Walton Village Hall re-launch

The residents of Walton and the surrounding area will benefit following the re-opening of an extended and fully refurbished Village Hall. The hall is officially up and running following a launch party attended by Councillor Dawn Payne, Mayor of Wetherby, Councillors Alan Lamb and Norma Harrington, Leeds City Council Ward councillors, and many village residents. We also celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Walton Group of Artists, our longest standing user group.

The Village Hall now has an extension providing new toilet facilities, including those for the disabled, a new floor, insulated ceiling, re-fitted kitchen and storage rooms, state of the art infra-red heating and re-decoration throughout. This was largely funded by a £97,000 grant from FCC Communities Foundation, £28,800 from the Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund administered by ACRE, £9,900 from National Lottery Awards for All, £6,500 from Garfield Weston Foundation, and further donations from other charitable trusts, local sponsors and Leeds City Council.

Brian Eldred, Chair of the Trustees of Walton Village Hall, is delighted that the Hall is now back in use. He says: “This newly refurbished, vital facility is going to make a real difference to those who use it, as well as the wider Walton and Wetherby community. We are extremely grateful to FCC Communities Foundation and all the other donors for providing funding as we would not have been able to go ahead without its support.”

Richard Smith, FCC Communities Foundation grant manager, says: “It’s wonderful to see a project we have funded open and ready to make such a difference to community groups across Wetherby. FCC Communities Foundation is always happy to consider grant applications for projects that benefit local communities and this is a great example of what can be achieved.”

We are now taking bookings for classes, parties, meetings or even a wedding reception in a beautiful setting. Have a look at the photos of the new look village hall, and make that booking, on our website here: https://waltonvillagehallwetherby.org/

FCC Communities Foundation is a not-for-profit business that awards grants for community projects through the Landfill Communities Fund

Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund: In May 2022, Defra announced a £3 million Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund to mark Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. The fund is administered by ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England)

The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its new strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030.

As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year The National Lottery Community Fund was able to distribute over half a billion pounds (£615.4 million) of life-changing funding to communities.

Thanks you to all National Lottery players!

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk