Village Hall AGM

The Annual General Meeting of West Ashling & Funtington District Hall

took place in the hall on Tuesday 23rd June. All seven trustees

attended, together with 11 members of the public.

As well as the formal elements of the meeting – election of officials etc

– there was some discussion around the planned refurbishment of the

hall over the Summer. The minutes of the meeting include the Chair’s

report, which gives full details of the work – see the website

https://www.westashling.org/news. In summary it is a full

refurbishment of the interior, especially insulation and heating,

electrics, toilets and decorating throughout.

The work will begin in mid-July, with completion in October. However

we hope to reopen the main hall, kitchen and one toilet in mid-

September.

A further project, when funds allow, will be the exterior – windows,

drainage and car park.

The Trustees

Chairmans Report June 2026

It’s hard to believe that only a year has passed since our last AGM, as so much has been

achieved in that year.

Last summer we had the garden levelled as it was on such a slope that it was hard to use it

for any purpose, once levelled, sleepers were installed to create a footpath to the rear of the

hall and the garden was turfed. During the course of the works, we had additional problems

to tackle including alterations to our drains and manhole covers.

New chestnut fencing was also erected around the area of land, to the west of the hall,

previously purchased by the hall trustees. The garden is now a lovely space and is hugely

enjoyed by our pre-school group who use the hall two days a week.

We also had to carry out some structural work last year when the chimney, on the rear of the

hall, started to leak causing damage to the kitchen, it was decided to remove this chimney in

its entirety.

The Scouts, Cubs and Beavers applied for, and were granted, a grant to purchase new

fireproof curtains for the hall, we also purchase new fireproof curtain rails which Steve Cathie

kindly volunteered to install for us.

At the start of 2025 I decided to write a specification to include all of the works needed to

‘put right’ all of the things wrong with the hall, and the works that were needed to generally

smarten the hall up, really just as an exercise for myself to put down on paper what was really

needed, and to see if it was affordable, to achieve a more usable and attractive hall.

After roughly costing up my draft specification, I thought that it was worth splitting the

required works into two portions and to apply to the SDNP for CIL funding for most of the

works, much to my surprise a grant for the full amount I had asked for, was granted in October

of last year.

The grant applied for is to cover the cost to have the walls and ceilings in the hall, corridors,

entrance halls, Wc’s and Jessie Sparks room, insulated and lined, to have the hall re-wired, to

also include new lighting, new fire detection, new sound system, a loop system, a ceiling

mounted projector and outside lighting, for the installation of 2/3 air source heat pumps to

supply hot water and heating throughout the building, the refurbishment of the ladies and

gents toilets with new fittings, lighting and hand dryers, new user group cupboards in the

Jessie Sparks room, refurbishment of the existing hall floor and new floor coverings

elsewhere, as well as full decoration inside and out.

At the end of the refurbishment project, we will have a dry and warm hall that is finished

internally to a very high standard with many new fixtures and fittings.

In the future it is hoped that we can raise some additional funds to install some soakaways,

replace all of the surface water gutters and downpipes and to resurface the car park.The hall committee went out to tender to three local builders in March of this year, and once

the prices were all received, the committee got together to choose their preferred contractor,

with the result that the works are now starting in mid-July of this year with a completion date

for the beginning of October, although it is hoped that we will have limited use of the hall by

mid-September All of our user groups have been contacted and told of our forthcoming

refurbishment by our Hall building and bookings manager Kim.

Kim has been doing an incredible job, securing so many new bookings of regular user groups,

and other one-off bookings, our thanks to her for all that she does for the hall, her hard work

is greatly appreciated.

My thanks as always to Bryan for looking after the hall accounts so brilliantly and to Mark

Scorey for checking our accounts for submission to the Charities Commission, to Dick for being

an organised and totally reliable Secretary, and for his meticulous record keeping, I thank you

all, as well as thanking Tim, Tony and Carol for their time and their dedication and

commitment to this gem of a hall.

Also our thanks to Helen who keeps the hall immaculately clean and to Dan our gardener who

looks after the garden and weeds the car park for us, we are indebted to you both for all that

you do for the hall.

We have such an exciting year ahead of us now, and we are all really looking forward to seeing

the completed refurbished hall and to opening our doors to a variety of new users.

I am also looking forward to organising some parish events in our newly refurbished, and

warm hall, to bring our villages together as one community.



Jane Mottershead – Chair of WAFD Hall Trustees.