And so — we are here again on a cherished occasion to celebrate the opening of the newly refurbished and updated village hall of St. Michaels, Tenbury Wells.
Some of you may remember the dear green corrugated hall which stood on the common in 1942 and then the new site here in 1966. In the late 90’s Eva Grovenor opened the hall with updated editions following in 2012 with added storage to the side of the hall and further refurbishments. And here today in 2021 we have a very updated top notch hall with a new foyer area and toilets, updated disabled facilities, new fire doors and exits, automatic doors, Wi-Fi, an excellent functional space, I hope you will agree.
Involvement and commitment are the two words Stuart and I always stuck by in our many lifetime projects together so hopefully this meaningful project carries this thread with the goodwill of people and a feel good spirit behind.
It was 5 years ago in 2017 when first plans were drawn up and discussed leading into 2018 when various grants were applied for. We needed to match fund and with the hard work and leadership of Stuart and a wonderful committee £30,000 was raised.We needed £96,000!
2019 was frustrating as there were delays with planning being submitted and we were unsure of funding. However on a cold covid miserable day in March, 2020 I received a call from the Lottery offering us £68,200! What a thrill! In more secure times in 2020 we went on to seek builders, sub contractors and awaited tenders. The building was able to start in July 2020. Throughout this 5 years we have had the support of an excellent team of committee members, all as the title says committed and involved. We have had a subcommittee of 4, Mark Brooks, Pat Mutton, Eric Hudson and myself who have regularly met for site meetings with builders, sub contractors and lottery members, once or twice a week.
At the end of 2020 we were concerned that the project had had an unexpected extra cost to rectify the roof and adjoining cavity wall on poorly constructed earlier building and we hadn’t finished the fire doors, exits, ramps and rails plus little extras. We spoke again to our friends in the Lottery, applied and waited. On 1st February this year another happy call came through with an offer of £16,191 to complete the safety requirements we needed to put in place.
I would like to introduce you to Mr. Eric Hudson our Architect and Project manager who has done an excellent job with daily problems and being in daily contact with us and contractors. He will then change his hat half time and turn into Mr. Mayor of Tenbury and will do us the honour of officially opening the new hall.
We are delighted to have Tenbury town band with us today, yourselves and the sunshine, a good memory, Thankyou. R.P.