It is now a year since the village hall was sold for £100,000. As far as we are aware, little has been done by the trustees, Alison Child (Chair), Valerie Banks and Patricia Button (according to the Charities Commission website), since then to decide what should be done with the proceeds of the sale. Apparently, there have been monthly meetings of the committee and there was an impromptu survey carried out in the school hall at the Christmas Market on 16 December (but the survey was not advertised).
According to notices to be found on the noticeboard opposite the Essex and on another board adjacent to the free car park, the village hall charity committee is looking at the feasibility of building a replacement village hall on the Cricket Pavilion site in Central Mead.
They would like to know if you think Godshill needs a village hall. If you do, please send us your ideas for its use and what activities you would like to see there. The contact details are:
Email: Hello@godshillparish.co.uk or
write to: Gareth Hughes, Westfield house, Shore Road, Ventnor, PO38 1RF
They do not suggest you contact them if you don’t think Godshill should have a new village hall!
What they also do not tell you is that a new village hall, similar in size to the one in Rookley, cannot be built for £100,000 – the cost could be as much as FIVE TIMES that amount – so who would pay?
Knowledgeable persons suggest that getting it funded via the lottery or similar stands little or no chance. So would it be funded through Godshill Council Tax to the tune of some £50 per household for the next 25 years?
But, is this what Godshill needs? Should Godshill have a different sort of facility that suits the needs of those living in the parish? If you have ideas that could be discussed here, why not add them as a comment below.
Godshill Scout Hut was built in the 1970’s and has been in competition with Godshill Village Hall in the past. Surely it would be common sense for the two organisations to get together and provide a new Community Centre/Scout Hut with enough room for dual use? To fund a stand-alone village hall should be a non-starter at this time.