Village Hall

QUEEN'S JUBILEE: 2/3 JUNE 2012

All our neighbouring villages seemed to be well ahead in their planning for the Diamond Jubilee … so, the question going around Christian Malford is: “what is the Village doing for the Jubilee?”

To date there are no real plans; however, thankfully, Phil Hines has taken the bull by the horns and emailed some 13 organisations in the village to gauge the interest: most have replied in a very positive manner; so, the next step will be to call a meeting of interested bodies.

The idea is to have a ‘fun’ village day; the ‘event’ will be based on the Rec and could include some fun sports (rounders, skittles), fancy dress, BBQ, barn dance, camp fire, beacon, small firework display.

The potential organisers are looking for any ideas that will add to the fun/enjoyment of what should be great and memorable day. They would welcome any volunteers willing to assist in the planning, organising and running of the event. If you have any ideas or can volunteer; please contact Phil Hines: email - philip.hines@virgin.net or telephone: 720003.

This will be an additional village event and will not replace the ‘Village Bash’.

100 CLUB
The latest winners in the 100 Club draw are: 

March 2012
£40    45    Mr & Mrs Candy
£20    34    Mr Elks
£15    13    Mr & Mrs Read
£10    77    Mrs Downing

February 2012
£40    152    Mrs Bailey
£20    87    Mrs Hewitt
£15    105    Mr & Mrs Cole
£10    76    Mr & Mrs Fawcett

For past winners of the 100 Club Draw - click here
For a complete listing of 100 Club Numbers - click here.

Update Letter from Chairman of the Village Hall Committee - Jan 2012 

Dear Resident

                I am writing to update you with regard to some key areas of the Village Hall rebuild research following from a series of questions passed to the Village Hall from the Parish Council relating to both the current Village Hall site and the Recreation Ground.

                With regard to the Village Hall, full structural and asbestos surveys will be completed by the end of January. A full usage timetable has been produced for the Hall for the last 3 years. This includes a vehicle movement survey. Generic costing for the building of a Village Hall have been obtained and calculated for a Hall of the size required.

We are also researching the Recreation Ground and to that regard Outline Planning solely for the access to the Recreation Ground will be submitted early February. There is a deadline to re-submit so the fees of £380 paid for the last application that was withdrawn are not lost. This application we hope will provide a definitive answer from Highways with regard to the entrance as to whether it is possible or not to use the access road. There may well be some recommendations in which case research/consultation would have to take place around these.  We have invited the Parish Council to discuss the options for the entrance/driveway of the Recreation Ground. The safety of the entrance in its current state is something I know many in the Village feel strongly about from the letters submitted to the planning office, the Parish Council themselves have identified it as “putting pedestrians at risk”. I’m sure whether or not the Village Hall is relocated to the Recreation Ground an improvement to the safety of this would be very welcome.

I must re-emphasise we are only applying for outline planning for access to the recreation ground for the use of a Village Hall. This I hope demonstrates that the committee have only been looking to verify the viability of the access. The location/style of the building on the last application caused confusion. It was only ever intended as a ’specimen’ design for outline planning purposes. A great deal of further discussion with the Village around the design, location etc will have to take place prior to any full planning should we even get that far. This is by no means a done deal. We are simply exploring possibilities for a rebuild.

Once we have completed the current stage of research for the current Village hall and the Recreation Ground information will be presented to the Village. We will keep the Village updated via the Village website and Newsletter but if you have any questions regarding the Village Hall please let a member of the Village Hall committee know so we can answer them.

Yours sincerely

Phil Hines

Village Hall Chair
Jan 2012

Village Hall News - Jan 2012

Dear All 

Village Hall

Firstly I would like to thank all that have been involved in the running, fundraising and maintenance of the Village Hall during 2011 and the many hours or days in some cases that you have given to the Hall, there are far too many of you to mention but you all know who you are. Special thanks to all that use the Hall especially the regular users and we look forward to your continued support during 2012 and finally all the 100 Club members and those involved in collecting and organising the fantastic 100 Club Christmas Dinner, your support is crucial to help with the running costs of the Hall – Thank you

Rebuild Update

The Committee are producing a schedule of events that will take place prior to any firm decision taking place as to the location of a future Village Hall as there seems to be some misunderstanding of the exact process the Village Hall committee has proposed to undertake . A bullet point version will be will be published shortly but please feel free to read past explanations that are on the Village Website under the Village Hall rebuild section. We shall endeavour to keep this updated regularly. 

The ballot result from last year was that the preferred option from those that voted was the Recreation Ground. The ballot was always designed to assist the Village Hall rebuild committee to see where to target their efforts to investigate the feasibility of the chosen site.

It was not a vote to confirm a site of a new hall. A further Village vote has always been planned before any full planning was applied for.  

With regard to planning and feasibility the Rebuild committee shall be re-submitting the outline planning application for the Recreation Ground. This is purely to get a definitive answer/comment from the Highways Dept with regard to the vehicular access to the Recreation Ground. It does not by any means signify that the rebuild will take place at the recreation ground. The design, layout and position of the building are purely for planning purposes and again by no means a confirmation of this. Without this application being processed we cannot further this stage of the process. 

The committee have received a summary of the questions and issues that have been raised with the Parish Council with regard to the current site and recreation ground. Further information is being compiled from all the past research the committee has undertaken and again will shortly be published.

The Village Hall rebuild committee have invited the Parish Council to form a sub-committee to liaise over matters relating to the Recreation Ground including the feasibility for improving the entrance of the recreation ground, matters of law and the proposed improvements to equipment and additional facilities already planned by them for the recreation ground.  

Regards

Phil Hines

Chair
Jan 2012

Village Hall Rebuild

OPTIONS FOR THE FUTURE - CHRISTIAN MALFORD VILLAGE HALL

The Village Hall Committee has produced an information booklet on 'Options for the future - Christian Malford Village Hall. The booklet can be viewed by clicking here.

"Rebuild" Open Meeting, 27th June 2011. Minutes. Click here 

"Rebuild" Open Meeting, 27th June 2011. Questions & Answers.  Click here

"Rebuild" Open Meeting, 27th June 2011. Current usage of hall and car park. Click here

 Letter from the Chairman of the Village Hall Committee:

 

 April 2011

Dear All

This just a quick note to update you all with the progress we are making with the production of the information booklet and how we are getting closer to the point when we need you all to become actively involved.

There has been a great deal of work behind the scenes and hard decisions made. You will see when you receive the booklet the Church is no longer being put forward as a viable option. There were many pros and cons for this site. However rebuild committee and the full Village Hall committee felt that Church could not accommodate the demands of a modern Village Hall. There were also ‘potential’ ownership issues and the ongoing maintenance and running costs, it was felt we could be placing one of the Villages biggest assets at risk. The full details of this decision will be made available on the Village Website.

The development of the New Village Hall will be the most important decision the Village has made for many many years. I would like to ensure everyone is fully informed and feels that they have all been able to take a part in the process. As I have previously said we shall holding an open meeting for you to attend and welcome any questions you may have. This is now set for Monday June 27th at the Village Hall at 8.00 p.m. I know some do not like to speak out in public so if you have a question you would like answered please forward them to me or hand to Tina May at the shop and we shall answer these questions within this meeting.

Included within the Information Booklet are voting slips, votes can only be cast by persons living within the Parish of Christian Malford and be 18 years or over when they vote. The whole process to ensure that we progress the Villages preferred option is reliant on this and I cannot stress how important it is that you vote. We are making this as simple and easy as we possibly can. You can submit your vote on the night of June 27th at the Village Hall following the open meeting. The ‘Ballot’ Box will then be placed in the Village Shop until Saturday 9th July and finish off at the Village Bash at the Recreation Ground also on the 9th July.

Once a preferred site has been chosen the real work will start. It will be imperative to get ‘all’ the interested parties views so we can design and accommodate as many wishes and concerns as we possibly can and build a Hall we can all be proud of for generations to come.

Regards

Phil Hines 

March 2011

Dear All

You may be aware but we were advised by the Planning Office to withdraw the current outline planning application that was submitted in relation the Recreation Ground. The reasons were as follows;

  • They require further information as to the current use of the Recreation Ground and that of the Village Hall especially the number of vehicles using both.
  • They also require detailed plans on how the entrance to the Recreation Ground could be improved.

    The fee that we have paid is not lost and can be held for any future application wherever that should be.

The committee have produced a timetable of events that they propose to put to the Village. (I shall detail them further below)

      1. Produce an information booklet of the proposed possible sites the committee consider to be viable. 

      2. An open morning for Villagers to have a question and answer session with the rebuild committee in relation to the information Booklet.

      3. A new Village vote on the mandate to sell the Hall if required.

      4. A public meeting will then be called for the Village to choose the favoured site.

      5. Exploration of the site and design/planning of a New Hall to take place with close liaison with all those affected. (Users/Neighbours etc)

Information Booklet
The booklet shall to the best of our efforts contain the pros and cons of the sites with approximate costings etc.

Open meeting (Question and Answer)
The rebuild committee will be available to answer any queries you may have in relation to the information booklet. It would also give an opportunity for possible updates to be made prior to any Village vote on the sites.

Mandate
As I previously stated the mandate in relation to the selling of the current Village Hall site to fund a replacement Hall expires this month (March). The committee will be calling a public meeting to ask the Village if they want to extend this mandate. This does not mean the current Hall site will be sold only that possible further sites can be explored knowing the Village in principal is willing to sell the current site to fund it. If a new site was located it would be again for the Village to agree to this site. If there was no agreement the Hall would obviously have to stay in its original site and other replacement ideas explored.

Village Vote
Exactly as it says the Village will have the opportunity to choose the favoured site. The committee will then use this to explore the site with close liaison with the Village.

Regards

Phil Hines

Village Hall Chair

January 2011

Dear All

I am writing just to help clarify the position of the Village Hall as I feel we haven’t let the ‘Village’ know exactly what stage the Village Hall Committee are at with the investigation into identifying a possible site for a New Village Hall and there seems to be some confusion around this especially with the submission of outline planning.

The Village Hall is ‘owned’ by the Village and there is a committee who are the trustees for it. It is again the Trustees responsibility to ensure that there is a Village Hall is within the Village for future generations. There have been concerns for some time over the long term structural condition of the current Hall. The floor joists are known to be decaying, the corrugated tin although good on the outside cannot be guaranteed underneath. The recent cold weather has shown a few problems with the design of the Hall with pipes freezing (including the gas pipes for the heaters...) I think we all know that the current hall will not last forever and it would be prudent for the trustees to look to the future and plan for a replacement.

This is where we are today; back in March 2008 a Village meeting was called to ask permission from the Village for the Trustees to explore the possibilities open to us. The majority public vote was to look at possible sites within the Village that would be suitable as a Hall location funded by the selling of the current Village Hall site for development. A mandate was set that the trustees would explore possible sites to see if any were viable then to hold a further public meeting and to report the findings to the Village for them to decide. We cannot hold this meeting without knowing whether a site is viable or not.

I must stress that all that has been done to date is to follow this mandate to seek possible viable locations. Details of all the proposed sites will be open to discussion during the next public meeting, the sites at present being The Church, Malford Meadow and the Recreation Ground.

Outline planning has been applied for within the recreation ground. The reason for this is that although there is free planning advice available from the planning department ‘we’ could not get a definitive answer from the Highways Dept on whether the entrance to the recreation ground passes regulations for a Village Hall to be sited there. The entrance in its current layout/condition has been identified by the Parish Council ‘as putting pedestrians at risk’ so we really need a definitive decision from Highways as to what is/isn’t possible.

The Recreation Ground is held in trust by the Parish Council for the Village so there may also need to be a public meeting to get the view of the Village to confirm if using the Recreation Ground was acceptable.

When a viable proposed site is agreed by a public meeting there will then have to be further meetings with the users of the current Hall to try to meet everyone’s expectations of a new Hall. The current design and layout of the Hall within the outline planning application is purely to provide the planning Dept with a plan to work with. There would be a great deal of consultation with all interested parties prior to any ‘Full’ planning application.

I hope this goes someway to explaining where the Village Hall development plans are and the processes we are working to, the committee are looking to hold a public a further public meeting in March/April so look out for the details.

Regards

Phil Hines

Chairman