The residents of Chudleigh Knighton are embarking on an ambitious project to complete a £300,000 refurbishment of their village hall. The building has been at the heart of the community for more than 100 years and was initially rented as a working men's club from the then MP, Charles Seale-Hayne. It was subsequently bought by the religiously motivated and teetotal benefactor, Miss Kathleen Hawker, who ran it until her death in 1947. Men from the village would use the club as an alternative to the pub and on Fridays the boiler would be lit and baths be available at sixpence-a-time. But now the community has decided that the building has to be improved to meet modern needs. 'We've decided we want to extend to give the pre-school a permanent home,' said chairman of the village hall committee, Janette Parker. 'We're also a first floor village hall and we want to put a lift in, improve access and give the youth club some space.' The villagers have set themselves a two-year target in which to get the works completed and are already busy holding talks with Teignbridge Council and other organisations in a bid to secure grants with which to boost their own fundraising efforts. A small but important element of the overall package is to preserve eight old photographs housed in the hall which depict bygone teams form the village's sporting past. 'There are very few pictures of old Chudleigh Knighton and we've been told that restoring these few could cost £400,' said Mrs Parker. 'That's something we'll struggle to afford with the cost of a major building project on our hands, so if anyone thinks they could help we would love to hear from them.' Residents are also on the hunt for other historic material to help form a new display once the refurbishment is complete.
