What's happening?

Picture of the month December - Digging up the Hall floor

Like the proverbial swan, it may seem as if the Village Hall Committee has been sailing on calmly with not much really happening.  In fact, nothing could be further from the truth, there’s lots of frantic paddling beneath the surface! As well as fund raising when we can, we have been very active in applying for grants and at last it seems as if this ‘backroom’ work is beginning to pay off and soon the benefit will become more evident.

 In an important first step, money raised through donations and events (about £10,000) has been spent in underpinning and repairing the north window, and with a further £5,000 provided in a Grassroots grant to repair the roof we now have a sound building in which to work. 

 Our next priority is an efficient heating system so we can use the hall in the winter and it is with great relief and excitement that we can finally report success in our three-pronged bid for grant funding for this.  For some time we have been aware of offers of funding (about £20,000) from the Howardian Hills AONB organisation and Ryedale District Council, but the availability of these was dependent on us being able to obtain the balance of funds needed for the project (at least £8500) from another source.  Finger nails have been at risk whilst we awaited the outcome of a third grant bid (we had applied to two other grant bodies beforehand without success), and we heard early in the month that the LEADER fund (Rural Development Programme for England – North York Moors, Coast and Hills) would provide the needed money.  So now our sustainable heating project can go ahead, and since the funds have to be spent by the end of December it’s going to be all systems go!

 Our heating project is much more than it seems.  Crucially, we will be installing a ground source heat pump.  This will draw heat from pipes laid underground outside to heat the hall through under floor heating.  In addition, to make sure we keep this heat we will be insulating the floor walls and roof space to a high specification.  Lastly we will replace some of the window frames and install double glazing.  This whole project should provide us with a warm hall through the winter (and heat the water) whilst keeping running costs down and minimising our carbon footprint.

 You may have received our urgent appeal for donations recently. At the time we thought we should try to provide a ‘plan B’ in case the LEADER bid to complete our heating fund package was unsuccessful.  We got the grant money, but we are still extremely grateful for the generous donations we received, and these, with a bit of topping up from the Government via gift aid, will give us additional flexibility to use the grants more effectively.  Thank you very much, we do appreciate your generosity!

 There’s much more still to tell about things proposed for the Village Hall.  Watch out for news about the exciting play equipment that hopefully will be bought with grant money for the outside play area, then we hope to try for funds from the BIG Lottery!

December 2009

Like waiting for buses, you wait ages then three come all at the same time!  Just as we were beginning to get news of our success in bidding for grant money for the hall roof repair, then the funds for the heating project, we were invited to bid for funds to provide playground equipment. Looking back, it seems a long time since the day of the summer fair when we learned that we might be able to get £25,000 to start our playground (outdoor activity), but after lots of hard work meeting rigorous application requirements, the money was finally granted during late October.

Government funds administered by North Yorkshire County Council are specifically aimed at ‘play’ facilities for children aged eight to thirteen.  The plans, prepared by landscape architects on the basis of a ‘wish list’ drawn up by the prospective users (the children themselves) combine fixed play equipment with landscaping and ‘adventure features’.  Recent ‘wisdom’ suggests that children’s play should involve adventure and risk, rather than being safe and boring, and our playground will follow this approach.  A ‘supernova’ (turntably thing), a ‘nest swing’ (several children swing at once) and a ‘Niagara’ (climbing and swinging) will be located within the railway circle at the west end of the hall, together with a log pile and rocks to climb on, a rope swing and fallen timber for making dens!  In due course a zip wire (aerial flight) will go into the lower field.  All this should begin to appear early in the New Year.

But …. before parents with younger children protest, we do have plans to add equipment for them, hopefully a covered seating place too and all being well, one or two bits of equipment for more senior residents’ exercise.  We also intend to keep the area suitable for use for outdoor events such as summer fairs.  Quite a demanding task but hopefully it will all fit in!

November’s news concentrated on our heating project.  Back then it was just the start, we had promise of the money.  Now we’ve actually begun work inside the hall.  To provide for insulation we’ve had to remove the dado and plaster on the walls of the hall and we’ll need to do the same in the old kitchen and hallway.  The current task is to dig up the floors, having removed the floor boards, to make room for the under floor insulation and heating.  Then our efforts will move outside where we will dig trenches for the heat gathering pipe work (and also to join up new toilets and sewers).  Work so far has been by village volunteers (always welcome on Tuesday evenings and some Saturdays) but progressively contractors will become involved with ground source heat pump installation and new windows.

 It’s difficult to predict, but if all goes well, the heating project and the first stage of the playground should be nearing completion in the spring.  Perhaps then we’ll be able to take a breather!  Then it will be all systems go to sort out new indoor toilets, then the new kitchen and the mezzanine.

 Finally it goes without saying that this flurry of progress would not be possible without the hard work of many unsung heroes.  Time and the final outcome (our own Village Hall) will be the judge of the already battle weary committee members and those whose resolution made even the concept possible, but the ‘thanks for the month’ should go to willing volunteers who have and hopefully will continue to get jobs done.

January 2010

Work on the indoor aspects of the heating and insulation project has continued throughout December and if you’ve looked in the Hall when the door has been open you will have seen the consequences!  The plaster in the main hall is gone, the windowsills have been taken off and the electricity fittings all removed.  The floor has been dug up and taken away and the wall which separated the entrance hall from the kitchen is knocked down.  It all looks a bit grim!  But, to reassure ourselves we say that the worst is over and from here on, we start putting things back.  In fact, with funding in place it’s really just a matter of getting on with the work.  Some of what has to be done will be down to contractors, such as the making and installation of new windows, but much is to be done by volunteers.  We expect to start on relaying the floors with under floor heating as soon as we can in the New Year.  The other main part of the work is the digging of trenches to bury the heat gathering pipes (called slinkies!) outdoors.  But it’s been raining!  In fact it seems to have been raining forever (and at the time of writing this it’s snowing).  So outdoor progress has to be delayed until ground conditions improve and we can get the digger in (and out again hopefully).

The same difficulties (boggy ground), limit progress on the playground, although we had expected to do this work once the heat gathering pipes were laid, and not until the early New Year.  Still it’s good to have the paperwork done so that when the sun shines again we can press on.

 All of which suggests that we’ve not been very busy lately.  Far from it!  You soon realise when you get involved in these projects that lots of aspects of the whole are inter-related.  Laying a new floor has to take account of where new indoor toilets will be sited and where the kitchen furniture will go.  And if you’re planning a mezzanine you need to check where the doors will be and which way they will open etc etc.  So in the last week of December we’ve been busy sorting these details out.  We have a good relationship with our architect whose services have been available free until recently, and we’re getting more technical advice from builders as we go along.  We’re also very grateful for the help and advice we get from the members of the RSME.  As their new building progresses it’s vital that we collaborate to make sure that, for example, new drains and electricity supplies don’t conflict.

 So … it may seem as if not much is happening, but things are steadily sorting out and hopefully you’ll be able to see things developing before too long.  Looking at plans for the new facilities is quite exciting and if we can realise our ambitions we’ll have a smashing village hall.