£3,000 Village Hall

Weare Giffard, one of Devon’s longest villages, straggling for three miles alongside the River Torridge, is giving itself a £3,000 present this Christmas.

The present will not be wrapped or tied with pink ribbon but there will be all the excitement attendant on the unwrapping of Christmas parcels when the new Village Hall is opened.

While the last war was still going on Lord Fortescue generously gave to the village the now disused school for use as a hall and it has fulfilled that function ever since but only with difficulty because of the small size of the room.

Mr Bruce Lake, of Huxhill Farm, who is Chairman of the Parish Hall Committee, told a reporter how several times the volunteers had returned the next day to find that miniature landslides had occurred to undo all the work they had done the previous evening. But, rolling up shirtsleeves, the men went to work again until the site was cleared and work could begin.

The new hall, well on the way to completion, will have a wood floor area of 24ft by 40ft, with a small entrance hall at the north end opening off which will be cloakrooms, explained the architect, Mr J H D Wickham.

‘We are not too unhappy about the financial position’ said the Rector, the Rev J M Lucas, who is secretary of the Parish Hall Committee.

For Weare Giffard’s villagers the end of the journey that started fourteen years ago is in sight as the day for the opening of the hall that is to be the centre of village activities draws nearer.

Article dated 16 November 1956