CHIPPING AND DISTRICT MEMORIAL HALL

  Registered Charity Nos. 521070

Chipping & District Memorial Hall was the first in a series of 10 Community Resource Centres, developed across the North and East of Lancashire as part of the Enterprising Rural Communities Programme. But how did this building come to be here?

In the autumn of 1995 Chipping & District Memorial Hall appeared to be locked into a spiral of decline. The hall was in a poor state of repair and there was only around £1,000 in the charities bank account. With these facts in mind the committee organised a survey of every household in the village to discover what level of support there would be for a scheme to improve or replace the hall.

In 1996 all groups using the hall were asked to identify which features they most wanted to see improved in the hall, a surveyor was commissioned to carry out a full structural survey on the building and Community Futures (Then known as The Community Council of Lancashire or CCL) was approached for advice on the possibility of obtaining grant aid.

In January 1997 it was decided that rather than renovating the existing hall a new building should be built on an adjacent site, which the Parish Council agreed to make available. In April a small grant was applied for to pay for the preparation of a feasibility study by an independent consultant. By autumn planning permission had been applied for, a consultant had been appointed to carry out the feasibility study and a local architect had been approached to prepare an outline design for a new hall.

In January 1998 The Committee began applying for grant aid from a variety of sources. By the Autumn the committee had applied for planning permission, and, having received a positive response from a number of potential funders put the contract for the building of the village hall out to tender.

By February 1999 enough funding had been secured to begin building the hall. Arrangements were made to sell the old hall as it was now surplus to requirements and a further wave of grant applications were submitted to provide funding to equip and furnish the building. The new hall was built through the Summer and Autumn and opened to the public in November 1999.

Since the opening of the new hall in 1999 the services provided on the site have been further enhanced through two subsequent developments. The first involved the conversion of loft space in 2002 to provide additional meeting space for local youth groups, the accommodation of a new gym and the upgrading of the halls IT equipment. The second and most recent development involved the upgrading of the play equipment on the adjacent park and the provision of a new all weather sports area early in 2006.  

Click here to download more detailed information on the development of the hall