The Charity, Hempstead Village Hall, as it is now constituted is the result of a merger in December 2010
between Hempstead's Village Hall and Recreation Ground Charities following
both trustee groups requesting the Charity Commission to bring them together
under a single group of managing trustees. The Charity is registered with the
Charity Commission as a non-exempt unincorporated small charity for the
benefit of the inhabitants of Hempstead Village and its near neighbours.
The foundation of the Village Hall Charity dates back to 1946 when Mr
Geoffrey Garrett, a former resident of Hempstead, gifted a plot of land
situated on the western side of the High Street into a trust for the site of
a village hall for Hempstead inhabitants. This site for the village hall was
short lived, however, when in 1952 during the initial planning for a suitable
building to be erected on the site the Hempstead Church of England Village
School came up for sale and the trustees of the day acquired the redundant
school and sold the gifted land to help fund the purchase.
Since its acquisition the old village school, now the Village Hall,
has had a number of updates and additions. Initially to convert it internally
from a school to a village hall and later, in 1972, extended to include an
entrance hall, kitchen and toilets. Following Village fund raising activities
a major refurbishment and extension programme was carried out in 1999 greatly
assisted by grants from the National Lottery Charities Board, Essex County
Council, Essex Environmental Trust, Uttlesford District Council and Hempstead
Parish Council, this £150,000 project created the up to date Village Hall
facility that stands today.
The improved facilities that the millennium development had introduced led to a decision being made by Radwinter Pre-School to base themselves here since 2001.
A Pre-School Play area was added in 2008 and a patio in 2013 completing all the functions that the hall requires. We continue to invest in and upkeep this important village asset and modernise it as necessary, i.e, with Broadband added in 2018.
The area of land directly behind the Village Hall, locally known as
The Glebe, which had for a number of years past been used for allotments and
a general play area, was in 1987 purchased by Hempstead Parish Council from
the Church of England Commissioners and put into a trust for the benefit of
the Village. Its trustees, four Parish Councillors at the time, subsequently
registered the trust with the Charity Commission as the Hempstead Recreation
Ground Charity. These initial trustees remained the Recreation Ground
trustees until its merger into the
Village Hall Charity and the Hempstead Recreation Ground Charity closed.
The object of Hempstead Village
Hall Charity is defined in its governing document as the provision and
maintenance of a village hall and recreation ground for use by the
inhabitants of Hempstead. Which is much the same as those decreed in the
original trust deed of 1946 with the addition of amendments as required by
law and the inclusion of a recreation
ground in its objects. It is administered by a Management Committee of eleven
members who are its managing trustees. Organisations of Hempstead Village
nominate seven members and four members are elected, all are
appointed at an Annual General Meeting held each October for a period
until the next Annual General Meeting. Hempstead Parish Council is the
Charity's custodian trustee and holds the title of Village Hall and
Recreation Ground in trust on behalf of the Charity's managing trustees.
For the Charity's financial status and current trustees as reported to Charity Commission please click here.
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