A lot has been going on at your village hall over the last few months.
With thanks to:
- some very kind villagers who gave donations,
- which helped to secure almost £30000 of local and outside funding,
- and using some of our reserves,
- …..and a lot of blood, sweat and tears!
….we are making good progress transforming the village hall.
This is the story so far. Two years ago, we knew our electricity bill was getting out of control with a potential impact on hall hire rates, the ticket price of events, and on the village bar. In the last financial year our bill rose to just over £6000. The hall was about to become loss making and eat into the reserves which so many people had worked so hard to create.
So we decided to get solar panels. That’s when the “fun” started…….
- In a conservation area, solar panels need planning permission.
- On a listed building yes, you guessed it – listed building consent is needed.
- Solar panels are heavy – over a ton – that means getting a structural survey.
- An asbestos survey was recommended – so we got one.
- The structural survey revealed some very lightweight wooden beams – not strong enough to support 40 solar panels.
- We got some quotes to strengthen the roof – 5 enormous steel beams were needed.
- Oh yes we needed building control approval for that….
- We had to close the hall for two weeks to get the beams installed. They are now in.
- The hall had two power supplies – no good connecting solar to just one. Rob Biddle did some great (Voluntary!) work in his free time to connect the two supplies together.
- We had to get the electrical system upgraded so it was safe to connect the solar panels. Yes Rob Biddle stepped in again!
- A connection certificate had to be obtained from National Grid ….
THEN….And only then was the hall ready for the solar panels.
- we bought 40
- an inverter
- and a battery
- and they were finally installed on 8th March 2024
Let’s hope the sun shines…😀 We’ve got more to do to tune the system but ultimately we hope to save half the current electricity bill for up to the 40 year life of the panels.
Thanks again to everyone who gave a donation or has supported the village hall in other ways.
There will be some more news about great progress on the kitchen (thanks to John Rapson especially and his band of willing volunteers including Jackie, Rob and Noel!) and on the electric vehicle chargers in the months to come.
Why not come down and take a look? We’ll show you what we’ve done.
