THE NEXT MEETING TO DISCUSS THE NEW CORONATION HALL - details shown below.
AN INVITATION TO HAVE YOUR SAY – Wednesday 11th February. - report follows at the end of this introductory piece.
Residents of Grafton Parish will, no doubt, be eager to learn more about the plans for the new Coronation Hall – especially after so many of you have done so much hard work and given your generous support for our fundraising and thereby encouraging the Big Lottery to help with this project. Obviously there has been some frantic work done by your Parish Council to ensure that this project meets all the requirements laid down by the Big Lottery and so it is only now that the details are coming up for debate and therefore choices have to be made.
In this context the first decision relates to the overall “look and feel” of the new building. We have been given a few options, within the constraints of our conservation area, for the external colour scheme. The external walls will be of similar structure to the current hall except that the materials will be “eco friendly” and therefore the maintenance will be minimal (no painting/treatment is required for impregnated wood-effect materials) – the options for these are restricted to “tones of wood” colours. The roof will be slate and again there are tones of natural colours to choose from.
The Hall will be open on Wednesday February 11th from 3pm to 8pm for residents of the Parish to visit and vote for their preferred colour schemes. Please come prepared to imagine an overall appearance from rather small samples as we are unable to construct mock-ups on a large scale! If you are unable to attend on Wednesday and wish to “have your say” then please call 01672 810717 and we will do our best to arrange a convenient time for you to view the options. We must have all comments by Saturday February 15th.
Please look out for future INVITATIONS TO HAVE YOUR SAY since we will do our best to ensure that everyone in the Parish has an opportunity to contribute to the choices which are available to us; bearing in mind that legal, health and safety, fire, insurance and other restrictions will always apply to a public building and so some aspects will be outside our control of course.
During the rebuilding work we are confident that we can accommodate most functions which would normally take place in the hall in other buildings within the Parish. As soon as we know which builder will be doing the work and when they will start we will inform all those who have bookings already confirmed where the new venue will be. Anyone who wants to hold a party, meeting, sale or exhibition should call to make their booking in the normal way and the available alternative will be explained. The rental charges and the booking conditions during the rebuilding period will remain the same as now regardless of the venue used.
If you have any more queries regarding the “interim” period then please visit www.graftonparish.com , email anndudney@graftonparish.com or telephone 01672 810717 and we will do our best to keep you informed and help with arrangements.
REPORT FROM THE EVENT
There was a steady number of visitors during the very snowy and cold day. It was very encouraging to see the enthusiasm for the design, size and progress on equiping the new building. Visitors voted on the colours for the cladding and tiles for the new hall and a clear majority was given to one combination - this will be presented to Kennet Planning for their consideration (backed by the clear support of villagers). Teams are being brought together to focus on 5 individual aspects of the hall and so if you are interested in being involved please email mail@graftonparish.com to offer your help. Thank you to all those who gave their time to "pop in" and show interest in this project.