Crunch meeting as Shropshire village hall’s future in doubt
An historic village hall has an uncertain future, running at a loss week in and week out.
Trustees of the Weston Rhyn village institute say the building can not go on losing money. They will hold an emergency meeting later this month.
The meeting will be held on January 20 at 7.30pm to which all Weston Rhyn parishioners are entitled to attend.
The institute was built in 1908 for the miners and their families who lived in the village, paid for by public donations.
Over the years it has been a popular venue but chairman of trustees, Polly Smith, said the number of people using the building had dwindled.
“We are losing money every week,” she said.
“If the institute was a business you wouldn’t continue to run it. We really don’t want to close the building but we can’t go on like this. I have been looking back in the archives and it has always struggled to stay viable. It is such a big building to heat and maintain,”
She said that the first floor had not been used in recent years because the lift had been decommissioned and that had led to access problems.
"We have had lots of fundraising events to try to make ends meet but to no avail," she added.
Recently the building was given a grant from The Three Parishes Lottery fund to decorate the interior and make it more attractive for people to use.
One suggestion is to consider selling the caretaker’s house that adjoins the building.
