Chair’s Report March 2012

Sue Gardener reported as follows:

April will be our 5^th anniversary!  It seems longer than five years!

Membership – By my reckoning we have 57 members.

Shoreside – has gone quiet and we have had no further contact from the owner Andrew Hutchinson.

Quarry Road Cemetery – we dealt with PKC to get the collapsed wall repaired.

Postbox – we tried very hard and failed to move Royal Mail and get an additional postbox – my thanks to Laurie in particular for his efforts on our behalf.

Broadband – we keep looking at possibilities and are in contact with others who are doing the same. Wearing my other hat as Chair of the Community Council, I am hoping to meet with my counter parts in our neighbouring CCs to see if we have enough common ground for some sort of initiative.

Calendars – we produced another beautiful calendar – special thanks to Peter and Keith for its production. We had an excellent response to the competition we ran to get pictures and the involvement of so many people was, in itself, a good thing.

Coffee mornings and social events – while our social events are hard work they are very rewarding and much appreciated by people who attend. The Winter Pudding Night is becoming well known, although, strangely, numbers don’t go up much!

Web site – our newest acquisition thanks to Fiona who set it up and maintains it. It seems particularly popular with expats! and is a great way of keeping up with what is going on – worth a look just for the pictures. Other people and organisations are beginning to ask for two-way links to their own websites, which is a pleasing development.

Thanks – my thanks to the Committee who all work very hard for the good of the Village and for their support of me, personal especially for taking the burden off me at the end of the Summer when I was extremely tired and had to step back from everything.

It has been a good year  – thank you all for your support.

Key points from the Treasurer’s Report

Laurie Lane reported that:

• Funds continue to grow slowly, with the main contributions coming from calendar sales, coffee mornings and the BBQ.  Calendar sales of 150 were achieved this year against 200 last year, suggesting that we need to consider how we proceed in the future.  Coffee mornings show a profit over hall hire as all baking and drinks are donated, while the BBQ produces a clear profit over costs.
• The FVA is run very economically, now that email is the main contact medium. For those paying annually, membership fees are now due for the year commencing 1^st Feb 2012 and membership cards are being issued this year.  Current fees are £2.00 per annum or £6 for 3 years.
• Our funds are built up to enable us, as a village, to back projects of communal benefit, fight plans that we agree are detrimental to us, and to make life in the community generally better if we can.