Woods Ware China at the Serving Hatch

Wethersfield Village Hall in Essex is pleasant old building, an old brewery maltings that was converted for use of the parish in the 1920s. Villagers themselves had helped to pay for the conversion by purchasing shares. Money was raised to board over the concrete floor so that it would be suitable for dancing upon and it was well used. More information can be found on the parish council website here:   http://wethersfield.org.uk/wethersfield-village-hall-2/ The regular dances, and the sense of ownership by local residents, led to a little bit of trouble in 1937, however. Towards the end of that year, a hunt dance was held which could be attended by ticketed invitation only. A 25 year old girl called Evelyn from Cambridge turned up with a ticket that she said she had obtained from a friend. This appearance of an uninvited guest seemingly rubbed up the organiser, a Mrs B, the wrong way. She was forced to deny that she had been rude to the girl or had deliberately cras...

The art of fundraising is closely associated with the village hall. Not only will the village hall committee need to bump up their income on occasions, the hall is often the host to the fundraising activities of others. The charity fete, whist drive or auction will all find a home here. Perhaps the hall kitchen needs refurbishing so that a dinner club can use it – all kinds of markets and minor gambling will take place to try and secure it. Or perhaps a grant application will be put into the Lottery or a charitable trust – a way that rich people can sooth their consciences and avoid taxes is to distribute grants to good causes from these trusts, often modestly named after themselves. There are some obscure ones with fun names that will only cover a small geographical area, and there are some well known ones with recognisable names that anyone can go for. I have spent much of my career applying to these grant making trusts and know the names and criteria of many of them practi...