HOW THE MONEY WAS RAISED....... Although the bulk of the money was raised through grants, local fund raising was essential to qualify for them. This was done through fund raising efforts by the community and substantial support of the Winsham Parish Council

It was clear that we would need large funders if the money was to be found. The Big Lottery was considered, but the 'golden age' when they had funded a lot of building of new village halls had passed, so it was quickly rejected as a possible donor. If it was to be done we would need help from Somerset County Council and South Somerset District Council. We were advised that we could make applications to each for £30,000. This would provide £60,000, which would be a good start. In the event we got £30,000 from SSDC, but nothing from the County Council, who said however that they would have funded it if they had the money-but they hadn't! Still, £30,000 was better than nothing. Then we had a tip from Eileen Zoers, the Village Hall Director   of the Community Council for Somerset who was incredibly supportive of our project, that Defra had £30,000 of European money that we might  get, if we were quick. We were quick and we did get it-or at least most of it! So with the £15,000 from the Parish Council we were on the way! At least we could fix the floor and the toilet roof. In the months that followed a total of £15,000 was raised locally, and a few more grants came in. We even sold the old floorboards, the originals, we believe from 1887, for a ridiculous amount of money. One way and another we scraped through, without having to borrow. About £112,000 was needed by the time the project was completed-just a week before the official re-opening. All the committee members did a wonderful job as did everyone involved, and  the end result can now be seen and enjoyed by all. BUT---- A potential major problem was lurking just around the corner! The Hall had to close for six months while all the work was being done. This was a problem for our regular hirers. Fortunately Thorncombe Village Hall, who had been very supportive in all sorts of ways accommodated the Ki-Aikido Group on a temporary basis. Winsham Art Club, another big user also made alternative temporary arrangements. Unfortunately, the Winsham Play Group moved away  to a permanent home within the Winsham School building. This was not a complete surprise and it made good sense;  it was Local Authority policy to do this when possible. The problem for the JHMC was that we lost a third of our hire rental income. The JHMC had given an undertaking to the people of Winsham that it would not put up hire rates, even though the premises had been improved beyond measure, so increased charges were not a solution. But, as so often happens, the solution had very positive results for the Parish. Necessity did prove to be the mother of invention! The weekday mornings were available for more activity as a result of the play Group leaving, and organisations within the village quickly took advantage of this. The JHMC also took the initiative by sponsoring Yoga Lessons and a wide variety of Computer and Digital Photography training courses, which proved to be very popular, at a time when the digital revolution was beginning . The Jubilee Hall was one of the first village halls in Somerset to have Broadband, and in 2019, it had  upgraded to high speed broadband. The PC Users Group was one of several IT based courses that were organised by the JHMC to increase revenue. Low cost courses on practical subjects were very popular. The picture above shows Jan Sullivan explaining how to use E-Bay. Click HERE to go the Work in Progress Click HERE to return to Introduction Click HERE to return to Renovation Index

Update-25th Set, 2019