About Us
Houghton Village Hall - History & Management Committee
Houghton Village Hall is a completely independent Charitable Trust (Number 521432). It is run by its Trustees solely to provide a facility for local people to enjoy social, recreational and educational activities in line with the wishes of those who gave the land and the building to the village. We celebrated our centenary in 2021.
Management Committee and Trustees.
The Village Hall Committee has up to 24 members some of whom are trustees of the charity. The majority are nominated by organisations in the village. Nine ‘officers’ are elected at our Annual General Meeting in March. As ‘Managing Trustees’ of the charity the committee has sole responsibility for the day-to-day running of its affairs and finances. Committee meetings are generally held bi-monthly.
Elected Officers for 2024
Chair: Deb Tull (Trustee)
Vice-Chair: Peter Pollard (Trustee)
Minutes Secretary: Sue Lock (Trustee)
Treasurer: Edward Hayes
Single Bookings: Juliet Bailey (Trustee)
Maintenance: Dave Pughe (Trustee)
Publicity: Andy Farren (Trustee)
Regular Bookings: Monica Vondrasek Price
Bookings Team: Ketki Mistry
Community Representatives
Bowls Club: John Chapman
WI: Ingrid Cochrane (Trustee)
St Catharine’s Church: Rev Steve Ransley (Trustee)
Art Club and Friends of St Catharine’s: Sally Vincent
History of the Hall
The land on which the hall stands was given to the village by Miss Charlotte Smith in 1920. The Village Hall was then built by Mr J T Forsell in 1921 in memory of his son who died in the 1st World War.
Two street names in the village – Forsell’s End and Charlotte’s Walk – also recognise the generosity of the two benefactors.There have been a number of extensions and improvements over the years to create the building seen today. An extensive programme of modernisation and refurbishment has been in progress for the past three years.
Click here for more information about Alan Forsell: alan-richard-forsell-(1894-1915)
Click here to visit our 100 Years of History collection
