At the Village Hall at 4 pm.
Despite the extraordinary times, we have been experiencing the Management Committee of the Village Hall has, during the lockdown, taken the opportunity to make further enhancements to the facilities available to users. These include:
• the installation of a powerful ventilation system which has the dual advantage
of both drawing outside air through the Main Hall to keep it cool when there
is a large audience or party, and also providing plenty of fresh air to keep
everyone healthy.
• The Main Hall has been completely renovated and decorated, including painting the outsides of the emergency exit doors. All the messy surface wiring
has been cased into the walls before decoration took place.
• A modification has been made to the raked seating to allow the fascia panels
to be removed to increase legroom.
• In addition, important repairs and refurbishment took place during a lockdown:
• Repairs were made to the bell tower lead flashings to eliminate the leakage which was causing ceiling staining and flood water on the Main Hall floor.
At the same time, the weathervane was securely refixed.
• Remedial works took place on the roof above the Snug where leaks were causing stains and mould. It turned out that it was coping stones that needed repointing.
• Skirting and panelling in the Small Hall was renewed and repainted where it
was showing signs of rot.
• The door between the Main Hall and the Small Hall was replaced with a heavier
weight door to improve sound insulation between the two halls.
• Two emergency doors were replaced because the existing ones were rotting at the bottom. At the same time, new crash bars were fitted to make the operation of the doors safe and reliable.
• A high-quality speed controller was fitted to the extract fan in the kitchen to
stop it making a loud and irritating low-frequency hum when run at the lower
speeds.
We applied for the grant which was made available for Community Buildings by
Sedgemoor DC under the ‘Covid-19 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant’ scheme
and are delighted to have received almost £28,000 in support which has happily
compensated for lost revenue during the lockdowns.
We re-opened the Hall in line with Government guidelines and it is gratifying that
we are beginning to see users returning, including such groups as the Tuesday Club,
Rainbows, Brownies and Guides along with various sporting classes such as yoga. I
expect it will be next spring before we are back to the usual level of Hall usage. Social distancing and ever-changing government guidelines may make it difficult for some users to meet all requirements. Any Covid-19 requirements that apply to our users
can be found on the Hall website – www.wedmorehall.org.uk
We still have several improvement projects in mind, though some have had to be put on hold. Our next major one is a complete refurbishment of the Snug to make it into a friendly and welcoming bar and meeting area rather than the cold environment it currently is.
We are very grateful to all our sponsors and users and welcome representatives
of user groups and other members of the community to join us at the AGM on 18
November. We would also welcome anyone interested in joining the Committee and contributing towards a much-valued local asset. In particular, we need someone who has experience of running a public building, to take on general facilities management responsibilities. This includes scheduling such things as electrical testing, PAT testing,
gas safety inspection, fire alarm maintenance, fire extinguisher maintenance, and
booking contractors to do general ad hoc repairs.
If you have any issues or questions you wish to raise, or if you are keen to join the
Committee, then please contact me before the meeting – chair@wedmorehall.org.uk
Simon Tomes
Chairman, WVHMC