Finns Speech

Finn Christensen is the Chairman of the Pilton Village Hall Committee.

This is the Speech that was made by Finn at the opening of the new Village Hall on 16th September 2006.

It’s a great privilege for me to be here today to talk about the village hall.

I am not going back too far into the history of the village hall as I feel there are many more people better qualified than I to do that.

I know that over the years a lot of money has been spent on the building, like a new roof etc … but this is the biggest makeover the hall has had since it was built.

In the past there have been many discussions of how the hall should be developed etc. The various user groups and trustees spent many hours considering all these views and ideas, and we have as far as is possible tried to embrace these wishes.

In cases like these there are always differences of opinions and you can’t always please everybody.

But I feel very strongly that the village needs to embrace the success of the hall which some of you will know was donated to the village by Edmund Clerk in 1896 – A hundred and ten years ago.

I believe we now have one of the finest and most versatile village halls in the county.

We have also had a tremendous response from the villagers in the form of various donations etc for which we are eternally grateful – Thank you.

The major source of support has, of course, been Glastonbury Festivals, represented by Michael Eavis, with further grants coming from Mendip District Council, Somerset County Council, Pilton Parish Council, Wyvern Waste, and latterly a small lottery grant.

I must also mention Albinos and their host of subcontractors who have also coped well with a very difficult site, and I think they have all done a superb job.

We have also developed a strong relationship with our neighbours, the Pilton Working Mans Club.

I am also conscious of our responsibilities to our immediate neighbours, as there will in the future be a lot more activities.

I have as chairman been very lucky. I have had very strong support from the trustees, and a loyal band of helpers, who have all worked extremely hard and enthusiastically in raising funds for the project – we owe them a big thank you. Just over £20,000 has been raised in the last two years!

Here this afternoon, you can see for yourselves what a magnificent building we have.

I will now hand over to our very own M.P. David Heathcote-Amery who will officially open the hall.

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