A 96-YEAR-OLD village hall will be a much warmer and brighter place this winter thanks to new rafters and modern ceiling work.
Hutton Magna Village Hall’s dark ceiling has been replaced with bright white boards on top of 60mm of insulation, fulfilling its chairman Graham Dodd’s dream from when he joined the committee in 2002.
He said: “In the winter we used to put the heating on and the heat went up into the ceiling and we had two fans to blow it down. So we had a double cost.
“The ultimate test will be in winter but already what we have experienced in here is that the core temperature is up and we need the doors open a bit more, which is a good sign.”
It is also the first major work at the hall, built in 1927, since the late 20th century.
The hall’s longest serving member Marian Lewis said the community had rallied round to replace the timber walls with reclaimed stone at the time.
She said: “The millennium was our first party – it wasn’t quite finished but we had a party. It was real village effort. People were very good.”
The latest work was made possible thanks to a £6,600 grant from the neighbourhood budgets of county councillors George Richardson and James Rowlandson. Additional cash was provided by the hall committee to complete the £7,700 project.
Cllr Rowlandson said: “Village halls are under a lot of pressure at the moment with the costs of heating and the like, and any way we can help combat the cost, as we have done here, is great.”
The changes will not only benefit the classes which use the hall regularly, such as tai-chi, pilates, Wednesday workout and Dalton flower groups, but could also see the return of a cinema club and the introduction of carpet bowls.
Mr Dodd said: “We used to have a cinema club and if you were sitting here in the winter not moving you felt chilly, so I am hoping now it will be warm enough in the winter so we can sit and watch things on the big screen.”
Earlier this year the King’s coronation was shown on the large screen in the hall.
Mr Dodd said the next aim is to look into the cost of installing super-fast internet at the hall as a service to the community because Openreach says it is too expensive to roll out fibre-broadband to the village.
Of the latest work he said: “This picture has been in my head for about 20 years and now it’s here and I am very happy with it.
“The work was carried out by Kevin Shackleton of Shackleton Joinery & Building of Barnard Castle. We were keen that local money went into local business and we are pleased with Kevin’s work.”
The chairman also thanked Annalisa Ward from Teesdale Action Partnership for help with the funding application.
