Farringdon Village Hall News
Charity Number 301824

Formal Grand
Re-Opening on 3rd May 2008

Rising Maintenance Costs for Village Hall

Opportunity for new purpose built Village Hall

Village Hall Update

Enforced closure of the Village Hall is now over after a year's expensive remedial work to the roof, walls and alarm systems. The Hall, which occupies one part of Farringdon's Grade II listed Massey's Folly, is now available for bookings by village organisations and individuals.

A function to celebrate the event will be held at the Hall on Saturday 3 May - more details later.

Sadly, however, this latest closure only reinforces the declining state of Massey's Folly and the desperate need to put in place a radical long-term solution for its protection as an historic building while ensuring its efficient use. Village Hall income will never be sufficient to meet worsening demands.

This recent maintenance work, which cost over £15,000 without any improvements to user facilities, covered considerable, multiple and serious leaks in the roof, cracks in an outside wall, and fire, gas and electrical tests. A very generous contribution was made by the Parish Council and EHDC, but the Village Hall's own funds are now seriously depleted.

Views of Farringdon residents sought

Your Votes are Needed

The Folly's Two Owners

The Folly combines two separately owned parts in one building.

The Village Hall (which includes much of the floor above and of the roof) is the property of the Village Hall Management Committee (VHMC). Trustees of the VHMC, elected annually by village residents, are charged with providing a Village Hall whether at the Folly or not. As a registered charity and with a formal tie to the Parish Council, the Committee has to steer a complex path to satisfy legal requirements for the listed building. Each trustee is, at the end of the day, personally liable for meeting these conditions.

The rest of the Folly is owned privately by the TT Andreae Trust and is managed for them by their agents, JM Osborne and Co. This
'other half' is currently let to the nursery school.

The separate interests of Osborne's and the VHMC would be most easily met if they could agree a solution to the Folly's long-term future.

The best Good News is that the Village Hall is now open for business.

It has been a long, hard struggle, but we have finally got there.

This would not have been possible without significant contributions from the Parish Council and EHDC.

We would like to thank both organisations for their unflinching support.

We are also very grateful to Chris Trower, who was generous enough to allow the Village Hall Committee to use his premises for meetings, without charge.

Also thanks to Rev Tony Pears for allowing use of the Church for larger meetings.

Residential Solution

Matters have come to a timely head with a suggestion by Osborne's to the VHMC that the two owners join forces and sell the building as a whole for residential development. The striking external appearance of the building would be protected, the roof refurbished and the interior completely renovated to provide accommodation.

The attraction of Osborne's plan to the VHMC is that it would rid the village of the unsustainable maintenance costs of Massey's Folly while securing the landmark's future. More specifically, the VHMC's part of the building would be sold at a commercial rate providing funds for the trustees to meet their legal objectives with a purpose-built new Hall on a site within the village boundaries.

This opportunity will not last for ever.

Exploratory Work Needed

The VHMC is committed to seeking the view of residents before taking major policy decisions and, hence, this newsletter with its request for individuals to express their thoughts. The trustees are seeking agreement for two actions:

· A draft conversion scheme to be undertaken at a cost of around £1,500, split equally with Osborne's clients.
· Independent work by the trustees in their own time to examine new site and additional funding options.

These two pieces of work will concentrate on the many unanswered questions, any one of which might undermine a joint sale. For instance, for the site to be successfully developed, a suitable buyer must be found, accompanied by planning permission and a generally positive reaction from residents.

The VHMC will need to be sure that a combination of the commercial price received for their part of the Folly, combined with other grants and support, and ongoing income from the new hall, will adequately cover new build and running costs.

There is also the considerable challenge of finding a new site.

This investigation would be only the first part of what will inevitably be a long process involving further village reports and consultation.

GOOD NEWS BOX

OVER 60'S DINNER

The Village Hall was opened for the evening, with Fire Marshals equipped with whistles and torches providing the Fire Alarm and Emergency Lighting systems for the evening. It might not have been very hi-tech but it worked well enough.

One Marshall really entered into the spirit of things by nearly setting fire to the table decorations!

A happy evening was enjoyed by all.

Half Way House

Osborne's have also mooted the possibility of a more formal division of the Folly's structure allowing them to redevelop their 'half' while taking over a proportion of the VHMC's running and maintenance costs This 'half-way house' has some attraction, but will not rid the VHMC of its ongoing financial burden.

Also, the trustees have some doubts about whether a village hall, with all of the inconvenience of traffic, noise and late-night activity, could ever comfortably co-exist with residential apartments within the same structure.

Whatever the occupiers' covenants, there would be seeds for dissent and, possibly, restricted use.

Preservation Trust Hopes

A second 'sale' opportunity is notionally on the table from the Massey's Folly Preservation Trust (MFPT) and this option has definite merits. MFPT is a small local group with the principal interest of maintaining the Folly for future generations. The VHMC supports the MFPT in its aims, but gives priority to its own legal requirement of providing a suitable village hall for Farringdon. There is a joint steering committee which attempts to co-ordinate plans.

MFPT has a plan to purchase and to renovate the whole of Massey's Folly to provide an all-encompassing community facility for the village. There has been positive interest from English Heritage and others. The Trust is currently undertaking surveys of the Folly and hope shortly to be in a position to make concrete proposals to the two owners to the whole of the building.

However, the two owners of the Folly are not yet fully convinced of the viability of MFPT's plan from a financial and project management perspective. The owners wait for a formal proposal.

To date, the outline proposal received by the VHMC has been for MFPT to buy the village hall for no cost. This would require the VHMC to give up its single asset. Not only do the VHMC see this as financially very unwise and in breach of Trustee duties, but the Charity Commission has firmly squashed the idea.

Osborne's are also considering the MFPT outline proposal. They indicate that, although an offer was made by MFPT some time ago, it was not acceptable even if the MFPT were in a position, at the time, to proceed. There has been no further correspondence and Osborne's feels the offer has now lapsed.

It is understood that the project would need both parts of the building to be secured to be successful.

PARKING

We have been granted a licence to park at the back of the Village Hall, for the princely sum of £1.
This will make using the Hall easier as we now have a right to park, rather than having to ask favours.

FIRE ALARM

The fire alarm and emergency lighting have now been installed and we now comply with current regulations. A door has been put in to stop access to the upper floors, which reduced the cost considerably.

GAS and ELECTRIC TESTS

Both the gas and electrical systems have been certified as safe.

THE ROOF
Is fine ...for now.

Summary: Sale is Inevitable

The trustees hope that this explanation of the situation will enable you to give them the authority to carry out the further exploratory investigations. If you, as an individual, would like to discuss matters further, please feel free to contact the VHMC chair, Sally Oakley on 588379 or by email

Your Vote

Voting Slips have been distributed around the Village.

Please make 2 votes : firstly, for one of the three 'way forward' options; and, second, for or against a combined residential / village hall use. There is also space to add any comments, if you wish. Your name and address is requested, but this is optional.

Your slip will be collected by a member of the VHMC If you are not likely to be at home at that time, please put your slip in an envelope and put it through the letterbox at either Hawthorne Cottage (Upper Farringdon) or 1 Lilian Place (Lower Farringdon).
Many thanks