Guardian Roses to two village heroes

Stuart Andrew, 90, and Eric Hitchman, 94, were both nominated by the hall’s committee chairman Margaret Smith for their support and involvement in the project.

“Mr Andrew is a simply extraordinary man,” said Mrs Smith.

“He is 90 and yet he is down at the hall every day in the morning to open up and get it ready for the group there that day, and then he is down there again in the evening to lock up each night.”

“He also cleans the hall from top to bottom once a week and he runs both the carpet bowls sessions and games evenings we have there.”

“He is still the committee treasurer and he used to organise regular days out from there as well.”

“Mr Hitchman is not so involved now as he used to be but he was a big supporter of the project to get it refurbished and he was thrilled to be asked to be part of the re-opening ceremony and he has been a remarkable man too.”

Mr Andrew and Mr Hitchman joined local residents and guests to conduct the official re-opening of the hall, where Mr Andrew gave a vote of thanks top everyone who had been involved in the project, while Mr Hitchman gave a brief talk on the history of the building. The two men were then presented with their Guardian Roses.

The hall plays host to a number of activities, including mother and toddlers on Mondays (10am-12noon, carpet bowls on Mondays (2-4pm) and Thursdays (2.30-4.30pm), games evenings on alternate Mondays (7-9pm), table tennis on Tuesdays (10am-12noon), sequence dancing on Wednesdays (7-10pm) and Friday youth club (6-10pm) and line dancing on the first Saturday of each month.

The hall is available for hire at all other times, for more information call 01909 733492.