History of the Village Hall: 1952 - 2013

Oldhamstocks Village Hall was a former wooden 'Nissen Hut' which was gifted to the village in 1952 and a Trust was set up to maintain it as a meeting place and continue to raise funds for its upkeep. As far back as the late 1970's there were problems maintaining the hall roof and windows. In 1996 the Committee applied for national funding to rebuild the hall stating " The present hall is of a wooden construction and was purchased second hand from the MOD Circa 1952 and is now somewhat worse for wear. In spite of our efforts to maintain it, we feel the battle is lost." Unfortunately there is no record of what happened to the funding application but funding was secured for some running repairs. Special funding was available at the Millenium but the committee decided not to apply. Subsequent Committees have faced an uphill struggle to keep the hall usable. 

Community Survey - Consultation 1

The OCA carried out a survey of all residents of the Parish, the results being collated by Angus Macdonald. Survey Results:

Replace the Village Hall.......61%

Upgrade the Village Hall......38%

Upgrade or create paths......26%

Community vehicle..............12%

Computer hub.......................9%

A Community Project

In 2014 the community undertook to replace the footbridge at the bottom of the Mill Walk. It was assisted by Torness Power Station's "Helping Hands" Project, Lafarge Cement, East Lothian Council and East Lammermuir Community Council. The steel structure was built locally by A Watt & Sons Steel Fabricators Ltd. The wooden parts and landscaping were finished by John Hanvidge, Gordon Simpson, Davie Philip, Steve Findlay, Liam Harvey and Peter Lennon. Thanks to John Hanvidge who continues maintenance and to Steve Findlay who keeps the path beyond strimmed. Torness station director Paul Winkle said: “We are glad to have been involved with just a worthy cause - it is an excellent example of a hands-on local initiative and shows what can happen when a community pull together.” 

AGM 2015 - Consultation 3

After the June meeting an architect was enlisted to provide a structural report. In summary the report indicated that the cost of refurbishing the existing hall would be more expensive than building a new up-to-date hall with enhanced facilities and capacity. In November 2015 the first part of the AGM was a public meeting again chaired by Cllr. Veitch. The previously mentioned sub-group had decided that their remit required the work to be expanded to the existing committee and reports based on the Structural Report and the future funding possibilities were presented. There were also guest speakers from Stenton and Spott who shared their experiences of renovating their village halls. There was then table top discussions. 

2017 - Public Exhibition - Consultation 4

Following development of the initial design brief with the appointed architects, an exhibition was mounted in the current village hall which was available to everyone in the community and surrounding area. The exhibition was advertised on the Oldhamstocks community website, by mailshot through doors and via word of mouth, and was held between the 20th and 31st March 2017. All were welcome to attend to express their views. For those who were unable to visit the existing building due to access restrictions, printed copies of the material was made available for distribution. The exhibition was well attended and there was good representation from the village and all surrounding areas.The results and comments were collated and the changes to plans were instigated. 

Newsletter - Consultation 7

In June 2018 the OCA distributed a newsletter to the community. In summary:

Recent events including ‘Curryoke’ and 'Oldhamrocks' have been oversubscribed. It is clear that the main hall is not large enough to accommodate demand for larger community and fundraising events.

Next Steps

1) submit a formal planning application

2) purchase the land

3) secure funding for both the build and ongoing costs of the hall

At the Committee Meeting in September 2018 the OCA voted to instruct Simpson and Brown to apply for planning permission. This was based on the 64% mandate from the 2017 survey and the newsletter informing the community that this would happen. The vote was 11 for with 1 abstention and no votes against.

May 2019 - Resolution Service - withdrawal and apologies

Following concerns about the Resolution Service, a letter was sent to East Lothian Council from ex-OCA members in December 2018, evidencing the failings of the process. In response, a letter of apology was received from East Lothian Council, the following is an extract "I can confirm that the Resolution Service has now formally withdrawn from attempting to resolve this dispute.”

A letter of apology was also received from East Lammermuir Community Council.

Working Group Report - Consultation 9

In November 2019, the Village Hall Working Group presented a final report. The report summary states: 

"There has been a lot of information gathered on future village hall development through a range of consultations and surveys with the Community. This Group has attempted to bring that together and augment it with a view to sharing a set of design requirements and a number of recommendations as to how these might inform the development of any further options for hall design. "

The Group stated that it had disbanded, having "gone as far as they felt was possible".