The New Memorial Hall
The Hall was registered as a charity in 1970, number 520951 and the land was vested in the Official Custodian for Charities.
The ex-army hut served its purpose well until the early 1980s when it became apparent that it would need replacing. In October 1984, it was taken down, in the same way it had been erected: by men from the village. In the same year, fund raising began for the building of its replacement: Fownhope New Memorial Hall.
The architectural design work for the new hall was carried out by Hook Mason Partnership and the total cost of the building came to £172,000. A quarter of this sum was raised locally by the Hall committee. Over half of the remainder was provided by Fownhope Parish Council, via a loan, and the County Council. The balance was made up of grants from, Tesco, the Sports Council and the Carnegie Trust. The photograph showing the roofing work on the new Hall, was taken from the field on the NE side of the Hall where St Mary’s Primary School is now situated.
The New Memorial Hall was opened on Saturday 10th October 1987, starting with with a parade from St Mary’s Church, followed by a ceremony of rededication and the unveiling of plaques and wreath laying, by Brigadier John Foley. After a blessing by the Rev John Hoskyns, the official opening of the Hall was performed by Dr Patrick Ramage the local GP and Chairman of Fownhope Parish Council.
The celebrations continued later in the day with an afternoon Disco followd by an evening dance to the Mike Harries Jazz Band. The following day, Sunday, the Hall was open for for sports demonstrations and an exhibition of photographs of the old hall and the building of the new one. If you click on the image of the programme opposite, you can download it as a pdf.
As you can see, the events for that first October included Bingo (still running) and two film shows. These were booked through the “Reels on Wheels” scheme. Film shows at our Hall are still popular, under the current heading of “Flicks in the Sticks“
