We’ve reached a major turning point in the renovation of your village hall this week; and also received a very generous grant – but more of that later. The turning point is when, rather than things looking like everything is happening at the same time, there is some obvious finality coming into parts of the building. This is certainly the case with the Lesser Hall and the toilets, which have all been plastered top to bottom, following the new walls being installed and all the cabling and pipework being installed.

Near to the clock in the Main Hall the high ceiling is insulated and plastered

Stiltwalking plasterer in the Lesser Hall, close to finishing

Meanwhile, way above the tower of scaffolding in the Main Hall, the suspended ceiling is being hung. This is a more conventional type of ceiling as the apex doesn’t need to be visible – unlike the end where the clock is. Above the suspended ceiling will be all sorts of ventilation to reduce the chance of condensation, and also to keep the hall cool in the summer.

Excuse the blur – this is the suspended ceiling going up near to the stage

And now for the funding news. We are delighted to say that the Climate Challenge Fund has awarded the project another large chunk of money (around £30,000) so that all of the external walls can be insulated, replastered (which really needed doing sooner rather than later), and then repainting, including replacing the old panelling. This is a huge boost to the project meaning that we don’t have to carry out this extremely disruptive work later on when the hall will be back to full use. The first stage is to strip down the walls to bare stone…

Stripped north wall, rather resembling a castle interior – quite nice, but very inefficient

More news as the changes happen, and they really are happening.