Hindolveston Village

Well! Boys and girls, girls and boys . . . here we are, twenty months or so since my last What’s On and without indulging in too many clichés, what a time we’ve all endured.

Before I go any further, I apologise now to any of you who receive this and who no longer wish to: you may have moved house and no longer be local, or you may simply have had enough of my witterings to last you a lifetime.  In any event, should you wish to unsubscribe, it is a simple business: just tell me and your name and any other details held by me will be instantly expunged.  And you won’t hear from me again in this connection – promise!  Naturally, I hope you won’t unsubscribe, but my shoulders are broad and I can handle the disappointment.

The purpose of this communication is to bring you up to date with Hindolveston village hall and what has been going on, and to impart some news about plans for reopening. There is no digest of events this time.  In due course a digest will ping into your inbox, as in former times, and what a comfort that will be to one and all, I’m sure.

The village hall committee has had one overarching concern during this pandemic: the safety of all its users, hirers and its volunteers.  And that is the reason why our hall has not reopened yet.  It’s very close, but not quite yet.  I am quite sure that everyone can appreciate the risks involved in opening the hall too soon; I can absolutely assure you that at the monthly vh committee meetings (which have been held throughout) it has never been an easy decision to reach, especially once surrounding villages were known to have reopened their halls.  But safety is as safety does, as the saying nearly goes.

So what, I hear you ask, has been going on?  I hear and I answer.  Building works and redecoration  is the short answer.  You may recall that grants had been applied for in hopes that quite major work could be done to the hall.  Well, the major grant applied for fell through.  It didn’t actually fall through, simply the grant giver decided that although (in its own words) the application had merit, they weren’t going to fund it.  Nevertheless, other, smaller applications were successful and, together with extremely generous donations from residents, enough money was available to completely remodel the kitchen area and to redecorate inside the hall.  Other building work has been delayed time and again by the national shortage of building materials, but gradually, ever so slowly, the time is approaching when these remaining works can be completed.  What remains to be done is to create a new main entrance to the hall: it will greet you as you drive into the car park, rather than being tucked away out of sight round the back/side of the building.

I can tell you now, though, that the first regular activity to resume in the hall will be the Coffee Shop.  It used to be held every Monday morning from 10am till midday, and became known as the Monday Coffee Shop.  When Sanders buses changed their timetables and ran the bus from the village to Norwich on Mondays, instead of Tuesdays, it robbed the Coffee Shop of several customers.  So, now, when the Coffee Shop reopens (on Tuesday 16th November, is the plan) it will be as the Tuesday Coffee Shop.  And we look forward to welcoming as many of you (back) as can be there.  Although no dates are available right now, I am reliably informed that the regular Tuesday evening hapkido classes as well as the Friday morning exercise classes will also resume shortly thereafter.

I shall be back with more news for you in due course, but that’s about all I have to tell you right now.  We can all look forward to next year when, with a portion of good luck and a following breeze, other well-loved vh functions will resume.

Best wishes to you all . . .

Graham

Following the news item in the last Parish Newsletter outlining the Village Hall Committee’s plans for re-opening the hall we have had enquiries as to why we are not opening fully straight away. I hope this will help to explain our decisions.

The Trustees are legally responsible for the health and safety of hall users, employees and volunteers while they are in the building. We have re-visited the risk assessment carried out earlier in the year in accordance with government guidelines. Although the government has changed the Covid legislation those responsible for public buildings are still expected to adhere to the policies that help to protect people from catching the virus.

The responsibility for the village hall and its users has weighed heavily on the committee since the start of the pandemic. We are not a business that must open its doors in order to survive. We are volunteers who spend a great deal of our time working to ensure that the village hall can continue its role as the much-loved centre of village life, created over the years by so many of us in our community. The people who may be at risk through using the hall in the pandemic are our friends and neighbours and we would be devastated if any of them were to fall seriously ill as a result of coming into contact with the virus at the hall. Our decision-making around the opening of the hall is based on a deep sense of care and responsibility for each member of our community.

During the closure period we have worked hard to use our grant monies and donations to improve the Village Hall. Although the kitchen is finished, there is still more work to be done on the new entrance. This has been greatly delayed by a number of Covid-related issues. The building won’t be ready to open until this work is complete. We plan a phased re-opening of the hall beginning in November, when we are reasonably confident that everything will be in place.

Coffee Shop and the Friday Bar rely on volunteers. One of the major factors influencing our plan to re- open the hall was the response to our consultation with volunteers. Although some wish to return to normal as soon as possible, many feel the risk is still too great and we must respect their individual views.

With only a third of the volunteers ready to come back, there are not enough people to fill the rotas. Bar volunteers were even more cautious than those for Coffee Shop, and that, combined with the difficulties in creating a safe workspace in the bar area, made it impossible to consider opening the bar at this stage in the pandemic. We hope that new volunteers will be recruited in the coming weeks and that, in time, others will feel comfortable in returning to their former roles.

Most of the people who run the regular classes and workshops are looking forward to returning to the hall soon. They do not rely on volunteers and will be in a better position to re-start as soon as the hall is ready. They are professional tutors and coaches who take on the responsibility for the health and safety of their clients and students while they are in the building. They will ensure that all health and safety guidance is adhered to so that their class members can feel comfortable in returning.

Details of classes and the pilot coffee shop will be posted on the Village Hall notice board as soon as start dates are known. We plan to re-open the building in a phased and thoughtful way and we are very much looking forward to this happening.

Best wishes and thanks to all of you who have supported us during this very difficult time.

The Village Hall Committee