Cusop

3:56pm Thursday 13th November 2008

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NEW VILLAGE HALL – On Monday, November 3, following almost 12 years’ effort by the community, work started on building a village hall for Cusop. The need for a hall was foreseen early in 1997 when the local church decided that it could no longer afford to maintain the church room, a building that had been used as a village hall for over 90 years. The hall committee registered as a charity in 2004 and later that year succeeded, with the help of Herefordshire Council, in buying a site for the hall.

An application was made to the Lottery Community Buildings Fund for a grant to top up the funds already held, but the application was turned down.

An appeal to the parish for funds has so far raised more than £36,000. Even with this significant sum and the funds held from other projects the fund was still short of about £50,000. The trustees have borrowed this sum from Action for Communities in Rural England (ACRE) with plans to repay over five years.

Throughout this long process the trustees have been encouraged by the willing participation of so many in the community, plus advice and support from Community First and the community regeneration team at Herefordshire Council. Encouragement has also come from Alan Jenkins who drew the plans, Monty Bishop, health and safety advisor, and the two main contractors, John Jones of Erwood and Ron Smart of Clyro. All have been generous and understanding in taking on the project. Thanks are also due to Wendy Lawrence for allowing us access through her garden to the sewer and to Nantyglasdwr Farm for permission to spread surplus soil on their land.

There can be very few village halls built in recent times with so little grant assistance. We are hugely grateful to Herefordshire Council for their help in buying the site for our hall and for the £12,500 grant towards building the hall.