Village Hall Story

Clifton Campville Village Hall was bequeathed to the village by the late Major Richard Reed for use as a community meeting place in 1971. A registered charity, it is vested in a Trust and day to day management of the building is conducted by a Management Committee.

The age of the building is between 1780 & 1795 and changes in the brickwork indicate that the structure has been altered many times, suggesting a variety of uses during its history. Certainly at one time it was used as a barn. However for many years the building was used as the village school, with the schoolmaster living in the adjoining house.

Each year the Management Committee produces a programme of activities including Quizzes, Skittles Nights (including fish & chip supper) and themed Supper Evenings, all with appropriate menu, music and entertainment. Please see the Village Diary for details of upcoming activities & events.

In 2017 it was agreed that the Village Hall needed a complete rebuild/renovation as it was no longer “fit for purpose”. Access was difficult for anyone with mobility issues or anyone with a pushchair. The building was very old, cold and draughty, had a leaky roof and inadequate toilet facilities; it was not ideal for any activities for people at either end of the age spectrum. The Committee was concerned about ongoing maintenance costs, plus its state severely limited the type of activity that could take place in the Village Hall. Nevertheless, the village hall importance cannot be understated as it holds a unique position as a hub, at the heart of this rural community, offering a facility that brings together different people & social groups for activities & private functions.

Therefore, a team was assembled to write a Business Plan and make grant applications during 2019. At the same time, the Village Hall continued with its activities and raised significant funds of its own. We also benefitted greatly from the ‘Buy-A-Brick’ campaign and generous donations from Villagers and “Friends of the Village” towards the build project.

The plans which had been drawn up sometime before 2018, gave an enlarged main hall, a meeting room, a much bigger kitchen, a separate bar area and modern toilet facilities, together with disabled and baby changing facilities; all of these were far removed from the existing facilities. We would also have a terrace area enabling – on sunny days! – to hold the weekly Coffee Shop outdoors.

We were very fortunate to secure all of the major grant funding by early August 2019 and in September the hall was emptied and build began. Completion was delayed until July 2020 because work ceased during the Coronavirus pandemic.

This project has been the result of tireless fundraising & grant application effort over the last 18 months, to achieve a bigger, better Hall to better serve the growing Clifton Parish community in the 2020s and beyond.

The funds were secured from the following major charity-funding bodies, along with local fundraising events by the dedicated CC Village Hall Management Committee.

So a big THANK YOU to all our supporters during this very difficult and unprecedented time.

Clifton Campville Parish Council makes a regular generous contribution to the upkeep of the Village Hall, but most of the funding comes from the events run by the Committee.

Members of the public are invited to attend the Annual General Meeting in Autumn to hear reports on the activities of the Management Committee, the financial situation, and especially to make suggestions for programme items or other activities.