Silchester Village Hall News September 2023
Facilities upgrade
Now some time has passed after the restrictions of Covid, grants are becoming more widely available for village halls and community buildings. With the benefit of such grants we are planning to refurbish our toilet facilities throughout. They are in dire need of a refurbishment and somewhat let the hall down. We hope to achieve a more pleasant and modern feel and look with a high standard of finish. This along with the new decoration in the foyer and club room will upgrade and enhance the village hall giving it a much needed boost.
Door Guards
Automatic door guards have been installed to all fire doors. Propping open the fire doors is convenient at times but the current wall hooks are unsafe and pose a risk of a possible fire spreading. The devices now fitted hold the doors open when required but automatically release and close the door on the sounding of the fire alarm.
Redecoration – Volunteer day
The volunteer day on the 19th August will have taken place by time of print but at time of writing I can only tell you what is being planned. The volunteers will be painting of the foyer walls and woodwork in advance of the new oak doors being fitted later in the month. Installation of new coat hooks and a simplification and refurbishment of the notice boards, including the removal of extraneous paraphernalia, which only serves to clutter the walls. The club room, time permitting will be similarly decorated in the same new colour palette.
Hedge Trim
The front hedges have been trimmed and shaped recently and are well on their way to forming a neat box profile in a few seasons. Further outside maintenance was carried out in the car park. It has been cleaned and cleared of weeds, by Silchester Parish Council.
New users
Recently we have seen a surge in bookings by the wider community for parties and a wedding. With the upcoming redecoration of the club room and new toilet facilities we hope that this will help to attract more of the same. In fact dear reader if you have booked the hall recently and have any fabulous photos showing how beautiful the hall can look we would love to have them for our new website.
The Silchester Story – Phoenix Club
Recently the Phoenix club had an afternoon with the authors of Silchester Story (Stephen Bibby, Lynne Jones, and Denis West) speaking about their book. It was very well attended with over 50 attendees and a resounding success.
Sarah Bradshaw
Trustee sarahbradshaw26@gmail.com
Eve Baker
Secretary eve_baker2003@yahoo.co.uk