Our village hall was opened in 1952 as a Thanksgiving Memorial to
the men and women who served in the Second World War and built for
the benefit of the residents of Great Barton and its surrounding
area. The building, constructed using conventional bricks and roof
tiles, originally consisted of a main hall, small kitchen annex,
two small changing rooms, entrance foyer and toilets.
Before the start of our building programme the
hall was very basic, cold and damp and in need of urgent
refurbishment.
We identified a number of good reasons why we
needed to refurbish and expand the size of the building
· The roof was
structurally unsafe
· The financial
position was not good
· The number of
activities taking place was very small
· There was the
danger that the hall would close
· We wanted to
provide good facilities at local level
· We could see what
other communities had done
In 2001 a large scheme to extend and refurbish
the hall, costing over £350,000, was submitted to the National
lottery Community Fund but was eventually rejected.
At that time there was an urgent need to replace
the roof over the main hall as it had become structurally
unsafe.
In 2001 I offered to manage a project, phasing
building the work over a number of years.
I planned that full funding for a particular
phase of work would be secured before any work could start. Having
completed one phase we could move on to the next one.
We are now working on our 7th phase.
By phasing the work in this way we have managed
to enlarge and refurbished the entire building, providing an energy
efficient building with excellent facilities for a wide range of
activities used by the community and the surrounding area.
Current Position – May 2011
Phase 0
The main hall roof was replaced at a cost of
£30,000
Completed in November 2002 with funding
from:
· St Edmundsbury
Borough Council
· Local
Fundraising
Phase 1
The Kitchen Annex, including a new entrance
foyer and accessible toilet, was built at a cost of £75,000
Completed in August 2004 with funding from:
· St Edmundsbury
Borough Council
· Suffolk County
Council
· Suffolk
Environmental Trust
· Great Barton
Parish Council
· Awards for
All
· Local
Fundraising
Phase 2
The Community Meeting Room and refurbished
toilets were provided at a cost of £89,000
Completed in September 2005 with funding
from:
· DEFRA’s Rural
Development Programme
· Local
Fundraising
Phase 3
The Changing Room Annexe was extended and
refurbished, providing 3 changing rooms and entrance lobby with
toilets, at a cost of £84,200
Completed in August 2007 with funding from:
· Suffolk County
Council
· St Edmundsbury
Borough Council
· Havebury Housing
Partnership
· Suffolk
Environmental Trust
· The Clothworkers
Foundation
· Garfield Weston
Foundation
· Great Barton
Parish Council
· Local
Fundraising
-
Phase 4
The main hall was refurbished in January 2008 to
provide a quality wood floor, redecoration and upgraded lighting at
a cost of £6,300.
Completed in January 2009 with funding from:
· The Community
Aggregates Fund (COMMA)
· Local
Fundraising
Phase 5
A new Social Annexe, alongside the main hall,
was constructed at a cost of £76,300.
Completed in September 2009 with funding
from:
· St Edmundsbury
Borough Council
· Havebury Housing
Partnership
· Suffolk
Environmental Trust
· Suffolk County
Council
· Great Barton
Parish
Council
· Local
Fundraising
Phase 6
The installation of 2 renewable energy schemes –
a ground source heat pump and solar photovoltaic panels at a cost
of £76,000.
Completed in July 2010 with funding from;
· Low Carbon
Building Programme Phase 2
· Community
Sustainable Energy Programme
· Green Suffolk
Fund
Phase 6A
Providing car park lighting and resurfacing at a
cost of £9,000
Completed in December 2010 with funding
from:
· Great Barton
Parish Council
· Local
fundraising
Phase 7
Modifications to provide new entrance to annexe
at a cost of £26,000.
Completed August 2011 with funding from:
· Village hall
funds
· Local
fundraising.
Total expenditure to date £471,800
Pt 25.9.11