RESIDENTS in Barningham hope their village hall will be given a new lease of life after being told to “use it or lose it” at a public meeting.
The hall has seen a steady decline in use in recent years.
Rising costs and the loss of county council grants meant it could soon become too expensive to keep going, residents were told by parish meeting chairman Jon Smith.
He said: “Last year it made a loss of more than £1,300 and although we have some money in the bank it isn’t going to last long if we continue to make four-figure losses each year.
“When I came to Barningham nearly 40 years ago the hall was the centre of village life, hosting a thriving youth club, WI and many other groups and holding regular dances and other entertainments but times have changed, the village has changed, and the hall is now used only infrequently. Do we still need it? If so, what for and how do we fund it? We need more people to join the village hall committee, new blood with new ideas about how to make it financially viable and how to encourage more people to use it.”
Residents at the meeting unanimously agreed that it was worth keeping the hall open and eight of those present rose to the challenge to join the committee. One of them, Fiona Killeen, was later elected as chairwoman, replacing David Heslop who recently left the village.
Ms Killeen, who moved back to the village last year, said: “The village hall holds many fantastic memories from my childhood. I attended the youth club, competed in the sports days, entered the produce show every year and attended many other events and parties there.
“I moved back to the village last year with my own family and would like to reinstate many of the events, that have since been forgotten, so that my three children can socialise with others and enjoy the events, as I did, almost 40 years ago.”
At the public meeting there was a discussion about ways to attract people to the hall, ranging from a revival of the youth club to a licensed bar. Ideas for fundraising included a suggestion that the parish meeting should increase its annual precept to cover village hall maintenance.
Ms Killeen said: “My vision is for the hall to be used on a more regular basis by residents and people in the local area. I believe that the village hall should be the hub of all activities and give children and adults a sense of belonging. It is extremely important for our residents to have somewhere to go to socialise and have fun.”
The committee will meet at the hall on Tuesday, October 16, at 6pm to discuss the next move. The hall, formerly the village school which closed in 1943, was given to the village six years later by the lord of the manor, Sir Frederick Milbank. It was given “for the purposes of physical and mental training and recreation and social moral and intellectual development through the medium of reading and recreation rooms, library, lectures, classes, recreations and entertainments or otherwise as may be found expedient for the benefit of the inhabitants.”
