The Memorial Hall is a venue with great potential. It’s used at present for the Lydbrook Players’ stage shows, the Parish Council meetings, some groups, including badminton and yoga, and for occasional parties and wedding receptions, and as a polling station for elections. Prior to Covid, it was in use almost every evening, but that outbreak changed a lot of good habits. We, the Trustees, are trying to make the hall as accessible and popular as possible. It serves the village and surrounding area and can be used for many different purposes. But we would welcome some fresh people, particularly some younger people, on the committee. We meet on the 1st Tuesday of each month, as a rule, usually for around an hour. So, it’s not an onerous duty. If you’re someone looking to make a contribution to the village amenities, please come along to the AGM, as advertised above. The meeting will be relatively short and is an ideal opportunity for new people to learn about what we do, ask questions, and put themselves forward as trustees if they wish. We’re a friendly group and don’t stand on ceremony, preferring to get things done in the best way we can.
Just to let you know, we have had to lock two of the gates leading onto the football pitch on the Recreation Ground. This is because wild boar have gained access through these openings, which are not secure. We have ordered new, more substantial gates, to replace them but it will take time for these to arrive. These new gates cost over £700.00 and, as a charity, we have had to make this investment for the good of the facilities.
We apologise for the inconvenience, but it is essential we prevent the boar from destroying the football pitch.
The gates affected are the small one leading from the car park onto the field and the replaced ‘kissing gate’ on Church Road. The gates at the top of Church Road and into the car park remain unaffected.
The Fete, organised and run by a small subcommittee led by Andrew Clements on behalf of Lydbrook Memorial Hall with the invaluable help of many volunteers and organisations from across the community, proved an outstanding success. Too many people to thank individually but, our sincere thanks for everyone who set it all up, put everything down, and helped clear up afterwards; you all know who you are! A big thank you also to everyone who donated raffle and tombola prizes and to all those local businesses that supported the event by giving their time and products. Also, it was great to have so many different stalls and activities run by so many people, thank you all.
Lydbrook Training Band, Yule’s Group, Morris Men, and Ships and Giggles sea-shanty group provided musical entertainment.
At the time of writing, we’re still awaiting the total of money raised from the event. I know those responsible will announce this soon.
And it was great to see the whole event so well attended by so many local people.
There was lots of live music, a tombola, BBQ food, tea and lovely cakes, a dog show, drinks, face-painting, games, stalls, a Victoria Sponge baking contest, bric-a-brac and more! I was unable to spend as long at the event as I’d have liked, unfortunately, so I missed some of the fun. But I’ve included some photos I took on the day and hope these will act as reminders of the fun and joy all shared.
Once again, THANK YOU to all involved
Subsequent to the Fete, the group of people who run the Memorial Hall and the Recreation Ground held their Annual General Meeting on Wednesday in the Hall. There were eleven people present. 8 of those were trustees and two were trustees’ wives, the eleventh volunteered as a new trustee! It’s disappointing so few members of the local community feel they can help the charity that looks after these two assets. We need new trustees, as we’ve lost three recently, and another is probably leaving at the end of the year. So, please, come along to our next meeting, Tuesday 3rd September, in the hall at 19:00. You’ll be made welcome. Thank you.
We have lost one of our stalwart trustees recently. The committee is an entirely voluntary, unpaid system of ensuring the Memorial Hall and the Recreation Field with its community centred car park are both properly maintained. Much of the work to keep things going is done by committee members at no cost to the charity. We could do with some new members to ensure we continue to provide the sort of amenities the village wants. So, if you’re available, willing, and able, why come along to the AGM and ask whatever questions you need, and maybe put yourself forward as a committee member? You’ll be made welcome. Thank you.
At the beginning of the week, a well-attended funeral was held at the village church. Fortunately, the committee had been forewarned of the event, so we were able to suspend parking fees for our car park for a short time, especially as a number of attendees had travelled a long way. This is something we can do on only a few occasions because of the contract we have with our parking partner, Parking Eye.
As a charity, we help events in the village when we can. We could have left the car park fee in place, but some drivers have objected to the small amount charged and have therefore parked elsewhere, often creating obstructions on our narrow village roads. It’s a shame, as the money helps maintain the facility we provide for the use of all villagers. On this occasion it was felt necessary to prevent the many visiting cars clogging the village streets.
We’d also like to thank Matt Jones for organising the cars within the limited space, and Lydbrook Athletic Football Club, as overflow cars also parked on the marked-out football field on this occasion.
As many of you will know, the Athletics Club is constructing an extension to their club premises in the basement of the hall. The hall committee has been offered the opportunity to similarly extend the hall by the same amount. We are short of space for storage and for more intimate meetings for small groups, and we have accepted this generous offer.
The work is being done by volunteers and is progressing well. Decisions about the precise use for the upper floor will be made by the committee once the outer structure is finalised. A number of ideas have been suggested and we will be discussing these over the coming months. We hope to make usage of the hall more flexible and attractive once the work has been completed.
The Fire Exit door was in poor condition, with some rot at the bottom. This has now been repaired and the door re-painted.
Many of the fence panels along Church Road have been damaged over the years. The one above shows the sort of damage that has occurred.
Above is one of many of these panels currently undergoing repairs. A good number have now been repaired and resited. The inclement weather has slowed down this operation. We’re hoping to get the new panels painted over the next few weeks to improve the appearance and resilience of the fence.
Recently, work’s been done by volunteers to clear the ivy and some of the buddleia from the strip of land behind the wall of the Recreation Ground as it runs beside the main road though the village. The roots of these plants had grown between the stones and they’re threatening to destabilise the wall. We now hope people with the necessary skills will volunteer to re-point the wall where needed. Without this work, the wall, started by willing volunteers in July 1934 and completed about a year later, is in danger of eventual collapse in places. We’d like to stop that happening, and with your help we can. We’ll pay for the materials, but we don’t have funds for the wages generally deserved for such skilled work, so, we need willing volunteers like the folk who originally built the wall. Anyone willing to do this, or any other work, please contact us by email to lydbrookmh(at)yahoo(dot)com, or by using the form in the ‘Contact’ tab above, or by speaking to any of the Trust Committee. Your help will be much appreciated. Thank you.
A portion of the wall, showing some of the wear and tear.
Over the past few days, a couple of generous gentlemen volunteers, who wish to remain anonymous, have been diligently attacking the floor of the hall. Estimates are that it was last given any treatment some 20 years ago, maybe longer.
The badminton court had almost disappeared with wear, some of the floorboards were sprouting splinters, and the general finish was pretty poor. So, we shelled out the cash for the necessary equipment and materials, and a couple of stalwarts volunteered to do the deed without charge.
Due to almost constant use, it was difficult to find days when there would be free time to get on with the task. But through liaison between our splendid secretary, Faith Myers, and our wonderfully flexible users, we were able to fit in the various tasks.
First, the floor needed sanding to remove the old varnish and smooth away the splinters. That inevitably led to dust falling in places we’d really rather it hadn’t. But the hall is such that it’s impossible to store everything away from such contamination. No matter, once the sanding was finished, the residual dust was soon cleaned away.
Next came the marking out of the new Badminton Court. An online search brought up plans in metric and imperial and these were handed to the men on the job. Tape measures, knives, set squares and tape to hand, they marked out the lines to form a perfect modern court.
Then came the painting of the white lines. A tedious and exacting job, particularly in the hot weather we’ve been experiencing recently.
The Badminton Court is painted in place.
The longest job, requiring total absence of users from the hall for 3 days, was the application of the recommended coating. This non-slip varnish was applied in 3 coats over the white lines to help protect them against future wear.
The job was finished on Friday and left to dry in time for use on Saturday. Now, everything is back to normal for all users. The Committee would like to extend their thanks to the gentlemen who did the work (you know who you are!) and users have also asked us to express their thanks for a splendid job well done!
And the new floor is ready for use!
Without this sort of generosity from local people, we wouldn’t be able to afford to keep the hall (and the recreation ground) up to scratch. We’re always looking for help, so if you’re willing, please contact any of the committee or use the short form on the contact page to get in touch with us. Thank you.
LydbrookMemHall 