A Tale of Two Village Halls

Chris Roberts & Frances Ward

Thursday 19^th February, Meifod Village Hall, at 7.15pm

The talk will be preceded by the History Group’s short Annual General Meeting, which starts at 7.15pm. Non-members of the Group are welcome to attend the AGM, but, of course, can’t vote.

The talk will follow straight on from the AGM, so please arrive by 7.15pm.

Pulling Together

Not once, but twice, during the 20^th century the residents of Meifod worked together to raise money to build a village hall. Once in the 1920s after the First World War, and again in the 1980s when a replacement was needed. Both times it was a great village achievement, and both times the resulting building became the hub of village life.

The Village Institute, which opened in 1922, was originally called the Comrades’ Institute because it was built partly to provide a meeting place for the Meifod Comrades of the Great War (men who had fought and come home alive). Montgomeryshire’s Liberal MP David Davies persuaded the Comrades to think big, and build a hall that the village could use as well, and he kick-started their fundraising with £100. The Institute cost nearly £1500 to build – half provided by the county and half raised by the Meifod Comrades.

The Institute quickly became essential to the village, and was used for everything from drama productions, to flower and baby shows organised by the WI, from meetings of the Meifod Debating Society, and pre-election harangues by political candidates, to committee meetings, and the place where you came to collect your new ration book.

However, by the 1980s the building could no longer meet the requirements for a public entertainments licence.

Reluctantly it was agreed that a new building was needed, and a village committee, headed by Chris Roberts, took on the task of getting a new hall built. Land adjoining the school was leased from Powys County Council, and the £154,000 needed for the building was raised from grants and – as before – village fundraising activities. And the new Hall seamlessly took over from the old Institute, opening in 1988, used by the school, and for an increasing number of village activities.

Chris Roberts and Frances Ward, both long-standing members of Meifod Local History Group, will tell the stories of the two village halls. Frances will include the drama of the competing village war memorials that swirled round the Comrades’ Institute, and Chris, who played a key role in the building of the new Hall, will give a behind-the-scenes account of how it all played out.

The event is free to members of Meifod Local History Group, and costs £4 for non-members. Free refreshments are provided.

Frances Ward