Over the last couple of months we have been investigating registering as a charity and it has become clear that if the group is to continue our community work we must register with the Charity Commission (CC). This is because our income is more than the specified amount of £5,000 a year before registering. In reality we should have been a charity from when we set the group up in 2012, on average our income has been between £7,000 and £10,000, we have acted in good faith and taken advice from others, unfortunately this advice was incorrect with no malice intended.
We have been supported through this process with the help from Durham Community Action who have set out the steps we need to take and helped with completing the necessary paperwork
The first decision was to change our name, the CC sometimes do not recognise residents associations or groups. So at our last 2 meetings it was agreed, with resident’s approval, we change to Horndale Community Association which actually describes better the work we do.
The second decision is to adopt a new constitution, our current one has some items which can be removed and some new points inserted. The committee have read the proposed constitution and see no problems with it. However we would like local residents to give their thoughts so we will discuss and vote to adopt the proposed constitution at our next meeting. Wednesday 7th November at Greenfield Arts Centre starting at 6pm, however if anyone would like to read the proposed paper before meeting please email horndaleresidentsass@outlook.com and I will send you a copy.
Thank you
Philip Clark Chair