Hello friends of Quatt! We have a problem...
Our car park! Quatt village hall is a popular place to be. In recent years we've extended and improved our lovely hall and people now want to use it for all sorts of exciting things; from fitness, wellbeing and art classes to Burns Night suppers, rural touring theatre (with Arts Alive and Pentabus), sell out music performances, meetings, lunches, private parties and events. As the hall has got busier it feels like our car park has got smaller! We've made our indoor facilities more accessible but our gravelled car park is not suitable for disabled visitors and we do not have designated parking spaces.
Fear not! We have a plan...
We are fortunate to have been given a rare opportunity to extend the car park into the field at the back of the village hall. This is time sensitive as a change in the tenant farmer might result in this kind offer being withdrawn. We would like to create more parking spaces and make an area of hard standing for disabled visitors to park, adjacent to the accessible ramp at the side of the building.
Who benefits?
Our small rural community but also our visitors who come from local villages and towns and from much further afield (our reputation is spreading!) In a recent parish wide survey (as part of a Parish Plan project) the size of our car park was raised as an issue. Our small parish (with a population of 200) is widespread across the village and several tiny hamlets with the majority of households being tenanted from the National Trust. The risk of social isolation and rural poverty is an issue. With often regular changes of tenants, a sense of community cohesion is more important than ever. We hope that a bigger more accessible car park will encourage more people to consider hiring our hall or attending our events, meeting their neighbours and supporting our village hall to continue to be the centre of our community for many years to come.
Want to hear more about Quatt Village Hall?
Quatt Village Hall was built in 1908 for the village, and is in memory of Susan Wolryche-Whitmore, the wife of local dignitary Geoffrey Charlton Wolryche-Whitmore of Dudmaston Hall. The Dudmaston Estate was transferred to the National Trust in 1978 and the family continue to reside at Dudmaston Hall.
The village hall has always been in existence as a village hall but was also the local primary school for about 50 years. It last opened its doors as a school about 60 years ago; there are still ex-pupils in the village who have fond memories of attending.
In recent years the hall has undergone some dramatic changes including a computer suite, a new meeting room and fully equipped kitchen. New wheelchair accessible toilet facilities have been installed, access into and inside the hall has also been improved.
Whilst the building is part of the National Trust Dudmaston Estate it is the hardworking team of volunteer trustees that are responsible for the upkeep and improvement of the building. We still have a long list of improvements that we would like to make.
In 2017 Quatt Village Hall won the Most Welcoming Village Hall category in the Rural Touring Awards.
You can see some of the amazing things that take place in our hall on our website www.quatt.info
We need your help!
It has been difficult for us to get an accurate quote for the work during the lockdown but based on previous work we estimate the cost to be between £8,000 and £10,000. We want to extend and gravel the main carpark and tarmac the entrance driveway, including the disabled parking spaces. We may also fence in our front lawned area to make this area safe for children to play (the hall is situated on the A442, a very busy road) if the budget allows.
We are working with an architect to advise us of the best car park layout to maximise the available space.
We need you to share our project with all your contacts and friends and donate! Every £1 will be appreciated and gratefully accepted.
Donations will give us 10 points and every like and share of our project page will give us 1 point each. We need as many points as possible to get into the final and be in with a chance to win one of the 11 x £5000 prizes.
Many thanks for your continued support from the Quatt Village Hall committee x
If we are lucky enough to reach our target, we will be looking to replace our windows with our stretch fund.
