Down Ampney Village Hall

The Original Hall (1983)

Down Ampney Village Hall was first built in 1983 with funding from Gloucester Community Council and over 35% from the village and donations. In particular, the Hall received financial support from the Down Ampney Veterans' Association, set up in 1974, to commemorate their contribution to the successes at the capture of the vital gun battery gun battery at Merville during the D-Day landings, Arnhem ( Operation Market Garden) and the crossing of the Rhine (Operation Varsity).

The Village Hall is owned by the Parish Council, who, as the Custodian Trustee, established a separate committee as the Management Trustee to manage the asset on behalf of the village.

The original Hall comprised a main hall, servery, separate committee room and a licensed bar. This gave flexibility to hirers either to hire the whole facility or just part of it with or without use of the bar included.

In 2004 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Arnhem, the Committee room was renamed the Dakota room after the iconic transport plane used in WWII. This room housed many irreplaceable pictures, artifacts and plaques associated with the War which, but for the courageous efforts of the Fire Brigade, would have been lost in the fire of 2007 (see below).

Over the years the Hall became home to a number of Village organisations such as the Gardening Club, the Line Dancing Club, the Under Fives' Group and Parish Council meetings to name but a few, and has also been key to creating some clubs such as the Short Mat Bowls Club.  Most of the organisations that had to find another venue after the fire returned when it re-opened in early 2009.

The foresight of the Parish Council in having a large central area of the village allocated in the original deed for use by the community meant the Hall had a large car park with capacity to accommodate over 60 cars to attract large functions. Since 1983 other facilities have been added to this central hub, viz The Tennis Club, a Toddlers’ Play Area and a Multi Use Games Area (MUGA).

The existence of the Hall meant that when the privately owned village shop and Post Office closed, the villagers were able to set up a Post Office in the Bar area and the shop was housed in a porta cabin, sited beside the hall in front of where the present permanent shop stands.

The Fire (2007)

In the early hours of August 10th 2007, just days after floods which affected large parts of the Village, the Village Hall was burned to the ground through an act of arson.

This caused much disruption to the community, with the immediate need to re-house the Under Fives' group and the temporary Post Office, followed by the longer term campaign to rebuild the Hall. As ever the community spirit of Down Ampney came to the fore and alternative arrangements were made within days: 

  • The Co-operative Group who at that time owned the estate around the village were approached and they kindly agreed to allow the Post Office to run from one of their empty properties for a peppercorn rent; 
  • The School Governors and LEA were contacted to get permission for a portable classroom to be sited in the school grounds for the Under Fives' use. The playgroup bought a second-hand portable office unit and many volunteers helped to site it, repair and refurbish it to ensure the group was up and running as soon as possible. It now has planning permission to remain on the site which is beneficial both to the  Under Fives' group and Down Ampney Primary School.
  • A small committee was formed from some key members of the Village Hall Committee and the Parish Council to organise and drive forward the re-building of the Hall.

In the interim the village was indebted to Down Ampney Football Club and the School who both provided venues for the activities of many village clubs and associations. 

The Present Hall (2009)

The present hall was rebuilt substantially on the footprint of the first hall, albeit with many improvements. It was officially opened on 20th February 2009.

The improvements can be summarized as:

  • the addition of an upstairs meeting room, furnished in boardroom style for meetings of up to 12 people
  • the addition of a modern heat recovery driven heating and air-conditioning system
  • the provision of a disabled toilet, an induction hearing loop and a stair lift to the upstairs meeting room
  • the provision of an ethernet to all rooms supported with wireless broadband

The upstairs meeting room is named "The Wynne Room" in commemoration of the Wynne family who bequeathed some money to the village which was used in the rebuild. The lounge area is named "The Dakota Room" for the reasons set out above.

A feature of the hall is that the Wynne Room can be accessed from a separate external door, and let independently.

More Recent Developments

The development of the 'hub' was substantially completed with the opening of the Community Shop in 2010 in an annex to the Village Hall. The hall is gradually developing its facilities as funds allow. We have increased the scope of our Premises Licence to include Theatre and Cinema activities, and have the necessary video projector with a small screen in the Dakota Room. We have also acquired a complete AV installation, which facilitates larger scale cinema in the hall, and now contemplate some more sophisticated lighting for the hall to facilitate more arts events.

Over the Summer of 2024, the Co-op Group decided finally to sell off the last few plots owned by the group, including the Village Hub, and the Football pitches, which had previously been held by the village on long leases at nominal rents. The Parish Council was successful at the auction in purchasing both of the lots for the village, and this now opens up various opportunities for the village, and secures the long term future of the various facilities for the village, subject always of course to sufficient volunteers stepping up to manage them.

That of course is another concerning issue, as of Spring 2025.

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