£25k raised to remodel outdated kitchen hall (From Herald Series)
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£25k raised to remodel outdated kitchen hall
12:10pm Friday 23rd November 2012 in Wantage/Grove
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Ron Hill, committee chairman, and Norah Lunn, hall secretary, are ready for their tea and biscuits in the new kitchen as Yasmin Pearce, left, and Ellie Mitchell, of the 4th Grove Brownies, get ready to serve
THREE pensioners raised £25,000 in a matter of months to completely revamp their village hall’s outdated kitchen.
Tea parties used to be a squeeze at Grove Village Hall and they could only fit three people at a time in their 1960s kitchen.
Now, the Grove Village Hall committee team have doubled their space, with a new refrigerator donated by the Women’s Institute.
The local Brownie Pack even bought them a toaster, and committee chairman Ron Hill, 69, said: “To be able to raise that amount of money and get the kitchen completed, when we started fundraising in January, we are chuffed.”
The walls and floor were retiled, a new ceiling was put in, and the boiler in the kitchen was replaced.
Mr Hill and hall secretary Norah Lunn started making phone calls to raise funds in January. Within months they had managed to net a £15,000 grant from Waste Recycling Environmental Limited, £6,000 from the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council and £2,000 from the Oxfordshire Community Foundation.
Mrs Lunn, 76, said: “This really has been a community effort, and we are extremely grateful.”
