Village Hall no 3
From Lacey Green History
Research by Joan West
click Organisations for Children for others.
click Amenities for others.
click Village Hall for its history
also click Village Hall Committee for record of those people.
click Village Hall no 1. 1923-1979 for details.
click Village Hall no 2. 1979-1999 for details.
click Strawberry Tea for this function organised by the Village Hall Social Committee.
Hallmark February 2025. Update on defibrillators. The Rural Community Defibrillator Group
The Cabinet Renewal Project. Since 2014 RCDG has been woking to provide Public Access Defibrillators in rural locations, in and around Princes Risborough. To date we have 31 sites installed. Recently we have become increasingly aware that the early metal cabinets have been causing faults to occur with the electrical supply to an extent where a few had to be taken off the 999 register.
The solution was to remove all 10 of these and replace them with the later plastic cabinets at a cost of some £5000. This has only been possible with the help of the North West Chilterns Community Board (part of Buckinghamshire Council) and local Parishes who have generously donated towards the cost of the installations.
We were therfore extremely grateful to everyone for their help towards funding for this endeavour which enabled all 10 to be replaced and reinstated on to the 999 register.
Lacey Green has benefitted from this with the defibrillator cabinet located outside the Village Hall being replaced. In addition we would very much welcome the news that an additional defibrillator has been installed wthin the Parish at The Sports Club and another is due shortly on Lower Road, Loosley Row.
Our thanks go to everyone concerned in making this happen and again to the North West Chilterns Commuity Board and the local Councillors who supported this work.
Mark Tubb. Chairman RCDG
Village Hall no 3 was opened in year 2000.
Hallmark March 2025 click Village Hall Committee for list.
Hallmark December 2024. By Natasha Kann (Bookings Secretary)
Your local village hall is busy with regular users, with lots of variety on offer for the local residents of all ages, in Lacey Green, Speen and Loosley Row! Here is what is currently on offer...
Recently started is Mucky Ducks; a baby and toddler messy play group which runs in the morning on every 3rd Monday of the month. (contact Hannah at muckyducksbuckandhemel@gmail.com).
Monday afternoons see the local Indoor Bowls group in action! (see below).
Monday evenings the hall is used for local karate lessons from Seido Karate. With classes for children aged 6 to adult! (contact Alan at alan@avtechuk.com).
Tuesday mornings we have Yoga classes with Claire ([[1]]).
Wednesday mornings is Pilates classes with Rosie ([[2]]).
The WI meets in the hall in the evening of the first Wednesday of every month. The U3A group also meet every month on a Wednesday evening.
We have regular meetings with the West Wycombe Art Society, who hold some of their events and art shows at the hall.
A local resident, Heather, runs very popular Upholstery classes on a Thursday morning (contact Heather at heatherbreed@hotmail.co.uk).
Now the weather is turning colder, the Whiteleaf Bowmen use the hall for their sessions on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. (contact Jan at secretary@whiteleafoowmen.org.uk).
There is a regular coffee morning every Thursday in the meeting room at 10am where everyone is welcome to attend!
The Horticultural Society hold annual events and host special speakers throughout the year.
Our local amateur dramatics group, Equus, hold many of their practices and performances at the hall throughout the year. (contact Fiona at hello@fionamichaels.com).
The LLS Youth Club meets fortnightly, in term time, on Friday evenings for children aged 11 upwards. (contact Natasha at natashakann@gmail.com)
The Millennium Hall is also available to hire for private events with charges stated on the Lacey Green website (https://www.laceygreen.com). If you would like to hire the hall for a private function please email laceygreenhall@gmail.com
Hallmark September 2024. By Natasha Kann (Bookings Secretary)
Your local village hall is busy with regular users, with lots of variety on offer for the local residents of all ages, in Lacey Green, Speen and Loosely Row! Here is what is currently on offer...
Recently started is Mucky Ducks; a baby and toddler messy play group which runs in the morning on every 3rd Monday of the month. (contact Hannah at muckyducksbuckandhemel@gmail.com).
Monday afternoons see the local Indoor Bowls group in action! (For more info contact Leigh at leighaxe@btinternet.com).
Monday evenings the hall is used for local karate lessons from Seido Karate. With classes for children aged 6 to adult! (contact Alan at alan@avtechuk.com).
Tuesday mornings we have Yoga classes with Claire ([[3]]). Wednesday mornings is Pilates classes with Rosie (rosielewin@me.com).
The WI meets in the hall in the evening of the first Wednesday of every month. The U3A group also meet every month on a Wednesday evening.
We have regular meetings with the West Wycombe Art Society, who hold some of their events and art shows at the hall.
A local resident, Heather, also runs very popular Upholstery classes on a Thursday morning (For more info contact Heather at heatherbreed@hotmail.co.uk).
When the weather turns colder, the Whiteleaf Bowmen use the hall for their sessions on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. (contact Jan at Secretary@whiteleafbowmen.org.uk).
There is also a regular coffee morning every Thursday in the meeting room at 10am where everyone is welcome to attend!
The Horticultural Society hold annual events and host special speakers throughout the year.
Our local amateur dramatics group, Equus, hold many of their practices and performances at the hall throughout the year. (For more info contact Fiona at hello@fionamichaels.com).
The LLS Youth Club meets fortnightly, in term time, on Friday evenings for children aged 11 upwards. (contact Natasha at natashakann@gmail.com)
The Millennium Hall is also available to hire for private events with charges stated on the Lacey Green website (https://www.laceygreen.com). If you would like to hire the hall for a private function please email laceygreenhall@gmail.com
Hallmark February 2024. We held our second “Carols in the Carpark” event on Christmas Eve reported by Fiona Quilter-Wood. It was lovely to be joined by so many families from the village to welcome Christmas. As mentioned in the last edition, we decided to add some fundraising to this year’s event and monies raised were donated to the Windmill Fund. Huge thanks to Jane Herve for organising the mince pies and mulled wine, the sales of which together with donations, raised £294.50 to kick-start the fund.
Our thanks also go to the Village Hall Committee for donating the wine, to the Co-op for their kind donation of mince pies, to Clive Hodghton for loaning us his speakers and Mickey Gomm of Equus Productions for setting up the sound and lighting and making sure we had some music to sing along to!
Hallmark November 2023. Report by The Village Hall Committee.
A year ago, or is it two, we were able to replace the shingle covering the car park with a solid smooth surface which has benefited the disabled, the elderly and very young children, aside from removing a lot of maintenance. We financed this through the government grants for loss of income during Covid, the saving from utility bills and donations from local people and the Parish Council. We haven't used lines to indicate parking spaces and this appears to be working well – people have been very reasonable without having to squeeze out of their doors and the larger groups marshall their parking.
We reluctantly had to remove virtually all our greenery including the tree because its roots were pushing through the old surface and would do the same to the new. In October we tried to reintroduce some vegetation out the front using planting troughs. These also serve as a barrier to traffic. Bear in mind these are new and will need a year or two to develop. We can also add seasonal plants as and when.
Thanks to Fiona from Fiona Michael's Flowers and her partner who managed to complete the purchasing and planting amidst producing the drama at the Village Hall entitled the Good Life – a very enjoyable sit-com from the 1970's.
We are hoping someone will sponsor a small tree for a small trough in the centre.
The table and seating are recycled plastic (which don't actually look or feel like plastic) for a very long life. These were chosen because there is no requirement to climb over the seats in order to sit down and by removing one seat, a wheelchair user or maybe two can join in the occasion. Lastly we will be purchasing some sun-shade umbrellas as it can get very hot out on the front – next year hopefully – we don't think we'll need them now for this year.
There is no need to be a village hall user to sit and enjoy but please leave it as you find it, there is a large rubbish container round the side of the hall and of course you use it at your own risk.
Hallmark November 2023. Village Hall Bookings. By Natasha Kann (Bookings Secretary)
Forever Cycling is a brand new community initiative which provides over 50s an opportunity to be active and socialise.
During the activity, you use our set of stationary floor pedals to pedal at your own pace, helping strengthen and improve the flexibility in your legs and hips.
Whilst doing this, you watch a virtual tour of one of our world locations, projected up on the big screen. This could be riding through New York City on an open top bus, cycling past the Eiffel Tower, weaving through the streets of Tokyo, or exploring one of the other 2000+ locations we have available.
The classes are a great chance to reminisce and tell stories with others about your travels, or see places you have never been. We are hoping to create a great community of people attending the sessions, and give local residents greater opportunities to be active (there will be free tea and coffee too).
The classes are starting on Friday 26th May at the Lacey Green and Loosley Row Millennium Hall, from 11am-12pm.
They will be taking place fortnightly and there is a cost of £4 per session, which can be paid in cash on the day.
We do have restrictions on numbers, so, if you wish to attend, please give us a call or text on 07399748803, or send an email to joe.barnard@aitc.org.uk.
Hallmark May 2023. Village Hall Bookings. Report by Karen Hodghton (click Clive & Karen Hodghton for more about Karen)
This will be my 23rd A.G.M as booking secretary. As I reflect back, it is with great pride that such a village resource has been and, is so well used. Sadly, many previous committee members have passed away; but for those of us that had the privilege to work alongside them, they are not forgotten. It’s a very different world today compared to 1999 when the ‘new’ hall opened.
I am still surprised when an enquiry arrives and I ask if the person is familiar with the hall, to receive the reply, ‘l am not but remember the discos at the old hall!’
We receive lots of positive feedback and thanks for our facilities. Therefore, I assume we are getting something right! Thank you to everyone that uses the hall for taking care of it
Moving forward, hall bookings for 2023 are very healthy with over twenty already. I believe that this is mostly due to people being able to mix again and wanting to meet up with family and friends. There has been a resurgence of children’s parties, 50ths/40ths etc.
The hall is still being well used and continues to offer a wide variety of activities for all ages. We continue to have Bowls, Karate, Pilates, Archery, U3A, The Art Group, Yoga, Computer group, Coffee morning, WI, Horticultural Society, and Youth Club. Princes Risborough Young Farmers are now regular users and Upholstery classes have started. Equus Productions held a Musicals Night and Pantomime during 2022 and both were very well attended. Watch out for future events.
We have a few weekday slots available - Monday morning – Tuesday afternoon and evening.
In 2022 we had 31 commercial bookings. To clarify, commercial bookings do not include our regular users, only people that have a one-off booking.
As always, | would like to take this opportunity to thank all the organisations for their continued support and co-operation with the day to day running of the hall.
If anyone requires any further help or information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Many thanks.
See you again next year!
Hallmark May 2023 Forever Cycling is a brand new community initiative which provides over 50s an opportunity to be active and socialise.
During the activity, you use our set of stationary floor pedals to pedal at your own pace, helping strengthen and improve the flexibility in your legs and hips.
Whilst doing this, you watch a virtual tour of one of our world locations, projected up on the big screen. This could be riding through New York City on an open top bus, cycling past the Eiffel Tower, weaving through the streets of Tokyo, or exploring one of the other 2000+ locations we have available.
The classes are a great chance to reminisce and tell stories with others about your travels, or see places you have never been. We are hoping to create a great community of people attending the sessions, and give local residents greater opportunities to be active (there will be free tea and coffee too).
The classes are starting on Friday 26th May at the Lacey Green and Loosley Row Millennium Hall, from 11am-12pm.
They will be taking place fortnightly and there is a cost of £4 per session, which can be paid in cash on the day.
We do have restrictions on numbers, so, if you wish to attend, please give us a call or text on 07399748803, or send an email to joe.barnard@aitc.org.uk.
By Natasha Kann (Bookings Secretary)
Hallmark November 2022. By the Village Hall Committee. The current hall was officially opened at the turn of the Millennium in 2000 – hence its name. The land was ours but it had still cost in excess of £250K (415K today) to build, half of which came from the Millennium Commission. There were dances, sales, buy a brick raffles and more but all the monies raised were then exhausted on the build and furbishment so a few non- essential items were left for another time.
At the AGM in 2018 these other items – an Atrium glass front across the patio, and surfacing of the car park – were re-considered. The meeting agenda was advertised and a much larger number of villagers attended the meeting than was usual.
After a discussion there was great enthusiasm in favour of the car park; the Atrium was rejected (mainly due to the anticipated heat generated by sunshine).
The case for re-surfacing:
• The shingle moves:
• This causes depressed areas, ruts and furrows (especially when drivers use it as a quick turnaround or accelerate too fast) and water collects;
• Stones migrate onto the main road;
• It is unsuitable for the infirm, disabled, wheel chairs, push- chairs and very young children;
• Its depth varies causing a slip/trip hazard especially onto the fixed paved area;
• It requires constant attention;
• It is unsuitable for high heels.
It cannot be used for other purposes, eg.
• Club activities in good weather;
• Market sales;
• Outdoor theatre etc.
Funding was the issue and progress was slow. No matter how we stressed the benefits in our funding applications to the many organisation offering financial help, at the end of the day it was for a car park. Wycombe, now Bucks CC, did donate a generous and appreciated £7K and numerous villagers and local users made donations – thank you – but it all fell far short of what was needed. It would take another 20 years for the small annual profits the Hall makes to raise the money required and that’s not considering inflation. But then providence, if that’s the right word, intervened – the Pandemic.
Government support for closed village halls was generous and we applied for all the offerings. With what we already had in the bank we actually reached our goal notwithstanding we were still paying bills with no other income.
Now we had to find a gap in the calendar for the work to be done. The patio was first and there were several delays but what a superb finish the bonded resin now presents.
A resin car park was too expensive and perhaps unnecessary for rubber tyres so after more on and off dates; in just three days, the shingle was scraped off and the base finally covered in two layers of tarmac 14-17 August 2022. Full credit and thanks to Sid and his team from AAA Driveways.
When you read this we should have made a start on restoring some plants to the patio area and creating a use for it.
Finally let me say it is inevitable that hire fees will rise next year but it is due to rocketing inflation – the car park and patio are paid for. Of course any donations are also welcome to build up our now depleted reserves:
Bank: 20-85-73 30557900 Lacey Green & Loosley Row Village Hall Fund or cheque to same. Thank you for your support.
Hallmark November 2022. By the Booking secretary. Are we really be getting ready tor Christmas again?!
2022 seems to have flown by and many events have taken place at the hall.
As Christmas approaches, we have a full variety of festive events. The Horts Soc have a sweet pea workshop on Nov 20th see page 27.
The weekend of November 26th /27th sees the return of the craft show. This was very well received last year and there will be a spectacular range of crafts to view and purchase.
There will be two wreath making workshops during December. These are being run by local florist, Fiona.
Finally, its Panto time. Oh yes, it is! This year’s production is Jack, Jill, and the Beanstalk. Equus Productions encourage everyone to join in, experienced or a novice. On stage or off. Book your tickets early to avoid missing out.
With 2023 just around the corner, please book your party early to avoid disappointment.
Look out for new classes of yoga and upholstery. The craft café is also back. Enjoy everything that our fabulous hall has to offer.
Wishing you all a Healthy and Happy Christmas. With very best wishes for 2023.
Hallmark November 2009. Report by Clive Hodghton - Chairman. 10th Anniversary of the 'New' Hall. (click Clive & Karen Hodghton for more about Clive)
Unbelievably our "New" Hall celebrated its 10th anniversary of opening in October and to mark the occasion properly we will be holding a Celebration Evening. The date for your diary is Friday 4th December from 7:30, it would have been nearer October but the hall is fairly booked up right through. The evening promises to be a fun, relaxed event with lots of current hall users showing us displays of what you can expect from the various Clubs and societies who frequent our hall. The finale is a short video showing the transition from old to new. It shows parties in both halls and even the old hall being demolished and the new one built. We are of course planning refreshments and do hope you all can join us.
The new storage area is now decorated and the new cupboards will hopefully be fitted very soon!
The Youth Club (Youth Club 1988) is still going from strength to strength. They have a very busy programme of events to keep all the youngsters occupied as well as giving them the opportunity to meet up and just get together in a safe and happy place.
While on the subject of the Youth Club, my congratulations go to Joan Smith who recently received a community excellence award, I know Joan and her team have put in lots of hard work and deserve the recognition - Well done! click George & Joan Smith for more about Joan)
The Village Hall continues to remain fairly busy with all the local organisations throughout the week. If you're looking for a new hobby you may well find that it's available right on your doorstep. Alternatively, if you would like to start a new group there are a few daytime slots still on offer.
Finally, | sincerely hope you all have a Merry Christmas and here's to a prosperous and happy new year for us all.