The hall was originally endowed to the Rector and Churchwardens of All Saints Poringland, for the provision of a Christian reading room and facility for the church family.  It was registered as a Charitable Trust and remains so.

Until the building of the new Community Centre the hall was on permanent loan to the Poringland Parish Council under the control of a management sub-committee, who in October 2008 handed it back to the church.   Since that time the trustees have worked with a number of local groups, including Playgroup, who continue to operate for three mornings a week and are growing, specifically because we have retained our Offsted approval.

It will not have escaped your notice that the fabric of the hall is in a poor state and bearing in mind that it is a former First World War Nissen Hut, this is not surprising.  We have and will continue to maintain it as best we can, whilst at the same time putting down our vision for an all purpose new building.  We have raised some funds from within the church congregation and with these we are exploring with the planners and other interested parties what is a feasible design for the replacement.

We are delighted to have Tim Bunn as our designer and planning adviser and are looking at the size and needs of what we see as being a positive addition to the Poringland area.

We are very definitely not in competition with the Community Centre, but rather see the hall as an extra facility for all.  The vision may be as yet a long way off, but you can be assured we are serious about our intentions and looking for everyone’s support.

Once a plan is in place it is our intention to launch a fund-raising campaign and show what the design will look like and how it can enhance the area as well as create an additional new centre of excellence for Poringland.

In short watch this space....

From:

The Rector, and Churchwardens of All Saints, Poringland.