APPLETON VILLAGE HALL

The Village Hall in the early l970s was a brick building which had a nice hall but with very poor catering facilities, quite appalling toilets and with no hot water. In 1974 the Hall Committee was served with a Public Health warning about the condition of the toilets and the need to provide hot water particularly if the Playgroup and Baby and Toddlers were going to use the hall. They would not allow the hall to be used by young children. They had also been warned about the use of portable gas heaters which according to the Fire Authorities was a serious fire risk and as such they would not grant a Fire Certificate.

The Situation in 1974

It was at this stage that it was decided to present to the Parish Council an up to date financial report which stated the dire financial situation of the Village Hall funds. As a result the Village Hall Committee was disbanded and the Hall closed down for a period approaching six months. The year was 1974.

The Chairman of the Parish Council at the time was Mr Sam Farrant. He proposed on behalf of the Parish Council that a new Village Hall Committee be formed but made up of business people. The brief given to the new Village Hall Committee was to raise funds to bring the hall up to the statutory standard. The first requirement of the new committee was to obtain an up to date report on what it would cost to bring the hall up to the required Public Heath standard and also to satisfy the Fire Authorities.

An Opportunity

The committee decided that they were also faced with an opportunity, which may never be repeated, to incorporate other features and facilities which would enhance the hall’s use for functions like weddings, etc. As a result of discussions with a number of people in the village it was decided that the hall should have a new kitchen large enough to meet the needs of functions, new toilets at the entrance, a bar and a bar store, and a new committee room which would be large enough to ensure that it could be used as an additional room for functions. There was also a need to have the Doctor’s Surgery with a waiting room in the Village Hall and move from the outbuildings of the Plough Public House.

Finally, they found that they required new sewage facilities because the old sewage pipes were broken between the hall and the road.

The Malthouse doctor’s practice based in Abingdon had served the local community for many years. The doctors had expressed their concern for some time regarding the totally inadequate accommodation which they were using, consisting of outbuildings adjoining the Plough Public House. Many villagers will testify that, if one could survive the rigours of the ‘Waiting Room’, the consultation was immaterial.

The Hall Committee had always wanted to have the Doctor’s Surgery as part of the Village Hall. It discovered quite early in its planning that the Charity Commissioners and the National Health Executive would not sanction such a move which gave monopolistic status for one particular practice. Both organisations insisted there had to be a referendum in the Village to ascertain the amount of support for the exclusive use of the surgery by the Malthouse Practice in Abingdon. They set the target at 85% of the village population. The village voted 86%. To ensure the vote was obtained a team of volunteers, called on each house in the village to collect the voting forms to ensure they would meet this target.

The Charity Commissioners also wanted to clarify the situation with all the Trusts which provided help for villagers. The Reverend Paul Tuckwell was absolutely marvellous, because some of the early Trust’s documentation went back to the 16th century and were written in Latin which he was able to translate. The result of his efforts was the amalgamation of a number of very old Trusts into one. Without his research the Charity Commissioners would not have agreed to the changes required by the Hall Committee. After several meetings with the commissioners, clarifying documents and interpreting their, and the Hall Committee’s, views and after lengthy delays, the Charity Commission gave their approval. The whole process had taken over fourteen months.

A further point which was of concern to the Hall Committee was identifying who had the Title Deeds for the Hall. Mr Sam Farrant who was Chairman of the Parish Council at the time thought one of the past Chairmen had the deeds. It was eventually found tucked into a drawer. There had been many anxious moments because the Committee did not want all their efforts to be lost through not being able to find the Title Deeds. Without them very little progress could be made.

The land had originally belonged to a brewery and a covenant prevented the use of any of it for a surgery. This was overcome when the brewery agreed to nullify that covenant.

The Cost of bringing the Hall up to date

The cost to provide all these features was £27,000. Many of the older members of the village remembered that they had all been asked to pay 6d (old money) for one brick as a contribution to the construction of the hall. With undaunted efforts many functions were arranged, including regular dances, cheese and wine parties, whist drives, coffee mornings, jumble sales, etc. It soon became apparent that many - albeit well organised and enjoyable - functions could not raise the substantial funds needed quickly.

Mr David Farrant - who farms at Eaton and is one of Sam’s sons - had been offered a steam roller as a suggestion for organising a Steam Rally. This was accepted by the other members. It was organised in six weeks and was helped enormously by a local haulage company who agreed to pick up steam engines from other sites in the country if the Hall Committee paid for his diesel. This was a one-day event. The effort and organisation were enormous, culminating in the very successful Appleton and Eaton Steam Rally in 1974. The event finished at 5.30 pm when the heavens opened. In no time the field was flooded. A number of volunteers helped to tow the engines out of the mud and this continued into the next day.

This was followed in 1975 by a grander Steam Rally, which was held over two days, (they had learnt their lesson about rain because it was held in June after taking advice from RAF Benson who keep very good weather records) on a large field offered by Mr Abe Gow, another farmer from Eaton. The Steam Rally attracted 32,000 people. The results were beyond all expectations. From these two events alone more than £11,000 was raised. The project was now in funds. The Hall Committee were also pleasantly surprised at receiving a financial contribution from the VWHDC.

Fifteen dedicated villagers set to work. Thousands of hours of voluntary labour were put into the reconstruction work which was backed up by professional expertise.

The Opening of the New Village Hall

In 1977 the new Village Hall was opened by Mrs Cox who was the oldest person in the two villages. Everyone was delighted that after all their efforts they had helped to transform a very rudimentary building into a hall which they were all proud of. The construction of the hall and surgery had taken three years. The new hall, with its fine entrance, committee room, kitchen, storage rooms, stage, and toilet block is a fine venue for all social activities.

In July 1992 there was a second opening ceremony of the Village Hall. This was due to the hall having been burnt down. However, the result is an unbounded success. The surgery facilities were extended from the one built in 1978.

N.B. We have included in this Parish Appraisal quite lengthy histories of the Tennis Club, the Sportsfield and especially the Village Hall because the Parish Council is closely connected with all three facilities. We are the Custodian Trustees of the Village Hall and we pay the insurance on the building. We also own the land used by the Sportsfield and pay the insurance charges and make an annual contribution towards the costs of maintaining the facility. We pay the yearly rent for the land used by the Tennis Club and also pay their insurance charges.