For nearly 70 years, our village hall has been the valued heart of our community.

From playgroup, school plays and village fetes to more present day events such as coffee mornings, brewery afternoons and Royal celebrations, to name a few.

One thing has never changed, the desire and pleasure of bringing our community together.

Our community gathers for celebrations, sad times and good times. We know each other well and can share news of our continually changing lives and feel reassured that we have support.

Our hall is a place where people of all ages gather regularly, to take part in various clubs, and events or to come and sit with others to talk, simply over a cup of tea. This means a great deal to many of our community.

Over the years, the clubs have grown, so have the number of people using and appreciating the hall.
These include short mat bowls, skittles, whist, Women on Wednesday (WOW) wine and wisdoms, railway club, YFC, local band rehearsals and dancing.

Our events include monthly coffee mornings which began with a few friends meeting in each others houses, to now hosting up to 30 plus people. Monthly craft fayres, inviting local people and business to showcase their wares but most importantly bringing everyone together over coffee and bacon baps. Special occasion lunches, afternoon tea celebrations, and bbq’s all work extremely well as we are known for providing plenty of food, delicious homemade desserts and a friendly welcoming atmosphere.

We have a brewery nearby which is open weekly, but closes during the colder months. Our hall then becomes a ‘brewery space’ each week, allowing our community to continue to gather over the long winter period and keep warm!
The hall is open regularly through the winter for our book and puzzle exchange. 

Our hall has recently been decorated inside, making it more up to date, creating a more warm and homely feel to it but also allowing anyone to put their own stamp on it decorating for their event. Our kitchen has also been updated to include more ovens, dish washers and storage, to provide the best facilities alongside a fully equipped container of kitchen / dining supplies.

We have a defibrillator, which is reassuring for the community and there are regular training nights.

An outside space adjoining our hall has been redeveloped into a garden with ample seating area, including plants and roses in memory of friends and loved ones in our community. It’s used, even when the hall is closed, just to sit quietly and enjoy the seasons.

We have started using social media, alongside our local newsletter the ‘Clawton Clarion’ on a regular basis to inform the community of upcoming events. We encourage anyone to use our hall and really love meeting people who have never visited our hall, who then return to many more events.

We, along with the rest of the world faced Covid and the challenges it brought. Our community was affected and it was hard knowing we were unable to use the hall. As soon as we could, we started up again and are so proud that the community came together once more.

Going forward we have our first wedding booked which we are very excited about.

Our next projects include updating the toilets, redecorating the outside of the building and enhancing parts of the hall to enable better use. We hope to alter an area between the kitchen and the container to allow more space for catering events.
We also plan to improve signage and create a more welcoming frontage to the car park.

As a committee, we work hard to raise funds for ongoing projects and equipment and spend countless hours working at the hall to keep improving and maintaining a welcoming space for all. Everyone has a skill and we are able to bring them together to keep the hall progressing with future needs.

We look forward to seeing what the future holds and will continue to support our community in the best way possible, by providing a beating heart in the way of a village hall.