Board:2021/04/27 Board Meeting
Board Meeting
Meeting to be held by Zoom. All Directors plus current advisors Elizabeth Sparkes and Maintenance Coordinator Samantha Goddard.
Agenda
Meeting to be held on Tuesday 27th April 2021 at 7.00pm remotely using Zoom
- Apologies for absence.
- In memoriam, Tony Potts.
- To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on February 2nd 2021.
- Matters and Action Points arising from those Minutes.
- To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on March 1st 2021.
- Matters and Action Points arising from those Minutes.
- Report of the Company Secretary.
- Agree the date for the AGM.
- Agree the wording of the report to be sent to members for the AGM.
- Report of the Treasurer.
- Agree the accounts to be sent to members for the AGM.
- Maintenance Report
- Report from the Membership Secretary.
- Future events/open days
- Volunteer drive
- Succession, including position of Company Secretary
- Health, Safety and Training
- Any other business relevant to the Company.
- Plaques on the site
Minutes of Board Meeting 1st February 2021
Minutes of the meeting of the Trust Company held on 1st February 2021 at 1900 remotely by Zoom. In attendance: Jeff Best (Chair), Hazel Marsden , Ian Fairclough, Paul Minter, Lucy Brooks, Richard Nowak, Mel Wickett, Tim Wickett, Samantha Goddard, Andy Campbell.
Apologies: Cllr. Elizabeth Sparkes(urgent council business)
Minutes of the meeting of 26th November were agreed
Matters arising/Action points
- Not all Board Members have sent Lucy “potted biographies” action by 15th March please
- The Recruitment working group has been unable to meet owing to COVID restrictions and the action is carried forward
- AP6 - Lloyds Bank has temporarily closed the account type that we were trying to open
- AP9 – carried forward
- Future action points will be noted in the format of meeting date and action number; this AP 010221/1 on Andy being the first in this format
The Secretary Reported that Richard Nowak is still to be formally registered as a Company Director and that we continue to search for a new Company Secretary.
The Treasurer’s report is attached and was agreed. The donations from the Carol Service were allocated on the basis that a single donation (of £100) specifically given to St. Barnabas was donated and the remaining monies spilt equally between St. Barnabas and Chestnut House
Maintenance Report is attached with no matters arising. There has been little activity owing to COVID restrictions
The Membership Secretary’s report is attached with no matters arising
Open Days/events: AP010221/2 Tim will draft a notice for potential Open Days in the forthcoming season with the Board meeting on or around 1 March to discuss potential opening (minutes of that meeting are attached).
Recruitment Drive; activity held over until restrictions are eased
Succession: We still require a new Co. Secretary. AP010221/3 Paul to ask the broader Membership for volunteers and we will include in the next newsletter. We have some skilled new volunteers one of whom may be suitable to take on the role of Chief Engineer in due course Health, Safety and Training – nothing has arisen during the recent works
AOB.
- We have been contacted by Community Works enquiring if we could still benefit from their help. Samantha will take over from Lucy as their point of contact.
- Jeff is looking at further improvements to the website before Membership renewals begin.
- We are looking at options to replace the outdated “multi-media” system
- Samantha will also take on running our Instagram account AP010221/4 Andy to contact Stuart Marler to progress this
- We need to investigate ways to scan and hold digitally current hard copy archives and AP010221/5 Samantha will identify ways to progress this.
Appendix
Board Agreements this quarter: Potential Open days and events will be the subject of a separate meeting once the “roadmap” has become clearer
We continue to search for a Company Secretary
We are looking at ways to improve Membership communications and our digital archiving
Minutes of Special Board Meeting 1st March 2021
Purpose: To consider if/when mill can re-open during Covid epidemic
Present (Non-director advisors in italics):
Lucy Brooks (Newsletter Editor/Publicity/Guide Organiser), Richard Nowak, Jeff Best (Chair), Hazel Marsden (Treasurer), IanFairclough, Mel Wickett, Tim Wickett, Paul Minter (Membership), Samantha Goddard (Maintenance Coordinator)
Apologies for Absence: Andy Campbell (Assistant Secretary)
Agenda:
Open Days Fete Craft Fair Other Events AOB
Minutes
After discussion it was agreed to re-open normally, subject to any restrictions put in place by the government, from July, thus July, August and September open days would be operated. It was also agreed to move the Fete from its usual July date to August 15th.
Lucy will write to Ann English regarding the Classic Car Open Day (action 1) There was a debate about how or if we could open up the mill field any sooner. It was agreed to allow up to three groups of 6 people to book slots to visit the mill field on June 7th and 21st, which would have been open days. The toilets would be open. Teas might be available, depending upon the availability of kitchen volunteers and government rules in place at the time. Lucy will accept bookings electronically (action 2).
Under AOB, Lucy reported that she is preparing the next newsletter, setting up Calendly to handle online bookings and will be presenting two talks, including one to the March Rotary meeting.
Richard advised that his availability would be limited until after the May elections.
Lucy has a prior engagement on the 26th April so it was agreed to move the next board meeting to Tuesday 27th April.
Ian proposed, and all agreed, that we should agree on the AGM date at the next board meeting.
Samantha advised that she is seeking someone to scan photographs and she wished to set up a book loan scheme at the mill gate on cancelled open days. She also suggested adding the mill to the Geocache app.
Peter Casebow's book on the restoration of the windmill is imminently due for publication.
The meeting closed at 8pm.
The next board meeting will be on Tuesday 27th April at 7pm via Zoom.
Treasurers' Accounts 1st April to 23rd April
Treasurer's Draft Accounts Schedule for Year Ending 31st March 2021
Treasurer's Draft Accounts Summary for Year Ending 31st March 2021
Mill Treasurers' Report 27th April 2021 (Tuesday)
Receipts
Before the close of last year's accounts there were credits of £110 in subs and £47 in accompanying donations with no other income.
There are no open day receipts since the mill is still not open to the public.
Payments
Before the close of last year I paid for items related to the upgraded roundhouse lighting and the gate sign repair. Other expenses were the annual mower service and the green bin which we now share with Pam Jenkins so the cost is halved. The Treasurer and Archivist had end of year expenses.
The only payment this year is for our insurance. We were given a free extension of three months last year so the renewal anniversary has now shifted to 1st May.
Reserves
Reserves are lower than last year, largely due to the cost of the Mill painting being higher than the business grant we received.
The interest rate on the Cambridge & Counties Savings account is unfortunately now only 1% which will reduce our future investment income. I very much doubt there is anywhere better in the current climate.
Other
I completed a requested tax return for year ending March 31st 2020. We are of course not liable for any tax.
Annual Accounts
Enclosed (see above) are my draft figures which the accountant may adjust.
With the Covid Business Grant our income was similar to last year but our expenses higher because of the mill painting, leading to a £4000 loss. In this unusual year I decided not to add anything to the sinking fund. Are there any questions?
Queries
?
Previous Meeting Support Documents
Treasurers' Report 1st February 2021
Receipts
£158 has been received in subscriptions but that includes two Life memberships.
Christmas Collection
Despite the poor weather, the Christmas collection raised £340 in total including one very generous cheque for £100. This is almost as much as last year’s carols. Although I have included the payment in the accounts I confess I have not actually sent off our cheques. Initially there was some difficulty with depositing the money, and then I could not decide how to divide the total amount. I have a cheque for £100 payable directly to St Barnabas plus another £240 cash collection so the choices are:
- Divide the cash collection so that each get the same amount, £100 plus £70 to
St Barnabas, £170 to Chestnut Tree
- Divide the cash collection evenly, £100 plus £120 to St Barnabas, £120 to
Chestnut Tree. Could the Board instruct which please?
Payments
There has been some expenditure on materials for the Handpump. The electricity looks low but £220 is due this month.
I have not yet ordered any yellow publicity leaflets this year due to the ongoing uncertainty. It seems the events where we swap and hand these out will not be held this year. Approximately half of last year’s leaflets remain and we could manually alter the 5 dates affected, or I could possibly create a small number of new ones at home. Any thoughts?
I have renewed our Mills Archive Trust membership. They were very grateful and I enclose their reply. The Mill insurance was extended for 3 months free of charge so now has a renewal date of 1 st May.
The application for the 20% Discretionary Rate Relief next year has been completed.
Reserves
Interest of £1082.40 was credited to the Cambridge and Counties deposit account at the beginning of the year. The interest rate is currently 1.00% having reduced from 1.75% this time last year.
Accounts Examination
I am assuming Hodson & Co will prepare and examine our accounts again this year.
Members Secretary Report 1st February 2021
Very little to report for this quarter.
Numbers remain pretty static as a result of there having been no open-days or activities.
We have gained three Life members, one of which is an upgrade from Annual membership.
Total stands at 200 up 2 from last quarters report:
65 Annual (29 Single and 36 Dual), 125 life, and 10 Honorary members
I have not received any details from members who wished to cancel membership, although this may change once annual membership is due for renewal next quarter.
Maintenance Report 1st February 2021
Mill
Scheduled routine maintenance has continued.
- Additional lighting installed in the roundhouse
- Light cleaning of the runner stone carried out. Stone not lifted as no grinding took place last year
The Little Mills
Water tanks have been filled.
Vintage hand pump
This is almost complete. The pump has been installed with safety covers yet to be made and some painting to be completed.
Grounds maintenance
- Grass cutting and other scheduled work has continued while hedge trimming has been allocated to a volunteer
- Fete tables have been repaired where applicable
Future (not covered elsewhere in the report).
- Sail cloths to be put up by the end of May
- Some repairs to trestles to be done
- First aid packs to be checked for restocking
- Painting of pickett fences to be assigned to volunteers
- Painting of the green railway bench to be assigned to volunteers
- Granary window to be replaced as it has severe rot. Peter C to do the work
- Milling training to be arranged once the drafting of milling guides has been completed
