The Story of the Hall
The Village Hall started life as the Gartmore Free Church in 1848, at a time when Gartmore had 2 churches. In 1936 the two churches were united and the old Free Church building became the Village Hall.
Thanks to Paul Wilson of The Gartmore Heritage Society for images and insight
Over the next 70 years, the old Village Hall became a cold, unwelcoming, dilapidated building and not fit for purpose.
Since the village's first Community Action Plan in 2002, the re-development of the Village Hall was continually voted top of the list of potential projects in every community consultation. A Hall Development Group was formed in 2007 and after many years of meetings and grant application form filling, we were fortunate to receive grant funding from the Big Lottery, Forth Valley and Lomond LEADER, the People and Communities Fund, the Climate Challenge Fund, The Robertson Trust, Scottish Power Green Energy Trust and the Gordon Fraser Trust.
The refurbishment of the Hall started in July 2013 and took 10 months to complete at an overall cost of £1.3 million.
The external appearance was changed in sympathy with surrounding buildings of the Gartmore Conservation Area and the internal space was re-designed with a more practical layout of rooms.
The refurbished main hall retained its original size and shape but elsewhere everything changed with a new kitchen, toilets and additional meeting rooms. An elegant extension was added to the side of the building to provide a cosy and welcoming entrance that links different parts of the Hall. Original stonework of the old church is exposed in this entrance area and a wall of windows to the garden collects additional solar energy and amalgamates the old with the new. The whole building was rendered on top of the external insulation, transforming its appearance.
The refurbishment transformed the usability of the Hall with all-round insulation, under-floor heating using an air source heat pump, new windows to let in much more natural light and photo-voltaic cells on the roof. The building is now an example of energy efficiency.
The handover of the keys to Gartmore Community Trust took place on Friday 11th April 2014 and the Hall was officially opened on 24th May 2014. The Hall now delivers an impressive impact on the Village Square.