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Services, Clubs & Societies

Ogwell Memorial Hall

The Hall provides two bookable events spaces for the local community and local organisations. To make a booking contact: Carla Glanville - 07977 281335, email: carlaglanvilleomh23@gmail.com

Published: 20 March 2023

The Hall provides two bookable events spaces for the local community and local organisations:

  • A carpeted area at the rear, recently renamed our Jubilee Suite (below left)
  • and the Old School Room, with wooden floor, at the front of the building

 

 

 

 

Both areas have direct access via serving hatches to the kitchen area.

Where are we?

The Hall is situated in the ‘old’ part of East Ogwell opposite The Old Post Office and The Old Bakery and 100 metres up from the Jolly Sailor Public House. Postcode TQ12 6AJ. Parking is limited outside the Hall but street parking is available.

Additional facilities

The building’s public areas are fully accessible for wheelchairs and buggies, and toilet and changing facilities are provided just off our entrance hall. Blackout and screen facilities are available in our Jubilee Suite  at the rear, spotlights and screen available in the front Old School Room. We also have mobile stage blocks which can be used in either space. WiFi is available in both areas too.

What does it cost to hire ?

Either space can be booked for a session (3.5 hours) for just £25 inclusive of use of tables/chairs, stage, lighting, heating and wifi. An additional charge is made for use of the kitchen facilities on a sliding scale subject to type of use. Tables/chairs can also be hired for events in your home.

Who can use the Hall?

The Hall is available for one-off family events and celebrations by local residents, and for use by local organisations/enterprises. We also have a number of regular users including Garden Society, Luncheon Club, Parish Council, Pre-School, Quiz Night, St Bartholomew’s Church, Armchair Travel(U3A),  History(U3A),  Keep Fit, Wine Evenings and a weekly Table Tennis Group.

We also provide a venue for one off community functions such as the Christmas Meal, and Christmas lights events that have both taken place recently.

What are our capacities ?

Standing           Seated            With tables

Jubilee Suite                                  100                    67                      49

Old School Room                          100                    49                      36

Who should I contact for more info?

If you would like to enquire about a one-off or regular event at the Hall, please contact Carla Glanville – 07977 281335, e mail: carlaglanvilleomh23@gmail.com

Any plans for the Hall?

We want to ensure the Hall continues to provide a valuable resource for the local community. We also want to encourage more families and groups to make use of it. Our latest initiative, completed in October 2022, replaced roofs at the rear of our building with a new, well insulated one with solar panels. We also took the opportunity to install more energy and cost effective heating in the newly named Jubilee Suite. When we have replenished  funds we will be moving on to our next stage of improvement to carry out further redecoration and refurbishment work. We are determined to implement these improvements to continue to provide an attractive and well used local facility which is reasonably priced.

The new solar panels are unobtrusive but will provide a cost effective source of electricity for years to come, enabling us to contribute to eco imperatives as well as helping us maintain hire charges which are affordable to the local community..

The other elevation of the new roof provides three huge velux windows that help enable plenty of natural light into the Jubilee Suite. These windows also have blackout facility.

Brief History of the Hall

It is thought the hall was originally The Old Rectory then later The Old Parsonage before becoming the East and West Ogwell Church of England School around 1853, a school for the “education of children and adults or the children of labouring and other poor class”.

It remained a school until the Devon Education Committee decided to close it in 1957. Ten years earlier, at a Parish Meeting on 22nd May 1947, it had been decided to start a fund to provide an Ogwell War Memorial Hall. There followed various fundraising events over the next 10 years, including whist drives, dances, raffles and fetes. When the school was closed and the premises put up for sale another Parish Meeting held on 29th May 1957 considered buying it, but with only £477 in the fund, a sale price of £600, and another £577 needed for adaptations and equipment it could not be afforded.

However, a Parish appeal raised £143, the Education Authority provided a grant, and further fundraising enabled the Parish eventually to buy the old school in April 1959. It was renamed The Ogwell Memorial Hall in remembrance of the “fallen in East and West Ogwell during the First and Second World Wars”. It was formally opened on 15th July 1961 by Lt Col LHM Gregory MBE.

Various additions and improvements have been made over the years, including the opening of the Jubilee Room in January 1977, building on the Devon Room in 1987, extending the kitchen in 1989, and, with the benefit of a National Lottery Grant, upgrading the heating and electrics, and opening up a small external play area in 2011. In 2012 the kitchen was fully refurbished. Most recently, in 2022, the work described above was completed.

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