Woldingham Village Hall

The Village Hall, which was the culmination of five years of local effort and hard work, was officially opened on 19th October 1968, and over the years has proved to be the heart and hub of most of Woldingham’s activities. It is used by residents of all ages, and by visitors from far beyond. The annual Christmas pantomime is a prime example of village enterprise and co-operation, and the Players also draw on many diverse talents with their biannual performances. Part of the Village Hall is used regularly on term-time mornings by a Nursery School. It has provided the venue for many social celebrations, for national occasions, such as the Millennium and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, and biannual local events like the Horticultural Shows. It has seen public charity events and private family occasions, such as weddings and birthday parties. It continues to be the setting for dinner-dances, concerts, theatricals, antique, craft, art and fashion shows, group study and social days, badminton, short bowls, and keep-fit.

Accommodation and Facilities

An executive committee of volunteers handles the day to day running of the hall, which employs a caretaker to liaise with the public and keep the building and grounds in good order. Accommodation and facilities include:

Rates for 2007 (per hour)

• Use of the car park, chairs, trestle tables, card tables, Grand piano, Kitchen utensils, cool cabinets and two heated trolleys are free during the hire period.
• Minimum bookings are for three hours, but every booking for three hours or more entitles the hirer to one additional hour of occupation beforehand for setting up and one free hour afterwards for clearing up.
• For Saturday and Sunday hirings the above charges are subject to a 25% premium when the hirer is a non-resident of Woldingham.
• Special conditions apply to the consumption of alcohol and to Weddings. See 'Terms of Hiring'.
• For all bookings the Terms of Hiring 2006 must be completed and returned to the Bookings Secretary with a deposit of £25 (£50 for the Main Hall) before acceptance of your booking. Please contact (01883) 653106 with enquiries or to request the booking forms.
  

> Floor Plans
> Internal Photographs
> External Photographs

Chairman's Report 2007-8

After taking over from Peter Trigg five years ago, I was concerned about the task ahead, but with the support of my committee we have maintained a series of good results, and this year has been just as productive.

The absence of a caretaker provided an ideal opportunity to clean out his cottage, the task requiring two skips and a lot of hard work from the volunteers . This paved the way for one of our proposed projects which was to refurbish and modernise the Caretaker's cottage with a new bathroom and extended kitchen, and quotes were obtained from several local builders for the work.

I am sad to report the death in April of Julia Igglesden a staunch member of our ever smaller Executive Committee.

Spring arrived which enabled us to carry out the necessary work on the restoration of the Joyce Giuseppi Memorial Terrace.

With summer just around the corner, I was pleased to tell the committee that a lawn tractor had been donated to the Hall. This will replace our ageing lawn mowers and apart from the time saved, will greatly assist in keeping the grounds neat and tidy

The heavy rain at the beginning of the year caused some flood damage under the stage as the pump was unable to cope with the influx of water and burnt out. I am pleased to say that the resulting damage was covered by our insurance, and a new, increased capacity pump has been installed.

By this time the committee were setting their sights on the next projects - one being the refurbishment of both the old school toilet facilities. and the other the replacement of the canvas chairs. A big debt of gratitude is due to Jeff Jeffery, the Parish Council representative on the Management Committee as well as a member of the Executive Committee, who managed both these projects and arranged for the necessary grants to cover the entire cost of both. Again thanks are due to the Parish Council for the substantial grant which covered the cost of the toilets and to Sally Marks and Surrey C.C., who covered the cost of the new chairs.

We have also received a donation from the Circle of Friends to help pay for the replacement of the detector lights in the car park and entrance to the Hall.

I believe that the day to day running of the Hall and standards we like to maintain have not been affected by the absence of a 'full time' caretaker. As always we are finding it difficult to recruit new blood, and we have an urgent requirement for someone to take on the book-keeping role. With reference to the accounts, I must also thank Harold Dunn who was not deterred by the mammoth task of bringing the accounts up to date and is responsible for producing the '07 results.

Work eventually started on the Caretaker's cottage in late December, and we are looking for completion during the first half of May. The work which is being funded entirely by our own resources has been somewhat delayed as the same builder also carried out the work to renovate the toilets which had priority as there were major time constraints with this particular project.

Last but not least I would like to thank all my Committee for the work that they have done over the past year .and also the Bookings Secretary for the hard work she has put in to the hall's smooth running.

Looking forward, we are maintaining a steady run of block bookings, whilst the diary for casual bookings is steadily being filled, and as a result I am delighted to advise the meeting that despite the general rise in costs we have been able to maintain our '07 charges at least until July this year.

Simon Aggiss
Chairman
Village Hall Committee