We hear you!
The Mill Board of Trustees recently undertook an Insight survey to find out exactly how the residents of Middleton and Cottingham feel about our current Village Hall facility and what they would like to see in the future.
Over the last few months we have conducted desk top research, in depth interviews, held focus groups, and sent out an online survey to everyone in the Villages and we would personally like to thank everyone that spent time feeding back their thoughts and opinions. This invaluable information has greatly improved our understanding of the tasks ahead.
So what does this now mean for you? In a nutshell our current Village Hall facility is highly valued, but very underutilised. We also know that if we had all the money in the world, we would completely reconfigure the current Village Hall or possibly look at building a completely new facility. However, with the funds as they currently stand and with what you have told us we now need to prioritise the following improvements:
- Toilets
- Parking
- Kitchen Expansion
Other improvements we also need to work on include:
- Layout
- Acoustics
- Comfort/furniture
- Décor/Lighting/Appearance
- Access to outside/patio
- Storage
- Entrance/Front space
- Online booking system
- Wi-Fi / Screen
We have already started work on some areas which include a better bar, improved décor and making the hall watertight with new roofing. We will also continue to work at a pace to get the new car park in place.
Our fundraising activities, including the Village Fete, Wine Tasting/Food nights, Race Nights and Pop Up Bar evenings to date have raised over £50,000. Thank you to all the volunteers who have worked tirelessly to help with these events!
As well as continuing with our fundraising events, we also now plan to investigate how we can apply for further grants to raise more funds so that we can start to make the improvements you have asked for.
Thank you again for feeding into our survey. It is your Village Hall and ultimately it is our goal to make it a much busier, more desirable place that you will want to use now and in the future.
If you would like further information or would like to become a Mill Board Trustee and/or have the capacity to help us with our vision please get in touch via mail@themillhub.co.uk