A Brief History of the Village Hall

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The original building was built as the Village School in 1879 and officially opened in March, 1880.

It remained a centre of learning, remembered by several villagers who attended it as pupils, until 1974. As it was overcrowded, it was then replaced by a new school built on ground to the south, commissioned by Northumberland Education Authority.

The old school was taken over as a Village Hall by the Playing Field Committee in 1974.

About four years later, the first enlargement of the Hall took place. An Extension (still referred to as such) was built by opening the hall southward between the east and west wings.

In 1999, Parish Councillor Norman Lees, on behalf of the Committee, drew up plans, applied for, and received a grant from the National Lottery for £230,000 to refurbish and extend the Hall further. Many individual people and Charitable organisations added to the funding to produce the well-appointed building which exists today.
As part of the refurbishment of the Hall, a suite of four computers was installed for the use of people of the local area.In November 2000, groups were begun by volunteer "tutors" to give those interested a taste of using a computer. Most visitors were complete beginners, some of whom eventually went on to buy their own machines.In August, 2002, the small Computer Suite which came with the refurbishment became a UK Online Centre with its own dedicated internet connection funded by Castle Morpeth Borough Council (CMBC).

In 2006, the Hall received a local authority grant which enabled it to refurbish a large part of the car parking area which had been in poor condition for many years.
At about the same time, the Hall became host to a new sub - Post Office, a facility not seen in the village for eighteen months or so.Unfortunately, owing to cut backs, this lasted only for about a further eighteen months and was closed.