was the last event to be put on in 2020.

All other social events had to be cancelled due to lockdown. As Julian was also on the Committee responsible for organising Carnival Capers, he had spoken with those Committee members and the majority had said that they would be stepping down from the Carnival Capers Committee.

The VWCA Executive Committee, therefore, decided that they would no longer be the umbrella organisation for Carnival Capers, and they would ask other local groups if they would be interested in running Carnival Capers in the future. Jeff Turner, VWCA Secretary, is responsible for trying to get this arranged.

Carnival Capers will definitely not be held in 2021.

(4) Carnival Capers due to be held on Saturday 27th June was also cancelled – all the possible stall holders and entertainers were informed of the cancellation in mid-March ensuring that there was no exchange of income. The only expenditure (£70) was for the Banner “stick-on panels” giving the change of dates which had been ordered and received before the cancellation.

It is with regret that the Executive Committee has accepted the resignation of most of the present members of the Carnival Capers Organising Committee. If this event is to go ahead in future years, there needs to be an influx of new volunteers to undertake the organisation of the event. In view of this and the ongoing unknowns concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, the Executive Committee has decided that it will not be possible to organise and hold a Carnival Capers event in 2021. This gives any volunteers wishing to organise Carnival Capers event in 2022 plenty of time to meet and to understand the many activities needed to be undertaken to organise the event. Retiring members of the Organising Committee have indicated that they are willing to provide advice if required.

(5) As mentioned above, the Community Centre was closed from mid-March to late May, so the services of a regular caretaker and key-holder, Linda Tott, were not required. Linda informed the Committee that in the circumstances she felt that it was an ideal time to retire. The Committee respected and accepted her decision. Linda has acted as VWCA caretaker and key- holder for over 30 years. She was very protective of the Hall itself, willingly undertook extra tasks and tried to be as helpful as possible to our regular hirers. The Committee are grateful to Linda for her hard work over the years and all contributed individually to her retirement gift.

Julian then moved on to item 5.

He said that, as the first lockdown took hold, Linda Tott (who had been the cleaner/keyholder for around 30 years) had decided to retire from her role.

Fortunately, a replacement, Mrs Carly Gough, had been found for keyholder duties. Carly was also interested in the long-term goal of being the Centre Manager who would handle bookings, hall management as well as keyholding.

A new cleaner, Mrs Naresh Paul, had also be found and she had proven herself to be very competent at keeping the hall Covid-secure.

Following the resignation of Linda Tott, the Committee decided to reflect on how these duties have been delivered and to consider the best options for future delivery. Francesca Pollard, on behalf of the Committee, undertook an exercise to review how other local Halls undertook specific activities, particularly looking at how Key Systems are utilised, how cleaning is undertaken and how often, and whether any staff were employed or self-employed. This exercise involved contacting each local Hall either by phone or email. An options paper and information about using both volunteers and employed staff was presented to the Committee to discuss and make appropriate decisions. A Job Description for a Centre Manager was also drawn up and advise sought from a payroll specialist. The Committee took the decision that having a Centre Manager should be the long-term aim and that we should not rely on the goodwill of volunteers in the longer term. It was agreed that we should stay relevant and have someone who can help us market the Hall and all it has to offer to the local community. Given the situation with COVID-19 and the reduction in the use of the Hall (and therefore income) a decision was made that we would revisit this recruitment early in 2021.

At the same time, steps were taken to find someone to take on the duties carried out by Linda Tott. Eventually we took on two people on a self-employed basis to cover Linda’s duties. Our cleaner is Mrs Naresh Paul. In view of the need to maintain COVID-secure status for the Hall, she undertakes a thorough clean of the Centre between users. The logistics and expenditure associated with this need are part of the decision, in the present circumstances, to only allow hire of the Hall on Saturdays and Sundays. Linda’s key-holding responsibilities have been taken on by Mrs Carly Gough, who must also be available when a hirer accesses and leaves the Hall. The Committee hopes that in the coming months Carly will take on further duties and responsibilities, with the intention of becoming a Centre Manager and assuming some of the roles of both the Booking Officer and the Treasurer of the VWCA.

(6) Three long serving members of the Executive Committee have decided that now is the time for them to stand-down and let some new blood join the Committee. Jill Keen became Manager of the VW Pre-School in 1979 and joined the VWCA at the same time. She has served as both Secretary and Booking Secretary and chaired the Building Committee during the planning and re-building of the present Community Centre in the late nineties. Jill has been on the VWCA Executive Committee for well over 40 years. Debbie Schultz joined the Executive Committee in 1999 when she became Manager of the VW Pre-School, a position she retained until 2013. Debbie Schultz has been on the Executive Committee for over 20 years. Debbie Evans joined the Committee in the late 1980’s and played a major part in raising funds to buy the land and the fund the new Community Centre building. She was also a long-serving member of the Carnival Capers Organising Committee, persuading Advertisers to support the event as well as running the beer tent. Debbie Evans has been on the Executive Committee for more than thirty years. The present Committee thank the three of them for their contributions over the years and wish them all a happy and long retirement.

Julian then moved on to item 6.

He informed the attendees that three Committee members were standing down, not seeking re-selection, after serving on the Committee for many years. The three standing down were: Jill Keen, Debbie Evans (who had joined the committee at roughly the same time) and Debbie Shultz.

He thanked them for their service to the VWCA and wished them well in the future.

Julian them moved on to item 8 and thanked all those mentioned.

(7) The Executive Committee has met much more frequently in the past nine months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone on the Committee has had to learn how to use the Zoom online video conferencing facility. We have used this technology successfully to ensure our meetings, to discuss and react to changes in Government guidelines and the state of the lockdown, are productive and efficient.

(8) My thanks now to the hardworking Committee. Firstly, I must mention the sterling work done by Liz Hopkins our Treasurer and Joan Hodgson our Booking Secretary - these two stalwarts of the Executive Committee have performed most of the day-to-day activities (bookings, handling accounts, showing people around the Hall, meeting, and supervising contractors, etc.) and it should be said that the VWCA would have found it difficult to operate without their combined efforts. – our thanks to them both. It is hoped that most of the work they carried out on behalf of the VWCA will soon be taken on by Carly Gough in a new role as Centre Manager. To Jeff Turner our Secretary who has not only taken on this task but has always been one of the first to volunteer to carry out urgent and/or one-off tasks; to Jeff and Jeremy Owen for overseeing the Film Club; to Claire Springall who manages membership and has responsibility for the Social events; to Francesca Pollard, Susan Wordingham and Jeff Turner who undertook most of the work needed to ensure that the Community Centre was COVID-19 secure to enable Pre-School to open again after the lockdown and enable regular hirers to use the Hall on Saturdays and Sundays; to Francesca Pollard, Jill Keen, the two Debbies - Schultz and Evans, Myra Owen and Susan Wordingham who all contributed their experience and advice to the Committee. We thank Linda Tott who provided key-holding and cleaning services until her retirement this summer, and we are again grateful to Mihai who carries out a vast number of repairs and decorating tasks on a regular basis. Finally, we would like to thank Stephen Avery. Independent Financial Examiner who donated his time to review and confirm that the Accounts have been recorded accurately and represent the financial position of the VWCA on the 30th September 2020.

(9) As many of you know, I informed the Executive Committee in May last year that I wished to stand down as a member of the Committee due to advancing years and an ongoing eye problem. Over the last few months, I have planned to hand over the roles I have carried out for almost ten years - Social Events Treasurer and Carnival Capers Chairman and Treasurer. Over the last year or so I have also been Acting Chairman. I have enjoyed working with all the members of the Executive Committee and wish them all, and the VWCA membership a successful future. I intend to remain a member of the VWCA and to support its activities for many years to come.

(10) Finally, it should be stressed that the VWCA work is predominantly carried out by volunteers and that new willing Committee members will be given a very warm welcome and gently mentored into a role as members of the VWCA Executive Committee. The Committee also welcome offers of help running the Social Events, which hopefully the VWCA can start to offer later this year, as and when it is deemed safe to do so. Please contact a member of the Committee if you feel you could contribute in any way to help VWCA provide an active and vibrant service to the local community over the coming years.

Julian Hunt, Acting Chairman December 2020

Julian then said that he had informed the Committee that he would be standing down at the AGM and not seeking re-selection. He went on to say that he would look forward to attending and supporting any VWCA events in the future.

Julian finished by reminding everyone that the VWCA is run by volunteers and said that there was always a place for new ideas and new Committee members, should anyone wish to volunteer their services.

Julian then asked if anyone had any questions regarding his report.

No comments were made but both Jeff Turner and Debbie Evans thanked Julian for all the work he has put in in the last year, especially in regard to the changes of Trustees, and for his long service to the VWCA.

This was followed by a round of applause from those attending the meeting.