Ockley is fortunate to have a hall to be proud of, ours is the most used in Surrey*, to the extent that there are regular bookings in our hall every day of the week. We have a hiring fee structure that favours hirers from within the parish and those who hire on a very regular basis.

We have been able to invest in many improvements over the past few years, some of which (like our maintenance programme) are not immediately visible to the naked eye. Those of you who attended our last A.G.M or who show an interest in our accounts will recall that it now costs over £11,000 a year to run the hall. This money we willingly pay as it enables us to provide this well used facility.

However, we are now obliged to commit to certain improvements and alterations, which will benefit the community enormously. Also, to ask our community for support, financially and practically.

The third part of the Disability Discrimination Act comes into force from 1st January 2004 and it will oblige us to make certain physical improvements to the hall; failure to do so will not force the closure of the hall on this date but if we are challenged as to why we do not comply the Act then we would not have a strong defence in law.

The Village Hall Management Committee, which is constituted from the regular users of the hall, has considered long and hard whether simply to make those alterations necessary to comply with the new Act or whether we should incorporate wider improvements at the same time. We consulted with our regular and some occasional hirers to determine what improvements were desired.

The ‘Wish List’ included the following: improved car park (also to be extended across the site of the ‘old’ playground), improved kitchen facilities, a second hire room/hall, a dedicated room for the nursery, improved external lighting, better storage, possible changing rooms (if sporting activities are developed) and a larger foyer were amongst the requests made.

The Act requires us to consider a common entrance that everybody can use, consideration throughout the hall for wheelchair users, for the visually and aurally impaired as well as those who need consideration when using the hall with a temporary impairment (for example being on crutches) or those who are less mobile, perhaps due to age.

Some changes have already been made, the pay telephone has been lowered in height so that it can be used by anyone who needs to sit down or is wheel chair bound. External lighting has been improved at the entrance to the car park and flood lighting towards the rear. The toilets have been redecorated with the door and doorways highly visible against the surrounding walls. Although not a direct requirement of the Act, by the time you read this the covered way at the back of the hall will have been extended, which will provide more shelter during inclement weather and lessen the ingress of dirt.

So what next?

We have two priorities for the coming year. First, is to extend the car park over the former playground area and provide designated car parking near the entrance to those who need it. Incorporated in these works will be improved drainage and provision for better lighting in the future.

Second, is to improve the entrance to the hall so that the hall becomes DDA 2004 compliant. This detail has yet to be finalised but will most likely entail a new entrance of some sorts, which will also allow us to improve, extend or relocate the kitchen and provide w.c. facilities for the disabled, which are practical to use.

How will this be financed? In part, we have been successful with grant support from Mole Valley DC, Surrey County Council, the Surrey Voluntary Services Council, Gatwick Airport and the Ockley Society. To these bodies, we express our gratitude. In part we have accumulated funds due to wise husbandry of our finances. We rest we need to raise and actually we need to raise it from within the parish (in the main) as it is all of us who benefit from the hall, either directly (as a user) or indirectly from the facilities it provides for those many neighbours, of all ages, that use it. These activities contribute to our community having a heart and a purpose.

So, that is rather a lot of background to explain why we need your enthusiasm and, eventually, some of your money. If anyone would like to become involved in the fund raising, please contact any member of the Village Hall Management Committee. The first fund raising event is in October when we will be holding a quiz evening jointly with the church, to raise funds for the hall and St Margaret’s restoration. More about this elsewhere.
Updates and plans will be communicated in future editions of this magazine.

Martin Pratt, Chairman, Village Hall Management Committee.
* Source: survey results from all those halls within Surrey that responded to SVSC’s survey.


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