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June 2021
BRIANTSPUDDLE AND AFFPUDDLE
NEWS
VILLAGE HALL NEWS
Village Hall Annual Report 2021
What a year! Cast your minds back if you will to
January 2020 when most was well with the world
and there was talk of a virus affecting parts of Asia.
rd
Jump to the 23 March 2020 and the prime minister
announces the first lockdown ordering everyone to stay at home.
The village hall hosted a meeting of all the parishes organisations able to attend.
The meeting, organised by the parish council was to consider a parish response to
covid 19.
From that night on to the present time the village hall has been open every single
day with the exception of Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
The trustees agreed wholeheartedly that the village hall should play whatever
part it could during this pandemic. All activities came to a halt, income dried up
to a trickle and we braced ourselves for what was to come. The hall became a
daily sanctuary especially through the early spring and winter months enabling
those needing the shop and post office to wait in the warm and dry whilst one
person at a time was allowed to enter the shop, it also provided a safe space for
a small amount of interaction with each other whilst queuing.
We had just had the kitchen, jubilee room, toilets and lobby areas redecorated
and it was decided that whilst the hall was not available for hire it would be a
good opportunity to decorate the main hall providing a fully refreshed bright and
fresh village hall for use once this was all over.
Throughout the last year as and when government advice and or regulations
have allowed the hall has provided a “village hall café” on Tuesdays and
Saturdays. An opportunity for members of our community to come together,
albeit socially distanced, to enjoy a respite from isolation and spend an hour or
two in the company of others whilst also raising some funds towards the running
costs of the hall itself.
It has been a place where daily papers can be collected and we also brought
the food bank collection from the church to the hall. With the very generous
support of our community that little plastic box as enabled considerable amounts
Affpuddle and Turnerspuddle website: www.briantspuddle.info
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