The Village Hall of Kemble    Awaiting an old photo of the village hall The year of 1999 was the celebration of 100 years since the hall was built, on the opposite side of the road and 26 years after the village school, with which it shares many characteristics.   In 1899, the whole village would have been owned by the Lord of the Manor. At this time, Lord Biddulph was our local landowner, and he had the hall built for the use of the villagers, charging a modest fee for its hire.   In the 1940s, the Co-op was very active in the village, having their bakery and shop adjacent to the hall. Many villagers were members of the Co-op, and the hall was used for their annual shareholders meeting, where the 'divi' was announced. Such was the attendance, that the numbers overflowed onto the street outside.   From 1941, before the more recent additions to the school, the village hall was also used for serving school dinners at lunchtime.   During the 1940s and early 50s, the hall was very actively used by local groups to provide regular entertainment for Kemble and its surrounding villages. In 1943, Ernie Bayliss formed the "rolling stones" who provided musical, comedy and dramatic entertainment. At much the same time, the "Kemble Players" also entertained the villagers with their dramatic offerings.   Until 1977, the hall was maintained by the Kemble Estate, when Gregory Phillips donated it to the village, to be run by a management committee. From this point onwards, the hall had to pay its own way, with the usual fund-raising activities associated with supporting such a valuable asset.   Pat Ayres was involved in running the hall from the early 1970s, when serious fund raising was needed to improve the heating, catering and toilet facilities of the hall, as would be expected of those wishing to hire it for social events. This culminated in the completion of a major refurbishment in 1983, when the new facilities were officially opened for use. From 1982 until 1987, Pat became chairman of the committee, and saw through this successful modernisation of the hall. Back