Village hall near Bridgnorth unveils brand new kitchen with grand opening

Willey Village Hall near Bridgnorth held a grand opening on Saturday of its long-awaited, upgraded kitchen.

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South Shropshire MP, Stuart Anderson, accompanied by Councillor Dan Thomas, from Much Wenlock Mayor along with James Benting from Caltel Kitchens were at the opening as well as a crowd of residents and even the local PCSOs came to enjoy the refreshments and sunshine.

Mr Anderson has recently welcomed the government's release of £43million in investment for village halls, an expansion of the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF), following a campaign the South Shropshire MP has been running to protect the rural spaces.

The new kitchen has been paid for by fundraising events such as a Race Night held earlier this year with the new kitchen unveiled to the public in a special day-long event.

Anne Skinner, secretary of Willey Village Hall said: “The Hall Committee ran a bar and a café and adult participants were challenged to make a Victoria sponge to bring along, to be sampled and judged, while children were asked to create cakes with an Easter theme.

“Stuart Anderson, James Benting and Lord George Forester cut the ribbon, and Stuart made an impassioned speech about the need for village hall's like ours, and also in praise of how important volunteers are to our community, after which he was presented with a framed Lino print of our Hall.

"During the afternoon the children in particular enjoyed games in the field next to the Hall and took part in a Welly Wanging competition, with the gold trophy going to William (53m) with Willow in second place (41.9m) and Florence third (39.7m). Our Chairman, Elena, also ran a colouring competition and all the children were amply rewarded for their efforts.

“The cake competitions were judged by Stuart, Dan and James with Lisa Walker winning the adult section, and Max winning the children's category with Willow in second place and Rowan in third place.

“Due to the warm weather many people sat outside into the evening to enjoy the lovely views, and when the bar finally closed at 10pm. we were all tired, but happy that the day had gone so well. Thank you to everyone who came along, and if you want to hire our hall with its new, multi functional kitchen please email Vanessa on vanessalee@wildenestates.co.uk”.