Belford gets its village hall back as Ferguson Hall purchase completed
Belford has a village hall once again after the purchase of Ferguson Hall was successfully completed after a big community effort.
The former United Reformed Church building has been bought by the trustees of Belford and District War Memorial Hall.
The milestone follows years of work after the Belford and District War Memorial Hall, also known as Belford Club, was sold because of serious dry rot.
The trustees retained funds from the sale of the old hall site and have worked to raise the additional money needed to secure a new home for the community.
More than £160,000 has been assembled through existing village hall funds, grants, donations and community fundraising.
External support for the project has come from Northumberland County Council, the Joicey Trust, the Sir James Knott Trust, Bedmax, Coastal Grains, Belford Parish Council, the Barbour Foundation, the Catherine Cookson Trust and Barmoor Wind Farm, alongside generous individual donations and local fundraising.
Shona Dixon, chair of the Belford and District War Memorial Hall Trustees, said: “We are absolutely delighted and extremely relieved that the purchase of Ferguson Hall has finally been completed. It has taken a huge amount of work to get to this point, but Belford now has a village hall back.
“We simply could not have done it without the incredibly generous support of the trusts, businesses, councils, local residents and everyone who has donated or helped with fundraising. I would also particularly like to thank Cllr Guy Renner-Thompson, who has helped us enormously with the many grant applications we have made.
“Completing the purchase is a huge milestone, but it is also just the beginning. We can now get on with the exciting job of making Ferguson Hall a fantastic community facility for Belford for generations to come.”
Cllr Guy Renner-Thompson, county councillor for Bamburgh ward, said: “This is fantastic news for Belford. Losing the old War Memorial Hall left a huge gap in village life, so being able to say that Belford has its village hall back is a really important moment.
“I've been delighted to help secure £15,000 from the county council and to work with Shona and the trustees on the many grant applications needed to get us over the line.
“Ferguson Hall has huge potential and this is only the start. The next job is to improve the building and turn it into the community hall that Belford deserves.”
The ambition is for Ferguson Hall to once again provide a home for the wide range of activities traditionally associated with the village hall, including cinema, amateur dramatics, bowls, badminton, celebrations, community events and activities for younger people.
Attention will now turn to the next phase of the project which is to bring the building up to date and get an organisational committee in place to run the facility.