Fire satisfaction and Evening Advertiser

The Fire Officer visited this morning. I am pleased to say that he will write to me and issue a letter stating that we are 'satisfactory'. Fire certificates are no longer issued.

We discussed the kitchen servery hatch and given the fire precautions we have taken and the proviso that cooking is not left unattended, we do not need to fit a hatch. He suggested that we might want to fit some doors in the future to block light and noise (during performances).

Notionally he placed us around A3 category and possibly lower than that, so we have very low risk and good control.

Hall capacity (Number of people) relates to square metres of the main room and is also influenced by exit doors (in our case double). We are good for well over our declared maximum capacity of 120 people.

Next visitors are the Evening Advertiser photographer and reporter, who should be with us around 1pm today. They responded to an email Akela sent to the editor )text of the email is below):

After nearly a decade and a half, Chiseldon's General Calley Memorial Hall (Draycott Road) is to reopen as a village hall and Scout hall. An open afternoon will take place on the afternoon of Sunday 6th September 09 to allow villagers to see progress made to date. The first hall booking will be on the evening of 9th September 09. Fittingly, the first users of the hall will be 1st Chiseldon Air Scout Group.

The Scout Group has secured a 99 year lease at a pepper-corn rent and over the last nine months, members of the Scout Group have worked to clean, repair, decorate and refurbish the hall. To date, works have been paid for by circa £3500 of Scout Group funds and a £3500 anonymous donation. To date, no other financial support has been secured but the Scout Group would like to use some of the £38,000 held in a Chiseldon village hall fund to pay for later phases of the refurbishment works such as fitting new windows, doors and repairing guttering.

Peter Snipe (Group Scout Leader) led the work and has kept the project on a very tight budget. The Scout Group wants the Memorial Hall to once again become Chiseldons social hub and already has regular bookings being taken. Scouts are an educational charity and will operate the hall on a not for profit basis on behalf of the community and for Scouts. During the refurbishment Scout Group Leaders, parents and villagers were helped by Honda staff and local small businesses. Peter recollects: ''The two most exciting parts of the project were electrifying, - seeing mains power being laid across Draycott Road into the hall and turning the new main hall lights on after the first phase of the electrical rewire.'

The open afternoon starts at 2pm on Sunday 6th September 09. Cream teas and refreshments will be available.

Lets see if the Evening Advertiser can help release funds from the village hall trust...