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The current Church Hall, situated on
Cop Lane opposite Penwortham Girls High School and adjacent to both
St Mary’s Vicarage and the St Mary’s health Centre, was completed in
1969. It is a large wooden construction around which there is
ample car parking facilities. The Hall is run by the parish with day
to day management in the hands of the Hall Manager (David Thornton)
and the Hall Booking Secretary (Hugh Ballantyne) as unpaid
volunteers. The only paid member of staff is part time cleaner
(10hrs per week).
The building consists of a large hall
capable of seating 216 in theatre style: a large raised stage some
30 feet (9 metres) by 20 feet (6.5 metres) with stage lighting: the
Guild Room capable of seating 55 people and the Club Room able to
accommodate some 30 people. There is a kitchen which houses a
large water boiler, microwave, crockery and utensils for up to 200
people. The Hall has a disabled toilet and has ramp access to
the building complying with the Disabled Discrimination Act
requirements. It is fully licensed by the Local Authority for public
entertainment, live music and performance which includes plays by
our own Amateur Dramatic Society and St Leonard’s Gilbert & Sullivan
Society. The Hall has recently successfully been inspected by
Ofsted which allows an after schools club to operate during term
time. The Church also runs a Farmers Market in the Hall on the
first Saturday of every month between 9am and 1pm which continues to
meet a community need identified over 3 years ago.
The Hall has over 21 lets per week on
average of which 85% are by outside organizations and bodies.
The remaining 15% is used by the church and its own organizations.
The conditions for hire, the charges and details of the lets week by
week are shown elsewhere. Income is over £23,000 per annum and
the excess of income over expenditure is used to support the church
and to build up a refurbishment fund for major expenditure to all
the roofs at the Hall which is expected will be necessary in the
near future. |