Monday 22nd January see the start of Village Hall’s Week, a nationwide celebration of hall’s and community buildings that are the focal point of so many of our rural and urban communities.

The hall has signed up to take part and starting on Monday we will be releasing a daily post to showcase the building, the groups and organisations that we host and how the hall continues to be relevant in the 21st Century.

The hall was built in 1913 and its first meeting took place 104 years ago this month. Initially, a reading room bequeathed to the community by the influential Beech family many of its members saw action and died in the First World War,

In the late 1960’s it converted into a village hall and around the millennium underwent a £80,000 refurb that saw new toilets, kitchen and a small meeting room replacing an old flat roof extension.

The hall is managed by a group of at present 5 trustees as well as 2 representative trustees from St Werburgh’s Church and the Parish Council. We are keen to recruit more trustees to ensure the future of the hall is secure.

The trustees work hard behind the scenes ensuring that we get good value for money, be it the building insurance or energy contracts. In addition, we arrange access to the hall for parties and events and work with groups and organisations to encourage use of the hall by the community.

The trustees also organise and host events such as Breakfast Mornings, concerts, the Scarecrow Festival and many others that have the twin aim of creating a community atmosphere in the community as well as fundraising to secure the hall’s future as well as to make improvements.

Please do remember that all this does not happen on its own and if you don’t get involved then who will?

Its a fact of life the no is here forever and unless the community is prepared to step forward and get involved in whatever way then the hall’s future is not secure.

We have seen half a dozen or so volunteers, your friends and neighbours, step forward and offer their help, be it at events, maintenance of the exterior of the building and contributing their thoughts on what can be done to improve matters. If they can do it so can you.

If anyone one to find out what it entails being involved then call Martyn Hordern on 01538 750657.

We do hope you enjoy reading our daily posts!

#villagehallsweek

The Post Master informs that over the next 3 weeks there will be some closures of the service at the hall and some truncated hours. This is due to holidays.

Monday 22th January – 2.45pm to 4.45 pm

Thursday 25th January – closed

Monday 29th January – closed

Thursday 1st February 2.45pm to 4.45pm

Monday 5th February 2.45pm to 4.45pm

Thursday 8th February – closed

Monday 12th February normal service resumes – 12.30pm to 4.30pm Mondays and 2.45pm to 4.45pm Thursdays.

Please do support the hall by using the Post Office – all the normal services you would expect from a Post Office.

The hall is delighted to announce that from Tuesday 23rd January Zumba Fitness run by Pete Ruscoe will be held at the hall on a weekly basis.

The class will run each Tuesday from 7pm to 8pm, the cost is £4 a head and is open to anyone aged 16 and over.

There is no need to book just turn up, however, if you require any more information contact Pete on 07403952279

As the saying goes – ‘New Year, New You !’

Our village hall is one of 10,000 up and down the country that are at the heart of community life and in our case the heart of the village.

They provide numerous social activities, classes, and services like the Post Office that visits the hall twice a week.

These halls are run by around 80,000 volunteers but that number is dwindling as new, younger volunteers are not coming through to replace those who have retired.

This is a situation that we face in Kingsley and its slightly reassuring to know that we are not alone, not that it makes matters better.

An article in the Telegraph newspaper yesterday highlighted the issues we and other halls face. It can be read HERE (opens in new tab)

ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) is at the forefront of efforts being made to address the issues as regards volunteers as well as providing support to village halls across the country.

As part of this, they are running a Village Hall’s Week from 22nd January to champion the diverse range of buildings and communities that make up the network of village halls across the country, as well as the services they offer.

There will be an opportunity to say thank you to the volunteers who run the buildings and learn more about the groups, organisations, individuals, and businesses who are making use of them week in and week out. Predominantly the week will take place on social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram)

The week will use the hashtag of #VillageHallsWeek.

The hall, of course, is joining in and will in the run-up to the week and during it showcase the various activities at the hall, to encourage its continued use and hopefully one or two people to volunteer.

The village hall is delighted that Girl Guiding has chosen the hall to be the venue for a new Brownie Unit that’s being created in the village for young girls aged between 7 and 10.

The unit is run by Brown Owl Nicola Howle and has it first meeting on Friday 3rd November at the hall from 4.30pm.

If anyone is interested then Nicola would be delighted to hear from you. Further details for the poster at the top of this post.

We wish Nicola, Lisa and all the girls in the unit every success.

Believe or believe it not there are just 6 weeks to go to our 2017 Christmas events on 1st and 2nd December!

Details of both can be found via this link: Christmas Lights & Breakfast with Santa

Many who came to the Wakes event in June recall that Allison had a tombola stall raising funds towards her target of raising £1000 by cycling from London to Paris to raise funds for the Royal British Legion.

We are delighted to report that Allison has completed her ride and to date has raised in the region of £1200.

The route started at Eltham in London, crossed the channel and then from Dunkirk to Abbeville, Beavais and then Paris.

Allison said ‘Thank you to everyone who has helped me to raise £1200’ she added ‘Every village we passed through gave us such a warm welcome. The whole experience was amazing, so much so that I have decided to fund raise again by signing up for the Ride to Ypres next June’

Its not too late to sponsor her if you want to. To do so click the link here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/allison-held

A big well done to Allison for this most worthy of causes.

What a great weekend everyone had at the start of September when the villages first ever Scarecrow Festival was held. The aim was for around 15 crows but in the end, there was almost three times that amount with 44 entries. The theme was Nursery Rhymes and everyone who entered worked really hard to give the judges a very difficult task of judging the eventual winner.

The event was the brain child of sisters Julie Coates and Alison Reynolds who worked extremely hard over several months to pull everything together. They were rewarded with a super day on the Saturday with glorious weather which drew large numbers across both villages viewing the entries.

The Sunday was less pleasant with scattered showers but nonetheless, many people came out and traversed between the entries.

St. Werburgh’s Church was open on the Saturday for maps and refreshment and Kingsley Village Hall likewise on the Sunday.

Overall the event raised some £450 to be split between the hall and the church plus the money they raised through cake and tea sales etc.

The winner of the Judges vote was Old McDonald by Alison Pooler from Hollins Lane with Pussycat Where Have You Been from Churnet Valley Road a close second followed by Mary Mary on Sidney Drive.

Three more were highly commended these being Humpty Dumpty on Cheadle Road, Rub-a-Dub-Dub at Church Farm along with Jack and Jill on Churnet Valley Road.

The people’s vote went to 12345 on Barnfield’s Lane with Little Bo Peep (and her lost scattered sheep!) on Glebe Road coming second.

Said Julie Coates after the event ‘The scarecrows were of an exceptionally high standard and an amazing amount of work had gone into each one. The judges had a really difficult task to decide a winner and we would like to thank them for doing a great job on the day”

She added “There was a real buzz around the villages over the weekend and several people commented on how nice it was to walk around both villages and chat to friends and strangers alike and enjoy a real sense of community”

“Thanks also to St Werburgh’s Church and Kingsley Village Hall for all their help and providing refreshments on both days”

You will be glad to hear that the event will run again next year over the same weekend with the theme to be announced in the new year. Let’s aim for 50 plus this time!

The village hall will once again fully support and assist Julie and Alison but this time we may need some volunteers to help out.
Lastly its worth pointing out that the two villages have far more in common than not and it was great to see the community come together as one.

Long may it continue.

Due to holidays, there is a truncated service at the hall this week:

Today 4th September, the Post Office runs from 2.45pm to 4.45pm.

Thursday there is no service.

Next week there is a return to normal opening hours.