History of Ellel Village Hall
Our original village hall was the Institute on Stoney Lane near the Galgate traffic lights, but though it was much loved, as the village grew the Institute could not meet the needs of our community.
It was just not big enough, there was nowhere to park and the old building, with its limited space was difficult to heat. In January 2004 a meeting was held and a committee set up to get the village a new hall. This took eight years and a lot of work.
People from all over the village got involved and helped. We had to apply for National Lottery grants and many grants from other groups and we were helped by Community Futures in Preston. We looked at different options and had to have a feasibility study. In 2005 we had a Parish Plan consultation for the whole of the Ellel council Ward, this had a 64% response rate. The proposal for a new village hall had overwhelming support.
Benefit to the Community
As a spin-off from the village hall project we also raised £270,000 to build the community rooms on the Galgate Recreation field.
Together with the £500,000 lottery bid we gained other grants and also had £92,000 from the sale of the old Institute.
In the middle of 2011 work then started on building the new hall on the Galgate Recreation Field and the building was completed in March 2012. We had work parties to paint the inside and the hall began to be used in August 2012.
Since then the hall has been a great benefit to our community and our facilities have improved over the following years.
The village hall isn’t just a building, it is also an expression of the community spirit in Galgate village.
