History

The original Village Hall building was constructed for Lamplugh Women’s Institute in 1934.

Lamplugh WI formed in July 1928 and originally met in the next door Parochial School (now Dhustone), paying £2 per annum rent. After deciding that they needed their own premises and raising funds for several years, Lamplugh WI Hall opened on 30 November 1934. The plot of land cost £37-16s-3d and the hall cost £625 to construct. The footprint and basis of the original building was very much that of 1934, with two major refurbishments taking place in 1990 and in 2009 before the new build was completed in 2023.

The ladies of the Lamplugh WI operated and managed the building through until the late 1980s when declining membership and costs of repairs and running costs proved difficult. But in 1990, retired farmer Mr Bill Litt ably assisted by Len Benn masterminded significant renovations that re-invigorated the WI membership and numbers increased and allowed a healthy continuation of the group.

Moving into the 21st century saw demands for new health and safety measures and minimum standards being applied to other facets; again this put financial burden on the WI ladies who found it difficult to obtain grant funding. The pressure of having to keep the building in a legal state was affecting the real pleasures of being WI members and in 2008 they suggested the best way forward would possibly be to transfer ownership and management to a local village committee. Thus Lamplugh Village Hall Committee came into being by having two representatives from the user committees plus a few other volunteer members.

The transfer was effected in 2009 when Lamplugh Parish Council became the Custodian Trustee and the Committee Members became Charity Trustees as the Village Hall was granted charitable status. To create a more user-friendly facility with flexibility for functions, the following improvements were carried out as a priority:

• Installation of new lighting, improved insulation and air-to-air heating.
• New stackable, comfortable chairs and fold-up tables.
• Large roll-up projection screen with a digital projector. No trailing cables!
• Kitchen enhancements: crockery and cutlery to cater for 100 people, large cooker, fridge, small freezer, microwave oven, double sink plus hand washing facilities with automatic water heaters.
• Telephone line, phone, wireless broadband and hearing loop.
• Obtaining licences (PRS, PPL and TV) and insurance cover.

These much improved arrangements greatly widened the variety of functions that could be accommodated and regular use by local clubs and societies ensured that the premises were well used. Two early priorities were to increase Hall usage and to achieve financial sustainability of the enterprise and – whilst not everything is perfect – these two attributes were met.