Charlton Village

Throughout its history there have been financial challenges to keep the Old Schoolroom viable. As recently as 1983 it was suggested that the schoolroom should be sold as the cost of necessary repairs could not be met by the trustees. To avoid this, a lot of voluntary work was carried out by members of the village and some work was funded by the organisations using the building. In 1990 the Friends of Charlton Schoolroom was set up to raise funds by donations and social events. From 1992 to 1995 major renovation took place both inside and outside, including completely rebuilding the service area extension, new heating and a new suspended ceiling. Grants from Wychavon and Hereford and Worcester County Council and a contribution from the parish council were obtained to support this. In more recent years a new main window was put in together with a new floor.

In 2017 we developed a five year plan to refurbish the whole building, including the service area extension. In order to bring the facility up to meet twenty first century standards, the trustees set a series of objectives for this ongoing renovation plan These took account of safety and environmental requirements and the needs of our partners and hirers, from the young people in the preschool to the elderly residents of the village. The objectives were:

To develop our facilities to provide an improved, sustainable environment for current users and to attract new users by offering better facilities. 

To grow income through greater use, in order to preserve our building for the future.  

To improve our environmental footprint by reduction in energy consumption. 

To improve health, safety and security for all.

To provide an inclusive offering to all users, in particular to those underserved by the current lack of disabled access and facilities.

To provide a facility of which the village is proud, and which will enable the Hall to serve the changing and varied village needs long into the future.

Over the first two years we raised over £25,000 through grants from various organisations, donations from people in the village and fund-raising events. This was a magnificent achievement and enabled us to carry out the following work:

• Refurbishment of the roof including the removal of the dormers and repair of rotten woodwork
• Installation of full insulation in the main hall
• Removal of redundant heaters in the ceiling
• Replacement of the old inefficient heaters with 4 wall mounted controllable heaters
• Installation of 2 roof fans to aid heat distribution.
• Installation of 2 large closable notice boards for use by the Pre-School and Scouts
• Painting the main hall including woodwork and entrance hall
• Replacement of the old fluorescent lights with more efficient dimmable LED light panels

In 2019 we found that the large rear window had significant wood rot and this was replaced with a new window made locally.

By 2020 we realised that to attain our objectives in full, a much greater level of funding had to be obtained than had originally been anticipated, so major effort was put in to identifying and sourcing opportunities to achieve this.

 In 2020 a National Lottery grant was obtained enabling a new meeting room to be added in an extension at the front of the building. In 2021 the successful application for a Community Legacy Grant from Wychavon District Council and a further Lottery grant enabled over £124K to be invested the following year in the total internal restructure of the service area and upgrading of the access to the site. This initially involved a further extension to house a larger, modernised and safer kitchen. The interior of the service area was then completely reorganised to provide new toilets together with disabled and mother and baby facilities and a new storeroom. The rough driveway with its potholes was also fully block paved, providing much safer access and the garden landscaped. We were pleased that all the work was carried out by local builders and craftsmen.

The work we have done has achieved all our objectives and given Charlton a facility to be proud of, with a sustainable environmental footprint and which takes account of the diversity and needs of village residents, our hirers and users and modern health and safety requirements.

However, a building nearly 150 years old requires continuous maintenance and repair so fund raising continues to be necessary. Current planned projects include repairs to the gable end, redecoration of the exterior woodwork and preservation, possibly replacement, of the front doors.