Village Hall Carrog - Phase One - the Purchase

Now that most of all the extraordinary effort which has gone into creating our village hall is coming to fruition, perhaps it is time to look back and remember how it all began.

It is a building of which we are all understandably proud, but in 1977 it was the run down premises of the Church School, the school having closed about 1923. Since then it had been used as a Church Hall for various functions and also as a room in which to serve dinners to the pupils who now attended the new National School close by.

By a happy chance a lady in the village was reading the London Gazette and saw that the Church Commissioners were advertising for sale the old ‘Church School and Adjoining Masters House of Carrog’. She passed this information to the local councillors who were galvanised into action. Three people from the village went to see the Bishop of St Asaph only to receive a very negative response, but then eventually the Parochial Church Council of the church of Llansantffraid Glyn Dyfrdwy were informed that the Church Commissioners were willing to sell the schoolroom, without the house, for £1250.

A public meeting was called on October 27th 1977 to discuss the possibility of buying the old school to convert it into a village hall. Forty to fifty people attended, together with a representative of Clwyd Voluntary Services who had come along to assist in any way possible. Without too much discussion it was unanimously agreed to form a committee to set about purchasing the old schoolroom.

The gentleman from voluntary services then advised what would be required from such a committee - i.e.:- registering as a charity with the names of all involved, and then applying for any grants that might be available.

It was pointed out that whatever grants might be forthcoming, the local committee would still be responsible for raising 25% of the cost.£1,250 does not appear very much by today but in 1977, for the 300 or so inhabitants of the village, it seemed that we had a daunting task ahead to raise such a sum. The next meeting was to be held as soon as each organisation had nominated a representative to join the four councillors of Clwyd County, Glyndwr District, Corwen and Llansantffraid Communities, on the committee. The organisations were listed as the Methodist, Baptist, Congregational Chapels, the Church in Wales, the Roman Catholic Church, the Wl, the Red Cross, the WEA, the Carrog Show Trustees and the Senior Citizens.

On November 23rd all the nominees came together to elect a chairman and officers and to co-opt four more members. It was passed that a deposit account was to be opened at the National Westminster Bank in Corwen and the rest of the time was taken up discussing ideas of fund raising - Christmas Carol singing, a whist drive, a sale of work.

A suggestion was put forward to ask former residents of the village and old pupils of the school if they would like to give a donation. Someone volunteered to draw up a list and others offered to write the letters of request. At the next few meetings a constitution was drawn up, a solicitor appointed, seven trustees chosen and various grants were applied for. It was also deemed necessary to take out insurance cover. By January grants from Corwen and Llansantffraid had been received and donations from many sources appeared.

There was a sum of £40 left over from the celebrations for the Queens Silver Jubilee, £150 from the Carrog Show Trustees, the show having ceased to exist. Two ladies gave £113 after going round collecting everyone’s waste paper to sell. Another made a patchwork quilt and raffled it for £50. The Grouse Inn ran competitions, a hundred club was started, a sale of work brought £242, a whist drive realised £61, £33 was collected going round singing Carols and a lady ran coffee mornings in her house. Generous donations from residents were received along with other donations coming in answer to the request letters.

At the committee meeting of April 4th the treasurer was able to announce that there was £905 in hand after paying for the building. Now was to come the big job of renovating the building, incorporating a kitchen, toilets and cloakroom etc. to make it suitable for use as a village hall The first step was to arrange a meeting with the Clwyd County Architect for his advice and then to carry on fund raising with even more vigour.

Valmai Webb
December 2004