Farringdon Village Hall forced to close until further notice

MORE NEWS ON VILLAGE HALL CLOSURE. . . Updated 30th January 2007

Since the Village Hall was temporarily closed earlier this month the examination by a structural engineer has revealed the extent of the problem and the news is is that the Hall will not be opening for quite a while. While the cracks in the brickwork are serious the real problem is within the roof itself. The Village hall Committee will be publishing a newsletter shortly giving more details.

The structural engineer has attended the Folly twice now and concluded that the roof is fundamentally flawed and now unsafe. The real root of the problem is in the design of the Hall roof, The Rev Massey's building is certainly eccentric and equally certainly would fail to pass any examination by a 21st century building inspector.

The rafters are sitting on the outer wall and not the inner wall. The poor design has allowed water ingress over the years and the rafter feet are now rotten, the problem is not dissimilar from that which confronted the builders restoring the Church ceiling some years ago and renovation of the Hall roof and ceiling to make it safe and watertight will be just as costly. Incidentally the problem is not confined to any one part of the Folly as similar construction flaws are apparent throughout the building.

Although it is unlikely the roof will come crashing round our ears tomorrow, a repeat of one of the infamous Horticultural Celebrations that used to shake the Village hall foundations in the 1980's would not be advisable.

So the Hall will remain closed for the foreseeable future, although plans are in hand to set up some temporary accommodation for village events until the Folly can be refurbished and made safe, just what and where this replacement might be will no doubt be revealed in the near future.

From the roof ( thanks to David Williams for this and following images ) the situation seems a little more serious as the high wall appears to have developed a slight bulge and is now an inch or two out of true.

We now know that this is a symptom of problems within the roof itself and the remedy will certainly be extremely expensive and time consuming.

Incidentally the various suggestions for candidates to stand directly below to break the fall of any parts of the structure is too extensive to list here although the suggestions have been wide ranging and have included a few non-residents of a political nature.

As an Ex - Village Hall Management Committee Chairman, David Williams has probably spent more time on the roof over the years than anyone else in the village and was not overly concerned about any imminent collapse as his pick up is parked directly below the cracked wall.

While occupying this elevated position, David, taking time off from his televised horticultural activities, (see Gardener of the Year item) also removed an assortment of balls, of the tennis and foot variety, that were obstructing the multiple gullies and down pipes that wind their way around the convoluted roof lines of the Folly.

Since it now seems that the entire roof of the Folly will may have to be rebuilt perhaps it's not too much to hope that the building can, for the first time since it was built, be made waterproof and, once again, provide a centre for social activities in Farringdon for present and future generations.

Repairing and replacing brickwork and gullies is relativel straightfroward but I suggested that finding roof tiles to match those missing from the tower will present something of a problem. I'm glad to be proved wrong, thanks to a bit of research by newly arrived residents Marcus & Åse Cave who have found a firm that can produce matching tiles.