Development of a New Village Hall. Following a Meeting of the Playing
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Development of a new Village Hall. Following a meeting of the Playing Fields Committee around 1987, I was present at a conversation between Dennis Mann and Ron Taylor concerning the need for a pavilion to serve the sports field cricket and football activities. Since we also needed a new village hall, but would not be able to fund two new buildings, Dennis suggested building a combined Pavilion and VH at the field site. Sale of the existing VH site for housing might provide a seed fund to support applications for grants. In the early 70s the VH committee had struggled to fund an extension and new kitchen, so we were aware of the size of the task ahead. However, the need for a new Hall was brought home when someone put a foot through a floorboard and investigation showed the joists were rotting. Whilst the central village location was convenient for many, on road parking meant there were a number of ''near misses'' when children stepped out between vehicles into oncoming traffic. The hall needed to be located where off road parking was provided and noise nuisance from loud music events could be avoided. Dennis applied for outline permission for a terrace of three houses on the site. Bill Jones advised that permission for two detached houses would maximise the value and this permission was duly obtained. We could now estimate the value of our seed fund asset. It was clear that we would require a substantial loan and repayment scheme to complete funding. We took advice from the Village Halls Advisory Service based in Hereford. They recommended we obtain funds from the Public Works Loan board via our Parish Council, since a VH committee would not qualify. They were also able to provide a typical, costed, Village Hall design from a local architect to estimate the amount we would need to raise. There was a realisation that we needed to get the whole village behind the proposals, in particular, moving the Hall from the village centre and the principle of a loan scheme similar to a mortgage. To this end, I volunteered to give a presentation to a public meeting. I showed why we needed a new Hall but also a Pavilion, then outlined the proposal, estimating the value of village assets and revenue, the potential for grants and how much we may have to borrow. The village would have to manage without a hall for at least a year, probably eighteen months Overall, the attendees seemed supportive, but were concerned that village organisations may not survive the absence of a Hall for so long. Also, the absence of a footpath beyond the Prices would have to be addressed. A few were clearly unhappy at moving the Hall at all, Phil Smith exhorted the attendees to grasp a once in a lifetime opportunity to have a modern building. It was proposed we arrange a vote based on the information presented, so everybody could register their support or otherwise. The rector agreed to provide the voting station and count the vote. Shirley Williams obtained an official black ballot box and voting slips from Wychavon DC. There was a sizeable majority in favour. The VH committee asked me to form a group to take the project to completion. I agreed now that we had proven village support. Dennis Mann, Ron Taylor, Shirley Williams, Anne Smith and I made up the group. From the outset we had received enthusiastic support from the Parish Council who increased the parish precept to create a small fund to assist with fees etc. To use the PWLB as a loan source, the PC rather than the Hall committee would have to take ownership and fulfil the loan repayment schedule. Barney Price advised the PC on the loan details and negotiated with the Parish Lands Committee on an affordable repayments schedule. Use of the PL rent income was critical to the project and was part of my presentation to the village. Looking for all possible funding opportunities, I asked the PL secretary if it was possible to sell a small part of, or all the 28 acres. The answer from the Charities Commission was no, the trust deeds precluded sale. I set about applying for grants. This was a time consuming process requiring detailed estimates of usage, community benefits etc., but rewarding when successful. We obtained the maximum from the County Communities fund and 50% of that requested from the District Council with full support from our Councillors. An application to the Sports Council resulted in a call from their local representative who said he lived in Crowle, had played on our cricket ground and would be pleased to recommend us for a grant. This turned out to be small, but nonetheless useful. Applications to other charitable trusts did not prove fruitful. We asked Bill Jones' firm to sell the old hall site, assuming this to be a straightforward freehold sale It was not quite that simple. When the Hall was extended in 1973, room for a new kitchen was needed at the rear. This required purchase from Wychavon of the plot behind the hall. The current hall committee were unaware that Wychavon had placed a covenant on the land entitling them to a portion of any proceeds of sale. In addition, permission for a change of use had to be obtained a) from Wychavon and b) from each person who had purchased a council house, because this clause was included in their deeds. It took weeps to persuade the householders to get their solicitors to remove the clause, all at our expense. One householder held out for several weeks in disagreement with moving the Hall. I received a call from Bill Jones whilst he was at a conference in York. A local builder was prepared to pay £100,000, (our target price), for the site, but his funds were not available for two months unless subject to a withdrawal penalty. We were desperate to secure our seed fund, and considering the possibility of the sale falling through in that time, I advised Bill to accept the penalty of £2,000. He closed the deal. To our horror, the District Valuer put Wychavon's share at £22,000 which Bill negotiated to £21,000. I suggested to Wychavon that they moved their interest in the old Hall to the new one. The answer: '' that is not within the rules". Discussions with the Advisory Service pointed to the sense in employing the Hereford architects who had recently designed a number of Halls in the area and who offered a useful discount via the Service. Their offering was their preferred L-shaped design, available for us to view. We were impressed with the overall quality and attention to detail. We viewed others, including a building at Fownhope, where, from an extensive legacy, they built a Hall with internal cladding exclusively in oak, including the ceiling. The secretary explained that the Hall was not in use yet due to the extreme echo and they were awaiting advice from the experts. We noted the importance of acoustic design for our own hall. None of these halls seemed suitable to adapt as a sports pavilion/hall. At the public meeting, someone asked whether provision could be made for indoor sports. We visited Littleworth's recent Hall and sports facility. The austere high ceilinged Hall was clearly set out primarily for sports and the volume would be expensive to heat. Our guide pointed out that they had a separate Hall for meetings, not a layout that we could afford or wanted A villager had been to a Hall event in Ross-on-Wye, describing a combined hall and pavilion facing their sports field. We visited and realised this was just the layout we were looking for. I asked our architect to obtain the plans. He was offended at the suggestion, it was unethical to copy other's designs, and it would involve a substantial charge. I told the Ross architect we would like to base our Hall on his design. Without hesitation he offered to send the drawings to our man at no cost. Visits to all these Halls proved invaluable, not only for the layout and general design, but what features the managers thought worked well and what to avoid. Initial thoughts on a site for the Hall were to place it alongside the play area close to the road. Neighbours opposite were concerned at potential noise disturbance and it was far from viewing the sports fiends. It needed to be facing both pitches, but to achieve this we needed to obtain more land. The Lewis's were prepared to sell a strip alongside our field, but the width would be restricted by a drain which they wanted to keep on their land. We must provide a concrete posted wire mesh fence and any building must be sited 10 metres from the fence to protect their uninsured crops from a building fire. We were hoping to pay agricultural prices and after a false start with the land agent, the Lewis's generously agreed to this. We were pleased to accept the Cricket Club's offer to erect the fence if we paid for the materials. The majority of the fence erection work was carried out by Michael Fryer, John Hughes and Lionel Cother on behalf of the Cricket Club. We decided to site the building about half-way up the site where it was relatively flat, allowing ample space in front for car parking and room at the rear for a tennis court.