 July 13, 2010: The village of Monkokehampton turned out in force on Saturday 11th July for the village fun day and the grand opening ceremony of the newly renovated Old Schoolroom, next to All Saints' Church. Now opened for use as a community venue, the schoolroom has been modernised with the help of community fund-raisers and grants from the Lottery, the County and Borough Councils, and local charitable organisations, including the Lions, Rotary Club and the Parish Pump.
Crowds turned out to witness the opening ceremony, which included contributions from organiser Sandra Pruski, Hatherleigh town crier Ros Chard, Carolyn Brodribb, the Rector of Monkokehampton, and the cutting of the ribbon was conducted by the local schoolchildren. The fun day attractions included craft and plant stalls, a raffle and tombola, free skittles, funfair swings, and a wide variety of refreshments, all organised in aid of the Old Schoolroom.
The renovation project is particularly innovative in that it includes a renewable heating system, based on air source heat-pump technology, extracting useful heat energy from the surrounding environment, allowing the community rooms to continue into the future on a sustainable footing; enough to make other villages green with envy!
Hatherleigh Town Crier Roz Chard started off proceedings in traditional manner, Sandra Pruski thanked funders, fellow committee members, and volunteers alike for their help and support - pointing out that raising over £70,000 was a great achievement for a small community. Rev Carolyn Brodribb blessed the newly renovated building (and later in the day also won the women's `Welly-Wanging' competition). A cake specially made and decorated by Anita Pearce was cut jointly by Peter Fishleigh, Val Murrin, Sandra Pruski, and Jo Pullin. A large contingent of the children of the village cut the ribbon to declare the Old Schoolroom officially open.
With games and races, swing boats and skittles, produce and craft stalls and a barrel of beer donated by the Red Lion in Exbourne, there was plenty to entertain people on a lovely warm afternoon. Thanks are due to Anita Pearce, Val Allin, Peggy Martin and Mary Risdon who served traditional cream teas in the new hall, and to Jenny and Pete Shalders who tirelessly cooked burgers and bangers, fortunately outdoors. Our raffle was generously helped by Waitrose Ltd and the Red Lion who both donated prizes of vouchers and bottles of wine.
Thanks too to Penny Griffiths from Winkleigh, who was tasked with judging the hotly-contested scarecrow competition this year. The winner was the Pullin-Sivyer household's silver robot which carried the slogan `almost as modern as our village hall'. Among our funders we would specially like to thank the Rotary Club of Hatherleigh, the Okehampton Lions Club, and the Parish Pump, for their support of this project and, above all, the individual donors in Monkokehampton itself, many of them anonymous.
Monkokehampton Old School room appeal
For booking information and details please contact Val Murrin on valeriemurrin@aol.com
Please help Monkokehampton Old Schoolroom raise money by doing your on-line shopping through www.easyfundraising.org.uk . All major retailers including ebay can be found on this site and they donate money to our community. Thank you
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