VILL AGE HALLS
AND SCHOOLS eting place
Chipping
Village halls are an important me
ung and old.
for all members of the community, yo
Gisburn
Thornley School
was
and the building
s closed in 1978
ornley school wa
ether and started to
Th
le got tog
eet.
group of local peop
local people can m
deteriorating, but a
l into a hub where
turn the schoo
fund raise to
Redundant school buildings can be
use to benefit the community.
Hornby Institute
put to
o the
w people to move int
popular reason for ne
e cases these smaller
Village schools are a
t in som
have smaller classes bu
to
ny children now have
AONB as they tend to
e of schools and ma
ve led to the closur
classes ha
by bus and taxi.
closed in 2000
travel long distances
Tosside School which
t by a for mer head at
school,” said Mrs
This commen
teaching in a village
ren
always really enjoyed
ildren and their child
is typical: “I
I was teaching local ch
around, but these
ouse, “Over the years
Newh
ms for miles
m came from the far
a.”
in turn. Most of the
ved away from the are
have mo
days so many of them
ar people started
Once village meeting places began to disappe
r own area and
to lose contact with what was going on in thei
feeling isolated was a common complaint.
have started their
To help overcome this several communities
and events.
own newsletters, reporting on local people
ger are just three
Tosside News , Hornby Contact and The Villa
examples.
groups to meet - the
place for all kinds of
Village halls are the
e hall is opened every
Dunsop Bridge villag
de
WI are regular users.
rs to enjoy home ma
the summer for visito
families.
nday throughout
Su
s and
stop for walkers, cyclist
Caton, Hornby
cakes and is a popular
titutes such as those at
are also village ins
There
the Victorian desire
owe their existence to
Wray. Many of these
and
s and were often gifted
for the working classe
IT
to provide education
ton Institute has an
althy landowners. Ca
s.
to the village by we
line dancing and Pilate
r classes such as
being used
rce centre and regula
resou
singly
institutes are increa
Village halls and
es a place for
institute even provid
Hornby
as wedding venues.
ld.
the flu clinic to be he
“When the sc
hool
closed the vi
llage
hall was the
only
place we could
meet
each other.”
Chipping Villa
ge Hall
Village pubs ha
ve always been
place for local
a meeting
people. Unfortu
nately several
of them have
closed and th
e communities
have lost an im
portant venue.
Others have
developed food
and accommod
ation to cater
for high spendi
ng visitors as w
ell as remaining
a good local.
Sewing class, Slaidburn
“Evening classes like keep fit and sewing used to be held at the school
so it was also a social occasion.”
There is a wide range of activities at the village halls, from short
carpet bowls in West Bradford to toddler groups in Over Wyresdale.
An over sixties party was started in Newton in 1976 and is still being
held each year.
and a buyer has yet to be found
The Talbot Hotel closed recently
Bleasdale Post Office