Lands Village Hall is in the centre of a small village in the North East of England. It has served the lively local community for over 100 years. I moved to the area three years ago because of its proximity to the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and its friendly community spirit.

The village hall has mostly been closed for some time. Its place at the heart of the community has dwindled in recent years. Considering how important the hall was to the local community in the past, it is sad to see it closed and the local community having nowhere to socialise or get support in the community.

Determined to reopen the hall, I put myself forward for the managing Trust. I became its Chairperson in March this year. In less than a month, we’ve already got the hall online so we can keep people updated on progress. You can find out more at https://landsvillagehall.uk/

The hall closed because the electrics are old and were deemed unsatisfactory in an electrical survey a couple of years ago. The report frightened the Trustees at the time and they didn’t know what to do about it. When they turned to the Parish Council for help, they were given an unrealistic and scary figure for the work. So, the hall was closed.

The electrics do need replacing. But the report that frightened everyone wasn't all that bad. In truth, just a few minor replacements will fix the majority of the "failures" on the report. Apart from that, there are some other refurbishment works needed. But the overall cost of £50,000 suggested by the Parish Council is absurd. Our own quotes for the electrics, provided by a reputable electrician, are a fraction of those given by the Council. It is much more like £8,000 at the very most.

These challenges are not difficult, nor are they very expensive. The challenge for us is raising the money to do this work at a time of exceptional circumstances for all our local communities. Our community is particularly in need. It is a small rural community with a large proportion of isolated elderly residents. We need the village hall to start providing essential services to the community again.

Every contribution helps: we only need to raise a small amount of money and every donation we receive will make a massive difference to us. The money we raise will help to get the hall reopened. That is why I’m asking you to do two things right now. First, please donate whatever you can to get us to our target. And secondly, share my plea with your friends and colleagues so we can reach as many people as possible.