Dear Gavin (and Friends) At Lancaster we are playing 'catch-up' as the decision had been made to not pass on the increase of costs to hirers following the Covid closures, in an attempt to bring them back after we opened up (I assume, it was before my time); this followed several years of not increasing charges in line with inflation, so there was/is quite a bit of catching up to be done. I believe that between 2020 and 2023 there were very little or no increases, in 2024 there was a 5% increase in charges, but a MUCH higher increase in costs. For 2025 Finance Committee, in consultation with Wardenship Committee, has decided to increase hire charges by 10%. The notice of increase has been sent out and so far there has been no grumblings that have reached our ears. I suspect the majority of our groups could have sustained a slightly higher increase, but the Committees are being cautious, and have considered how affordable we are to our core hirers. We remain one of, or the, cheapest place to hire meeting rooms in the city centre, and have a small car park, bus stops outside the building, and a mainline train station next door (a 3 minute walk) - so a lot to offer. We have seven rooms of various sizes: two small rooms for one-to-one counselling/teaching/committee meetings; one that can accommodate up to 15 people; three slightly larger for between 30-45 people, and the Meeting Room that has a maximum capacity of 100. We don't offer any add-ons like catering, printing, IT etc, but we do have two kitchenettes and one main kitchen so all groups can make themselves refreshments (two of our rooms we ask that users only bring in bottled water to keep the floor damage and food smells to a minimum). We charge by the hour with a minimum of one hour initially and increments of 15 minutes. When I started a year ago there were no Terms & Conditions, Lettings Policy, or Booking Forms for hirers to complete (we filled in a form, but that meant any mistakes were always our own). I prepared drafts of all the documents for Wardenship Committee to comment on, tweak, and 'own'. The draft Lettings Policy I prepared relied heavily on the Friends House and Manchester's letting policies, and a similar, but less detailed policy has been written for and accepted by Area Meeting for the Area. I will try to attach our T&Cs and the Lettings Policy to this reply as Word documents to make it easy for you to copy and paste for your own needs, but apologies if they don't make it through the forum's filters. I'm happy to send to anyone who wants a copy, if you think it might be helpful, and attaching doesn't work. All the best Tasha Natasha Heny Warden Lancaster Quaker Meeting House lancasterquakers@gmail.com 01524 62971 <https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=Lancaster+Quaker+Meeting+...> (I work flexible hours between 08:45-19:30 Monday to Thursday, 09:30-14:15 on Sundays - with no dedicated office hours on Sundays. My days off each week are Friday and Saturdays) On Mon, 4 Nov 2024 at 19:02, Gavin Mendham <gavinmendham@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Wardens and Friends responsible for Hiring/Hirees of our Meeting Houses,

Please see if feel you can let me know what you expect your hire charges to be in 2025?

I would also be helped if you have a hiring policy, currently we have terms/conditions, I wouldn't say it’s a policy.

At Wilmslow, SK9 4BW, not far from Stockport and 12 miles south of Manchester centre, we have a building that is let to "sole hirers". A main room is about 8m by 6m high ceiling , entrance hall, small kitchen, upstairs family room, usual toilets.

It’s a 19th C building converted in early 1990s from a former pony and trap stable, with an upstairs School Room, now a lofty Meeting Room with "modernish" facilties and a little parking. For security of the building and safeguarding of the hirers its best hired to one user at a time.

Our 2024 rate is £17.35 an hour. Each year I take the annual rate of inflation and apply that to the hire rate. This year I am puzzled as the Consumer Price Index 12 months September 2023-24 is 2.6%. But energy prices to October 2024 Gas is up 14% and Electricity up 10%.

Instinct is telling me go somewhere in the middle e.g. increase by 6% for 2025 eg @£18.40 per hour?

Our hirers will squeak! May be I am not realistic?

*I will look at the projected income using our 2024 rate and see how that matches to expected increases in our outgoings.*

Thank you to those who feel they can respond, I am sure many of you are very busy people!

In Friendship,

Gavin

*Wilmslow Quaker Meeting Premises Committee*

* Quaker Meeting House, 1a Bourne Street, Wilmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5HD*

*Gavin Mendham: gavinmendham@gmail.com <gavinmendham@gmail.com>*

(Home Address)112 Lacey Green, Wilmslow, Cheshire .SK9 4BW

mobile : 07769713734

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