History of Beech Village Hall
The original building which became Beech Village Hall started life in 1894 as a printing works operated by Messrs Vaus and Crampton. In 1909 a private buyer acquired the premises, and in 1931 sold the property, by then known as “Hedge Grove”, to Beech resident Nellie Asser for £450. A year later, Mrs Asser transferred the property to the village for use as a village hall. The original structure housed a bar-lounge, kitchen and cloakrooms. Around 1960, General Morgan Owen bequeathed the recreation ground to the village. Both amenities are managed on behalf of the village by the Beech Village Hall & Recreation Ground Charitable Trust.
Timeline
Please note the dates refer to when the project was finished…
In 2025 we totally refurbished the old Annexe to create the Wellhouse. Our new health and wellbeing space, The Wellhouse was opened in January 2026.
One to one therapy, coaching or counselling
Thanking Our Funders We are incredibly grateful to our funders, whose support has helped turn the dream of the Wellhouse into a…Read More
In 2025 the Charity established the need and built the business case for a major upgrade to our sound and vision system in order to deliver high quality film and National Theatre screenings… bringing the West End to Beech. The gained funding from EHDC under the Rural Grant iniitative and…Read More
The coffee and cake shop opened at the Village Show in late September and has become a weekly feature on Fridays. A team of volunteers now bakes cakes and serves coffee weekly, and around 30 people typically come along to take the opportunity to socialise during the day in an…Read More
Our second outdoor project was much bigger and was also inspired and led by Nick Sorby. We realised that 30 ash trees, mostly on the Rec but including a large one on the village green, were suffering from ash dieback disease. For safety reasons, and following a consultation with villagers,…Read More
The hiatus in normal Hall activity during the pandemic provided us with an opportunity to prepare ourselves to take advantage of future opportunities, and to make improvements to the Hall itself. With most people now searching for venues online, we upgraded our website and put in place an online booking…Read More
In 2020, the kitchen was refurbished with a new range, cupboards and taps and the WiFi was updated with high-speed Internet access.
For several years, the old telephone box has lain unused and unloved until one of the young villagers, Katie Smallman, suggested “doing it up” as a book exchange. Nick Sorby managed this project with a band of able volunteers.
Children’s play equipment has been added to the village green, including swings, a slide and a climbing frame, the latter funded by Veolia and EHDC. The toilets have been refurbished and a new sound system installed. Sunday (18 December 2016) saw the official unveiling of an early Christmas present for…Read More