Chairs report

October 18, 2025

The Chair’s Annual Report for the year to June 30, 2025 was accepted at the Annual General Meeting on October 17. In summary, …

Our community hub makes great strides

During 2024-25, our village community hub has continued its transformation by delivering a record amount of social, culture and health and wellbeing opportunities for those who live in our village, as well as some people from surrounding areas.

As a Social Hub, we enjoyed Bonfire Night, 11 monthly social evenings, Christmas activities and the weekly coffee shop.

Our Culture Hub took off following a successful pilot in May 2024, with nine film screenings and three National Theatre Live performances during the financial year, underpinned by a major update to our audio-visual equipment.

At our Health and Wellbeing Hub, our weekly classes in the Hall continued and we solidified our plans to redevelop the old Annexe into The Wellhouse; we obtained funding for the majority of the cost, and contracted with a builder to deliver the work.

As a Celebration Hub, we continued to hire the Hall out successfully for wedding receptions, children’s parties and family celebrations. We achieved our financial objective of returning the Hall’s regular operations to breakeven, with an operating surplus of £1,385.

Click here to read the full report.

October 26, 2024

The Chair’s Annual Report was accepted at the Annual General Meeting on October 25, 2024 at Beech Village Hall. 

New directions for our Community Hub

Beech Village Hall had another good year of activity in 2023-24. Village events were well supported, hall hiring revenue increased and we kept the fabric of the Hall and green spaces in good shape. We have improved our connection with the community by launching a Membership Programme, and by doing more to recognise the many volunteers who support us.

Sensing a change in interests among villagers, we explored new entertainment and social options.  After surveying residents, we launched a pilot ‘Screen by the Green’ Film Night in May 2024; the event was well received and Film Night has now become a regular feature on our calendar.

We’ve initiated two major projects to expand our offerings:

1. Expanding beyond Film Night to include theatre via the National Theatre’s NT Live programme
2. Redesigning the Annexe to create a versatile space for specialist training and therapy sessions, both individual and small group.

We believe the improved Annexe will be an asset for villagers who want to access a smaller space. More details about both projects are available in the appendices and we welcome feedback and offers of assistance.

Our vision for the Hall and Rec is to be Beech’s community hub, focusing on three areas:

• Social Hub: Regular social events, Bonfire Night and the coffee shop
• Health and Wellbeing Hub: Weekly classes in the Hall and therapy sessions in The Wellhouse.
• Culture Hub: Film Nights, with plans to expand to NT Live and possibly live screenings.

While we primarily serve Beech residents, we welcome participation from surrounding areas.

We continue to hire the Hall out successfully for wedding receptions and private parties; these make a big contribution to covering our running costs. Our hiring income increased by 4.3% in 2023-24 but the cost of running the Charity, excluding the cost of village events, rose by nearly 36%, resulting in an annual deficit of £7,088 – our first for many years.  Whilst we still had a healthy year-end cash balance of £67,449, including the refurbishment fund and working capital, our financial plan is designed to return the Charity to a positive cash flow over the next two years.

Read the full Chair’s Report here.

October 29, 2023

The Chair’s Annual Report was accepted by the Annual General Meeting on October 27, 2023 at Beech Village Hall. You can read it here or download a pdf version.

A year of consolidation
After a bumper year in 2021-22 following the lifting of Covid restrictions, our social events have been less well supported in the latest financial year, which ended on June 30, 2023. However, hall hirings have been steady, the fabric of the Hall and green spaces remain in good shape, and we returned a small financial surplus.

The social hub for the Beech Community
The main focus for social activity within our community has been the Friday morning coffee shop and the monthly socials on the last Friday evening of the month.

The Friday coffee shop continues to be popular. We took the difficult decision to reduce the hours to 10am-1pm, as our small base of volunteers were finding it difficult to cover the entire day, and there was limited attendance in the afternoon. This has resulted in some very busy Friday mornings, however, with a lively atmosphere and many new friendships made.

The monthly Friday evening socials were all well attended, and the volunteer cooks very much appreciated the informal booking system, which gave them an idea of how many people might wish to eat. These have provided a great opportunity for old friends to get together, and for newcomers to the village to meet up with their new neighbours, in a convivial and informal atmosphere. The July 2022 social took the form of a village barbecue, which was particularly well attended and provided an opportunity for younger villagers to take part.

The Christmas Fair was once again a successful day, organised by Sally Cox, with a good variety of stalls to tempt us with interesting gift ideas.

In March 2023, the hall was packed for the Comedy and Chilli evening, with three quite different comedians and a compere to make everyone laugh. Volunteers provided excellent home-cooked chilli and dessert for everyone. Many thanks for Carol Kemp and her team.

Other social events have become more challenging to organise. Informal feedback suggests that, after the hiatus caused by Covid, many people in Beech who have previously attended village events have become much busier with family commitments, holidays, work and, sadly, in some case, health issues. As a result, it has become more difficult to find volunteers willing to organise complex events, and even when we could, a number of events had to be cancelled due to insufficient bookings.

We have begun to move towards simpler events with less reliance on volunteers. We had planned to run a party to celebrate the Coronation, but instead we simply invited villagers to bring picnics, chairs and gazebos for an informal gathering on the Village Green. This turned out to be a well attended and fun afternoon for all ages.

Hall bookings
We continue to host around a dozen clubs and classes each week, including bridge, baby and toddler classes, dance, pilates and yoga. The Beech Art Group meets in the Annexe every week, and Beech Embroiderers meet every other month. However, some of the clubs and classes are still running with reduced numbers since the pandemic so we are doing our best to support their marketing efforts. Some new classes began in 2023, including Tai-Chi and a Deep Meditation Soundbath, but unfortunately they did not attract enough attendees to be viable in the long term, despite good support from the village itself.

We are still very busy with weddings and private parties, demand for which has held up well after the surge in interest after the pandemic, and despite an increase in prices and a slight reduction in hours to address neighbours’ concerns about noise. Our Hall and village remain very attractive and we consistently receive very positive feedback from hirers. We are very proud of our average review score on Google, 4.7 out of 5.

Managing the Hall and green spaces
The Hall has not required too much maintenance attention this year. The lights in the car park failed during the winter, and have been replaced by a low-voltage LED system. In response to a noise complaint, we engaged an expert firm to conduct a noise survey and purchased a noise monitor, which we can use to check noise levels remotely. We also resolved issues with the automatic system which cuts off power when noise levels reach an unacceptable level.

On the Rec, Nick’s Little Copse goes from strength to strength, with many saplings now poking out of their support tubes and the whole area providing a nice mix between being accessible and being wild and natural.

The collection bin for clothes, shoes and bed linen outside the Hall provides a useful resource for the village, while supporting the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance.

Public benefit
Many Beech residents have enjoyed the coffee shop and monthly socials, as well as the Christmas Fair, comedy evening and Coronation picnic. Our green spaces continue to be appreciated.

None of these activities would happen without volunteers. A great camaraderie always develops as volunteers come together to support their village, and this in itself boosts our community spirit.

Managing the charity
Sadly, we lost a long-standing and enthusiastic member of our management team when Ian Gibson passed away in April. Anne Whitaker stepped down from her role as chair of the social team at the end of the financial year but remains a member of the management team.

Our cleaner, Max Laney, left us in the Spring and Chris Foote has taken on an expanded role of caretaker/cleaner. Sarah Branch continues to cover our book-keeping, accounts preparation and bookings administration needs. Simon Hodgson is often busy behind the scenes making sure everything in and around the Hall is in working order, and out in the open cutting the grass, and Sheila Sorby has the lead on making sure the green spaces are tidy and attractive. The Alton firm of accountants, Wettone Matthews, have once again kindly reviewed our accounts on a pro-bono basis.

Our financial position remains relatively strong, as we have maintained our bookings revenues and kept our costs roughly consistent with previous years. However, our smaller social programme has resulted in a reduced contribution from social events, and in the previous year we benefited from grant funding to help us rebuild our operations after the pandemic. Although our surplus is lower, our cash position has improved, and we are now starting to earn interest on our refurbishment fund, which is earmarked for future development of the Annexe.

Recent developments after the year-end
In response to changing demand for social events, the Social team have conducted a survey across the village, to find out what people really want us to organise. This will inform decisions about our future social events programme. Many thanks to everyone who responded.

It has become increasingly difficult to find volunteer cooks for the monthly socials, so we have decided to bring in external caterers for them, starting in September 2023. Although this means a slight increase in price, it allows these much appreciated events to continue. There is no longer a need to book, but we can’t ask our caterers to cook unlimited quantities of food, so it will be available on a first come, first served basis! The bar and coffee shop will continue to be run by volunteers.

I am delighted to welcome Dan Soutar and Karen Littlewood to the management team. Dan has been helping with the bar and coffee shop and is providing thoughtful input on team decisions. Karen is now chairing the social team and will be working with her team on our future social programme.

Thank you
Our community depends on a team of a great team of volunteers who run the Hall and the Rec. A huge thank you to our management team, who work so hard to ensure the Hall and its surroundings are in fine fettle, and our social team, who provide a great programme of events for villagers to enjoy. If would like to join us, you will find village life all the more rewarding, so please let me know if you can offer a bit of your time and expertise.

Many other people contribute to village life; cooking, baking, serving coffee, bartending, emptying dog poo bins, erecting the marquee and so on. There are way too many to name individually, but heartfelt and abundant thanks to you all.

I also want to thank our team of contractors who help us run the Hall and Rec – Chris Foote, Simon Hodgson, Sarah Branch, Max Laney and Lucy Loosemore.

We have many new villagers and I want to welcome you to this stunning village. It’s great to have been able to meet many of you and get to know you. 

Dr Jane Freeman-Hunt
Trustee and Chair, Beech Village Hall & Recreation Ground Management Committee
October 27^th 2023

October 29, 2022

The Annual Report of the Chair of the Trustees of Beech Village Hall and Recreation Ground was accepted at the Annual General Meeting on October 28, 2022. You can download a pdf copy here or just read on . . .

A year of recovery
The beginning of our financial year on July 1, 2021 coincided with the removal of most of the Covid 19 restrictions which had severely impacted the Village Hall in 2020-21. We took full advantage by relaunching our programme of social activities in the village, and by opening our Friday coffee and cake shop, which has become a focal point for friendship and community.

Most of our hirers returned with regular classes, which are enjoyed by many Beech residents as well as people from the surrounding area. The pent-up demand arising from two years of restrictions meant that we became very busy with weddings and private parties, which are now making a significant contribution. To help tide us over as activities built up, we received a further grant from the local authority.

Sadly, we lost Nick Sorby early in 2022. We miss his inspiration, drive and company, but the phone box book exchange and the Copse on the Rec, now named after him, serve as permanent memories.

Back in business for the Beech Community

Damp but not dampened: Jazz on the Green 2021

We ran our first post-Covid social event, a barbecue, in July 2021 with more than 70 people of all ages attending. We followed up with a rescheduled Jazz on the Green in August. Undeterred by the village green being vandalised the night before, around 20 villagers dropped everything in the morning to clear the green so that the event could go ahead. More than 100 people came and enjoyed the Farnham Big Band, their singer Anna, and a pleasant social occasion – despite the rain. The Alton Herald summed up our village spirit with its headline: “Broken glass and nails can’t stop us”.

From late August, we resumed our monthly Friday evening socials, now with an informal booking system. The cooks have very much appreciated having an idea of how many people might attend.

Service with smiles at Beech Coffee & Cake

The coffee and cake shop opened at the Village Show in late September and has become a weekly feature on Fridays.  A team of volunteers now bakes cakes and serves coffee weekly, and around 40 people typically come along to take the opportunity to socialise during the day in an informal setting, including those who find it difficult to come to evening events.

Beech celebrated the end of lockdown in style

More than 80 people attended the celebration ball in early October, with drinks, dinner, music, dancing, a raffle and, of course, a great atmosphere.

Bonfire Night was a roaring success

On November 6, the village came together for our first Bonfire Night since 2018. More than 250 people enjoyed the procession, bonfire, food, beer and mulled wine, as well as the spectacular firework display. 

The Christmas season started well with the return of the annual Christmas Fair, but unfortunately the Christmas Lunch was not such a popular idea and had to be cancelled due to lack of numbers. Likewise, the Burns evening also failed to attract enough bookings to allow it to go ahead.

In contrast, the first big event of 2022 was the March Comedy and Curry Evening, which sold out within 10 days of tickets going on sale. Many attendees commented on the high standard of the comedians, and it was great to see so many people laughing after such a difficult two years. However, the food was disappointing so there will be a different food offer next time.

In April, a smaller group gathered for a wine tasting evening hosted by Neil Gibson. A selection of Ridgeback wines from South Africa was soaked up with cheeses and savouries. Shortly after that, the ever popular Spring Quiz made its return, hosted by Peter Cox and delivering the classic mixture of tricky questions, trick questions, drinks, nibbles and humour.

Jane Freeman-Hunt and her assistant, Caleb, judged the great British puddings

June saw Beech celebrating our late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in style, with two very enjoyable and convivial events. Our Fizz & Chips Night was a sell-out, with around 90 people enjoying traditional fish and chips, along with drinks including local sparkling wine and Jubilee Ale, and Buckingham Palace gin. Several villagers entered fantastic Jubilee-themed puddings into the Great Beech Jubilee Bake-off. After Carol Kemp’s creation was declared the winner, the puddings were all eaten and live coverage of the beacon lighting ensued.

Three days later, around 170 people convened on the Green for the BIG Beech Jubilee Lunch. They enjoyed entertainment from Farnham Big Band and Anna, as well as an amazing buffet including more traditional English food and a fantastic cake. Unlike Jazz on the Green, the rain held off until the band were playing the last number!

Great food, great music, great company – a typical Beech celebration, this time for the Platinum Jubilee

Progressive Motion Dance for young people with additional needs

Hall bookings
Most of our regular classes re-established themselves in the early part of our new financial year, and we now host around a dozen clubs and classes each week, including bridge, baby and toddler classes, dance, pilates and yoga. The Beech Art Group meets in the Annexe every week, and Beech Embroiderers have been meeting every other month. However, we are conscious that some of the clubs and classes have been running with reduced numbers since the pandemic. We are doing our best to encourage new classes and we hope a new Tai-Chi class will start soon.

A wedding setup from 2022

We have been very busy with weddings and private parties since the pandemic, helped by strong demand, the attractiveness of our Hall and village, and our promotional efforts. These include the online booking system, Google advertisements and the promotional video, which has now been viewed over 900 times. We now offer standard packages for weddings and children’s parties, and we have substantially increased the cost of the wedding package for future years. This has made no discernible difference to the demand! We receive consistently great feedback from hirers about the Hall and the village.

Improvements to the Hall and green spaces
Following an amazing initiative led by Nick Sorby, the little copse on the Rec was officially opened in August 2021 by East Hampshire councillor Tony Costigan, who also unveiled the roll of tree dedications which is now in place in the Hall. Following Nick’s sad passing, we have renamed this Nick’s Little Copse, and we have installed a welcome sign celebrating the efforts of Nick and the whole village to make this happen.

In the Hall, the opening of the coffee shop in late September followed several weeks of hard work and modifications. This project involved buying a bean to cup coffee machine, making new shelving in the bar area from Thedden Oak, new chairs, pictures on the walls, a host of smaller items, and a lot of work to ensure we meet food safety regulations, culminating in a glowing 5 rating after our first food inspection. A number of villagers enjoyed decorating cups and plates. The initial investment costs were largely covered by donations from villagers and grants from East Hampshire District Council and the National Lottery Communities Fund.

At the same time, we installed a permanent digital noticeboard in the Hall, replacing a fairly chaotic set of hard-copy notices with a smart screen containing information about clubs, classes, future social events, village news and pictures. This 65in screen sits inside an elegant frame made from Thedden Oak and is often taken over by hirers to show family photographs or a welcome to their guests.

We are now supporting the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance by hosting a collection bin for clothes, shoes and bed linen outside the Hall.

Inevitably, maintenance works have been necessary during the year. We had some roof repairs done to keep the Hall and Annexe waterproof. We have replaced a large section of the grass on either side of the path across the Village Green, so that we could remove all the last traces of glass and nails following the vandalism incident. We have bought new barbecues and trestle tables for our outside events.

Public benefit
Many Beech residents have enjoyed our varied and comprehensive programme of events, including Jazz on the Green, the Jubilee celebrations, comedy, the quiz night, the Celebration Ball and Bonfire Night, as well as our monthly Friday night socials and the coffee shop. Our green spaces continue to be appreciated. Anyone who has not so far participated in our village social scene, including those who have moved in recently, will receive a very warm welcome should they wish to join in.

All these activities are run by volunteers. Dozens of people are involved in some way, either year-round or on specific projects or events. A great camaraderie always develops as volunteers come together to support their village, and this in itself boosts our community spirit. We are always ready to welcome new or returning volunteers who would like to help!

Our neighbours
Since we reopened after Covid, BVH has re-established itself as a very popular venue for weddings and private parties. They make a big contribution to the running costs of the Hall, allowing us to offer Beech residents a wide range of social opportunities at an affordable price, and to build a fund for future refurbishment. This has led to a small number of complaints about noise and disturbance from people who live near the Hall. The management team is very sensitive to this issue and is addressing it.

Beech is a great party venue but hirers must monitor and control the noise

We have an automatic system which cuts off the power to amplifiers when party noise reaches an unacceptable level. It has not been working, but this has been corrected and we will perform a noise survey and make adjustments if necessary. We will also install a noise monitor in the Hall with a digital display to allow hirers to monitor the noise level.

We are now asking hirers to finish their parties 30 minutes earlier than our licence permits, so serving of drinks and playing of music stops at 10.30pm instead of 11pm, and all guests leave by 11pm. This change will take place over time, as we already have contracts in place with a number of hirers. It will not apply to community events.

We are now limiting the number of bookings for wedding receptions that we will accept, and we will not allow teenage parties for people outside Beech.

Everyone who hires the Hall for a wedding reception or private party is informed both in person and in writing about the noise sensitivities and the actions they need to take.

The Village Green is a big attraction for our private party hirers, but we are now making it clearer to hirers that they do not have exclusive use of the Green, and that local residents will be walking across the green and using the play equipment during their events.

We have updated our Website and marketing materials to reflect these changes, and to emphasise the importance of minimising noise and disturbance generally.

Managing the charity

Our preparatory work during the pandemic meant that the Hall was ready for action as soon as it was needed, and it was very satisfying to welcome our Beech residents again for events and socials, our regular hirers for their clubs and classes, and our occasional hirers for weddings and private parties.

Meetings of Charity’s core management team, known formally as the Management Committee, have become smaller, following the sad loss of Nick Sorby, Ingrid McCormack’s decision to retire from the team and, more recently, Ian Gibson’s serious illness. Additions to the team would be very welcome. It’s a satisfying role and does not have to be time-consuming; we are a flexible, informal team of like-minded people, and fun and friendship are as important to us as the formal business that needs to be done. If you are interested in finding out more, please talk to me or one of my colleagues.

Fortunately, we have a great social team, who have run an amazing programme since lockdown, with the help of many villagers who have pitched in to help with the larger events. Our village has benefited enormously from the volunteer cake-bakers, coffee grinders and shop stewards who have turned our dream of a coffee shop into weekly reality.

Our book-keeper, Lynda West, left us this summer and we have welcomed Sarah Branch, who has taken an expanded role covering book-keeping, accounts preparation, bookings administration, and Secretary to the charity. Max Laney, Simon Hodgson and Lucy Loosemore continue to do sterling service to make sure everything in the Hall is clean and in working order, and the green spaces are tidy and attractive. The Alton firm of accountants, Wettone Matthews, have once again kindly reviewed our accounts on a pro-bono basis.

The future
We have emerged from the pandemic with a revitalised social programme, a good selection of clubs and classes, and a healthy pipeline of bookings for wedding receptions and private parties. This balance of revenue streams is essential; if some of the clubs and classes do not continue into the long term, the party bookings will help to compensate.

We are fortunate that we have been able to increase our cash balance further, and we have decided to split this into two parts. Our “General Funds” category of a little over £18,000 is working capital that we need to make sure we can pay our regular bills and cover urgent repairs without running out of cash. We have allocated the remaining £50,000 to a “Refurbishment Fund”.  This is intended to support capital projects, the principal one being the potential redevelopment of the Annexe.

There is potential to replace the Annexe with an attractive, up to date facility

Part of the original hall building, the Annexe is a single-skinned structure which is suffering from unresolvable damp issues. We believe it would be desirable to replace this building to offer additional opportunities for the community. Our intention is to expand this fund over time until we have sufficient funds available to contemplate this project, which would also require substantial grant funding to match what we are able to raise ourselves.

We have begun informal discussions about what form the replacement Annexe might take. In order to take this project forward, we will need to establish that there is demand for an additional room that would be smaller than the Main Hall but a bit larger and much more attractive to users than the existing Annexe. We will also be looking for help from any villagers who have skills in architecture, project management and planning.

Thank you
This post-pandemic year has been especially busy. Many people have been engaged in restoring community life to its former glory, not that the spirit of the village was diminished! We have seen a gradual return to socialising and it has been fantastic to see many villagers in our coffee shop.

Our community depends on a team of a great team of volunteers who run the Hall and the Rec. A huge thank you to our Management Team and Social Team who work so hard to ensure the Hall and its surroundings are a welcoming place to be. Our social team work their socks off to provide a programme of events for villagers to enjoy. This group of people are amazing to work with and give so freely of their time. I can promise that if you would like to join us, you will find village life all the more rewarding. There are always things for people to help with, so don’t be shy!!

Many other people contribute to village life; emptying dog waste bins, running the coffee shop, cooking for social events, serving drinks, erecting the dreaded marquee and so on. There are way too many to name individually, but heartfelt and abundant thanks to you all. I would, however, like to thank Sheila Sorby, who has taken on the care of our green spaces.

I also want to thank our team of contractors who help us run the Hall and Rec – Simon Hodgson, Max Laney, Lucy Loosemore, Lynda West and Sarah Branch.

We have many new villagers and I want to welcome you to this stunning village. It’s great to have been able to meet many of you and get to know you. 

Dr Jane Freeman-Hunt
Trustee and Chair, Beech Village Hall & Recreation Ground Management Committee
October 28^th 2022

October 30, 2021

The Annual Report of the Chair of the Trustees of Beech Village Hall and Recreation Ground was accepted at the Annual General Meeting on October 29, 2021. You can download a pdf copy here or just read on….

The impact of the pandemic on the Charity

When our financial year started on July 1, 2020, the Village Hall was still closed due to government restrictions imposed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. We had already prepared a comprehensive set of Covid-secure rules and guidelines so we would be ready to open. As restrictions began to ease from late July, we were able to open the Hall for very limited activities, and classes gradually built up. However, the requirement to maintain social distancing meant that we were unable to reintroduce social events or host large weddings or parties.

In the Autumn, the national situation worsened and a second lockdown came into force in early November, only to be followed by a third starting on January 6, 2021. The government relaxed restrictions in phases starting in mid-April, and we were gradually able to re-start classes again, but we had to wait until July before we could host large events and socials.

The pandemic resulted in our income from hall hire and social activities being about a quarter of what we would expect in a normal year. However, Government compensation, in the form of grants, helped us to cover our normal running costs. Generous donations from villagers, combined with a grant from the local authority, helped us to pay for improvements in the Recreation Ground.

Community activities

The pandemic meant that we were unable to hold any of our community social events indoors during the 2020-21 financial year. Our attention therefore turned to what we could do online, and outdoor projects that would deliver improvements in the village, along with some socially distanced camaraderie.

There were some eerie scarecrow appearances in Beech during Spooky Week in the runup to Halloween, 2020. We ran a virtual Autumn Quiz. The monthly 100 Club draws took place on Facebook throughout the year. In Spring 2021, we arranged for the Posh Scoff burger van to visit Beech on several occasions. This provided our locked down villagers with a different Saturday night dining experience. When limited outdoor socialising was allowed, we opened the bar as well.

The old telephone box, which had been hidden behind a hedge in lower Wellhouse Road for years, re-emerged as the Beech Book Exchange thanks to restoration work from a team of villagers led by Nick Sorby. This is now packed with books and a great, free resource for the village. We launched our first (mostly) online fundraising campaign to support this, and we are very grateful that villagers provided half of the funds we needed.

Our second outdoor project was much bigger and was also inspired and led by Nick Sorby. We realised that 30 ash trees, mostly on the Rec but including a large one on the village green, were suffering from ash dieback disease. For safety reasons, and following a consultation with villagers, we decided that these would need to be felled. After our professional tree surgeon had done his work, an energetic band of villagers cleared the massive amount of logs and brush. Logs were made available to villagers, who were invited to make a donation.

In February, 2021, 11 families arrived in staggered Covid-compliant order to plant 110 tree saplings. A log trail and log castle were created for children. Log piles were left to nature. The copse is now a haven for wildlife, native plants and local people of all ages. It was officially opened in September 2021 by East Hampshire Councillor Tony Costigan. This expensive project needed very little funding from our reserves, thanks to very generous donations from villagers, who took the opportunity to dedicate trees to their loved ones, and a grant from East Hampshire District Council.

Preparing the Hall for the future

The hiatus in normal Hall activity during the pandemic provided us with an opportunity to prepare ourselves to take advantage of future opportunities, and to make improvements to the Hall itself. With most people now searching for venues online, we upgraded our website and put in place an online booking system so that potential hirers can see when the Hall is available and make a reservation. As site visits were impossible, local media studies student Will Fleming made a promotional video of the Hall which includes drone footage and a walk-through of the Hall’s facilities. This has proved very popular and has been a big help in securing party bookings.

To help would-be hall hirers find us, we improved our positioning on Google and on numerous wedding and venue search sites. We launched a modest paid-for advertising programme with Google, focusing on weddings and children’s parties. This is paying off very well; more than 40% of our wedding and party sales now come from Google, with most of the balance being from recommendations or people who know the Hall already.

Inside the Hall, the new oven, taps and cupboards were fitted in the kitchen. New, brighter LED lights were installed in the Main Hall. We purchased a new point of sale system to allow us to take card payments; this is also giving us helpful sales data and is making stock management much easier.

We installed a prototype digital noticeboard in the Hall, replacing a fairly chaotic set of hard-copy notices with a smart screen containing information about clubs, classes, future social events, village news and pictures. After the end of the financial year, we replaced this with a new 65in screen inside an elegant frame made from Thedden Oak. This can be taken over by hirers to show family photographs or a welcome to their guests.

During the latter part of the financial year, we started to investigate the feasibility of a popup coffee shop in the lounge. The idea was to offer people an opportunity to socialise during the day, in an informal setting, with a particular focus on families and other people who find it difficult to come to evening events.

Engaging with the community

We held online consultations on a variety of questions, including whether to hold a somewhat different, Covid-compliant fireworks event in 2020, how to deal with the ash dieback problem, potential changes to the monthly socials, and whether villagers would like a public charging facility for electric vehicles. The responses helped us to shape our plans and we are very grateful for them.

We are also extremely grateful for the generous donations from a large number of villagers, which have helped us to pay for the refurbishment of the phone box, the redevelopment of the Little Copse on the Rec and, later, the new Coffee Shop.

The 100 Club has been running successfully for several years and has been a lot of fun, but our experience with other initiatives led us to rethink our approach to fundraising. We suspended the 100 Club after the draw on June 30. Instead, we will run fundraising campaigns for specific purposes when needed, which means villagers will know exactly how their contributions will be spent, the Hall volunteers will save on 100 Club sales and administration and, in many cases, the Charity will be able to benefit from Gift Aid.

Public benefit

With limited opportunity to organise the usual social activities, we instead turned to other means, including the Spooky Week scarecrows, the virtual online quiz, the online 100 Club draws and the Posh Scoff burger evenings. The renovation of the Beech Book Exchange and the Copse on the Rec provided valuable outlets for people who were constrained by lockdowns, and both are now permanent amenities. In response to our survey on socials, we have put a greater emphasis on family activities and we will continue to do so.

Managing the charity

The Management Committee had a very busy year, bringing their many and varied skills together to make sure the Hall was ready for a future without restrictions, and leading the outdoor projects on the Rec and village green.

At the end of the financial year, Elaine King retired from the committee after many years of service to the village. I would like to thank Elaine for her unstinting support and look forward to seeing Elaine and Alan at future social events.

Peter Cox will retire from the Committee at the end of October, having led the Hall as Chair and managed our bookings and customers with extreme professionalism for many years. The Hall would not be what it is without Peter, so we all owe him a debt of gratitude. He has agreed to make an occasional appearance in the future, so we can expect see him at the Bonfire Night event, the Christmas Fair which Sally will be running for us, and the Spring Quiz in 2022. I am sure we will see Peter and Sally regularly at social events.

We have co-opted Martin Littlewood onto the Management Committee temporarily because he has taken responsibility for the overall running of the Bonfire Night event in 2021.

A dispute with a resident of Beech continued on and off throughout this financial year, and into 2021-22. This had started in mid-2019, when his offer to chair our Social Sub-Committee was declined. There was a lengthy series of emails and a number of personal meetings. The Management Committee offered mediation but this was declined. In July 2020, the villager concerned took this into the public arena by making allegations on the Nextdoor social media platform, which removed most of these posts.

In an attempt to force a vote of no confidence in the Management Committee at the 2020 AGM, he delivered a flyer to most households in the village and posted critical messages on Nextdoor. He accepted an opportunity to speak at the meeting, apologised for the flyer and explained his grievance. Following a number of comments by villagers, all the Management Committee’s resolutions were passed overwhelmingly.

More recently, he repeated his allegations on Nextdoor and urged people to boycott the Village Hall; again, these posts were removed almost immediately. The Management Committee continues to update the Charity Commission about this dispute, as we are required to do. This matter is now in the hands of our solicitors.

Developments since June

Social activities

The new 2021-22 financial year started with the relaxation of Covid restrictions, so we were able to run our first outdoor events, a well attended barbecue and the much appreciated Jazz on the Green. From late August, we resumed our monthly Friday evening socials, now with an informal booking system. The cooks have very much appreciated having an idea of how many people might attend. More than 80 people attended the celebration ball in early October, with drinks, dinner, music, dancing, a raffle and, of course, a great atmosphere.

As many villagers are aware, the village green was vandalised during the night before the Jazz on the Green event. Around 20 villagers dropped everything in the morning to come and clear the green so that the event could go ahead. This was reported to the police and the Charity Commission, and the Alton Herald summed up our village spirit with its headline: “Broken glass and nails can’t stop us”.

Bookings

Bookings have almost returned to normal, with around 15 classes and clubs using the hall every week, a couple of weddings and numerous family parties.

Coffee and Cake

The coffee and cake shop opened at the Village show in late September and is now a weekly feature on Fridays.  The project involved buying a bean to cup coffee machine, making new shelving in the bar area (again, from Thedden Oak), new chairs, pictures on the walls, a host of smaller items, and significant work to ensure we meet food safety regulations. A number of villagers enjoyed decorating cups and plates. A team of volunteers now bakes cakes and serves coffee weekly. The initial investment costs were covered by donations from villagers and grants from East Hampshire District Council and the National Lottery Communities Fund. Many thanks to the launch team – Kim Eakers, Nick Sorby, Sarah Neish, Philip Bennett and Richard Whitaker.

The future

Most of our regular hirers are back, along with some new ones, our pipeline of bookings for private events is looking healthy, and we have a varied social programme planned well into 2022. So, the future looks bright, as long as there is no resumption of Covid restrictions.

We are fortunate that we have been able to maintain a healthy cash balance to enable us to maintain the hall and tackle things like roof repairs. We continue to build our cash reserve to support capital projects, the principal one being the potential redevelopment of the Annexe. Part of the original hall building, the Annexe is a single-skinned structure which is suffering from unresolvable damp issues. In the medium term, we believe it would be desirable to replace this building to offer additional opportunities for hirers and the community.

Thank you

Running a village hall that has been closed for a large part of the year, and severely restricted for all of it, has been interesting, and busier than you might expect!

As usual in Beech, our strong community spirit has come to the fore as we adjusted to a restricted social life. We are completely dependent on an amazing group of volunteers to run the Hall and the Rec. Our fantastic Management Committee and Social Committee form a cohesive unit of great people who are wonderful to work with. However, they are only the tip of the iceberg. Many other people in the village have helped in so many ways – refurbishing the phone box, shifting logs, planting trees, making the video and, more recently, baking cakes, serving drinks, cooking food and running the celebration ball. There are too many of you to list individually, but a thousand thanks to you all.  

I also want to thank our team of employees who help us run the Hall and Rec – Simon Hodgson, Max Laney, Lucy Loosemore and Lynda West, as well as Wettone Matthews, the Alton firm of accountants who have kindly reviewed our accounts.

Last but not least, may I offer a big welcome to all our new villagers. It’s great to have been able to meet many of you and get to know you better.  

Dr Jane Freeman-Hunt
Trustee and Chair, Beech Village Hall & Recreation Ground Management Committee
October 29^th 2021

November 19, 2020

The Hall as a centre of the community

Our financial year ended on June 30, 2020, and it was definitely a year of two halves! The year got off to a really good start with all the clubs, classes, weddings and parties. We had seven monthly socials with delicious meals provided by villagers. Beech Gardeners held a successful village show attracting a wide range of entries. The October quiz was popular, run for the first time without a meal.  Sadly, the weather was too bad for the annual Bonfire Night; the high winds and lashing rain made it too dangerous.

The Christmas Fair marked the start of Christmas with a great array of goods, children singing carols, and refreshments to tempt everyone. “Strictly” was the theme for the Christmas party, a great gathering of villagers with a super Christmas meal. In February, Caviste ran an enjoyable and informative Cheese and Wine evening based on wines from Italy.

The Covid-19 crisis hits

Then the coronavirus pandemic struck, and following some initial restrictions, we were plunged into lockdown towards the end of March. The full lockdown meant that the Hall had to be closed; suddenly, there were no classes, weddings or parties. Our social plans for an Easter Egg Hunt, a Spring Quiz and Jazz on the Green were abandoned.

Instead, Stella Charman quickly set up a Coronavirus Support Group, each member having an allocation of Beech residents to keep in touch with, collect shopping and prescriptions, and have a chat. We ran our first online quiz on May 8, with 32 households taking part.

We subscribed to Zoom so that villagers could hold virtual get-togethers with family and friends. This was used by 652 participants, who had 76 meetings lasting a total of over 670 hours!

In short, Beech did what Beech does best, and that is to look after each other.

We moved to Facebook for our 100 Club draws. So far, we have held eight online draws, which have been available live and as recordings, with an average of 130 views per draw. These have been hosted by the sitcom duo Stella and Nick Charman and Unhinged and Bracket (Jo Schneider and Jane Short).

Improvements to the Hall

We took the opportunity of the Hall being empty to decorate it throughout and refurbish the kitchen, with a new range, taps and cupboards. Many thanks to Simon Hodgson, who decorated the Hall, Anne Whitaker, who project managed the kitchen refurbishment and researched and acquired the range online, and Dan Schneider, who did the work for a really low price, and provided materials at cost. Nick Sorby installed an auto-irrigation system to save people having to water the plants around the Hall regularly.

As lockdown continued, work started to plan for reopening the Hall in a Covid-secure way.  Peter Cox, Richard Whitaker and Nick Sorby prepared the Hall to comply with the rapidly changing regulations and guidance, with a one-way system to minimise contact, guidelines for hirers and users of the hall to ensure their safety, and provision of anti-viral hand gel for regular use. As a result, we were able to reopen the Hall for a number of regular classes and private groups starting in July, and a Covid-secure wedding celebration was held. Plans are in place for larger, Covid-secure events when they become possible.

Developments since June

Fireworks

The annual Bonfire Night was re-planned in a Covid-secure way, but despite submitting proposals to the relevant bodies it was felt that it was too risky to run it in the face of clear discouragement from Hampshire County Council. Our next proposal was to offer the fireworks to villagers in return for a donation to the Village Hall. These were to be let off during a narrow time window on November 7, but a significant minority of villagers were uncomfortable about this so we decided to cancel this idea. The fireworks will be stored carefully to be used at next years’ annual bonfire following full consultation, so as to make this an event which allows people to be as comfortable as possible.

The telephone box

For several years, the old telephone box has lain unused and unloved until one of the young villagers, Katie Smallman, suggested “doing it up” as a book exchange. Nick Sorby managed this project with a band of able volunteers.  The kiosk is now looking fabulous and will soon be ready to use. This outdoor Covid-safe activity has provided a bit of fun and community spirit. We have issued an appeal for donations to help cover the cost of materials; see Beech News and our Website for details.

Ash dieback

Sadly, like many areas of the country we have been hit by ash dieback, which affects a tree on the Green and many trees on the recreation ground. Again, Nick Sorby has come to the rescue, investigating the extent of the problem and the possible solutions. He carried out an extensive consultation with villagers and the conclusion was to tackle all the affected trees, about 30, as soon as possible, and then take the opportunity to rejuvenate the copse on the Rec. Nick has obtained tenders for this project and our chosen tree surgeon started work on November 13. After the felling work is done, Nick will coordinate the repairing and replanting of the copse, and he is hoping for a lot of help from villagers from January onwards. We are applying for grants to help cover the cost.

In talking about the recreation ground, thanks to Nick we also have some beautiful wild-flower areas that are becoming well established.

Online booking

We plan to introduce an online booking system for Hall hirers from January. Kim Eakers and Peter Cox have been working on this project. It is already possible to see a “live” view of existing hall bookings and check for availability on the Website. From January, those who wish to hire the hall for classes or parties will be able to make a booking request via the Website, and the information potential hirers need will have been substantially improved.

Public engagement

We have endeavoured to engage with the whole community as much as we can. Pre-Covid, we started with the AGM last October, an advisory sub-committee to consider the kitchen refurbishment, and of course the various social events. Post-Covid, we have garnered views on how to deal with the Ash Dieback problem on the Rec and what to do with the telephone kiosk, as well as the fireworks. Lockdown has pushed us into more considered engagement, and has given a solid model for the way forward.

Public benefit

In the first half of the financial year, the benefits we provided to residents of Beech took their usual form – the monthly socials, the village show, the October quiz, the Christmas Fair, the Christmas party, and the Cheese and Wine evening. During the Covid crisis, we have addressed villagers’ needs for support and entertainment through the Coronavirus Support Group, the VE Day scarecrows, the online quiz, the Zoom subscription, and the online 100 Club draws. The new, free Beech Book Exchange will be ready soon. We have turned the ash dieback problem into an opportunity to turn the underused copse on the Rec into a much-improved amenity for villagers, although this will of course take time to develop.

The Management Committee and Trustees

During the year we have welcomed Richard Whitaker and Ingrid McCormack onto the committee, while Ruth Dewing resigned due to time pressures. Richard and Ingrid have both made a fantastic contribution already, with Richard looking after communications and working on the Hall reopening, and Ingrid managing the meetings and working with Stella Charman on revamping our policy documents.

I have to report that for more than a year, the Management Committee has been involved with a dispute with a resident of Beech, after his unsolicited offer to chair our Social Sub-Committee was declined in mid 2019. The members of both committees received a lengthy series of emails, many of which were unpleasant. A number of personal meetings were held and mediation was offered but declined. This matter would have remained private, but in July the villager concerned took this matter into the public arena by making a number of allegations on social media. This matter has been reported and accepted by the Charity Commission as a serious incident.

Your Management Committee has published our Constitution and management policies on the village Website, including policies on discrimination, purchasing, disputes, and our zero-tolerance policy on abusive behaviour. If anyone in Beech has any concerns about how we are running your Charity, we will be very happy to listen and address them, either during the AGM, or privately afterwards.

The future

We are suffering again under further restrictions, and more may follow, but we have proved that we can bounce back, with strong demand for regular fitness/dance classes and weddings. Bridge, Rustlers and family parties will take longer. We have turned many potential hirers away, some because they did not comply with legislation or government advice, others because the times they wanted were not available.  The Social committee are ready with plans for social events, which may have to be a little different to those in the past. We just have to wait until we can make them both safe and enjoyable.  

There are financial pressures. Thanks to judicious saving, our bank balance can sustain us for a while but the money reserved for capital projects, such as the redevelopment of the Annexe, is being eroded. We have therefore begun fundraising to support required actions (such as ash dieback) and we continue to appeal for support through the 100 Club and donations. We are now using “Donate” buttons on the website to make this easier.

Our primary aim is to make sure the Hall survives the current crisis so that we can start our popular programme of social events, quizzes and parties as soon as possible. Meanwhile, we will continue to foster community spirit in any way we can.

Thank you

It has been an interesting first year as Chair – not without its challenges! I have been blessed with a wonderful Management Committee and Social Committee who come together as a strong and supportive team. Thank you to them and to the many villagers who have also given so much. Thank you to our team of employees who help us run the Hall and Rec – Simon Hodgson, Max Laney, Lucy Loosemore and Lynda West.

Last but not least, a big welcome to all our new villagers and we look forward to meeting you all at socials next year.

Dr Jane Short
Trustee and Chair, Beech Village Hall & Recreation Ground Management Committee
November 19, 2020