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Metheringham
Village Hall is held in Trust for
the people of the village. It is administered on their behalf by the
Management Committee, which consists of a representative cross-section
of Hall users and other interested villagers.
The
Parish Council, although it generously paid for some recent improvements
(the new roof), has no formal responsibility for supporting it
practically. It must be self-funding.
The
Hall is some 30 years old and needs some updating, not least to comply
with the new regulations that require public buildings to be freely
accessible to all, particularly the disabled.
Some
of you will have visited the Hall on 9 June when
drawings for a proposed extension were on display. The drawings
attracted much favourable comment but, and here’s the rub, the cost of
the work would be in the region of £180,000!! A cheaper scheme, to do
the minimum necessary to comply with the new regulations, is currently
being costed, but even that work could cost some £20,000.
Whichever
scheme may be adopted, the majority of the funding would have to come
from lottery grants, but a significant amount of money would still have
to be raised by the village – in the case of the expensive option
about £20,000. That’s
nearly £20 from each household!
Unfortunately,
that is not the only difficulty. The Old Post Office Project (as
reported by Metheringham History Group elsewhere in this Newsletter) is
also likely to need financial support from the village – and it is
obvious that the village should also be supporting a bid to provide
changing rooms and a pavilion by the sports field. Trying to rationalise
these conflicting calls on village support is one of the main problems
facing MACLA at the moment.
Ultimately,
however, it is you, the villagers, who must decide the future of all of
these projects as they all require your practical support. Without it,
none will see the light of day. So that MACLA can channel village fund
raising and grant applications in a way that we know has your support, we need to know what you think. Please contact any member of the MACLA Committee, or drop a line
to the Editor of this Newsletter, or visit the
MACLA stand in the Village Hall during the Fayre and Feast on 20th October to discuss the projects.
Whatever
the outcome, we urge you to support fund raising activities and please be patient – these things
take time, lots of time. It’s also worth remembering that not all
lottery bids are successful!
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