Friday 25 November 2022

V is Village Halls

 What would villages do without their village halls?

Well, in the case of my village, which doesn't have one, it means there's nowhere for a big group to meet during the day, because the large Community Centre Hall is used by the primary school for P.E and dining hall and what was a Community owned Small Hall has been sold to the school for a Special Needs Class.(Both were built adjoining the new primary school in the 80's).
 Instead we have just two much smaller meeting places - the United Reformed Church and the even smaller Old School Room. At sometime in the future there are plans for a new community owned hall . Hopefully sooner rather than later but the wheels of local government work exceedingly slowly and much fund raising will be needed.

Thankfully most of the villages around are in a much better position.

This is Stowupland where I called in on my way home from shopping last Saturday to look at a Christmas Craft Fayre.


And on my way I noticed a big poster for another Christmas Fayre at  Old Newton so did a round trip and went there too

At the first Christmas Fayre I bought something interesting that I'll put on a post in December and at the second a small donation got me something else that will also be in a December post.

Here's the Village Hall where I'm doing the over 60s Exercise and Wellbeing group.

And this one where I go to one of the WI groups

Both of those two above had had modernisation and extensions in the time we were away from Mid Suffolk. I've queued for dozens of jumble sales outside both of these back in the day.
The rather nice notice board was paid for by the WI in our centenary year of 2019 and made by the local Men's Shed woodworking group. The one problem with this Village Hall is lack of parking, people have to park all along the road which causes chaos and it will get worse with dozens of new homes being built here. There is talk that one of the building companies are supposed to build a new Community Centre as part of their permission to build the new houses but when it will happen is a different story.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

34 comments:

  1. My (former) township has a lovely town hall. I was town clerk for many years of ample renovation, so that a condemned building was returned to a viable building.

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    1. That must have been good for the people of the area

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  2. We have a lovely village hall it’s charitable institution run by trustees who are all volunteers. I’m one of them , we’re struggling to find key personnel ( chair and treasurer). It’s well used for weddings and other celebrations and by the U3A all week . It’s so sad that people love it but won’t offer their time free. Halls like these are vital in rural communities, there are lonely people in amongst us all .

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    1. All organisations seem to struggle for people to run them. Lots of younger people just don't have time I guess - with huge mortgages they often work long hours

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  3. The old Weslyan church down by the Police Station seems to be where events are held around here. It's where I go for the talks given by the History Society, and I know several other groups meet there regularly. There's a little village hall up on the Maesmynis road too, by the church - where we go to vote.

    I hope you get one in your village in the fullness of time.

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    1. We certainly need something bigger for daytime events and the large Hall at the Community Centre is too big and expensive for many groups to hire in the evening

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  4. Such useful spaces for community 'cohesion', aren't they? We're luck to have a hall on this estate which is where my SW group meets. Very useful. xx

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    1. We really need something bigger here - soon I hope

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  5. We have a lovely, relatively new Village Hall with adjoining playing field and play equipment - and a good car park. Great facilities for our growing village

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    1. Villages that have built new Village Halls are few and far between round here. Bacton really needs something new as there are nearly 200 more homes being built at the moment

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  6. What is the difference between a Community Centre Hall and a Village Hall? They sound the same to me in all but name. Why does the primary school have priority booking for it? It sounds rather odd to me, after all what is a Community Centre for if not the community?

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    1. It depends who paid for them in the beginning. The School have always used the Main Hall as they were built together for that purpose but the smaller community owned hall adjoining was just sold to the school who needed to expand for Pyramid SENDs use.

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    2. Oh so it is theirs now. That explains it. It is no longer a comminity centre hall, it is the school hall.

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  7. Our Village has a community centre and a village hall so always lots of clubs and events going on. The downside is that neither has parking and parking for people with no driveways is a problem anyway in our village. Luckily we can walk to both halls.

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    1. I'm glad I can walk to things in this village now - first time I've not had to drive to meetings since 1991. Village Halls were never built for car owners!

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  8. We have an excellent village hall too with plenty of parking (although we lost two tennis courts well before my time to achieve the parking!). It really is the heart of the village with a primary school and pre-school on one side and village shop and cafe on the other, as well as a young children’s playground and activities for older children such as table tennis all surrounded by trees and playing fields for football, cricket and stool ball. I go to lots of activities in the village hall including yoga, horticultural society shows and talks, arty talks, quiz nights, harvest supper, we even had an antiques evening the other week with someone off the telly! Best thing is that I live far enough away not to be bothered by the hubbub but can still walk to everything in less than 10 mins or cycle even quicker. Sarah in Sussex

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    1. Wow that sounds like the perfect village set up.

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  9. We have a town hall that is used and in the next town over they reused a train station as a senior center and community center.
    cathy

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    1. That sounds like a good use for an old railway station

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  10. We have so many village halls here as there are a lot of villages here, which all sort of merge into one town if you don't know the area well. Sometimes I forget which is which and have to make an effort to read the signs as we drive past to try and get used to which is where. We also have the Scout Hut which is situated at the edge of the park where I walk the dogs, they freely allow people to park on their car park which is a huge help. On top of all those we have an Arts Centre, for all sorts of functions loosely connected with arts, three church halls behind their respective churches, one of which holds the Monday Food Bank and all of them have been registered, along with the library as designated Warm Spaces for this Winter.

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    1. My nearest town of Stowmarket also has several halls that can be used as they were often built as the town expanded in the 50s and 60s.
      The village Hall in my old village was built in the 1920s!

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  11. Village halls - long may they survive. We have to travel a few miles for our nearest village hall, although the local church is hoping it may get funding for improvements that would make it a community hub, that is grinding extremely slowly.
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. The Parish Church here would make a good meeting place if it was modernised with chairs instead of pews but sadly it's very High Church with a vicar in his 80s who seems to go on for ever

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  12. Great for the communities. No doubt much fundraising was done for their provision. Just a little moan, not a lot was wasted on the 'beauty' of the building!

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  13. I was surprised to see Village Halls as your V word, Sue. But you made it work!

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  14. You certainly have a plethora of interesting buildings. We have a large City Hall with an adjoining Memorial Hall. It was called the City Hall long before we had city status, though it's never been called a village hall. The caretaker's accommodation adjoins the City Hall, and it's also where our charity shop is housed and our local lending library, so quite a hub of the local community.

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    1. I could have gone round even more villages for more photos of big and small but thought 4 was enough!

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  15. Many of the village halls (and chapels) in Wales are made of tin - they are sometimes called tin tabernacles. I love them. There is a fab one in our village - sadly now closed. When we went inside it a few years ago it was full of old posters for dances, whist drives, community meetings - a lost world really.

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  16. Community Centers or Village Halls are less common in the US. A holiday lunch or coffee might be offered occasionally for anyone wishing to gather with others (cost varies). These events are usually limited to a certain number and require registration.

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  17. Village Halls, here in Saskatchewan are much smaller affairs. The ones you show are lovely and large.

    God bless.

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  18. Nice. It's so lovely to have Village Halls. That sense of community is something that I really miss in the US. My sister was saying she was off to a Christmas Fayre at one of her Grandchildren's schools but there is rarely anything like that here.

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  19. I missed this one! I like the idea of a town hall, of a gathering place. I have been thinking about it since I've read it. We've got plenty of meeting places here. The Women's Club for Women which is an organization that seems to be a group for the upper crust ladies. There's the Conewango Club which was originally for the well to do men of the community, but now is for the well to do, period. There is the library. Various churches. But no one place. Such a nice idea.

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