Introduction
Originally the village school, the Village Hall was built in 1845. The school closed in 1962 and the building was leased by the educational authority to the village until the building was purchased with the aid of grants and fundraising efforts in 1979. The Hall was registered in the same year as a charity and was declared a listed building in 1985. In 2005 a new extension, to match the design and construction of the existing hall, was completed with a sizable modern kitchen and 3 toilets, there is also disabled access to the building. The hall was also extended to the east side, thus allowing a larger number of people within the hall. Since then the flooring has been replaced, external lighting installed and the car park resurfaced.
The Village Hall is available for hire and can cater for small gatherings and events up to a maximum of 80 people. The kitchen is fully equipped with a cooker, dishwasher, heated plate cupboard, refrigerator (without freezer compartment), microwave oven, urn and kettles. There is also plenty of china, glasses and cutlery. Hall Hire
The Village Hall committee raises funds for the day-to-day running and maintenance of the hall by organising events and entertainment throughout the year and there is an informal coffee morning each Tuesday morning.
Click here for latest Meeting Minutes
Governance
The Village Hall charity, which governs the Hall, is an unincorporated association governed by its Trust Deed dated 25th April 1979. The Trust Deed provides that the Committee of Management shall consist of seven elected members and eight representative members, which may include not more than two co-opted members. As some of the representative bodies have ceased to exist, the Committee now comprises such elected representatives and co-opted members as is considered appropriate.
The aim of the charity is to hold the Village Hall for the use of the inhabitants of the Parish of Corton Denham without distinction of political or religious or other opinions including use for meetings lectures and classes and for other forms of recreation and leisure time occupations with the object of improving the conditions of life for the village inhabitants.
Review of the Year 2022
As we have emerged from the Covid Pandemic, so too has the Village Hall with a much busier year.
Our first big Village Event was the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June comprising the Beacon Bonfire and Jubilee Party which was jointly run by the Village Hall, the Parish Council, and the Parochial Church Council with your Chairman as Pageant Master General who then managed to miss the entire celebrations by going down with Covid the day before they began. The event proved a great success and, financially, broke even which had been the original intention.
Our usual Brunch was welcomed back in July making a profit of £321, and we experimented in August with an outdoor contemporary Circus Troupe booked through Somerset Take Art. Thanks to a joint collaboration with a visiting French Tennis Exchange group, we sold 140 tickets and made a profit of £240.
Our annual dog show, Scrufts, had to be cancelled due to inclement weather, but we did hold a, well attended, talk on Astronomy by our own resident Astronomer, Paul Spurr, the proceeds of which he kindly donated to the Village amounting to £332.
Hire of the hall raised a healthy £873 and we now have Yoga classes every Monday and Friday. Tuesday Coffee Mornings have continued on a voluntary basis despite the disappearance of our Post Office van, and the 50/50 club again raised a magnificent £600, whilst giving out a similar amount in prizes thanks to the efforts of Ben and John.
We were again lucky to receive a final Covid grant of £3917 from the Government and, with the assistance of another Government grant, we have installed WiFi in the Hall, which has also enabled us to acquire a Card reader to allow easier taking of monies at future events.
In March, the Hall roof suffered storm damage which cost £548 to repair, mainly covered by insurance with just a £100 excess to pay and in May, we renewed our Hallmark 1 Award following a successful inspection by the Community Council for Somerset.
Finally, we removed the dying Thorn tree outside the Hall and planted a new Magnolia tree ‘Elizabeth’ to commemorate the life of our late Queen Elizabeth II
We end the year with a healthy reserve of funds amounting to £29,559 and give special thanks to Chris Chapman for continuing to kindly audit our accounts, and to the rest of the Committee for helping to run our Village Hall so smoothly.
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VILLAGE HALL EVENTS:
For information on forthcoming events in the Village Hall , CLICK HERE
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Click here for the Village Hall Aims and Review 2022
Click here for the Village Hall Accounts 2022
Click here for the Village Hall AGM Minutes 2022
Click Here for our 2022 Hallmark One Inspection Report
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