Pant Today – About the village of Pant in Shropshire
Information about and from the village of Pant in Shropshire
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We start 2021 with the hall closed yet again under the English lockdown.
We did reopen in December, but the restrictions and the Welsh lockdown meant that we could only host a couple of hirers. No Christmas events this year, but a big thank you to the Pant WI for the use of their Christmas tree. With our decorations and a set of lights we were able to show some festive sparkle to the entrance lobby.
Despite the lack of hirers, November and December were busy for the committee. After a lot of consideration, including testing out a sample, we ordered 40 new chairs. These are padded with wipe-clean vinyl upholstery, so can be used even under covid-19 restrictions. They are a little lighter than the old chairs and stack just as easily. Most importantly, they are much more comfortable! We sold 40 of the old chairs to the supplier to help with the cost and clear some space.
Chair delivery day was a bit of a challenge, as it was a) raining and b) coincided with Alan the steam-cleaner who was making the toilet floors look like new. The pallet wouldn’t quite go through the kitchen doors, so the chair stacks had to be removed one by one. The hall secretary has a motto that ‘jobs only look impossible’ – the chairs fit on to our existing trolley, the packaging went for firelighting and after a bit of headscratching, all was well.
The chairs were funded by a grant from the Tirgwynt Wind Farm community fund, plus other donations – our thanks (and those of future hirers!) go to all these generous people.
We’ve also done our bit to help the utilities. Severn Trent need to make regular water quality tests, but cannot go into domestic properties at the moment. Hence they took four water samples from the hall. We were pleased to hear that both the local water supply and our plumbing are up to standard. We were also able to assist Highways England in the repair of the street lighting, by providing car parking and equipment storage space for their contractors.
Like everyone else, we don’t know when restrictions will be eased – but the hall is being looked after and will be ready when the time comes. Meantime feel free to get in touch, the committee aren’t going anywhere!
To contact us: (open or closed!) call 07913 565708, email secretary@pantmemorialhall.org.uk, see our website www.pantmemorialhall.org.uk , facebook @pantmemorialhall, twitter@pantmemhall, or leave us a note in the postbox.
When the hall reopened in September, we knew that a second closure was not impossible and had made plans accordingly.
This planning paid off on the announcement of the November lockdown, hopefully without too much inconvenience for our hirers. The hall is reopening under ‘tier 2’ restrictions on Wednesday December 2nd.
Among many lessons this year; a closed hall does not mean no work for the committee of unpaid volunteers. We discovered how much we can get done over Zoom, email and telephone. The Thursday evening ‘reopening subcommittee’ clocked up 14 video calls, and this group continues to ‘meet’ fortnightly to manage the ever-changing situation.
Sadly many of our previous hirers cannot return at the moment, although some events are possible with the new measures. We’ve had some lovely feedback from hirers and attendees, which has made all the hard work worthwhile.
Plans for our socially-distanced poppy placing were also stopped by the lockdown. Nonetheless we were still able to put up a display inside the lobby and also around the artwork. Thank you to one of our trustees for arranging all this, which allowed passers-by to ‘pause to remember’ in safety.
The hall came out of the first lockdown with a greatly improved lighting system, funded by the National Lottery. Some will consider that an even bigger improvement will be 40 new padded chairs. These will have wipe-clean upholstery so will be usable under the restrictions. Thanks to the Tirgwynt Wind Farm Community Fund for funding these. The purchase has also been supported by the sale of 40 of the old chairs, plus donations from the Calor crowdfunder earlier in the year. We are hoping to have our new chairs in a few weeks.
The committee wishes everyone a happy Christmas and a peaceful and healthy new year. 2021 will be the 99th year of operation for the hall. Thank you to all who have supported us, and here’s hoping for better times for all of us.
To contact us: (open or closed!)