Hall Ready to Reopen

Just in time for Christmas, the volunteers organised by Mitch completed their work to make the hall safe to reopen for users.

A number of concerns had been raised over the year, culminating with one from the public that a lose board was flapping on the cupola at the end of November. Together with an external gas leak from old piping behind the building, this caused the PCC to take the decision to close the hall.

Concerned that this may become permanent, we put a proposal to the PCC for us to attend to the necessary safety work, at our own cost (providing a handover of operations was concluded during 2024).

A crash deck was constructed to protect users, entering the hall at the west porch, from debris falling from the cupola, or tiles from the roof. The west porch window, whose stonework was particularly fragile, was fully boarded over, while other windows received less obtrusive protection methods. The feature north window in the main hall had a large catch tray installed to prevent further falling stonework from reaching the ground or striking people below it.

Numerous items separately identified in a fire safety report during 2023 were also tackled, with volunteer help from electrician, Don Foster. These included multiple, radio linked alarms and emergency lighting, exit signs and protection of electrical distribution boxes.

Hall uses can expect the PCC to reopen the hall after the Christmas and New Year holidays.