Much Marcle

MEMORIAL HALL - In January this year, the Much Marcle Memorial Hall Management Committee were thrilled by the news that the Community Fund had awarded them a grant of £100,000 towards the refurbishment and extension of the Memorial Hall. This was in addition to very generous grants from Herefordshire Council (£25,000), Welcome to our Future, the organisation dedicated to sustainable development, which manages the Severn Waste Environmental Fund (£10,000), Ledbury and Area Regeneration Partnership (£10,000), the Eveson Trust (£4,000) and the Much Marcle Parish Council (£3,500). However, the upgrading scheme was estimated to cost £248,000 and, even with these awards, and the marvellous generosity of local residents who had raised £21,500, the village was still £63,000 short to even carry out the building work, and a further £24,000 was also needed to fit the premises out. Enter the Countryside Agency with an award of £14,300, and this was closely followed by gifts from the Ledbury and District Society Trust (£2,000), Hedley Trust (£2,000), the Bernard Sunley Trust (£1,000), and Much Marcle Folk Club (£1,000). Then came Herefordshire Model Aero Club (£2,000), Eric Bottomley's Sponsored Climb of Mount Kilimanjaro (£2,000) and the MADS pantomime (£1,000), and suddenly the target was becoming more achievable by the day. Then came the great news. The Hall had been granted a BIFFAWARD of £25,553, from the multi-million pound environmental fund managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, which utilises tax credits donated by Biffa Waste Services, as a contribution towards many of the environmental improvements in the building. This was then followed by the tremendous news that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has awarded the village the £42,354 under their Rural Development Service. The residents of Much Marcle will now have their renovated and extended hall, and that they can look forward to meeting in modern, warm and cosy premises. With the granting of planning permission, it's all systems go and the committee, under chairman Bob Dallow, expect work to start in the Autumn, with the premises being re-opened for use in the early summer.