The Official Opening

Of  The New

Hullavington Village Hall

Friday 20th October 2006

About 50 people attended the official opening of the village hall on Friday 20th Oct. Bob Fenner, the hall project leader, opened the proceedings by thanking everyone for coming along. He went on to express his heart felt gratitude to: all those who had served on the Village Hall Project Group, the Parish Council, the PCC,  NWDC, Hills Waste Management, Terrapin, and all those individuals and groups too numerous to name, who had provided valuable advice, help, encouragement and determination to make sure our plans for a new hall would become the reality. The hall would never have been built had it not been for everyone pulling together. Bob picked out Alan Jones for some special praise. Although Alan was not a member of the Hall Project Group, he had given up so much of his time to produce an automated on line booking system for the hall, which made the task of booking and accounting so much easier than before.
Bob said he was amazed and humbled by the high level of village engagement with the new hall. The users of the old hall had returned to the new hall from their temporary venues and  some  existing village groups had decided to also use the new hall. In addition, many new groups had formed and were using the hall as their venue too. And it did not stop here, even more activity groups such as yoga, & the WEA were already in the pipeline. To underline the point about the high utilization of the hall, Bob joked about how difficult it had been in finding a Friday evening free on which to have this official opening ceremony

James Gray stressed the point about how important he felt village halls were to villages such as Hullavington. Our corner of the county was primarily made up of village communities. Village halls, like post offices and shops were an essential ingredient in sustaining these communities and he was an ardent supporter of village life. He was delighted to hear that already the hall was being used so much by so many village groups and that even more were planned or in the pipeline. He congratulated Hullavington for overcoming the difficulties it had faced in planning and executing such a major village project. James Gray then unveiled the brass plaque to officially open the new Hullavington Village Hall. Despite it being a Friday night and probably a long week for him, James Gray stayed on for quite a while after the ceremony, talking to individuals and listening to their views on village life, it’s needs and its requirements for the future.

The Reverend Andrew Evans expressed his pleasure at being here in the village hall tonight. The Church’s association with the village hall was a long one. The land on which this and previous halls stood had been provided by the Church for the community and when the old hall burnt down, he and the PCC had been determined that a new hall should replace the old one. There were a few problems to solve, like the fact that the previous arrangement under which the church had provided the land was not strictly legal. However, when reasonable people combine their will, then nothing can stop the right thing from happening, no matter how difficult it may first seem. Andrew went on to bless the hall and the groups who will use it in the future

Pastor Vin Greenman of Mt Zion thanked all concerned in the building of the new hall. The loss of the old hall had meant they had had to move their place of worship to Grittleton and, whilst ever grateful to Grittleton for use of their hall, it was just not home, so he was especially pleased to have Mt Zion worshipping again in Hullavington Village Hall. He also thanked The Church of England for allowing Mt Zion to use the hall as a place of worship for their faith and offered an amen to Rev Andrew Evans blessing

Dave Hunt, the Hall Committee Chairman, thanked everyone for coming. He then thanked Bob Fenner for his leadership of the Hall Project Group. It was clear to many that without Bob's  drive and energy the hall project would probably not have gotten off the ground. In recognition of all this, the Hall Committee presented Bob with a water colour, painted by our resident artist, Liz Parry-Williams. The painting was a montage of village landmarks with the new hall at the centre. Dave went on to say that Bob had given great service to the village hall, not just in the leadership he provided for the new hall, but also for his tireless work over the past 25 years as a very active and dynamic member of the Hall Committee. In recognition of all his work for the village hall, the Hall Committee, the Parish council and the PCC decided it would be fitting  to name the larger of the two rooms in the hall “The Fenner Room”.
 

For photos of the vent click  (Here)