Trustees at Overton Community Centre
Overton Community Association is governed by a board of up to nine unpaid volunteer trustees drawn from the local community. Together, they are responsible for the overall direction, strategy, and financial stewardship of the charity.
Trustees are elected in accordance with OCA’s Constitution.
Our current board
As at June 2026, our current trustees are:
Colin Phillimore
Appointed March 2025
Bernard Flood
Appointed November 2025
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Q&A: Being a trustee
Why does the OCA need trustees?
The Charity Commission states that trustees have overall control of a charity and are responsible for making sure it does what it was set up to do.
The Overton Community Association (OCA) is the charity that runs Overton Community Centre, and the trustees exist to keep the centre open and running – making sure enough money comes in, the building is maintained, and statutory tasks are completed.
There is also a legal requirement: a charity cannot operate without trustees.
What do OCA trustees do?
The trustees’ core purpose is to keep Overton Community Centre open.
In practice this is similar to running a home – albeit a Grade II listed Victorian one dating from 1868 – from a managerial perspective.
That means making sure bills are paid on time, decorating is done, leaky windows are repaired, lights work, the building is cleaned, gardening is carried out, leaks are fixed, and there is enough money to cover it all.
Because the Community Centre is a listed building, repairs and any alterations can be more involved. Most users are community groups, so the trustees aim to keep costs low rather than passing higher charges on to them.
As a charity, the OCA must also account for its expenses and submit annual returns to the Charity Commission. Its public entry can be viewed on the Charity Commission register.
Do all trustees do the same thing?
No. What trustees do collectively is keep the building open, attend the monthly meetings and AGM, but individual contributions vary.
Some form working parties for events or projects. Others arrange builders’ quotes and insurance. Some are skilled at finding grants or building websites . . .
What is the time commitment?
There is plenty to do, and the work is shared across the board. There are monthly management meetings and an AGM each year, which most trustees attend.
Beyond that, most trustees spend a few hours a month on meetings, emails, and getting things done. It is a modest, but real commitment.
The trustees also run events and activities from time to time to raise funds for the centre.
As a Grade II listed Victorian building, the Community Centre also has ongoing maintenance and conservation needs, and the trustees plan how to fund these over time – often through grants and fundraising.
What are the responsibilities and liabilities as a trustee?
The OCA was originally founded in 1978 to look after the running of the Community Centre. In 2017, following the transfer of the building from Hampshire County Council, it converted to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and has had full responsibility for the centre since.
The CIO structure matters when it comes to liability. A CIO is a corporate body with its own legal identity, registered with and regulated by the Charity Commission. This means the OCA can enter into contracts, hold property, employ staff, and be held responsible for its obligations in its own name – not in the names of individual trustees. Contracts and commitments are held by the charity itself.
For trustees, the practical effect is limited liability. Trustees of a CIO normally have limited or no personal liability for the debts of the charity, which is a key difference from older, unincorporated charity structures where trustees signed contracts personally and could be held personally liable. This protection is one of the main reasons the CIO structure exists, and it makes it easier and safer to take on the role.
That protection is not unconditional. Trustees are expected to act honestly, reasonably, and in the charity’s best interests. A trustee who acts in a genuinely negligent or improper way – for example, knowingly committing the charity to costs it cannot meet, or misusing charity funds – can lose this protection. In short, the law is not there to trip trustees up, but to guard against real negligence, fraud, and wrongdoing.
(This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. For full details on CIOs and trustee duties, please see the Charity Commission’s guidance on GOV.UK.)
In practice, the greater consideration for most trustees is the sense of responsibility they feel towards the organisation itself.
How is the OCA structured?
OCA has seven trustees and can have up to nine.
Like most committee-style organisations, the OCA has a chair, treasurer, secretary, and vice-chair. Additional roles include that of Publicity and Website. The remaining trustees serve without portfolio.
What are the OCA's charitable objects?
The OCA’s constitutional aims are:
a) To promote the benefit of the inhabitants of Overton and the neighbourhood without distinction of sex or of political, religious or other opinions, by associating the local authorities, voluntary organisations and inhabitants in a common effort to advance education and to provide facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation and leisure-time occupation, with the object of improving the conditions of life for the said inhabitants.
b) To establish or secure the establishment of a community centre and to maintain and manage, or to cooperate with any local statutory authority or any other body nominated by them in the maintenance and management of such a centre, for activities promoted by the association or its constituent bodies in furtherance of the above objects.
How do you become a trustee?
Trustees are appointed by the members of the OCA, normally by a vote at the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
At each AGM, one-third of the existing trustees step down by rotation (those who have served longest since their last appointment), and the resulting vacancies can be filled by a decision of the members at that meeting. A trustee who retires in this way is eligible to stand again, so there is no fixed limit on how long someone can serve.
The trustees themselves can also appoint a new trustee at any time during the year – whether to fill a vacancy or as an additional trustee – provided the total stays within the permitted range. The OCA must have at least five trustees and no more than nine.
Anyone interested in furthering the work of the Centre is welcome to put themselves forward; if you’d like to be considered, the best first step is to get in touch with the Secretary, who can explain the process and timing.