Henry Samuel Hall

NEWSLETTER – SUMMER 2022

Dear residents of Mayland and beyond.

I know you won’t believe it but once again I am sitting in the Henry Samuel Hall about an hour before our July meeting jotting down notes to help compose this edition of the newsletter.

Pigeons are cooing in the trees, the sun is coming through our new double glazed windows and yes the solace is broken by the noise of thundering lorries, cars and motor bikes that seem to have lost their silencers but in those moments between traffic you feel that you could be transported back over a hundred years ago. Even then it would not be that quiet, the constant sounds of horse and carts, the old mill creaking and wheezing in the breeze crushing the corn and the sound of a community that were eking out a living on land that was really difficult.

But that was then what about now we hear you say.

Well we must start with some sad news. Barry Edwards was one of the instigators of the new Hall committee and a parish councillor passed away recently.

He was an absolute whizz with paperwork, forms and spreadsheets. You name it Barry could do it. Whereas my file contained a few tatty bits of A4 paper, Barry’s ran to volumes all separated and cross referenced. He started us off on the road to preserving the Hall and we are still using much of his phraseology to help us apply for grants. He will be sadly missed but he will take his place alongside a long list of people who have both served this community and wanted this Hall to survive when we open up our heritage room.

Later when the interior is complete his name will be up there and we hope Renee and the rest of the family will be at the official reopening of the Hall.

So when will the interior be finished? Well, not for a while but those of you that have driven by, read about us in the Mayland Mayl, followed us on Facebook etc would already have seen the progress on the outside. New cladding, soffits, windows, guttering, new front door, clock tower re clad and clock painted. Even the weather vane that probably has not turned since the Great Storm of 1986 has been oiled and painted and now spins round like a “Gooden”.Now add to this new windows and doors down the sides and the Hall is coming back to life.

However there is still a long way to go. Electrics, kitchen, toilets, heating, creating new open spaces, heritage and meeting room and not to mention getting the clock working, flooring, roofing and improving the outside.

But Rome wasn’t built in a day. We think it took a couple!

So it is all about time and MONEY! So firstly We must thank the Parish Council for paying the majority of our insurance for this year. This will allow us to put monies towards another side door and the last of the side windows. Our regular Hall users bring in a small but steady revenue stream but this at times does not cover the cost of basic services including, water and electric.

And so our great committee (and we are looking for more volunteers. Feel free to get in touch.) over the  year has continued to raise money through a variety of fund raising events.

We have had craft fayres, Santa sleigh, Sponsored bike rides, Garage sale, History talks, regular boot sales and of course the spectacular Music Festival.

Now you should be able to read about this elsewhere but the Committee would like to thank all those who volunteered their time and services and those who took part, the bands and musicians, the stall holders and the audience.

It took a huge amount of work, paperwork, phone calls, emails, sleepless nights and a lot of head scratching went on for months before. Then it was a solid 5 days of putting it together.  We did ask Paul McCartney to play but he was still recovering from his Glastonbury gig, tee he, but we did get a version of ‘Here comes the sun’ by Tony Haywood and it did all day. How lucky were we.

This event raised over £4000! but we will still need money from grants and any other means! Legally that is! LOL.

One other great piece of news we want to share is that Maldon Council has stated that they will now reopen the Hall as a polling station again.

Surely that means we are really are on the road to seeing this Hall stand beside those other bastions of British architecture (Although this building did come from Canada!) like Stonehenge, Westminster Abbey, the Angel of the North, the Forth Bridge and the mini roundabout in Latchingdon.

Meanwhile there are still events being planned;

Boot SaleS at Lawling Playing Field.

Autumn Garage Sale.

Come along, take part and enjoy.

Have a great summer. Take care and stay safe.

Many thanks.

Yours sincerely

Mel Clarke, Chair.

Written on behalf of all the Henry Samuel Management Committee, Working parties and all of our volunteers.  Not forgetting all those that have gone before.

NEWSLETTER – WINTER/SPRING 2022

Dear residents of the Maylands and beyond.

I am writing this second newsletter whilst sitting inside the main hall. The time is 6.15. The clock on the wall which has read 6.07 has been removed but has now been put on a shelf and will be part of our heritage display that will eventually go into our heritage room. It is freezing cold and I can see my breath even with a fan heater going full pelt.

Now wait a minute did he say back there …..heritage room…… Yes I did because that is part of our internal plans. These also include; 3 new toilets, a disabled and baby changing toilet, new kitchen and a large community area for informal meetings and refreshments.

The main hall is staying more or less as it is but will eventually have new windows, wider access door, better heating and cleaned and resealed floor. This is in part to plans that have been drawn up by Tom who has only recently moved into the village but is passionate about saving the hall.

He has been very patient with us as once he started to submit the plans we said could you move this, change that, make that bigger. We eventually submitted PLAN 4 and he still had a smile on his face, I think! I dare not tell him that we now need space for a multiplex cinema, ice skating rink and a 10 lane bowling alley! HAHA!

However we must also not forget our Parish Council, the Hall’s Sole Trustees. At the A.G.M. for the Hall held in October the Trustees voted for our plans for the internal changes. A big thank you to them.

Maldon District Council  have now passed our plans for improving the outside.

This involves taking off the old pebble dashed material, making good and covering it with new cladding including the area above the front porch and the clock tower. We are also intending to put in new double glazed windows and doors.

On top of this we have been given our first grant and that is going to used to replace guttering, put in new soffits and facias along with a new front door. We hope this job will be done in April along with the front windows and cladding.

For the first time in ages we are beginning to see people booking time slots for the hall. Exercise classes, martial arts, photography and art classes (Yes our hall is OPEN FOR BUSINESS) and I was lucky to be at the hall when the first art class took place.

It was so nice to see Tim and his crew with so many people ready to participate. The hubbub and smiles were a reminder of what the hall was like in the past and can be again.

I feel sure that Joseph Fels, Thomas Smith and of course Henry Samuel would be pleased, along with Miriam Holden and all those that have gone before us to see the Hall emerging again like a phoenix out of the flames.

So what next:

It looks like we are about to appear on BBC ESSEX’s Sunday morning treasure hunt challenge. Treasure Quest. Let’s hope they find it!

The Boot Sales are going to start in the spring. The dates are Sunday 20^th March, 24^th April and then every 2^nd and 4^th Sunday of the month. They start at 11.30 and finish 1.30.

Craft Fair at the Hall is on Saturday 2^nd April

Garage Sale is on Saturday 18^th June

Music Festival is on Lawling field Saturday 2^nd July

Car Show and family fun day on Lawling field Sunday 21^st August.

That is just for starters! So come along and support us and let’s get the Henry Samuel Hall fully up and running again.

Many thanks.

Yours sincerely

Mel Clarke, Chair

Written on behalf of all the Henry Samuel Hall Management Committee, the Working Party and all our volunteers.

Not forgetting those that have gone before.

NEWSLETTER – AUTUMN 2021

Dear residents of the Maylands and beyond.

I am writing this newsletter whilst sitting inside the main hall. The curtains are open letting in the evening sunshine and the open doors are letting in a gentle breeze. The clock on the wall has stopped at 6.07 and it looks as if the hall is set in aspic, has not changed for many many years and will remain this way for many years to come!

However let me tell you this is far from the case! In fact I am waiting here to meet up with the working party to look and discuss what we are doing next and how we are going to move forward.

So what has the new HS Hall Management Committee done so far?

Before Covid we had lots and lots of meetings, held some fund raising events, had a change of chairperson. 3 times! Then the pandemic hit but we delivered a questionnaire, continued our meetings on Zoom and opened up a dialogue with our sole trustees, the Parish Council as to the way forward for the hall.

Also during this time we looked at the results of the questionnaire. It was a bit like the Brexit referendum, too close to call and to be honest we probably did not ask the correct questions.

Then it happened…….. Restrictions eased and we had our first meeting back in the hall for a long time!

It was a EUREKA moment because all those of us who doubted whether it was worth carrying on with the hall and I for one was one of those, looked at each other and we all agreed and said……

“We must SAVE this hall.”

So what have we done so far…….

• Shopped around for quotes on renewing windows, guttering, soffits.
• More quotes for repairing the front of the hall and new cladding to make it look smart and watertight.
• We have repaired and made good the existing toilets.
• Tidied up the front car park area and trimmed the bushes. Gradually working on clearing up the car park.
• Had electrical items tested.
• Removed unsightly cupboards from the inner hall.
• Painted the car park gate.
• Repaired fire doors so they open properly.
• Put up outside lighting.
• Fire extinguishers checked and refilled.
• Cleared attic and removed “junk” from the hall to the tip.

Finally we have cleaned, cleaned and cleaned again.

The Committee and volunteers have worked incredibly hard over the past few months but there is still loads to do. To list but a few.

• Replace broken and rotted floorboards
• Painting inside and out
• More clearing outside and sheds to sort.

So what of the future?

Apart from the ongoing work to simply keep this hall going and improving we are still fund raising. Watch out for notices about new events. Also may we say a big THANK YOU to all of you that have supported our events over the past couple of years. That money just over £7000 at present is in the bank ready to fund some of our smaller projects.

We did get an architect in to look at ways to change the hall but the money for these schemes is probably way beyond our remit at the moment. We are however looking at grants and at plans to improve the hall; changing the toilet layout and also putting in a disabled one, easier movement and space around the kitchen area, smaller meeting room, among other ideas. All of which will finally have to be ratified by the Parish Council our Sole Trustees.

There you have it. The working party are arriving and who knows what suggestions will come next but we are an enthusiastic bunch and here’s hoping that in the next couple of years we can deliver a hall that is back to its former glory and is also much improved. A hall that we as a village can be proud of and one that can last another 100 years.

I will keep you posted. Yours sincerely, Mel Clarke – Chair.

(Written on behalf of all the Henry Samuel Hall Management Committee, the Working Party and all of our Volunteers.)