THE REBUILD PROJECT
In the last few years, whilst still used widely by villagers, the pre-school and diligently maintained by the Chearsley Village Hall Committee, unfortunately the original construction materials meant that our old village hall was near the end of its lifespan and the insulation, heating and electrics were inadequate and expensive to run.
In the 2014 Chearsley Village Plan, 72% of respondents agreed that the hall needed improvement and that the current facilities were inadequate. In addition, the results of a survey carried out amongst villagers also in 2014 specifically on the village hall, demonstrated that 83% of respondents agreed that the hall needed updating.
As a result, the Village Hall Committee commissioned a feasibility study from local firm PCMS which confirmed some of the key issues with the building and provided an estimate of costs for a new hall. This report is available to download here. Following on from this report, Thame based architect Lynn Palmer was then commissioned by the Committee to develop a design concept that would incorporate a timber frame and be fully accessible for all members of the community in addition to being more cost effective and energy efficient to run.
Chearsley Parish Council and the Village Hall Committee submitted a planning application to AVDC which was approved in 2016. You can view the application and all associated documents here.
From April 2018, Chearsley now has a new, more environmentally friendly, cost effective, attractive and fully accessible community space that is available to all members of the community (and not just a few groups). Our new hall will be able to provide many more activities and services for the village than it used to (e.g. youth club, bridge, exercise classes, wifi) and is available to hire for functions and events for Chearsley residents and surrounding villages.