2024 has seen an incredible journey for the village hall and for all of those involved with it. The average Chronicle reader may have noticed that the hall has not been available for use and that it now looks different. Beneath that lies the incredible efforts of the village hall trustees and of others in a journey to secure a facility for the village that will have huge long term benefit.

Over the year we have successfully gained a grant of £264K from the Government’s Community Ownership Fund allowing the refurbishment project to get off the ground. A condition of the grant was that work had to be completed in 12 months of their offer letter. This meant we had to get moving before full funding of the project was in place. A rigorous tendering process was followed, with the Government allowing us to advertise just locally for bids – ensuring as much of the money was spent with local businesses as we could. Whilst the sums of money involved may seem high compared with domestic projects, these processes and the plethora of rules and regulations around standards of work and safety do result in significant costs. Our first phase was to

·  Remove all the asbestos roof and replace with lightweight composite insulated roofing panels.

·  Demolish and rebuild the east extension.

·  Frame out the external walls, insulate with 100mm of insulation and 240 m2 cladding.

·  29 new windows and doors installed in the framing.

·  Install bat loft, bat boxes and bird boxes to comply with the ecological requirements.

This first phase has been completed on time and within budget which has been a tremendous step forward. We are now into the second phase of improved electrics, better lighting, plastering, carpentry, improved toilets, redecorations and better heating – all being achieved using local tradespeople as was always our intention.Once this is in place, we will re-open, enabling us to start using the hall again and commence working on the next phases which will include the old school kitchen, a new veranda, including disability access into the hall and the meeting room from the rear. As a reminder to all, prior to closure we ran a full range of activities for the village, some jointly with the play equipment fund-raisers, to get people into the hall and use it as the social centre it should be.To provide continuity, the bingo and whist have been taken off-site. Peter Bradshaw our Chairman over this period has worked incredibly hard to keep them going. Hence – it is with great delight that we announce that the first opportunity to use the hall will be for our Christmas Bingo, on the 2nd of December. The logistics and efforts to make this happen will be very tight, but at the time of going to press, we absolutely believe this will happen and are requesting maximum support and attendance. Every penny raised directly contributes to being able to achieve a complete refurbishment and best in class facility for our village to be proud of.