About – Bayford Village Hall

About Bayford Village Hall
Find out a bit of the history of the Hall and how the community came together to save it.

A bit of History
The land and building was provided by the Phelps family in 1881. The deeds record its title as 'Bayford Mission Chapel'. Its first recorded use was for Evensong on 22nd February 1882. Before this point some services had been held in the Bayford Reading Room, the location of which is unclear. The chapel was licensed by the Bishop of Bath & Wells on 26th March 1888.

On 11th December 1897 the Rector, Rev James Phelps, transferred ownership of the property by indenture to a body of trustees. The indenture states:

The building to be used for six purposes: divine service, a school, a reading room or classroom for confirmation candidates, clerical meetings, other meetings of a religious or spiritual nature and lastly for any purpose approved by the trustees.
The day-to-day management of the chapel and its activities to be left in the sole charge of the Rector.
that the trustees may sell the property for the "purchase of other premises or in the improvement of other premises used or to be used for the purposes of this trust".

At various times since licensing, the chapel has been allowed to fall into a bad state of repair and was unused for periods of several years. The last 'revival' took place fifteen years ago when the labour and money of a few dedicated parishioners restored it to a usable condition, adding a toilet and repairing. flooring.

The future of the Chapel
On Wednesday 18th March 2015 a Public Meeting was called by the Administrative Trustees of Stoke Trister with Bayford Parochial Church Council (PCC) to discuss the future of Bayford Chapel.

The PCC sought the views of the Parish on the need of a community facility and to whether they: -

(1) Wished to own Bayford Chapel and convert it to a community facility?
(2) Wished to build a completely new facility elsewhere in the village?
(3) Do nothing and make greater use of the Arthur Morison Memorial Hall in Cucklington?

Given that the questions raised at this meeting were wider than just the future of Bayford Chapel, with the support of the Chairman of the Parish Council (PC) and the Administrative Trustees of the PCC, the Bayford Chapel Working Group (BCWG) was formed to scope the issue and make recommendations.

Planning the Future
The BCWG consisted of six members of the Parish, the group set out to survey the community. Members of the Bayford Chapel Working Group carried out a door‐to‐door survey to ascertain the interest of the community in the future of Bayford Chapel.

79% of households responded, of which 88% considered it important or very important that Bayford have a Village Hall. The three PCC options were presented, of these three options, option 1 received 82% support, option 2 received 8%, option 3 received 8% and 2% had no opinion. It was estimated that £75,000 (excluding fittings) would be needed to be raised from grants, donations and fund raising events to purchase, repair and convert the building from Bayford Chapel to Bayford Village Hall.

As a result, the Working Group began the process of making this possible starting with establishing the group as a charitable organisation – the Bayford Mission Hall Society (BMHS).

A huge amount of time and energy has been spent by the BMHS from fundraising through community events, locals raising money, grant applications and reaching out to the local firms (some whose generosity has really made the project a reality) made the purchase, repair and conversion possible.

Take a look at some of the before, during and after photos: Gallery