About The Hall

The Hall was built by the British Legion to a standard design in 1936 on land purchased from Edgar Woods, a farmer in Harpley. The Hall was gifted to the village by the British Legion when they no longer required the building. The Village Hall has played an important role in the community since it was built and a new wing was added in 1996 significantly increasing the floor area. At the rear of the hall the land was used for a bowling green for many years until lack of use meant the remaining bowlers joined other clubs in the area.

In addition to being the venue for many events over the years including fetes, quiz nights and music evenings, the hall is used by a number of groups.  It is also used for Parish Council Meetings and as a polling station.

 

We believe Harpley Village Hall is a key asset for the community and should provide an inclusive range of activities that serve the village. Due to its history the building it is now starting to show significfant challenges to maintain the fabric and comfort of this resource.

 

Running of the Hall

 

The Hall is an independent resource which does not receive any external funding or control. The day to day running costs of the hall are fully covered by bookings, everyone who supports our events and the committee who give their time for free. We also work to obtain grants to replace or provide the basic equipment needs of the hall. Click link to how our income and expenditure are made up. Last financial year we delivered a surplus of just over £3000. Any surplus funds are transferred to a reserve fund for major repairs and potential match funding of grants for major refurbishments. This currently stands just short of £30,000. While this may sound a lot it would not go very far, for example, it probably would not cover the cost of just repainting the building.

 

Future of the Hall.

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Being almost 100 years old, the basic structure of the hall becomes more difficult to manage. The major issues are the lack of any insulation, the roof is not watertight and the windows frames are rotting away. Due to the basic frame of the building addressing these individual issues would be equivalent to their cost within a total refurbishment with only a fraction of the benefit.         

The more realistic aim is working towards a full refurbishment or total rebuild of the Hall within the next few years while we can still patch up the existing building. We have now sorted out the Land Registry information and the hall is now held in trust in perpetuity for the village by the Charities Commission. We have already carried out a structural survey on the current building which confirmed our concerns and we are currently in discussion with Architects who should be able to outline the available options and estimates. A key objective is to try to maintain the overall design elements so that the character of the hall is maintained in the village. To embark on this project we obviously need the support of the village. Shortly we will be carrying out a survey to obtain your views and we would like to get as much feedback as possible. If you would like to get more involved in this project please contact a member of the committee.    

 

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If anyone has any additional information such as any old photographs of the hall, please let us know using the contact details. The Harpley History Group is also busy collecting more information. Contacts and updates will be available shortly.