Finchingfield Guildhall

Downloads

Finchingfield Almshouse Trust 2011/12 detailed financial statement

Finchingfield Almshouse Trust 2010/11 detailed financial statement

Finchingfield Almshouse Trust 2009/10 detailed financial statement

Archived News Items

9th September 2011

The winning entries to the Images of Finchingfield competition are available to view here.

16th & 17th July 2011

We've had a magnificent response, 86 entries. All will be on display at the Exhibition this coming weekend, 12-4 pm in the Village Hall. Come along and vote for your favourites. The 12 winners will form the 2012 calendar. You can also view the entries online, click here.

8th June 2011

The Project Team launches Images of Finchingfield competition. Open to all, up to two images per entrant, completely free. Entries to be judged at public exhibition 16/17th July in Village Hall. The 12 best place entries will form a 2012 Images of Finchingfield Calendar. See here for more detail and an entry form. 2010 calendar still on sale, last few left! Click here to buy.

22nd March 2011

What an exciting end to our year! On March 22nd we learned that HLF awarded a further £400,000 to the Guildhall project. The build phase can begin this year. We set a target date of May 2011 to raise the funds needed to get on site in 2011and it is a great pleasure and relief to have met this. Resident brown long-eared bats and swifts dictate when work can begin, so we are anticipating a start later in the year. All the project volunteers have worked so hard to reach this stage and we are extremely grateful for the support and encouragement we continue to receive.
The next stage of the project will be the most exciting and we look forward to keeping you informed of developments. As well as starting building works, we shall be holding a series of events, including the photographic competition again, with a calendar compiled from the winning entries. More details to follow in June.

20th October 2010

The 2011 Images of Finchingfield Calendar is now on sale in the shop. To see a preview of the photos click here. Comprising the 12 best of the many lovely photos entered in the competition earlier in the year. All proceeds will support the Restoration Project. This calendar will make an excellent gift or can take pride of place on your wall. A3 format allows lots of space for adding your appointments and includes the public holidays and major notable dates. It comes folded A4 for ease of postage. Priced £8.50, they are available from Finchingfield Post Office, the Picture Pot tearooms and gallery, and Perfect Something giftshop. Alternatively, please send a note of how many you would like along with your return address to the Clerk, Finchingfield Almshouse Trust, Willetts, Duck End, Finchingfield, Essex CM7 4NA. Delivery is free if within 5 miles of village thereafter £2P&P applies, which covers the postage of up to 3 calendars. Please make cheques payable to Finchingfield Almshouse Trust.

23rd July 2010

We've received the excellent news that the Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded us £983,400, the full amount we applied for. This is a massive step forward for the project. We still need to raise matched funding. A crucial requirement for the HLF application is that we secure a significant amount of matched funding, some local fund-raising, but in the main this refers to grants and donations from charities, trusts and the like that support heritage projects. As you can imaging money is in pretty short supply and several bodies to which we were going to apply have closed or suspended their programmes, at least for this year. So we still have a lot of work ahead.

28th June 2010

The Project Team launches Images of Finchingfield competition. Open to all, up to three images per entrant, completely free. Entries to be judged at public exhibition 31 June/1 August 2010 in Village Hall. The 12 best place entries will form a 2011 Images of Finchingfield Calendar. See here for more detail and an entry form.

1st May 2010

The restoration plans do not just concern human users, the Guildhall Project Team is very mindful of the building’s exisiting animal inhabitants and to that end has issued its Provision for Wildlife Policy, click here for a copy.

31st March 2010

The initial project questionnaire findings are now available, click here to download a pdf report. A big thank you to all that took part in the survey. Des Fahy was the lucky winner of the £25 High Street Vouchers.

We’d still love to have your views on how the Guildhall should shape up and what facilities you would like to see it provide, so if you didn’t complete the survey first time around you still can. Complete the questionnaire online at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FGHSurvey2.

Should the link not work or you prefer a hardcopy click here to download it.

26th February 2010

Braintree District Council last week gave full planning permission and recommended that listed building consent be granted for the proposed works. As the Guildhall is Grade I listed the listed building consent will now go to the Secretary of State’s department for final approval. Now we just need to secure the funding. The Heritage Lottery Fund application is due early March and so we are concentrating all our efforts on that.

11th January 2010

Quiz results (Answers available here)

First Mrs L Reeve

Second Mrs Sarah Pilgrim

Third joint Mrs J Ridgewell and Mrs L Turner

A big thank you to all who took part.

7th December 2009

Please support the Guildhall’s planning and listed building consent applications - deadline 7 Dec

Support online, through Braintree District Council’s website www.braintree.gov.uk:
• click on Planning
• use the links to find application 09/01458/FUL and 09/01459/LBC
• click Comment on Application

Alternatively a letter may be sent to:
Mrs H Reeve
Development Control
Causeway House
Bocking End
Braintree, Essex, CM7 9HB

Template support letters are available from here.

If you wish to put up a poster encouraging others please click here to download one.

If you do support the application drop us an email to let us know: info@finchingfieldguildhall.org.uk

Finchingfield Almshouse Trust Launches
"Finchingfield Guildhall - A Building Story"

For over 550 years, the Guildhall has played a central role in village life. Its position in the heart of the village is no coincidence; from its foundation around 1470 to modern times, this fine example of a medieval timber-framed building has been an essential part of a vibrant rural culture. The ambitious project will guide a much needed program of repairs, refurbishment and restoration to ensure that this important historic building can continue to serve not only the village of Finchingfield, but a much wider community.

It is estimated that the entire project will cost over £1.6 million. The Grade I listed property will be sympathetically transformed to provide a multi-purpose venue with facilities for a museum and library and the arts, all for use by the community and visitors.

The project has already had the very best of starts following an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Heritage Grants. The Trust was awarded a first round pass, and has been granted development funding of £15,600. Securing this pass also ensures that the Trust can apply for round 2 funding of nearly £1million. English Heritage, who have declared the building as "at risk", has also agreed grants of £189,000.

Jackie Bargman, Trustee, adds: "The project has been so very lucky with the support that it has already received from the HLF and English Heritage. We have also had tremendous support from local businesses and the community. However, even if we are successful with our second round HLF bid, we will still need to raise at least £500,000 which is an enormous undertaking for the trust. This is why we are also launching an appeal along with the project to ensure we have the funding to complete the story. By completing the project we will ensure that this wonderful building will be secured and at the heart of the community for many years to come."

[TOP OF PAGE]