MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE VILLAGE HALL COMMITTEE held on Thursday, 10 May 2007 in the Parish Room, Village Hall, South Darenth  at 7.30 pm.

 

PRESENT:       Cllr Peter Bradley (Chairman)

Cllrs Dawn Mitchell, Christine Page, Gill Tripp and Robert Valentine

                        Anita Cockrill

 

IN ATTENDANCE:    Carol Allart, Parish Clerk, John Wood, Caretaker

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Marie Meggitt

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: None

 

 

1          ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN 2007/8

 

RESOLVED that Cllr Peter Bradley be elected Chairman for 2007/8

 

2          ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIRMAN 2007/8

 

RESOLVED that Cllr Gill Tripp be elected Vice-Chairman for 2007/8

 

3          MINUTES

 

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the last meeting held on 12 January 2007 be approved and signed as a correct record.

 

4          MATTERS ARISING

 

Tap Dancing

 

There was discussion on why tap dancing had been banned as new members were interested to find out the details of the decision.  Cllr Mitchell said that there are no bans on tap dancing in other halls and Cllr Page said that she would like to look at other hall floors. 

 

Parking in Front of Parish Office

 

It was noted that the white lines and No Parking painted on the tarmac in front of the office door was working well so no further action on handrails was needed. John Wood was congratulated on the excellent way he had carried out this task as it looked very good.

 

Hedge Along Common Boundary with Environmental Centre

 

Tim McGregor attended this meeting in order to give more details of his project and a site meeting was held to look at the boundary and trees concerned. He explained that the trees which would have to be removed to allow the hedge to be planted were of no great merit, being old hawthorn or elder and this was confirmed on site.  It was not yet known if the conifer would be kept but Mr McGregor hoped that this would be possible.

 

RESOLVED that

  1. agreement be given to the Environmental Centre planting a hedge protected on both sides by chestnut paling along the boundary with the village hall starting at the eastern end of the existing gap that allows access to Centre’s rubbish bin; and
  2. permission be given for the Centre’s bin to continue to be emptied from the village hall side but it be recorded that the gap is not a permanent feature and may have to be closed at a future date.

 

 

5          MAINTENANCE MATTERS

 

The caretaker reported that he was only able to concentrate on village hall maintenance matters and so, with regret, would not be able to other things such as the Heathside Stand and the bus shelter repairs that he had been asked to do.

 

The ROS committee would have to find someone else to help Cllr Valentine to paint the Stand.

 

 

6          SMOKING BAN FROM 1 JULY 2007

 

The clerk reported on the standard No Smoking signs which will be needed on the 2 entrances to the hall the parish office.  She confirmed that Sevenoaks District Council’s environmental health officer has stated that if they get a complaint about smoking in the hall they will contact us to sort it out and would only consider fines if this happens persistantly.

 

 

7          USE OF CAR PARK

 

Members discussed whether there were problems from the general public using the village hall car park as reported by the Pre-School and considered whether to take any action. 

 

RESOLVED that a item be placed in the next newsletter informing the public that the village hall car park is only for the use of hall users.

 

 

8          ELECTRICS

 

The clerk reported that following the installation of the 2 new water tanks in the loft the plumber advised that they needed earth bonding by an electrician. Valley Players members had also suggested that the wiring in the loft to the ceiling lights needed looking at.  Two electricians had visited and given different advice, one say that the tanks didn’t need bonding, the other that they did and also stating that an

inspection survey should be done because the existing fuse box is “heaving”. 

 

RESOLVED that further quotes be obtained from other electricians for a basic safety report.

 

Note for information. The clerk mentioned that the Valley Players had suggested boarding out the loft (there is currently only a small area near the hatch that is boarded) but the committee did not want to consider this as it would encourage more storage.  The clerk also said that both groups that store in the loft would be arranging a grand clear out in the Summer.

 

 

9          BLACK STAGE CURTAINS

 

Members were informed that new black stage curtains were in the budget for 2007/8 and shown samples of various fabrics and prices for them being made and hung on the existing rails but with the cording removed so that the curtains can be pulled across manually using hanging rods.  The clerk was concerned about the damage to the curtains both from paint and ripping and asked Members to give thought to how they could be protected.

 

Members asked for recommendations from the curtainmaker regarding which fabrics would hang and which would withstand stains the best.

 

 

12        ANY OTHER BUSINESS

 

Sand

Cllr Mitchell asked why sand had been banned and it was explained that this is very bad for the look of the surface (polish) of the floor as well as reducing the life of the floor.  The floor contractor had advised that any floor can only be sanded 3 times in its lifetime.

 

Start Time of Meetings

Members were reminded that these committees were due to start at 8 pm from now on at the request of Cllr Mitchell.  Cllr Tripp asked that if Cllr Mitchell was not able to attend any meeting, she should let the clerk know so that a 7.30pm start time could be used as 8pm was rather late.

 

 

The meeting ended at 9.10 pm.

 

 

 

 

Chairman

 

 

 

Date