A Brief History of Worth Village Hall

The land on which Worth Village Hall now stands (originally church Glebeland) can be traced back to a conveyance of 1909 between the Reverend Hodgson, then vicar of Worth, and the Canterbury Diocesan Trustees. This conveyance included reference to the provision of a ‘parish room’. The building was to be for the village with the intention of catering for the ‘spiritual, intellectual, moral or social wants’ of Worth parishioners. The Hall itself was built shortly afterwards – anecdotally by the villagers themselves! The use of the Hall at that time was administered by the vicar and churchwardens of Worth.

Information contained in the Worth Women’s Institute Jubilee Scrapbook of 1965 tells us that the Hall was regularly used over the years for various church activities and by the community of Worth at large. This included meetings of the WI, the annual Flower Show, whist drives, jumble sales (no boot fairs or eBay then!) and other social and dramatic productions.

The charges for Hall hire at that time varied from 5/- (£0.25p) for WI meetings; to 14/- (£0.70p) for whist drives and socials and £1.1s.0d (£1.05p) for wedding receptions!

Subsequently, in 1983, under the auspices of the Charity Commission, the Charity known as ‘Worth Church Hall’ was set up following the agreement of a lease for the Hall between the Canterbury Diocesan Board of Finance acting as the Custodian Trustees, St Peter & St Paul Worth Parochial Church Council (PCC), acting as the managing trustees and Worth Parish Council (WPC) as the lessees. This allowed for an original lease period of 28 years to Worth Parish Council. https://worthchurch.org/

Groups using the Hall regularly throughout that period included Worth Women’s Institute; Word-in-Worth Women’s Institute; Worth Playgroup; Worth Art Class; Worth Gardener’s Society; Worth Youth Club; Worth Brownies and Worth Girl Guides.

Major Hall improvements were made in the 1990’s. The Committee Room extension was added in 1993 and new toilets, including accessible toilet facilities, were added in 1995.

These projects were co-ordinated by the Village Hall Trustees working with Worth Parish Council and involved holding many fund-raising activities; generous donations from local businesses and individuals and grants from other bodies.

The current lease of the Hall to Worth Parish Council was renegotiated in 2019 and continues on a 15 year renewable basis with a rent review every 5 years.

The Hall continues to be managed by the Trustees of the Worth Parish Hall as a Registered Charity on behalf of Worth Parish Council.

2020 National Lottery Community Fund
supporting Worth Village Hall