Chairman’s’ Annual Report
2019 to 2020
The year 2019 to 2020 has seen Caston Village Hall continually feature prominently in the social life of Caston. It is used by many local clubs and events, WI, children’s’ parties, entertainment, whist drives, wakes and weddings, election venue, and, of course, the Friday morning “Drop In”.
The Friday morning “Drop In” event for coffee and a chat has been a “must do” for many villagers and is still their regular Friday morning date at the Village Hall. Its continued success is only possible of course thanks to the many volunteers who take turns to man the kitchen and bake delicious menu items. Thanks must also go to the regular management of the rota and supplies carried out by Kay Farmbrough and Stephanie Blincow. Unfortunately, the onslaught of the Corona virus Covid-19 pandemic required that we close the hall for activities at early part of April 2020 and at the time of writing this report we have no idea when the hall will reopen.
It was decided not to restart the regular Frugal Lunch which was terminated last year because of low attendance.
Sue Ash has kindly continued to maintain the flower troughs with plants from the WI which gives a colourful display of plants and flowers to brighten the front of the hall. John Chapman and his colleagues continue to keep the car park grass maintained for which we are most grateful.
Much of Caston’s life is based on our Village Hall. It is very much a hub for Caston village’s activities and does much to promote and maintain the social life of the village.
The trust was extremely grateful for the £4000 donation from the proceeds of the Petal and Perl event in June. This has helped boost the hall improvement funds. The reserve fund for the hall improvements has continued to increase to the stage that we have requested the builder Paul Lincoln to undertake the next phase of work. This is to complete the outside cladding to match that done in phase one, to install wall insulation and to renew the double fire doors. It is intended to be carried out in June 2020 but the timetable is currently uncertain due to the Corona virus pandemic restrictions.
During the year Steve Farmbrough, with assistance from John Chapman and others, has overseen the alteration to the access on the north end of the hall. This is providing a path between the car park and the front access door which should soon be completed
Because of the pandemic, the trust has been granted £10,000 by Breckland Council as support whilst the hall is closed.
It is with regret that the trust treasurer Frank Brown is retiring from duty at this year’s AGM. Frank has served the trust well and is grateful to him for his diligent work in overseeing the trust finances. David Leach has kindly agreed to undertake the roll of treasurer and we welcome him to the trust’s management team.
Once again, I convey my thanks to my fellow trustees and committee members for their service over the past year and especially those who have participated in the running of the hall and its varied events.
David Blincow
Chairman
Caston Village Hall Charitable Trust