Staple Village Hall

Care and Maintenance:

Care of The Hall and The Recreation Ground:

Through a thorough and comprehensive regime of day to day to maintrenance / regular decoration / annual boiler servicing / annual safety checks of the play equipment / responding to feedback from hirers etc; the pro-active Village Hall and Recreation Ground Managemt Committee has been able to keep down expenditure - by dealing with minor, inexpensive problems, as they occur (rather than leaving them unti expensive, major works are required),   In this way, the Committee has made best use of its resources, while at the same time keeping the fabric of the building and the decorative standard of tthe Hall sufficiently high enough to continue to attract both long and short-term hirers.

Major Maintenance:

Roof:

In 2017 we were alerted to water entering hall at the rear, RH end of the ceiling.

Removal of tiles, battens, felt from one corner of the roof - and fiitng of new breathable roof underlay and new battens soon cured the problem.  But it became clear that we could expect a lot more leaks in the near future!

Then, in January 2021 two further repairs, similar to the 2017 repair were urgently required.

Within a week or so, yet another leak appeared:  with water dripping into the Hall at the rear.

Waiting for a leak to appear and then fixing it made the payments manageabe/kept the hall in use, but  represented very poor value-for money.

So we decided to get the vast majority of the roof repaired in one go.  And this was completed in February 2021.

Knowing that the roofing contractor was keen to secure work; and taking into account the fact that scaffolding was still on site; we approached the contractor with a (rather cheeky) suggestion that because even a small profit was better than no profit; could he could perhaps agree to repairing the remaining area at a discounted price.  Our suggestion was accepted, and works to the remaining area began in early March.and were completed a few weeks later.

Central Heating:

Location and repair of leaking CH supply pipe / deep cleaning of all radiators / replacement of various radiator valves / insertion of chemical inhibitor, replacement of diverter valve.

Play Area:

The cutting out and replacement of areas of damaged safety surface around the playground slide.

Day to Day Maintenance:

Wear & tear; and the replacing of the old flourescent strip lights with modern LED units resulted in holes and marks in the hall's ceiling.  The holes and marks were swiftly repaired, and the ceiling (along with the kitchen ceiling and entrance porch ceiling) were  re-decorated on April 6th & 7th 2019.

Following a trial installation of two units, all of the ceiling lights were replaced by low-voltage LED units.

Each of these units provides the same (light) output as the old fluorescent units which they are replacing.

Their design means that they won't be susceptible to damage / they won't become receptacles for dead insects (!) / they'll provide the same level of illumination / they are easier to clean / they have a far more modern appearance .

But most important of all is their lower wattage:  with all Hall ceiling lights on, the total power consumed will be over one kilowatt less than the existing lighting!

The kitchen has been provided with a brand-new, LPG-fuelled cooker.  This is a huge improvement on the old unit; and has been much appreciated by hirers and users of the Hall.  It has a grill, two fan-assisted ovens and seven burners.

Other Developments:

In order for Pre-School to operate at the same time as the Parent & Toddler Group - a room divider was installed.

This is a very impressive, sturdy item and has proved to be a most useful and an invaluable asset to the Hall.

Ongoing, Routine Maintenance:

Day-to-day maintenance tasks have included::

The cutting back of vegetation, obscuring the Village Hall Sign.

Extensive cutting back / weeding / pruning / tidying of the grounds around the Village Hall.

Extensive gutter cleaning / repairing.

Thorough tidying /re-arranging of Committee Room.

Re-positioning of hallway noticeboards, to enble the trestle trolley to be positioned adjacent to the double entrance doors.

Remedial work to the kitchen sink waste outlet system.

Repair to Hall window frame / closer.

Replacement of taps / tap inserts in various locations.

Replacement of toilet cisterns and toilet seats.

Replacement of wired glass in main entrance door.

Fitting of 'hold-back' hooks to all three front entrance doors.

Refurbishment of counter lip and adjacent area.

Dismantling and removing of old netball goal and basketball goal. (Items beyond repair).

Replacing the chains and associated fittings on all swings.

Installation of an external post box

Installation of lockable key-safe..

One of the front door locks became unreliable and was replaced by a new, high quality (5-lever Yale) mortice lock.

Replacing the fencing at the far end of the field which had been broken down, and afforded access into the adjacent field. (The VHC employed a local contracter to carry out the work).

The same contractor also carried out extensive tree surgery at the Recreation Ground: Damaged, un-safe branches were removed and the leylandii trees behind the play area were trimmed and their height reduced by 50%.

The cost of these works was significantly reduced by granting the contactor permission to shred and distribute the removed wood on site.  (Thus avoiding off-site removal costs)