Clanfield Memorial Hall

It is with great pleasure that we can report that the Memorial Hall restoration is nearing completion. The building work has almost finished and all of the scaffolding has been removed as can be seen from a recent photograph.

 As a consequence of the hard work put in by the many village volunteers throughout the summer this part of the work has been completed slightly ahead of time. This means that the Hall will definitely re-open as planned with the Remembrance Service being held on Sunday 14^th November. The vicar, Canon Rev. Dr Gill Hill will officially re-open and re-dedicate the Hall at this service, which it is hoped will be attended by our Member of Parliament, who will also lay a wreath.  

During the last four weeks work has been progressing well on the Clanfield Memorial Hall.

The large scaffolding, complete with a sheet steel roof, has been erected and allowed work to proceed in all weathers. An external security fence has been sponsored by Dyer and Butler. Ernie Mew and Sons the well known local roofing contractors, who are sponsoring the labour portion of the project, are doing a splendid job and so far the planned timescales are being met.

All of the existing tiles have been removed and the good ones will be reused. The old felt covering and battens have been discarded and the inner and faulty wooden framing exposed for the first time since the building was constructed. The extent of the problem can be seen clearly in the adjoining photograph and the displacement is similar to the bulge in the gable wall at the Northern end of the building.

The trusses have been winched back, in stages, into the correct position and reinforced with considerable extra bracing. In order to ensure that the problem will not occur again the entire surface of the roof has been clad in marine grade plywood sheeting as can be seen in the photograph. Work at the gable end has involved the removal of the damaged (bulging) brickwork and replaced with a stud frame that will be covered with external and vertically hung tiles.

The next stage will involve removal of the steel roof covering from the scaffolding so that the roof tiles can be replaced. This is being done to minimise possible damage to the tiles when the cover is removed.

SCES the local air conditioning company are sponsoring an air conditioning system that will soon be installed into the Blue Room.

Once again the Trustees would like to thank all of the donors, sponsors and volunteers for their generous support for the repair and restoration of this much needed village amenity. Without this much needed support the repair would not have been possible.

Thank you one and all.

There is an article about the Memorial Hall in the Portsmouth News:

link to website

16^th June 2010

It is with great pleasure that the Memorial Hall Trustees can announce that the necessary funding has been secured to enable work to commence on replacement of the roof. The hall has been closed for the past 16 months due to a serious fault within the structure. Replacement of the roof is estimated to cost in excess of £70,000 and work could not commence until sufficient funding had been obtained in order to complete the job. 

The necessary funding target which is made up of matched funding from local companies, village organisations, donations and grants has now been reached. Work will commence within the next few weeks and completion is expected by mid October. 

Local working groups are being organised to raise additional and on going funds so that the building can be redecorated where necessary and modernised in the future.

Chairman of Trustees David Newberry said that “this is an excellent example of what can be achieved by a group of enthusiastic volunteers all working together”.

The Memorial Hall is also the location of the village war memorial and it is anticipated that the first official event after reopening will be the Annual Remembrance Service on the 14^th November.

Thank you all very much for your support,

Brian.