Can You Help

Has anyone got some subsoil they are keen to get rid off?

If so visit Our Hall page for info - http://charltonmusgrove.org/our-hall/

A lot has happened in the last year!  This time a year ago the Steering Group, established to progress the development of the hall, recommended to the Trustees that we went out to tender for a design and build contract to establish the cost of re-building the hall.  In August the Trustees voted to recommend building a new hall and in September at a public meeting, villagers voted unanimously to endorse this decision.  Public workshops followed where new ideas were put forward and samples of building materials were on display.  As a result of this the decision was made to build in natural stone with wood detailing and a slate roof.

In November the Trustees voted to proceed with signing contracts with F J Reeves & Sons of Sparkford.  Mike Priddle of Slade Parry in Yeovil was formerly requested to look after our interests as Client’s Agent.  Tom Gascogne of Orme Architects and John Beveridge, Structural Engineer continued with design and building regs and EC Electrical were chosen to install the electrics.  All local companies – always very much our priority.

Fundraising continued with Jazz at the Farm plus a grand draw, a Gourmet supper, sale of Christmas trees, Screenbites, a Skittles Championship and Tiles and tea.  These raised nearly £4,000 for hall funds with the 100 club once again raising £600. A further grant application to the District Council was successful for £8,200 and Mrs Anna Groskop awarded us £1,000 from her Councillor’s grant.

On Saturday 30 January the old hall was cleared out and on Sunday Rod Thatcher’s memorial tree was moved to the new play area where it is bursting into leaf!  In February another team of volunteers laid the hedge to the north of the hall to open up the view to King Alfred’s Tower and Selwood forest.

On 12^th February a contract was signed with F J Reeves and work started straight away.  On the 15^th and 16^th asbestos was safely removed from the hall by specialist firms and on 17^th February the old hall was demolished and the site cleared.  On 15 March Paul Reeves started work on building our new hall.

In October a small group had been formed to design, source and fundraise for the memorial stone and indoor plaque and also to research the names to be listed.  As a result of this a superb stone has been crafted by Bruton Stonemasons and has been installed by the front door – all paid for by generous donations from the community, Devonshire and Dorset Regimental Association and Dorset Rifles. 

Fundraising continues – in May a plant sale raised £1000 and a clay shoot another £1000.   Further grant applications are now in progress to secure funds to kit out our hall – curtains, furniture etc and the District Council have once again helped us by granting us £750 for tables, trolleys and storage. 

There will be an event close to Remembrance Sunday which will focus on the memorial aspect and remember those who lost their lives in active service.  Then the grand opening of the hall will take place on Saturday 4 December – details to follow in due course.

None of this would have been possible without the fantastic unwavering support of the community, all the generous donations and our many grant funders.  A huge thanks to you all.

The construction of the new Charlton Musgrove Memorial Hall is well under way.

A memorial stone was recently incorporated into the fabric of the building.  The Portland stone memorial, which was carved locally by Karl Friedrich of Bruton Stonemasons, was installed by the project builders, FJ Reeves & Sons Ltd of Sparkford, overseen by their Site Agent Simon Handley and closely watched by the village team who designed and raised funds for the memorial stone:  Nick Amery, Chris Mieville and Stephen Nathan.

The Memorial Hall project has been fortunate to receive funding from Viridor Credits Environmental Company through the Landfill Communities Fund.  Funding is available for community and environmental improvement projects within ten miles of an active Viridor Waste Management landfill site.  Since 1996 Viridor Credits has allocated over £50m to over a thousand projects across the UK.

Funds for the new hall have also been gratefully received from Somerset County Council, South Somerset District Council, The Mackintosh Foundation, Charlton Musgrove Parish Council, Somerset Community Foundation and from many fund raising events organised and brilliantly supported by the small businesses and the residents of Charlton Musgrove.

Many, many thanks to the seedling sales team and in particular Georgie and Mike for hosting the sale at Common Farm.  We are all well aware of just how much hard work was involved.   A big thank you also to everybody in the village who donated plants, seedlings, cakes and raffle prizes to the sale, held to raise funds for the new village hall.  Bargain hunters came from as far away as Bristol and were clearly not disappointed by the wide variety and excellence of the plants that were on sale. 

It was also an opportunity to have more tiles painted for the new hall and people of all ages were keen to show heir artistic talents.  

Let’s hope we are as lucky with the weather next weekend, Sunday 23rd May, at the Clay Pigeon Shoot when again Charlton Musgrove will be out in force raising funds.

If you have not seen the new hall recently it is worth a quick detour. The roof steels are now in place and an impression of what the final building will look like is beginning to appear.

Many thanks