The Village Hall has undergone considerable repair, refurbishment and redecoration over the past few months.

A major element was that the frame of the large window over the door of the Chapel was rotten and in danger of coming away, so has been removed and replaced with an entirely new frame, but incorporating as much of the original glass as possible. Where new glass was needed new panes were made by traditional methods to match as closely as possible (which it does very closely indeed). Smaller repairs have been done to the other original windows and their frames in the Hall. This work cost £10,932, funded with the help of a generous grant of £4,730 from the Vale of White Horse District Council, for which we are very grateful, the remainder coming from our own reserves.

We also benefited greatly from a grant of £1750 from Bob Johnston’s County Councillor Community Budget, thank you. This allowed us to use the opportunity of the main window replacement to raise and reform the false ceiling in the area around this window. Not only has this restored it to its original glory and much improved the appearance, but it also lets in much more light. This grant also made a significant contribution towards the new lighting described below. 

An energy audit has been carried out by a team from Oxford Brookes University and we are acting on the recommendations. We received a £500 grant towards the £600 cost of this audit from Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment and again we are very grateful for this generous assistance. New lighting, using LEDs in place of old style bulbs, and lowering the fittings so they can now be reached from a ladder (whereas before we had to hire a platform scaffold to change a bulb!) should be installed by the end of this month.

Numerous smaller works have been carried out. The under-floor central heating has been recommissioned and now works well. Redecoration of the main hall is almost complete.

Peter Rawcliffe